Revelation 3:1-6

The Wreck and Remnant of the Sardis Church

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on March 4, 2018 at Beacon Church

Sardis was living in the past but not in the present

Sardis, the capital city of the great Lydian Empire, had a number of important gods and goddesses. Judging by images on their coins, it seems their patron goddess might have been Kore, or Persephone to the Greeks, the goddess of the seasonal Winter-Spring cycle, "the eternal cycle of Nature's death and rebirth."[i] If that’s true, then Jesus’ words in this letter about life and death are especially ironic. Sardis had once been the centre of a massive military power, the Lydian Empire. Even the name, “Sardis” is a plural noun, because it was really two cities: one an impregnable fortress on top of a 1500’ mountain, Mt. Tmolus, and the other by the river below.[ii] It had famous wealth, giving rise to a saying I’ve personally never heard, "as rich as Croesus", the last king of Sardis. It was the place where modern money was invented—metal lumps with stamps guaranteeing their quality and weight,[iii] and where they discovered how to extract the silver from the gold and make their coins pure. That wealth paid for a powerful army. King Croesus’ empire from Sardis became a rival power with Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar, and pre-Persian Media, under King Astyages—so that they married each others’ sisters![iv] Later, under the Persian Empire, Sardis was the seat of the governor, and the end of the road for the important new highway running all the way from Persepolis, a 2700km journey that could now be done on horseback in 7 days.[v] Sardis was a legend.

But in the present, when John wrote Revelation, it was a city of ruins and faded glory, conquered by the Persians, the Athenians, and the Seleucids, this unbeatable, unsinkable “Titanic” of a city was taken by surprise twice: by the Persians in 549 and the Seleucid king, Antiochus, in 213BC.[vi] When an Earthquake struck in 17AD, when Jesus was only about 20 years old, it was devastated. The Roman government spent a fortune trying to rebuild Sardis, but it never really recovered.[vii] It was a second-rate, provincial city, that still pined for its ancient glory.[viii] Today, other than the ruins, it’s a little highway village named Sart, about 50 miles east of Izmir (Smyrna). If you drive that highway to Izmir today, Sart doesn’t look like much more than a row of apartments, with a dilapidated old tire shop on the side of the highway.[ix] All it had left was the former greatness of its name--a parable for the lifeless church in Sardis when Jesus gave the words of this letter to John. “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.”,’ ” (Rev. 3:1 ESV).

This church must have been startled by the words of Jesus in this letter. They thought of themselves as a great church, having an impressive reputation among the other churches--a great name (v1). The word often means “a reputation”.[x] Distinguished, probably prosperous, patting themselves on the back that other churches thought so well of them. And then Jesus speaks and shakes them to their core. The old Pastor and commentator, James Ramsey said,

"...in all man could see, this may have been a model church. The Lord does not charge her with any special sin. Her liberality and charity, her adherence to sound doctrine and morals, her observance of ordinances were all such that the mere superficial observer could see nothing to censure, but very much to praise. The visitor from poor and persecuted Smyrna, and from weak and tried and labouring Philadelphia, which was only a day's ride distant, would go home and speak to their suffering brethren of what great things Sardis was doing, how liberally it supported its pastor, how it cared for its poor, what a fine church they had, and how little they were [disturbed] by the heathen around them, and indeed how even the heathen seemed to respect them, were quite friendly with them, and seemed often to enjoy their society."[xi]

How could a church that looked so much alive, be so dead according to Jesus? You see, Ramsey explained that any man or any church can carry on going through the motions of religious life being carried by the momentum of lots of other motives than the love of Jesus Christ.[xii]

Instead of a Lampstand in the Dark, they would get a Thief in the Night

A famous archaeologist called his chapter on Sardis, "The City of Death", and that’s fitting.[xiii] The images of the city Jesus seems to make us of in this letter make it a parable for the dead church. “ ‘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.’ “ (Rev. 3:2 ESV). What Jesus says about their incomplete works in verse 2, doesn’t mean that they were lacking works; the word "complete" is a passive participle describing their works--none of the works themselves were "filled" from God's perspective—lit., “I have found no works of yours filled.”[xiv] Filled with what? Life. It wasn't that there was a shortage of works, but that the works were lifeless. These lifeless works are a clue to why Jesus introduces Himself as the Lord who "has the Seven Spirits": who "holds" the Holy Spirit. In chapter 1:4, this letter is sent by the Trinity, including “the seven spirits before [God’s] throne”. Not that there are seven Holy Spirits, but that the Hebrew number seven came to mean “complete”, since God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh when Creation was complete. That’s why believers “rest” in the completed work of Christ, remembering the point of the Sabbath—the Hebrew word for “seven”. After Jesus was raised and lifted up to the throne of God in glory and victory, He poured out the Spirit upon His Church, including all believers (Acts 2). The seven spirits then mirror these seven churches, suggesting that Christ has already supplied every church with all the life and power we need through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit alone makes churches live, and empowers Christians with faith and love, for service and patient endurance, as in Thyatira. Somehow, this church had neglected the life-giving ministry of the Spirit Jesus gives to every Church. So how is that possible, that a church can neglect the life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit? I tell you, it's not because they ignored the Holy Spirit, but because they neglected Christ who holds, and gives the Spirit to His Churches. In verse 1, Jesus is the source and authority behind the ministry of the Spirit to all the churches.

I like the phrase in verse 2, “wake up!” Preachers love to say that suddenly and loudly. But the words John wrote are more about being watchful (KJV). Literally in Greek, “keep on becoming watchful”.[xv] People who fall asleep in church are fun to watch precisely because they don’t “keep on becoming watchful”—they wake up; drift back to sleep; wake up; drift back… Whole churches really do the same thing. Because it’s natural to drift away from God’s Word. The Bible just doesn’t seem like enough; preaching, especially expository preaching, just doesn’t seem sufficient to keep a church awake. But it is sufficient, paradoxically, if believers will “keep on becoming watchful”.  The next words explain that there are some in Sardis who aren’t spiritually dead yet: “what remains and is about to die”, and the command here is to “establish” them. Stabilize them.[xvi] And the way to do that is to “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent,”  (Rev. 3:3 ESV). What they had “received and heard” sounds like the Gospel message they had received from Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit-empowered ministry of the Apostles, planting and establishing churches, appointing elders in those churches, sending out evangelists and missionaries, spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and at some point to Sardis itself. The same idea of establish what remains occurs in Titus 1:5, where Paul tells Titus, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what [remains] into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you” (Tit. 1:5 ESV). And 2:1, “teach what accords with sound doctrine”, and in 2:11, “for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people”, and in 2:15, therefore, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” Why? To stabilize the dying with the soul-reviving ministry of the Word of God—and particularly the Gospel. My friends, this is why the other part of how Jesus describes Himself in verse 1, in addition to “holding the Holy Spirit”, is “the One who… has the seven stars”. The elders who preach and teach as messengers/angels of the Gospel appointed by Christ to serve His churches. The focus here in the symbolic way Jesus is pictured, is as the Lord who gives His Spirit to His Churches, to empower the preaching and establishing of His Gospel, to give life to His people and fill their works with His power. If they will keep hold of the Gospel. If they will keep repenting. If not, Jesus is coming to destroy what is dead.

This is the most striking part of this letter, I think. When Jesus says, “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. (Rev. 3:3 ESV). To the dead church with the great reputation, in Sardis, His words carry great meaning for them.[xvii] The old Sardis fortress 1500’ high on top of Mt. Tmolus, was so protected on all sides, and inaccessible except by a narrow land-bridge, that they thought it could never be conquered. When Cyrus the Great first captured the fortress, he did it at night. Sending soldiers to scale the unprotected, steep cliffs, where there were no guards watching. They literally conquered Sardis like thieves in the night, at an hour nobody expected.[xviii] This letter was written to people who thought their church was great, and outwardly it was, but they weren’t paying attention to the Gospel, to guarding the ministry of the Word, and establishing elders to watch over and strengthen the disciples there. They had neglected the very means the Spirit of God had appointed to keep the church alive. And for most of the church, it was too late. This prediction is not conditional: Jesus is coming one way or another—but if survivors in this church don’t wake up, Christ’s arrival will be for them like the overthrow of Sardis by the armies of Persia. Destruction and death.

Instead of a City of Death, we will be a City in White

The change in tone in verse 4 is like one of those wonderful, triumphant major chords in an epic movie theme song. “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,” (Rev. 3:4 ESV). In the wreckage of the Sardian church, not only are their some who are still hanging on to life, there are some—a small few—who remain true to Jesus, and will walk with Him in white. The idea behind this picture is so encouraging. In the Roman Empire at this time, white togas were especially worn in celebrations of victory, but dark or dirty togas were worn by people who were in mourning, or accused of crimes.[xix] These few believers who remained in Sardis, this remnant from the wreck of the church—they were not perfect. Of course they were sinners like everyone saved by God’s grace. But they were people who knew that their sins had been cleansed by the blood of Jesus when He died in their place, for their crimes. So they remembered the Gospel, and they had faith that Jesus wore their dirty togas when He died, and nothing could stain the white robes of those who keep trusting Christ. Their church had a false reputation/name. But a few “names” had kept the Faith. “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,” (Rev. 3:5 ESV).

The custom behind the white toga of victory helps us to understand the deeply encouraging promises in verse 5. You see, the whole symbolism behind the white toga was from a specific parade that could only officially happen in Rome (although other cities were inspired to copy the idea in their own smaller festivities). When a victorious general returned to Rome with his army, the soldiers would parade through the streets of Rome and make their way up to the Temple of Jupiter. The general would dress up in the costume of the god Jupiter himself, and the soldiers would march in uniform, but the citizens of Rome would walk alongside the general and his army wearing “garments of white”—clean, white togas to celebrate this official parade called, “The Triumph”.[xx] That parade is still the second definition of the word “Triumph” in the Oxford Dictionary. And when the whole city of Rome wore white like that, it was called in Latin, the candida urbs, the “white city”. So the first promise here in verse 5 is that Christians like these, “will walk with me in white”—it’s a prediction of the future—a promise made specifically to those few who fight to keep their garments clean from sin, even when the rest of the church stops struggling against sin and dies. These ones who hold onto faith in the Gospel of Jesus, will be kept unstained. They will walk alongside Jesus in white one day.

But the second promise in verse 5, that believers in Jesus are “worthy” (v5), is not because of how strong, or righteous they are, but because they have kept on following Jesus, walking with Him, and so His victory becomes their victory. How exactly can we make sure we are those kinds of Christians? It’s not complicated: stay close to Jesus now, and He will stay close to you. Walk with Him now, and you will still be walking with Him on the day of the great Triumph parade, at the end of this age. How do we walk with Jesus now? Look at His picture in verse 1: He has the Spirit to give us; He has the messengers and ministers of His Word to preach His Gospel and teach us. Verse 3 said, “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent,” (Rev. 3:3 ESV). What was that Good News we received and heard, and must keep and continually and humbly respond to in repentance? Verse 5 hints that it comes down to this fact, that our names are written in permanent ink in the Book of Life: “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,” (Rev. 3:5 ESV). There are other books described in the book of Revelation: Rev 20:12 describes “books being opened”, the record of what all people have done, and by which they are judged. But then it says, “another book was opened, which is the Book of Life”—and every person whose name is written in this Book of Life will never die again. Why? Revelation 13:8 says it’s because the Book of Life “belongs to the Lamb who was slain”. The blessed people whose names are written in this heavenly book, are those people whose lives were purchased by the dead of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But Jesus says in verse 5 that He will never blot out our names from His book. Your name is already written; it cannot be erased, He will not allow it.[xxi] It is His book.

Does this mean that even if you pray to Jesus and follow Him, that maybe He hasn’t chosen you? No. It means that when you pray to Jesus, confess your sins and repent, believe the Good News that He died to save you from your sins, and begin a lifelong journey of walking alongside Jesus, remembering His Gospel, that all of this is because He already Has given you His Holy Spirit. You and I believe the Gospel because He wrote our names and made sure to send someone to tell us the Gospel, so that at the right time, we would believe it and follow Him. That’s why lastly, Jesus promises to “confess [our] names” to His Father. The reward for the faithful remnant is a promise that their same struggle to keep believing the Gospel in Sardis, would not end in death but in life; not in them one day denying Jesus, but in Jesus claiming them as His on the Last Day. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” (Rev. 3:6 ESV). So today, hear what the Spirit says to all churches. Here the Good News. Believe it. Jesus already died for you because He wrote your name in His book. It’s time to begin walking with Him. It’s time, today. But you and I don’t walk alone: we walk in the life-giving presence of His Holy Spirit; we keep believing the faith-arousing Gospel the Spirit announces through His messengers. And the love for Jesus we try so hard to fan into flame will burn forever because the Holy Spirit of Christ will keep the fires lit. Therefore persevere. And we will walk with Him as a City in White.