Dying Churches: Lessons from Ephesus and Sardis

The Revelation Given to John and the Seven Churches of Asia Minor

I want to invite you to take out your Bible and turn with me to the first chapter of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation stands as the sole piece of purely prophetic literature in the New Testament.

The book was written by John the Apostle, the last remaining survivor of the original twelve apostles. The others, by this time in history, would have either died or would have been martyrs years before.

John was living in exile on the island of Patmos, located in the Aegean Sea southwest of Ephesus. The Roman authorities had banished him there because of his faithful preaching of the gospel. It was while on that island that John received a vision, which we now refer to as a revelation.

He received a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we begin our study this morning, what I want us to do is read together as I make short commentary of verses 1 through 20 of chapter 1. Normally we would stand for the reading of God's Word, but because I'm going to be making short commentary in between as we read through this first chapter, I'm going to invite you to just remain seated and we'll read through this together.

This is building the foundation for our study of the seven churches. Beginning in verse 1, it says, For the time is near. That's an interesting phrase there at the end where it says the time is near. Oftentimes we'll hear people who study biblical prophecy and sometimes even not biblical, but sometimes people try to make prophecies outside of Scripture about the end of the world.

We all know that 2012 was supposed to be the Mayan end of the world. And we know that before that there was Harold Camping who had promised that the end of the world was coming on a certain day at a certain time.

And yet all of them have, as to this point, been incorrect. Jesus told us that no man knows the day or the hour. But it's interesting that in God's timing, even 2 ,000 years ago, the end was near. So when we read this, we have to understand we don't think of 2 ,000 years as being a short period of time.

We think of that as being a long period of time. But in God's timing, the end was near. The reason was because at the resurrection of Christ and the ascension of Christ, there began what is known as the eschaton.

The eschaton is the end of time or the end times. Because now all we await is the return of Christ. That's all we're waiting on. People always say, well, the Jews returned to Israel in the 40s or this happened, or they're starting to build a new foundation for a new temple.

So Jesus might come here, Jesus might come there. And they come up. Oh, well, in the Bible it talks about these giant locusts. And oh, if you see a helicopter, that looks like a giant flying locust and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The point of the matter is, ever since Jesus left, the two angels said He will return just as He left. Be ready. Be ready. He can come at any moment. The end is near. And it has been for 2 ,000 years.

And we don't know when it will come. But it will, according to the Scripture. So it goes on in verse 4. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia. This would be Asia Minor. This is different than what we think about.

We think about Asia as being now China and India and places like that. This is Asia Minor, which I have a photo of. We'll look at in a minute to see where they are in relationship to other areas. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia Minor or in Asia.

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before His throne. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth.

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood. And made us a kingdom priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever. Amen. Forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him.

Even those who pierced Him and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord. Who is and who was and who is to come. The Almighty. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus.

Was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. This is John telling us why he was there. He was there on account of having preached the gospel. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day.

And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches. To Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

The hairs on his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the roar of many waters.

In his right hand he held the seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. And his face was like the sun, shining in full strength. It's an interesting picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think we often begin to, as individuals, accept the picture of Jesus of sort of being this passive, lamb-holding shepherd. You know, like we see in some of the old paintings of Jesus, where He looks very European.

He has light brown hair and blue eyes. And He looks like, well, most of us. He looks like a white man. He doesn't look like a Middle Eastern Jew, which is what He would have been. And yet, here, He's nothing.

He's none of the sort. Here He's got bright white hair and bright red eyes. And He's coming as Lord now. And it says, When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, the living one.

I died, and behold, I live. I live alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this.

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

So this is the foundation for the book of Revelation. This is the beginning. This tells us how the Apostle John is receiving this information. He's receiving it as a direct revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he says, I'm writing this to seven specific churches and to their angels. Now that term angel has been somewhat disputed as to its meaning. Some people think that every church has a specific angel from God which watches over it, and that this letter was written to the angel which watches over the churches, these seven specific churches.

However, the word angel comes from the Greek word angelos, and it means messenger. And it is more likely, since the Apostle John would not be delivering a letter to a celestial being, that this letter is meant for the pastor, the messenger of the church of Revelation.

Or rather, to the seven churches. So he's sending this letter to the pastor of the church, that one who is the messenger of God to the people. So what we're going to be looking at today, we see immediately that the seven churches are the focus of the book of Revelation.

It has been delivered to them, and it has been delivered for them. The churches mentioned are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And again, if I could see the picture real quick, I'll show you sort of how it is in relation.

I know it's kind of a small photograph, but if you see the darker part in the middle, the Aegean Sea is there, the Mediterranean Sea is on the bottom, Jerusalem is over here, and the Black Sea is there above.

So this is where those seven churches were. They were all in a similar region, all in the region known as Asia Minor. And each of these churches receive a specific message from Jesus Christ. This is how it applies to us today.

This is why I felt the urgency to preach this message to us as a congregation today. All of the problems that Jesus addresses to these churches are still problems which we are seeing in our modern time.

It's amazing how things don't change. It's amazing how the same problems that the church and the churches were dealing with 2 ,000 years ago, the church is still dealing with today, because human nature, being what it is, has stayed fairly consistent.

And what I've done is, there are seven churches, and my original thought was I would do a sermon on each church. But then as I was researching, I began to see a pattern. And so what I've done is I've actually broken the churches down into categories, and I think this is going to help us with our study.

I've seen four categories of churches. We see first the dying churches, the churches that are dying. That is Ephesus and Sardis. That's what we're going to look at today. Then is the defiled churches, Pergamos and Thyatira.

Then there's the dedicated churches, that is Smyrna and Philadelphia, and finally it is the drifting church, the one church which I think will, I honestly would say most suits the Church of America today, and that's the Church of Laodicea.

And that will be our last study four weeks from today. Each week we're going to look at a different category. We're going to see how it applies to the Church of America, but specifically how it applies to us.

It's one thing to look outside and say, well this church needs to do it this way, or that church needs to do it that way. What do we need to do as a church? What do we need to do as Sovereign Grace Family Church?

And how do these lessons affect us, is the question that we need to ask. So this morning we're going to look at the dying church. The dying churches of Ephesus and Sardis. So let's read first of the Church of Ephesus here, chapter 2, verse 1.

Ephesus: Losing the First Love

To the angel, the messenger of the church in Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But, this is where the real heavy part of this exhortation comes. But I have this against you. I'm giving you a commendation.

Now let me tell you what I have against you. That you have abandoned the love you had at first. I think the King James reads a little better here. You have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.

Repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have. You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in paradise, in the paradise of God. So looking at this, notice first, Christ gives a condemnation to this church.

The church of Ephesus. He notes that they have an enduring faith. He also points out twice that they have an inability to accept false teaching. That they are zealous for their faith and their doctrine.

That is good. That they will not take false teaching. That is a great condemnation. But then he hits them where it hurts. He says that in their zeal, they have lost that which is most important. They have lost their love for Him.

I mean, what does it matter, beloved, if we have the greatest and most sincere doctrines in the world, if we don't love Christ? If what we do, we simply do for protocol. But we don't love Jesus. What then does it matter?

Their religion was an empty religion. Their faith was empty. Jesus tells them, remember from where you came and go back. Ephesus had left its first love, which was Christ, and they needed to reclaim Him.

Now, we're going to look into that further, but let's go on to Sardis now and see the similarities which are there. Turn to chapter 3 and verse 1, and we'll read verses 1 through 6. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 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. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments.

And they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers 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.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Sardis has a similar problem to Ephesus, but yet they receive a more stern rebuke. Jesus says to them, you look alive, but you are really dead.

You have the outward appearance of life, but inside you are dead. The only thing keeping the church afloat is that there are a few within the congregation who are still zealous for the Lord. There are still a few in the congregation who are standing for Christ.

And it is because of them, those faithful prayer warriors, that the Lord is keeping his hand of grace upon it. So here we see two churches that I believe are on the brink of death. And Christ has promised to both churches that if they will wake up, that if they will repent, that he will come and he will restore them.

But if they do not, he will come against them. And by the way, when he talks about taking away the lampstand, he is not talking about taking away anyone's individual salvation. He is talking about the church itself losing the ability to be a true church.

Beloved, I do not know about you, but I can think of multiple churches that call themselves by that title, but are no longer churches. Their lampstands have been removed. They no longer preach the gospel.

They no longer demonstrate a love for Christ. They have become, at best, social activist clubs. But they are not churches. And as a result, there is not the power of God in those places. So I want to ask the question, what is it?

What is it that causes a church to die? What are things that cause a dying church? Well, I am going to give you a few things to think about. A few points that are gleaned from these two churches that we might want to consider.

The first one, if you are taking notes, the primary causes of a dying church. Number one, legalism replaces love as a motivator. Legalism replaces love as a motivator. It is interesting, when Christ commends Ephesus for doing well doctrinally, He says, you are unwilling to deal with false teachers.

You hate the work of the Nicolaitans, which was a band of false teachers who were spreading false gospel. He says, you hate these false teachers. That is good, but it is not enough. Why is it not enough?

Because they are not doing what they are doing out of a motivation of a love for Christ. Their works were on track, but their motivation was in error. And motivation is always a factor in serving Christ.

They have replaced their love for Christ with legalism. They have replaced their love for Christ with a set of rules, of do's and don'ts. They were not working out of a sense of religious duty and not out of an affection for the Savior.

They have replaced love with legalism. Beloved, church is more than following rules. Do we understand that, really? That church is more than following rules? I think that is the way the outside looks at the church.

Well, I don't want to go to church because if I go to church, then they are going to expect me to give money. They are going to expect me to act a certain way. They are going to expect me not to drink alcohol.

They are going to expect me not to smoke cigarettes. They are going to expect me not to drive fast. They are going to expect me to be nice to other people and not say curse words. And they are going to expect this and they are going to expect that.

And if they ever see me do it wrong, they are going to start gossiping about me because that is what church people do. This is how the outside looks at the church. It is like a giant list of do's and don'ts.

And certainly, Christianity does involve a change of the heart, which involves a change of our lifestyle. But if all Christianity was, was a set of rules, then the very best Christians in history would have been the Pharisees.

Because the Pharisees were really, really good at making rules. They were really, really good at enforcing rules. They had doctrine upon doctrine, which founded their rules. They loved to create rules, but Christianity is not about rules.

In fact, Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, which later in this year, I am seriously considering teaching through the Sermon on the Mount. It has been on my heart for a long time. Byron and I were talking about this this morning.

The main thing we learn from the Sermon on the Mount is this. Motivation is just as important as what we do. What causes us to do what we do? I can do something nice for someone, but if my motivation is spite or anger or hatred.

And we know people do this sometimes. They do something nice just out of spite. Is there blessing in that behavior? No. Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount. It is not just adultery that is sin.

It is looking with lust that is a sin. Because you are motivated by that. It is your heart that is the problem. It is not just killing someone, but hating someone is a problem. And you can have sound doctrine, but if your heart is not in love with Christ.

What then does that doctrine really accomplish? What does the Bible say about Satan? Even Satan knows sound doctrine, but he is still Satan. Satan knows the truth, but he is still the devil. So the first way for a church to die is to replace love with legalism.

The church of Sardis was so concerned about doing church that they were not... I am sorry. The first way for the church to die is to replace love with legalism. The second way for a church to die is when doing church becomes more important than being the church.

That may sound like a funny phrase. Let me say it again. If you are writing this down, it might be confusing. When doing church becomes more important than being the church. Look again at Sardis. What does it say about Sardis?

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are really dead. What is meant by that? What does that mean? What it means is simply this. The church was likely thriving and full of activity.

They probably had good attendance. They probably had fine ministries which were going out from the church, but all this was being done without the Spirit of God. It is simple. They were doing church fine, but they were not being the church.

Can you imagine a church where all people ever do is concern themselves with activities? With what is going on? The roof is splitting with excitement, but Christ is nowhere to be found? Well, if you can't imagine one, I could probably share a few tales.

That is what people think church is supposed to be now, by the way. People think that church is supposed to be entertainment. People think that church is supposed to be a place where we come and we are entertained.

Most folks I talk to, they are looking for a lively church. But, beloved, if the Spirit of the Lord is not present, it doesn't matter if the church has got great music. It doesn't matter if the church has a great motivational speaker, or a beautiful chancellor, or a very deep baptistry.

It doesn't matter if the Lord is not present, because church is not an activity. Church is a community. And that community is supposed to be gathered in love for God first and one another second. If not, it is just another parlor of entertainment in a world which is saturated with parlors of entertainment.

Do you know what the church now... Do you know what the competition most pastors... And I say I am on message boards. I get emails. I get these things once a week from Sermon Central and another from Sermon Audio.

I get these little updates for pastors. And some of these guys get on and they write articles. And I read their articles. I am interested in what they have to say. And you know what we are up against now, according to a lot of these pastors, what we are trying to do with the church is we are trying to make it an amusement park.

Do we have enough activities for the kids? Because if we don't, our kids won't come. Do we have enough activities for the teenagers? Because if we don't, the teenagers won't come. Do we have enough activities for the senior adults?

Do we have enough activities for this? Do we have enough activities for that? Have we got the carnival rides ready? Many churches look alive because they have a lot of people, a lot of money, and a lot of activities.

But they don't have the gospel. And doing church becomes more important than being the church. A church is a dead church, whether it looks alive or not. Beloved, I know a church out in Texas, 100 ,000 members, but it is a dead church.

Thirdly, and finally for today's message, the first way for a church to die is it replaces love with legalism. The second way is that it is more concerned with doing church than being the church. And finally, the concerns for tradition outweigh the concerns for Christ.

Neither of these texts mention tradition directly, but I believe there is an inference there. And here is why. Both had become so consumed with the outward trappings that they had forgotten their purpose.

Ephesus, it says, they were concerned with doctrine, but they left their first love. And Sardis says they performed works that looked alive, but they were dead. Essentially, both churches had gotten caught up in the routine of Christianity.

And neither one of them was motivated for what was right. But rather, they were motivated for what they had always done, the traditions. Routine became tradition, which became the motivation for church rather than Christ.

Ultimately, things were no longer done in seeking Christ. Things were done because they were supposed to be done. That is the way we have been doing it. That is the way we are going to continue to do it.

That is the motto of many churches. And that ends up bringing death to a church. That is the definition of bad tradition, by the way. We do things for no other purpose than because that is the way we have always done them.

What would happen in a church if something changed on Sunday morning? What would happen if we came into this church and we did communion first or last? What would happen if you came in and I preached first and we sang last?

Would it feel awkward and out of order? Maybe, because that is the way we always do it. We have an order of worship, and I am not saying it needs to change. But the point is, do we get so focused on these things and that becomes church for us?

Church is not the tradition and the order of service. Church is the community of people that come together with a genuine love for Christ. Who want to learn the Word of God. Who want to study the Word of God.

And who want to sing praises to God and participate in the ordinances of God. Because they are motivated out of a love for Christ and for God. I don't know how many of you know churches that have split.

But I can guarantee you, I know churches that have split over things that certainly do not matter. They split over the color of the carpet. Or who gets to have their name on the plaques for the new Bibles.

Or who gets to have their name on the plaque for the new pulpit or for the new whatever. Churches get so consumed with things that don't matter. They get so consumed with traditions that have no foundations.

And as a result, churches die. Many of you know this story, and whether or not it has any truth, I always tell it as a modern parable. There was a lady who was serving a dinner. And she brought out the ham.

And she had cut one whole section off the ham. The end piece. It was a big piece of meat. She cut it off and discarded it. And her guests were there. And they were sitting down to eat. And they noticed the whole section of the piece of meat was gone.

And they said, well, why did you cut off that section of the meat? And the lady said, well, when I was growing up, every Sunday my mom cooked the ham. And every Sunday she cooked it just like this. And she cut that section off.

So I thought it was bad. And they said, no, that's a good part of the meat. Why would you cut that off? And she said, well, I don't know. So after the meal and everything was over, she called mom. Mom, why did you cut that part of the meat off?

Mom said, well, when you were a child, we only had one pot. And it wasn't big enough for the ham. So every Sunday I'd have to cut that section off just to fit it in the pot so that I could cook that piece of meat.

You're not still doing that, are you? Well, yeah, that's the way I was taught. Beloved, that's how tradition often works in churches. We don't know why we do some things that we do. We just do it because the last generation did it that way.

And the generation before that did it that way. We need to look at what we're doing. And we need to ask ourselves some very serious questions. But the first one, no matter what it is, you know, we take communion every Sunday.

I like that we do that. I encourage us to do that. But you know what? If we didn't do it, it wouldn't mean we weren't a church. Why do we do it? We do it because it was actually the tradition of the disciples of Christ.

That doesn't make it bad. Because you know what? It was also the tradition of the original Reformed Church. Ooh, got it back. We reached out and found that it actually had a good, solid tradition. And it was a tradition of the early church.

So we continue it going. But we ask ourselves the question. Are there things that we do that we do not out of a motivation of love for Christ, but out of being motivated by tradition alone? And if so, should those things continue?

Or should we look for things which cause us to better serve Christ? Beloved, I don't want this church to die. Ever. Even when I die. I want to be in this church until I am too old to preach. And then I want someone else to preach.

I don't have any plans of going anywhere. I don't know what the Lord's plan is. Many are the plans of a man's heart, but the Lord directs his steps. So I don't know what's going to happen. But I plan on being here for a while.

We need to remember one thing. If nothing else from this text, if we're to stay a living church, we have to stay a church which is in love with Christ. And what we do needs to come out of a motivation of a fidelity to Scripture and a fidelity to Him.

We can have traditions. They're not necessarily bad. But we need to know why we have them. We can have sound doctrine, and we should. But we must never rely upon that for our relationship to God. Doctrine is how we understand God.

And we love Him because we understand Him. Beloved, as we continue on as a church, as a living church, and we are a living church. We preach the gospel. We participate in the ordinances. But we must always be careful and always be on watch that we do not fall into the path of the dying church.

To fall into the path of the church that forgets its first love and looks like a church on the outside, but is dead on the inside. So let's pray now. Let's pray for our church and for the coming weeks of study.

Our Father and our God, we thank You for this time of study together. Lord, we want to be confident that we are doing what You have called us to do. That we are not so shackled to the structures of our traditions that we're unwilling to move as You have us move.

We've seen so much change in this church in the last four or five years, Lord, that we know that You're moving here. We know that You're bringing about a love for You and a love for Your Word and a love for and a fidelity to Christ.

Lord, we see in this book of Revelation a church that had lost that first love. And we see another church that looked alive on the outside, but was dead on the inside. Lord, we pray that this would never be used to describe us, but instead that we would continue to live and thrive as a church, to be able to preach the gospel, to have ears taught, not tickled, but taught the Word of God.

This is our prayer in Jesus' name.