For those of you in a romantic relationship, remember how you used to read the letters (or texts, I guess, if you’re not ancient like me) of that person when you first fell in love? I met Veronica right before I went overseas as a missionary, so we exchanged a lot of letters. I didn’t just read her letters; I devoured them. I’d analyze the smallest details, trying to figure out what each word meant. You remember what that was like?
“Dear J.D.” Does she call everyone “dear,” or is that just for me? Does she think of me as her … dear?
“I’m so thankful for you.” Is that like grateful, spiritual thankful—I’m thankful for you in Jesus, thankful for your presence in the body of Christ? Or like, romantic, my life is all sunshine and rainbows now that you’re in it, thankful?
“I’m thinking of you.” Hmm, this seems promising, at first … but she used a period. Why didn’t she use an exclamation point there? I mean, does that mean she’s like, thinking of me, like concerned about me? If she was really into me, surely there would be an exclamation point here.
“Love, Veronica.” This is maybe the trickiest one of all. Is that “love,” like “love in Christ”? Like “love everyone” love? Or is it legit, like love, love?
When we approach Scripture, we should have a similar sense of hunger. We should read every word like letters from a Savior we love and long for.
Several times in Scripture, we even get literal letters. Like the first chapters of Revelation, in which Jesus writes seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. Now, these letters don’t usually sound like love letters. They can get downright salty. But we should study them closely, because they are written by a Savior who loves us and who gave his life for the church.
One of those letters is to the church at Sardis, to which Jesus said, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive …” (Revelation 3:1 ESV). To which we might think, “Great start!” Jesus knows what we’re up to, and he’s heard that we’re vibrant and growing and full of life. Awesome.
Except the sentence keeps going.
“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive but you are dead.” Uh-oh. Things have just taken a turn.
The church at Sardis apparently had a pretty good reputation, and if you knew someone was moving to Sardis, you’d probably recommend their church. You might say something like, “Solid church! Great preacher. Great ministries.” But Jesus saw something else. “I know your real works,” he said. Apparently, what the church looked like on the surface was not what it was behind closed doors.
We don’t know all the specifics of what was going on in Sardis, but we’ve seen plenty of churches that fit this profile. There was probably backbiting and gossip. They may have celebrated unity in Christ, but members talked about each other, held grudges against each other, had secret sins they indulged. I’m sure there were people who skimped on their giving. The church looked generous, but the truth was a lot of their members, while giving some obligatory tithe, still focused the majority of their spending on themselves. They talked a big game about prayer, knew when to say “Amen” and how to raise their hands in worship, but truth be told, the only time many of them ever really prayed was at church. They enjoyed a great reputation, but measured by the private lives of their members, they were dead.
How many churches in America would fit this description? How many people in your church would fit this description?
Would you fit this description?
Maybe this is you: Truth is, you don’t consistently spend time with God each day. You give a little, but you are not a sacrificial giver. In fact, you couldn’t point to the last time giving severely inconvenienced you or changed your lifestyle. There are things you watch, look at, and listen to that you’d be embarrassed to have brought into the light. You engage in conversations that you aren’t proud of. You couldn’t begin to tell us the last time you told someone about Jesus. When you do pray, all your prayers are focused on you. “God, I need this. And give me that. Fix this situation. And smite her for saying that.” You have a reputation of being alive, but the truth is, you are dead.
And right now, the Holy Spirit is saying, “This is you! This is about you.” Like Revelation 3:2 says, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die.” Do you see that? There’s still some hope! It’s not completely dead yet. Yes, it’s about to be, but there’s a smoldering wick left and there’s still time.
“Wake up” in Greek is grēgoreō, which can also mean, “be watchful,” which I actually think is the better translation, and here’s why: There was a famous story that everyone in Sardis knew. Sardis had once been a mighty fortress going back to 1000 BC that everyone thought was impregnable. For centuries, invading armies had tried to penetrate it and been unsuccessful. But in 546 BC, during a Persian attack, a Sardinian soldier accidentally dropped his helmet over the wall. Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, the soldier snuck out of his castle to retrieve his helmet via a secret door in the side—and one of the Persian soldiers saw him, which revealed a secret entry into the fortress. That was the end of the fortress: Knowing the weakness, some of the soldiers broke in, managed to open the main gate to the fortress, and the Persian army easily overwhelmed it. Some scholars say that Jesus is evoking that specific imagery here.
“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die … If not … I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” Those secret doors of compromise in your life will be your destruction. You think nobody knows your secrets, but Jesus says, “I know them. If your actions don’t start matching your words, I will come in like that thief and bring you down.”
Friend, listen: Hypocrisy or secret sin is serious business. It’s not what your mouth says you believe that’s important to Jesus; it’s what your life says you believe. Who cares what others think about you? What does Jesus think about your walk with him?
Books by J.D. Greear
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