Church Series - Sardis

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. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, 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.

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. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

(Revelations 3:1-6)

The church in Ephesus had works, was vibrant in activities but lacked the essence of devotion, love. The church in Smyrna was pounded and oppressed but remained steadfast. In the pounding, God promises relief, restoration and a crown. The church in Pergamum lived right in the midst of evil. Despite trying as much to remain devoted to God, some feel to the lure of food and drink and a different style of worship.

The church in Thyatira, unlike Ephesus, had love, faith, hope and perseverance and more importantly they had the first love. So unlike the Ephesians who went through the motions, the church in Thyatira had fire in their belly like the early church in the book of Acts, an almost perfect state to be emulated. However, like Pergamum, they were compromised. They became permissible to idolaters mixing iron and clay in worship.

In Sardis, unlike the poor and oppressed Smyrna, they appeared to be alive – had “a reputation of being alive” – looked spiritually vibrant on the outside. Perhaps their facilities were well architected. The cathedral or chapel had angelic appearance, with glittering windows, well-manicured gardens, designated entry / exit passages for the laity and the clergy, an amphitheater that could seat 3000 plus congregants, beaming screens to project the service from round the auditorium, an elaborate church program well cascaded on social media, a parking lot habited by top of the range autos, name it. In terms of endowment, Sardis was the focal point from other churches. They had the masses, the programs, the facility and the resources to run even the other 6 churches comfortably. Alas! Why would God find fault in such a seemingly successful church?

Despite all these endowments, they were dead. If not dead already, they were on the brink of their last moments of entering a state of lifelessness. This church fits the characteristic Paul describes in 2 Timothy 3:5, ‘having a form of godliness but denying its power’. To the outsiders, the performance was convincing. The altar was a stage fit for drama. Everyone knew their lines by heart. A cheating husband coming with a deeply hurting family and occupy the front seat with plastic smiles even getting an opportunity to share at the pulpit about the miracle of that promotion he got at his workplace. A mother whose daughter was defiled by a member of the clergy sits at the back expected to silently follow the service as the deacons decide how to deal with the errant minister. The pastor’s son perhaps is struggling with drug addiction. He wants to come to church but the pastor thinks, ‘what will people say when they see him in this condition?’ remember, this is the same cathedral that is the talk of town, towering majestically on the west end of the city. It is strategically located with a big billboard at the city gate saying ‘Welcome to the Sanctuary’. A sign of life, vibrancy, hope but a den of death, lethargy and despair.

This is how the church in Sardis is described. Jesus accuses the Pharisees of looking beautiful on the outside but full of dead men’s bones on the inside (Matthew 23:27). The church in Sardis was like a beautifully adorned corpse in a funeral parlor. The sad part was, they thought they were alive. That is the delusion of self-righteousness. Remember the rich young man who had a conversation with Jesus in Matthew 19:16-23. He seemed to have it all. But Jesus showed him how inadequate he was. Outward appearance can create the impression that all is well. But remember God’s mind is not our own. How can it be easy for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich, the lively, the hippy, the famous to enter the kingdom of heaven? The young man came with hype of earning an honest living, not committing a crime, not a tribalist, esteeming his parents etc. he seemed to be alive. He had the money, the respect, the honesty, the fame. But he failed on the important hurdle. Like the church in Sardis, he was a beautifully adorned corpse in the funeral parlor of fame and wealth.

But there was a remnant. There were a few who had not soiled themselves. So there was a ray of hope for those who were spiritually dead. Lazarus had died for some days and the sisters who had a glimmer of hope that Jesus would cure him when he was alive now had their hopes dashed. But Jesus stood at the mouth of the tomb and called out, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’. He called the church of Sardis to ‘wake up!’.  Possibly there are many who need a wake-up call. To stir the gifts of the spirit in them. To transform the dry bones into life. You see, Mary and Martha on their own saw a tomb with a stinking corpse. Jesus instead saw a restored brother back home with those whom he loved.

It is time for the church to arise and say no to charades. Say no to the stinking corpse dressed in beautiful robes. Time to arise and stir up those gifts in each one of us. It’s time to leave the picket fence of relevance and enter the field of battle as fearless warriors. Time to move from the shallow end of hype and petulant kind of devotion to deep water faith rooted in Christ. Time to discard common sense and logic and instead to completely abandon our mind, soul and heart at the searcher of minds and hearts. We cannot wake up from the spiritual ICU if we have no breathe of the Spirit flowing in our system. Wake up!