[Originally preached 23 February, 2003]
Revelation 3.1-6
We move on to the next of the letters to the seven churches, the letter to the church at Sardis. We will probably return to this letter next week to look at a second aspect of the letter. Suffice it to say that this week we will once again see that the book of Revelation is about the Gospel and what it means to believe that Gospel. We will also be reminded that Jesus has expectations of His churches. My hope is that the Spirit will take the truths in this text and make us all pause and think and pray so that we might be faithful to our Savior.
The problem with this church is fairly obvious. Once again we see that Jesus doesn’t mince any words. This church is dead – or just about. What makes it worse is that it is not obviously dead. It hasn’t fallen apart. In fact, it has a reputation for being alive. To all appearances, this was a church that seemed to be doing well. In fact, based on what Jesus says here, it was a church that other Christians thought well of. ‘Good old First Church of Sardis. There’s a church that’s faithful to the Lord. Wish our church could be like that one.’ But reputation notwithstanding, what was Jesus’ opinion? ‘You’re a dead church. Your reputation is a lie.’ How would you like to get a message like that from Jesus, Himself?
Now, what would a church like this look like? If you were there among the believers at Sardis what would you see? I suppose you’d see a church doing church things. There’d be Sunday worship services. Maybe a prayer meeting during the week or some other time of the saints getting together. The services would be well attended by the believers of the city. There wouldn’t be any evidence of conflict or discontent among the saints. All in all, the church would be running smoothly. Things would seem to be moving along quite nicely. And yet, as far as Jesus was concerned, it was a dead church. And, unless something changed soon, Jesus was going to show up, quite unexpectedly, to judge this congregation.
Now, if you stop and think about this a bit I think that you’ll agree that it’s a little scary. If everything looks good how can you tell that it’s not? What will help here is to see what it is that Jesus expects. Here, we need to consider what Jesus says in verse 3.
Remember, then, how you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. Revelation 3:3
Now, some of your translations will have ‘what’ instead of ‘how’. But if you have an old KJV or a NKJV or an old ASV, you’ll see ‘how’, which is what it should be. And it makes a difference. Jesus isn’t pointing them to the content of what they received in the past. He is pointing them to the manner that they received it. It’s ‘how’ they received and not ‘what’ they received. Jesus is calling this church to look back and to remember how they acted earlier in their history. This is the same sort of thing that He did in His letter to the church at Ephesus.
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Revelation 2:4-5
It is a call to the faithful actions of the past. Specifically, Jesus calls the church in Sardis back to how they used to receive Him and how they used to listen to Him. He is calling them back to how they used to interact with their Lord. This is the same sort of thing that Jesus refers to in His letter to the church at Laodicea.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
Jesus offers Himself anew to the church at Laodicea. The question is whether they will receive Him. Jesus tells the church at Sardis that He knows that they used to open wide the doors of their hearts to Him in the past. He calls them to return to those former ways.
All of this alerts us to the problem. Sardis was once close to her Lord, but no longer. What happened? What was it like at first in this church? What changed it? We don’t know anything more about Sardis. This is the only text in Scripture that speaks about that church. But we might get some ideas by looking at other situations in the New Testament.
The book of Acts recounts some of the conversions that occurred when the church was in its infancy. As you read about them there are some things that they have in common. For one thing, there was the response of joy. First, there’s the Ethiopian eunuch. Luke tells us that after being baptized by Philip, this man, ‘went on his way rejoicing.’ [Acts 8.39] Then, there was the Philippian jailer who ‘rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.’ [Acts 16:34] And when the Samaritans heard and believed the Gospel, ‘…there was much joy in that city.’ [Acts 8:8] One persistent element among the newly converted was joy. And why not? Now, they knew the Savior.
Next, we can look at the church in Jerusalem. What was it like after those first conversions on the day of Pentecost? For one thing they were devoted to the Word and to the worship of their risen Lord.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42
They weren’t only devoted to Christ in this. They were also devoted to each other.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Acts 4:32-35
What do we see in the experiences of these new converts and the early church? We see people rejoicing in the glories of the Gospel that are now theirs. We see people devoted to heeding the Word and to prayer so that they might be devoted to Christ, their Savior. We see people devoted to each other and showing it in tangible – and costly – ways. I’m guessing that this is what it was like in Sardis.
But, then, what is the all too common response when people see the enthusiasm of this kind of living? ‘Well, it’s understandable that people are all excited when they begin something new like becoming a Christian or starting a church. But things change as you get older and time moves on. Life calms down. That’s just the way that life is. The newness of things wears off after a while. You can’t expect the excitement to continue.’
What shall we say to this? First, let’s listen to the instructions of the Apostle Paul to a church not far from some of these seven churches.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
Did you hear what he said? Basically, it boils down to this: remember how you received Christ, remember what it was like back then, the joy, the devotion? That’s how you should continue your Christian walk. That’s what normal is supposed to be.
And then there are Peter’s words describing a group of Christians who also lived near these seven churches.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8,9
It had been a while since these believers had been converted. The first blush of conversion was long past. And in the interim they had learned about suffering for the faith. And yet, they were still rejoicing with a glorious joy that goes beyond words.
No, it’s not it is to be expected that the liveliness and enthusiasm of being a new convert calms down after a while. In fact, it’s that assumption that is the problem. What some call a calmer, more mature Christian life, Jesus calls deadness. Oh sure, there is a certain youthful impetuosity and exhilaration that changes as one matures. But that doesn’t mean that the joy and the love and the devotion fade. If anything, these should deepen and increase in ways that new converts could never anticipate. Spending years with Christ should result in even more reasons to rejoice and be glad, more reasons to love and care for one another, more reasons to follow Jesus even more intently.
You see, we are, again, back to the question of what it is that Jesus expects of us. One thing that I hope is becoming clearer with each sermon from these letters is that Jesus expects a lot! He is quite demanding. Here, we see that He expects a lively and even passionate faith in the Gospel. This, for Him, is normal. And as the rough edges of youthfulness are being smoothed off, in their place He expects a growing devotion to Him that shows. And how should it show? The signs of real life are things like a love that is sincere and with deepening affection, a devotion to one another that is willing to pay the price to be sure that needs are met, and an abiding joy that words cannot express because it is rooted in the knowledge of who our God is for us. And the basis of all of this is a growing experience of the truths of the Gospel: I am a horrific sinner who is abominable before the holy God and who thus deserves the torments of hell forever. And yet, because of the love and unutterable sufferings of my Savior, I am instead made a cherished child of God. And you know that there is a growing experience of the Gospel in your life because you see in your life lots of repenting for your sins and lots of coming again to Jesus by faith in that Gospel, and lots of joy and love and devotion. That’s Christian living. And it’s a far cry from some church just running smoothly.
Do you see what our problems are? Do you see why it is that we so easily settle for something far less then real Christian living? For one thing, our expectations are way off. We expect too little. We expect too little of ourselves. We are content with coasting in life. But Jesus isn’t content with coasting. He calls for more. He calls for real living. Our expectations of ourselves are rooted in our expectations of the Gospel. We expect too little of the Gospel which is another way of saying that we expect too little of Jesus. He claims that His Gospel brings real life, things like joy and zeal and the experience of the power of the Spirit. He claims that His Gospel actually changes lives and makes people more and more like Himself and less and less like the little devils that we are by nature. He claims that the Gospel is the power of God now present in this world and not just a ticket that will get us safely to the next stop. There is too often a large gap between what Jesus claims for the Gospel and what we believe about it.
But then there is another problem that we need to face. Are we willing to pay the price to enjoy the Gospel? In each of the seven letters Jesus makes promises to those who overcome, to those who conquer. He knows that there are obstacles that need to be dealt with – and that there are those who are unwilling to deal with them. They find it too difficult. In one way or another, they settle for less – which is ultimately settling for nothing. But to those who are willing to pay the price Jesus promises that the blessings will make the price pale in comparison. In all of this our problems boil down to one thing. We really don’t understand the Gospel all that well. We don’t understand the demands that Jesus makes of us nor do we understand the blessings He has promised. And so we settle for less.
So, what shall we do? Jesus has already told us what to do.
Remember, then, how you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. Revelation 3:3
If you find yourself acting like the Christians at Sardis, then you need to repent. But of what shall we repent? We should repent of being satisfied with less, of expecting less of Jesus, of the Gospel, of ourselves. We should repent of being satisfied with having an institution that is merely running smoothly. We should repent of being content with a lack of growth in ourselves, of being content with humdrum. All of these are just different forms of unbelief. We need to repent that we don’t believe the Gospel nearly as well as we think we do nor as well as Jesus requires us to.
But where there is true repentance there is always true faith. Along with repenting we need to come again to Jesus. First of all, we need to ask Him to forgive us. Our unbelief is a great sin against our God. Then we need to ask Him to give us a new understanding of what the Gospel really is. We need to ask Him to show us what the possibilities are, how Christian living is filled with joy and love and devotion. And then, we need to ask Him for the grace to believe that Gospel. In one sense this is easy. But in another sense it is really hard. We need to humble ourselves before our God, admit our sin and look to Him to act. And then be willing to change. And that’s hard. But to all who do respond in faith, the blessings are beyond what we can see at this point. The blessing will make the price pale in comparison. And then we can move on to be the church that Jesus has called us to be.6
Revelation 3.1-6
We move on to the next of the letters to the seven churches, the letter to the church at Sardis. We will probably return to this letter next week to look at a second aspect of the letter. Suffice it to say that this week we will once again see that the book of Revelation is about the Gospel and what it means to believe that Gospel. We will also be reminded that Jesus has expectations of His churches. My hope is that the Spirit will take the truths in this text and make us all pause and think and pray so that we might be faithful to our Savior.
The problem with this church is fairly obvious. Once again we see that Jesus doesn’t mince any words. This church is dead – or just about. What makes it worse is that it is not obviously dead. It hasn’t fallen apart. In fact, it has a reputation for being alive. To all appearances, this was a church that seemed to be doing well. In fact, based on what Jesus says here, it was a church that other Christians thought well of. ‘Good old First Church of Sardis. There’s a church that’s faithful to the Lord. Wish our church could be like that one.’ But reputation notwithstanding, what was Jesus’ opinion? ‘You’re a dead church. Your reputation is a lie.’ How would you like to get a message like that from Jesus, Himself?
Now, what would a church like this look like? If you were there among the believers at Sardis what would you see? I suppose you’d see a church doing church things. There’d be Sunday worship services. Maybe a prayer meeting during the week or some other time of the saints getting together. The services would be well attended by the believers of the city. There wouldn’t be any evidence of conflict or discontent among the saints. All in all, the church would be running smoothly. Things would seem to be moving along quite nicely. And yet, as far as Jesus was concerned, it was a dead church. And, unless something changed soon, Jesus was going to show up, quite unexpectedly, to judge this congregation.
Now, if you stop and think about this a bit I think that you’ll agree that it’s a little scary. If everything looks good how can you tell that it’s not? What will help here is to see what it is that Jesus expects. Here, we need to consider what Jesus says in verse 3.
Remember, then, how you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. Revelation 3:3
Now, some of your translations will have ‘what’ instead of ‘how’. But if you have an old KJV or a NKJV or an old ASV, you’ll see ‘how’, which is what it should be. And it makes a difference. Jesus isn’t pointing them to the content of what they received in the past. He is pointing them to the manner that they received it. It’s ‘how’ they received and not ‘what’ they received. Jesus is calling this church to look back and to remember how they acted earlier in their history. This is the same sort of thing that He did in His letter to the church at Ephesus.
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Revelation 2:4-5
It is a call to the faithful actions of the past. Specifically, Jesus calls the church in Sardis back to how they used to receive Him and how they used to listen to Him. He is calling them back to how they used to interact with their Lord. This is the same sort of thing that Jesus refers to in His letter to the church at Laodicea.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
Jesus offers Himself anew to the church at Laodicea. The question is whether they will receive Him. Jesus tells the church at Sardis that He knows that they used to open wide the doors of their hearts to Him in the past. He calls them to return to those former ways.
All of this alerts us to the problem. Sardis was once close to her Lord, but no longer. What happened? What was it like at first in this church? What changed it? We don’t know anything more about Sardis. This is the only text in Scripture that speaks about that church. But we might get some ideas by looking at other situations in the New Testament.
The book of Acts recounts some of the conversions that occurred when the church was in its infancy. As you read about them there are some things that they have in common. For one thing, there was the response of joy. First, there’s the Ethiopian eunuch. Luke tells us that after being baptized by Philip, this man, ‘went on his way rejoicing.’ [Acts 8.39] Then, there was the Philippian jailer who ‘rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.’ [Acts 16:34] And when the Samaritans heard and believed the Gospel, ‘…there was much joy in that city.’ [Acts 8:8] One persistent element among the newly converted was joy. And why not? Now, they knew the Savior.
Next, we can look at the church in Jerusalem. What was it like after those first conversions on the day of Pentecost? For one thing they were devoted to the Word and to the worship of their risen Lord.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42
They weren’t only devoted to Christ in this. They were also devoted to each other.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Acts 4:32-35
What do we see in the experiences of these new converts and the early church? We see people rejoicing in the glories of the Gospel that are now theirs. We see people devoted to heeding the Word and to prayer so that they might be devoted to Christ, their Savior. We see people devoted to each other and showing it in tangible – and costly – ways. I’m guessing that this is what it was like in Sardis.
But, then, what is the all too common response when people see the enthusiasm of this kind of living? ‘Well, it’s understandable that people are all excited when they begin something new like becoming a Christian or starting a church. But things change as you get older and time moves on. Life calms down. That’s just the way that life is. The newness of things wears off after a while. You can’t expect the excitement to continue.’
What shall we say to this? First, let’s listen to the instructions of the Apostle Paul to a church not far from some of these seven churches.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
Did you hear what he said? Basically, it boils down to this: remember how you received Christ, remember what it was like back then, the joy, the devotion? That’s how you should continue your Christian walk. That’s what normal is supposed to be.
And then there are Peter’s words describing a group of Christians who also lived near these seven churches.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8,9
It had been a while since these believers had been converted. The first blush of conversion was long past. And in the interim they had learned about suffering for the faith. And yet, they were still rejoicing with a glorious joy that goes beyond words.
No, it’s not it is to be expected that the liveliness and enthusiasm of being a new convert calms down after a while. In fact, it’s that assumption that is the problem. What some call a calmer, more mature Christian life, Jesus calls deadness. Oh sure, there is a certain youthful impetuosity and exhilaration that changes as one matures. But that doesn’t mean that the joy and the love and the devotion fade. If anything, these should deepen and increase in ways that new converts could never anticipate. Spending years with Christ should result in even more reasons to rejoice and be glad, more reasons to love and care for one another, more reasons to follow Jesus even more intently.
You see, we are, again, back to the question of what it is that Jesus expects of us. One thing that I hope is becoming clearer with each sermon from these letters is that Jesus expects a lot! He is quite demanding. Here, we see that He expects a lively and even passionate faith in the Gospel. This, for Him, is normal. And as the rough edges of youthfulness are being smoothed off, in their place He expects a growing devotion to Him that shows. And how should it show? The signs of real life are things like a love that is sincere and with deepening affection, a devotion to one another that is willing to pay the price to be sure that needs are met, and an abiding joy that words cannot express because it is rooted in the knowledge of who our God is for us. And the basis of all of this is a growing experience of the truths of the Gospel: I am a horrific sinner who is abominable before the holy God and who thus deserves the torments of hell forever. And yet, because of the love and unutterable sufferings of my Savior, I am instead made a cherished child of God. And you know that there is a growing experience of the Gospel in your life because you see in your life lots of repenting for your sins and lots of coming again to Jesus by faith in that Gospel, and lots of joy and love and devotion. That’s Christian living. And it’s a far cry from some church just running smoothly.
Do you see what our problems are? Do you see why it is that we so easily settle for something far less then real Christian living? For one thing, our expectations are way off. We expect too little. We expect too little of ourselves. We are content with coasting in life. But Jesus isn’t content with coasting. He calls for more. He calls for real living. Our expectations of ourselves are rooted in our expectations of the Gospel. We expect too little of the Gospel which is another way of saying that we expect too little of Jesus. He claims that His Gospel brings real life, things like joy and zeal and the experience of the power of the Spirit. He claims that His Gospel actually changes lives and makes people more and more like Himself and less and less like the little devils that we are by nature. He claims that the Gospel is the power of God now present in this world and not just a ticket that will get us safely to the next stop. There is too often a large gap between what Jesus claims for the Gospel and what we believe about it.
But then there is another problem that we need to face. Are we willing to pay the price to enjoy the Gospel? In each of the seven letters Jesus makes promises to those who overcome, to those who conquer. He knows that there are obstacles that need to be dealt with – and that there are those who are unwilling to deal with them. They find it too difficult. In one way or another, they settle for less – which is ultimately settling for nothing. But to those who are willing to pay the price Jesus promises that the blessings will make the price pale in comparison. In all of this our problems boil down to one thing. We really don’t understand the Gospel all that well. We don’t understand the demands that Jesus makes of us nor do we understand the blessings He has promised. And so we settle for less.
So, what shall we do? Jesus has already told us what to do.
Remember, then, how you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. Revelation 3:3
If you find yourself acting like the Christians at Sardis, then you need to repent. But of what shall we repent? We should repent of being satisfied with less, of expecting less of Jesus, of the Gospel, of ourselves. We should repent of being satisfied with having an institution that is merely running smoothly. We should repent of being content with a lack of growth in ourselves, of being content with humdrum. All of these are just different forms of unbelief. We need to repent that we don’t believe the Gospel nearly as well as we think we do nor as well as Jesus requires us to.
But where there is true repentance there is always true faith. Along with repenting we need to come again to Jesus. First of all, we need to ask Him to forgive us. Our unbelief is a great sin against our God. Then we need to ask Him to give us a new understanding of what the Gospel really is. We need to ask Him to show us what the possibilities are, how Christian living is filled with joy and love and devotion. And then, we need to ask Him for the grace to believe that Gospel. In one sense this is easy. But in another sense it is really hard. We need to humble ourselves before our God, admit our sin and look to Him to act. And then be willing to change. And that’s hard. But to all who do respond in faith, the blessings are beyond what we can see at this point. The blessing will make the price pale in comparison. And then we can move on to be the church that Jesus has called us to be.6
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