Revelation 3:1-6

SARDIS: The church that needed tough love

Welcome to ancient Sardis, the fifth stop on our tour of the seven churches of Revelation. I will spare you (haha -- notice the picture above) the history right now, but fill you in tomorrow.

This church has been called a number of different things. It is most commonly called "The Dead Church". Another pastor called them the "Zombie Church". But for our purposes, and true to the passage, this is the church that needed tough love.

Have you ever experienced tough love? We might also call it "brutal honesty". Sometimes the truth hurts, even if it is expressed in love and with gentleness. It still hurts, and a proud ego can become easily deflated.

Is that the connection to the flat tire? Were the people in the Sardian church deflated by the diagnosis? I'm not sure, but that is not the reason for the picture. Then what is the reason? Have you ever had a flat tire? That tire is made to hold air and support the car and grip the road and it isn't doing what it was made for! It could hold a lot more air, and needs to in order to function.

Ok, so what? Have you ever gone out in the morning to start to car and the battery was......dead? You might have said, "The car is dead." Dead things don't perform as they should. Potential is not realized.

The church in Sardis had settled for entertaining people and a cultural pleasing form of Christianity. People were impressed but God was not fooled. They had a reputation for being the "happening church" in Sardis. Lots of activity. Great music. Great show. But none of it required faith.

Tomorrow we will look thoroughly at the diagnosis and the treatment plan. Read ahead and pray yourself ready!

View and See!

Steve