Revival? Yes! But First, REFORMATION

       Rev 2:4-6, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

You don't have to travel far in Christian circles today before you hear someone lamenting about the need for revival. And if asked directly, you'd probably be hard pressed to find a Christian who would say that revival isn't necessary. It also seems on the surface that revival may be happening. New churches have been springing up and are growing exponentially. We see stadium sized church buildings needing to add additional services just to be able to hold all of the new people coming in.


And yet...

Something doesn't seem right.

One of the greatest revivals in history was the Great Awakening. It was said that churches were full and taverns and jails were largely empty. In our day, we have churches that are full and growing. Yet vice, evil, and corruption are rampant and seem to be growing just as fast, if not even faster.
So what's the difference?
The Great Awakening began in the early 1700's. But it had it's roots some 200+ years earlier (actually before that)  with Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church. It was intended (among other things) to raise questions regarding unbiblical practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The end result was that christendom was completely changed. Even congregations that didn't embrace the tenets expressed by Luther, and Calvin were profoundly changed because of the Reformation. (The Roman Catholic Church was never the same either)
Now we fast forward to the early 1700's and we have a number of great preachers. Two of the most notable were George Whitefield and Jonathon Edwards. (Probably the most famous sermon of all time, "Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God" by Edwards was in most American literature textbooks up until about 30 years ago) Both of these men were highly influenced by the teachings of the reformers.
So the point to this is that without the Reformation, there would have been no Great Awakening. Before there could be any true, lasting revival there had to be a reformation. That is, they had to get back to the clear message that Jesus and the apostles taught. Otherwise any apparent revival would have been short lived and had little impact.

There are two extremes that I see today. (There's more I'm sure) I call them, "Reformed Legalism", and "Zombie Worship".

Reformed Legalism:

If you could sum up the doctrine reaffirmed by the reformers it would be the "doctrine of justification by grace alone". In reformed legalism, that doctrine is affirmed but then the approach becomes "my way or the highway", (So much for grace) or on the other extreme, ritual observances. This is typically found in denominational Christianity.
It is important to understand that the Bible is very clear about some things. You never hear solid, conservative Bible scholars debating about whether or not murder, adultery, or stealing are sin. You DO hear them debate about the consumption of alcohol, how often to take communion, sprinkling vs. immersion, spiritual gifts, infant baptism, etc. That should tell us something. Some things are spelled out explicitely in God's word, other things are not so clear. Perhaps that is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) The biggest problem with making dogma where the scripture is unclear is that now people have done the work that was intended for the Holy Spirit. For example, the consumption of alcohol. The Bible does not expicitely condemn the use of alcohol. But does that automatically make it OK to drink? The Holy Spirit may want to deal with a particular individual on the subject regarding what God's heart is for them. But instead, a zealous preacher stands up and takes a few passages, omitting others, and condemns the consumption of alcohol. Now there really is nothing more that can be said and nothing more for the Holy Spirit to do. This is how legalism stifles the work of God, through his Spirit, writing his law on our hearts and minds. (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 10:16)
The other extreme of reformed legalism is that the church is largely defined by ritual observances that have little meaning. Some people say the problem with denominational Christianity is that it is out of date. That may be true to some extent but I believe that the real problem is that we perform these these observances and have no idea why. Why do we sing the Gloria Patri and the Doxology? Why do we recite the Apostles creed and the Lord's Prayer? Maybe instead of doing away with the practices, we should study a little of the history in order to understand why we do these things. Jesus never said not to use repetition. (Matt6:7) He said not to use VAIN repetition. That is, repetition with no meaning.

Zombie Worship:

I really did hesitate to use this expression because it sounds insulting. But let me explain: a simple definition of a zombie is an animated dead thing. It's a body that appears to be alive but in reality, it's dead. Jesus describes such a church in Revelation 3:1, "...You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead". In other words, you are zombies. One thing that stands out is Jesus' use of the word, reputation. This church is KNOWN for it's life. This is the church everyone wants to belong to. Great things are happening here. Great worship, great programs, great ministries, you name it. But...DEAD.
Many of the "happening" churches today have embraced a completely unbiblical prosperity and/or social gospel (the job of the church is to change the world). They've abandoned the gospel that Jesus taught. That is the height from which we have fallen. 1 Cor. 1:18, says that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God". Romans 8:7 tells us that the carnal mind is hostile to God. But in too many cases we have modified the gospel message to make it VERY appealing to carnal people in order to get people saved.
We have replaced the doctrine of regeneration (new birth which can only be accomplished by God himself) with "decisionism". One only has to analyze the typical gospel invitation to see what the problem is. Often it goes like this: "If you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus you can start one today. He wants to heal your brokenness; your relationships, finances, health, you name it. All you have to do is repeat this simple prayer and ask him into your life". What is often missing is any mention of our fallen sinfulness and depravity, the need to repent, and the coming judgment. Paul said the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The typical gospel invitation is very appealing to anyone, regardless of whether they're actually being saved. Who doesn't want all of their problems fixed? Especially if you don't have to acknowledge your own sinfulness and your need to repent. Any message that does not convict (not condemn) of sin and the need for a savior who died to pay for our sin is a false gospel. If that is the message that an individual responded to, then they walked out of church that day no more saved than they were when they arrived. But they THINK they are saved. A false gospel brings death. Even though it may appear to bring life.

So what is the solution?

I believe the apostle Paul gives us a pretty good outline in his letter to Titus. In chapter 3: 3-8

"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewel by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone".

As John Bunyan said, "The best way to provoke ourselves and others to good works, it is to be often affirming to others the doctrine of justification by grace, and to believe it ourselves". (Christian Behavior)
The gospel gives life and changes people. The " washing of rebirth and renewal" changes us into new people who no longer have a carnal nature that is hostile to God. But have a nature that wants to follow and obey God. The mission of the church is to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15) and make disciples (Matt.28:19). Nowhere does it say our job is to get people saved. That is God's job. And while not every sermon needs to be an explicit presentation of the gospel, all preaching should have the gospel at it's foundation. Doctrine is important--sound doctrine (Titus 2:1) In Titus 3:9, "But avoid foolish controversies and geneologies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless". Many of the different denominations exist precisely because people did exactly what Paul said not to do. It's amazing how quickly we can get diverted to the "unprofitable and useless" things, and get our focus off what is really the most important. Because we are never completely set free from our old nature in this life, our tendency is always going to be to avoid the life changing message of he cross.

I believe that this gives a brief summary of the height from which we have fallen. let's pray for revival but let's first pray for a modern reformation and "do the things we did at first".
God bless everyone of you.

Stones of Remembrance

       Joshua 4:21-24, "He said to the Israelites, 'In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' Tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all people of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.' "

I don't know about you but sometimes I suffer from amnesia. Especially when I find myself in a tough spot and need help, I tend to forget that God has gotten me through tough spots before. In the above passage God had just done the impossible. He had just dammed up the Jordan river so the people could cross over into the promised land. Because we humans have a tendency to forget God's provision and protection, the Israelites were told to set up a monument so that they would remember because it is so easy to forget. We all need these "stones of remembrance" in our own individual lives.

One of my favorite Bible stories growing up was the story of David and Goliath. (I always imagined something like Jack and the Beanstock) It took a LOT of faith for David to go up against that big Philistine warrior, but David had "stones of remembrance" that he could look to. In 1 Samuel 17:34-37 David tells Saul about two times while watching his father's sheep when a bear and a lion had tried to take one of the sheep. He had gone after the animal, struck it, and rescued the sheep. When the lion or bear turned on him he grabbed it by the hair, struck and killed it. Don't try this at home! One on one combat with a bear or a lion usually doesn't have a happy ending for the human. But David said something in verse 37:

        The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion ad the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

I've heard someone say that we who follow Jesus Christ live by faith, but it is a REASONABLE faith. David had a good reason to believe God would rescue him. He had done it before...twice.

We need to set up monuments as reminders God's faithfulness in our own lives so that we don't forget. Not necessarily a pile of rocks but maybe a post-it-note or photograph taped to the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror. Or maybe the dashbord of the car.

I am a free-lance carpenter contractor by trade. The vast majority of my work is fed to me by larger companies. Someone once told me if you want to learn what it means to live by faith, start your own business. He had a good point. As I am writing this on a Thursday morning, I'm looking at work for today and tomorrow. I have nothing lined up for next week. Some jobs fell through and some have been postponed.

I've been here before.

One of the most memorable situations was a number of years ago. I went to work on Monday morning with only some final touches to do on a kitchen and nothing else for the remainder of the week. There was another job just down the street from the one I was finishing but they were doing some remodeling and wouldn't be ready for the cabinets for some time yet. Around 11:00am as I was just finishing, the homeowner at the other job came by to see the finished product on this job. She said their handyman who was doing the work hadn't showed up for a few days and they couldn't get in touch with him. So they asked if I would be intersted in finishing up the rough framing. I moved my tools down the street and went right to work. That took me through Wednesday. When I got home Wednesday night there was a message for me to call someone regarding work. It seems that a real estate closing was held up because the house failed an inspection. They needed someone right away. That finished out the week. The funny thing is, I made about 50% more that week than I usually averaged on a normal week. I was able to relax that weekend because now the other job was ready and cabinets would be delivered first thing Monday morning. Not bad for a week that had very bleak prospects to start off.

That one goes on the bathroom mirror.

Just a week or two ago I needed new tires for my van and really couldn't afford them but couldn't put it off any more. When I got to the place I found out there was a closeout sale on the tires I needed and they just happened to have a couple left. Two new tires for under $100. Then I received my phone bill and saw that I owed only $7 for the month. When I called to ask if there was a mistake they said, yes there's a mistake. I actually had another credit and owed NOTHING.

God leaves his business card where I'll be sure to find it.

So what are your "stones of remembrance"? Is it time to dig through some old photographs or invest in some post-it-notes? It's so easy to forget otherwise. Many times in God's word we are told to remember. Then we are told to tell others of the wonderful things he has done. I can't wait to hear your stories.
May God richly bless you all.