Revelation: Sardis

The Reformed/Dead Church

(Rev. 3:1-6)

*Commendation: Works, reputation of being "alive."
*Condemnation: You are dead, works not complete.
*Counsel: Watch, strengthen what good remains, hold fast and repent.

~The mystery of the seven churches (Rev. 2-3) is revealed in the fact that they outline the prophetic history of the Church from Pentecost to the Lord's appearing in the clouds, an era some refer to as the "age of grace." From the humble, sincere, and zealous beginning to the prideful, blind, and heretical end... the seven letters to the seven churches offer spiritual lessons (founded on their original historical contexts) concerning proper conduct and direction for the Church that is as vital today as when first written.

Prophetic class and hypothesized associated historical era of Sardis: 

Reformed/Dead church {AD 1517 - 1750?}

 

...Sardis, a city of commerce and industry, simultaneously boasted strength and weakness. Enjoying the status of one of the world's mightiest cities in the sixth century BC under King Croesus (better known in the Greek as Kind Midas), the progressive history of Sardis fell to repetitive conquest. Cyrus the Great of Persia overthrew Croesus; Alexander the Great conquered without bloodshed; Antiochus the Great later won the city; and in AD 17 the city fell to an earthquake but was restored by Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar.

...As did the city, the church in Sardis displayed both strength and weakness. First, it was commended for its works and its reputation for being "alive." Second, Christ condemned it as being "dead," in that its works were not complete, thus Sardis' ministry was illusory at best. Prophetically, Sardis represents the condition of Christendom just prior to and transitioning into the Reformation. The Protestant reform itself was a response to the Papal church's adoption of and continual emphasis on pagan doctrines (see Thyatira) rather than strict emphasis on holy Scripture. The local church in Sardis must have offered an enticing ministry on the surface, but at its heart possessed no true power and suffered from spiritual want.

...William Barclay offers commentary concerning dead churches: "A Church which is crowded with people and which is a hive of energy and a dynamo of activity is not necessarily a real Church. It is quite possible for a Church to be crowded, because its people come to it to be entertained instead of instructed, and to be soothed and petted instead of challenged and confronted with the fact of sin and the offer of salvation... A Church may be packed with many activities, but in the abounding energy the centre may have been lost, and it may be a highly successful Christian club rather than a real Christian congregation."

...The Reformation church earned the Lord's condemnation of being "dead" for two reasons: 1) They became state churches, seeking approval from political personas and the government rather than the approval of God, and 2) the Reformation churches did not sufficiently, or completely, change or sever pagan infested customs, rituals, and doctrines of the Roman Church. This failure led to the many eventual divisions within the Protestant movement such as the splintering legacy of the Anglican Church of Henry VIII and the Elizabethan Settlement, bogged down as they were with the burden of ultra-legalism. The infamous date of October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of Wittenberg Church in Germany, surely heralded an era of encouragement and spiritual liberty (due to widespread circulation of the Holy Writ), but the battle for spiritual liberty sadly dissolved into a battle for political liberty, primarily for Christians anxious to escape the political "beast" that the Roman Church had become. This reality stunted the far-reaching vision that originally sparked the Reformation.

...Though Reformation leaders initiated the movement with ideal intentions, the work of actually "reforming" the church fell short of the Scriptural standard, revealing the human tendency to rely on its own understanding, thus forsaking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This incompetence resulted in Christ counseling the Church to wake up from its spiritual stupor, to be watchful as to its true condition, to strengthen the failing areas, to remember righteous practices and the "first love," to hold fast to Truth, and to repent of apostasy so that a true reordering of the Church could be manifest (3:2-3). Moreover, Jesus warned that if the Church did not wake up, or was not watchful, He would appear to them as a thief, i.e. unexpectedly. This admonition to be watchful so as not to become complacent, or "dead," was also encouragement toward anticipation of Christ's return! And since the Reformation legacy has produced ever increasing liberal theology and clerical compromise, the institutionalized churches of the modern era will be caught unawares when Christ appears in the clouds to gather His true Church unto Him.

...Indeed, the true Body of Christ certainly has some of its numbers scattered amidst the Papal, Protestant, and modern trends of institutionalized ecclesia; however, the predominant houses of worship encompassing the true Church exist independently and in often unorthodox (as compared with mainstream denominationalism) situations, not unlike the first century church which operated as smaller home and communal groups interconnected through discipleship to Jesus Christ and not a human-devised top-down segregated business structure. Also, the true Church is primarily found in areas of the world where believers are under fiercely violent and continual persecution, a foreign concept to the soft existence experienced in medieval and Renaissance Europe as well as the modern West, yet entirely in keeping with how the Church was born and flourished (see Ephesus).

...Despite the "deadness" of Sardis, a small remnant in this church is noted as not having "defiled their garments" (3:4), meaning that they have not turned their hearts and ears unto apostate teaching and doctrine. This remnant that "overcomes" will be "dressed in white," signifying Christ's righteousness, and will not have their names struck from the Book of Life (3:5). This assures believers of the security of being saved from spiritual death and eternal torment (Rev. 20:11-15). [Note: there are two books of life: the Book of Life, which is a record of all who have ever been born (3:5), and the Lamb's Book of Life, a record of all who have called upon the name of Jesus Christ for Salvation (13:8; 21:27).]

*The parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) offers a striking circumstantial evaluation of the Church today; the ten virgins represent the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. the Church on earth), their lamps represent the Gospel (i.e. the Light of the world) and watchfulness, paralleling the lampstands of the seven churches. The Bridegroom they are desirous to meet is Christ Himself. 

...The five foolish virgins did not carry a surplus of oil for their lamps should the Bridegroom tarry. Tarry He does, and thus the wise virgins, well into burning their own surplus oil, are prepared when a cry announces the arrival of the Bridegroom. As the ten virgins awaken from their slumber and prepare to meet Him, the wise rebut the foolish for neglecting to be vigilant, as their lamps have gone dark. Straightaway the foolish endeavor to purchase more oil, yet while they are away the Bridegroom arrives and the wise who were prepared went away with Him to the marriage "and the door was shut."

Upon discovering their misfortune, the foolish virgins foolishly petition the Lord to let them in also. His reply is "Nay, I know you not."

...The true Church, the Body of Christ, are the wise virgins who keep their lamps lit and are constant in their vigilance as they are prepared for the arrival of Christ in the clouds to catch them away to the Judgment Seat and Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Papal/Catholic and Reformed/Protestant institutionalized churches are the foolish virgins who have lost their zeal for His arrival, tending foremost to their own affairs to which they are more faithful than they are to their Lord Christ (again I will note that members of the true Church are indeed to be found within denominational institutions; it is the overall spiritual blindness of the institutions themselves that renders them "dead").

...At the catching away of the Church, the mainstream ecclesiastical bodies (and likely much of their clergy) will be largely left intact and will begin the polarizing shift toward apostate consolidation at the behest of the Antichrist's unitarian ecumenical push, i.e. the circumstance of one world religion.

{excerpted from my commentary, The Revelation of Jesus Christ}