Seven churches

THE SEVEN CHURCHES
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In this city was a church following the labors of John. They had beautiful cathedrals and
rich treasures. The churches were always full and they were always doing things for God.
They had wonderful expensive projects which probably included uplifting of the poor and
the needy - orphanages and rehabilitation centers and what not.
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
They had a form of godliness, not the power. They worshipped God, but the spirit was
missing.
Mat 15:8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They
worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
They professed to be Christians but lacked Christ. The nature of the society invariably
was reflected in the church. Where there is no want, you may fail to rely on God in your
daily life. This is why the Israel was given one day’s bread a day and not more. An affluent
church is seldom called in for affirmation. They had it easy and they were careless.
Therefore the fall was inevitable.
Dispensationally this reefers to the Reformation Churches. As soon as the great waves of
reformation were over, the church found itself in cozy situation and the spirit was lost.
They did a lot of reorganization, rectification and renaming but went no further.
for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
Like the city of Sardis, the church became careless and fell victims to the enemies due to
sheer carelessness. The rise of Higher Criticism in 1800s assisted by the rationalistic
movements of the period and the Newtonian Mechanistic view of law based universe led
to the collapse of faith. Kant, Hegel, Kirkegaard, Marx, Freud and Lenin were only the
outgrowth of this social situation. In the face of these strong rationalistic and critical
outbursts church shrank back to emphasize social reforms and outward work to the utter
neglect of essential gospel of Jesus. The word "Sardis" means "escaping" or "that which
remains".
There was no justification for the Sardis Church for their lack of witnessing because they
heard and received the full revelation. Reformation was complete. They had the full Word