Sardis – Dead Works

Revelation 3:1-6

¹“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

²Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

³Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

⁴Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

⁵The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

⁶He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

I grew up in the Black Hills of western South Dakota. My brother and I used to beg our parents to take us up to Deadwood, not far from our home in Rapid City because it was an old historical city. We would walk along the streets while Mom and Dad would tell stories of the past – the city’s and their own. They would even sometimes let us go into the bar (albeit not very often, since it was still a function bar) where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back by Jack McCall. Deadwood has a big past. What started out as a few tents during the gold rush turned into a center for a major logging industry. Today, Deadwood is fairly disappointing. Gambling has taken over the town and the main street is a series of casinos, similar to Las Vegas only smaller. The charm and history is gone. Deadwood’s former glory is a thing of the past.

The city that Jesus speaks to next in Revelation is Sardis. What was once a major city in the region has become a mere shadow of what it once was. By the time John is writing Revelation Sardis is nothing and yet they are living like they are still in “glory days” of the past. This is true not only for the city as a whole but for the Christians living there as well. They are stuck in the good works of the past. Their hearts just aren’t in it anymore and Jesus holds this against them.

There is a constant theme throughout the Scriptures when it comes to the condition of our hearts and our actions will most certainly display what lies inside our souls. The temptation to succumb to weariness dogs us all. We may even continue to repeat the actions of the past that were originally performed out of love and compassion. But even those actions, while still being performed are merely a show to keep up appearances. Have you ever been there? I admit that I can circle that drain every now and then. My heart’s just not in it.

Through the prophets, God addresses that heart condition using the voices of Isaiah and Joel. Both of them speak of deeds performed out of habit rather than out of love. It is a difficult place to be and an equally difficult place to leave.

Isaiah 64:6-7

⁶We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

Joel 2:12-13

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

The remedy? You already know because it is at the foundation of our faith and at the heart of these letters to the seven churches. That remedy is repentance. There is never a time when I don’t have cause to fall before a Holy God and confess my need for a Savior. There is never a time when I don’t have something bring before the Lord with sorrow and contrition. Along with the call to repentance are also words of great comfort and peace. When we are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ our robes are white. We are received by the Father with forgiveness and love. My name is written eternally by God’s own hand into the Book of Life. I am absolutely counting on that!