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Speaker: Paul Williams Bible Passage: Revelation 3:1-6 Date: 24.6.07. Event: Sermon

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I want to ask a question this evening that I don’t think I can answer, and at first I don’t suppose you will.  The question is this: “Are we, here at Christ Church Fulwood, like the Church in Sardis?”    It’s a genuine question.   I really don’t know the answer.   But it’s a crucial question for us as we look at Revelation 3 this evening; because while this was written to the church at Sardis, this is a message for all churches today.   Look at verse 6: “ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ” – the way every little letter ends in Revelation 2 and 3.  The Holy Spirit says these words are for us today, so let’s pray that we’d have an ear to hear, because as we go through this passage, we’ll see we could very easily think it’s not for us.

When we lived in London we lived just round the corner from Madame Tussaud’s – the waxworks museum.  As you walk around the Museum you’ll see figures of the Queen and Tony Blair and Posh and Becks.   They look remarkably life-like, but you know all the celebrities are only waxworks.  As you walk around it’s obvious that they’re not the real people, because they wouldn’t just be standing there in Madame Tussaud’s.   But cleverly positioned around the museum are dummies of ordinary people: people sitting on benches reading papers and people behind counters.  And let me tell you, you feel a real Charlie, when you approach these figures and ask them for directions.  You think you can get away with it when you suddenly realise, until someone else is looking at you and laughing all over their face.  They look so real; they are in fact dead.  Desperately, churches can be the same, and Sardis was a church just like that.  Look at chapter 3:1: “ To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ”

1) The diagnosis – you are dead.

Time of death?  We’re not sure, but that’s Jesus verdict - Sardis is a dead church.  But please don’t get the wrong idea.  Look again at verse 1 – Sardis was a church with a reputation, a good reputation, a reputation for being alive.  Sardis was an active, busy church; not a church of half a dozen old ladies meeting together in a cold old building, with an organist hitting duff notes all the time, and a doddery old vicar who left you wondering if he would still be alive by the end of the service – or worse, have you wondering if he was alive at the beginning of the service!  My brother preached at a church like that some years back and as he told me how dire the service was he rather mischievously said to me, "Half way through the meeting I nearly suggested to the congregation that we should stop the service, join hands and see if we could contact the living!"  Sardis wasn’t like that, for, verse 1, the church at Sardis had the reputation of being a lively, living, active church.  So I guess Sunday at Sardis was marked by good singing, healthy numbers, people of all ages, a buzz as you went through the door.   And I presume that mid-week there was plenty going on too: Bible study groups, Christianity Explored courses, Mums & Toddlers, Friday Club, Women's groups, Men’s Prayer Breakfast, youth groups well attended, a children’s track bursting at the seams.   It was a hive of activity – a reputation for being alive.  My guess is, the other churches around might even have aspired to be like the church at Sardis.  

Alive and, I suggest, theologically sound.  You’ll be saying, “Where do you get that from this passage?”   You see, as I read through this letter to the church in Sardis, I notice there’s no mention of false doctrine.  Read the letters written to others churches in chapter 2, to the churches in Ephesus and Pergamum and Thyatira, and Jesus exposes false teaching and false teachers for what they are – he will always do that.   But here in Sardis, there’s no mention of Balaam or the Nicolaitans or Jezebel.  So I think it’s safe to assume that in Sardis there was no false teaching and no obvious scandal.  For if there had been, Jesus would have exposed it, because that’s what he did in chapter 2 with those churches.  So then, from all outward appearances, everything about this church seemed good.   But outward appearances are notoriously deceptive, and Jesus Christ sees beyond reputations.   He's not impressed by them, and he's certainly not fooled by them.  The risen Jesus sees what’s really going on in the churches.  That’s why he says these devastating words in verse 1 – “ I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ” 

Now do you see how shocking those words are, now that we know the situation?   And do you see why I want to ask our question this evening: are we like the church in Sardis?   And do you see why I genuinely don’t know the answer? – but I’m desperate to know: because Sardis was busy and lively; Sardis was doctrinally on the money; Sardis wasn’t ruined by scandal.   Yet it was dead.   I imagine they could barely believe their ears when this letter was read out – “Us, dead?”  Do we here have a reputation of being alive?  I think maybe we do.  Do we care about doctrinal accuracy?  Yes we do.   Do we look alive?   When I look at our busy programme, I think we do.   Are we alive, spiritually alive?   I hope we are.   But then Sardis would have said the same.   Sardis, a church with a great reputation, presumed they were alive.  They were in fact a spiritual graveyard.

Now here’s a key question: what had brought about the death of the church in Sardis?   Look at verse 4: “ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. ”  The point of looking at that verse now is to say there were some in the church who are not tarred with the same brush, but see the way Jesus describes them as not having soiled their clothes.  He’s obviously making the point there are tons in the church who have soiled their clothes.   When Jesus looked at this church, it was defiled, it was contaminated.  It’s as if this church had been struck down by a spiritual superbug.   What was it that so contaminated them? – this is why it’s so difficult: to look at this church, it’s not obvious.   It’s not like the church in Thyatira at the end of chapter 2, where in verse 20 people were being led into sexual immorality.  That wasn’t happening in Sardis, or Jesus would have mentioned it.  So what was it?  Look what Jesus says in the second half of verse 2 – “I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” – or more literally “fulfilled”.   I’ve been trying to grapple with what that means this week, and the best I’ve come up with is this: this was a church that never quite gave their all.  They were always holding something back.  Could it be that Sardis was a complacent church? – just relaxed, everything’s OK, we’re good. 

And what brought about that complacency?  Again, I don’t know, and I’m guessing a bit, but note that, just as there’s no mention of false teaching, so there’s no mention of persecution.   And when we read the letter to Smyrna in chapter 2:8-11, there was mention of persecution.   So again I can assume that in Sardis there was no persecution.   And while no one wants persecution to come upon them, persecution does keep us on our toes.   And when things are easy we can rest on our laurels – no persecution, no false teachers.  We become content as we are, stop pressing on, stop fighting, stop contending.   That’s a first step to decline.   And once a church is in decline it’s very hard to halt the slide.  Now the challenge for us to see if we’re like that as a church: “ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ”   Are we like this?   And if we’re not, to make sure that we never allow ourselves to become like that: complacent, smug, thinking we’ve arrived.

2) The remedy – wake up

Look at verses 2 and 3: “ Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. ”   

First, then, the wake-up call.  In verse 2, Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains!”  It’s a surprise really.  He’s just said, “You’re a dead church!”  Now he’s saying “Wake up!”  None of you medics here would dream of saying, “Wake Up!” to a dead patient – you just don’t do that.  But that’s because you’re not God.  Jesus can wake the dead.  Do you remember how he did just that with the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler in Mark 5?   By the time he reached her house she’d died and the wake had already begun.  Women were wailing outside the house.  But Jesus walked into the little girl’s room, took her by the hand and said, “Talitha Koum”, which means “Little girl, get up – wake up!”   It’s as easy for Jesus to raise the dead as it is for you and me to wake someone up from their sleep.   So yes, this church was dead.   But even when a church is dead, there’s still a chance when Jesus is in the picture.  Jesus’ diagnosis in verse 1 was correct.   But because he is the one who can breath life into dead bones, he can tell a dead church to wake up.  That’s what he’s saying here:  he’s saying, “This is the wake-up call!”

And here’s the wake up call, verse 2, “Strengthen what remains...” The word ‘strengthen’ is the word used in the early church for the nurture of believers.  And so they’re to strengthen what remains – nurture the life that’s there.  And we discover as we read on in verse 3 that the church had been alive in the past: Jesus says, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard…” And what had they received and heard?   The word of the gospel, I presume; the message of the cross; the truth of the Christ who died for them; the glorious good news of the resurrection of Jesus; the grace to live in the light of that wonderful truth.  Remember the gospel, obey it and repent.  And please notice – there’s no new word from the Lord to revive a flagging church.   It says in verse 3, “Remember…what you have received and heard…” No new word.  There’s no special ‘extra’ that we need to revive a dead church.   I want to emphasise that, because I think that’s very important to note, because many today would have us believe that the way to breathe life into a church is to chase after something apart from the gospel, other than the gospel, on top of the gospel.  Church leaders who say, “Oh sure, you’ve got the gospel, but now you need if you want life in your church…” Jesus told the church in Sardis, verse 3, to remember what they’d received and heard in the past.  They were to remember the message of the gospel, to obey it, to repent.  It’s the same old message.   You’re probably quite disappointed in that, you’re saying, “Why doesn’t he say something more spectacular?”   It’s the same old message.  

But here’s the question: what stops it from being just the same old message?   What is it that fires a dead church and makes it alive?  What is it that makes the gospel thrilling?  What moves us when we’ve got stuck in a rut, when complacency rules?   Let me take you back to verse 1.   At the beginning of each of these letters to the churches Jesus talks about something significant that the church needs.  So in chapter 2:8, the church in Smyrna was suffering persecution to the point of death, so Jesus reminds them that he died and came to life.  If you’re going to lose your life you need to be sure of the resurrection.   And in chapter 2:12, the church in Pergamum had allowed false teachers among them, so Jesus reminds them that he holds the sharp, double-edged sword, the word of God.  When false teaching is around, the church needs to remember the word of God.  Here in Sardis, we read, “ These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. ”  The seven stars?   Chapter 1:20, tells us the seven stars are the angels or messengers of the seven churches, the representatives of the churches, quite possibly the leaders of the churches – but one way or another he’s saying, “I’ve got the churches in my hand.”   And chapter 3:1, the seven spirits of God – what’s that about?  I go with the footnote that you’ll see at the bottom of the page – the sevenfold Spirit of God: that is the Holy Spirit, described as the ‘sevenfold Spirit’, according to Archbishop Trench, to express his “manifold energies.”  The power and gifts of the Spirit, if you like.   And so in Jesus’ right hand are the churches, and in his left is the Holy Spirit.  And John Stott says, “If only he would bring His hands together!   If only the Spirit would fill the church!  Then this church would be alive.”  That’s what a dead church needs – the life-giving energy of the Spirit of God.  That’s what a complacent church needs, for he is the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2):

o         It is the Holy Spirit who can breathe life into formal worship.

o         It is the Holy Spirit who can animate our dead works until they pulsate with life.

o         It is the Holy Spirit who can rescue a dying church and make it a living force in a community.

o         It is the Holy Spirit who can transform our actions and change a church that’s lost its oomph.

Again, John Stott says of the Holy Spirit, “A stale church can be refreshed by him, a sleepy church awakened, a weak church strengthened, and a dead church made alive.”  See how this all goes together: if we’re complacent, our job is to wake up, verse 2.   Our job, verse 3, is to remember the gospel, obey it and repent – that’s what we must do.  There’s no new message, no new angle, no new emphasis.  It’s not something that we haven’t yet heard about.   The gospel is all we need.   But here’s the promise: as we return to the gospel, as we glory in it, as we meditate on it, as we obey it, as we’re captivated by it, and as we repent of all the other things that we allow to become more important than Jesus, THEN, as we do that, the Lord Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to transform us to be all that we ought to be.   I love this.   There is no case for driving a wedge between word and Spirit, between the gospel and the Holy Spirit.  We’re to remember what’ve we’ve heard – the gospel, to obey and repent.  And then the Spirit brings the church back to life.  But he doesn’t do it separate from the gospel.

3) The prognosis - judgement

Half way through verse 3: “ But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. ”  The judgement day of Jesus Christ right through the New Testament is described in these terms: as an unexpected thief in the night.  You don’t know when Jesus is going to return in judgement, it could be any time.   If you knew when the thief was coming, you’d obviously prepare for him – it’s not saying that Jesus is a thief, it’s not saying he’s going to rob people of things that aren’t his, it’s just saying, “Like a thief comes when you least expect him, so Jesus will come at any time.”  Now, verse 3 might well be pointing to the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the final day of judgement.  But I want to suggest that, in this context, Jesus is talking about judgment upon this church, the church in Sardis, this dead church – and indeed any dead church, come to that.   Any dead church, if it remains dead and will not hear this word to wake up, will one day be removed.   Go to Sardis today and you’ll not find a church.  Judgement did come upon this church.  This lamp stand was removed.  It seems this church didn’t wake up.  It didn’t remember and obey and repent.  And so the Lord came, like a thief, and removed it.  That’s the best thing to do to a dead body; we don’t want dead bodies lying around.   So he took it away.  

And that’s why it’s so important for us to ask the question tonight: are we, here at Christ Church Fulwood, like the church in Sardis?   Have we become complacent?  Are we dead, even though we have a reputation for being alive?   Are we tempted to live off our reputation?  For if we are, and then we fail to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, if we fail to wake up, the Lord will come one day, like a thief, at the most unexpected time and he’ll remove us.  So that there will be no witness in Fulwood.  Do you see why it’s so crucial to ask the question?  If we are dead like the church in Sardis, and if we don’t wake up, we may well be removed one day.  Looking around we may think, “That can never happen.” – I bet they said the same in Sardis: “That could never happen to us!”  And doesn’t that explain why there are so many suburbs and towns and villages all over England that have no meaningful, living churches in them?   Doesn’t that explain why so many parts of this great nation have church buildings that have held hundreds in the past, but these days only ever have a few old ladies and a dog on a Sunday?   Look at the landscape in this land and you see that, verse 3, is no idle threat.  Judgement will come upon churches that are dead, even if they have a reputation for being alive.  Why did they make churches as big as they did all those years ago?   Presumably because they needed the space to fit people in.  And now there’s hardly anyone going – what’s that about?  Is it not verse 3 being lived out?  I don’t know; I’m suggesting it is.

But as we close, look at the Lord’s wonderful concern for individuals who are real Christians: yes, he’s speaking to the church as a whole, but then he’s bothered about the individuals who are still going on with him as they should, who aren’t resting on their laurels.  Look at verse 4: “ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. ”  There were people in the church in Sardis who were alive, people who were not complacent, people who were not living off any reputation, people who had a real and vital and living relationship with the Lord.  And that’s true in churches in Britain today.  Dead churches often have a tiny remnant of believers, a small number who are holding on in prayer and in a real and sincere faith. There’s often some who’ve not defiled themselves and who are not dishonouring the name of Jesus by living off their reputation, people who are sold out for Jesus, and God bless them for carrying on in these dead churches!  When Jesus looks at them, he doesn’t see people in soiled clothes, but dressed in white.  And verse 5, anyone who, like them, walks with Jesus, will be dressed in white.   And also in verse 5, they’ll be entered into the book of life.  It’s a powerful picture.  It’s only picture language, but it’s a great picture: God has a book, a register in heaven.   And that’s the book that counts.   Our name can be on a church register without ever being in God’s register.  Let me ask you: are you sure your name is in God’s book?   That’s the only book that matters.   It doesn’t matter whether you’re a member of this church or any other church – you should be a member of a church – but is your name in God’s book?  But if we overcome, you see, if we walk with the Lord and live by the gospel in sincerity and truth, then we can be sure of having our name in his book.  And see what that means, verse 5: we’ll be acknowledged by Jesus before the Father and his angels.  One day we’ll be led into the presence – Jesus will take us by the hand, as it were, and he’ll lead us into the presence of the Father and say, “I know this one – this one’s one of mine!”  And the angels in heaven as well: “I know who this is, I know this one.”   Jesus Christ longs for His people to have a relationship with him which is real; which isn't about a reputation; which isn't stuck in the past; a relationship which is vibrant and living.  

Let me encourage you as an individual: no matter how long you've been stuck in the past, if you wake up to your spiritual state this evening, Jesus Christ will restore to you a real living relationship with him.   Meditate on the gospel, look again at the wonderful cross of the Lord Jesus, see how much he loves you, ask his forgiveness for the times you’ve taken that for granted, ask him by his Spirit to give you new life in your heart, and he will do that.

But the major thrust of this is to us as a church family, and let’s take this word to heart.  Can I ask the Church Wardens and the PCC especially, and those in leadership in this church to test this, because I don’t know.  That’s the problem: we’re so close to Sardis we could think, “It’s not for me.”   That’s what they’d have said.  Let’s hear the word; let’s have a good long look at ourselves.   If we’re dead, it’s not too late: let’s hear the wake-up call; let’s return to the gospel; let’s be thrilled by it, let’s be driven by it.  And if we’re not dead, and we’re already doing that, then that’s terrific, but let’s be sure we never ever allow ourselves to go this way.