Restoration Run Amuck

What shall we say then? Does God not want rededication? Does he not want special times when we plan his work and give extra effort to try to accomplish it? Certainly he does, but he wants these efforts and plans to be real. God summarized what he wants from his people on the very special day of the dedication of his temple. “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7: 14). A pervasive problem in today's church is the relative absence of the recognition of sin. We compare ourselves to the world and see that in most cases we are much better than they. We may not be stealing, fornicating, drinking or drugging, so we give ourselves an "A" for good behavior. The result of this type of comparison is the recognition of sin only in the lives of others, never a consciousness of sin in our own lives. Thus, we are never convicted for our hate, bad attitudes, ignoring the poor and helpless, taking advantage of others, pride, judging, materialism, lust, and lack of mercy and justice.

Even under the Old Covenant, the primary purpose for the rituals of religion and sacrifice was for the worshippers to have a consciousness of their sins (Hebrews 10: 3). Similarly, the whole purpose of our religious experience with God is to consistently remind us of our own failings, and God's perfection, grace, and love. It is only through this comparison that we can get beyond our personal inadequacies and proceed to mature in Christ.

Our comparison needs to be with the ideal church as presented by Christ in the New Testament. That Bride of Christ, who once cleansed of her impurity by his blood, strives to maintain that purity by not forming adulterous relationships with the world. Our self-complacency condemns us for the very sin that God hates most-pride. Exclusivity in thinking and arrogance in attitude testify against us that we are prideful. Our judgmental nature is such that if we do not agree on each jot and tittle of legalism, we cannot accept each other. If we cannot accept our brother or sister, who acknowledges the same love of God as we do, how do we ever hope to accept the unchurched sinner. We first seem to need to make sure he/she fits our mold and becomes the cookie-cutter Christian who never asks the difficult questions or wonders where the Spirit of the Lord is when we have our assemblies. Yes, in our pride we have bitten, devoured, and destroyed each other (Galatians 5: 15), with no remorse over the destruction.

In many congregations, our leaders have been the greatest obstacle to revival. This was also the case in Acts 4, where the Jewish leaders encountered a revival in God's church, sparked by the preaching of Peter and John. Even when faced with the miraculous power of God in healing the lame beggar, the leaders would not accept that God was moving within his church in a mighty way. Instead they said, “What are we going to do with these men? Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” (Acts 4: 16-17). Today we still find leaders in the church attempting to stop the spread of revival within their congregations. They do this by relabeling revival as emotionalism, pentecostalism, or denominationalism. Those who pray and plead for revival are devalued by the leadership. Those who hold opinions on non-salvation issues that differ from the leadership are also marked and neutralized. In many cases our leaders have even followed the example of Diotrephes, by suggesting that those who think differently remove themselves from their fellowship (III John 1: 9-10). In all of this the Spirit is quenched and the fire of revival is extinguished.

Therefore, revival will not come from God unless repentance and humility first come from us, and especially from our church leadership. Just as God said through Isaiah, “Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself?” Thus, we cannot decide that today we will start this program which will revive us, and then everything will be all right. This type of thinking is the height of arrogance-it is the way of corporate America, just organize a program to fix the problem and everything will be all right. God says no to such plans, and that he will not come to such an event. He says turn around your attitude and humble yourselves before him; confess your sins; repent and pray. Perhaps then the Lord will come, renew our spirits, and help us fix our problem.

Thus, revival happens when God's Spirit comes to dwell in the church in an increased measure. The church in Acts 4 was undergoing persecution, but they stood firm and prayed for God to enable them to speak with boldness and continue the work of Jesus. God's response to this prayer was direct in shaking the building and sending his Spirit in a greater measure. The result was that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word boldly. A spirit of unity prevailed due to the pervasive influence of the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians 3: 16-17 we read that the church is the temple of the Spirit. This means that the spirit lives collectively in the individual members and should be manifest when they assemble for worship. Yet, in reference to the fleshly body, James said “the body without the spirit is dead.” (James 2: 26). Today in a very real sense we have quenched, discounted, denied, and grieved the Holy Spirit by our pride, legalism, and fear. If the Spirit did show up at one of our assemblies, we might ask him to leave or perhaps leave ourselves, being convinced that such emotion and behaviors could only occur in a “denomination.” Still the Spirit of Jesus stands at the doors of our churches asking to be let in (Rev. 4: 20).

Only wholesale repentance, confession, and prayer can make a day of rededication effective. The hypocrisy of God's people cannot be hidden for long by increased religious activity. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4: 10). He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev. 3: 22).”