Let’s play, “what’s different?” with our passage for this morning. If you’ve been here for the other sermons in our series, try to think about something that has been at least present but generally somewhat prominent in the other Churches but is strikingly or suspiciously absent – not even mentioned – in the letter to the church of Sardis.
And that thing that’s absent, is opposition/persecution.
In all the other churches there’s been at least mention of those churches facing opposition – in most, that’s one of the main things Jesus is addressing the church about.
Usually opposition both from the inside and from the outside – from the outside in the form of persecution of the church by the world; from the inside in the form of false teaching that is usually a response of compromise to that persecution by the world;
but here in Sardis we have no mention of that at all; and I realize that would be an argument from silence to make a conclusion based only on that; but in addition to that silence, we’ll see that there are other hints here that also suggest that this church wasn’t experiencing any opposition.
And so there’s no mention of the church dealing with any opposition or facing any persecution,
Because in Sardis we have a church that wasn’t persecuted by the world; because we have a church that was loved by the world; because we have a church that looked exactly like the world.
To this church in Sardis, there’s no real commendation or praise to the church as a whole – only an acknowledgment that there is a small remnant of God’s faithful people within the church – but beyond that, there is only condemnation.
and, the condemnation comes in 3 main forms:
Jesus calls them: 1) stained; 2) sleeping; 3) dead (reverse order of how they appear in text)
1) stained. or, soiled. And we see this by clear implication – because that remnant of God’s faithful people within the Church, we see them in v4-5 – and there’s 2 things said about them that help us understand the nature of what’s going on with this church:
(first) v4 “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.”
In other words, all the others in the church had soiled their clothes. And this doesn’t mean they were playing in the mud or got grass-stains on their knees;
but it’s to be understood in a similar way as what’s expressed in James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
The Church as a whole has become polluted by the world; they have become soiled by the sinful values of the world around it.
They hadn’t taken up Jesus’ call to live differently; because living differently – v5 – is imaged as wearing white – and if you’ve got a bunch of people covered head to toe in mud, and you’ve got a bride in a bright dazzling white dress right in the middle – that bride is going to stand out; and be noticed; and be detectable to any onlooker;
but these Christians; were trying to keep a low-profile; they were trying to blend in –
they were trying to live as “under-cover” Christians – they were applying the filth of the world – the sinful world’s characteristics and values and attitudes and actions – as camouflage applied over what Jesus wanted them to be so that they would blend in to their surroundings; so that the world couldn’t see Jesus in them but could only see their own reflection in them and what reason does the world have to persecute a church that looks just like the world!
It is no threat to the world, because it’s presence brings no challenge to the values of the world; it’s presence brings no conflict with the ways of the world; it’s presence creates no witness to the truth of the gospel or conviction of sin; it presents no need for the saving message of Jesus because it doesn’t tell the world that it needs saved from anything but only affirms the world in it’s sin by reflecting the world by living in that same sin.
and so that kind of church can live in peaceful coexistence with the world because that kind of church is not being the church.
because whether or not their motive in Sardis was to avoid persecution (which is very likely); but even if that wasn’t their motive, that was certainly the result.
And you can’t be a “camouflage-Christian”; You can’t be an “undercover Christian”; But faithful Christians walk through a muddy sin-filled world wearing the bright white righteousness of Jesus and so faithful Christians won’t blend in – they will stand out.
And these few faithful – v4 – walk with Jesus, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
Sometimes being faithful, will put you in the few – not just in the world – but sometimes even in the Church; but it’s worth walking with the few against the flow because Jesus counts you as worthy when you do.
Hebrews 11 – describing all the hardships of the people of God who live as exiles in this world – all the persecution they endured at the hands of the world – and then the writer simply comes to a stop mid-sentence and says – “of these, the world isn’t worthy.”
And I love that because it’s not saying that we have earned worthiness before God; but it’s a reminder that when the world spits out the people of God, God embraces them – he finds worthy what the world rejects as unworthy; and you can either live to be found worthy by the world; or you can live to be found worthy by Jesus – but you can’t have both.
You can’t live for the world and Jesus; you can’t deny Jesus before the world and expect him to accept you before God.
(second) v5 – “And I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”
This is an unmistakable reference to Jesus’ own earlier words in Matthew 10:32 & 33 – words that are hauntingly challenging:
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
And so this promise – has an interesting addition to it – the promise is made to all who persevere – to the one who is victorious (v5) – but it adds the words, “like them”. “The one who is victorious will, like them…”
Like who?
the few faithful of v4.
And so the implication is that those few faithful will be acknowledged by Jesus at the final judgment in the next life, because they acknowledged him before men during this life.
And so just as these few faithful are unstained, we can assume that the rest of the church is stained; so as these few faithful are acknowledging Jesus – the rest of the church is denying him; or being silent about him.
And the context of that saying of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel – the context is not being silent out of fear – being afraid of men who can kill the body but not the soul and letting that fear keep you silent about Jesus before a word that is hostile to him.
And it’s not farfetched to speculate that part of the reason for this church here not confessing Jesus before the world – is fear of a world hostile to Jesus; and that’s one of the reasons that Revelation is filled – jam-packed – overflowing – with promises of heavenly reward.
Because God knows the temptation to live for this world; to seek the approval of men; but he also knows the folly of it; and he wants to cause us to be so desiring of the next world – our true home – that we don’t miss out on that and sell out on Him – by trying to make this world our true home.
Because you can be sold-out for Jesus; or you can be a sell-out.
A sell-out is someone who trades in their values or their roots or their artistic integrity for success or popularity or money; and it’s not a term of adulation but of scorn.
and Christians can do that but it’s exponentially worse for Christians because when we sell-out we trade in our loyalty to the son of God who died for us to bring us to God and forgive our sins – to give us an eternal redemption and every spiritual blessing.
And many of us, myself included, have denied our faith in christ, or stayed silent out of fear about our faith in Christ;
And this doesn’t mean that we need to find some way to inject Jesus into every conversation or redirect every conversation to Jesus – but it means that there’s a time to stand firm; there’s a time to be bold; there’s a time to have some Spirit-given courage; and maybe we’ve been too timid, or too careful; or too concerned with being respectable or not being lumped together with the fanatics out there or being excluded from the world’s acceptance and reward.
Because confessing Jesus – the real Jesus – and all he stands for – all of his truth – will make you stand out from the world; and will be persecuted by the world.
A church that blends in – that wears the stain of the world instead of walking in the righteousness of Jesus – won’t be persecuted by the world – the world either can’t detect the church the church; or the that church isn’t worth the bother of persecution;
a church that blends in won’t be persecuted by the world – and so has a greater risk of falling into spiritual slumber
and that’s the second condemnation Jesus brings to the church in Sardis.
1) stained; 2) sleeping:
A church that isn’t persecuted, is in danger of falling asleep. being unaware of the danger that it’s in; being unaware of the spiritual battle that wages for it’s soul; being unaware of it’s true condition and its vulnerablilites, and on guard against spiritual danger; being unwatchful.
Sardis’ history is a history of unwatchfulness (overconfidence – unwatchful – vulnerable)
Jesus is calling them to wake up! (another way to translate – to be watchful).
It’s hard to get out of spiritual slumber. It’s hard to get out of physical slumber!
Has anyone out there ever had a hard time getting out of bed?
EX: college alarm clock – had to go to great lengths to ensure that I wouldn’t remain in slumber
Persecution, opposition, that is one of the things that God uses to keep his church awake – awakened to the reality of the spiritual battle it is in; and of course that doesn’t mean that we go looking for persecution; but we need to remember that a church that experiences relative ease has to go to greater lengths and take greater caution to ensure that it doesn’t fall asleep or live in deadened slumber and unwatchfulness to the spiritual battle that is less intensely felt in everyday experience;
and in our context – where we experience little to no persecution; we need to hear Jesus call to watchfulness – we need to wake up;
Otherwise, like Sardis, we might die in our sleep.
1) stained; 2) sleeping; 3) dead & dying
they are spiritually dead.
v1 – they have a reputation for being alive – but they are dead.
And now, a good reputation isn’t bad – elders; church in Acts;
but a good reputation that is based on a false reality isn’t good; and gaining a good reputation by compromising on our witness isn’t good.
And the question is, who do they have a reputation for being alive among?
2 possibilities – probably not necessary to choose one or the other because probably both:
1) It could be other churches: they see what’s happening at Sardis – you know they have a lot of people there worshiping, they have a big building, lots of programs and activity and business, and these other churches think, “Wow, that church is alive! They are doing something right!
2) but even though probably both, more fitting with the context I think is that they have a good reputation in their immediate context – the unbelieving world around them.
And so not only do they bear the characteristics – the stain – of the world; but probably because they bear the characteristics of the world, they have the love and approval of the world.
v3 – “I have found your works incomplete in the sight of my God.
In the sight of others, their works might appear complete; but in the sight of God – who sees beneath the surface of appearances and judges things as they truly are – he finds their works incomplete.
So maybe they are doing many good works of mercy – things that are good for the community, things that the world would join in on and approve of – things that outwardly at least, even God would consider good things, but there is something about them that is falling short of God’s approval.
And maybe they are even doing good things that the world approves of; but they have forgotten Jesus in the midst of these good things –
Even unbelievers can do “good” things – but they can’t do things that please God and meet his standard or result in his approval – because God sees the heart.
Because God doesn’t judge things as the world does – the world judges the outward appearance, but God judges the heart.
And God knows that in these works fo theirs that might be outwardly good, nevertheless Jesus is absent – means; motive; end:
means: there is no regard for doing them in obedience to Jesus’ word;
motive: there is no love for Jesus or love for others in them;
end: there is no desire for Jesus’ glory and exaltation to result from them
Only true children of God can do things acceptable and pleasing to God – not because we do them perfectly but because he accepts them as the heartfelt obedience of his children, and his Spirit enables us to do them with the proper means, motive, and end – even if not the perfect means, motive, and end.
And so Sardis has a good reputation among other churches and with the sinful world.
And that’s why I’ve said probably every week – sorry for the repetitiveness – but we want to strive to be not the kind of church the world wants us to be; not even the kind of church other churches or we ourselves want us to be; but we want to strive to be the kind of church that Jesus wants us to be.
And in some ways, those things will overlap.
And there are going to be times when the church and Christians stand for things and do things that the world applauds not because the world applauds them but because God applauds them; but the test of faithfulness is if the church and Christians will also stand for things and do things that the world hates – but they will stand for them and do them because God applauds them.
Because at some point being the kind of church that Jesus approves of and loves means being the kind of church that the world reject and hates.
Many churches; many Christians, live for the approval of the world. Clamor for it. And it’s pathetic and evil, because in gaining it you lose the approval of Jesus.
And you may win the fleeting acceptance of the world; but that disappears; and in the end, all that’s left is whether your name is written in the book of life; whether Jesus has cleansed you such that you will be accepted by God on that day when you meet him face-to-face.
White Garments (v5) – justification – righteousness before God which assures us of acceptance with God.
Book of Life (v5) – security of true children of God & assurance for them.
What’s the solution? How do they wake up out of their slumber when their slumber is the slumber of death?
Because you can tell a sleeping person to wake up, but you can’t tell a dead person to start living!
The answer is in Jesus’ initial description of himself; and in his commands to the church.
Jesus’ description –
v1 – thus says the now who holds the seven-fold spirit of God and the seven stars.
And if you remember back from chapter 1 – the seven-fold Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, described in it’s fullness – as the number seven symbolized completeness.
And the seven stars are the “angels of the seven churches” – which I won’t go back through all the difficulty of what that actually means, except to remind us that my view of that is that the angels of the churches (the stars) are the churches as they are seen from God’s perspective – where as the lamp stands – the churches themselves – are the churches as they appear in the world –
and I think that interpretation is strengthened here because the issue at Sardis is that there is such a large incongruity with the true state of the church (from God’s perspective) and the appearance of the church (from the world’s perspective).
and that’s what Jesus means I think when he shifts their description form dead, to dying –
they are dead and dying – they are spiritually dead – and they are in danger of death as a church if they don’t repent – just as the church at Ephesus was threatened that their lamp stand would be taken away – they would cease to be a church on the earth.
but there’s still time for this church to repent; to be raised out of death to life.
and Jesus holds the Spirit of life in one hand; and he holds the church – his church – in the other;
And John Stott asks, “If only he would bring his hands together.”
And he will. He has life for your dead and dying soul – which he calls for us to awaken to life the new life that is in us – and which he promises to give us life for;
every part of us that is weakened by the sinful nature – which he here calls us to strengthen (v2) – and which he promises the strength for;
if we repent; Repentance is the key to awakening the new life that is in us.
if we remember (v3) – that the Spirit has been poured out upon us but that we can grieve it, and we need to live by it and be filled by it.
This is something that we need to remember.
The Spirit of God is in us; but scripture tells us that it’s possible to grieve it; and scripture commands us not to grieve it but instead to be filled by it. To walk by the Spirit; to keep in step with the spirit.
And, we’re going to do a whole sermon series on how I believe we are called to live by the Spirit to awaken the new life that is in us;
but for now all I’m going to say is that the place to start is to be conscious of the Spirit.
he is after all – God.
And he is, a he, rather than an it.
“How insulting it must be for the Spirit of God to be called an it by so many of those he indwells.”
And so, the first thing to do, is to simply ask the Spirit to fill us.