THE DEAD CHURCH This leads us to the point, what about the church at Sardis? Well, we have no clues about its founder. We have no clues about its founding. We throw ourselves back on Acts 19vs10. Acts 19vs10: And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Which says that because Paul had such a powerful ministry in Ephesus, the Word of the Lord spread throughout all Asia. We assume then that during Pauls three years at Ephesus the church at Sardis was planted. As we look through the letter and that is the condemnation. And now we are going to get into something of the essential character of this dead church. Revelation 3vs1b: I KNOW YOUR WORKS, that YOU HAVE A NAME that you are alive, but you are dead. When He says YOU HAVE A NAME, that means YOU HAVE A REPUTATION. That You Are Alive, But You Are Dead. That first phrase I KNOW YOUR WORKS reminds us again of the omniscience of Jesus Christ. He knows everything, absolutely everything. And He doesnt even commend this church. There is not anything here to commend them for. Usually He has some nice thing to say about them to sort of launch the letter, but here no, He jumps right into condemnation. This church was contaminated with the world. This church was defiled. This church was characterized by inward decay, spiritual disintegration and dry rot. It was dead like so many churches today. It was basically populated by unredeemed, unregenerate people playing church. You have a name that you are alive, you have a superficial reputation, but spiritually, you are dead. Like the city, the church declined. There was no mention of persecution about Sardis, though there must have been some. There was no mention of corrupt theology on the inside. There is no mention of false teachers. But the church died. It had a good reputation, It had a good name that it was alive. The light was still shining even though the star had died. There was no spiritual life. It claimed to be alive. The claim was a lie.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 18:15:06 +0000
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