Sardis: The Dead Church

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Revelation 3:1-2

"Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

"I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive — but you are dead.

NLT

When someone puts the word church in front of a building, we are prone to think it is a place where the spiritually, and even physically sick can receive healing and encouragement.  Although this is true for many churches, it sadly is not true for all churches.  Some churches sadly are like the Church in Sardis.

The City of Sardis was the capital of the Lydian Empire and considered one of the greatest cities of the ancient world.  A temple to the goddess Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and fertility was located in the city.  Also contained within the city was a synagogue.  This synagogue is one of the largest synagogues excavated in the ancient world and with its location in the center of an urban instead of the periphery as most synagogues, attests to the wealth and strength of the Jewish community in the city.  (1)

A sermon of Melito, a Christian bishop at Sardis, entitled On the Passover testifies of a spirited debate among the Christian and Jewish communities in Sardis.  (2)  However, unlike other churches addressed by John in Revelation, no specific person or group of persons is mentioned as the reason for Sardis becoming a dead church.  We are therefore left to believe that the reason for the spiritual death of the church of Sardis is a falling away from what they believed when they first heard the Gospel (Revelation 3:3). 

We must learn from the church in Sardis and be on our guard not to become separated from our God but to continue growing in our walk with God by,

1)      Communicating with God regularly through personal prayer and Bible study (Colossians 3:10).  Just as our relationship with our spouses or other people grows stronger with regular communication, our relationship with God grows stronger as we regularly study the Bible, God’s Word, to hear from God and pray, speaking to Him.

2)      Quickly confessing any sin in our lives when God reveals it to us (1 John 1:9).  Sin represents a weight that will slow us down in our walk with God and therefore we must quickly shed that weight before it causes our walk with God to go completely dead.

3)      Fellowshipping regularly with other believers (Hebrews 10:25).  As we live our lives in the secular world, we can become discouraged and feel isolated, believing we are the only ones believing as we do.  If we do not balance this with regularly getting with others who do believe as we do, we can become discouraged and begin the dangerous slide to spiritual death. 

Churches can also become spiritually dead when they begin to,

1)      Compromise on the truths contained in the Word of God.  When Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Jesus replied by saying he came into the world to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37).  As Jesus’ ambassadors on earth (2 Corinthians5:20) we are to also bear witness to the truth.  However, just as Pilate responded to Jesus with the question “What is Truth?”  As a church, we must have a clear understanding of what the truth is of which we are to bear witness.  Psalm 119:142 tells us that God’s law, the Bible, is truth.  The church fulfills its mission of bearing witness to the truth by teaching the truths contained in the Word of God and when it begins to stray from scripture, the Church begins to die.

2)      Become distracted by side issues (1 Corinthians 10:7).  There is little doubt the Church today is under attack.  Many believers across the globe face brutal deaths for their faith and as a church body we must continually pray for and come to the defense of these fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  However, the church can become distracted by political issues and lose sight of God who is abundantly able to overcome the enemy behind these political issues.  This does not mean the church is to remain silent on issues like abortion and gay marriage but that we must keep in mind that our God is abundantly able to protect us as we declare His truth and even though God abhors the sin, He sent Jesus to die for the sinners.  While we declare God’s abhorrence of the sin, let us not forget to point sinners to Jesus Christ, the source of forgiveness for their sin.

To remain powerful as believers and a church body, let us be on guard not to become like the Church in Sardis.  We must not become a dead church but instead strive to grow stronger in our walk with the Lord.  As individuals we must spend daily time with God in His Word and prayer, we must discard the weight of sin in our lives, and we must regularly fellowship with other believers.  In addition, as a church body let us not become distracted or compromise on the teaching of the truths in the Word of God.  A lost and deceived world needs the freedom that only comes from knowledge of the truth (John 8:32).  A deceived world therefore needs a strong and living church that declares the truths of God’s Word. 

1. bibleplaces.com. Sardis. www.bibleplaces.com. [Online] Bibleplaces.com. [Cited: October 24, 2015.] www.bibleplaces.com/sardis.htm.

2. Biblegateway.com. The Message to Sardis. www.biblegateway.com. [Online] BibleGateway. [Cited: October 24, 2015.] https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Message-Sardis.