7 Letters of Revelation Sardis: Reputation vs Character

Reputation is what can more easily be seen. Character is often unseen.

The Revelation letter to the church in Sardis is not like the others. The most difficult part of this letter is that you will find it applicable to churches and Christians today. Difficult when you see why Sardis is condemned the harshest. It comes down to a fruitless and spiritually dead church who happens to have a great reputation.

Ever hear of a church like that?

The fifth of the seven Revelation letters is unlike the first four: there is no encouragement or approval from Jesus to the church in Sardis. The believers here were complacent and looked alive, but were spiritually dead.

It was a church that looked really good to the world on the outside, but inside there was no spiritual life.

Sardis was found 30 miles (48km) southeast of Thyatira and was the capital of the Lydian Empire from the 6th century. They were known for tremendous wealth, were a center of the woolen and textile dyeing industries, and sported an enormous temple to the pagan god Artemis.

During the times of the Lydian Empire, Artemis was known as Cybele, who, interestingly enough, was believed to bring the dead to life.

That adds to the language Jesus used of being “alive but dead,” doesn’t it?

The Revelation Letter to the Church in Sardis

Reputation alone is not an accomplishment

Sardis had a sizable population and was home to one of the largest Jewish synagogues in Asia Minor. Given the sheer number of people in this city, it’s quite possible that the church in Sardis was successful in terms of their numbers. Maybe even kind of an early “mega church.”

However, numbers alone don’t create a fruitful community of believers, and this one was spiritually lazy and inactive.

The letter to Sardis is only 6 verses long, and sadly, in that short space Jesus gives them words of severe condemnation for the condition of their fellowship.

From the beginning of this letter, Jesus points out that the greatest accomplishment of this church is it’s reputation. How sad is that? Isn’t it regrettable when a church’s fame is greater than it’s reality? Or when it’s catchy name is more appealing than it’s impact on society for God’s Kingdom?

Even today, spiritually dead churches and Christians alike are usually blind to their situation. Even worse, they are completely unaware of the threat facing them for not adhering to the commands of Christ.

Wake up and remember or perish!

Instead of approval, Jesus issues this church a command and a warning. He orders them to wake up and to “become watchful.”

This church has not fulfilled any of the standards of Christ. By not meeting His expectations as a community of believers, they are risking His wrath.

The words that Jesus uses in His message to His people in Sardis are significant. Do you recall when I mentioned that Sardis was believed to have been impenetrable? By not keeping watch, the soldiers of this highly fortified city allowed it to fall not once, but twice.

Jesus gives this church the same warning learned by the military of Sardis: be watchful or perish!

This stands as a warning to all churches across the span of time, including today. Jesus has given all of us very clear instructions, like the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. Yet even today, so many Christians and entire denominations elevate the traditions of the church over the expectations Christ has given us!

Dressed in White

Remember, Sardis was the center of the textile dyeing industry and there was a lot of wealth here. You can think of it as a type of an ancient world fashion-industry central. That means if you walked around Sardis with soiled clothes, you’d stand out in a bad way!

“Soiled” fellowships are like that, too. They’re usually easy to spot to the born again follower of Christ.

Churches of good reputation but that are otherwise dead have been common in every generation. However, you’ll usually find a remnant of faithful saints, even in the most spiritually dead of congregations.

That’s what Jesus is pointing out in His letter to Sardis by mentioning the few who are unsoiled, and it’s as close as it gets to anything resembling commendation.

Playing Church

Sardis was a unique church of the 7 who received letters in Revelation. Here, there’s no mention of persecution as in Smyrna and Pergamum. There was no heretical teaching in the manner of Jezebel or Balaam like in Thyatira.

That means the stink and the problems of the church at Sardis was from the inside.

It’s true that the church which is sheltered has a tendency to become spiritually lazy, welcoming all kinds of compromise which results in having the reputation of being alive, but who are dead, like Sardis.

If you’ll look anywhere around the world today at where the church is growing the strongest, where faith is found in tremendous measure, it’s where the church is persecuted the most.

A threat, a promise, or both?

In ancient Greece, as in most countries today, citizens of cities were accounted for through registration. When a person was condemned to be put to death, their name would be deleted from the registry just before they were executed.

It would have been an excruciating thing to see your name erased as you were about to die.

This is the illustration Jesus is giving to the believers in Sardis. He tells them that if they return to Him and remain faithful, He will never delete their name, and will in fact publicly speak their name in Heaven!

Now, there is a ton of debate among Biblical scholars as to whether or not a person can lose their salvation. Christ’s mention of “blotting out names” here is one verse that they point to in that debate.

I cannot tell you if Jesus is saying that here, or if He’s simply making a promise to the faithful. But do know this: if you place your trust in Christ and remain faithful to His commands, you will be saved.

The Sardis Letter to the Church Today

No doubt as you’ve been reading about the letter to the church in Sardis, you’ve recognized familiar characteristics of churches and Christians. As with the other Revelation letters, there is a bit of each that lives on in us, for better or worse.

It’s just that it feels like the letter to Sardis hits a little closer to home than some of the others.

Alive but Dead: Reputation vs Character

Maybe you’ve experienced some of the following at some point.

1. It could be that a church is very much alive in worship and boasts of fine musicians and the best instruments. Committed to rehearsal and getting everything just right, but dead to authentic worship of God. (Matthew 12:7; Micah 6:6-8)
2. There are plenty of churches that are so alive with programs that they could publish books on effectively running church programs. Some of them are “program pros” and have a program for every aspect of the church, every day of the week, and every season of the year. Segregating the fellowship of Christ into programs that fit every niche, desire, and preference, they can be dead to the spiritual transformation that the Holy Spirit accomplishes through discipleship. (Acts 2:42; 4:33)
3. Another church may greatly appeal to the culture around them. This church is absolutely alive to social awareness through the lens of a worldly perspective. Their behaviors match the values of the world around them and they’re in step with society. Replacing the commands of Christ with social acceptance, they are like Sardis: dead to the Kingdom of God. (Mark 7:6-7)

Let’s make it more personal

I don’t point these things out just to bag on program heavy churches. Some congregations can do them well while maintaining the standards that Christ gave His church.

However, there are critical points that Jesus is making in His letter to the church in Sardis that you don’t want to miss. Things that will help your relationship with the Risen Savior become more alive.

Like Sardis, you personally have both reputation and character. When you look at them, what would God say about your relationship with Him? Is the time you spend in His word or in worship building on that relationship?

Have you heard the Good News of Jesus Christ? Is your life any different today because of that word and His presence in your life?

I want you to ask questions like this of yourself because the last thing you want is to be a one-man or one-woman Sardis. Having every appearance of a Christian (reputation) but dead and fruitless in your relationship with Him (character).

This is critically important because of the promise that Jesus gave through His letter to the church in Sardis: