Word of Salvation – Vol. 14 No.24 – June 1968

 

A Dying Church

 

Sermon by Rev. Carl J. Reitsma, B.A., B.D. on Revelation 3:1-6

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 24:42-51; Revelation 3:1-6

PSALTER HYMNAL: 278; 180; 253; 372; 438; 464

 

One of the most solemn, disturbing and really terrifying truths in God's Word is that certain persons are utterly mistaken about themselves and about their salvation.  These people think they are saved, but in reality they are lost.  They think they will go to heaven, but in reality they will go to hell.  When the judgment day comes they will stand outside heaven's gates and say "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name – and done this and that?" and Christ will reply "I never knew you.  Depart from me, ye that work iniquity".  Self-deceived!  What a pity!  The Bible says that "many" will be self-deceived.  And, what is true of people is also true of churches.  Churches may convince themselves and others that they are vigorous and robust, just glowing with health, but in actual fact they may be sick unto death.  Looks are sometimes very deceiving.  The church at Sardis, for example, had a splendid reputation amongst the churches, but Jesus said it was so diseased it was almost dead.  The people said, "Say, have you heard about Sardis?  Now there is one of the best!"  "No!", says Jesus, "it is one of the worst."

What a remarkable thing!  What could account for this sharp difference of opinion?  Is it possible that a church which has a fine reputation in our denomination is at the point of spiritual death?  A church is not always what it seems, and it is the duty of all of us to stop looking at artificial signs of life and to begin looking at the church – and ourselves – the way God looks at us.  And, where it is necessary, we must repent.

Sardis was one of the world's great trading centres.

They had a garment industry there, a river running through the city where you could "pan" gold, and all in all it was an extremely wealthy place.  Its people were loose-living and pleasure-mad, and the richer the city became, the more smug and satisfied it was.

It was proud of its past glories, but the people were not very ambitious.  There was no surge to develop and expand.  "She'll be right!" was their attitude.

As to the church in Sardis, all we know about its origin and growth is what may be gathered from this epistle.  The letter is addressed to the "angel" or "messenger" of the church, and we understand this to refer to the "minister" or "pastor" of the church.  In chapter one, verse twenty, they are referred to as "stars".  Like a star, the minister of the church is to shine forth in godliness, to be an example to the flock, and show forth the glory of him who appointed and upholds him.  As is the case with all seven churches, the minister is addressed; and by way of the minister, the whole church is addressed.

So, today, let us consider the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1-6.

The theme of this passage is:

             "THE LORD'S ESTIMATE OF THE CHURCH AT SARDIS"

And let us note...
            I.  THE DIVINE INSPECTOR OF THE CHURCH, and
            II.  THE DESPERATE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH, and
            III.  THE URGENT WARNING TO THE CHURCH, and
            IV.  THE RICH REWARD OF THE CHURCH.

I.  THE DIVINE INSPECTOR OF THE CHURCH.

The Lord Jesus introduces himself in the following striking manner: "These things saith he that HATH THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD, AND THE SEVEN STARS".

The first point we wish to make is that the Lord Jesus Christ, upon his ascension to heaven, TOOK POSSESSION of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord Jesus received from the Father the RIGHT TO ADMINISTER THE WORK of the Holy Spirit.  It is in this sense that Jesus "HAS" the Spirit.

Acts 2:33 informs us, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear".

After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit became the Spirit OF Jesus Christ in a new and wonderful way.

And, the second point to notice is that the Holy Spirit is spoken of as "the SEVEN Spirits of God".  This is just a figurative way of expressing the "COMPLETENESS" of the Holy Spirit's work.

So, this flame-eyed Jesus Christ from chapter one is presented as POSSESSING and DISTRIBUTING the Holy Spirit in the COMPLETENESS of his work, in the FULLNESS of his DIVINE ENERGY.  Consequently, the Lord cannot be fooled by appearances, this trifling and playing with religion in the church at Sardis.  All power, including that of the Holy Spirit himself, is Christ's.  All power in heaven and on earth!  Let Sardisians and all men know that Jesus Christ is the Lord of Glory.  Away with pretence then.  It is time to be honest to God.  The Divine Inspector of the Church, Jesus Christ, is walking amid the candlesticks.

In saying that Jesus "HAS" the seven Spirits of God, we made the point that Jesus has JURISDICTION over the work of the Holy Spirit.  In a similar way Jesus has JURISDICTION over the seven stars, his ministers.  This is stressed because, in all likelihood, the spiritual bankruptcy of the church can be traced right back to the spiritual poverty of the minister.  Let ministers be warned therefore, that they labour as in the palm of the Lord's hand.  A minister's first responsibility is to the ascended Lord.  This is what gives him the spiritual power to MOULD THE CONGREGATION, rather than BEING HIMSELF CONTROLLED by the opinions of the congregation.  Let our ministers be CHANNELS of blessing, just as the Holy Spirit is the source of blessing.  Here he comes: the Divine Inspector of the Church, armed with the power of the Holy Spirit and holding his ministers in his right hand.

II.  THE DESPERATE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH.

What does the Divine Inspector find at Sardis?  He finds a church there that is dead.  This does not mean that there was absolutely no spiritual life left in the church, for there were a few members there who had not "defiled their garments", as we read in verse four; but as a whole the congregation was desperately sick.  It was ALMOST dead.  It had cancer of the soul.  It was awful.  Now, when we speak of a church being dead, we generally think of the kind of church that is unfriendly and cold and very formal.  Perhaps it has only one service per Sunday and many people on its church membership rolls who never attend.  We would call such a church a "dead" church.  But, this kind of deadness does not take long to detect.  Anyone with a grain of spirituality can tell that things are not right in a church like that.

No, the "deadness" in Sardis was something much more subtle than that.  For, the remarkable thing was that Sardis had just the opposite kind or reputation.  It had made a name for itself as being very much alive.  So, they must have been an ACTIVE congregation Their minister must have been one of the best.  The elders made all their calls.  There were no special problems.  The offerings were good.  They had a large membership with an efficient organization.  They were orthodox in their beliefs.  Indeed, they had fooled almost everybody, including the church-visitors.  But Jesus says it was a DYING church!  Well, why?  What was wrong with the church at Sardis?  And the answer?  It was SELF-CENTRED.  Instead of being CHRIST-centred and HOLY SPIRIT-driven, they were stirring THEMSELVES into action.  Instead of looking to JESUS, they had come to rely more and more on their OWN resources.  Where there is great activity in a church and the energy for it is not coming from the Lord, then it must be coming from the people themselves.  And when this happens, you may get church-activities but you will never get spiritual-life.  Only Christ by way of the Holy Spirit can provide that, as we have seen in point one.

What a pity!

They neglected Jesus Christ and the life-giving Holy Spirit.  They substituted pep-talks for prayer times; church-administration for a "closer walk with God".  And, the more busy they became, the more content they were with themselves, so satisfied with their accomplishments, filled with a sense of "having arrived", so self-sufficient.  "Let us keep the church going!" they said.  They kept the meetings meeting, the committees working, the reports flowing and the stencil machines turning.  And it was all very proper and it all seemed very important.  But, the Lord was not in it.

As for the star of the church, the minister of the church at Sardis, he just kept on preaching in a general sort of way.  He preached "timeless" sermons.  It was all true, of course, but no-one felt especially hurt or especially helped.  He could get excited in the pulpit, but he never unmasked the sinner, never stepped on anybody's toes.  No one ever resented anything he said because the preaching was never that sharp and clear.  There was nothing radical or absolute about it.  He never made an ISSUE of sin.  In talking to people he would never say, "Now this is sin and we will not go on until the matter is settled".  No, this was Sardis, a respectable kind of church, a dying church, a church in a desperate condition.

III.  THE URGENT WARNING TO THE CHURCH.

The church at Sardis had done very well in measuring up to man's standard, but not up to Christ's.  He had not found them "perfect" by any means.  The word "perfect" in this passage does not mean "sinless", but it means "COMPLETE".  Christ had found their busy activity to be HOLLOW because it did not flow forth from his own presence in their souls.  If Christian activities are to please the Lord then Christ must be in the Christian, supplying the power to perform them and replacing self and everything else.  Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that ABIDETH IN ME, and I IN HIM the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing."  And, as Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  And again, "CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory."  Christianity essentially is not a matter of WHAT WE DO or HOW MUCH WE DO, but WHO WE ARE.  A Christian is a NEW creature, a SPIRIT-filled person, as the Lord through the prophet Ezekiel said, "And I will put MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU, and ye shall KEEP MY JUDGMENTS, and do them."  That is Christian living!  CHRIST IN US by the Holy Spirit.  Nothing else will do.

Ah, how they had grieved the Lord by their lack of piety and devotional spirit.  They had made such a business out of the church.

If only they would remember their conversion – when they were filled with "wonder, love, and praise", THEN they would see how far they had drifted from the Lord.  And so the Lord appeals to them to "remember ...hold fast ...and repent".  Like the famous lines of William Cowper:
            Where is the blessedness I knew,
              when first I sought the Lord?
            Where is the soul-refreshing view,
              of Jesus and His Word?
            What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
              how sweet their memory still!
            But they have left an aching void,
              the world can never fill.

So God gives to Sardis and to us the opportunity and command to REPENT.  There is still hope if we turn to the Lord with our hearts.  God still cares about us.  He is coming to you right now in this sermon saying: "My son, my daughter, give me your HEART."  Perhaps YOU are very interested in the mechanics of church-life, just as they were in Sardis..  It may be that YOU have been brought up in that atmosphere.  You can discuss the minister, the elders, the policies of the church, but you become strangely silent when it comes to having a spiritual talk about your soul or about the Lord.  If this is the case with you, you are likely FAR from God.  What will happen to you when you have to stop all your busy church-work and you are alone with God?  "But," you ask, "how can a person be sure he has the Lord in his heart?"  The way to find the answer is to ask yourself some further questions.  What concerns you the most, what people think of you, or what God thinks of you?  Has God made you over?  Have you become God's man, God's woman, God's boy or God's girl?  From the inside out?  Does God have control over your life, your opinions, over what you do and how you do it?  Or, are you trying to keep God at arm's-length and retaining the control yourself?  Are you running in GOD'S track?

Ultimately, are you living to please yourself or the Lord?  Are you like Paul who wanted more than anything to get to know Christ better and to be like him in everything?  "Yea doubtless", he says "and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord".  Is your main interest the Lord Jesus Christ?  If anything takes the place of HIM, we are on the wrong road.

The last word of warning is "WATCH".  With this word the Lord lifts the gaze of his readers forward and upward to him.  The IN-LOOK inspires the UP-LOOK, and the UP-LOOK brightens the OUT-LOOK.  He will return with the clouds.  In that day only Christ's estimate of us will count.  Let the people in Sardis get some of the tension of the Second Coming into their lives, some of this holy excitement.  Let his coming not be a sudden and alarming thing, but rather let it be the climax of their joy.  And that is the way it WILL be, if we are absorbed in the Lord and our life is "hid with Christ in God."

IV.  THE RICH REWARD OF THE CHURCH.

And now for the happy conclusion!  There was a small group of believers in the church at Sardis that took the Lord seriously.  The Lord calls them "WORTHY".  They appreciated God's grace and showed it by their works.  You could say that, though they were living in this world, they were in tune with heaven.  They loved the things God loves, and hated the things God hates.  Their lives were a credit to the gospel.  They were people whom God's grace had made "fit" for heaven.

To these and to any others in the church who would repent and overcome, the Lord makes THREE PROMISES.

The FIRST promise is "white clothing".  White is a popular colour in the book of Revelation.  We read of a white stone, a white cloud, white horses, and a great white throne.  In ancient times white robes stood for gladness and victory and especially PURITY, and it is still the same today.  In one sense Christians are already white – for our robes are washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.  We have been delivered from the guilt of sin.  But the day is coming when we will never sin anymore, and then we will be "white" in every sense.  It will be impossible to offend or grieve the Lord ever again.  We will only be able to make God happy, and we will see upon our Saviour's face never a frown but always a smile.  For ever and ever we will enjoy sinless, holy, heavenly communion with Christ.  That is what it means to walk with Christ in white.

The SECOND promise is that their names will never be blotted out of the book of life.  Even though they deserve to be blotted out, they will not be blotted out.  This is a most blessed encouragement.  Our daily sins are enormous, but not even the Christian's most terrible of sins can break his union with Christ.  Our daily sins DISTURB OUR FELLOWSHIP with Christ, but they cannot SEPARATE US FROM HIM.  True believers, in spite of their daily sins, shall certainly have everlasting life.  Nothing shall separate them from the love of God.  Indeed, "he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ".  This is a great comfort for Christians.

And the FINAL promise in the words of Jesus is, "I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels".  The day will come when the Lord of Glory will take our side and say, "This man belongs to me".  He will call me by my very own name and not be ashamed of me.  Before all the hosts of heaven and the Father's face, the Lord will smile and pronounce my name with his very own lips.

What a staggering honour for a poor sinner!  What a blessed promise!  Jesus will not be ashamed of me.

Amen.