If you’re a Christian or friends with many Christians, I’m sure this week your social media feed, like mine, has included a lot of chatter about events at Asbury College. Terms like "revival" and "awakening" are being applied to a protracted prayer and praise gathering that began with a regular chapel service last Wednesday, February 7, and continues even as I type. What welcome news amid the horrors of war, rumors of war, spy balloons, mass shootings, deadly and devastating earthquakes, and toxic chemical leaks from derailed trains, etc!
In 1970 this now multi-denominational school in eastern Kentucky with historic ties to the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition was the scene of what has come to be known as the first Asbury Awakening which some have linked to the early days of the much larger and more well-known "Jesus Movement." The current event is garnering nationwide attention and even drawing curious in-person observers from all over the country.
I've read some reports, but haven't weighed-in with a long opinion or analysis of my own on social media, which I don’t think would be especially helpful. This post from Asbury's president, Timothy Tennent, provides a responsible up-close perspective and is worth your time to read.
As pastor of a local congregation and mission strategist for an association of churches I want to be clear that I believe God undeniably gives special outpourings of mercy and renewal in church history. Yet while these special seasons may differ in size and strength from ordinary seasons of the Holy Spirit’s activity among God’s people, God’s purpose in extra-ordinary seasons does not differ in substance from ordinary seasons. For example, God wants his people to repent of sin, to seek after holiness in their lives, to offer forgiveness to and to ask forgiveness from others, to gather with other believers, to proclaim the gospel with boldness near home and to the furthest reaches of earth ALL THE TIME, not just in special times of revival. God wants the Church to be devoted to prayer, to the careful study and application of his word, and to loving Jesus, and he wants these things ALL THE TIME. The difference is we’ll see more of these blessings during a revival. That’s where the ‘extra’ in extra-ordinary comes in.
We can’t force God’s hand in revival. This is an error of revival-ism or revival-istic thinking. Real revival is not man-made but God-given. Real revival is not about spiritual innovation but rather a Spirit-wrought intensification in our pursuit of things we should all earnestly desire ALL THE TIME as disciples of Jesus.
In July 2013 I attended my fourth and final week-long doctoral seminar as I pursued a course of study in biblical spirituality at Southern Seminary in Louisville. It was my favorite of the four seminars, and it was called "Spiritual Awakenings and Revivals." Out of the overflow of that seminar I decided to preach a month-long series from Acts 2 on the subject of revival in September of that year to my Bridge Church family. Perhaps these messages will be helpful to you. They're available in the Sermon Archive of www.bridgechurchperry.com, or you can simply click the links below:
September 8, 2013 – “Amazed and Perplexed: Clearing Up Confusion Concerning Revival – Part 1” (Acts 2:1-21) – D. Avery
September 15, 2013 – “Amazed and Perplexed: Clearing Up Confusion Concerning Revival – Part 2” – (Acts 2:12-13) – D. Avery
September 22, 2013 – “God has Made Him both Lord and Christ: The Gospel Content of True Revival” – (Acts 2:22-36) – D. Avery
September 29, 2013 – “And All Who Believed Were Together: Christian Community and Revival” (Acts 2:37-47) – D. Avery
As a fellowship of gospel churches, let's pray for a true season of refreshing to come from the Lord. Remember, if it comes at all it’ll only come from him! Let's also pray that the events at Asbury be free of carnal influence or manipulation but full of gospel fruits like renewed Christian commitment, restored relationships, and reinvigorated zeal for the things of God. We should want the outside world to take note of stirrings among believers, but we must pray they truly be (and remain) God-appointed, Christ-exalting stirrings.
Furthermore, we needn’t be jealous of revivals or awakenings happening in other places; rather we ought to be thankful for God’s mercy and hopeful that such blessings will spread. Nor do we need to be skeptical, self-appointed ‘revival police’ just out to critique and dismiss what we see from a distance or hear about only in diluted form through media. Is emotionalism a problem? It certainly can be. Is there a place for itinerant preaching ministry today? Yes. But do some leaders abuse hearers by playing to emotions as they whoop up "revivals," get people to doubt their salvation and pressure people to "make decisions" in a frenzied state of guilt, shame, and fear, eager to count those decisions only to bolster their status as evangelists with no intent of staying to do the hard work of making disciples? Sadly, yes again.
It's right and good to desire genuine revival, but it’s not good to hope in it. Last Sunday I preached from Peter's exhortation in 1 Peter 2:1. According to Peter, the church’s hope must not be in revival but in a forthcoming glorious revealing! Ponder these words carefully. I think they fit this present situation perfectly:
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Let’s desire the special, extra-ordinary workings of the Holy Spirit now and rejoice when, by God’s mercy, we taste those special seasons of blessing. But let’s put our full hope in that revelation for which these occasional dispensations help prepare the Church and which will thus make such dispensations no longer necessary. Come, Lord Jesus!