Book of Revelation: Chapter 3:1-6 "Sardis"

BONUS EPISODE - The letter to the church in Sardis; the church who got too big for their britches. In this episode, we once again take a long look at Church history, but we also look deeply at this church's report card: what were they lacking?

Listen as we are faced with the battle between Christian labels verses Christ alone, between being visited by a thief in the night and welcoming the long-awaited Savior. This is Heath's favorite letter of the seven. Listen to discover why!

Transcript

[Music] w good morning good afternoon or good evening wherever or whenever you're listening to us right now and welcome to this bonus episode of the Churchosity podcast my name is Heath Brady and I'm Andrea Brady and we are your Churchosity podcast Personnel these are the types of episodes that we like to call the postcript because these are the things that we think and talk about when the record button is off so we thank you for listening and welcome to the Inner

Circle well Andy yes are we ready for another episode oh man I hope everyone's rested up from that last one hope everyone's got their cup of coffee all ready to go but in all seriousness though Andy have you just been enjoying this as much as I have yes I have I I love it well like I've said before I haven't really studied the Book of Revelation I've read through it but I haven't taken the time to study it in depth sure and it's been something I've wanted to do with you for a very long time and I'm excited M good yeah I'm glad you're excited I haven't ruined your excitement thus far no definitely not that is good we are getting some good feedback about these episodes so I think you know all of us being in this together is paying off awesome treating this not only as a trip through this incredible book but sort of an inductive Bible study with lots of application would you agree yeah well this episode is definitely not going to be short of what it's been up to this point because we're going to get into some church history okay we're going to get into some Greek H and we are going to have just an absolute blast and an eye openening time going through my favorite of these seven letters oh yeah this is my favorite uh for a lot of reasons I won't Point them out but you'll hear the joy and excitement in my voice as we go through this because I love this letter so much the letter to Sardis the letter to Sardis which is found in Revelation 3: 1 through six M so maybe we should just get rolling okay no more dinking around no more dinking around let's get let do this meat and potatoes all right well I want to remind everyone that we are journeying through this very unique book that of the 66 books in what we call the scriptures is the only book that boasts a promise to the reader and the hearer and especially to those who heed the words of the book no other book in the Bible does that Andy this is also the Revelation singular not Revelations right there's only one Revelation the Revelation the unveiling the apocalypses of Jesus Christ which God gave to him God gave to Jesus to give to his bonder servant John besides being the only book with a with that special promise to the reader hearer and heater of the 404 verses contained in the Book of Revelation they contain over 800 Illusions to the Old Testament okay H so while the first verse of the entire book is the most important the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him verse two is extremely important to to remember that when the Lord commissioned John to write this book it was rendered into signs need to keep that in mind that this is a book that is full of signs and wonders okay not everything in this book should be taken as plain literal there's a lot of figurative literal contained within the scriptures in the Book of Revelation and the genre is mostly apocalyptic in nature so just keep that in mind and also keep in mind I always want to remind everyone of this that even though at the time that John wrote this book roughly 93 ad the common written and spoken language of his time was Greek John is writing in the Greek language but in the style of someone who knew their Old Testament got it so I want to remind everyone I hope that it's helpful to as we study and go through this book to look at it Through The Eyes of someone in the Old Testament mhm and I think that would be of great help to us as we go I want to keep asking this question for us to chew on why these seven churches at the time John wrote this book there was well over a 100 living and active churches why did God want John to write letters to these seven specific churches and not only that but each of these seven churches when they get their report card which is contained in chapters 2 and three each one of them is I believe surprised by what the Lord has to say about their condition that's true that's what I'm thinking yeah so that should give each one of us pause as we kind of take a step back from the scriptures and look peripherally at our own churches and our own lives and walks with Jesus because each of these seven letters contains aspects of all churches there's a little bit of all seven in each one of our churches and I would go so far as to say even in our very own lives why don't we go ahead and read the letter to the Church of Sardis Revelation 3 starting in verse 1 to the angel of the Church of Sardis write he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars says this I know your Deeds that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die for I have not found your Deeds completed in the sight of my God so remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent therefore if you do not wake up I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from The Book of Life and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels He Who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the

churches the letter to the Church of Sardis did you happen to catch a theme in there yet Andy a theme there's one particular clothing well yeah but there's one particular word that keeps being repeated in almost every one of these verses it's the word name oh so just keep that in mind as we go through M oh yeah I see that you have a name we'll confess his name uhhuh uhhuh okay so let's talk a little bit about Sardis shall we mhm this is the church who became too sure of

themselves well let's give you some history the city of Sardis is possibly one of the most ancient cities that we know of M possibly even before 2000 BC because there's many ancient Greek writers that mention Sardis as a city of renown they're known for King Midas oh interesting remember King Midas the Midas touch yeah the Greeks credited him with this Golden Touch mhm uh during the same period the Greeks founded the city of madus Ephesus and several other cities in Ionia which is an area along the aan coast around 700 BC the frian kingdom was overrun and destroyed by samans and nomadic people that settled along the northern coast of the Black Sea the samarians were driven from their homes in the 8th Century by The cians Who overran Asia Minor and plundered Sardis and destroyed magnesia in the 7th Century BC the lydians also appear near the aan coast where they founded a kingdom and its capital was Sardis Sardis is of special interest to anyone who studies Herodotus who is the father of all history artres who was darius's brother lived there and and from here Xerxes invaded Greece Cyrus the Persian marched against the brother of Xerxes who was Artis Xerxes so moreover Sardis was one of the oldest and most important cities of Asia Minor and until 549 BC was the capital of the lydian Kingdom the city of Sardis is probably most prominent because of its location it is strategically located at the Hub between pergamum Smyrna Ephesus Philadelphia and Fria H so that made it very favorable for Commerce because everyone had to travel through Sardis to get to somewhere else so Sardis became a very wealthy City in fact gold was found in the sand of the river Pais and the very first coins ever pressed in the world came from Sardis they were either gold or silver and they were known as lydian Staters huh at its pinnical existence the king of Sardis his name was cus and they became proverbially identified with riches that makes sense if Midas is affiliated with him yeah yeah plus with the gold in the sand and all that stuff yeah and the coins yeah their Patron deity was the goddess cibil and we've mentioned cibil before that was one of the goddesses of worship in Ephesus cibil was also the Greek rendering of cibil was Diana and Diana is the one that had this son named Midas that's part of that Greek mythology of the city of Sardis so if you study Greek mythology you'll learn an awful lot about sibili or Diana and Midas let's talk about the city of Sardis a little bit in a little bit greater detail the city appeared to be impregnable it was located on the top of a roughly 1,000 foot Peninsula gee and only the southern connection needed to be defended because the other three sides were around 1,000 foot Cliffs oh my so they were supposedly impregnable but not really H first of all the city was positioned on the Northern slope of mount tamus on a hill about 950 ft above the broad Valley of hermus at its base was the river pilus which I mentioned and it served as a moat because it traveled around the base of the city H however these Cliffs that were on the three other sides they were made out of Cl play and over time because there was a lot of moisture in the area there was serious erosion and mud that left occasional cracks which could be exploited by their enemies oh so guess what happened it was exploited by their enemies oh good

guess in 546 BC King croisus who had suffered a defeat against Cyrus he fled through the lydian kingdom to the homestead in Sardis thinking you know this is an impregnable Fortress he's safe here well in 546 BC he was actually defeated in Sardis by Cyrus the Great because they left the three Cliff sides of the city unguarded Cyrus Cyrus launched a 14-day Siege against the city of Sardis and could not figure a way to conquer the city so he offered his army a reward for anyone who could figure out a way to scale these nearly impossible Cliffs well guess what what Happened One Night a Persian Soldier whose name was hyades noticed a sardian guard drop his helmet over the side of one of the cliffs and he watched this man shimmy his way down to the bottom retrieve his helmet and then scale back up the cliff to the top so guess what now he saw a possible way to do it oh my so the next night this Persian Soldier got an attack party together and in the middle of the night they retraced that sardian soldier's steps and they were able to conquer that they took the city in the middle of the night oh my by surprise so picture this oh dear all the sardians go to bed mhm and they wake up the next morning and they're completely under new rule and Authority they were completely taken by surprise in the middle of the night by Cyrus and his Persians but you would think that that would be the end of it all well Sardis amongst other things that they became proverbially known for they were not too good about learning their lesson in the city of Sardis because guess what what it happened again oh wow in 214 BC lagaros did the same thing the city was taken by Antiochus for the seusd Empire and this became part of their proverbial history in fact one of the proverbial sayings that we use today you've heard it it's also quoted in scripture what thief in the night oh so all of that conquering took place before this letter was written long before Oh all of this is this is preist I see the the 549 BC that's roughly 600 years before Jesus is even born okay 214 BC it's 200 years before Jesus is even born so just as a side note like in Matthew 24 and in Luke 21 when Jesus tells everyone pay attention otherwise my coming will be like a thief in the night M or like when Paul writes to the Thessalonians the Lord's appearing will not be a surprise to you like those who are asleep like a thief in the night it's kind of referring to what happened at Sardis it's exactly what it's referring to and the listeners from Jesus and from Paul the readers from Jesus and from Paul would be like hey wait a minute that's they're talking about Sardis mhm because at the end of the day folks Sardis over and over and over again was not watchful and they were not diligent and that's what history unveiled in that City this whole idea of being taken like a thief in the n mm in 549 BC the Persians did it in 501 BC the city was burned by the ionians in 334 BC they surrendered to Alexander the Great in 322 BC the city was taken Again by antigonous and in 214 BC it fell to the solutions so the Sardis became synonymous you know this very name Sardis it became synonymous with unjustified presumption promise without performance appearance without reality a false confidence that led to ruin and they betrayed themselves by not being watchful and diligent wow so by the New Testament period Sardis is dignity and Splendor are virtually gone mhm in 17 ad there was a severe earthquake that caused major damage and in 1402 it was utterly destroyed by a turket conqueror in fact archaeological digs didn't even begin in this area until 1910 but the city of Sardis itself was not uncovered until 1958 oh really and today it's just a fragmented Town huh so here was this city that was like imp imp impenetrable wealthy strategically located for Commerce and comers and goers and they were known for this midest touch and all of that stuff and now there are nobody mhm and isn't that kind of interesting as I asked Andy that that theme that keeps popping out in this letter right this name this whole idea of a name mhm what's interesting is that this whole idea of thinking that you're something but you're not of thinking that you have a name but nobody really knows who you are that is the theme of this very letter so it's just interesting to me that the theme of the letter the report card that Jesus is sending to the church in Sardis is very synonymous with the actual history of Sardis mhm now I don't want to jump too far ahead but in verse 4 of chapter 3 in this letter Jesus speaks of how there are a few who have not soiled their garments right which implies that there's a remnant of true authentic followers of Jesus that are in this city for that reason a lot of Scholars and commentators attribute that to trying to decipher what the name Sardis actually means interesting so they will just go ahead ahead and infer that Sardis means Remnant or escaped ones H the fact of the matter is is that's not true oh what's more reliable is that Sardis is a stone and and and it's it's a very interesting Stone specifically uh in the Old Testament times when the priests had their chest vestments with all of the uh special stones on them right the sardian Stone was a specific stone that was very very important and it meant something it was part of that Priestly vestment huh but by the time you get to the New Testament period the sardian stone is just a common Stone in fact it's so common it's just like every other rock that you find on the side of the road oh so it went from being a precious stone to being a common Stone exactly to being nothing of importance wow huh so even the very you know how I always say even the very name of this the church speaks to the overall theme of each of these letters so you have this overall theme of having a name but you're dead having a name but there's nothing important about you it's really incredible also incidentally the Greek word here for name is anomo or anoma which means label or being covered by a name so it's not literally the name of something it's having a label oh I see something is labeling you right from this Greek word anoma we get the word

denomination interesting I was just kind of thinking that I'll let you play with that on your own so now that I've stirred up all kinds of trouble and controversy why don't we get into these script scriptures and take a peek at this letter in a little greater detail shall we okay in verse one Jesus asserts his omniscience he says to the angel of the church at Sardis again Angel Angelas most likely the pastor of the church at Sardis right he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars well this is another one of those titles that Jesus is giving himself that is borrowed from chapter 1 we've seen this term seven spirits of God before remember what we said about that Andy was that the Sevenfold Spirit correct okay and you can reference Isaiah 11:2 okay as a refresher on that mhm and then he says the Seven Stars now who are the Seven Stars the Angels or the pastors of the churches yes the messengers of the churches M so remember Jesus is in the midst of the lamp stands in chapter CH one which are the churches and then he holds the Seven Stars in his right hand which are the messengers or the angels of the churches okay it's interesting here right out of the gate that Jesus mentions the identity role and Ministry of both the Holy Spirit and the pastors because this is the full display of the holy spirit in its complete work and the pastors that are addressed here H and why I find it interesting just as a side note that Jesus chooses this title for himself and mentions the role and Ministry of the Holy Spirit and the pastors right out of the gate is because even today in all of the church worldwide the role of the Holy Spirit and the role of a pastor still cause prominent division H that's true yeah just a little food for [Laughter] thought he says I know your Deeds there's that Infamous I know statement I know what you did I saw what you did that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead you have a name but you are dead you think you are all that but really you're nothing in my eyes that's what he's saying H as I mentioned each of these report cards comes as a surprise to each of these churches this is a church that thought they were all that in a bag of chips and Jesus says uh-uh you are dead kind of blows my mind yeah that's scary yeah I wouldn't want to get a letter like that definitely not M but that first verse right out of the gate that last statement in fact should really cause us massive reflection what does our church look like what is my walk with Jesus look like do I think I'm all do I think I'm a good Christian do I think I'm a super Christian or am I a Christian in name only but really my walk with Jesus is dead you were going to say am I all that in a bag of chips W I knew it take heed take heed yes right well he gives the beginning of what could be their remedy in verse two he says wake up which implies that they're asleep by the way mhm again a hint towards that whole thief in the night thing right wake up and strengthen the things that remain which means that there's very little that they have left wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die like there almost at their end yeah what little you have left wake up snap out of it and strengthen what little you have left for I have not found your Deeds completed in the sight of my god wow now if you haven't caught this yet folks mhm this is one of two letters where Jesus has nothing good to say about the church this is the first of two this is a very Stern correction that the Lord is giving here and we really should listen to this letter this is this is there's just so many reasons why I love this letter this is such a Stern wakeup call that the Lord is giving us he says you better finish what you started finish what you started like they had this awesome beginning and it's fizzled out somehow and he says wake up snap out of it look at what's in front of you that little bit of truth that you have in your midst latch on to that and strengthen it like in other words go back to your Basics go back to your Basics it says a lot but but I'll speak more to that later but this infers that there's a lot of people in this church in Sardis who call themselves Christians but they're really not H because he talks about their deeds he says that your Deeds are not complete in the sight of my God and it makes me think of Matthew chapter 7 and I'll explain why it makes me think of these verses in just a few moments but in Matthew 7 Jesus says in verse 21 start in verse 21 not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter see he said that your Deeds are not complete in the sight of my God so you're not doing the Lord's will you're not doing the you're not doing the will of my father who is in heaven verse 22 many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles Lord didn't we do all these amazing things for your sake didn't we do all of these amazing things with your label attached to it and then in verse 23 Jesus says and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice

lawlessness that those three verses are so deep yeah but they may they these are the verses I was reminded of as I was prepping for this

episode because Jesus is dealing with a very specific problem in the Church of Sardis that they think that they're doing all of these things that impress God and yet they fall they would fall into that category of the people saying on that day yeah didn't we do all this stuff with your label attached to it and he says you you were workers of lawlessness literally in the Greek you were you were workers of iniquity that's what Sardis is actually up to bottom line there's going to be a lot of people Jesus did not have relationships with who think that they're going to get into heaven somehow I don't mean to be crash and flipping about it I didn't say it it's in the Bible it's true and that's why he says wake up snap out of it in our vernacular you better recognize finish what you started you're failing in your efforts to promote the

gospel and then he says something really interesting remember in verse three he says remember what you received and heard well what did they receive Andy the gospel the gospel and keep it and

repent therefore well here's another example where you really need to know what the therefore is there for wake up strengthen the things that remain which were about to die because I have not found your Deeds completed in the sight of my God so remember what you received and heard and keep it and repent because therefore if you do not wake up I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you hm so you would think that that sentence would resonate with them because of their history exactly exactly now you're catching on because this whole thief in the night concept is some 600 years before Jesus even commissions John to write them this report card that should wake them up in and of itself right but he's also telling them to Be watchful kind of like the cliffs on the three sides they weren't protecting elves all the way around right couple of side verses in Romans 13 verse 11 do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep for now salvation is nearer to us than when we

believed that just kind of speaks in and of itself I think yeah and then also in 1 Corinthians 16:13 be on the alert stand firm in the faith act like men be strong two powerful verses in two different letters to two different churches from the Apostle Paul about being alert about being watchful and the reason why because salvation is closer than we think

wow so what is it that we need to Be watchful for Andy well we need to Be watchful for the schemes of the devil according to 1 Peter 5:8 right we need to Be watchful for

Temptation we need to Be watchful for his coming first Thessalonians 5:6 ladies and gentlemen I believe in the doctrine of eminence that the Lord could come at any time that would be cool and Jesus through this letter through this report card that the Apostle John is writing to them is saying if you're not paying attention if you're not being W watchful if you don't strengthen the things that are left and repent then when I come it will be like a thief in the night H by the way yeah that verse puts this letter in group b Group B yeah so this is the second of Group B mhm which I'll address later you see the Church of Sardis is not being attacked from the outside by persecution like the church in Smyrna they're not victims of idolatry and false doctrines like the churches of pergamum or thyra they're not even guilty of Lo their first love like the Church of Ephesus they are just simply a dead church because they are not being diligent or watchful it's like they don't even care that the Lord could return in any time and find them

wanting or and for all we know because of I mean they obviously have some deeds and that their deeds aren't pleasing to God obviously whatever they're doing in verse two yeah either their deeds are unpleasing or the length of which the length at which they were performing those deeds does not satisfy the Lord right like it could be one or the other or both possibly MH but he says in verse three remember who you are and what you should be doing you we have the gospel Christ has saved us and far too many Christians turn their Christianity into something other than Christ and the gospel you know our old youth pastor Craig Finley he used to have a saying for this all fluff and no

stuff right and like the Church of Sardis we need to get back to the basics we need to get back to the main thing I say all the time that my chief desire and passion is for people to fall in love with Jesus and fall in love with his word and so often especially in the 21st century we take so much for granted these two things right that's true and there are literally Bibles everywhere collecting dust and there's this kind of atmosphere of lethargy mhm apathy apathy which is what Sardis was guilty of historically mhm if you're paying attention then his return will not surprise you he seems like a thief because because you're not paying attention and because you're living in darkness and many are caught up in performance they're caught up in attention and cultural acceptance rather than being watchful and it makes them spiritually dead and I know that for a lot of us this is really harsh and it's hard to accept because we want to believe that we're good people yeah we want to believe I'm a good person you know I'm not nice to people I'm good I'm you know I pay my taxes I go to church on Sunday I do what I'm supposed to do yeah I do the things I'm supposed to do but as I say there's an aspect of each of these seven churches in our churches and our lives today so when we look at the application when we start to look at the application of this letter to the Church of Sardis it begs us to pause and reflect and ask ourselves am I lethargic in my walk do I think I'm all that in a bag of chips because I call myself a Christian or is Jesus the one who I boast about is the gospel what I live and speak right the True Believer in Jesus Christ will always be looking for his to appear they will never be caught by surprise by him there will be no distractions there'll be no false Doctrine there will be no immorality there will be no idolatry now I know this verse here has a verse three it it it's got this this phrase here I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you and it resonates it's very Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 2ish I get that but for the sake of our conversation here along those lines scripture does say that no one knows the day nor the hour of Christ's return but the believer never stops expecting him nor looking for his appearing mhm and they live and act accordingly and that's the heart of the issue that this report card is getting at for the church in s you're not being watchful you're not being diligent and the way you live and the way you act matches that's what he's saying H it's deep verse four but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments there's a few The Remnant The Remnant there's a remnant of people in here in this in this church who have not soiled their garments now you know that probably brings all sorts of IM imagery to mind when you read that soiled their garments it's synonymous of one's condition before God it's soiled by your own Deeds you know think of where uh scripture says that even our own righteousness is as filthy rags before God yeah so there's there's this Remnant there's this few in the Church of Sardis whose life lifestyle and deeds don't soil their condition before God right and I love I always love this idea of a Remnant even though there's nothing good said about this church in Sardis here's one positive thing about the remnant their garments aren't soiled that's awesome you know I was looking really quickly at the concordance okay for the word that is used for soil and it means polluting staining contaminating or defiling defiling of sin like those who have soiled themselves by fornication and adultery MH so if we're committing spiritual adultery that's idolatry isn't it exactly yep and and as we said in our last episode that whole concept of committing fornication that's an Old Testament idiom that is referred to when talking about the sin of idolatry so you're absolutely right that's that's what Jesus is talking about there but this whole idea of the remnant like it bakes my cookies that God always seems to deal with a Remnant like think of Noah yeah think of Joshua in the Battle of Jericho think of the blow this will blow your mind the Babylonian captivity yeah the entire nation of Israel was hauled off to Babylon and held in captivity for 70 years and when Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and sent the nation of Israel back to Jerusalem yeah there were less than 50,000 people that went back home oh man now 50,000 sounds like a lot of people not when you're talking about the entire nation of Israel which numbered in the millions at the time of the beginning of the Captivity are you inferring that a lot lot of them decided not to go back a lot of them decided to stay in Babylon oh because it was easier huh as they thought wow chew on that one for a while so he says there's a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they this is that few will walk with me in white for they are worthy now don't hear that like I used to hear when I was a kid can't should be like your brother Jamie that's not what Jesus is saying here he's saying even though your church is dead even though your life is dead even though everything about you is like in the dark there's a few who are worthy whose Deeds are worthy because they have held to the gospel he isn't telling them to repent no he's saying that they have soiled their garments their deeds don't defile them and that Remnant that few they are the ones who will get to walk with him in white for they are worthy now contrast that with the soiled garments to the white garments and what's interesting Flash Forward further into the Book of Revelation when we talk about the wedding Feast mhm the guests who show up to the wedding Feast receive white garments that are provided by the hosts oh yes yes I'll leave that there till we get there verse 5 the message to the Overcomer again it's in the body of the letter another reason why this letter joins Group B mhm he says he who overcomes 1 John 5:4 and 5 will thus be clothed in white garments so now he's speaking to the rest of the church who has soiled their garments he who overcomes he who puts their faith in Jesus Christ he who names Jesus as their lord and savior will thus be clothed in white just like the few and I will not erase his name there's that word again from the book of life and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels so to a church whose label means a heck of a lot to them he tell tells them that they're dead that name means nothing but he says that those who repent those who keep what they have received and heard and repent are the ones who are Overcomers and those who overcome will also be clothed in white like the remnant and their name will not be erased from The Book of Life and their name will be confessed before the father and for the angels in other words everyone in Heaven is going to know who these people who overcame from Sardis were and are not because of their deeds but because they have repented and exchanged their soiled garments for the white garments that Jesus gives them is't that incredible mhm I mean even in the midst of this horribly negative report card he still shows opportunity and Grace and time to remedy this problem it's fascinating to me yeah because he could come and blot them out that's true nope just like thyra he's giving them time to repent he's giving them time to fix this problem and he's telling them what the remedy is to repent to remember what they received and heard go back to the basics and hold fast to that and repent so that they can be Overcomers and walk with him in white just like the remnant it's intense yeah so intense that book of life that is this book that is the list of the ones whom Christ's death has covered this verse now then begs the question is our name written in the Book of Life how do we know cuz this may be the most important in fact I would say it is the most important question of our existence cuz there are many who claim to be Christians there are even many more who hate Christianity but only a very small amount of humanity will truly accept the gospel and I would argue that there are some people who would accept the gospel but won't slap the label of Christian on their lives H it's possible too there's only a Remnant mhm and this is the reason why a lot of Bible scholars think that the word Sardis actually means Remnant oh H interesting why wouldn't really slap that label on the Church of Sardis no cuz they aren't the remnant they're majority of them aren't right the majority of the church is not right but there is a Remnant there are a few uhhuh and notice something interesting H I don't know if you caught this what but this blew my mind when I when I noticed this what name name name name name name name all through this whole letter right okay look what it says in verse four about the few who are in

Sardis does he name them no they don't need an identity they don't need a label H so he doesn't address them like that interesting they're the few the few who have not only received and heard but also keep the words of this prophecy is that amazing yeah I just I love this letter so much I just there's so much in this letter and then the last verse verse 6 he that's for us isn't it that's for all of us you got an ear lob listen up the holy spirit's talking he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches that is a letter to the Church of Sardis ladies and gentlemen it is my favorite letter and we could sit here for another 2 hours and I can tell you even more reasons why I love this letter just by looking at the Greek verse by verse line by line but I won't do that to you but as I say on every one of these episodes about these seven letters I believe that these letters it's it's conjecture you can't build Doctrine on it that's always my disclaimer but I believe that these letters are written on at least four levels of understanding the first one being the literal level that these were seven literal churches that existed at the time that John wrote these letters we know this to be true we've established that then there is the level where it says he who has in ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches it's to all of the churches all seven of these churches got a copy of this letter mhm so all seven churches knew how the other churches were doing mhm and then there's the level he who has an ear that's for everybody so I believe that these letters to these seven churches as well as the entire Book of Revelation were literally written to everyone in all churches of all time but then there's the fourth level right which I can't label anything other than prophetic and what I mean by that is that when you discover the themes of each of these seven letters at the risk of sensationalizing it they lay out all of the major themes of church history from the birth of the church at Pentecost all the way up through Modern Times And it's interesting because if they were written in any other order this wouldn't work huh or to any other churches or to any other churches so remember I say why these seven churches okay yeah you follow me yeah so in our last episode it was was the letter of the Church of thyra and in in church history that took us all the way up to what is known as the beginning of the Reformation so I have a question Andy yeah is it possible that there is a period of time mhm in church history where the church thought that it was this big glorious thing but really it was dead and yet there were a few who hadn't soiled their

garments is it possible yeah is it possible yes it's possible shall I blow your mind okay go ahead all right now ladies and gentlemen again if you want to pause go grab yourself another cup of coffee I don't think this will take as long as the last episode but who knows I'm SOC excited about this letter and I'm continuing to ramble so we could be here all day so if you want to go get go stretch your toes or stretch your back or whatever do whatever you can to come back but we're going to take a dive through church history and it's going to blow your mind you ready for this I'm ready all right well as early as the 13th century what's known as The Winds of the Reformation had already started blowing the papacy had become become vulnerable to attack because of greed immorality and ignorance or the lack of training of many of its officials in all ranks of the hierarchy in other words the church was ready for reform one of the greatest tragedies is that there were Popes who did not reform oh wow now not to jump ahead but during the time when Luther was being pursued there were many who were already upset with their own Pope because he should have been reforming rather than vigorously pursuing Martin Luther but as I said as early as the 13th century The Winds of Reform start blowing the vast tax-free Church possessions which made up roughly a third of Europe it stirred up envy and resentment of the land poor peasantry in the 14th century English reformer John W Cliffe boldly attacks the papacy for the sale of indulgences which would trigger Luther's Reformation H he also attacked excessive veneration of Saints and the moral or lack thereof and intellectual standards of of the ordained priests whitecliffe translated the Bible from Latin to English nice yeah incidentally later on Luther would translate the scriptures from Latin to German yep Whitecliff did this so that the Bible could reach the common people and W Cliff's teachings spread to Bohemia all the way up uh into the 15th century where he found uh Yan hus or John hus a powerful Advocate hus was executed in 1415 which directly led to what's known as the hussite wars oh which was a violent Bohemian Uprising that was suppressed by a combined force of the Holy Roman Empire and the pope and all of this ignited the German religious silver war during Luther's time now on our previous episode we mentioned the French papacy when the French took over the papacy right when the popes there were two sets of popes one in Aon and another one in Rome and this is when the fighting between Rome and Byzantium really started to kick in from 1414 to 1418 you have what's known as the Council of constants and these were ambitious debates over restructure of the entire hierarchy but even though these debates lasted for for so long all they did was bicker and fight and bicker and fight and no program reached a majority oh dear fast forward nearly a 100 years later in 1516 there was a concordat between the king and the pope which placed the French Church substantially under the Royal Authority H and then begins huge tensions within the papacy which is all setting the stage for the Reformation then something really incredible happens because up until this point every single translation of scripture or religious propaganda or teachings or whatever had to all be handwritten mhm well then this thing called the printing press gets invented by Gutenberg it's the first invention of printing with a movable type oh cool the Gutenberg Bible was literally the very first book that was ever printed and it was printed by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in 1455 H and all of this contributed to what Luther was doing later on because you have people that are now getting the scriptures into their actual hands in their actual vernacular and also they were getting Reformation propaganda put in their hands at mass quantities

and so this caused an increasing efficiency and more literate of a population because now they were reading and they were writing and the efficiency of the printing press made it even easier to read and write and learn so not only were they becoming wiser in their own regular intellect and dialect they were also becoming increasingly wise in Doctrine and theology h so this printing pressed it enhanced the spread of ideas and it fueled the 16th century Protestant Reformation in Germany this is when scholarly works and studies became the basis for which Luther Calvin and other reformers solidified their claim that the Bible had sole Authority not the church and in all actuality folks that really is the division even to this very day does the Bible have the final say so let's talk briefly about Martin Luther and I encourage all of you to do a thorough study on Martin Luther not don't just take what I give you here CU there's a heck of a lot more about his life that is so fascinating trust me Martin Luther was born in 1483 to he was the son of a coal miner and he decided very young that he wanted to become a lawyer H and while he was studying for his law degree in 1504 there was this violent lightning storm that like rocked his world and so because of this he decides to change his course of study and now begins to pursue a doctorate in theology oh wow and then he becomes an augustinian monk so he took this extremely seriously mhm well very early on in Martin Luther's life he really really wrestled LED with the sin in his own life like he he was burdened immensely by the fact that he had sin in his life he ha like he hated the sin in his life so he decided that he was going to make this Trek or pilgrimage to Rome and while he was traveling through the Alps on his way to Rome he became sick and uh I think he I think uh one of the things I read said that he was slightly injured as well so while he was being nursed back to health in a monastery his the monk who was caring for him served as as Martin Luther's Confessor and his Confessor would say to Martin Luther all the time you know come back to me when you actually have something to confess because all all Luther kept complaining about was how much he hated the sin in his life and yet this Confessor was saying you don't have anything to confess and so he said let me give you something to chew on that that might help you mhm read and study habac 2:4 well Martin Luther goes to Rome and on his way back from Rome he really dives into Hab 24 which now becomes his quote unquote life verse as we would call it and you know what habach 24 says Andrea no what the just shall live by

faith well Martin Luther becomes an ordained priest in 1507 and he begins rejecting several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church specifically the sales of indulgences right and we know what indulgences are right mhm and with this tension that was caused because of Luther's vigorous attempts to combat the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church there were many attempts to resolve these differences amicably but in 1517 Martin Luther authored what's known as the 95 thesis and he nailed it to the door at Wittenberg College on October 31st of 1517 that is why October 31st is known as Reformation day oh and these 95 thesis were a major call to reform well that's where his lawyer training came in hand handy yeah there you go on December 10th of 1520 Pope Leo VI 10th has Martin Luther excommunicated and demands quote retract within 60 days or death so Luther receives this decree and he burns it in public wow and now the Reformation is born and then in January of 1521 there is this thing known as the diet of worms now we hear that and obviously words mean something different to everybody but um diet is a fancy word for a Consortium and worms is the place where this took place okay so at the diet of worms in 1521 Charles I the emperor of the so-called Holy Roman Empire which was all of Germany Spain Netherlands and Austria he summons Martin Luther to appear and so Luther appears with a and there and he's surrounded by a bunch of German princes mhm but he says here I stand I can do not else so help me God and it stirs the German princes who rally around him and give him protection and all of that leads to what's known as the augs bird confessions huh now Luther died of a heart attack in 1546 and when he died his excommunication was still in effect so this kind of spearheading of the Reformation efforts leads to a very bloody time in in the history of the church it's known as the centuries of wars from 1566 to 1609 there's a war on Protestants in Germany and the Netherlands from 1572 to 1598 there the hugenot wars in France in 1588 Philip attempts to attack the Protestants in England from 1618 to 1648 it's known as the 30 Years War all started by Roman Catholic Kings urged on by the pope and Jesuits for the purpose of crushing protestantism H now the Jesuits they were kind of the forebears of this whole effort by the Roman Catholic Church to obliterate and remove protestantism from the planet their supreme goal was the destruction of what was known as heresy now heresy to the Roman Catholic Church was any type of thinking that was different than what the pope said you were supposed to be thinking and the Jesuits all of their behavior was justified to accomplish this deception immorality even murder in France the Jesuits were responsible for the St Bartholomew's Massacre which was on August 24th of 1572 where over 70,000 Protestants were murdered and this massacre was ordered by Catherine dimichi who was the King's mother and afterwards there was great rejoicing in Rome the Jesuits were responsible for the persecution of the hugenots the revoking of the Toleration edict and facilitating the French

Revolution in all of Spain Netherlands South Germany Bohemia Austria Poland and elsewhere they LED massacres of Untold multitudes which saved the papacy from ruin now notice all of these people who are being massacred they are the remnant they are the ones who have not soiled their garments by the church that thinks it has this great label remember I asked the question oh I see yes is there a period of time in church history mhm where the church as a whole thought it had this incredible name label identity and yet they were dead right but there was a few a Remnant who had not soiled their garments mhm mhm interesting so throughout all of church history there are various Protestant groups that have emerged as far back as 1054 you have Eastern Orthodoxy in 1175 you have the W the waldensians in 1379 you have the laws 1415 is the hits 1517 Lutheranism 1521 the anabaptists 1523 zwingli ISM 1534 anglicanism 1536 menites 1536 also Calvinism the 154s you have the German Reformed Church the 1550s you have the Hungarian Reformed Church the 1560s you have the French Calvinists also known as the hugenots there so much going on I know you have the Scottish Presbyterians which are led by John Knox you have the congregationalists which are led by the Puritans in the 1570s you have the Dutch Reformed Church in6 you have the English Baptists which are led by John Smith in 1647 you have the Quakers led by George Fox in 1690 you have the Amish which are led by Jacob Ammon in 1739 you have methodism which is led by John Wesley in 1785 you have the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1800 you have the United brethren in Christ in 1819 you have Unitarianism which is led by William Channing in 1831 you have the Disciples of Christ led by Thomas Campbell in 1863 the 7th Day Adventist led by William Miller in 1865 the Salvation Army interesting my roots led by William Booth in 1879 you have Christian Science led by Mary Baker Eddie and in 1914 you have the Assemblies of God now I rattle off that list not to praise all of them but to bring to light this aspect that there is a chunk of history for roughly 400 years or more where there is a remnant of quote unquote Protestants who believe that the Bible is the authority not the church while the rest of the quote unquote church is trying to Snuff them out and that takes us all the way up to the early 1900s when something other really cool happened in church history but we'll talk about that on the next episode so does that answer the question was there a period of time in church history where the church as a whole thought that they had this great glorious label and yet they were dead but there was a Remnant a few who had not soiled their garments I dare say church history says yes what do you think Andy I think so too now what sort of application can we take away not only from this chunk of church history that I just unpacked but also from the letter to the Church of Sardis itself well in the 21st century I would argue that we have serious trouble with what I would call hermeneutical divisions how we approach the scriptures mhm you know Jesus in the letter to the Church of Sardis says to remember what you were given the gospel and strengthen what remains when I say troubles with hermeneutical divisions what I'm really saying is that in our churches today there is division over how much Authority the scriptures actually have but even more so why were even a church in the first place H meaning is it about the gospel and the preaching of it or some other things are we remembering what we were given and holding fast to that and strengthening that on a regular basis or is Jesus telling us through this letter to the Church of Sardis that we're really dead even though we think we're

alive in the 21st century in the churches we're still splitting hairs over secondary and tertiary issues and there tends to be this sort of absence of a devotional life and what I mean by that is that we get our knowledge about God from the scriptures but we get our wisdom from our time with God so I would ask how much time are we spending with God there tends to be a less emphasis on the gospel and more of an emphasis on programs and numbers and you fill in the blank there's a new definition or should I say redefinition of morality and Jesus through this letter tells us as a church as as his bride To Be watchful well as I asked before what are we to Be watchful of the Ws of the devil 1 Peter 58 our Temptation Matthew 26:41 Be watchful for his coming Matthew 24 Mark 13 1 Thessalonians 5 and Be watchful for false teachers Acts 20 Be watchful and strengthen what remains I believe that we all need to remember what we received the gospel and we need to hold fast and repent why so that we won't be caught by surprise so lastly are we watching for his coming are we ready because where sardus fell short if we're ready we'll have watchfulness and diligence and we will get to walk with Christ in white and that's all we have to say about that thank you for listening to the Churchosity podcast the post scripts on our next episode we'll be taking a look at the letter to the Church of Philadelphia no not where Rocky baloa is from but the Church of Philadelphia and we're going to have a wonderful time and probably get into some trouble but until next time this is the Churchosity podcast Personnel saying [Music] peace