“To the angel of the church of Sardis write…I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die….So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it and repent” (Revelation 3:1-3).

“Ladies and gentlemen, we at B. L. Airways would like to welcome you back to our flight, whose destination will be Philadelphia. For those of you just joining us, we have just two more layovers before our final arrival. We expect this leg of the flight to be quite short.

“We are now coming up on Sardis, so please return to your seats and put on your seatbelts. A little about Sardis…it was the capital city of Lydia in western Asia Minor, 50 miles east of Smyrna, which we saw three stops ago. The people of this city were known as great men of war, and enjoyed a city that was well fortified and easily defended. As a result the people here enjoyed a time of prosperity. The most notable site was the great Temple of Artemis, built in the 4th Century B. C., which stood 327 feet high.

We hope you enjoy your stay in Sardis.”

The main problem the city of Sardis experienced was complacency. It had once been so prominent that when its decline came, the citizens had no idea they were irrelevant. They relied so much on past glory, the city became dead. The façade of a healthy appearance was worn, while underneath was only decay.

This problem leaked into the church, as Revelation tells us, “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” (3:1). This sounds quite similar to something Jesus once said to the Pharisees: “For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:27-28). The church had become a dead institution, centered in a useless ghost town.

This is certainly true in our lives as well. We sometimes cling to past victories in our spiritual battles, and forget that the battle continues to wage. We hold on to memories of our conversion, but neglect the need for God’s salvation on a daily basis. The problem with clinging to the past is that certain parts of our spiritual life tend to be neglected. After too much neglect, we experience numbness. Too much numbness causes that part of our spirit to die. We maintain the appearance of life and vibrancy, when inside there is death and decay.

Now, this may appear to be reiterating what we discussed with Ephesus, in our first discussion of these churches of Revelation. Back then we talked about looking the part when our hearts are not really in it. When our heart is not right, it can mean our emotions have overridden what we know to be right, intellectually. Paul helps by telling us to renew our minds continually (Romans 12:2). In other words, when we constantly work to give our minds a rebirth, this can trump emotions that have run amuck.

The Sardis problem is different, though, because we are not talking about going astray. We are dealing with a part of us that is dead. What happens when a body dies? Well, sooner or later, rigor mortise sets in and the body begins to decay. Spiritually, when we have reached that point of death in a certain area, it cannot be fixed with a heart transplant or a bypass. When we find decay in our lives and we start to stink, no amount of scrubbing will fix the problem. That decay then spreads through us like a deadly virus.

Just look at sexual sins, for example. How many times have we seen lives totally destroyed because a pastor or church layperson could not get a hold on his lust. It begins somewhat small, like occasionally perusing porn on the internet. He takes it lightly, and does not fully take it to the Lord. It slowly grows into a full-fledged addiction, and then threatens to turn into actually adulterous encounters.

Most other area of his life appears fine, but in this area he has numbed his senses. The numbness, left unchecked, turns to death. Death gives birth to decay, which quickly passes to other areas of his life. His marriage is affected, his parenting is affected, his wallet is affected, and his relationship with the Lord is not only affected, but is nearly non-existent.

This is what death in the spiritual life looks like. The same can be said for whatever interferes with our godly living: gossip, pride, lying, or whatever. This death indicates that we have gone beyond our ability to get ourselves out. Even following the advice of Jesus or Paul seems to be impossible when we’ve fallen so far.

So what are we to do?

A look at Jesus’ encounter with his dead friend Lazarus can give us hope when we are at our lowest. Jesus purposely waited to go see Lazarus when he was called, because He wanted to make certain Lazarus was dead before He could work a miracle. Scripture says when Jesus got there and asked for the tomb to be opened, He was told the body would surely have started to smell. Lazarus was beyond the ability to help himself, and scrubbing him with soap to cover the smell would have been pointless.

So what did Jesus do? He said, “Lazarus, come forth” and that did it. Lazarus was immediately resurrected to life (though I’m sure he still needed a bath). We can find great truth in this when we appear to have life, but are really dead on the inside. The only way we can fix being dead is through the resurrection that comes from the lips of Christ. Whatever our problem is, we can fall at the Lord’s feet and allow Him to say, “Rise up, friend, and live again. I have come to give you life that is abundant.”

Revelation gives us four steps to go from spiritual death to life. We are to first “wake up (3:2),” which means to realize that there is even a problem. Then, “strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die” (vs.2). In other words, realize it is not all doom and gloom. There are great blessings we can acknowledge and take to the Lord in thanks. Thirdly, “remember what you have received and heard; and keep it” (vs. 3). We are to make a decision to tackle the sin in our lives.

The final step is to “repent” (vs. 3). This repentance involves feeling remorse, confessing our sin to God, and making the decision to walk on a new godly path. Once we truly repent and lay everything at the Lord’s feet Christ can come and quickens the dead parts back to life. Only then can we enjoy the full Christian life God intends for us.

“We hope you found this stop helpful…our next stop, which will be in one month, is Laodicea.”