To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (Revelation 1:4, 5a –NIV)
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6 –NIV)
Jesus is the Lamb that has been slain for the sins of the world. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit into the world to convict the world of guilt with regard to sin, righteous and judgment. (John 16:8) Jesus works in the world and in the church through the Holy Spirit.
Now let’s go on. Jesus says in verse 1, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Jesus’s message starts out with a serious rebuke. All four of his messages up to this point started out with a positive statement—with something they were doing right—but not his message to the church in Sardis. His message to the church in Sardis starts out with a rebuke. And it’s serious: “You are dead!” In John’s gospel, Jesus talked about crossing over from death to life. He meant crossing over from judgment and condemnation to eternal life. I don’t know whether being dead instead of alive is that serious, but it may well be.
Jesus is rebuking the church in Sardis because of their deeds. He says that they have a reputation of being alive, but are dead. Their deeds are the things they were doing or maybe failing to do. And evidently they looked fine to a casual observer—they had a reputation of being alive, but they were far from being fine. Maybe they sounded “spiritual” when they talked, but unless you were close to them, you wouldn’t see that their actions or failure to act betrayed their real condition. You can talk about your faith all you want, but James, the Lord’s brother, says, “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action (deeds,) is dead.” (James 2:17)
In verse 2 Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” Well, apparently there is still some life after all (“Strengthen what remains and is about to die”). Jesus will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. (Matt. 12:20) His purpose is not to see how many he can condemn, but to save all that can be saved!
Jesus says, “I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” The word translated complete means filled up. When the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians, he prayed for them to be “filled up with all the fullness of God”.
So what was missing? What were they doing wrong? Well, we don’t know for sure because Jesus didn’t say. Apparently he expected them to know. And if Jesus expects you to know something, that means that he knows that you know it!
Well, we’re not sure what they were doing wrong. But if you look at verse 5, Jesus says that there were a few in Sardis who hadn’t soiled their clothes. Soiling your clothes generally results from something you do rather that something you fail to do. So they were evidently committing both sins of omission and sins of commission. Let’s look back and see what Jesus commended and rebuked the first four churches for—what Jesus had to say to the churches in Thyatira, Pergamum, Smyrna and Ephesus. (And as I go over these things, consider what we as a church are doing or failing to do.)
Jesus commended the church in Thyatira for their deeds. He said, “I know your deeds, your love, your faith, your service and your perseverance...” They loved and served each other. They loved and served others. They loved and served Jesus. And they did not give up! They persevered! Jesus commended them for that.
Jesus commended the church in Pergamum for their faith. He said, “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” They were, no doubt, threatened and ordered to renounce Jesus. But they didn’t renounce Jesus even in the face of death. Jesus commended them for that.
Jesus commended the church in Smyrna because they were willing to endure poverty, affliction and persecution for his sake. (It’s like that today, you know, for many who live in Muslim countries and even countries that are supposed to have freedom of religion but are predominantly Muslim. Christians have trouble getting jobs, their property is stolen and their houses burned down and they are beaten and even killed.)
Jesus commended the church in Ephesus because they stood firm against false teachers and false teachings and persevered in good deeds in the face of hardships for the sake of Jesus. Evidently all these things that Jesus commended the first four churches for were missing from the church in Sardis.
Jesus also rebuked three of the first four churches. Some of them had people who were practicing sexual immorality and idolatry and tolerating people who were teaching these things. The church in Pergamum was tolerating people who held to the teachings of the Nicolaitans, teachings that Jesus hated. (We don’t know who the Nicolaitans were, but they were evidently teaching something that was seriously against God.)
But Jesus’s most serious rebuke to any of the first four churches was to the church at Ephesus. They had been doing many commendable things, but they lacked the most important thing. They had forsaken their first love. Jesus said, “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” If they did not repent, they would go out of existence! Jesus would take away their lampstand. (And, if that doesn’t sound serious—if it doesn’t sound serious for a church to go out of existence—remember that the church in Ephesus was simply all the Christians in Ephesus. No church in Ephesus would mean no Christian fellowship in Ephesus. Any Christians that were left in Ephesus would have been like, to use Paul’s analogy to the human body in 1 Corinthians, like isolated body parts—isolated hands and feet and eyeballs—not a good thing.
Now let’s look at verse three. In verse 3a Jesus says, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. 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.”
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.” What do you suppose they had heard and received (received means accepted as it’s used here)? What had they heard and accepted?
Well, I guess they had heard that they should love and serve and that they should stay away from idolatry and sexual immorality—some of things that Jesus mentioned concerning the first four churches. We’ve heard all those things, too. But doing those things won’t do it! This is what else they had heard—that they were sinners, dead in their sins and transgressions and without hope—that Jesus had died for their sin and rose from the dead and had given them one hope—one certainty, in fact—the certainty that through faith in Jesus they would be saved. We are saved by grace through faith! That’s the only possible way!
In verse 3b Jesus says, “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.” (Wake up, by the way, doesn’t just mean don’t be sleeping, it means be wide awake and alert! And in this context it means be doing what Jesus has given you to do! Are you doing it?)
Jesus says, “I will come like a thief...” I looked up passages that talked about Jesus coming like a thief. I found four in addition to today’s passage. Two of them were spoken by Jesus, himself. I’m going to read them without saying very much about them. But as I read, notice the warnings and the exhortations to be awake and alert—to watch. Notice where our minds and hearts must be. And notice what the promises are and what the rewards for our alertness will be. The first passage is Jesus speaking in Luke 12:32-40:
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Watchfulness
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Luke 12:32-40 –NIV)
The second passage is also Jesus speaking in Matthew 24:42-51:
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:42-51 –NIV)
The third passage is the apostle Paul from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9:
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 –NIV)
The last passage is the apostle Peter speaking in 2 Peter 3:9-14:
9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:9-14 –NIV)
Did you take note of all the warnings, the exhortations, the promises and the rewards? As I promised, I’m not going to say much about these passages. But I’m going to quote what Jesus said at the beginning of the passage from Luke (this is from the King James, by the way): “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Now let’s look at verse 4. Jesus says, “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.”
How easy it is for us to do the things the people around us are doing and no more! How hard it is for us to do more. No, we don’t set the world’s standards as our standards. (The world’s standard is “Me first.”) But we do set what the other Christians around us are doing as our standard. We think that if it’s OK for other Christians, it’s OK for us, too.
And I know that the standards of Christians seem to be getting more and more like the worlds standards. There’s greed and sexual immorality and many other things like that in the church. But I’m not talking about that. What I’m talking about is forsaking our first love. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”? He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.” That’s quoted in all three of the synoptic gospels. In Luke it says, “He must deny himself daily!” (‘Taking up your cross’, by the way, doesn’t speak of enduring misfortunes and sufferings (‘That’s the cross I have to bear). It speaks of denying your own desires to follow Jesus just as he denied his own desires to die on the cross for us.)
Our standard must not be the standard of those around—even of other Christians around us. Our standard must be the standard given by Jesus. Our standard is the word of God! (And I can tell you that I haven’t reached it. But I have to speak what the word of God says.) We must exhort each other to good works and pray for each other.
Verse 5 says, “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” Verse 5 applies to all believers. It applies to us. Our names will never be blotted out of the book of life. We will each be acknowledged by Jesus before God the Father and his holy angels—he who overcomes!
Verse 6 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” That’s actually a command. Jesus is telling Christians (he who has an ear) that we must do the things he is telling us to do! Amen!
Next week: The church in Philadelphia.
[prayer]