Topic: Letter to the church at Sardis,

Revelation 2:1-6

1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis writes,

‘These things say He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars,: “I know
your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2Be
watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have
not found your works perfect before God. 3Remember therefore how you have received
and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you do not watch, I will come upon
you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4You have a
few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk
with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes shall be clothed in white
garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will
confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

6“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Introduction:

The book of revelation is an overview of the end-times prophecies which was written
by John. The word Revelation means “revealing” or “an unveiling”. This is the
revelation of Jesus Christ himself revealing to John what will happen at the end
times. He reveals the Antichrist, he reveals God’s Judgement, he reveals the
calamity on earth and most especially He reveals Himself to us. The book of
revelation is a predictive prophecy, it speaks of things that will happen in the
future. John was sent by Jesus to write to the seven churches of Asia. In the
letter to the church of Sardis, John brought greetings from God the father who is
describe as the seven Sprits of God and seven stars. It not that there are seven
different Spirits of God rather this name was derived from the characteristics of
the Spirit of God reference in Isaiah 11:2 where He is called the Spirit of the
Lord, the Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge
and of the fear of the Lord. Or perhaps It may even reference to seven spiritual
beings the Angels.

The seven stars as defined in Revelation 1:20 as being the “angels of the seven
churches.’ Meaning the seven messengers or leaders of the church.

The Church at Sardis, the capital city of Lydia according to google, was referred
to as the dead Church, which is one of the seven churches John wrote a letter. The
others are the church of Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
The church at Sardis was dead even if they are physically alive their spirituality
was dead and therefore it’s called the Dead Church, their works according to verse
2 was not found complete in God’s sight. This may also be why they are dead, work
that was not done by the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be fulfilled and
completed.

Church’s organization based on leadership structure (Biblical, authentic, and

workable).

Comparing this to my former local church (The Lords House Parish) which I happen to
serve for about 3 years. As I heard it was set up by some pastors who knew the
parish pastor back in Nigeria and since I have been there no vivid organization
that I have seen. This letter to the church at Sardis was addressed to the leader
or messenger so to say, which are the Angels, this letter was also to remind the
Church that Jesus holds the leaders of the Church in His hand. Sometimes we forget
the fact that God has everything in his hands, comparing this fact with my former
local church where the pastor justifies every of his bad behavior with a reason, I
mean excused for doing every bad thing in the name of no one is perfect, Jesus
Christ says in Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in
heaven is perfect.” Jesus Christ should be our perfect example. This church was
dead, so was my local church dead spiritually, my local church also needs a
spiritual revival. Churches without the Holy Spirit is not a church at all. Titus
3:5 “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy
He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
The Church at Sardis recognized Jesus as their leader who is giving them warning to
be watchful, there are still somethings in them that Jesus looked and He knows they
can change to what He want. Jesus knows they will embrace His warnings and
criticism and renew their hope in Christ. Act 17:28 “for in Him we live and move
and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His
offspring.” However, the kind of leadership in my local Church is a pastoral leader
who don’t embrace the members opinion and take criticism in the wrong way
forgetting that a pastoral leader is very crucial to church growth.

Church’s discipline and discipleship process to assure that it promotes corporate

and personal spiritual growth through a proper functioning of the body of Christ.

In the letter, Jesus started with a problem that the church was dead, meaning the
Holy Spirit left them already, they don’t see reason for personal salvation, the
kind of leadership they have was the men/government pleasers. but in v4, Jesus says
that there are a few who have not defiled their garments. This few people I belief
they are genuine believer of Christ. My Local church is also dead spiritually which
I am trusting God to revive the pastor.

I believe the reason Jesus Christ started with a criticism is because the church at
Sardis can take criticism. Jesus knows everyone in the church, he knows their
strength, He knows their capability and above all He knows there is still room for
them to make amends in Verse 2 “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which
remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”
In my local church anyone who criticized and correct the pastor will be the subject
and prayer point of his preaching for that day.

The church’s mission, including its work of evangelism and ministry

Verse 3 “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.”
With this context they have backslide, but received and heard the warning and
repent of their sinful ways and this is why the warning came with a criticism to
the church of Sardis. The Church mission need to wake up and strengthen what
remains before everything in the church became practically dead, Jesus wants them
to preach the true word of God. I believe the purpose of this letter to reveal the
full identity of Christ and to give warning and hope to believers. And I also
believe the work of evangelism was strengthened and that is why our generation can
still be learning from them. If everything had died with that generation, they
would leave nothing for the future generations. If my Local Church want to survive,
they need to head to these warnings and wake up to the true God, the one who knows
the end from the beginning. The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, The
First and Last.

The church’s worship, including a biblical, theological, and historical reflection

on the essential elements of proper corporate worship

The church at Sardis used to be rich with good reputations of safety and
prosperity, until the Leaders got infected with disobedience to the word of God.
They were making loud noise calling it Praise and worship, worship was not led by
the holy spirit anymore. The church was dead spiritually. In my local church, many
people left the church, and it affected the church growth significantly.
Their wealth was used to dress their physical needs, leaving the spiritual to
suffer. And this was why their work was not fulfilled and completed to God. He said
to the Church, “I have not found your work complete” including their worship needs
a revival, But God loves his children and who He love He chastens, we are saved by
his grace through faith and not of works Ephesians 2:8-9, when we remember this,
then there is rooms for repentance. God is patient, but there is a limit to the
opportunities He gives to the sinners to repent. Because of this the members of my
local church are all gone because the pastor refused to repent.

Identifying the church’s strengths and weaknesses considering the comparisons

The Leaders became careless in their duties, Careless in prayer because they were
so comfortable with their wealth. The church was too worldly because of their
wealth, the wealth also brought them Pride and overconfidence in their resources.
The leader of my local church is filled with pride, No reflection of the divine
light and life of Jesus in his attitude at all.

By appearances and what we read about the church at Sardis was that it was a
vibrant, effective powerhouse but inside were lifeless.

Their strength is that there are still some faithful few that Jesus addressed as
“dressed in White” meaning they are clean, devoted to walking with God. I as a
born-again Christian, ready to serve and live my life for Christ have been praying
and interceding for him. The same resurrection power that brought Jesus back to
life is the same power that should fuel our lives as Christians. We should not live
our lives like those who says “I like the Christ you preach, but I do not like the
preacher”, because they are not Christ like.

Conclusion:

Jesus gave them hope by the wakeup call and promised if they obey and change their
ways Verse 5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not
blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My
Father and before His angels.” He also said if they (the Sardis will not watch and
repent) Therefore, if you do not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you
will not know what hour I will come upon you.

References

Bible (New King James) Version

Bible study tools.com