Tales from Sardis
We are meant to be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden as the Lord taught in the sermon on the mount in Matt. 5:14-16. And yet, a city on a hill is exactly the target of the enemy. It comes with a nice view, typically fortified on top of favorably topography, and ultimately serves as a wonderful trophy in the ongoing warfare of conquest in the earthly realm.
Taking away lessons learned yesterday from church, we read through Revelation 3:1-6. This encompassed the letter Jesus dictated to the apostle John to send to the church of Sardis. It goes without saying the photo I chose for this post isn’t Sardis itself. It’s Orvieto, located in Tuscany, Italy. But as a stand in for Sardis, it will do!
As we learned, the city of Sardis was known at one point a really big deal in Asia Minor, if not one of the most influential cities altogether over many centuries BC. By location and design, it was that city on a hill and leveraged its fortification and fruitfulness to project influence in its region. More often that not, it was able to thwart threats thanks to its intrinsic defenses and steadfastness. Cyrus’ siege of Sardis in 549 BC provides a useful analog to the pursuit the enemy has on the many “cities on a hill” today in the population of long-established churches (be they congregations or denominations). Through Cyrus’ patience and cunning, a small weakness exposed through a lone, sleeping guard on a secret passage into the city provided the access needed to catalyze the takeover. This chink in the armor of the city’s defenses was the critical weakness that would give the city over to Persian conquest. Overwhelming force doesn’t always arrive like Omaha beach in Normandy.
The rise and fall of the city of Sardis is analogous to our own walk in dependence on Christ. We may be built up over time, but if we begin to rest on our laurels or point pridefully to fruit without realizing the impact of His providence and protection, we became vain and hollow. If we are to let hubris manifest because we review ourselves as established by anything other than His authority through grace, we are deceiving ourselves into a lull where a siege will come. Jesus’ rebuke of Sardis set aside His knowledge of their works, and their earthly reputation of being alive. It was all in the past, and the Lord was holding them accountable in the present that they may be spotless in the future. He knows best if we are walking in the Word AND the Spirit. If, as a believer, you have one without the other, beware, repent. If as a church you meander toward one without the other, watch out. We are called to remember what we heard, and repent.
He comes like a thief in the night, so today is the day to take stock in our readiness. Are we repentant? Really and truly? So that Christ alone remains our hope?
Do you cast off your resume, reputation, and rewards on earth for discipleship? Let’s not each of us be the sorrowful rich young ruler unwilling to part from accumulated glories in the flesh.
How about as a body in Christ? Does your church marry the word and the spirit together? Or does it just say it does. As our pastor reiterated to our assembly yesterday, “a church with only word and no spirit will shrivel up, a church with all spirit and no word will blow up, and a church with both word and spirit will grow up.”
It gets me back to the point of Psalm 1 as it sets out the psalter and I reflect on the draft exegesis paper I just submitted for class… if we delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, we are meeting his commandment with the power of the Holy Spirit. What a gift!
It’s not programs, attendance, vision statements, business acumen, budget surpluses, or anything else that becomes the fruitful representation of Christ Jesus… it’s the pure discipleship. Love God, love others.
With repentance, the church in Sardis would be that tree of Psalm 1, planted by streams of water (and transplanted really for no tree plants itself!), bearing its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.
Even in the rebuke, this letter in Revelation tells us the Holy Spirit can’t be killed, even though He must not be grieved. That remnant even in a dying church like Sardis, where the Word and Spirit is represented by small number of people who have not soiled their garments, who themselves are repentant… they will be walking with the Lord as he finds them worthy.
With its mention of the book of life, Jesus focuses in on repentance as an intersection of law and gospel. There is conviction of our dying nature and gospel glory through faith in Him alone… if ever there was a cautionary tale, it was this letter from the Lord to the church in Sardis.