A good friend recently sent a devotion written by Spurgeon that talks about revival. In reading it, I was reminded of more writing from Spurgeon on the topic. My heart has been stirred.
What do we think of when we say, “We need revival?” What picture comes to mind?
When we look at a prosperous tree planted beside the running waters, roots running deep into the ground, broad green leaves, giving shade from the sun, branches hanging low with bushels of juicy fruit, do we say that the tree needs revival? No, we don’t say that a prosperous tree needs revival. What needs revival is a tree with shallow roots and poor soil. A tree that is sickly, bent over, leaves that hang limp, leaves that are dropping off. A tree that bears no fruit needs revival.
When we see a pair of oxen plowing deeply into a field, overturning row after row of earth from dawn to dusk, do we say these strong healthy animals are in need of revival? No, we don’t say that strong working oxen needs revival. What needs revival is an ox with no feed, lying in the stable, neglected, with sores on its body.
When we see a strong man in his youth, his muscles flexing, a man competing in the Olympics, eyes focused on the finish line, or a soldier fit for combat, trained with excellence, fully fit for hours of marching with a heavy pack, when we see these pictures, do we think those men are in need of revival? No, we don’t say that a man in sound health with every part of his body in a vigorous condition does not need reviving. But, a man that was swimming in the water, has almost drowned, the waves spitting him out onto the shore, pulled out from the depths, his body lifeless and limp, his pulse is weak and his eyelids drooping and his breathing shallow. That is a man that needs revival.
As we examine our lives, not with eyes of an earthly perspective, but with spiritual eyes, what do we see? Do we see strong spiritual soldiers victoriously carrying the banner of Christ? Or, do we see ourselves as unengaged in the battle? Spurgeon notes that Lifeless, lukewarm church men are of no value to a church, they are as a crew of sailors all fainting, weak, and in their bunks when they were needed to hoist the sails or lower the boats or set a course for the new land. Unless God revives us, we are of no value to the church. The true test of the sailing vessel and its crew is not when the ship is sailing under easy weather. The test comes when the storm is upon us. We must get healthy and prepare for the storm. There is a storm on the way.
What has taken life from us? Why do we need to be revived?
We need revival because of our daily diet in the ways of the world, our lack of exercising righteousness, our finding satisfaction in worldly pleasure. Our spirit is weak but our flesh is strong.
Revival is not man-made. By the very definition, the lifeless cannot give themselves life. The man rescued from drowning, lying on the beach with his lungs full of water cannot save himself, he needs someone to revive him. The weak, limp body of the man found unconscious lying in the desert, barely breathing, barely living, cannot feed himself and cannot give himself drink. He needs someone to revive him.
We need God to revive us. He is our only hope. We need to pray that God would do a work in us so that the glory of God becomes our greatest concern, ambition, and our source of pleasure and joy and satisfaction. The things of God need to be our diet and our exercise. Jesus said that His life purpose was to bring glory to the Father, this must be our life purpose. As an Olympian that trains before a race; as a soldier that prepares for a battle, we must set our minds upon God’s glory as the prize. 1 Corinthians 10:31 commands that whatever we do, it should be done to the glory of God! Let’s pray for a work of God in our lives, for His glory and for our joy.
Reality Check – Have you noticed lately …
The world we live in is becomingly increasingly antagonistic toward Christianity. (Maybe the actions of Westboro Baptist, the people pictured on the right, have something to do with it.) People speak badly about the church, Christians, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and God. Hostility is growing briskly. Outright disdain for all things good and righteous is escalating. I would post some comments that I read online, of which there were literally thousands, but I’d rather not give a platform for those the Bible would call fools. The advent of social media, the posting of on-line news articles with the ability to comment, Twitter feeds, self-publishing, and personal blogs have given everyone the ability to speak their mind in a very public way. As you can imagine, it is not a pretty sight. For believers, it can be downright discouraging.
God has appointed us as ambassadors for Christ. We are ministers and stewards of the Gospel. Scripture is very clear that this is our primary purpose as individuals and as a church body. The primacy of the Gospel mission is one of our core values here at CCC. This means that we are to engage with the world around us and preach the Gospel to the lost and dying. We are to remain unspotted from the world, yes. At the same time, we need to connect to people and unashamedly communicate the Gospel. Jesus was unspotted from the world and He spent time around the more shady characters of society.
As we desire to share the Gospel and start sharing Biblical truth, our audience is becoming more and more resistant to the message and toward us as messengers. This does not diminish our responsibility as ambassadors for Christ. But, it does make it more difficult.
Let’s pause and reflect on just why people might be resistant to the Gospel and why people are becoming more and more hostile. I have not done any empirical research to back up what I am about to “reflect” on my own, but I think you will mostly agree with my thoughts.
What are some applications? How should we respond? What should we do?
Hopefully, most of the applications should be obvious as you read and contemplate the above points. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions with those and offer up one key application that may not be so obvious. We need to pray. I need to pray, and you need to pray. The fact that our culture is so quickly and violently skidding down the slippery slope into an abyss should drive us to our knees. Being on our knees is a demonstration of our dependence and trust in the faithfulness of God. It shows that without Him, we know we can do nothing. It is a humble demonstration of recognizing our total helplessness and ineptness to face this challenge and do the task He has graciously given for us to do. God is mighty to save!
May this be an encouragement as you endeavor to lift up the cross of Christ – for His glory and your joy.
Allen
We have been hearing a good bit of preaching from the end of the Sermon on the Mount about “hearing and obeying” as a natural and essential fruit of our salvation, and a significant part of our confidence and assurance of eternal life. While I don’t want the “punch” of Jesus’ admonition to be softened, I thought it would be good to also encourage you to think thoroughly about how genuine assurance is first and foremost grounded in our trust in Christ and His finished work. In that regard, I found this post by pastor Mark Altrogge to be extremely encouraging. I’ve pasted the text below, but you can also link to the original post by clicking above.
I can’t believe I fell into that sin. How can God possibly forgive me? I shouldn’t even call myself a Christian. Will I ever get the victory? I’m such a miserable failure. How can God accept me?
Have you ever felt like this? Most of us have been there. The black hole of condemnation. We can feel hopeless, depressed, discouraged. We grieve over offending God. Our sin stings. And we often regret the pain we inflicted on others or consequences brought on ourselves. Sometimes we can be filled with regret for years of sin or failure.
The greater the sin, the deeper our grief can be and the deeper the hole of self-reproach. We can believe we must do penance or punish ourselves. Or that it’s wrong to have any joy or to try to remove the weight of our sorrow from our backs.
We hear Scriptures like “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Ro 8.1), yet still feel condemned. We know technically we’re accepted by God, but just can’t believe he really loves us now. We feel like if we let go of our guilt, we’re not really sorry for our sin. How do we escape the swirling vortex of condemnation? Here are a few thoughts:
Know where condemnation comes from
Sometimes it comes from Satan, “the accuser of our brothers,” “who accuses them day and night before our God” (REV 12.10). The devil has a round-the-clock ministry of condemnation. If he can’t keep us from Christ, he’ll try to keep us from experiencing joy in him.
At other times our own hearts condemn us (1 JN 3.19-20). Our hearts – our thoughts, emotions, feelings – are always interpreting our circumstances, but not always accurately. Our culture has taught us to trust our feelings, but feelings are a poor barometer of the truth.
For believers, condemnation never comes from God. There is now therefore NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None. Zero. Jesus bore the full penalty for every one of our sins and God won’t punish the same sin twice.
Focus on Jesus
Someone has said we should take 10 looks at Jesus for every one look at ourselves. Condemnation tends to make us look inward. We must continue to look to Jesus, our great Mediator and to his great work on our behalf. Look to Jesus and see God’s love for you. Look to your Redeemer who ever lives to intercede for you. If you find yourself thinking more about your failure than Jesus, you need to shift your focus.
Fight to believe the gospel
It’s not enough to hear there is no condemnation. We must believe it. We must mix God’s word with faith:
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest…(HEB 4.2-3)
Our legal standing before God as his justified, blood-bought children never changes. We must fight to believe God’s truth rather than our subjective feelings. Take up the shield of faith to quench Satan’s fiery darts of accusation. Commit pertinent Scriptures to memory. When condemning thoughts come, wield the sword of the Spirit like Jesus did when he was tempted. Say “No! I am not condemned, for ‘It is written…’”
In a follow-up post the next week, the writer (Mark Altrogge) encourages us to consider some other helpful suggestions for avoiding the “blackhole of condemnation.” You can click on the link above if you would like to read his explanation of each. In summary, he reminds us to:
I hope those words of advice are helpful and encouraging. They were to me! They help balance in my mind and heart the proper “poverty of spirit” we should have over our sin, with the “rejoicing always” that should permeate our Christian life.
Blessings!