Revelation 3:1–6

Like many of the cities in the Roman province of Asia, Sardis boasted a long, proud history. Ephesus was the popular city, whose beautiful Temple of Artemis was a World Wonder. The city was a hotspot for wondering wanderers.

Smyrna was restored and built up as a project of Alexander’s successors, Antigonus and Lysimachus.

Pergamum was once the capital of the Attalid empire, a great and powerful city with a vast library. They were known for their education and advanced technology.

Thyatira and Laodicea were manufacturing and trade hubs, producing dyes and medicines.

Then we come back to our city of the day: Sardis. Sardis had the most ancient history of the cities, with the possible exception of Ephesus.

Sardis was the ancient capital of Lydia. After the Hittites fell, the Kingdom of Lydia arose to take their place. The Old Testament mentions them occasionally. The Lydians were around during the time of Isaiah.

As I said, the capital of Lydia was the city of Sardis. It’s mentioned once in the book of Obadiah:

“And the exiles of this military force of the sons of Israel,
who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad,
will possess the cities of the Negev.” (Obad 1:20)

That third line refers to Sepharad, which was the Hebrew term for the city of Sardis. During the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, a large Jewish population was relocated there.

Croesus was the last and greatest king of Lydia. During his reign, a man named Aesop, who was from Sardis, compiled the famous collection we know as Aesop’s Fables. This was a high point in time for the city.

King Croesus fought hard to defend his kingdom from the Persians. As it happened, his brother-in-law Astyages was the king of the Medes. Astyages was defeated by his own grandson, Cyrus the Great. Then Cyrus turned his energy toward Lydia and captured Sardis for himself. He chose to leave Sardis as the capital of the new Persian province of Lydia.

The Dead Church.

By the end of the first century, the city had lost much of its original luster. It was the capital of nothing, after falling to the Greeks over four centuries earlier. It eventually conceded that right to Pergamum. Yet, still there was something that remained. It was still a great city, but it was a shell of what it once was.

Like the modern city of Detroit, you could walk around and see the vestiges of “what once was,” knowing it would never again reach such heights.

Unfortunately, the church there mirroring its host city.

Let us read the letter of Jesus to the church in Sardis.

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:

This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says:

I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev 3:1–6)

The church in Sardis is the dead church. This is the most serious of conditions described in Revelation 2–3.

I want us to look at what it takes to revive a dead congregation. Jesus holds out hope that they can once again come to life. While the city of Sardis will only continue to decline, there’s no reason for their spiritual status to do so.

A reviving church realizes its predicament.

“This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says:

I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up… ” (Rev 3:1–2a)

The opening sounds strangely similar to the greeting in the first letter.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 

This is what the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says:” (Rev 2:1)

I believe they sound similar because the congregations have similar issues. Both Ephesus and Sardis are continuing to live off their reputations instead of their holy service to God. While Ephesus is not condemned as harshly, they too are told to look to their past for an example.

Now Jesus tells the Sardians (not the fish in a tin!) that they misinterpret their own reputation. The church at Sardis is a shell of what they once were.

I have been to dozens of congregations all over Texas. I once made a map of every congregation I’d ever visited. Many of them are strong and faithful. Yet a great number tell a similar story to those who visit. Maybe you’ll recognize the trope:

“Well, back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, we were about 200 members. You couldn’t sit down anywhere. We had an annual lectureship and we had kids’ classes and VBS and we were a light in the community. And now there’s just the twenty of us.”

I have complete empathy for the plight of rural or small-town churches. Religiosity has been declining sharply in America. That’s not what I’m describing, though. These congregations have suffered under the weight of their own ignorance, apathy, and laziness. Yet they still try to make themselves feel better by considering the past.

Here’s the thing: Jesus doesn’t care one bit what you have done as a church. He cares what you’re doing now. He doesn’t commend the church in Sardis for their past service; He chides them for being spiritual skeletons.

A reviving church has to change its perspective and see itself the way Jesus sees it. We have to ask ourselves seriously whether our attitudes and priorities match up with those of our Chief Shepherd.

If we want to revive, we must admit our situation and be honest about it. This includes examining how we got here.

Have we been spending time being spiritually productive—or have we allocated our energy to shallow activities?

Jesus tells the dying church in Sardis to wake up! Recovery can only come if they break from the illusion that everything is okay.

A reviving church looks to its faithful members.

“Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.” (Rev 3:2)

All hope is not lost. There are remnants of faithfulness. In verse 4, Jesus explains:

“But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.” (Rev 3:4)

These members should take the charge. They should be leading and encouraging everyone else. If you allow the source of the sickness to drive the church, the church will be sick. Paul describes it this way:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. But avoid godless and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene.” (2 Tim 2:15–17)

The church in Sardis was sick and weak and eventually died because sick, dying men walked it straight into the grave.

A church that wants to revive must find the source of its problems and eliminate them. Then, it must strengthen the healthy members while they still have a chance.

A reviving church returns to the Bible.

“So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it….” (Rev 3:3a)

Everything revolves around this. Jesus encourages them to go back to the basics of the gospel message. This is the only benefit of looking to the past: to remember the truth of the word of God. The Bible is the only source of God’s power for us today.

“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!” (Gal 1:9)

Scripture has the power and ability to revive us unto a living hope:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you.” (1 Pet 1:3–4)

“You have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Pet 1:23)

The church is Sardis was not dying because it was so devoted to Scripture. They were dying because they forgot what the gospel really meant. We have to return to God’s word as our guide for life, not just a book of wisdom.

A reviving church makes changes as a group.

“So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” (Rev 3:3)

At the end of that sentence, Jesus instructs the church to repent. The imperative verb He uses (repent) is second person singular, meaning He is not instructing various individuals to make changes, but the congregation as a whole. Christ sees His body as a unity. We are together and ought to live, breathe, and work together in our work as a congregation.

Perhaps some of us think we’re a more useful or beneficial part of the body, but Jesus doesn’t see us that way. Paul described it so in 1 Corinthians 12:14–26:

“Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,’ it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,’ it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need.” (1 Cor 12:14–24 CSB)

I want to ask you: Do we have goals? What do you picture this congregation looking like in the next five years? Is it any different? Are there more members, or fewer? I hope we’ll have more members! But how is that going to happen? Will we passively wait around for it?

Now a different question: Do you have goals? Personal changes and efforts you will enact yourself? Or, are you hoping to coast along until you die, leaving the church in the hands of the next generation, which is not here to take care of it?

Revival means all of us have to make changes. A ship won’t change course because two or three oarsmen decide to paddle backward. It takes a group effort.

Sardis already had “a few” who were faithful. They needed to be faithful as a body of believers. And so do we.

A reviving church can live forever.

“But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Rev 3:4–5)

We are certainly saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8), but Jesus also say that those who will walk with Him in white will do so because they are worthy.

You have to walk worthy of your calling (Eph 4:1). In the book of Revelation, the word “worthy” is usually applied to Jesus. For example:

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!'” (Rev 5:11–12)

We are worthy when we look and act like Jesus. This isn’t a call to passivity, but to excellence and activity!

There is hope. It may have been scarce hope for Sardis. But not every church has to die just because they’re dying.

They didn’t realize their own quandary until receiving this letter. That’s why they continued to die. The problem with a dead church is that they don’t know they’re dead.

I want us to consider this church seriously, because I wonder if it could apply to us. Are we resting on the laurels of a previous generation? Or are we actively being productive in our own right?

“So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

Jesus said, ‘Remove the stone.’

Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time he smells, for he has been dead four days.'” (John 11:38–39)

Just like Lazarus, the church in Sardis was dead and already beginning to decompose. Yet Jesus has the power to bring back both.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever.'” (John 11:25–26)

Will you remain dead, or will you live and believe in Jesus so that you may live forever?