The Book of Revelation: Revelation 3:1-6

Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Revelation 3:1-6

THE IMPORTANCE OF JESUS’S MESSAGE TO SARDIS

We’ve been in a systematic study of the book of Revelation. That’s kind of how we go through the scriptures together. We pick a book and we study that verse by verse. So we’ve been in Revelation, and this question has come to me a lot: Is it because of where the world is? Well, I’m pretty sure Jesus came to the earth because of where the world is at so I think that answer works always.

Ironically, we went to the Book of Revelations because we just felt like the Lord said, Hey, go to Revelation. And we were like, Okay! I don’t know about you, but I have been blown away by the depth of what the Lord has spoken in this series. 

I want to take us back to the message of Jesus to the church of Sardis. And I want to remind us that this is 50 to 60 years post Jesus leaving the earth. What Revelation encompasses is really the first prophetic download that the church has received. Considering the time frame since He left the earth, we probably would do well to consider this as Him checking back in like a good manager and saying, Hey, there’s some things in My people I need to adjust. I think it goes without saying, the further you move from the origin point of anything, the greater the distance is that connects you, so it’s easier to get off course.

So, the language in this book is vital for us to consider. Because if the church at large, full of human beings, had moved this far off target this soon, we probably shouldn’t be too arrogant about where we’re at. And so it becomes incredibly vital that we consider this message in its strength for what it is.

I turned 50 a couple of years ago, almost two years ago, and something shifted in me where I became nauseated with the greeting card version of Jesus that the church is pitching. And I became really, really hungry to discover what He says about Himself and how He reveals himself. I don’t know about you, but when I stand before Him, my hope is to hear Him say, I love the way you followed Me. Good job.

So, I want that lens to be the way we approach this book. Would you stand with me while we read the Scripture? I think that’s important. We’re going to be in chapter three, verses one through six.

“Write this letter to the angel of the church of 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. Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless you do, I will come upon you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. Yet even in Sardis, there are some who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and His angels that they are mine. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Let’s pray.

Holy Spirit, Jesus’s admonition is very clear: We should pay attention to what You’re saying. Would You give us ears to hear? Lord, I know we present the willingness, but You present the capacity. You give us ears to hear what You’re saying. Give us hearts that can handle the strength of what You say. And give us the courage to follow You with who we are. We love You. We honor You. In Jesus’s name, amen. 

JESUS IS AWARE OF OUR LIVES

I just want to highlight a few statements in this address. The first one I’ll highlight is where Jesus says, “I know the things you do.” What Jesus says to the church of Sardis, and what we have to pay attention to, is, I am aware of your life. I know the things you do. The word “I know,” here, is oida in Greek, which means to perceive or know or completely understand something. The word for “do” is to fashion or perform, and what it simply deals with is how we live; it’s our lifestyle, our life pattern. And Jesus just says, I’m aware of it.

Can I offer just a really simple idea? Again, my goal in this is not to dangle us over hell. I want us to understand Jesus doesn’t have anger, frustration, and sin in what He says. There’s kindness and grace and mercy. So the reason He’s saying this to the church of Sardis is for some reason they have lost sight of this truth. They’ve lost sight of the truth that nothing is hidden from Him.

In our humanity, we tend to hide from others, and we at times even hide from ourselves. There’s a term we use called self-awareness, and it’s for people who are actually aware of what they’re like. Which means there’s a whole smattering of people that just have no idea. Please don’t look at your spouse right now.

I just want to remind us—maybe to put fear in us, maybe that’s healthy to say the fear of God—that there is absolutely nothing in our lives that’s hidden from Him. And if at the moment I say that, you’re like uh oh, please step into that and realize that “uh oh” is a grace. That’s conviction. His agenda for us is that we live in a way before Him where we feel no reason to hide anything.

If we go back to the garden, His statement is, Adam, where are you? It’s not that He didn’t know. He wanted Adam to understand something. Adam was hiding from Him because there was the pain of guilt, because he knew he had sinned. And the moment that we want to hide from the Lord, it’s an indication to us we’ve done something that has transgressed our intimacy with Him.

JESUS FIGHTS FOR US, BUT WE HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE

He makes another statement that says, If you do not wake up, or unless you wake up, I will come like a thief. And you will not know at what hour I will come to you. This phrase, if you do not wake up, we looked at this in our study with the church of Thyatira. There’s a phrase that we came upon: conviction is a clock. Jesus is warning the church of Sardis that they are running out of time. I want to highlight two things in this.

Jesus is not for their destruction. He’s actually fighting their destruction. Could I just submit simply, the conviction of the Lord in our lives is actually the grace of God trying to pull us into what’s right. It’s not because He’s angry at us.

He works against our brokenness, informing us of a better direction. And if what you’re hearing in your head is God is mad at me, He’s not for me, He’s upset with me, then you’re not hearing Him. Jesus is incredibly direct; that’s what has caught me the most in this study. We kind of want to HR Jesus to death. The truth is, He’s incredibly direct. But He’s not angry. He’s fully loving. Can we please, as a people, begin to understand that truth and love are not antithetical?

There’s a second thing that I want us to see in this, and it is a tough one to swallow: Jesus is willing to let them choose their answer. That is the beauty and the terror of love. It embraces free will choice. He is advocating to them for what He wants, but He won’t force it. It’s their choice. I would love to offer a simple suggestion: that we’re in the same situation. He has hopes for our choices, but He’s never going to force them.

We looked at a verse last week when Pastor Dustin taught out of 2nd Peter chapter three, and I want to remind us of it. The Lord is not slow about His promise as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. Church, Jesus is not looking to disqualify anyone; He is looking to save us all. But the only way to be spared what is coming is to be willing to repent for the places He touches. We fight repentance, we fight conviction. That’s what Sardis was doing. 

Repentance simply means to admit our error and align with His desires. It baffles me why we are so bent to fight His conviction. Why do we want to justify what we do that’s wrong, whether it’s our attitudes or blatant sin behaviors? Why are we so committed to justifying what we’re doing that’s wrong instead of just looking at it going, Yeah that’s actually wrong, Lord, forgive me?

REPENTANCE IS THE ONLY OPTION

I don’t want to oversimplify this, but I want us to understand that Jesus has a desire for every single aspect of our lives. And I want to remind us of the same challenge we’ve been seeing in this entire study. Repentance is not an option. It’s the only option.

If you’re living in any way, shape, or form in a sin pattern of any kind, and you know that as soon as I say that it’s already been revealed to you by the Lord, then the only answer is to repent now. If you’ve postulated some argument that says, I’m not perfect, I’ll get there, that’s a lie. Repent now. It has to happen now. That’s what Jesus is communicating to the church of Sardis. There is a clock happening.

I do believe this is one of the greatest lies the Enemy has ever propagated into the Kingdom–that Jesus says, Ah, it’s all grace. Don’t worry about it. Take your time. There’s a reason why repentance has to happen now. The blessing, the purpose, the promise that He wants for our lives, the run rate of righteousness, He wants that in us.

If you know your Bible, you may know the story of Samson. Samson’s this incredibly tragic story about someone who had incredible gifting, calling, capacity, and purpose, but he fooled around with sin his entire life. He mixed a little bit of righteousness with a little bit of sin, never really settling himself to say, I will serve the Lord, and I will pursue the Lord. And so his entire life is summed up in one moment at the end where he finally does what he was called to do, which is to judge the nation he was going to judge and bring it down. But because he’s ruined his own success pattern and destroyed his own potential, he brings the nation down at the expense of his own life, never really glorifying God with it.

That is not God’s agenda for us. His agenda for us is that we will put away stupidity and sin and start living into the fullness of the blessing of the Lord. To start being a people who the rest of the world is looking at going, what in the world is going on with them? I want what they have. Well, “I want what they have” doesn’t happen unless they are willing to walk how He says.

Pastor Dustin, who is so much smarter than I am, led us last week through an understanding of what a chiastic structure is in literature. I don’t even know how to say that properly. I feel smarter already, like I got a degree by saying it. Well, what’s happening here in these seven messages is that there are two good churches and two bad churches, and they’re out on the ends of the chiasm. At the bottom of this is three other churches, and there’s a pattern happening in these three churches. The pattern starts when they begin to tolerate sin, which is to know what’s wrong but be okay with it. That moves them into permitting sin, which is to now no longer say it’s wrong and go, Hey, actually, we’re okay with it. And then, all of a sudden, they end up dead.

That pattern is so poignant for us as a people of God right now. And I’m not talking just Vintage, I’m talking about the nation. We have tolerated and permitted, and it’s leading us to death. Jesus’s answer to this church is the same thing He’s saying to us. Stop it, return to Me. He says, “Yet even in Sardis, there are some who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and His angels that they are mine.”

HOW WE ACT MATTERS

The third thing He teaches the church of Sardis: How we act matters. I want to highlight some things about these who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. What He’s saying to the people that did soil their garments is, You were once clean. I intended you to stay clean. His desire for His people, for us, is that it was for freedom that He set us free. He made us clean so we would stay clean. You’re like, what does it mean to get dirty? Well, “made them dirty” or “soiled them” was their activity, and the things they were doing connected to sin.

Now, last night, we had a Saturday night gathering. I taught a totally different message, got done, and went, that was awful. I’m changing it for tomorrow. So, good morning. But as I was teaching this portion of the Scripture, how many have ever cooked red sauce? Red sauce is life. You learn so much about patience cooking a good red sauce. Okay, I digress. How many have ever been dumb enough to do it in a white shirt? How many have ever gone on a date night to a spaghetti restaurant with a white shirt on? The evidence of soiling yourself with spaghetti is upon you.

This is the same idea. It means what they participated in became part of them. He’s revealing that their participation with sin is what made them dirty. Can I just highlight a ridiculously obvious idea? There is no sin that is safe. It alters who He has made you to be. We’ve got to stop playing with it, believing it’s not that big a deal, because purity carries promise. He says of those who hadn’t soiled their garments, they’re going to walk with Me in white.

Jesus uses this white color because it really points to the Greeks. In Greek culture, this was something reserved for the affluent, reserved for those with status. Something white had been bleached, and it was expensive to buy for them. Jesus uses a picture that they will understand: that the life you’re going to live for Me will have reward. On the other side of this, you’re going to be in a place of standing where you’re grateful that you worked hard.

Here’s what I’d love to tell you. There will be consequences in this life for following Jesus. It isn’t going to be easy all the way through. You don’t come to the Lord and go, here I am, and everything gets awesome. We’ve taught people that, and then when they face difficulty, they’re like, Well, I’m out. This is ridiculous.

There are going to be things that you’ll miss out on. These shouldn’t be things people will leverage against you because you follow Jesus. But what He says to Sardis is the same that He says to us. He is paying attention. He’s watching. He is good, and He repays honor with honor. We have to get a hold of an eternal mindset that says, today, next week, next year—that’s not what I’m living for. What I’m living for is the long game because I gave my life to Him. I’ll say it this way: He says to all who are victorious if you win the day, you win at life. What do I mean by win the day? The way you live right in an eternal lens is to live right in a daily lens.

What He’s telling Sardis is stay pure, stay focused on what I want. See, victory is the byproduct of a fight. Church, you’re supposed to be fighting with your desires for evil and sin. You’re supposed to be fighting with your bad attitudes and your bad heart postures. Sometimes we just fully embrace critical spirits. We embrace nasty attitudes like they’re no big deal. And yet Jesus says, I’m paying attention.

Your sin, desires, and appetites are not going to be taken away. They will be disciplined away.

Paul the Apostle makes a statement: I buffet my body daily to bring it into submission. Which means, I have to tell my body who is boss when it wants to sin. I tell it no, because it isn’t the master of me, and it was for freedom that Christ set me free. So I’m not going to let myself get enslaved and entangled in this stuff anymore. I tell it no.

We have taken that through history to strange places where people will flog themselves to prove that they’re somehow righteous. That’s not what Paul was talking about. Paul was talking about mastery. He’s saying you have to be in control. Let me break it down; you can actually say no. You can actually look yourself in the mirror and go, Hey, you’re better than this. It’s time for you to wake up and serve Jesus.

Jesus Himself says it this way: “I want you to take up your cross and follow Me.” What’s that mean? I want you to take up an instrument of death. I want you to carry around something that reminds you that you’re dying. Dying to what? Those appetites.

KEEPING OUR NAMES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE

And then the last one that He says to them is probably the most terrifying: Stay the course and stay in the Book. I just got everybody’s attention. He says, “I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and His angels that they are mine.”

As a Teaching Team, we’ve been struggling with this passage for a few weeks. Because what it says is really strong, and it has to be considered in the seriousness it’s spoken in. I have three thoughts for us about it. Number one, Jesus says it, so we have to pay attention. The one who said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Love that. Same one who said that said this in Revelation. The same one who went to the cross so He could actually purchase humanity back from sin, said this. The same one who put the names in the Book of Life, said this.

So what’s the Book of Life? More than twenty-five times that concept, or that title, comes up in Scripture. It’s a ledger. According to Revelation 20, only those whose names in the ledger get in. It’s a really graphically austere verse, because the other side of it says the rest get thrown into a lake of fire. You’re like, yikes, that’s very serious. Easter just got much happier.

The second thing I’d love to say is that if the names can be erased, we have some theology to consider. But while Jesus says He can erase the names, and He has the ability to, He very clearly communicates here, I don’t want to. And I think we have been hung up for years in the Kingdom on this question: am I secure? It’s the wrong question. Because what really is hidden in that question is the question of, how much do I have to surrender?

He says, I will announce them. I will identify them before My Father and His angels that they’re mine. And according to what He says to Sardis, His identification or claiming of us is connected to our identification and claiming of Him with our lives. When He says earlier, go back to what you heard and believed at first, hold to it firmly and turn to Me again, what He’s telling them is to return to is humility and faith.

There’s a word that unlocks this whole passage in the Greek and it’s the word pos, and it just means “go back to the way you began” or “in the same manner”. What had they done? They, like us, had become calloused and forgot the simple truth of life with Jesus. It requires staying close to Jesus. It requires intimacy with Jesus. It requires following His voice. Because when you obey His voice, you’re living from faith.

Some of us have bought into the lie that we can’t hear God. He doesn’t speak to us. It’s a lie that you can’t hear God. It might be true that you don’t know how. Great, I would just submit a really simple idea to us: you have to be connected to Him intimately to win the day. Have you embraced a religion, a set of rules, a set of order? While it’s good to follow those details, it does not replace the relational connection with Him.

WE MUST FINISH THE RACE

He makes one last statement of service. He says, “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” We have to hear this message. Counterfeit confidence and nonchalance are a very broad highway to spiritual death. John tells us in his first epistle that genuine confidence is found by living in Jesus. He says it this way in 1 John 4: “We may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.” In other words, we’ve set our attention and our agenda to look like Him and act like Him in our lifetime.

Church, I think one of the greatest lies that’s ever been postulated by the enemy–“the father of lies” is how Jesus refers to him–is that how we live doesn’t matter and our involvement with sin carries no consequence. That once you come to Jesus, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. But that’s not what Jesus says here.

What we learn from this address to Sardis is incredibly important. They had begun a race and were in danger of not finishing it. Therefore, we have to understand that while we’ve begun a race, there is a danger that we might not finish it. They were on the edge of failing the test. We would do well to consider, are we? They were running the risk of being removed from the Book of Life.

Here’s what I’d love to say: we don’t have to go down that road. None of those things even need to be a consideration. That’s the point of Jesus’s message. His desire for us is a one-for-one exchange, His life for our life. We get all of Him when we give all of us. For too long, we have lived in a diminished release of Him because we’ve been unwilling to release ourselves.

So, how do we respond to a message like this?

My question is, do you need to repent, be honest, and turn away from sin? Are there places where the Lord’s like, hey, this one, fix it. Maybe you’re barely hanging on and you need to be reminded of His faithfulness.

Are you living in His voice? Are you actively pursuing learning to hear His voice? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to transform, change, and make you more like Him? If you’re feeling a tug for any of those, the right answer is to respond. The wrong answer is to ignore it. It’s the kindness of God that leads us to a place of change.

There’s no question as we study Revelation that there’s a deep cry in the heart of God for a holiness, a purity, and a focus to return to the church. For too long the church has looked kind of like the world around it. I could just have given a one line message and said, Here’s the message of Jesus today: grow up. I’d love for you to stand with me please.

I think sometimes it’s great to have prayer lines and teams. I think there’s other times where the right answer is, the Lord knows my heart. I know my heart. My private response is actually really, really important. I’ve asked the team to lead us into some worship. We’re going to do some baptisms. If you have never been here for baptisms, they’re a hoot. You’ll catch on quickly.

But please know this is serious. These are Jesus’s words; all we did was break down what He’s saying. Please take it to heart. Please ask yourself the question, Am I giving all of me for all of Him? And if you’ve accidentally or intentionally fallen into a place of like, I’m just kind of going through the motions—repent! Say, Lord, here I am. You get all of me.

So Lord, we just stand before you today in honor of Your sacrifice, in awe of Your victory, but also with a deep desire to be a people who live worthy of that calling and who live worthy of Your sacrifice. Holy Spirit, as we worship, would you move on our hearts? Would you tug on us and look for places where it’s necessary? Maybe we just kneel down where we’re at and say, “Lord, I give you my life again. I give you this issue.” I love that it is Your kindness that leads us to repent and change. It’s never Your anger. It’s because You want something amazing for us. So Holy Spirit move on our hearts as we worship.