Promised and Visual Hope for Dead Churches (Rev. 3:1-6)

There is no person who can speak to our hearts as the Lord Jesus can. If He must rebuke us, He comes first with love and compassion that we, by the grace of God, should seek to follow after Him. Notice this method in each of the letters that we have considered. Each church, except the one in Smyrna, needed rebuke but He first commended them for their good actions (2:2-3, 13, 19). He is not a tyrant waiting to judge us harshly if we do not follow His leading. He wants us to be like Him and so He deals gently with us in our faults. However, there is a difference when we come to the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6). He had nothing good to say to them. What about His reference to good deeds in 3:1? That is not a commendation; it is His complaint, as we learn from 3:2. There is something seriously wrong here in Sardis. This is a sad and startling complaint come from the lips of our Lord. Three principles will help us in our duty to watch what good things we have in Christ.

The first principle is that a church can be dead. This is where any church must begin. Each must ask the question, Are we a dead church? The church in Sardis was dead (3:1) as evidenced in their works that failed to please Christ (3:2). Why did Christ use the term “dead” for Sardis when He did not for the churches in Thyatira and Laodicea? Did they not also have serious problems? I suppose it is because neither of them had ever known such glory as the Sardian believers did at the beginning. Now they had nothing. It is like the contrast between life and death. Just as the city had a significant fame as a royal city, and now was nothing, even so the church’s loyalty and service to Christ was in the past. Now they were nothing. They had “a form of godliness but [denied] the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5).

Why is this important? The great majority of Christendom today has only the form of godliness. They have no power. For example, how much of Protestantism today knows in practical experience the truth of justification by faith which was the Bible doctrine upon which Protestantism was founded? Very little! It is a truth that has been lost to vast areas of organized Christendom. The Reformation began well but later deteriorated into different religious systems. Where Truth is absent the religious body is spiritually lifeless. Many of those groups are today working toward an organic union that Protestants and possibly Roman Catholics will call Christian. But if they succeed in doing this, they will still be dead. It is a far cry from the “unity of the Spirit” spoken of by Paul in Eph. 4:3 and the unity Christ prayed for in John 17:21-23. In their organization, they will still be dead.

Begs the Question? Are we dead – without knowing it? Do we break the bread at Communion and at the same time feed upon Him? We have worship services, but do we really worship? What about our giving to the Lord’s work? We may give regularly, but do we do it out of a sense of duty or because we love the Lord? How about our prayer lives? And our work on church committees? Is it pleasing to Him? Does not God speak of of a?

A second principle is just as important. A dead church can be revitalized (3:2-3). The only hope for the Sardian church at that time and for Protestant churches today is to turn to the Lord “who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (Rev. 3:1). If the Sardian church is strong, it is because Christ has sent His Spirit to encourage and quicken the Sardian believers; if they are dead like the city, it is because in judgment He has withdrawn His Spirit from them. In fact, the Lord gives five imperatives that, if obeyed, would awaken the church to new life. (1) They must “watch” (3:2-3). The pastors must watch over themselves, know the state of their flocks, teach the Truth and see to it that the laws of Christ’s house are practiced. The members must watch over their own attendance, their observance of the ordinances and their prayer life. (2) They must “strengthen the things that remain” (3:2). They cannot strengthen good works nor the graces of the Spirit. But they can strengthen the Truths of the gospel that they embraced at the beginning. (3) They must “remember” (3:3). This not only refers to the doctrines of grace she had heard at the beginning but the manner in which she heard them [with attention, reverence, humility and without prejudice]. (4) They must “hold fast” (3:3) those doctrines though everybody else despises them and they are ridiculed as fanatics. (5) They must “repent” (3:3).

Why is this important? It is good that hope is offered to churches that are floundering. Some have recovered from the near-death experience and are showing signs of spiritual life. However, some do not. Sadly, the longevity of life for all evangelical churches is 50 years.

Begs the Question? How old is our church? How does she compare favorably with her beginning in matters of doctrine and practice? What past successes has our church had that might give us such comfort and confidence that we become careless? Are we moving forward? What excuses might our church give for no longer being a living, vibrant church?

Let’s go one step further and add another principle worth keeping. A dead church can revive and earn a reward (3:4-6). Paul refers to this principle in his discussion on marriage in 1 Cor. 7:13-14. He states that unsaved spouses and children are “sanctified” by the presence of the Christian in the home. He did not mean they were saved. The idea of sanctification simply means to set apart for some use. By the believer’s presence the unsaved in the home are set apart for a gospel ministry of the Holy Spirit. Here is the hope of the Sardian church. They had “a few people … who [had] not defiled their garments; and they will walk with [Christ] in white” (3:4). That remnant sanctifies the majority who were defiled. Who knows but the dead might live. Like the believers who are assured of being clothed in “white raiment,” the dead members might seek life in Him who has “seven Spirits of God.

Verse for Today: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1)

Your Step for Today: In a prayerful attitude, ask the Lord what role you might have in helping your church overcome the tendency to lose life. Seek out one friend who will agree with you on this and help you to carry out that role.

Your Prayer for Today: Ask the Lord to make the members of your church sensitive to the Spirit so that they might know if they are just going through the motions spiritually and have no real spiritual vitality.