How to Resurrect a Dead Church – Sardis
Apostle Aje Pelser, preached as part of a series: “Jesus in Revelation.”

Letter to the Church in Sardis
Revelation 3:1-6 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but 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.” ‘

Historical Background of Sardis
Sardis was strategically set on the slope of Mount Tmolus. with a river acting as a moat for defence. The city was plagued by robbers and once it fell because the defenders of the city failed to ‘watch.’
“At the base flowed the river Pactolus which served as a moat, rendering the city practically impregnable. Through the failure to watch, however, the acropolis had been successfully scaled in 549 BC by a Median soldier, and in 218 by a Cretan (compare Rev_3:2, Rev_3:3).”
Dr. C. C. Tracy, of Marsovan, made a visit to ancient Sardis and observed the work Professor Butler, of Princeton University, who is uncovered the ruins of that famous city of the past.
What chiefly impressed Dr. Tracy was the significance of those “Seven Churches of Asia,” of which Sardis held one. “When I think of the myriads of various nationality and advanced civilization for whose evangelization these churches were responsible, the messages to the Christian communities occupying the splendid strategic centers fill me with awe. While established amid the splendors of civilization, they were set as candlesticks in the midst of gross spiritual darkness. Did they fulfill their mission?”
One of Dr. Butler’s recoveries is the marble throne of the Bishop of Sardis; looking upon it the message to Sardis recurs to mind. A fact of current history quickened the visitor’s appreciation of the word to “the angel” of that church. “Yonder among the mountains overhanging Sardis there is a robber gang led by the notorious Chakirjali. He rules in the mountains; no government force can take him. Again and again he swoops down like an eagle out of the sky, in one quarter of the region or another. From time immemorial these mountains have been the haunts of robbers; very likely it was so when Rev was written, ‘I will come upon thee as a thief.’ In each case the message was addressed to ‘the angel of the church.’ Over every church in the world there is a spirit hovering, as it were – a spirit representing that church and by whose name it can be addressed. The messages are as vital as they were at the first. ‘He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.’“
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Here are a few questions that will protect your church and resurrect the things that have died.

1. How would you rate your ability to watch and pray together?
What strategies for prayer do you have in place in your church?
Jesus told Peter to watch and pray. Prayer does not avoid challenges and close its eyes to sin and the struggles in the world. Prayer is not a crutch on which to lean, but a channel of communication to the source of our faith, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2. Which orbits of your ministry need strengthening?
We like to celebrate our strengths, but what about our weaknesses as a church?
We might excel in Bible reading but lack zeal to reach out to win souls.
We may have great revelation but struggle to share it effectively.
We may have prophetic revelation but lack boldness to warn the people in our care.
We may reach out to nations but lack effective systems and volunteers to follow up the great harvest.
We may have great faith for ourselves but struggle to combine our faith for the collective vision of the church.
We may have faith for business but struggle to tithe consistently to push the church into the promised land of provision that God has ordained where nobody lacks any good thing in the church. Take a moment to write down some things that need to be strengthened individually and corporately in your church.

3. How can God perfect our works?
What does God mean, “our works are not perfect?” We do so much for God and sacrifice things and dreams and even finances. Think about Cain’s offering, he made vegetables and therefore thought it right to offer it to God. But God received Abel’s burnt offering of the firstborn lamb instead. Does God not like fruit?
It is in the prophetic quality of Abel’s offering that the perfection lies – you need to tune into Jesus in all you do. Jesus was the firstborn of the Father, the sacrificial Lamb of our sins. It was always God’s intention to offer Jesus for our sins and Abel tuned into that frequency.
Even in the book of Acts, God received some sacrifices and not others because the motives were exposed and the spirit behind the sacrifice was not reflecting Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice.
What is special to you? Even in tithing and offering we offer our first fruits of our increase to God. Why is it not perfect? Do you see the cause of Christ in what we do, or are you just trying to get what you can out of God? Are you generating wealth to establish God’s covenant in the earth?

Then moving onto higher aspects of ministry and calling: are we applying ourselves in ministry in order to make our lives meaningful? Or are we denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following Jesus all the way.
There are indeed levels of Christianity that some refuse to scale on the mountain of faith.
Many are content to remain at the same level of mundane Christianity to merely enter the kingdom of heaven one day in the distant future.
But there are those who continue to summit mountain after mountain growing from glory to glory continuously. Why do you think that is the case? They are not satisfied with yesterday’s glory and revelation; they are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. They are revived and not dead like the church in Sardis.
When you rest on your laurels and think you are safe, that is when the thief breaks in and steals. The city of Sardis was strong and fortified and built on a strategically secure mountain. How is it possible that one solider could undermine their defences? They did not stand on the rampart and watch! Habakkuk 2:
Hab 2:1 I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected.
Hab 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
Hab 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.

4. What have we forgotten about our holy calling?
Remember what God has said and recall the prophetic words made concerning you as a church. Find ways to implement those prophecies and wait on the Lord for strategy continually.
Which Godly principles can we hold fast to help us overcome?
How can we upgrade our ability and faithfulness to watch and pray for each other?

Revelation of Jesus
The revelation of Jesus that helps us to answer these questions with action includes:
He has the seven spirits – the seven aspects of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding; counsel and might; knowledge and fear of the Lord.
Isa 11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

In addition, Jesus holds the stars in his right hand – the stars are the angels of the seven churches. This has a two-fold meaning for me:
As the historian said earlier – there is a spirit resembling the church hovering over it – an angelic being that makes the way smooth for a church. We have encountered and seen such an angel that came because of the missions and struggles of our founders.
Secondly, the angel can refer to the messenger of a church – the word ‘angelos’ does not necessarily refer to a spiritual messenger alone.
Angel: Strong’s Concordance G32 aggelos pronounced ang’-el-os
From ἀγγέλλω aggellō (probably derived from G71; compare G34; to bring tidings); a messenger; especially an “angel”.

Rewards
If we overcome these things and answer these questions completely, we will receive the following rewards:
We are clothed in white robes
Our names are written in the book of Life
Jesus confesses our name before our Father God and His angels.