"Sardis: Reputation Reality Check." Sunday, July 27, 2014 Revelation 3:1-6

- Many years ago the true story was told of Mme. Modjeska, the Polish actress renown for her tragic roles, who was the guest at an evening party.

- Her admirers pressed her for a recitation from a play. At first, she declined on the ground that memory would not serve her without the familiar stage settings, lights, etc.

- The party guests, however, insisted so she finally agreed, declaring that she would recite in her native tongue.

- Her listeners sat spellbound. Some who were present were even moved to tears.

- When finished she was asked the name of the touching story she had related.

- She smiled & said, "I counted in Polish to one hundred" (Tan, 7700, 581).

- Mme. Modjeska's listeners were counting on her reputation.

- But she gave her listeners a reputation reality check with her recitation to one hundred in Polish.

- Just like Mme. Modjeska's listeners the church of Sardis needed a reputation reality check.

- Roughly 50 km south east of Thyatira & 80 km east of Smyrna, the town of Sardis once lay at the foot of Mount Tmolus in the Hermus River Valley.

- A number of major roads came together at Sardis, so it was a center of trade & commerce.

- Once the ancient capital of the kingdom of Lydia, it fell to the conquering Cyrus of Persia & was later captured by Alexander the Great & Antiochus the Great.

- Gradually, the city fell from its former glory & in 17 A.D. was devastated by an earthquake, the recovery from which Tiberius Caesar helped fund by not taxing the city for five years.

- Little is known of the church except what can be gleaned from this letter, i.e., that she had a great reputation among her sister churches.

- How did Christ rebuke the church of Sardis?

- "I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead" (v. 1).

- The church of Sardis made a name for herself having a reputation as being a progressive church.

- We know a bit about what churches with great reputations are like.

- They have money, talents, human resources, effective programs, active outreach & missions teams, & they are growing.

- But the Lord Jesus told Sardis that while they had a great reputation he was giving them a reality check by telling them that they were dead.

- Like in the story about Mme. Modjeska, what we see on the outside isn't always reality.

- As verse two declares, they had a good reputation with people, but not with God.

- "Wake-up, & strengthen what remains & is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God" (v. 2).

- God wants his people of every place & period to understand the difference between reputation & reality, between what people see & what God sees.

- God's people ought not to rate human opinion as highly as God's opinion, since it is ultimately he who will judge.

- The works of the church of Sardis were incomplete, superficial, more about reputation & appearances rather than about serving God & others.

- What Christ wanted the church of Sardis to learn was this: when my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- What was Sardis' problem? How can we see beneath her reputation?

- The Lord Jesus hinted at the answer in verse four regarding the few people "who have not soiled their garments."

- Sin crept into the church. Underneath their respectable exterior was secret sin.

- Historically, the city was known for its loose morals. Perhaps the influences of their world led the people of the church to compromise their moral standards forgetting that we are not to conform to the world's standards.

- So Sardis had manufactured a fake reputation. They belonged to the Lord Jesus in name only, rather than in heart, soul, & mind.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- Having a reputation for life is not enough; a church must have real life.

- God has gone out of his way to show his people in his word the difference between outward appearances & inward realities.

- Those who lived to make a public show of things, the Lord Jesus called hypocrites in the four Gospels.

- What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a play actor acting out make-believe religion.

- One obvious place for such playacting is in our worship.

- We can sing, pray, read Scripture, present our offerings, listen to the message, etc., all the while our hearts & minds are wandering far off from God.

- Pastors are by no means immune.

- I can lead a service & have little awareness of the goodness & greatness of God who I am supposedly worshiping.

- I can preach without the focus of exalting Christ & serving God's people.

- Another possible place for playacting is in Christian service.

- We can easily serve others to make ourselves look good in the eyes of others or in our own eyes.

- Worship & service not done out of love for God & others is empty hypocrisy, ultimately meaningless.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- What was Christ's solution for Sardis?

- In verses two & three we read three clear commands given by the Lord Jesus.

- "Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent" (vv. 2-3).

- 1) Wake up! 2) Strengthen what remains! 3) Remember!

4) Keep it/obey! 5) Repent!

- Some in the church were not in a state of moral or spiritual decay, thank the Lord.

- The Holy Spirit could use these folks to breathe new life into Christ's church.

- These folks were sleeping not dead. The job of the wakeful few was to strengthen what remained; the church needed nurturing.

- Babes in Christ need care because they are weak.

- It is the job of mature Christians to feed & nurture, building up the immature in the faith.

- New Christians are unsteady in their faith. They need their foundation built up & their spiritual house well-built or it will not endure.

- They cannot build their faith alone & God did not mean them to either.

- When the church is unsteady, weak, dying or dead, then those asleep have a responsibility to wake up & by prayer, love & witness strengthen & fan into flames her dying embers.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.

- What are the consequences if Christ's solutions are not obeyed?

- "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, & you will not know at what hour I will come against you" (v. 3).

- The consequence of not obeying Christ's solutions was judgment.

- Repentance is required to avoid judgment.

- The late John Stott wrote that, "The shortest road to repentance is remembrance. Let someone once recall what they used to be & reflect on what by God's grace they could be & they will be led to repent, turning back from their sin to their Savior" (Stott, Revelation 1-3, 89-90).

- The same is also true of the church.

- The gospel alone is not what the church of Sardis was called to remember, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit because it is the Spirit who brings life.

- It is the person of the Holy Spirit who completes us. He gives many & various gifts to many people with various personalities & passions.

- The Holy Spirit can refresh stale conditions, awaken the sleeping, strengthen the week, & make the dead alive.

- Being full of the Spirit is the only antidote to spiritual death.

- What promises did Christ give those who conquer?

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

- 1) white garments represent purity; their purity enables their heavenly friendship with Christ.

- 2) never blot his name from the book of life; God knows who is in his good books (pardon the pun).

- Everyone whose names are written in heaven has eternal life & everyone not will be thrown into the lake of fire.

- Christ promises to confess the names of those who conquer before his Father & his angels.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.

- How does this passage apply to us?

- It's not enough to rest on our laurels, to live off of reputation because reputation is based on past performance rather than present reality, just like we heard with the people who listened to Mme. Modjeska's recitation to a hundred in her native Polish.

- Mme. Modjeska was a famous play actor so she pretended that her recitation was much more than it actually was, resting on her reputation & her acting ability only letting the people in on her little joke at the very end.

- If we rest on reputation, we will soon backslide & find our ways & the world's ways match quite well.

- Instead, we need to give ourselves a reputation reality check. Let me leave us with four questions which we can use for a reputation reality check.

- Do I willingly fulfill my Christian duties or responsibilities, such as witness, service, worship, giving, fellowship, etc?

- Do I want to be known for my faithfulness, yet disappear when there's work to be done?

- Do I vote "yes" with my hand or voice, but vote "no" with my time or money?

- Do I invest myself in strengthening & nurturing others weaker in the faith than I?

- When my faith is a really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.