REVELATION CHAPTER 3:1-6, “Letter To Church Of Sardis”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. In our last study, we looked at the letter from Christ to the church in Thyatira

1.1.1. We saw that this church represents in church history the “papal church” from the middle of the Dark Ages until the period of the Reformation

1.1.2. The church had many good deeds

1.1.3. The church however was putting up with the wicked teachings and influence of Jezebel

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at Jesus’ letter written to the church in Sardis

1.2.1. We will see that many believe that this church represents the church during the period of the Reformation in church history

1.2.2. Jesus had nothing good to say about this church as a whole although there were individuals in it who were walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. It appears that this was a church that Jesus felt as a whole was without hope

1.2.3. The church had reformed from the doctrines and practices of the Thyatirian church, however they hadn’t reformed enough

2. VS 3:1 - “3:1 ”And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” - Jesus tells John to dictate a letter from Him to the church in Sardis

2.1. Sardis was both a wealthy and a wicked city, and it was the capital of ancient Lydia, and the home of King Croesus and Aesop. The city was located about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. A small remnant of the once active and vibrant city exists, however most of the city lies in ruins.

2.2. The letter to the church at Sardis contains no commendations by Christ, for it was a church that existed only in external ritual with no real spiritual life. The church had once been very healthy and alive, however now most of the people were unregenerate, and the church was merely going through the motions of religion.

2.3. This church apparently symbolizes historically the church during the period of “The Reformation,” or about 1517AD until about 1725AD (these last few churches beginning with the church in Thyatira continue to exist today however)

2.3.1. Though the reformers had definitely seen through the doctrinal errors of the Roman church in order to see accurately the way of salvation by faith in Christ apart from the works of the law, they did not reform far enough in order to escape all of the doctrinal errors. For instance:

2.3.1.1.In the matter of the belief about and practice of communion, Luther denied the Roman Church’s view of “transubstantiation” in communion (the elements actually transforming into the literal body and blood of the Lord), however instead of refuting the notion completely he held to the idea of “consubstantiation” (the body and blood of Christ being partaken along with the elements).

2.3.1.2.Luther held to the concept of sacraments (that grace is received through rites given in the church) including that salvation is conferred through the sacrament of water baptism.

2.3.2. Also, the churches that were begun by the reformers soon began to make the same errors of the Roman church in setting up their rigid systems, programs, and practices.

2.3.2.1.Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to lead in the decisions of the church and to seek Christ in all decisions as the head of the church, instead the churches simply kept on mimicking the things that the reformers themselves had done and experienced in the Roman church.

2.3.2.1.1.They had the mind-set, “We can’t change that, for this is the way that we have always done it.”

2.3.2.1.2.They substituted “form for function”, and then did not let the Holy Spirit work in their midst.

2.3.3. These churches also became state churches and politics began to influence church policy, for instance:

2.3.3.1.The Lutheran church became the state church of Germany.

2.3.3.2.The church of England, also referred to as the Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church, came into existence in the 1530s, when King Henry VIII wished to obtain a divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon because she had not given birth to a male heir. The Pope wouldn’t sanction his divorce and so after trying for a long time to convince the pope, the King proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Church began its separate existence from Rome.

2.4. The name “Sardis” is probably from the Hebrew word meaning “rest” or “remnant”. I suppose that if one were looking at the Holy Spirit’s footprint in that name, he could perhaps come up with something pertaining to this epistle from one of those names, however it would perhaps at best be an obscure one.

2.5. What Christ describes about Himself relative to this letter to the church in Sardis is that He is ‘He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars’. The reference to ‘the seven Spirits of God’ is thought to be a reference similar to the one mentioned in chapter 1 in which I mentioned it being a reference to the Holy Spirit as described in Isaiah 61.

2.5.1. Christ is then saying that through the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit that He is soon to come and to judge this church in Sardis which had become “spiritually dead.”

2.5.2. In Christ describing Himself as having ‘the seven stars’, a description previously given in the book of Himself, He is again referring to the fact that He has the churches in His hand and that therefore He is the ultimate authority over the churches.

2.6. What Christ reveals that He knows about this church in Sardis is contained here: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead’.

2.6.1. By His omniscience, He knows every person’s ‘deeds’, whether good or evil.

2.6.2. Christ also reveals here that He knows also that they ‘have a name that you are alive, but you are dead’. This says in effect that others know about this church in Sardis, and that others think that the church is ‘alive’, however Christ knows the reality of their situation, spiritually they ‘are dead.’

2.6.2.1.When we look historically at the church from the period of the reformation until 1900, what was important to the churches was that they ‘had a name’. These churches were sometimes named in such a way that brought remembrance of the reformer who they look to as having started their church, or for the movement from which the church came out of. They took great pride in their “names”.

2.6.2.1.1.Their name brings to remembrance to them that time when God once moved mightily in their midst. It is such a shame when a church’s glory is always in what they “used to be” instead of what the Lord is doing today through the church. For the most part this is the legacy of the denominational churches that exist today in 20th century America. Some of these churches today have life and the Lord is moving in them, but sadly most can only look backwards for the glory days when the Lord was moving.

2.6.2.2.These Reformation era churches have also become steeped in liberal theology in the last hundred or more years and now to a large extent do not believe the Bible to be the word of God, but instead believe it to be the word of man.

2.6.2.2.1.Not believing in the infallibility of the inspired word of God some also are now even going to the extent in being worldly that they are doing things like ordaining homosexuals into the ministry.

2.6.2.2.2.Many pastors in some of these Reformation churches have never come to have a saving personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and their religion is all about tradition, ritual, and external observances.

2.6.2.2.3.I personally grew up in one of the denominations that came into being during the Reformation period, and in the 16 or so years that I attended, having even been an acolyte and even confirmed in the church, I never once heard that I could have a personal relationship with Christ through faith and be personally saved from my sins. The priests never taught the Bible, though they would occasionally quote from it. Our prayers were memorized as was our responsive readings, and I never even knew what the words meant that I would speak in church. My experience in the church actually caused me to doubt the very existence of God and the validity of the Christian faith. It was not until at the age of 19, and long after I had left that church, that someone finally shared with me the gospel and showed me how I could come to personal faith in Christ for salvation.

2.6.2.2.4.I have often felt that the man after whom some denominations are named were to be alive today that he would not have anything to do with the denomination which bears his name.

2.6.2.3.These churches that came about in the Reformation era continue the traditions and rituals of their religion, however for the most part they have lost the meaning of the things that they are doing.

2.6.2.4.These dead churches have no idea how to get back into the place where God is again moving in their midst. They are filled with people fixed upon tradition and controlled by denominational boards steeped in their traditions, and they are unable to make the necessary changes needed to again place themselves in such a way that God can again move in their midst.

2.6.2.4.1.In these type of churches today, what the Bible says about this or that is irrelevant, for they are bound to their traditions.

2.6.2.4.2.Instead of interpreting and judging their traditions through God’s Word, they judge God’s Word based upon their traditions.

2.7. As I have written, Sardis most likely fits prophetically the Reformation church (A.D. 1500+), when the church was reforming, but not enough, not finishing the work. I must include the tidbit below from John Gill's commentary on Revelation. John Gill was a pastor in London, writing around 1750. It seems that usually commentaries that are this old don't have a clue about how to interpret Biblical eschatology, since they were so far from the fulfillments. John Gill was way ahead of his time however and wrote the following concerning the church of Sardis, "This church represents the state of the church from the time of the Reformation by Luther and others, until a more glorious state of the church appears, or until the spiritual reign of Christ in the Philadelphian period; under the Sardian church state we now are: that this church is an emblem of the reformed churches from Popery, is evident not only from its following the Thyatirian state, which expresses the darkness of Popery, and the depths of Satan in it; but from its being clear of Balaam, and those that held his doctrine; and from the Nicolaitans and their tenets, and from Jezebel, and those that committed adultery with her; things which the two former churches are charged with; but from these the present church reformed."

3. VS 3:2 - “2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” - Jesus tells the church in Sardis to wake up

3.1. We notice that this is the first letter in which there is not a commendation by Christ. This means that the church as a whole has fallen away, and now that it is only some individuals within the church who follow Christ obediently, and Christ sees no hope for the church as a whole, she is too far gone.

3.2. Instead of a commendation by Christ, He begins immediately by telling the church to ‘wake up’. This is a church which has gone to sleep in a spiritual sense. They are like a star which has turned into a black hole. Where once it shone brightly, now it can only bend and attract all light around it into an ever increasing darkness.

3.3. Christ next exhorts the church to ‘strengthen the things that remain which were about to die’, which means that He wants them to think about those areas which have not yet been completely compromised and try not to also let those slip.

3.3.1. The only hope for this church is to do what is a very hard self-examination. They must recognize that they do not need a face lift they need a transplant, they are asleep and must take account of just how far they have missed the mark.

3.3.2. They must go to God’s Word and see where they have fallen much as happened in the Old Testament times in the book of Nehemiah when Ezra read continually to the people the whole book of the law so that they could see all of the areas in which they have slipped from being where God wanted them to be, and then the people repented of their sins.

3.4. When Christ says, ‘for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God’, what in effect He is saying is that there is not any work in which the church is performing which is right before the Lord. Every work is compromised. This church is dead and the only thing that will help it is to “come alive” spiritually. It does not need a Band-Aid here and a tweak there. It needs total reformation from the inside out. It needs a revival of religion that is widespread and effects everyone in the body.

3.5. We Christians sometimes fall asleep, and we need a slap in the face by the Lord in order to wake up. However, we should never wait until the Lord has to do something radical in order to rudely wake us up. Someone once said, “Listen to the Lord when He taps on your shoulder, and don’t wait to listen to Him until He finally has to come rap upon your head in order to get your attention.”

4. VS 3:3 - “3 ‘Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.” - Jesus gives the church in Sardis a stern warning concerning His coming to them

4.1. Christ tells the church in Sardis that they must take inventory and think long about all of the blessings they have received and all of the things that they had originally learned from the Lord. They must get back to their roots as far as evaluating the basics of Christianity, such as what is involved in becoming a Christian for instance, which is the teachings they one time had read and heard taught. For, if their people are not truly regenerated, then every program or ministry imaginable will fail to achieve any real spiritual success until its people are brought to personal salvation through Christ.

4.2. Further, Christ tells this church that they must ‘keep’ the things that they were originally taught about Christ and personal salvation. They must hold onto those things as a foundation from which the Lord can build their lives. They must have this foundation so that they can become discipled in their walk with the Lord. They need discipleship after coming to salvation so that they can learn what a personal walk with Christ consists of.

4.2.1. We Christians should take these words of warning from the Lord to heart, and from time to time take inventory of the things that we have learned about the Lord, and what we have been taught. If we would just apply ourselves to meditate more upon the things that the Lord is trying to teach us, we would be wise and ever fruitful for the Lord in ministry. We Christians should never let anything that we have, that is what the Lord has taught us or worked into our life, slip away and be taken from us by the enemy, for the Christian who is losing ground to the enemy is in a very grave situation, and ready to fall completely away.

4.3. Finally, Christ tells the church at Sardis that as they look into the things that they have been taught in Christ, the things that they have heard and been taught, that they need to ‘repent’ regarding all of the discoveries that they make in finding out where they have fallen away from being where the Lord wants them to be.

4.4. After the exhortations to the church in Sardis, Christ gives the following warning to them ‘If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you’. They have been given an ultimatum by the Lord. They must either come out of their spiritual slumber and realize where they are really at concerning their relationship with the Lord and then follow the light that Christ reveals to them from His Word as their seek Him and His will for them, or, if they do not He promises that He will come ‘like a thief’, or stealthily, when they least expect it.

4.4.1. In Matt. 24:44, Jesus taught that we should always have our heart and our lives in such a state that we are prepared for His return, “44 “For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.””

4.4.2. Jesus made it clear that “no man knows the hour” when He shall return, and I believe that the chief reason that God has held back this knowledge from us about the day or time of His return is because He desires that we should always be living our lives ready for Him to return. So many would procrastinate serving and following Him if they knew when it was that He was returning, however not knowing when He is coming, and further having the warning from His Word that He shall come when we least expect it, then the Christian is encouraged to be ready at all times for His Lord to return.

4.4.3. Each of us must always make sure that we are prepared in our hearts and lives for the Lord’s return. We should always be about our Father’s business, and not allow the distractions of this life to keep us from being where the Lord has called us to be. Are you ready for Christ to return today? Would you draw back from Him if He were to return today? Or, would you rejoice because you have been being faithful to Him and awaiting His return?

4.4.3.1.If you aren’t ready for Christ to return, you would be wise to take your soonest opportunity to ‘repent’ and turn your life over to the Christ as your Lord and Savior, trusting in His completed work upon the cross to be the full payment for your sacrifices.

4.4.4. We will see in the discussion of the next era in church history represented by the church in Philadelphia that it came about as a result of passion for missionary work, a passion which was ignited largely by a renewed interest in Christ’s Second Coming and the resurgence of the Pre-millennial view of Biblical end times eschatology. This church needed to consider and keep before it the fact that Christ was soon to return and that they needed to make sure their hearts were ready for His return.

5. VS 3:4 - “4 ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.” - Jesus tells the church in Sardis that they have a few who have not soiled their garments

5.1. Since the church as a whole was not where the Lord wanted them to be, and it was only a very few individuals who were even trying in their lives to follow Christ, He gives a commendation not to the church as a whole but only to those few individuals. He tells them that He knows that they ‘have not soiled their garments’.

5.2. Christ then encourages these faithful few saying they ‘will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.’ White is symbolic of purity and holiness, and Christ assures them that when He returns that they will be clothed with that which typifies their life at this moment in time, the purity of white garments.

5.2.1. These faithful few are walking in a way that is ‘worthy’ of their blessings and privileges which they have received in Christ.

5.2.1.1.In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, he spends three chapters speaking only of all of the spiritual blessings that have been given to the church through their relationship with Christ. Then after giving them that long list of the incredible things that the Lord had done for them, He exhorts them “to walk in a manner that is worthy”. This is what a Christian is called to do, and must do, since He has received such magnificent and precious promises and blessings.

5.2.1.2.We Christians do need to walk in a manner that is ‘worthy’ of Christ and the many and great promises and blessing which we have received as a child of God, for as Jesus said in Luke 12:48, “...from everyone who has been given much shall much be required...”

5.2.2. What a blessing it will be to be one who is clothed in white before the Lord when He returns, the color symbolic of purity and holiness. The Lord is returning for those of us who are His “saints”, which is a word that means “holy ones.” There shall be no salvation for the one who is not made “holy” in this life. The writer to the book of Hebrews mentioned this in Heb. 12:14, “14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

5.3. There are some pockets within these Reformed churches today where there is a revival of true religion going on. I find an occasional Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, etc., church where the pastor has had a genuine salvation experience and is filled with the Holy Spirit and truly preaching the gospel. Some of the churches are extremely dynamic because they appeal to many within these denominations who desire a true relationship with Christ and are tired of being in a dead church.

6. VS 3:5 - “5 ‘He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” - Jesus gives a promise to the overcomers

6.1. Christ promises the individual overcomer in the church at Sardis that the one who follows Christ and does not give in to the worldly and carnal influences within the church, that on the day when Christ returns for him that he shall ‘be clothed in white garments’, which again is symbolic of the purity of his life and works before God.

6.2. Christ also promises the overcomers that He ‘will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels’.

6.2.1. In the gospels, Jesus made the promise that if we confess His Name before men, that He will confess our name before the Father who is in heaven; however, if we deny His Name before men, He will deny our name before His Father who is in heaven. In this verse, Christ says that for the overcomer, ‘I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels’. This confessing of the name of the overcomer is something that is evidence of a genuine salvation experience.

6.2.2. The author of the book of Hebrews wrote that Christ in His office as our High Priest is ever making intercession before the Father for those who are His children in this world. These ones whom He is interceding for, which by the way is a form of prayer, are the ones whom He is confessing before the Father in heaven and His holy angels.

7. VS 3:6 - “6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.‘” - Jesus tells us all who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches

7.1. As with all of His epistles to the churches, in this verse Christ makes an appeal for all of His people (those who have ears that is), to ‘hear what the Spirit says to the churches’, which means to take heed to His exhortations, warnings, and promises.

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