Answer:
Explanation:
Each of the 2 sets has 1 church in the middle that stands out from the other 2 on each side. In both sets, we find 2 churches that are fully overcoming evil and are sandwiched between 2 other churches that are missing the mark. In the Revelation 2 – Set 1, the fully overcoming Smyrna church sits between the Ephesus and Pergamum churches. In the Revelation 3 – Set 2, the fully overcoming Philadelphia church sits between Sardis and Laodicea. And finally, sandwiched between the two sets of 3 churches is yet another church that is drastically missing the mark; the 7th church of Thyatira. This 7th church, sandwiched between sets 1 and 2, hosts an abundance of interesting revelations however, this article focuses mainly on the 2nd set of 3 churches found in Revelation 3—especially the Church of Sardis. [Note: this might be a good time to scroll to the end and read Revelation 3 included in this article.]
In an effort to avoid the crucified-with-Christ, death-to-self path of God-assigned deeds that mark and define the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the Sardis church creates their own list of do-good deeds. Still using scripture-based principles, the focus is changed from developing an intimate relationship with the Person of Jesus to joining feel-good programs that elevate and stimulate the human soul but deny the wonderful work of the cross upon the human’s born-again spirit. The attraction to this soul-stimulating “life-like” looking church means that a person can be entertained by the program, agree to a portion of do-gooding from the substitute Sardis church list of deeds, and still be considered a successful Christian by the church without ever really getting to intimately know the Person of Jesus, who all the programs are supposedly drawing from! This program-based Sardis church becomes renown and draws quite a crowd.
It seems that the Sardis church did not like the price that their God-given deeds would cost them and developed their own “work-around” way of doing self-made “good deeds” for God through their church programs. Rather than joining the Person of Jesus Christ, who daily calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him, the Sardis church targets the pleasure-center of the soul with entertaining programs that make a person feel alive in their souls but do little to transform and mature them. It is not the stimulation of a self-centered soul that changes us to be more like Christ, it is the death of that soul-life and the resurrection of the Christ-life within that changes us into Christ’s new-man image. The death to soul-life means we deny stimulations and the elevation of our old-man nature, not indulge them. Programs that stimulate the soul but do not lead the person into a deeper walk with Jesus Christ will not grow that person up.
Minus a few folks in the Sardis church, who keep God’s original instructions, Revelation 3:2 tells us that the bulk of the Sardis church is completely missing the mark and with little left to draw from, the Sardis church is close to being declared uselessly dead. Even under their own Sardis church roof, sits a sign of their departure from their God-given deeds. Those few folks who did not soil their garments and are holding fast to their original instructions from Christ serve as a direct confrontation to rest of the Sardis church that it is quite possible to fully follow God’s list of deeds without substitution.
Substituting programs for the Person, doesn’t work because God knows and remembers the deeds He has assigned us to complete while we are here on earth. He also knows when we are making up our own substitute list of deeds, thinking that He will still approve of our substitutes. God is not obligated to take responsibility for anything He does not Author. Not only are the Sardis church programs declared “dead,” the people in this system are in grave danger of completely missing Jesus when He comes and even worse, not even realize that they missed Him! Why? Because they did not do the work of God’s deeds that are specifically designed to lead them into an intimate knowing of Jesus.