1. How is it that this church appears to be alive but is really dead?

2. Why do they need to wake up? What is about to die?

3. What happens if they let it die?

4. Was everyone in this desperate position? 

5. What lessons can we pull from this for our modern churches?

Make sure to lead up to this with a bit of free conversation and fellowship to allow for an open and relaxed mood. Once ready then read through Revelation 3:1-6 and offer some extra context, particularly about how Sardis was a city on a steep hill that had been conquered twice because an army had managed to climb the hill and found no defenders. This particularly plays into the passage. 

Discussion Questions

1. How is it that this church appears to be alive but is really dead?

   • It seems to be a well functioning church, perhaps with a good turn out every Sunday, but there is something missing in them. There is no passion for God, there is no real faith to be found.

2. Why do they need to wake up? What is about to die?

   • It's thier faith and passion that are about to die. They have forgotten why they are there to begin with.

3. What happens if they let it die?

   • They will face judgment, likely an immediate one like the Jews did in the babylonian exile.

4. Was everyone in this desperate position? 

   • No, Jesus mentions there are a few that are faithful still in Sardis, but they seem to be the minority.

5. What lessons can we pull from this for our modern churches?

   • We can't let church become just some religious routine, we can't forget we are here for a reason, because Christ loved us enough to die on our behalf. We are not here to sing a song and be enteretained, but are here to serve a living God who demands all of us.

Hey everyone, welcome to this one off. This week at my own church it's our 30th anniversary and so I wanted to take some time away from Matthew to prepare something a little special. Hence here we are, but of course, as per usual for me, I ended up with a pretty condemning message.

The passage for this week is Revelation 3:1-6. To catch you up John is on the island of Patmos in exile when Jesus comes to him. This passage is in the midst of their initial conversation where Jesus asks John to write rather condemning letters to some major churches, this passage being Jesus' letter to the church at Sardis.

Jesus opens up with a major complaint: "I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." (Rev 3:1 NASB95) He then continues with "Wake up" (Rev 3:2) which can also be rendered as "Be Watchful" (Morris, 78). The verbiage is very particular for Sardis in a way us modern readers don't notice immediately. Sardis was a city that was set on a very steep hill, which they relied on to protect them. Yet despite this they had been conquered twice by armies that had climbed the hill and found the city completely unguarded. (Morris, 78). So much like the city's former failures to keep a guard to protect against a military invasion, it seems the church here has failed to keep a guard to protect against spiritual invasion.

Now of course what does this look like? How have they failed to maintain a guard? Well Jesus elaborates and explains that there is something that is about to die and that thier deeds are not completed in the sight of God. Practically speaking this may mean a church who has pleased men instead of God. (Morris, 78) They had, like their ancestors, become complacent and allowed the sacred nature of the church become routine.  It's also important to note that the other churches to which Jesus writes, like that of Philadelphia, were suffering from persecution, to which Jesus commends then and suggests that they persevere until He returns. Yet he makes not such mention for Sardis, as if there is no persecution there. This would further support that they had become a complacent church, they were just performing a religious routine and were not actively pursuing Christ, and thus were not provoking the local Jews or Romans because they were harmless. Their passion for God was dying out.

Jesus threatens that if they do not remember who they are as Christians, why it is they claim to follow Christ and rekindle thier passion for God, then He will come to them "like a thief" (Rev 3:3) in a very "Day of the Lord" kind of way that we see with the prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus will deliver judgement onto them if they don't get it straight, and considering we today do not know much of a church at Sardis, I fear they did not get it straight.

Now Jesus does commend some for having kept the faith and suggest that they will walk with Him, clothed in white garments and whose names will not be erased from the book of life, but these people whom He is condemning, who have let their passion for God die out and have sullied their once white clothing, rejecting and defyling the grace that Christ had granted to them,  they will be blotted out from the book of life. 

This is all to say that we must be careful in the modern American church. Many of us are like those are Sardis, letting our passion for God die out, making no effort to guard our faith from the endless attacks of Satan, culture, politics, family, and every other influence and darkness around us. We must not be complacent, but must actively guard and maintain our faith and passion for God. Let us not forget why we followed Christ to begin with, because of His love for us that lead Him to the cross to die on our behalf and bestow us with His righteousness.