Back to the Future: Revelation - Letter to Sardis

Revelation 3:1-5 | Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

• What was the church in Sardis not doing well? What did they need to change? 

• How do you relate to the church in Pergamum? 

  • Which of the following things are you doing well? What do you need to start doing or to do better? 

    • Spiritually stagnant or dead (not growing in your faith)

    • Going through the motions of church / following God

    • Staying on the path God has for you

    • Permitting sin in your own life 

• The people in the church at Sardis were followers of Jesus. Why was growing in these other areas also important? 

• There were a few people in Sardis who clung to God’s ways. What do you think that was like for them when the other followers of God were living in sin? In what ways, if any, do you relate to their experience?