The Seven Churches: Sardis

Sometimes the harder you try the behinder you get. People pleasing is like that. No matter how hard you try, it’s never good enough to keep everybody happy with you. Trying to please God works the same way. The believers of Sardis aren’t “ripping and running” with the world (as sinners in the Southern USA describe a lifestyle of immorality). No, these are good church people trying to do good. In fact, they are working so hard at it that it’s killing them. If that sounds like anyone you know, read on. Jesus says their works are dead. He sure doesn’t sound pleased.

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead." Revelation 3:1

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

Chief Characteristics

Whole books are written about most of these crucial components. These characteristics are summaries of what is grounded in scripture, not fabricated through speculation.[i] Speculation is trying to “see” more than we are being shown. What we see by Biblical revelation is real enough, but a fuller view will only come as these still distant components draw nearer.

Travellers, commerce and correspondence from Greece or Italy would arrive at Asia Minor's major seaport, Ephesus, then journey up the coast towards Pergamum, before turning east on the interior highway to Laodicea. The letter to the church at Sardis would have been the fifth letter delivered. Map of the Seven Churches

Sardis lay on the road to Laodicea from the coast between Thyatira and Philadelphia. Seven centuries prior to the time of these letters, Sardis was capital of the Lydian kingdom and prospered accordingly. The wealth of the last king of Lydia, Croesus, became the stuff of legends. Gold and silver coins were first minted there.[ii] It continued as a metropolitan capital under Roman rule. Destroyed by an earthquake in 17 A.D., the city regrouped and rebuilt, recovering its prestige, influence and wealth. These people were hard workers! Ironically, Jesus faulted the believers of Sardis for working hard at the wrong things and hardly working on the right ones.

Pre-Figured in Scripture

Every crucial component of the Last Days has already “appeared” in the Biblical prophetic narrative in the past, somewhat like a dress rehearsal for the final drama. These foreshadows are called “types” because they precede their ultimate expression (the “antitype”).[iii] As shadows of the future reality, however, they cast a revealing light of their own.

The Guest with No Garment

When our incredible Lord walked the earth, He spoke to the people of His day according to their needs. He also launched those same words of life onto a river of time which would carry them safely to our shores. He took the advice He’d given Solomon and cast His bread upon the waters.[iv] In our day they are coming back to Him—with us attached. When you put your “End Times glasses” on, it is amazing how much of the Bible comes into focus around the Last Days.

This parable of the wedding feast is an obvious example of a story that had plenty of good lessons in it for those days, but its setting is ours. It’s about a feast planned by a king for his son’s upcoming marriage. Sound familiar? The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is just around the corner. The wedding guests are being invited right before our eyes. He will soon be emptying the hedgerows by the greatest harvest the world has ever seen. What joy we’ll share in that festal gathering!

We should take care, however, to make sure we’re clothed with the proper attire. One of the guests crashed the party. Oh, he accepted the invitation and came, but something went terribly wrong. He neglected to put on the “wedding garment.” Well, we might think, maybe he didn’t have one. No, the garments were supplied. Then (in the Orient) as now (in God’s kingdom) they are freely available for all the guests.[v] Fortunately, we don’t have to wonder what kind of garment we should put on. This same Book of Revelation tells us to prepare for the marriage supper by clothing ourselves with “the righteous deeds of the saints.”[vi] Word to the wise: We had better do it. Jesus’ rebuked the believers of Sardis just as the king in His parable rebukes the hapless guest.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:11-14

The Book of Revelation Chapter 3:1-6

The Bible exposes the secret plans and deceptive operations of the dark kingdom, even as it unveils the glorious realities of what our God is doing. The truths of scripture are, therefore, our rock-solid building blocks for interpreting the times we are entering. Nevertheless, for biblical information to become true revelation both prayer and the Holy Spirit are needed.

To the Church in Sardis

Jesus greets the church of Sardis in His usual way by addressing the angelic overseer first.[vii] Then according to form, He introduces Himself with a specific aspect of the fuller description which He had given to John as a prelude to his assignment. He wants the Sardis believers to know that He is the One who “has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” He “has” them. The seven spirits and seven stars (angels) all belong to Him.[viii] They are His. It is a polite reminder to the believers that they too belong to Him, yet there is no mention here of the churches. Previously, Jesus told John that the seven lampstands (churches) were in His “right Hand” along with the seven stars. Something seems amiss. The right Hand of God is always associated in scripture with His power to save, yet the church appears to have gone missing from it. So dire is the situation that Jesus skips over what always came next. His earlier pattern had been to give praise and encouragement to the church before raising points of criticism. Not this time.

Having begun in this veiled way, Jesus suddenly unveils an appalling sight. This group of believers sees itself as being alive in Christ, “but you are dead.” What a stunner! There is no way that they could have seen that coming. According to Jesus they had been working hard to create a very different impression, but He knew their “works.” He knew them as dead works. These are the things we do which aren’t sins in the usual sense, certainly not sins like the ones He faulted Thyratira for doing: sexual immorality and eating food dedicated to idols.

The tragedy of dead works is that they are “good” things that we do in vain (futile, self-motivated, faith-less) attempts to please God and others. God is not pleased with us trying to please Him because He’s already gone to great lengths to give us His favor—by punishing His Son. Faith assures us that He loves us first.[ix] If we have trouble believing that truth, we are meant to work on our faith by building it up, rather than work on God by buttering Him up with things we think will please Him.

People pleasing is just as bad. The harder we work at trying to keep everybody happy, the less happy we become. The harder we try to get respect, the less respected we are. We may be doing all the right things, but the motive is wrong. We are serving self, not our Savior. Even if we don’t know it, He does. The problem comes by believing our own press—if we succeed in making a good impression on others. They will praise us to the skies. We’ll “have a reputation of being alive.” But in Jesus eyes the life of faith has died.

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2

This alarming message is meant to “wake up” a sleeping Bride. Deception is like being asleep. Often, we don’t know we’re asleep, until someone tries to wake us. If we’re deep asleep, they may have to shout and shake us. When that happens, we don’t always wake up in a friendly mood! How did the Sardis believers awaken? Did they awaken? We’re only getting the out-going letter, not the return mail. So, we simply don’t know. Still, it’s hard to overhear this conversation and not wake up ourselves. They probably did too. After all, it’s Jesus who’s doing the shouting. And the tenor of His message doesn’t change. His voice remains loud and clear through to the end of the letter.

Now that they’ve awakened, He wants them to “strengthen what remains.” Why, Lord? “It’s about to die.” Their works—their daily striving to do good on their terms—are dead works. They’ve been dead asleep coddled by sweet dreams of deception, thinking they were alive. Worse, even more things in their life are about to die on the vine. How to strengthen those things? Reconnect to the Vine that gives life! Jesus told us that apart from Him—the true Vine—we can do nothing.[x] Why don’t we believe it?

Like the believers of Sardis, we, too, unplug from His life and leadership and busy ourselves chasing the phantom promise of finding peace apart from trusting obedience. There is only one way: His way. There is no peace in the heart if we depart. So, the word comes to return, reconnect and be renewed. Jesus has not found our “works complete.” There is yet one thing missing. It is the best part, but we let it be taken from us.[xi] The works could be fully good, if only He were at the center of them. The “incomplete” piece, the missing piece, is His peace.

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Revelation 3:3

Each of these letters is unique, tailored to fit a different set of believers every time. However, one part is beginning to sound like a broken record: “repent.” The problem isn’t with Jesus not having any other ideas to offer. This is the one and only solution. We’re the ones with long-playing records of waywardness. It’s time to break our record and play a new song, a song of faithful dedication to our God. That’s what Jesus wants to hear from this Body of believers: The Song of the Bride.[xii]

So, He tells them to “remember”—re-join your members to your true Head. Remember “what you received and heard” and (tell you what), just “keep it.” The truth is that we have already been told what we need to do: trust Him, cling to Him, and “repent” every time we drift away. Yet, we keep seeking a “fresh word from God” as the answer to current problems thinking that more knowledge will save us. That’s feeding on the wrong tree! Jesus is the tree of life planted in the garden of our heart. The same old word works great every time: repent.

If they don’t repent, there will be repercussions. It is not Jesus’ preferred way to “come like a thief”—that’s the way of the enemy. But for those who “will not wake” there is no other remedy than to give the bed a great shaking. The deep sleeper never knows the hours that are passing. Likewise, Jesus will come upon those sunk into deception’s dark slumber at an hour they “will not know.” There is no way to telegraph the punch to someone with their eyes closed. Whatever comes “against” them (against the wrong direction they are going) will hit them hard. Even so, the jolt is still intended to awaken, not to slay—to destroy their sleep, but not their hope.

Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Revelation 3:4

Even when we are unfaithful, God is still faithful. One of the ways we see His faithfulness is through the remnant He preserves. Elijah thought he alone in Israel was standing up for the Lord against Ahab and Jezebel, but the Lord had a remnant of 7000 who had not “bowed the knee to Baal.”[xiii] Time and again in Israel’s long history of hope and failure, the Lord preserved a faithful few who carried faith’s seed forward or at least kept it from losing further ground.

He has in Sardis “a few names” who have remained faithful. By saying “names” rather than “people” as we would expect, the Lord is ascribing honor. Certainly, He can name names when it comes to ascribing dishonor, as He did when He called out Thyatira’s Jezebel. Far more frequently in scripture, He uses the giving of a name to convey that a person is no longer living out their birth name but living up to the new name that only He knows—the one He told the Pergamum believers about.

These faithful believers are making a name for themselves in heaven’s sight. They are doing two “works” right. First, they have not “soiled their garments” through sin or the dead “works” that others had done. Second, they walked with Him in the unsullied “white” garment of salvation which the Bridegroom gives to every wedding guest. Their covering is the Lord’s righteousness, not one of their own making. Their great work, so unlike the dead works first mentioned, is trusting everything in life to Jesus’ great work of redemption. Their pleasure in Him is shown by how they “walk” with Him. This is what pleases Jesus. By ascribing such worth to Him, He calls them “worthy.” The letter began with a stunning rebuke. Now we hear an equally stunning word of praise.

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Revelation 3:5

Just as the remnant at Sardis triumphed in life through faith, Jesus now promises “white garments” like theirs to all who conquer.[xiv] John would know for he wrote it in his first letter, that our victory—the victory that “overcomes the world”—always comes through our faith.[xv] Jesus is the ultimate overcomer: He has overcome the world. It is our believing in Him that allows the miracle of grace to happen. He overcomes our little worlds of toil and trouble through us. Such faith is born of believing to the point of truly trusting and fully obeying Him. Such conquering gains life, His life. So, the promise He gives is the inevitable outcome of such a life: “I will never blot out his name from the book of life.” The “book of life” is where the records are kept. May the old broken record of our past be forever blotted out and our new name be forever recorded!

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelation 3:6

Catch the present tense. With God, all His Word is present tense. It is a word to be lived now, in today’s day of salvation. Any word from back then can suddenly leap off the pages right now with a compelling call to faith and action. You may have to read between the lines to see Him winking at you or listen closely to hear His beckoning call. These, however, come pointed directly to our ears. Jesus knows He is speaking to us. He knows that His words to Sardis are being forever recorded in His Word. Even so, He doesn’t command us to listen. It’s an invitation: “He who has ears, let him hear.” What He would like us to listen for is not what the Spirit said to Sardis and the other churches, but what the Spirit “says.” Catch the wink and listen. What is He saying to you?

Next Piece of the Puzzle

Letter 6: Philadelphia The battle for faith is ultimately a battle for love. God is love. Because of His love the Father sent Jesus into the world so that everyone can be saved who yields to Him in trusting obedience. Not forced obedience, but a willing submission to the truth. Love would have it no other way. The great tragedy is that so much hatred surrounds this effort to bring divine Love to the earth. And that so many try to force their religious beliefs on others. Religious zeal can be fired up red hot in the entire absence of love. This often makes religion an enemy of the true spiritual life. The believers in Philadelphia know it only too well.

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Endnotes

[i] Cambridge Dictionary defines speculation as “the act of guessing possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain.” It derives from the Latin word “speculari” which means “to look at, view, observe” and originally indicated “close observation and intelligent contemplation.” By the late 1500s it gained the disparaging sense it carries today of “mere conjecture.” See etymonline.com.

[ii] https://www.britannica.com/place/Sardis

[iii] Adam is the type; Jesus, the “second Adam” is the antitype: Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Romans 5:14

[iv] Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1

[v] It was protocol for wedding garments to be made available for guests at royal feasts in the ancient Middle East (see 2 Kings 10:22.

[vi] Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Revelation 19:7-9

[vii] This greeting cannot mean that only an angelic dignitary from the invisible realms is the intended recipient, since the rest of the letter makes it clear that Jesus is sending both encouragement and correction to the church’s Christian believers. It does, however, reveal to us that this church has an angel who is over it in some ordained role: as a watchman, a helper or guardian, or a ministering spirit. In fact, according to Jesus’ previous greeting to John, we know that all seven of the churches has its own angel. Does this mean that every Christian church everywhere also has its own angel? Due to silence on this point, it is impossible to say from scripture one way or the other, although the likely supposition would be that this is indeed the case, since God shows no partiality. What then is our protocol for addressing them? What are their proper responsibilities over us and what are ours to them? More silence! (from “Letter 1: Ephesus”)

[viii] The seven spirits are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. We are given the number of them by Jesus to John. Their description (in part) was given to Isaiah: And the Spirit of the LORD [Holy Spirit] shall rest upon him [Messiah Jesus], the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. Isaiah 11:2-3 [bracket portions added]

[ix] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:18-19

[x] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

[xi] But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

[xii] The voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: “‘Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!’ For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD. Jeremiah 33:11

[xiii] Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18

[xiv] But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14

[xv] For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4