The Dead Church - Church at Sardis - Part 1

Welcome to Discerning the Times.

My name is Brian Thomas. It is a blessing to be with you once again this week, being joined by cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan. And Doc, we've been out of the saddle for some time, so it's good to get back together once again, picking up where we left off.

I guess it's been about two months since we left off with the seven churches of Revelation. So it's good to be back with you again. I had so much going on. It's all been good.

I had to move my two children from one state to another state, and they both got elevated and new jobs, a new career paths. I mean, they're being blessed, and I felt honored to be able to help them. But that had me out of the saddle for about two months. So I'm grateful to be back. Yeah, well, that's all right.

We know you have to do your your dad duties and congratulations to your kids. So we're glad to hear that. And so we'll get back into the seven churches. We're going to pick up with the church at Sardis, the dead church. But before we get to that, I need to remind you, as we always do, that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. If you've never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so today. Otherwise, if you leave this out of life without having received him, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God. So will you please give your heart to Jesus Christ on today?

All right. So Revelation Chapter number three, we're going to be looking at verses one through six, again, looking at the church at Sardis, what we're calling the dead church. And, you know, Doc, as I was thinking about this church, as I was preparing for it, it made me think about a time in which I was out on the freeway driving. And I look ahead maybe a couple of miles in front of me and I see some feathers from a bird is like fluttering in the in the breeze in the wind.

And I see it and, you know, nothing out of the ordinary. Used to seeing birds out on the road. Oftentimes, you know, you'll see those vultures and they're out there.

They're eating on roadkill. And typically what they do, you get close to them and they'll they'll fly away before you hit them. But as I was getting closer and closer, I'm looking at my this this bird is not going to move.

I'm going to hit him. And so what happened was I switched lanes. And as I was going by, I realized the bird was not actually alive. The bird was dead, but it looked alive because, you know, the wings and stuff, you can see it fluttering the feathers. But the breeze caused it to look alive. But it was really dead. And I think about that with this church and what Jesus is showing and saying is that there are some churches out there that appear to be alive.

But in actuality, they're dead. And so we're going to see what he's speaking to this church here at Sardis. Amen.

And that's a very good analogy. And it's also as we get more into the study, you're going to see how befitting that analogy is as it relates to the Church of Sardis. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. So just a little bit about this church at Sardis before we dig into the scriptures, is that this was the capital city of Lydia, which was prominent in Asia Minor. It was 50 miles east of Smyrna, 30 miles southwest of Thyatira. And it was a city that was known to be a wealthy city known for the carpet industry. And it was eventually destroyed by an earthquake. But again, as I said, it had a reputation of being known as like the place to be, you know, but the church was really dead. And I think about John Chapter 10, verse 10, which says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So the Lord comes so that we're not dead, so that we are alive.

But in this church, even though it was a dead church, there were a few faithful that remain. And we'll see that as we go through the scriptures. And the word Sardis, I just want to point out, means escaping ones or those who come out. So that's something to keep in mind as we go through this text. And we know our Lord, he is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth.

So that's also something that we're going to emphasize as we go through the text. So again, let's go over to Revelation Chapter number three. We're going to go today through verses one through six. Revelation Chapter three, verses one through six.

Verse one reads, And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things, says 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. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard, hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You 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. 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. Last verse, number six. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So.

All right, Doc. So let's go back up to verse number one and let's begin to unpack what Jesus is saying to this church here at Sardis. Well, of course, he begins by even before we get into the exegesis of the text, I just wanted to point out that this church Sardis, also known as the dead church, was one of only two churches of the seven churches that had no positive things said about them.

Everything that Christ said to them was a condemnation and there was no commendation of anything that they did. And you can notice that a lot there's there is a lot of parallels to a lot of churches today, because it starts off by saying and telling us know that that you think that you are alive. You know, in your mind, in your perspective, you got it going on. But Jesus said you are dead.

That's a that's a devastating condemnation. Yeah. Do you think you're alive? I think about that. You think you're alive. But from my vantage point, speaking of Christ, you are dead.

That means what you thought you were doing that had it going on wasn't what he was requiring for you to do. Right. And you can see that parallel in our society and the modern church age is I mean, if you just examine what passes for Christianity in our time and cross reference it with this dead church, you can clearly see some parallels. So many churches that they think they have it going on. They have large congregations, big, enormous buildings. You know, they got, you know, restaurants inside the church.

They got, you know, all these things going on. But but if you're not doing it according to God's word in his mind, you are dead. And so and I want to point out also because when it's important to recognize that when you when you examining a first century church, particularly the churches of Asia Minor, what you have is that you have an amalgamation of a variety of different people, groups, different backgrounds, different religions, different cultures, different belief systems and so forth. And what and what you have going on here is that you all now all of a sudden you have this new formed body called church, which is an amalgamation of different people from all these various people groups. You have Greeks, you have Jews, you have Romans and you and you have all of these different people groups. Each one had their own individual belief system.

Now you're coming together in one under the banner of Jesus Christ. And and of course, if you're not properly disciple, you're going to have issues. And this is what I believe was part of what was happening in all of the churches. But but in particular, this this church, because it apparently appeared to have been a lot of compromise. And that's what happens when you when you get a lot of different people, a lot of different belief systems together under one roof. You try to make peace.

Right. And what made Christianity different than all the other religions? And this is the most important point that what made Christianity different, because Christianity believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the only way to heaven. So even if you brought it into modern context, you know, a Buddha can't save you. Mohammed can't save you. None of these other religions can save you. But only Jesus Christ, because he said, I am the way I am the truth.

I am the life and no one can come to the father except through me. And that's what made Christianity unique amongst all other religions then and now. And that is why also we had different conflicts that was arising back in that time. Yeah, those excellent points, and I think about just over the weekend as I was listening to a sermon and it was the text from which Jesus said, I come to bring division. And his reason for saying that was, well, he said, because some are not going to receive him even within the same household.

He said that would be father against son, mother against daughter, mother against daughter in law. And that is what happens. But that division comes not because we want it, but it's simply because, well, if you're not going to fall in line with God's standard, with his standard that he says, yeah, there's going to be a division. And so that's a great point that you pointed out in stating that, well, there are a lot today, though, that instead they want to try to appease everyone.

They don't want to ruffle any feathers. And so you you end up in a backslid in apostate church oftentimes. And that's what we see here with this church as artists. And you see it a lot in our churches today. So so, yeah, that was a great point. So in verse one, I wonder if you allow me, I just want to point one quick thing, just to piggyback on what you just said, because this is bears repeating, because in this particular instance or with this particular church, you know, based on what you what you just said, that this this this congregation thought that they were doing good. Yeah.

Mm hmm. And that's that's important. I don't think the listeners need to. I don't think the ministers need to let that get by there or go over their heads that that's a very important point. They thought that they were doing good.

They thought that they had it going on, but they didn't. And that's very, very important. And I just think that, you know, wherever whatever church you belong to, if you're a believer, you need to examine, you know, is what you're doing, your traditions, your service, you know, the teaching that's coming from the pulpit, is it biblical?

Is it in line with Christ's word? And we need to really be uber diligent and uber discerning when it comes to this matter, because our eternal soul is at stake. Amen.

Amen. Exactly. So in verse one, Jesus, again, he says into the angel of the church in Sardis. Right. These things, says he who has the seven spirits of God in the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but are dead.

The very thing you were just talking about. So here in this verse, Jesus, what he's doing, he's reaching back to the description of himself from the very first chapter in Revelation. So we see there the seven spirits. We also see the seven stars. And we know we've talked in past weeks about the fact that the seven spirits equals the one Holy Spirit is talking about the seven fold ministry of the one Holy Spirit.

And that's very important. I don't want people to think it's talking about seven different spirits here. It's talking about one Holy Spirit, the seven fold ministry of it. And then we talked about the seven stars is the angels of the seven churches. And when we look at this church as Sardis, you know, it had the opportunity to know and to obey the truth.

But instead, you know, began to trust in things like with the culture. And we see that, Doc, today where a lot of people in the church profess to be Christians. But rather than trusting in the word of God, instead, they'll go along politically with things that say, well, I want to make sure we have a good economy. So what they do, they compromise. They'll say, well, OK, this this candidate endorses things like abortion, but I think they will be good for me economically.

And so they go and support that person, even though what they're standing on is immoral, but they want economic wealth or prosperity. But we can't expect God's blessing if we're not want to be true to his word. Yes, that's that's 100 percent accurate. And again, like we've been saying, you know, we have to really examine ourselves to see whether or not we are truly in the faith or not, because at the end of the day, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to be judged based upon this word, his word. And that's going to be the judge. The Bible says that the books will be open and it's not going to be the name and claim of books.

No, it's not going to be that. OK. And so that's a very important that we need to keep in mind as believers. We really need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we would be able to stand before him in that day. Yeah, because in that day we have to give an account as to what we did with what he gave us.

Every single person is going to have to give an account. And that's something you have to keep in mind. That's why he talks here about, he says, your works and your deeds.

He is going to, again, assess them. Like you said, this church here, again, had a reputation for being faithful. You know, there were some that were alive in Christ. But again, like you said, they had a reputation of having it going on. But but Jesus saw them as dead people walking.

You know, he didn't look at it the way the world did. And the thing about it is we can dress you. You can go to church or wherever it is. You can fix up and put on your best suit and your best dress and makeup and and you can look so physically alive, but yet be spiritually dead. And that is something that we have to keep in mind. You know, there's a church that if it's just going through the motions, you can have a program. But if you don't have the spirit, then there's a problem there.

You're just going through something that that is a a traditional just going through the motions. But are you truly serving Jesus Christ? And I want to point out Second Timothy, chapter three, verse five says, having a form of godliness, but denying the power. And that's what we see in a lot of places today, because our attitude toward God, it should be one of reverence. It should be one of joy when we go before him. We shouldn't be there just to check the box and say, OK, we went to church.

Let's get out of here now so we can go home and eat and watch the watch the game. You know, your heart and mind should be focused on, OK, I'm here for you, Lord. My life is committed to you. Amen. Amen. And also think along with that, that it should be incumbent upon leadership to make certain that the flock is being fed, that the flock is being discipled. I just think that that's something that's also in our diet and our time we we take for granted.

You know, we don't really place an emphasis on, you know, discipleship as the Bible tells us to. You know, for the most part, you know, you know, did you have a good experience? Yeah. Did you have a good emotional, you know, experience?

And and that's, you know, and if you can check that box, then, you know, we're all everything's off. Yeah. But but but but did you learn anything about God? Did you did your mind get developed? Did you get discipled? Did you learn something about the scriptures that you didn't know before? Are you better able to to discern the times that we are living in based upon the sermon that you just heard? Amen. You know, all of these are questions that we need to ask ourselves every time we go to church.

Yeah. And that's a great point, because I like to be challenged and I think we all should want to be challenged. And it makes me think about I remember a time before you said many times before, actually, when we talk that, well, if you can't say amen, then say ouch. There should be some moments when when the sermon there should be moments like that.

I'm not saying necessarily every single service, but but it should come up from time to time. And what I mean by that is, you know, I think about I played sports, I played basketball back in school. And what if my coach took the approach of, well, I'm not going to really challenge these guys. I don't want them to feel any discomfort.

I want them to go away smiling all the time and just feeling good. And, you know, we that we're not out there running hard and pushing ourselves. How good of a team would we have been when it came time for the ball to go up?

We'd be getting wiped off the court because we'd be out of shape. We couldn't keep up, but he pushed us. He challenged us. And man, there were times when I'm be honest with you. The thoughts in your mind is like, man, I hate this guy, you know, the coach.

And there were some practices when he would come out and put a trash can at the end of each end of the court. And we knew what that meant. It meant he was going to run us to the point of vomiting.

And it didn't feel good. But that challenged us so that when the game time came, we were prepared and we go out there and we could win. And so that's what, you know, pastors and shepherds should be doing also, not just giving this fluffy feel good type of message like you were just talking about. Well, one of the things that's a problem in today's and what I call modern or contemporary Christianity is that the Bible actually says that the that the word of God is profitable for rebuke, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. That's what Paul said to Timothy. But that seems to me in our time. And this is not every church. I mean, I'm just so I don't want to think that I'm just painting with a broad brush. But but but but it is very popular and very common that the scripture about being reproved, reproof, rebuke, correction, instruction and righteousness that have been replaced with the scriptures are are profitable for, you know, your season, your harvest, your breakthrough, your increase, the best, your now.

How do you live the abundant life, your abundance, all of these, how to be prosperous, how to walk in prosperity? I can be your best, you know, women empowerment, all of these fluff things, you know, that that sound good to the ear and makes us feel good. But, you know, when we go home and think about, you know, OK, yeah, I got my breakthrough, but I'm still like living in sin. Yep. I mean, we didn't learn anything that that didn't help us from an eternal standpoint. Exactly. Exactly. Amen.

Well said. All right. So you have anything else on verse one before we move on? No, we can.

That was pretty much we pretty much get that pretty good. All right. So now we see some counsel from our Lord. He says in verse two, be watchful and strengthen and strengthen the things which remain that are you ready to die? For I have not found your works perfect before God. You know, the new international version says, wake up when it comes to this verse.

And I think about, again, being spiritually asleep. There are a lot of churches where there is a serious deficiency in teaching. Like what we're doing right now, going through the Bible verse by verse, expository teaching that that is a famine in the land when it comes to that. I hear so many people that say, I don't get that at church. We don't get a verse by verse teaching. But we should have that teaching and we should have an attitude of wanting to have to hunger for the word. And, you know, we talk here a lot about prophecy, about the return of Jesus Christ.

That should be a hunger for that. But, you know, Doc, I hear a lot of people when you bring up that subject of the second coming of Christ, they I mean, they just clam up. They don't want to hear anything about it. And they talk about it makes them fearful and they're all uptight. And I'm thinking that's a sign that something within you is not right, because you should be excited about our Lord coming back to get us.

If you say you truly are a follower of him. That is so true. And and when you think about the fact that the time that we are living in right now, I mean, we can do an entire series of shows just on the current events. I mean, they're passing laws where you where if in California, for an example, that if a child says that they are one gender or an agenda other than which they were born, that they that by the rights that if the parents refuse to accept that they could come to the house and take the child away from the parent and even bring the parent up on charges. I mean, that is insanity. That is demonic beyond all description.

And you have all of these. That's just the tip of the iceberg of how debased our culture is becoming. And and and and what's even worse, you have a lot of believers who are voting for politicians.

Who advocate for these types of policies? And it's just it's very, very sad. And it denotes the lack of discernment and that lack of discernment is a reflection of the biblical illiteracy that exists within the church.

And that biblical literacy is a direct result of what you were just talking about in the lack of expository teaching and preaching from the average pulpit. So it all all it all connects. It's all part of the same coin, so to speak. Yeah.

Yeah. You're so right. And yeah, it is sad because I like you, I hear of people who profess to be Christians and yet they vote in politicians who push things like that.

The right to take a child away from the parent because a parent won't affirm their their sex change. We have to be, as the scripture says here, for those who are still standing on the truth. Jesus says, strengthen the things which remain. That means the good teachings that are still there, those who are hearing and still trying to strive for the word. We need to make sure we need to to be the one that influences the church to say this is what we need to be talking about.

Let's let's get out of all this feel good stuff. And I heard a preacher once who was he was boasting and bragging about how much he had the people shouting in the church. And as he's talking, the thing in my mind was, OK, but but what what did they learn? Did you teach them anything? Was it was it just an emotional experience?

And I think the problem is that today, a lot of they're just for an emotional experience, but they stop short of really teaching what is the scriptural standard. And we all have to be careful to guard against this, because as you get in your Christian walking, you can you can take your guard down. You can start going through the motions and thinking, OK, I've been doing this thing for a long time. I've arrived.

I got it all together. And you lose your aggressiveness. You know, you you get sleepy. And I think about I have a cousin of mine who he was good at track and field. He was great, actually, at track and field back in school. And so when it came time to the championship, I remember him saying how, you know, he got out and he was running hard and running fast. He was out front. But about halfway through, he burned out and he got to a point that he couldn't finish the race, not in running. He walked his way to the finish line.

And that is because he started strong, but he didn't finish strong. And we have to guard against that and not get complacent like what some what this church here at Sardis was doing. And so many today, which is what causes you to become a dead church. So any final thoughts, Doc, you have before we wrap up for today?

And then we'll come back and finish out this church here at Sardis. Oh, no, I just want to say that I've enjoyed this study extremely. It's just a fascinating study, a fascinating parallel to the time that we're living in now.

And I just want to encourage all those who are listening to develop a hunger for God's word. Understand that the things that are happening in our world are not happening by accident. And if you really understand, I recently saw a Facebook post that really summarized it and said it all. And it was something like this, that if you watch the news, you will understand what is happening or you will know what is happening. But if you study the scriptures, you understand why things are happening.

And that's I thought that was really, really powerful because it was succinct. But it really spoke a lot because the Bible tells us that in the last days, these things are going to happen. And we're seeing prophecy unfolding right before our eyes. We see the movement toward globalism, which is exactly a pattern or a setup in order to bring in the Antichrist who wants to bring in a one world government and understand that all that we have, even going in politics, everything we see that we're seeing in world events, what's happening in Israel, all of this is a prelude.

All of this is a setup to bring us toward the end times. And I mean, we need to be discerning as believers and we need to, you know, all this fluff, fancy, feel good preaching and teaching that need to go by the wayside. Yeah.

And we need to get more into in-depth exegesis of the scriptures. Amen. Amen.

Yeah. Those are great words of wisdom for us to end on. You are so right. And like you, I'm enjoying this text here in Revelation. So we're going to pick it up next week right there with the next verse as Jesus, again, is giving counsel to this church here, the church at Sardis.

So always good to talk with you, Doc. Looking forward to being back with you and to our listening audience. Please come back and join us next time as we continue to discern the times by viewing life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel to the only wise God. Be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Discerning the Times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.