They think they are strong, but they are dead

[NewCreation435]

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches"

Revelations 3:1-6

I heard a sermon about this passage today. The pastor was talking about how Sardis had a reputation as being alive, but they were really dead. For this church, the Lord tells them to do 5 things: 1. Wake up 2. Strengthen what remains 3. Remember what you have received and heard 4. Obey it 5. Repent. At the end of this passage there is a warning, that the Lord would come as a thief and that they would not know when he is coming. I think many churches are like this today. That they may be looking pretty good on the outside, but the Lord would say that they are spiritually dead. But, I also applied this to myself and thought how often we rely on reputation instead of really doing the hard work of repentance and strengthening what remains.

What do you think it means to wake up and strengthen what remains? How in practical terms does a believer do this? What do you make of the warning at the end of this passage?

 

[Lamb]

There is a warning that they are dead and yet also it says that there is something remaining that is alive. What does that mean to you?

God is known for keeping a remnant a live no matter how small of His faithful. People are known to stray and God keeps bring them back to Him again and again. The Holy Spirit strengthens our faith and He does so by God's Word.

 

[NewCreation435]

There is a warning that they are dead and yet also it says that there is something remaining that is alive. What does that mean to you?

God is known for keeping a remnant a live no matter how small of His faithful. People are known to stray and God keeps bring them back to Him again and again. The Holy Spirit strengthens our faith and He does so by God's Word.

It says that they have a reputation of being alive. Much like some churches that are very busy and have a lot of activity, but are spiritually weak and shallow. We can't replace works or activity with a relationship with God.

 

[Particular]

Sardis epitomized the complacency, softness and degeneration which invariably ultimately accompany wealth.

It was also considered a mountain fortress which was very difficult to capture, except through the negligence of the defenders:

At the approach of Alexander, . . . the Sardians hastened out to surrender their city without resistance. . . . the place was again captured by Antiochus III in 214 BC through the negligence of the defenders.

The rock on which Sardis was built is friable, which means that while the slopes were precipitous, because of the cracks and faults, it was climbable. One of Cyrus’ soldiers had noticed a Sardian soldier climbing down this slope to retrieve a helmet he had dropped, and so concluded that the slopes were negotiable in that particular spot. So that night he led a party of Persian troops up to the citadel by following the fault in the rock. When they reached the battlements they found them unguarded, for the Sardians considered themselves too safe to need a guard. The battle of King’s Mountain in American history is similar to the Sardian collapse, for in that battle the rebels scaled a redoubt while the English relaxed in false confidence of their security. Astonishingly, Sardis did not learn from experience, for two centuries later one of Antiochus’ soldiers repeated this feat and again led the capture of an unguarded city which had resisted siege for a year. Twice, the Sardians lost their city because they were too complacent to watch! This historical background underlies Christ’s injunction to watchfulness (Rev. 3:2-3+), and Rev. 3:3+ alludes to the means by which the city was lost twice before—a thief in the night.6

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/revelation-3/revelation-3-1.html

 

[Lamb]

It says that they have a reputation of being alive. Much like some churches that are very busy and have a lot of activity, but are spiritually weak and shallow. We can't replace works or activity with a relationship with God.

"Strengthen what remains and is about to die,"

"They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white."

These portions of the text are clues. Strengthen what remains...that means there were still some faithful within the church. Those dressed in white are clothed in Christ's righteousness in faith toward Him. Our purity, what makes us worthy, doesn't come from what we do but from faith in God.

 

[Bluezone777]

One thing to keep in mind is that this was a letter to a pastor in regards to his church as a whole not individual people in it so the message isn't tailored to be applied to an individual person. This church was one that was dead and lifeless spiritually speaking. They probably looked so much like the world around them that the world around them didn't pay them any mind because they were toothless and without any power to harm or offend. They had no false teachers or prophets to contend with either simply because they were so dead and lifeless that they wouldn't have much of anyone to even speak to because of how disinterested they were in God and his Word as a whole.

I'd figure Jesus' mention of the few believing Sardis church members faithfulness to God was quite the encouragement for those people to know in spite of being in such a lifeless dead church that Jesus didn't forget them. It must have been so difficult for those good people to be surrounded by such a lifeless dead church knowing it's wrong and being unable to do anything about it because of how pervasive the apathy towards the things of God was.

 

[NewCreation435]

One thing to keep in mind is that this was a letter to a pastor in regards to his church as a whole not individual people in it so the message isn't tailored to be applied to an individual person. This church was one that was dead and lifeless spiritually speaking. They probably looked so much like the world around them that the world around them didn't pay them any mind because they were toothless and without any power to harm or offend. They had no false teachers or prophets to contend with either simply because they were so dead and lifeless that they wouldn't have much of anyone to even speak to because of how disinterested they were in God and his Word as a whole.

I'd figure Jesus' mention of the few believing Sardis church members faithfulness to God was quite the encouragement for those people to know in spite of being in such a lifeless dead church that Jesus didn't forget them. It must have been so difficult for those good people to be surrounded by such a lifeless dead church knowing it's wrong and being unable to do anything about it because of how pervasive the apathy towards the things of God was.

Yes, I agree it must have been encouraging to hear that the Lord saw the few who were faithful and that they would be dressed in white and that their name would be acknowledged before the Father