This week we take a break from our Relationships in the Church series. At Faith Church this past week I gave a Q & A sermon. I asked the congregation for questions ahead of time, and then I attempted to bring biblical theology to bear on their questions. Here’s the next question:
Is revival a biblical concept? What is it and how does it manifest itself? Does the church in America, do we as individuals, need revival? If so, what, exactly, do we pray for and look for?
I remember a conversation I had with my brother when I was in college. I had taken a class on discipleship, and so the importance of being a disciple who makes disciples was on my mind. For Christmas my brother gave me a CD of Christian rock artist, Steve Taylor. As we listened to the album, which we both liked, something about the songs led to a discussion about revival. My brother made the very sincere comment that the American church needs revival. Because I had just been taking the discipleship class, I said, “We don’t need revival, we need discipleship.” I wouldn’t make that same claim today. It’s not either/or. I think we need both revival and discipleship.
Yes, revival is biblical! Revival is period of intense spiritual renewal, and we see revival unleashed numerous times in Scripture. Before we look at some descriptions of revival in the New Testament, I think it is important to note that revival is not the same as prolonged worship services. Revival leads to transformation both personally and societally. People who experience intense spiritual renewal choose to live differently. Revival, then, will affect social change. The Great Awakenings in the USA, for example, involved religious gatherings in which people experienced inward spiritual renewal. Then many of those people applied their new inner reality to the social situations of their day, seeking to bring mercy and justice to the injustices of the culture.
Where, then, do we see revival in Scripture. In the ministry of John the Baptist, huge crowds of people came to see this prophet who seemed like a reincarnation of the famous prophet Elijah. But John called people to repent and be baptized in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. The Spirit was at work in John’s ministry. It was a revival. John didn’t simply call people to change their inner beliefs, though. He called them to social change, to break the chains of injustice.
Then the Messiah arrived, and huge crowds followed him. The Messiah, Jesus, also preached repentance, and he led another revival. We notice very clearly in Jesus as well, as combination of inner belief and social change. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount describes a righteousness that surpasses the so-called righteous spiritual elite of his day, urging people to live in such a way that they would transform their society. His parable of the Sheep and the Goats is a clear example of his evidence of reaching those on the margins, and in so doing they would ministering to him.
Finally in Acts 2:41, on the first day of the church, right after the Holy Spirit filled the 120 followers of Jesus, both men and women, they boldly declared the story of Jesus, and we read that 3000 people were added to their number. Immediately, the account in Acts describes not only their spiritual beliefs, which were passionate, but also the church has a deeply selfless approach toward loving one another, especially those in deep social need. In Acts 6 we read about their system for caring for widows, for example.
In Scripture, then, when revival occurs, it leads to be spiritual and social transformation. But Jesus shows us that while revival can and does occur, revival is not the normal pattern of God’s work in humanity. I believe we can and should pray for revival, but we do not sit on our hands waiting for it. God does not promise revival as his normative means of working in the world. Instead, Jesus calls us to make disciples and bring justice to our cultures.
The ministry of disciple-making should be our normative passion and focus. We disciples make disciples as our daily observance of the mission of Jesus. We make disciples by investing in other people’s lives, living them, training them, mentoring them, coaching them, teaching them to follow the way of Jesus in their real day-to-day lives. Walking in community with people, having conversation with them about what Jesus is doing in their day to day lives. That’s all part of being disciples who make disciples.
So while we are right to pray “Spirit, bring revival to our land,” what we actually do while we wait for revival is make disciples.
Photo by Christian Dubovan on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 