1 ‘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.
Wake up!
Sardis was a city
that was once great, but at the time of this letter, was in decline. The letter
to the church in Sardis
is largely negative. Even the part near the beginning (which appears in nearly
all seven), beginning ‘I know your deeds…’ does not list positive deeds, unlike
most of the others. We have previously seen things like hard work,
perseverance, love, faith and service mentioned here. Instead, in Sardis, it is ‘I know your
deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.’
That’s a
harsh statement, isn’t it? Churches have reputations. That has always been
true, and it remains so today. And people have two problems when it comes to
talking about another church – an unhelpful desire to share negative stories,
and a poor grasp of time passing! More than once I have been saddened to hear
people talking about something in a church other than their own, and talking
about some trouble that happened ‘this year’ – when in fact it was over five
years ago, long since dealt with, and nothing like the trouble the person
describes! I have heard it about Bethel,
and about other churches in Caerphilly. Those are examples of a church gaining
a negative reputation. However, Sardis
had a good reputation which was in fact undeserved! Maybe that’s worse! They
had a reputation of being alive, when in fact they were dead. This can be a
dangerous situation. Churches sometimes look like they are doing very well, but
it might be due to a combination good management, innovative ideas and plenty
of money. A church is alive when it is filled with the Holy Spirit and the love
of Christ shared within the fellowship and outside it. And sadly, even
Christians can be fooled by outward appearance, and find it difficult to tell
the difference.
Although in
verse 1 it says they are ‘dead’, in verse 2 the message is ‘Wake up!’ So they
are not quite dead – only sleeping. Individual churches (and The Church) are
often described as sleeping. Some people say it about the whole church in the UK. Personally
I think that is a negative generalisation. There is plenty of life in many
places in the church in the UK
– but we also need to be aware of a need in many parts for us to Wake Up! We
would be wise to look at our own church and question whether we have an
undeserved reputation for being alive. Do we need to wake up, shake off the
cobwebs, and really do something to be a light in the world and in the
community? Do we need to wake up, shake ourselves from slumber, receive the
Holy Spirit and really grow as disciples? What does it mean to be awake and
alive as a church, even during the covid-19 crisis?
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, please help us not to perpetuate a false reputation for our own church,
or for other churches. May we be filled with your Spirit, raised from slumber,
raised to life in love, service, obedience, and bring light to a dark world.
Amen.
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