To the Church in SardisMy Understanding: This letter is from Jesus Christ. It is addressed to the earthly minister (elder/pastor) of this church in Sardis, yet it is for the church as a whole to hear and to apply its truths to their lives. Jesus is the one being spoken of here as one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. To hold means to possess, to have, and to keep. Most commentators I have read agree that the “seven spirits of God” represent the Holy Spirit and that the seven stars represent the elder/pastors of each of these seven churches. Jesus Christ was definitely letting his readers know that he was God and that he had the divine knowledge to know what was in their hearts and the divine authority to address them in this letter on the issues presented, based upon that knowledge and the authority of God Almighty to command obedience to His words contained within.
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. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3 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.
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. 5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
In each of these letters, I believe there are three or four (depending upon the letter and to whom it is addressed) main components of the body of each letter: 1) The Affirmation, 2) The Condemnation, 3) The Proclamation and 4) The Application. So far, they have pretty much followed in that order of sequence, but this letter begins with the condemnation, followed by the proclamation and then the affirmation and the application. So, that is the order I will follow with this passage of scripture today as I prayerfully seek God to understand the lessons being taught here that can be applied to my life and to our lives today.
The Condemnation
Jesus said he knows their deeds. He can see everything we do, because he is God. He knows when we sit, rise, lie down, walk, talk, play, work, etc. He knows everything about us, inside and out. Nothing escapes his knowledge or his notice. He knows the end from the beginning. He even knows the numbers of hairs on our heads. And, he was letting this church know that he was well aware of what they were doing. He told them that they had a reputation of being alive, but they were dead. I don’t know on what basis they had this reputation or what that meant for them personally, so what I believe the Lord would have me examine and talk about today is what it means for us to have a reputation of being alive but how some of us are really dead.
Our reputations are the viewpoints, estimations and opinions that others have about us either through observation, personal experience with us, gossip, information passed from one person to another, or whatever other means they may have heard about us or have encountered us in some way. Sometimes the reputations are true and sometimes they are false, misleading and/or distorted based upon hearsay, rumors or misconceptions. Sometimes our reputations are positive and sometimes they are negative, and they can vary from people to people depending on the perspective of the one with the opinion or estimation. In the case of the church in Sardis, they had a good reputation, but it was false and misleading, i.e. they appeared to be better than what they really were. The reason for this “too good to be true” reputation could fall upon the ones who made the assessment, but it is more likely that the church itself gave off the impression they were better than they really were. Either way, their reputation did not match with whom they were inside.
They had a reputation of being alive spiritually, but they were dead spiritually. In other words, they had a reputation that they were true believers in Jesus Christ, but they were not believers. I can take no other view of this based upon the affirmation section of this passage in which it states that they have a few people among them who have not soiled their clothes and they are the ones who will walk with Jesus Christ and be dressed in white for they are worthy. We know that our worthiness does not come from within ourselves but only by God’s grace in his saving work within our lives, so what this is clearly saying is that the majority of this congregation were Christians in reputation only, but they did not have a vital, living and fruit bearing relationship with Jesus Christ.
And, this is not unlike many of our church congregations here in the USA, either, with the watered-down gospel messages that go out regularly from the pulpits of many church gatherings which deny the need for repentance and obedience for salvation. Yet, it is so clear throughout the New Testament that both repentance and obedience are absolutely essential to true faith in Jesus Christ and to our ultimate salvation and eternal life with God in heaven. They often will use the excuse that repentance and obedience for salvation is works-based salvation, yet what true believer in Jesus Christ would not want to repent and to obey or to want to let others know of the importance of repentance and obedience? What is the purpose of a belief that is head knowledge only with no change in attitude or heart or behavior? The Bible is clear that when there is no change, there was no change, i.e. that person is not genuinely saved. Repentance and obedience = true faith in Christ Jesus.
The Proclamation
Wake up! To wake means “to come back to a conscious state after sleeping, or make somebody do this; to become alert and active after being inactive; to become aware of something; and/or to keep watch” (Encarta). This is a call to spiritual alertness, to paying attention to what Jesus Christ is saying, and to obedience. Basically it is saying to stop just wearing the name “Christian” and actually become a true believer in Jesus Christ who turns from living according to the flesh and who walks in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, not out of his own working his way into heaven, but in allowing the grace of God to do a work of transformation in his or her heart and life to exact change of heart, mind and behavior. Our “job” in faith is merely to cooperate with God in allowing him to change us and to make us into his holy bride ready to meet him when he returns. True faith involves heart surrender.
Strengthen what remains and is about to die – it appears here that even what evidence of spiritual life there was to the church, as a whole, was in danger of dying, perhaps because the majority’s influence was so great that this deadness was spreading throughout the congregation. Yet, when Jesus stated that he did not find their deeds complete in his sight, he was saying that their profession of faith did not match what was in their hearts as was evidenced by what they did, because our actions do speak as to what is truly in our hearts, as well as our fruits reveal whether or not we are truly in Christ Jesus, though not one of us can sit in judgment over another in this matter, because we don’t see as God sees. What’s the solution to the problem? - Repent and obey! If you are a Christian in reputation only for whatever reason, and you have not truly had a heart transformation where you turned from your sinful lifestyle and you turned in the other (opposite) direction to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and obedience, then I would encourage you to make your heart right today.
If those who are Christians in reputation only and who have not repented of their sin and have not turned to walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ don’t now repent and obey, Jesus will come to them like a thief. He comes as a thief in judgment to those who are still walking in darkness and who are not, in hope, waiting and watching for his return.
The Affirmation
Yet, not everyone in this congregation fell into this category of having a reputation of being spiritually alive but yet were dead. There were some who did not compromise with sin and with the world and who remained faithful to the Lord Jesus. They are the ones who will walk with Jesus Christ in glory and will be among those in heaven with God and wearing his righteousness. They are worthy because of God’s grace in saving them.
The Application
If those who are Christians in reputation only would only repent of their sin and obey the Lord Jesus Christ by cooperating with him in his work of grace in transforming their hearts and lives, then, as overcomers, they, too, can be dressed in Christ’s righteousness and have the hope of eternal life in heaven with God forever. All those who are true believers in Jesus Christ will have their names permanently stamped in the book of life, sealed by the promised Holy Spirit, and guaranteed eternal life in heaven with God, and Jesus will acknowledge that he knows us, that he loves us, and that we are ones of his before his Father in heaven and before the angels in heaven.
If you have an ear to hear what the Holy Spirit of God is saying to us today through this passage of scripture in which contains this letter to this church, and the Lord Jesus has put his finger upon any area of your life where you are one of his followers in reputation only, but not in reality, then my prayer today is that you would make sure of your salvation by surrendering your all to the Lord Jesus Christ today so that you can one day share in his glory in heaven with the rest of his saints who are and will be singing his praises.
How Sweet the Sound / An Original Work / April 24, 2011
How sweet the sound of Your saints in chorus;
Oh, how we adore You, our King.
We love You so, we want You to know.
That’s why we lift our voice to sing.
Praise and adoration we bring
Just to honor God and our King.
We love You, Lord, for Your great salvation;
Freely given grace from above.
Jesus, our friend, His promise won’t end.
He gave His life out of His love.
By His blood He purchased our fee,
When He died on Calvary’s tree.
He set us free so that we can worship
Him as a living sacrifice.
We come to Him with all of our sin.
Before our God we humbly bow.
We have been forgiven our sin,
So that we might be cleansed within.
Music, Page 1
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Music, Page 2
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