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Jesus and His Message to the Church at Sardis
October 18, 2014

For the past several weeks we have been reviewing the message of Jesus to the churches in Revelation, most recently looking at the message to the church at Thyatira. We found that compromise was a common practice there and saw why compromise is not good when it comes to matters of faith. Today, we are going to continue our review of the message of Jesus to the churches in Revelation and today will consider his message to the church that was told it lived in name only and was very close to a complete death. Sometimes we get so caught up in the day to day activities of life that we forget we are part of the family of faith, and to be part of that family of faith we must not just have a name; we must live a life worthy of having that name. In the first two verses of his message, Jesus shows that church at Sardis had a name and was essentially dead. It was only doing a few small things to barely keep alive and even those activities were on the decline.

Revelation 3:1-2
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.

The church at Sardis lived in name only. Any church or organization that lives in name only will eventually cease to exist. To be viable, a church or organization must provide benefit to its members, and in the first few verses of the message to Sardis, Jesus shows that the works were not perfect for God and that means little to no spiritual benefit was being provided to the members. Jesus pointed out that those who saw the need to be perfect with God would be the ones to be resurrected.

Revelation 3:3-4
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Creating a sense of urgency is needed to effect change, and Jesus pointed out that he would come at an unknown future time, and only those who were right with Jesus at that time, would have eternal life. These verses also show that it is possible to consider oneself to be saved and to NOT be given eternal life. To be saved and have eternal life according to these verses requires we keep ourselves pure from evil so that we do not defile our spiritual garments.

Revelation 3:5-6
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Even with a dead church, Jesus shows that it is possible to remain pure, and should we find ourselves in a dead church, our key to eternal life is to remain pure with God, and contrary to the teachings of many organizations that identify themselves as one of the many apostolic first-century churches, this verse shows that the individual is directly accountable to God and Jesus, not the church, and that sometime even churches that consider themselves to be God's Church can be wrong. As a first-century apostolic Christians, our responsibility is not to the church but to God and Jesus, and our mission is to be pure freeing ourselves from sin.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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