DAY #352: Revelation 3:1-21

Just like yesterday, we're only going to look at one of the churches that is described in chapter three. The wealthy city of Sardis had been one of the most powerful cities in the ancient world due to heavy trade among the Aegean islands. Gold and silver coins were first minted at Sardis. The city also claimed to have discovered the art of dyeing wool. Sardis was also known for its impressive necropolis, or cemetery, with hundreds of burial mounds. Sardis had declined, however, by the time of the Roman Empire. Sardis had requested the honor of building a temple to Caesar, but they were refused, and the honor went to Smyrna instead. The wealth of the city eventually led to moral decadence. The city had become lethargic, its past splendor a decaying memory.

Christ had no words of commendation for this church. It seems to have been untroubled by heresy from within or persecution from without. Yet this church had compromised with its pagan surroundings.

Knowing this church’s deeds, Christ had no good words to say. (how frighting is that?) The believers may have had a reputation for being alive, but they were dead. Like the city itself, the church in Sardis may have been trying to live on past glory. They had compromised with the surrounding society to the point that they had become lethargic. They were as good as asleep, so Jesus told them to wake up and repent.

A little history about Sardis: The city had been sacked twice because the watchmen on the walls had not seen the enemies scaling the cliffs. Thinking that they were impregnable on the mountaintop led to a deadly complacence. What had happened to the city was happening to the church, and it needed to wake up. The situation was not completely hopeless—if they caught themselves in time, they could strengthen what little remains even though it, too, was at the point of death.

Christ knew all their deeds, and condemned them as far from right in the sight of God. The church may have looked impressive from the outside, but there was no spiritual motivation or power behind its deeds. In letters to the other churches, Christ commended deeds of love, faithfulness, obedience, and perseverance. Sardis, however, had none of these qualities.

Christ commanded the church at Sardis to obey the Christian truth they had believed at first about Christ. They needed to return to the apostolic teaching that had changed their lives and once again make it their central focus. These believers had slipped away from that teaching into compromise with the world. If they refused, Christ would come unexpected as a thief, as unexpected as the soldiers who had climbed the walls to capture the city. The soldiers had brought destruction; Christ would bring punishment, giving them what they deserved.

Not every believer in Sardis was being condemned for complacency and compromise with the world. Christ pointed out that some had not soiled their garments with evil deeds. These believers were being faithful. It must have been encouraging to those few who had been attempting to live for Christ in this dead church that Christ was commending them as worthy of his name. Christ promises a threefold reward for these faithful few.

To be clothed in white means to be set apart for God, cleansed from sin, and made morally and spiritually pure. Revelation mentions white robes several times. The white of these garments symbolizes the purity that comes when one has been “washed” in Christ’s blood. Only those who have allowed Christ to cleanse them from their sins and clothe them in white will be able to reign with him.

The Book of Life refers to the heavenly registry of those who have accepted salvation in Christ. This expression appears elsewhere in the Bible. The picture of God’s “book” first appears in Exodus 32:32-33. Also, the psalmist had cried out against his enemies, “Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous” (Psalm 69:28). Daniel had prophesied, “At that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued”(Daniel 12:1). This “book” symbolizes God’s knowledge of who belongs to him. At that time cities had registry books, so having one’s name removed meant losing citizenship. A city would also erase a person’s name from the registry when he or she died. For the citizens of heaven, however, death is not a cause for one’s name to be removed; instead, it is the way of entrance.


SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Once again, this passage brings the fear of God. WAKE UP is such a relevant them for all of us. Today, I want to give you two prayers you and I need to pray, and make them a constant part of our lives from this passage. Two simple prayers:

#1. LORD, HELP ME TO SEE THE GAPS IN MY LIFE

Help me to see the gaps in my life. Help me to see the gaps between dead and alive, between the dead-ends and Your direction.

As you read each of these messages to the seven churches it’s very easy to read over the introduction of Jesus in these messages yet don’t miss it because each time Jesus is introduced He’s telling the church how He can meet the need of their lives. As He writes to this church He says, “Write to this church in Sardis and tell them, ‘These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.’”

Jesus holds the seven spirits. We learn in chapter one of Revelation, that the Spirits of God in the book of Revelation are a symbol or sign for the Holy Spirit of God working in our lives. And Jesus holds the seven stars. We learn also in the first couple of chapters that the seven stars is a symbol for the messengers of God. Some people think this means the angels of those churches, the messengers who are angels. Other people think this is the pastors of those churches, those giving the message. Either way this is the message of God, whoever it’s being given through. Jesus writes to this church and says, “You know what you need? You need God’s message heard through God’s Spirit.” If you begin to hear God’s message communicated through God’s Spirit it’s going to start to bring you to life again. What’s the message?

Jesus said, “I know your deeds [and here’s where you need to see the gap] that you have a reputation of being alive but you are dead.” Jesus knows the difference between those gaps that you and I face in our lives sometimes. In this church He tells them “I know the difference between your reputation and reality, between what people say about you, what people think about you, between the buzz that’s out there about you and reality about your life. I know the difference about it.”

Jesus knows the difference in the gaps in our lives too. Reputation is what everybody thinks you are. Character is what you really are. And Jesus knows what your reputation is but He also knows your character because He knows better than anybody else. As He looks at my life and your life who better than He to say, “There are a few gaps here. You’ve got a few places in your life that people are thinking ‘this’ about you but you’re heading in the wrong direction. You’ve got a few gaps here, a few holes to fill in.”

The people who looked at this city of Sardis looked at this church and they must have seen them as a respectable group of people but there was an incredible gap because that’s all they saw them as. They saw them as a respectable group of people who were neither dangerous or desirable. There wasn’t anything about this church to draw anybody to it. It had a great reputation but it didn’t have any energy. There was no life in it. It’s been said many times about that type of church that they were mild mannered people meeting in mild mannered ways

Jesus is very blunt about this. He doesn’t come in and say, “I know your reputation that you’re alive. I want to help you with this. You’ve got a few problems. I’d like to help you to move to the next level.” No, Jesus just says, “You’re dead.” That’s the struggle we have with Jesus Christ sometimes. He’s so honest and blunt. You know why I struggle with that? It depresses me to know I'm dead! Doesn’t it depress you if somebody says to you, “You’re dead!” It’s a little depressing! I’d rather have somebody do that positive thinking kind of stuff and say, “You could be alive!” “You’re dead” is some negative kind of stuff. Why does He do that? He wants them to see the gap. He wants them to feel the frustration of “Here’s who I am but here’s what I could be.”

A couple other gaps we all face between reputation and reality.

The gap between what you say and what you do. We can say great things but it’s tough to do them. You can say, “I love You, Lord,” but do you really? One of the ways, by the way, you can see if what you’re saying is real, if there’s really an emotion and a heart behind it, is the way you sing. If you feel your heart filling with a sense of genuine love for God, that’s an indication that what I say about my love for God and the reality of my love for God is really real. Let’s be honest. Isn’t it true that sometimes we love the things in this world more than the Lord? Little things. Like where I'm going to go out to eat or what movie I'm going to see. Do we think about that more than we think about the Lord? We don’t see God as even being a part of those things.

That’s the way you know the difference between what you say and what you really do – the gap. You say you want to be Jesus’ disciple, that you really want to follow Jesus Christ, but if you look at your life is there any real discipline in your life? The root word of disciple is discipline. Are you reading God’s word? Is prayer a part of your daily life? I say I want to be His disciple and to make those habits a part of my daily life, and it’s a struggle. I’ll admit it. It’s a very great struggle to make those habits a part of your life.

What do you think are the biggest gaps that people in the San Ramon Valley struggle with?

The materialism gap. Not needing money but needing more things.

The fear gap. The fear to tell the truth is a huge gap for people. They want to tell the truth but they feel like if they do they’ll lose their job, they won’t make a sale. A huge gap. A lot of you face that one or know people that face that one.

Pride gap. I'm humble and all that, but the truth is I really like it when people notice me.

Lying gap. The other side of the truth gap. You find yourself lying again and again.

Forgiveness gap. That’s a huge one. I know I should forgive. I feel like it’s important to forgive but I just can’t find the strength to forgive that person. That’s a gap that we face. And where do you find the strength to grow into forgiveness? By the way if you think that you immediately have that sense of forgiveness, that you don’t grow into it, you’ve missed the point of how we work. It is something you grow into. It’s not something that happens immediately. Sometimes you have to say, “I want to forgive that person,” a thousand times before we begin to sense it.

The image gap. That’s a good one for our valley. We’re driving around in our cars with the dark windows and behind the dark windows we’ve got the curlers in and we’re picking our noses. There’s a gap between those things!

Lord, help me to see the gaps! If you’re a little discouraged right now thinking, “It’s a grand canyon! How am I ever going to get from one side to the other? It’s such a huge gap.” You can’t feel that way. We’re talking about growing to feel like Christ so it’s a very frustrating thing to think, “I want to be more like Him but it’s so far. How do I get there?” So you pray the second prayer. Not just help me to see them and feel it but…

#2. LORD, HELP ME TO CLOSE THE GAPS.

Help me step by step to begin to close those gaps between what You want me to be and what I am. Between the struggles I'm facing and where I really sense You want me to grow.

Jesus writes to this church with this incredible gap between reputation and reality and He says here’s what you do. “Wake up! Strengthen what remains. Remember what you’ve received and heard. You obey it and repent. If you don’t wake up I'm going to come like a thief.”

Help me to close the gaps. How do you revitalize faith? How do you revitalize a relationship? How do you revitalize a sense of closeness with God? Jesus says here’s how you do it. And He walks them and us through it.

He says, “Wake up.”

This church at Sardis is a reflection of its city in many ways. As I mentioned in the first section of this reading for today, the city of Sardis, the main portion of it, was built on a plateau about 1500 feet above the plain. There was only one narrow way to get into this city. It was very easily guarded. You could see anybody that was coming up. Yet twice in its history, once by the Persians and once by the Greeks, this city was taken. And you know how it was taken both times? Both times it was taken because a group of dedicated soldiers went up the side of a cliff. They saw some of the people of the city climbing up and down the cliffs and they figured out how to climb up the cliffs. They climbed up at night and when they got to the top there was no one guarding the city. No one. The reason why is because they were convinced that no one could attack the city. So they were all asleep.

So when Jesus writes to this church and He says, “Wake up!” Everyone in that church would have understood what He meant. If you’re not awake you’re very vulnerable to attack.

This city and the church in it is a perfect example of over confidence and arrogance and what it can do in our lives. The pride issue we talked about a minute ago. The strange thing about this church, as you read about it, is did you notice it doesn’t have any of the problems that the other churches did? It doesn’t have false teachers. They’re not suffering persecution. It’s not where Satan’s throne is. Yet this church above all the other churches is condemned by Jesus. Why? Because they’ve grown complacent. Everything was easy and maybe because everything was easy they’d grown complacent and their faith had become flabby.

If you don’t think Sardis couldn’t be a little bit about America you’ve missed the point. It’s pretty easy for us sometimes, isn’t it? Our faith can grow flabby. We don’t have the same persecutions that maybe others in the world face. Even in the church we have clear teaching and we all have the Bible to read and we don't face some of the false teachings that sweep across the rest of the world. You and I can begin to have a faith, a sense of a relationship with God that grows weaker and weaker rather than stronger and stronger. Jesus writes and says, “Wake up. I still want to work in your life. I want to grow you in your life. Don’t let your spiritual muscles deteriorate. Wake up to what I want to do.”

I’ve got to be very careful at my weakest point, at that place where I know I’ve fallen again and again. If I ever start to say to myself that place or that habit or that thought or that unforgiveness or bitterness or whatever it is where I’ve fallen again and again, if I start to say to myself, “I think I’ve got that one licked,” I notice that is the day I fall again. So I’ve got to be very careful about that place. I know I have a weakness. I say, “I know I have a weakness here. I'm going to have it the rest of my life.” And just like a city that needs to know the weakest place of attack I need to protect that place. Lod, help us wake up to Your plan for us and remain awake.