Jesus' seven letters to the churches in Asia are better than any congregational study or consultant when getting to the heart of the challenges our churches face in the twenty-first century. One of the timeliest among the letters is Jesus' letter to the church at Sardis. Sardis was an archetype of the church that stopped living out her purpose. John was about 95 or 96 when the Emperor Domitian began his assault upon the Christians. Not only did Domitian try to kill off many of the Christians, he exiled some.
One of those exiles, the Apostle John, was sent to live on an island known for its mines, Patmos. Instead of going there to die, John was visited by God with a great vision of Jesus Christ. Part of this vision was the giving of personal letters from Jesus to seven literal churches in what is now modern Turkey. Each of these letters is punctuated with the phrase: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 3:6, ESV).
In John's record of Jesus' letters, the Holy Spirit specifically delivered a message to each of the seven churches in Asia Minor. The Spirit also sent a message to all of Christ's churches of all ages. These letters give us valuable lessons which transcend time and place. The letter to the church at Sardis, the fifth of seven letters, has a powerful message to churches needing revitalization. Open your spiritual ears and let these words of Jesus delivered to the church at Sardis speak to your church context: "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'" (Revelation 3:1, ESV). What a striking statement!
The church received a message from Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus warned Sardis about their difficult circumstances. Sardis professed to be a church of the Living God but lacked possession of life, energy, and motivation. Jesus identified neither any major doctrine trouble nor anything good happening at the church in Sardis. There was no mention of persecution. It seems that the church was in the sad cycle of existing to exist. From what we can determine, Sardis was a wealthy, satisfied city. The church was probably very similar to the city. This sounds like the circumstances in cities and churches across the United States today.
H.A. Ironside is known to have said, "Nothing is sadder than profession without possession." Many churches profess to serve the living God but do not embody the vibrancy of life. Revitalization is essential when our possession does not match our profession!
Unhealthy Patterns and Atrophy
Sometimes, churches face unavoidable circumstances that lead to a loss of growth and vibrancy. Yet, in Sardis, it does not appear that the city experienced the ill effects of a population bust or crisis. On the contrary, the city of Sardis was a busy place. They had a great theater, a large stadium, and many pagan temples. The temple for Artemis was located in the city. Many unbelieving Jews lived in the city. There were plenty of nonbelieving people to reach. The city was populated with thousands who needed to hear the message of the Gospel. The Sardis story is relived all around the world in churches every day. Perhaps this is the story of your church today.
Churches get into unhealthy patterns and cycles. These patterns become difficult to break. Have you ever seen the classic movie starring Bill Murray called Ground Hog Day? In the movie, the main character, TV anchorman Phil Connors, relives the same day over and over. Phil wakes up each morning to his clock radio playing Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You Babe" and repeats the same day repeatedly. He meets the same people doing the same things--over and over. In the movie, Phil is made to relive Ground Hog Day until he finally gets it right.
Reliving the same day is something pastors and members of churches experience each Sunday--over and over again. It’s a cycle of driving onto the parking lot, opening the doors to the church, turning on the lights, having a slight variation of the same worship service, turning out the lights, and locking up the building. It happens week after week with rhythmic precision...and no change, no life...just death. I know "death" seems like a harsh word. However, this is the word Jesus used to describe the church at Sardis. If we had diagnosed the cause of death in the church at Sardis, the cause would have been "atrophy of mission and purpose."
Churches can die of atrophy—lack of exercising a spiritual muscle—by relying upon the strength of the past. Before the New Testament church was born, God denounced lifeless Temple worship in Israel. God repeatedly said, "To obey is better than to sacrifice." God dealt harshly with atrophy and lack of purpose. He even took the temple from the Jews on multiple occasions: once at the hands of the Babylonians, again by the Romans under Titus's relentless army, which massacred thousands of Jews in the streets and on the Temple Mount itself. God's people have always struggled to remain connected to the life and purpose that justifies our existence—the Glory of God as expressed in carrying out the mission He has given to us!
Stages of Decline
Churches can go through stages. These stages resemble growth and progress but, in reality, are signs that the church's past continues to rule the present and future in an unhealthy way. Vance Havner identified four stages that churches go through. Stage one—is a man (a leader or group has a vision from God), stage two—is a movement (the vision snowballs into something people get excited about), stage three—is a machine (the logistics necessitate organization and planning—systems of doing church), and then stage four--a monument (people carry on the systems and forget about the vision that started it all in the first place) (see Wiersbe, Revelation).
Many churches become like cold gravestones, monuments to the past full of death. Jesus used the Greek word "nekros" to speak of the deadness in the Sardis church. This adjective form of "nekys" may refer to a corpse or dead body. Nekros means unable, ineffective, dead, unresponsive to life-giving influences, corpse-like, inoperative to the things of God, one that has breathed his last. This was not a flattering description of a church that is called to express the abundance of life in Jesus Christ (John 10:10).
Perhaps the best analogy for the Sardis churches is the pop culture character of the zombie. A “zombie" church looks alive; it "moves" like it’s alive. Some churches have busy calendars and large budgets. Yet, a church may be moving but dead...dead in her mission, dead in evangelism, dead in compassion for the community...just dead. A dead church needs revitalization from God!
A church must worship and minister through the Holy Spirit's life-giving power for God's glory! A church cannot please God by living on the inertia of past efforts. God desires His churches—the local expressions of the Body of Christ—to express life through the God-centered, Christ-honoring ministry of sharing the Gospel!
Sardis was not given the option to remain a "zombie church." Jesus instructed Sardis: "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" (Revelation 3:2, ESV). As Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave, He commanded the church at Sardis to return to her purpose, vision, and mission. Jesus' words were direct and detailed.
Sardis needed to "wake up" and realize the problem. Sardis was called upon to stop the spiritual hemorrhaging and to "strengthen what remains." They were to remember and to carry out their purpose to completion. "Strengthen what remains" is what Jesus Christ desires of your church! It is time to get back to the basics of New Testament Christianity. We must get back to sharing the Gospel with non-believers in effective ways.
Fear of Death
Fear of death is a motivator that Jesus chose to use in the letter to Sardis. Psychologists speak of the power of the "death drive." Of course, I can't entirely agree with Sigmund Freud's psychological theories. Nevertheless, Freud was a student of human behavior. In classical Freudian theory, the drive toward death, Thanatos, is a powerful pressure that drives a person to follow their own path to death. Freud viewed death as a natural drive. In the church, the pastor and the leadership must lead the church to fight a tendency toward death. After a certain point in the struggle, we often call this fight against death "church revitalization."
Jesus' words were about "waking up" the church...revitalizing the church. The pastors and leaders of the church are to wave the smelling salts of the Great Commission before the nose of the swooning church. The message of Sardis has been relevant and poignant to churches in Birmingham. Many churches have already fought the good fight and finished the course; they have already ceased to exist as they once did. Other churches were relocated or "transplanted" into new communities. Does a church have to die?
Wake Up, Strengthen What Remains
The Birmingham Metro Baptist Association has seen churches avert death by returning to their Great Commission priorities. Jesus said, "I have not found your works complete in my sight" (Revelation 3:2, ESV). At the BMBA, we began focusing on prayer for church revitalization in 2019. We have met with many congregations to pray, listen, learn, and discern a vision from God about the future of His church. God led us to "wake up and strengthen what remains" (Revelation 3:2, ESV). God began unfolding a plan for the BMBA to help churches needing revitalization. We stand ready to help you! Reach out to Dr. Josh Cook, BMBA Church Revitalization Specialist, to begin moving toward life again through the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.