Continuing with the letters to the seven churches we come to Sardis which is now in Western Turkey. This church had a great reputation but probably for all the wrong reasons.  Compromise had slipped into their ways to make it similar and attractive to those on the outside and although it looks like the church may in-fact be doing well Jesus could see that they were actually dirty in His sight.  

However, He offers a way out.  There were some who had refused to compromise and I expect the church knew who these few were.  There’s a charge to look to these few, change their ways so they could be washed again. 

It can be scary to think that it’s possible to slip and get it wrong but the instruction is to “Remember what you received and heard” (v.3). They needed to come back to the foundational truths; maybe to stop trying so hard. They needed to go back to the basics, that Jesus died for their sins and that it’s not by works but by faith that they were saved.  It’s so easy to forget because it’s such a wonderful truth but also very to the way the world works.

I love how in the cases of the two churches that Jesus rebukes He gives a way out.  To the church in Sardis He commends them to change their ways and look to those who are doing it right, to the church in Laodicea He tells them to stop being so lukewarm.  Something I hadn’t noticed until recently was that Jesus is knocking at the door wanting to come into the church. They were happy with what they had, what they thought were riches were actually nothing compared to what Jesus wanted to give them but they needed to pay for those riches which would most likely involve them humbling and denying themselves.  But the promise here is that if they do that, Jesus would lead them to a better place, a place of victory on the throne with Jesus.

The letter for the church in Philadelphia is something for all of us, they needed to be patient, enduring, to keep doing what they’d always been doing (love God, love each other, don’t deny Him) and keep doing it no matter what those around us were doing and if they (and we) keep doing that, we will be more than conquerors.

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Father God, please help me to keep my eyes fixed on what you have commanded, don’t let me become lukewarm but help me to continue to love you and love those around me.  Amen.