REvived or REformed?

Tuesday morning, April 15, 2008
It is official: I have accepted the invitation to preach a “revival” at Friendship Baptist Church near Lake Sinclair beginning Sunday morning, June 1, 2008. The pastor (Rev. Gary Horton) and I have met a couple of times for lunch and I must tell you that both of us are convinced that this is truly a Divine Appointment. To say that I am excited about this opportunity would be an understatement, a very under understatement.
As you might guess, my accepting this invitation has motivated me to do some thinking about this notion of “revival”. As I said in an earlier perspective, “revival” is not the term I would choose to describe meetings of this kind, and, I might add, the reasons are several. In the first place, most revivals are seen as evangelistic crusades; however, for obvious reasons, the spiritually dead do not need to be REvived. In the second place, God certainly does not need to be revived (if He does, then we are in heaps of trouble!). In the third place, if the purpose of revival is to revive those believers who are already involved in the church, to re-energize them to do what they are already doing but with more enthusiasm and faithfulness, then (in my opinion) the purpose is contrary to the purpose of God for His people. The truth is most church members are already running at “burnout levels” and, consequently, those who haven’t already done so, are ready to throw in the proverbial “towel” and leave the organized church. In other words, the church is killing it own people with its “we must win the world for Jesus and if we don’t hurry up and get it done the enemy will win” mentality.
In my not-so-humble opinion, the church does not need to be REvived, it needs to be REformed and when this happens, God’s elect, even those who do not yet know they are, will run to it like a thirsty deer on a hot summer Georgia day runs for the water brook. The truth is some very simple truths would turn the tide. For example, if we would just begin to let believers know that the responsibility for winning the lost rests on Jesus’ shoulders, not ours, the tide would turn and drastically so. If we would begin to let believers know that they CANNOT live the Christian life, that the ONLY person who can pull that off is Jesus, there would be a major turn in the tide. If we would begin to let believers know that we are here, not to work ourselves to death in an effort to bring in the Kingdom, but to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, there would, indeed, be a major turn in the tide!
Yes, the church needs to be REformed by returning to its roots, to those truths that give life and peace and rest; to those truths that honor God, not man; to those truths that refuse to make God a victim of man’s self-centeredness; and to those truths that give highest priority to the Word and to the Sacraments.
Well, now you know what I am thinking today, but who knows what thoughts tomorrow might bring.
Please, please begin to pray for me, for Rev. Horton, and for those who attend this Divine Appointment. To be sure, I stand in eager anticipation of what He is about to do among His people.