The Sermons to the Seven Churches: The Church of Deadly Complacency (2)

Psalm 139:1-4             Revelation 3:1-6              Luke 10:23-37

The Sermons to the Seven Churches: The Church of Deadly Complacency (2)

Living in the New Testament era has its distinct advantages, don’t you think? Although the revelation of God was never really obscure, it did reach its climax in the advent of Jesus. Like an acorn that is genetically encoded with everything it will ever become, the Scriptures grew until the entire majestic oak could be seen and fully appreciated. Blessed are our eyes and ears then for we have seen and heard things that prophets and kings longed to see and hear but did not. Which means that there is absolutely no excuse why any New Testament community should ever be classified as dead.

And yet, the church in Sardis reflected not the living Jesus, but rather they mirrored the reckless complacency of the society around them. Like the city, they seemed to be something they were not. Although believed to be impregnable, Sardis had been conquered twice, and even though the city had been resurrected by Tiberius Caesar after having been flattened by an earthquake, the same careless abandon continued to pervade the general attitude of the inhabitants of the city. As George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Jesus not only addressed the church as the one who gives and sustains true life, but also as the one who is Lord over the leaders of the church. As the Holy Spirit only speaks what he hears from Jesus, so too should church leaders only teach what they read in the Holy Scriptures. We are not free to speak on our own behalf. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom and are therefore bound by the words of the King. It is therefore important for the preachers and teachers to know his Word well as they are to represent him, not themselves, regardless of how intelligent they may believe themselves to be.

The Holy Spirit only speaks what has been revealed to him…we would do well to do the same.

Once more, Jesus indicated that he knew everything about the church. As we read in Psalm 139:1-4: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” There is nothing in the whole of creation that is hidden from our God. He knew us from before the foundation of the world. He knew us before we were conceived. He knows our names, he know our thoughts, he knows our paths in life. He not only knows about us…he knows us.

As I’ve said before, while this is very comforting, it can also be rather disconcerting. It is relatively easy to fool ourselves and others into thinking that all is well, but we can never fool God. He not only sees our works, but he also sees our hearts and weighs them in the balance of his Word…and his Word reveals and discloses everything.

Now, as we saw last week, the church in Sardis seemed to be at peace. All appeared to be well. There was no persecution and apparently no heretical teaching either, but as you have probably already noticed, there is also no word of praise in this letter. It seems everything about this church was a façade. On the outside she appeared to be thriving, but on the inside, she was dead…the external part of the cup and dish was squeaky clean, but the inside part desperately needed a good scrub. Like a sugar-coated pill, the shallow Christian veneer disguised the inner bitter reality. 

This raises the question as to what constitutes biblical faith. Is it good enough to just say that you believe in Jesus? Is a one-time prayer all it takes to translate a person from the kingdom of darkness into his glorious light? How many have not taken advantage of an emotional moment to get someone down on their knees to say a prayer they might not fully understand? How many have not said the prayer and later walked away?

None of the biblical characters seemed to make choices lightly. Gor instance, Joshua urged the Israelites to think on it long and hard before making any decision. In Joshua 24:19 he said: “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.” 

And Jesus also never sweet-talked people into the kingdom either. He obscured his message by speaking in parables, so that only those who had ears to hear might respond. It is tragic to see how many believers simply haven’t the faintest idea of why they believe, or in whom they believe, or what that belief means in terms of their behaviour. When confronted with the demands of the Gospel, they either change it or they leave it because their initial introduction to Christianity was so watered-down that when they were served real meat, they couldn’t swallow it. 

So, lesson learned. Don’t smooth-talk people into making a decision for Jesus by not telling them the whole truth…faith in Jesus is a lifechanging commitment. So, have them turn away before rather than after…

The believers in Sardis appear to have made a superficial profession of faith – a profession that had not had any impact on their lives – there was no reality to their claim. They had a reputation of being alive, but Jesus said they were dead. Perhaps it would be good for us all to examine our own lives in the light of God’s Word from time to time to make sure we are not in the same boat.  

And yet, even though there was no commendation, there was a concession. “You have still a few names in Sardis,” Jesus said, “people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” There seems to have been a small group of believers in Sardis who had not succumbed to complacency. Evidently, not all was lost. There was still a faint ember that could be fanned back into flame before it died completely. So, even though the threat of judgement was very real, there was a glimmer of hope, and the leaders of the church were admonished to strengthen the vestiges of remaining life.

Eternal life is not like a ticket to a show which can be bought or sold. The life which Jesus gives to us is something we both have and press on toward. Although salvation can never be earned, it is something that demands perseverance and endurance. It is a race that must be run to the finish if the runner is to obtain the imperishable crown. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27: “I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 

Those who are disqualified are those who never intended to run the race to the end…perhaps they never understood that faith requires a lifelong and lifechanging commitment. As John reminds us in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” 

Our salvation demands obedience and is to be worked out with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Perseverance presupposes perpetual preparedness. A watching and a guarding…like the five wise virgins who were prepared to wait for the coming of the bridegroom…or the watchman who anticipated the arrival of a thief. And therefore we must always ask God to give us grace to turn away from the works of darkness and to clothe ourselves with the armour of his light, so that when he comes to take us to himself, we are not found wanting. 

The works of the believers in Sardis were not found complete in the sight of God. They were lifeless as, it appears, they were Christless. Our works, as believers, find their genesis in our submission to his lordship. Ultimately, Christianity is a relationship with God that has been made possible by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, as well as his constant present intercession for his own. Life comes from the heavenly throne of Jesus because he is the one who has the Spirit of life. But the evidence of that life is a changed life…a life that is governed by the will of God as revealed in and through the Holy Scriptures.

And so, Jesus issued a sombre warning to the church in Sardis. “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” Interestingly, as I didn’t plan it this way, this is the theme for the first Sunday in Advent: a call for the Church to awaken, watch, and expect God’s salvation.

The instruction to remember what was received and heard is a directive to look back and to remember the grace by which they had been saved. This was not a trip down memory lane or an exercise in nostalgia. They were to remember so that they might keep what they had first received and heard and repent of having lost it. 

This is an exercise we ought to repeat frequently if we are to avoid being complacent in our faith. If we are not willing to suffer the momentary discomfort of the process of repentance, then we, like the church in Sardis, will suffer the definite discomfort of judgement…and, like an absent or sleeping guard, we may be unprepared for the day of his visitation. Jesus said that he would come like a thief…silently and unexpectantly…and therefore we must be vigilant in our faith because time can make sluggards of us all.

Now, it is encouraging to note that the few in Sardis who had not defiled their garments were known to Jesus by name. As God said in Isaiah 43:1: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Jesus said that his sheep hear his voice as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:3). He calls his sheep and he knows each one by name. He lays down his life for his sheep and has engraved each name on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16). He gives his sheep eternal life, each one by name. He keeps each sheep firmly in his hands. Jesus’ death was not some impersonal cosmic transaction…he died for each one by name.

And it was these sheep that had not defiled their garments…that had not been tainted by the society in which they lived…and Jesus promised that they would all walk with him dressed in white garments. Now, these white garments were ancient symbols of purity. Priests in the ancient world wore white garments (Exodus 28:4; Leviticus 16:4; Josephus, Antiquities 11.327, 331; 20.216-218). Roman political candidates used chalk to make the toga appear dazzling white to signify the purity of their motives (Persius, Satires 5.177; Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, XIX, 24.6). Heavenly messengers were clothed in white garments (Matthew 28:3; John 20:12; Acts 1:10). And in Revelation 7:14 we read that the martyrs had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In Revelation 19, John described Jesus, clothed in a robe dipped in blood, coming on a white horse followed by the armies of heaven who were arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, all seated on white horses. 

But once again, note that the emphasis here is on endurance…on persevering…on overcoming. “The one who conquers,” Jesus said, “will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Although we receive salvation through the finished work of Jesus, we are called to work out that salvation in daily obedience…to put off the old and put on the new…to press onward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We are to persevere to the end and to overcome the world with the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. 

Now, this book of life is not a New Testament concept. It is first mentioned in Exodus 32:31-33 where Moses interceded for the Israelites: “But now, if you will forgive their sin – but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.” (See also, Psalm 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 20:15; 21:27; 22:19) 

Now the first thing to note is that this book has been written by God. No human being is the shaper of their own destiny…so Moses could not ask to be included or excluded from this book. It is God’s decision as to whose name is recorded in his book…and as he is holy and just and altogether righteous, his decision is never arbitrary.

The second thing to notice are the words “I will never blot out”. The question we must ask at this point is simply this: Is it possible that the Lord who chose us and who wrote our names in the Lamb’s book of life from before the foundation of the world (cf. Revelation 13:8; 17:8), who engraved our names on the palms of his hands, who calls us and redeems us by name, who knows each sheep individually by name…is it possible that he would have mistakenly written a name in his book of life? A name that would later need to be erased.

Do these words suggest that those once included may be excluded? No, this is not possible because the Scriptures teach us that the nature of salvation in Jesus is eternal because our justification before God is not based on our performance or upon our decisions, but upon Jesus’ atoning and propitiatory sacrifice. Nor can this mean that all names were recorded in the book of life and only erased once they made an accountable decision against Jesus. Again, the Scriptures teach us that all have sinned, and all fall short of the glory of God. All are dead in trespasses and sins. So, for all to be included in the book of life when we are all in reality dead is a contradiction in terms. 

So what do these words means? “I will never blot out.” There have been many explanations but, in my humble opinion, none of them fully satisfy the biblical criteria. If you’re in, you are in and you cannot be erased. If you are out, you are out and you cannot be included. So how can we explain this apparent threat of erasure. Well, in the ancient world, a promise phrased negatively, in this case “I will not blot out”, was a figure of speech intensifying security. For example, when Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” the use of multiple negatives emphasized certainty, not the likelihood of abandonment. Or when he said, “…and no one will snatch them out of my hand,” the force of the promise is not that snatching might happen, but precisely the opposite: absolute impossibility. 

So when Jesus said that he would not blot out the name from the book of life of the one who overcomes, he was saying that the one who overcomes is the one whose name is already written in the book of life and therefore that name will never be erased. In other words, the phrase reassures the faithful, not threatens them.

The idea is that all who confess the name of Jesus before the world, and continue to do so to the end, are the ones whom Jesus confesses before the Father (Luke 12:8-9). Yet, at this juncture it would be wise to remember that we persevere because the Lord is able to keep us from stumbling and he is able to present us blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy (Jude 24). He is both the author and the finisher of our faith. Not one of the sheep given to him by the Father will ever be lost, because he will raise them up on the last day.

It is Jesus who gives us life through his death. It is Jesus who gives us the Holy Spirit who seals us in this life. It is Jesus who holds us in the palm of his hands and who is with us even till the end of the age.

The city of Sardis looked to the emperor as the life giver…they looked to gods for healing and for resurrection…and they looked to their location and their fortifications for security. But history revealed their vulnerabilities. 

In his sermon to the church in Sardis, Jesus told them to remember the Gospel they had once embraced…to remember that without faith in the finished work of Jesus, they were still dead in their sins. As he said in John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” So he called them to evaluation and to repentance. 

Now, the season of Advent is a time in which we are called to reevaluate our lives in the light of the gift of life given to us through the incarnation of Jesus. Do we need to wake up from our spiritual slumber and to remember what we have received and heard? Do we need to strengthen a feeble faith or do we need to rekindle the smouldering wick of our life’s candle? May I challenge you all to use these four weeks before Christmas to ask the Holy Spirit to search your hearts to see if there any unguarded parts of your lives that speak of complacency rather than of faith? 

Shall we pray? 

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2025