Revival Within

Revival

Did you know…there is revival going on at Asbury Seminary? That’s right…since February 8th chapel service…that never ended…people have been heading to Wilmore KY…just south of Lexington KY…to experience this revival.

But what is a Revival?…Revival is just that…a reviving of something…a bringing back to life...that has grown weary or too familiar…or stuck in a rut...

Believe it or not…revival is part of the Presbyterian tradition…from the earliest days of the Reformation to 19th century Stone Campbell like…open air...revivals in Kentucky…and along the frontier ...

...God has…over and over…called his people to revival…through repentance...renewal…and rejoicing in His presence and provision...

One church historian put it: “It is an interesting fact that most of the great American revival movements have come largely through Presbyterianism....”

(source: Touched by the Fire: Presbyterians and Revival (whitworth.edu)

“In the 1857 Annual Narrative of the State of Religion Within the Bounds of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, we read the following description:

“Another and the last evidence, that we cite, of an increasing vigor and efficiency in our denomination is, the intense longing, breathed through all the Narratives for a general, glorious outpouring of the Spirit.

The past year has not been one which may be characterized as a year of revivals, although many churches in many Presbyteries have been greatly quickened, and some have been favored with spiritual influences of extraordinary power…. ‘This longing for revivals we cannot but consider a cheering indication of the noblest life.

Next to a state of actual revival... is the sense of its need, and the struggle to attain it at any sacrifice of treasure, toil, or time. We trust that the period is not distant, when this state of actual, general, glorious revival shall be ours….’

I love the eager hope and anticipation of revival present in that statement from General Assembly in 1857…would that our modern General Assembly be so oriented…be so aware of the need for revival in our own time...

Revival is real…revival is happening…revival can happen here.

Revival and the Sermon on the Mount

I bring up spiritual revival…not only because it is in the news…although we certainly should not ignore stories like what is happening at Asbury…when those stories are being noticed by the general public...

I bring it up... because revival is what God is all about…revival is why God came to us in Jesus…revival the ever-present and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s church...

Revival is at the heart of all that the Bible teaches…

The Bible is a revival story…calling people to faith…calling people to repentance…calling people to live for God…and no longer for themselves...

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We continue today with our series on the Sermon on the Mount...

We read through the Beatitudes…how Jesus came to fulfill the law…and the first part of how Jesus…as the ultimate interpreter of the law…clarifies the heart of God’s law…given to Moses...

Today we continue with Jesus’ continued teaching on the heart of God’s law…and I want to invite us to hear this…and all our teaching on the sermon on the mount…as a call to revival...

This week…this Wednesday…at 6pm…we will have our Ash Wednesday service…which begins the season of lent…an intentional time of the recognition of our need for repentance before God…our need…for revival...

We need the LORD…at all times…we need revival at all times…and as we work through and finish the sermon on the mount through the season of LENT…let it be for us God’s calling us to revival...

This week

Last week we covered Jesus’ teaching on Anger, lust/adultery, Divorce and Taking Oaths... (aren’t you sorry you missed last week)

Today we look at his teaching on retaliation and loving our enemies…

Jesus states God’s law…eye for an eye…this is the law of retaliation…where retaliation is permissible but only to an equal level of the injury recieved...

It was not permissible to go to extremes in retaliation due to one’s anger…the law of retribution was meant to restrain our sinful tendency to go beyond our own injury in order to make a point....

Jesus’ teaching is not on whether or not an “eye for an eye” standard is fair or right…his teaching focuses on his disciple’s hearts...

…although retribution is legally permissible (in God’s law)…Jesus’ disciples...should not only give up their right of retaliation…but even bless those who harm them or steal from them.

Say what?!?

I can think of nothing more contrary…to the mindset of the western world…of people in the United States…than to tell them to “give up” a right they have.

I’ve said it before…and I’ll continue to say it because it’s true…and its how Christians should understand our own rights…

A quote from Oz Guiness… “The only restraint on freedom, that does not contradict freedom, is self-restraint”

Jesus is calling on his disciples to live lives of self-restraint...

You can see it in what we talked about last week…restrain ourselves in our anger...

in our disagreements and grudges

restrain ourselves in our lust and coveting of others

restrain ourselves in our right to seek divorce except in extreme cases

restrain ourselves in our right to take oaths…allowing our yes, to be our yes and our no, our no…

So it is with retaliation…In God’s law...it is permissible…even fair…to repay someone an ‘eye for an eye’...

But Jesus seeks to give us revival…to re-imagine the world through God’s eyes…who sees our sin…on top of sin…on top of sin...

Let me ask you…has God repaid you for each and every sin you’ve committed…like an “eye for an eye”?

For me…I know God has not done that…God has responded as Jesus tells us to respond…with grace…turning the other cheek…with long-suffering…offering our coat along with your shirt…or walking an extra mile with someone who has asked you to walk one already...

The revival God wants for us…is for us to wake up to now what rights we have under God’s law…but what rights we are willing to give up…for God…in order to fulfill the heart of the law of God...

And loving our enemies?

…Oh boy…that’s a tough one…but in the first century…it was even tougher…because Jews and Christians were under occupation by a foreign power…Rome...

Many advocated for armed revolt against them…and even carried that out on some occasions…followed swiftly and decisively by the overwhelming power of the Roman Empire...

Loving our enemies…as difficult as this is…is another sign of the revival of our hearts toward God...

It’s another sign that…as Christians…our orientation is not primarily this world…but God’s kingdom reality...

And God’s Kingdom reality is the way…the truth…and the light…it is perfection…found in perfect submission…by all who are blessed to be called “children of God”...

Going

So as we enter into the season of Lent this week…may we be fed by Jesus’ words to his disciples...

may we reorient ourselves and our lives...

away from our sin and self-centeredness that so dominates our lives

and toward God…through repentance…renewal and revival...

so that we may be blessed…and that we may be a blessing to our communities…and that our lives may reflect…our divergence with the world…and our alignment with the heart of God...

all to the glory of God...

Thanks be to God…AMEN.