“Boy, that’s a dead church.” You might have heard people saying such things about a congregation that clings to traditional worship practices. But where it came to the church in Sardis, Jesus obviously has something more serious in mind, something that requires the Christians there to “repent” (3:3). In other words, the church has not just become old-fashioned or stale in its habits. It has fallen into sin.

And if we look at the last two churches discussed in chapter 2, we get an idea of how this sort of thing can happen. For the church in Pergamum was allowing false teachings to circulate among its members, teachings that encouraged Christians to participate in pagan religious practices and even to “practice sexual immorality” (2:14).

But the church in Thyatira took this problem one step further. For they not only turned a blind eye to such immoral ideas and practices in their midst – they actually allowed someone to teach their people to believe and do those wicked things (2:20)!

So, what did Jesus tell these churches to do? “Repent” (2:16). “Hold fast what you have until I come” (2:25). And regardless of the relative health of our congregations or denominations, all of us need to do the same thing every day, turning away from sin and self, clinging to the truth of Christ and living according to His perfect law of love, even if this means going against the popular culture’s beliefs about worship and sexuality.

And we need to encourage those who have fallen into sin to do the same thing. For Christ promises to wield the sword of His word against those who refuse to repent (2:16), just as He promises a “sickbed” and “great tribulation” for false teachers and those who follow them (2:22). Whatever all that means, it can’t be good.

So here’s the choice that we often face: do we want to be on the wrong side of the worldly culture, or do we want to be on the wrong side of Jesus? It’s not much of a choice, is it?

Revelation 2:12-3:6 (ESV)

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

“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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’