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Past Ponderings

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

PONDERING... Are You Alive?: A Lesson from Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)



Are You Alive?: A Lesson from Sardis

GIST: You can fool the world, but you can't fool God; so wake up before you can't, and live.
SCRIPTURE: Revelation 3:1-6
“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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

BACKGROUND: The Appearance of Safety

As usual, we'll start with a brief contextualization of this letter's original recipients. I will not bog you down with tons of history here, but there are a few points I think are especially pertinent. Like several of the other cities we have studied, Sardis was very wealthy and prominent. Before being absorbed into the Roman Empire, it was the capital of the Lydian Kingdom and known for extreme riches, and an ideal, seemingly impenetrable location. Their acropolis (the fortified part of their city) was elevated a steep 1500 feet, giving them a clear military advantage. However, this led to over confidence, and twice in their history they were soundly defeated by armies who carefully climbed those walls and were able to invade the city because no one was watching. They were so self-assured, they didn't even think to guard against attack. And again, this had happened twice (549 and 195 BC)**. The parallel here to their spiritual situation is striking, as they are warned to wake up--to pay attention. Let's look at that.


MESSAGE: Live

As usual, let's start by looking at how Jesus refers to Himself in the opening greeting. Because, as we've mentioned before, this gives us some insight into the meat of the remaining letter.
The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

This reminds me of the opening to Ephesus. It refers to Jesus in the context of His work amongst the Church. The term seven spirits here would be better read as the sevenfold spirit which refers to the full work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit brings life to the Church, revealing the will of God, convicting of sin, bringing encouragement...etc. The seven stars refer to the angels/messengers of the seven churches, which in turn represent the Church as a whole. So, what is Jesus reminding this church about with His opening words? I am the God of the Church. It exists through and for Me. That then feeds into His message to them. He is the source of the true church and He knows their works, but...

This letter is so convicting because Jesus immediately calls this church dead. There is no commendation. Though we see there is a fragment of life in this church, even the fragment is about to die. Spiritually (in the sight of God, in what it means to actually be a Christian church) this church is very close to complete death. BUT, it has a reputation for being alive. The world looks in and sees a vibrant, faithful church...They're wrong.

Now, that can be scary because it may seem like none of us can then be sure. Are we living, or just deceived? That's not the message here. The message of the Bible is never: 'you can't know if what you have is real, so just keep trying and hope for the best.' Sadly, I have known many professing Christians trapped in that lie. If that's you, please know the Bible is very clear: "9... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9 ESV). This church is not living for Christ; they are just putting on a good show.
Let's do the walkthrough and take-aways simultaneously today (I know...we're getting crazy... :D).


1. You can fool the world, but not God
I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Every letter has started with "I know your works", followed by an explanation of them. In this letter, Jesus essentially says, "I know your works...and you don't have any." But, that doesn't mean they weren't doing anything. I'd say they were probably doing quite a bit, or at least they had been at some point, because they have a reputation for being alive. So, either now, or at some point in their history they were going through the right motions. This is not a new admonition in the Bible.

Hosea 6:4,6 "4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. ... 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 23: 27-28 “27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

And one of the saddest verses in the entire Bible:

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Again, this is not a needless scare tactic designed to make you doubt. The truth here is that you can know if you are saved, but just "doing the right stuff" is not what Christianity/salvation/redemption is about. Remember Isaiah 64:6b? "...all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." We can fool the world with moral living or put on passion, but God sees our hearts. Do we love Him? Are we giving Him our lives? This warning cuts deep. Let it.


2. So wake up before you can't
2 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. ...3b 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. 

Given this state, they are told to wake up. Snap out of the spiritual stupor and start paying attention. They are also told to "strengthen what remains". There is a shell, a fragment, a remnant of true Christianity in their beliefs, or practices, or some of their members. Either way, it is dying, too. It's incomplete, partial--which, again, means dead (you can't be partially alive).
He is coming. If they don't wake up, they won't be ready. Not being ready for Christ's return means Hell. A Hell you have chosen.

But, how do they/we wake up?

3a Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. 

-Remember They were established on the truth. It's actually crazy to think how quickly this church declined. They could not have been started more than 30, maybe 40, years before this letter was written (during the missionary journeys of Paul). In that time, they gained a reputation for being a vibrant, living church, and completely neglected the truth of Christianity. Nonetheless, the foundation was there. They knew the truth. Maybe you do to. Maybe you know that God is holy and loving and you are a sinner who deserves punishment, but Jesus came and willingly died for you, and if you give Him control of your life, you will be saved. Maybe you know this means living for Him and not yourself. Maybe not, but at least you've heard it now. Cling to that truth, and-->

-Repent:
Stop going through the motions. Turn to Jesus and ask Him to completely change your life, to be real to you. And start living for Him, and-->

-Remain:
It's not enough to just feel bad about it. Repent and keep. These go hand-in-hand. The problem here is rooted in their not keeping of God's word, not staying alive. So the only repentance that matters, the only repentance that is true, is one that is maintained. Turn to Jesus. Stay with Jesus.


3. And live
4 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. 5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

We've pointed this out before, but the promise attached to each of these letters is ultimately Heaven. However, the imagery is specific to the situation of the church, and shines special light on just what this eternal blessing will be like. Look at the contrast in this promise:

This is a corrupt and spiritually dead church---if they repent, like those few faithful who remain, they will be clothed in righteousness and purity (white garments).

Right now, they are clinging to fragments of life or truth-- if they repent, their names will be written in the book of life and never blotted out! They will be immersed in the Truth forever.

This church has a false reputation before men (they appear to be alive, but are not)-- if they repent, Jesus will confess their names before the Father and his angels; they will have a true reputation with God!

QUICK APPLICATION:

1. Examine yourself. How does the world see you? What is your reputation with God? I am teaching a College American Literature course right now, so much of my time has been spent pouring over American classics. One piece I've assigned for students to read is from The Journal of John Woolman, an 18th Century Christian. In the opening chapter, he talks about his early life and the spiritual struggles he faced and makes this really insightful comment:
"Though I had found comfort in reading the Holy Scriptures and thinking on heavenly things, I was now estranged therefrom. I knew I was going from the flock of Christ and had no resolution to return, hence serious reflections were uneasy to me, and youthful vanities and diversions were my greatest pleasure." Chapter 1
Self-reflection is unpleasant. It is easier to distract ourselves with TV or some other mind numbing task (we all have our favorite mindless distractions) than to look seriously at our spiritual condition. Pray for help with this. Consider the eternal weight.


2. Wake up. Like Sardis or not, we all need a wake up call now and then. Return. Repent. Remain.


3. Live. Jesus died for this: John 10:10b "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."




Ponder, pray, and promulgate.
(Taught at Providence Baptist Church on January 22, 2017.)


SIDE NOTES:
* I did stumble across this archaeological website dedicated exclusively to the study of Sardis. There are some really interesting articles here. The one about the largest known synagogue of the ancient world was especially intriguing.)

**Dr. Thomas from the Master's Seminary:
"By the middle of the sixth century B.C., the city attained such a high level of respect that when its downfall came at the hands of a little known enemy, the Greek cities received the news of it with disbelief. Despite an alleged warning against self-satisfaction by the Greek god whom he consulted, Croesus, king of Lydia, initiated an attack against Cyrus, king of Persia, but was soundly defeated. Returning to Sardis to recoup and rebuild his army for another attack, he was pursued quickly by Cyrus who laid siege against Sardis. Croesus felt utterly secure in his impregnable situation because he was atop Acropolis, 1500 feet high and he foresaw an easy victory over the Persians who were cornered among the perpendicular rocks in the lower city, an easy prey for the army to crush. After retiring one evening while the drama was unfolding, he awakened to discover the Persians had gained control of the Acropolis by scaling one by one the steep walls."

"So secure did the Sardians feel they had left the city that this means of access was completely unguarded, permitting the climbers to ascend unobserved. It is said that even a child could have defended the city from this kind of an attack by watching that one area where the wall could have been scaled, but not so much as one observer had been appointed to watch that side because it was believed to be inaccessible, and so the city was conquered. History repeated itself over three and a half centuries later when Antiochus the Great conquered Sardis by utilizing the services of a sure-footed mountain climber. This happened in 195 B.C. and they hadn't learned the lesson."




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