2 - 2023 - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2023 | Day 6: The Gospel’s Power

The Purpose of Questions

As a Christian, I think it is important to ask questions about our faith. There are several kinds of questions. “Kinds” in the sense of intent.

There are questions that are searching for answers. There are questions designed to provide clarity. There are questions that undermine a person’s belief. There are questions that challenge us to think in new ways.

Questions in themselves are not bad. However, when questions are weaponized to destroy a person’s confidence in who they are or what they believe these can be considered harmful. We should not engage in these kinds of questions. The best questions are the ones that help us better understand the world around us. And even ourselves.

We can be concerned that someone’s beliefs may cause harm to them. But, it would be better to try and convince them of this and help them find another way. When questions are used as a cudgel against others it actually causes them to hold onto their position more strongly.

When people’s belief systems are challenged, the thought of having to admit their errors can be quite dissonant. So much so, most people would rather continue believing they are wrong.

Understanding the Gospel’s Power

I bring this short discussion about questions up because there is a question we have to face as people who believe the Gospel. Namely: what is the Gospel’s power to affect my life today?

For most people, whether said or not, this is one of the great obstacles to faith in Jesus.

How is it that an event that occurred two thousand years ago, by a God no one has ever seen, is supposed to affect my life now? This is both an honest and fair question. It is also a question we should not be afraid of as believers.

The question of the Gospel’s power contains several layers of assumptions that must be overcome and whose conclusions must then be believed.

The question of the Gospel’s power is grounded in one important reality: we cannot save ourselves. It does not matter how hard we try, we cannot escape the confines of this world. We cannot cast off the constraints of time. We cannot alter the reality of our mortality. These constants function like gravity. They keep us grounded. We cannot take off flying just because we don’t like having to walk.

So, from a theological perspective, what are we saying when we say that the Gospel has the power to save us today?

Let me start with what I am NOT saying. I am not saying that salvation is just intellectual assent. I am not saying that recitation of the Gospel is sufficient for redemption.

I am saying that whatever is behind the message is what has power. The message tells me where to look. It points me in the right direction. It helps me to identify that I am looking in the right direction.

God is the Guarantor of the Gospel

The power of the Gospel is that God himself, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, guarantees what the Gospel promises. Not in some arbitrary way. Not in a way that can be negotiated either.

It is a guarantee because when we have accepted the provisions of the salvation the Gospel points to, then we can know we are saved. Not because we want it to be true, but because God says it is.

In the Gospel, we are told that no mere man could do what God required for salvation. So, in order to accomplish his purposes, God entered into the human experience and stood as a representative for all who shared that same nature.

Only God could do what needed to be done. Anything or anyone else would have been a complete failure. As it already was. The book of Hebrews highlights how the sacrificial system of the nation of Israel failed. The deficiency was that the blood of bulls and goats could not satisfy what God required.

¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ²Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.

⁴It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; ⁶with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

⁷Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’”

⁸First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.⁹Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.¹⁰And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:1-10 NKJV

The blood of bulls and goats was just a reminder of what was required. But only God could do it. And because only God could do it, he did it in Jesus’s life and ministry.

God is the judge and the judged

How did God accomplish this great work of salvation? God did it by becoming the judge and the judged.

²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26 NKJV

The principal reason the Gospel has power is that God is at work both in suffering for sin and redeeming from it. Because his power is on display on both sides of the problem, we who hear and receive the message can have confidence. We have confidence, not in our ability to stay saved. We are confident in God’s ability to never fail to do what he has said he would and did do.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 05: The Gospel’s Purpose

In the previous post, we looked at the Gospel’s Focus. That the good news of Jesus Christ is found in his death, burial, and resurrection. And by this, the problem of sin is dealt with. Sin is the obstacle that prevents me from having a relationship with God. Therefore, if this issue is not resolved, then I am unable to reestablish any fellowship with God. I do not have the ability to live according to the righteousness God requires in my own strength.

The Gospel’s Purpose Restablishes Fellowship

This latter reality is the Gospel’s Purpose: To reestablish fellowship between human beings and God.

The Gospel addresses the issue of sin so that I might have fellowship with God. That is why the Gospel exists, must be proclaimed, and ultimately believed. Every single one of us needs to have fellowship with God. In that fellowship, we can finally discover our purpose and live in peace. Without that fellowship, we flounder trying to determine why exist.

Of the many reasons we struggle in life, our limited knowledge and wisdom create the greatest challenges. When we try and make decisions, chart a course for living, or simply try to communicate with others, we are limited by what we know. And potentially harmed by what we don’t. The difference between these two is not always felt. But the risk is always present.

Decisionmaking in the Dark

So often in life, we make decisions and choices in the dark. We really don’t know what we should do next. No matter how hard we try. We try to mitigate the mistakes we make. But that only works when we have a sense of the scope of the consequences. And again, most times we simply do not.

In reality, we are just doing the best we can. And there is nothing inherently wrong with this.

But what if we could consult with someone who knew what was coming? What if we could seek the wisdom of someone who had “seen in all before”? How would that change how we live?

I think it would reduce the anxiety many of us feel when trying to make sense of the world. Having someone who can warn us of danger and redirect our steps would save us a lot of heartaches.

However, what tends to happen is we dismiss this possibility when it comes to God. We have been trained to believe this is wishful thinking. That to trust in God is to rely on whims of fancy. But, who else can we trust?

The Gospel Addresses the Fundamental Problem

The Gospel speaks to the critical issue hindering us in life. We are not perfect. In every case we can imagine, we are deeply flawed. Sometimes bemused by our own decisions. At other times because of the decisions and actions of others. Regardless of the reason, the truth remains the same, we are all looking for something that will make life easier. Or at the very minimum, more tolerable.

Why then does faith in God get dismissed? Could it be because we inherently know that our fellowship had been broken? That there is something that must happen in order to re-enter the conversation with God?

It may be difficult for some to see this, but I think this is more the truth of the situation than many are ready to admit. We all instinctively recognize that if we are flawed beings there should be at least one being marked by utter perfection. It only makes sense. And yet, when offered an opportunity to explore the possibility of having a relationship with such a being, it is cast aside.

This is truly a remarkable set of circumstances.

The Gospel Speaks to our Deep Longing

So, what does this have to do with the Gospel’s purpose? Namely this: if one of the greatest longings of the human soul is to find perfection, then why do we balk at the idea of that perfection being found in God?

If God exists, he would have standards. And those standards would be far more demanding than any we could think up. And this is the reality that the Gospel posits.

God exists. And God has standards. But he has also provided a way of resolving the problem. We have to trust in the method and means God has provided for the restoration of fellowship.

God is not asking us to pay for the reason the rupture in fellowship exists. That is not God’s demand or expectation.

What God asks of us is to accept the way he has provided to reestablish fellowship.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | The First Sunday in Lent

The Collect

O Lord, who for our sake did fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being submitted to the Spirit we may ever obey your godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to your honor and glory, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.¹

The Lessons

Psalm: Ps. 91

O. T.: Gen. 3:1-21

Epistle: 2 Cor. 6:1-10

Gospel: Matt. 4:1-11

Meditation

Lent 2023 Series

Collect and Lessons are from the Book of Prayer and Order (2020). [↩]

Lent 2023 | Day 4: The Gospel’s Focus

The Gospel is Simple

As the years have passed by, I have reflected more and more on what the Gospel is and what it is the answer to. The Gospel is a response to a specific issue in the God-human relationship. There are other things that could be discussed about the Christian faith, but those should be brought up after the Gospel has been shared and accepted. To do it earlier would confuse what the Gospel is and why it is needed. (A problem quite common in our day.)

Too often we think that all the content and ideas that we now know as part of the body of knowledge of the Christian faith must be also received and accepted in order to share the Gospel. This is not correct. All of the theology and concepts that make up orthodox belief are learned after faith in Christ. A faith in Christ that is initiated through an acceptance of the Gospel’s call to repentance.

The Question the Gospel Answers

So, what is the focus of the Gospel? It is to pinpoint the issue that is keeping any person from having a relationship with God.

And what is that issue? It is our sin.

The Gospel is God’s answer to the question of what is keeping me separated from God.

That’s it. The Gospel is not answering any questions about theological quandaries, social problems, or any other questions we might have about life in this world.

The Gospel tells us what needs to be addressed and how God has chosen to address that issue.

We Must Know the Gospel

Several weeks ago I spoke on the theme that would be the focus of this year. Our theme, like this series of reflections, is on knowing the Gospel. In order to be effective disciples we must become experts in the message that saves. If we are not, then we will be unable to effectively engage with the world around us.

Any deficiency in our understanding of the Gospel will find its way into how we think about God, ourselves, and others. When we do not have a firm grasp of what the Gospel is about, we can make it about almost anything. This is a danger to all involved.

It may not appear to be so, but the temptation to “help” the Gospel will increase over time. The singular problem with this drift is it reveals a presumption we have. It is the belief that we know how to best communicate to others what God has perfectly designed.

There are two specific effects of sin that the Gospel addresses as it answers the question of sin. We will look at them now.

Our Identity was contaminated

The first effect is that our identity was completely scrambled by sin. When Adam and Eve accepted the serpent’s version of what God had said, they lost their identity. They were made in the image of God. That means they were reflections of God, not copies of God.

Humanity is not, and was never supposed to be, gods. But, by accepting the serpent’s false promise they have up what they were. They were guardians and stewards of God’s creation. Entrusted with its care and authorized to enjoy its fruits. But when they accepted the possibility of being like God they could no longer enjoy the task they had been assigned.

And ever since then, we have been trying to refashion ourselves as if we were God. This is not only an impossible feat, it is a prospect only a fool would entertain.

Fellowship with others became adversarial

The second effect of sin is that our relationships with others became adversarial. We were not in competition with those around us.

We see this when Adam and Eve both blame someone else for their sin. But we also see it in what happened to the first sons born outside of the Garden. The older, out of jealousy, killed his brother. And then pretended not to know that he was in fact responsible to look out for his brother.

Both of these effects are the consequence of sin. And both of these are answered by the entrance of Jesus into the world. Through his life and example, Jesus begins to show us what a world without sin looks like. But he does it amongst sinners. Giving us hope that we too can someday, somehow do it as well.

Conclusion

The Gospel is God’s answer to the issue of sin. This is the focus of the message we have believed.

Everything else is what we learn as we continue to be thankful for God’s grace in Jesus.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 3: The Gospel’s Need

The need of the Gospel is that we must find a way to have that relationship restored. However, we are not in a position to make that happen.

In order to understand why we need the Gospel we have to appreciate what was lost. The need for the Gospel is that we, those with broken fellowship with God, must find a way to have that relationship restored. However, we are not in a position to make that happen. We also do not have the authority to do it.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us needing someone or something that has both the authority and the ability to change the situation.

This is where the Gospel comes in. The Gospel is the remedy we need, but may not always fully appreciate. I can say that without a doubt in my own life.

Growing up Christian is Not Enough

I’ve been a Christian my entire life. There has never been a time when I did not see myself as a member of the Church or as a follower of Christ. But, as I grew in my knowledge of the Gospel, God, and my own sin, I realized that was not enough.

Just because I grew up in church and in a Christian home, that did not make me a Christian. I did not receive faith by osmosis. I had to learn I had a need. A need only God could satisfy.

Over the course of my life, I have thought about why I “forget” that I need the Gospel. Why do I slip into this mindset where I think “I’m good to go. I don’t need anything,” at least spiritually speaking?

Where does this come from?

At least for me, it comes from taking for granted the circumstances that require a Gospel to be proclaimed at all. I fall into this way of thinking when I simply do not consider how the trajectory of human history has been toward selfishness and pride.

Sure there have been moments of altruism and even self-sacrifice. Examples of men and women who have given their lives for others. But, on the whole, the reason those examples stand out is that there seem to be so few of them.

Communion with God was severed

The principal issue that necessitated the Gospel was humanity’s communion with God was severed. It was broken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

There have been debates about what exactly happened. Some are more interesting than others. A few are more entertaining than others. Regardless of the point of view, the reality remains: Adam and Eve’s disobedience disrupted humanity’s communion with God.

As a result, paradise was lost. Innocence was forever tarnished. And the brokenness that entered in by that disobedience has been inherited in each successive generation.

Whether or not we will ever know what happened is not really the point. We can look at the world around us and know something is not right out there. We all seem to have become calloused to the way life is devalued. We want to believe otherwise. But it is hard to escape the influence of this broken fellowship with God.

God’s Holiness was challenged

But why was the punishment for disobedience exile?

That is a good and fair question. The best analogy that has been shared with me can be found in many judicial systems. It is the idea of restitution. That what was stolen or destroyed must be restored. But if the item itself cannot be returned, then some form of compensation is paid to the injured party.

One of the challenges with restitution is that only the one who has been harmed can be repaired. Only the one who has been deprived of what was taken can determine what will satisfy the injury. At a basic human level, we all can understand this. If a window is broken, a new window is installed and/or paid for.

But how does this work with God? How do we, who are finite and now broken by sin, pay restitution to God? What was damaged by our disobedience was the holiness of God. Not in the sense that God was hurt or diminished. God’s holiness was challenged by Adam and Eve’s disobedience and God, because he is perfection itself, cannot abide such behavior in his presence.

The Grace of God was still on Display

And even in his punishment, God showed mercy. He told the first couple that the result of their disobedience would be death. But before he passed that judgment, God sent them away so that they might be restored in some way. So, death became the result of their sin, but it was delayed because of grace.

In the first, chapters of the Bible, we see the gospel in seed form. God in his perfection must act to address the reality of sin, but he does so by giving those who have sinned against him every opportunity to be restored.

The Gospel’s need is seen from the very opening of God’s word. We see how much was lost; how badly humanity was affected by sin. And yet, God does not merely destroy his creation. God acts according to his character. And God acts in such a way as to advance his goal of preparing the way for the Gospel.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 2: The Gospel’s Origin

When our trust in the Word of God is challenged, our faith can be shaken. Once that shaking begins we become every more unstable in our confidence of God has revealed.

As creatures constrained by the limitations of our nature, we are bound by time and space, we often struggle with understanding God’s perspective. It would be better to say we almost never understand God’s mind.

I am always leery of those who claim to be able to do so. Because of my caution in this area, I encourage an ever-growing confidence in God’s word. It is the trusted record of God’s purpose for us.

When our trust in the Word of God is challenged, our faith can be shaken. Once that shaking begins we become ever more unstable in our confidence of God has revealed.

God, speaking through the prophet, says as much. He tells us that

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹“For asthe heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV

This is more than just a declaration of a difference in degree. It is a proclamation of the difference in kind.

How God thinks is beyond our ability to guess or even approximate. When we really consider the issue, we realize that all our attempts at understanding how God operates will be miserably short.

Why does this matter?

The Gospel message, the message that communicates how God has determined to redeem lost sinners, was not an invention after the fact. The fall of humanity was not a possibility from God’s perspective. It was a certainty. One he anticipated and prepared for.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

When did God decide to put his plan of salvation into place? The apostle Paul tells us “from the foundation of the world.” This is a euphemism that points to eternity past.

The origin of the Gospel’s purpose and promise was considered and enacted before God spoke one word to create the universe in which we live.

It is with this starting point that we can better understand how precious the Gospel really is.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 1: Ash Wednesday and The Gospel’s Premise

One of the essential images of the Ash Wednesday commemoration is the imposition of ashes on the forehead or hands of believers. It is a tradition that goes back centuries. One that many have never experienced.

If an Ash Wednesday is not a part of your tradition of faith, I would encourage you to attend one. This is more an encouragement for my friends who are in non-liturgical churches. But even if your tradition does celebrate Ash Wednesday, visiting with believers in other traditions and experiencing how they celebrate the day may be well worth the time and effort.

But, it is a helpful question to ask: why impose ashes? Why do this at all?

The ashes represent our mortality. That we have a finite time here on this earth. And that we should not take for granted what we have.

Life is a gift. One we can never repay. Nor should we even try. The best we can do is enjoy what we have been given. In the best way, we can.

Life is not always easy or smooth. There are many who have suffered a great deal in life. And for those in circumstances like these, it can be difficult to enjoy the gift of life.

I can appreciate that. What I offer is a reminder. Not that all of life will be perfect. Without trouble or conflict. I just want to call our attention to the fact all of life is a gift. Even when it is not turning out like we wanted it to. Even when it is hard.

When we receive the ashes, we are acknowledging and accept that we are not in control of our own destiny. What does that mean? It means we feel deeply the reality we are not in control of whether or not we wake up each morning or even controlling something as mundane as our next breath.

In all of this, we are the beneficiaries of God’s grace.

We want to believe that we are the authors of our own stories. That we are not beholden to anyone or anything. But this misses an essential aspect of the human experience—that we are restrained by time and space.

Our finitude is not a curse. But it is a restriction we have to embrace.

The ashes are made by burning the dried palm branches of the previous year’s Palm Sunday Celebration. The link between Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion is significant.

We are called to remember our mortality as Jesus was called to surrender his on the cross.

Remember that you are dust, to dust you shall return. This is the central motif of Lent.

May we embrace this message with fervor. We have no reason to fear.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Introduction: The Season of Lent

The Day before Ash Wednesday

The day before Ash Wednesday has a variety of names. It has been known as Fat Tuesday. But more commonly it is known as Mardi Gras. Most people would think of the party that takes place in New Orleans, but there is an important liturgical reality to the day preceding Ash Wednesday.

The reason for this is two-fold. The Season of Lent is a time of fasting and reflection. It is the liturgical season that precedes Easter. Through the centuries, the Church has used this time to remember how much we need Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection together serve as the climax of God’s redemptive work through him.

The day prior to Ash Wednesday was used as a way of enjoying those things that would be forsaken during the season of Lent. However, as with most things, this meaning was, in great measure has been lost, and we only remember the party. And not what the celebration was preparing us for.

The Season of Lent

As we enter into Lent, we are all called to make an evaluation of how we have been living out our faith. We are challenged over the course of six weeks to deny ourselves of some temporal good so we can increase our focus on some spiritual reality. It really isn’t about what we give up or what we add to our daily spiritual disciplines. The focus should be on intentionally drawing closer to God, even if we only participate in this level of focus for a season once a year.

As we live our lives, we can’t all adopt the lifestyles of monks and nuns. There are bills to pay, children to raise, work to do, and so many more responsibilities we have tend to. And all of these are important. They serve as the outlets through which we can show the world what God has been doing in us.

One Life to Live

When we see the activity of a spiritual life as being of a different kind than what we do in our “everyday” life, we are making a critical mistake. There should not be some distinction between our “faith life” and our “normal life”.

We only have one life.

And the better able we are to understand this, the more likely we will be to avoid artificial barriers in our lives.

This is what this series of reflections is about this year.

Let’s Focus on the Gospel

The Gospel is the most important message ever proclaimed. In it and by it, we are invited to return to what God desired for his creation—that we would live in fellowship with him. But, since the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we were and have been separated from God. Therefore, God enacted a plan to redeem what was lost.

The Gospel is the hub from which we can understand all that God is doing in the world and in us.

As we look at the Gospel, each reflection will highlight one characteristic of the Gospel message. This is not intended to be an exhaustive study of the Gospel. It’s meant to be descriptive. To help us better understand that what the Gospel does is far more and far more wonderful than we may have ever fully realized.

I pray you will find these reflections edifying. If you do, I invite you to do two things.

Comment below each reflection letting me know how the thoughts challenged you or reminded you of something you already knew.
Sign up for our newsletter. You will get each new post in your email so you don’t miss a single one.

Lent 2023 Series

Asbury is not OUR revival

What’s happening at Asbury is not MY revival. It’s not OUR revival. My participation in it is tertiary at best. And even though I thought about making a trip, I’ve decided against it.

Honoring God and Asbury University

As I have been reflecting on the Asbury Awakening¹, I have found myself conflicted by the “conversation” happening among those not in Wilmore.

As an outsider and spectator, I want to make sure my heart is in a posture of humility. I don’t want to be dismissive or in denial regarding what is taking place.

I also don’t want to assume “ownership” or “rights” to something I have not prayed for specifically and have not been laboring for intentionally.

Let me say it bluntly. What’s happening at Asbury is not MY revival. It’s not OUR revival. My participation in it is tertiary at best. And even though I thought about making a trip, I’ve decided against it.

Whatever benefits I may glean from what God is doing in Kentucky, it will be to praise him for visiting a people who have called for a special impartation of his presence. Other than that, it would be improper and disingenuous of me to go there and try to reap where others have sown.

I don’t need a spiritual fix. The students, faculty, and staff of Asbury don’t have to prove anything to me. And God doesn’t need to verify his purposes with me so I can put my stamp of approval on it. Please just sit down with that foolishness!

Discernment is a Process, not a Weapon

My temperament is generally “wait and see.” Not out of disinterest in what is happening. I have been filled with so much joy seeing what God has been doing. Reading and hearing the testimonies have encouraged me profoundly.

I am the type of person who trusts that if what is taking place is of God it will last and if it’s not, it will pass. Over the years I have learned that discernment is a process we grow into. We must never use it as a weapon to manipulate others to our way of seeing or doing things.

Either way, God is neither flustered nor bothered by my response or lack thereof. There do appear to be some who have been. And I think it’s right to offer some clarifying counsel on the tone of this conversation.

When we do not make assessing our presuppositions and bias a part of the discernment process, we invariably make avoidable errors. We will become the very people we are warning against. And, what’s worse, we may do it with a self-righteous spirit.

So, with that in mind, I would like to offer some thoughts.

Maturity takes Time

As I’ve grown older, I hope I have also grown wiser. But, only the trust of others can confirm that. Maturity takes time. And the reason it does is that some things have to be seen, felt, and even tasted in order to properly understand them.

Here are some of the thoughts I have been processing as I have been reading, watching, praying, and sharing with some friends and colleagues.

As with anything in life, we are almost always dealing with tension created by opposing forces. So what are those forces at play here? I will provide some examples to help us move the discussion along.

There is honest questioning.

There is dishonest questioning.

Honest skepticism.

Dishonest skepticism.

Honest caution.

Dishonest caution.

Honest concern.

Dishonest concern.

How do we tell the difference?

I’ve been asking myself this for the last few days.

As a pastor, I have to navigate between my role as a shepherd of souls and my life as a disciple. And it’s at the intersection of those two realities in my life that I find clarity.

If my motivation is wisdom, truth, genuineness, and the advancement of the kingdom, then I am leaning toward honesty.

But if what is happening needs to prove to me that it’s real, then I’m leaning toward the dishonesty side.

Being concerned for the well-being of another’s soul is honest. Being concerned about a “Simon the magician” (Acts 8:9-24) getting some air time is dishonest.

Desiring that more people experience a renewal of faith or the start of it is honest. Being concerned that people are going to miss out on the “real thing” is dishonest.

Voicing caution because of the temptation to sensationalize and even force a move of God is honest. Hyperventilating about how this move of God is not like or not as good as others is dishonest.

Beware the Sin of Pride

Once again, I sense there are some of us who are looking at the right things in the wrong ways. Fighting for something while undermining it in an attempt to “protect” it.

We should take care of how we speak. For we may be speaking out of turn!

The following clip always reminds me of this. God knows what He’s doing.

We esteem our wisdom too highly; our maturity too quickly; our discernment too prescriptive; and our longing more passionate than it truly burns.

When God shows up, the mouths of fools are shut, the strength of muscles melts like wax, and the thirst of parched souls is satiated.

I’ve seen that in my own life and journey with God. And I’m seeing glimpses of that now at Asbury. Even from a distance.

That doesn’t mean it’s “perfect.” Nothing handled by human beings ever is. But just because it’s not how I would do it doesn’t make it wrong or “less than” what God can use.

We must be careful not to become the appraisers of the quality of God’s plans. That is a very dangerous position to assume.

If there are those trying to take center stage for selfish reasons, they will be revealed. And no one will pay them any mind.

So let not your hearts be troubled. The king is still reigning. And he is more than capable of sorting out the wheat from the chaff than we are. Or ever will be.

I would like to give credit to Dr. Timothy Tennent for using this framing of what is happening at Asbury [↩]

Can we still ask questions when revival comes?

I want to start by unequivocally stating that I am for how God started to and continues to move at Asbury during a chapel service last Wednesday.

College was a crucial time in my own spiritual story. And so I’m always happy to see college students experience the same thing.

I’ve also seen many others going to join in on what’s happening in Asbury in order to experience it. And I’m excited to see how it has rejuvenated their faith in real ways.

Overall, I’m always thankful when I see people having genuine encounters with the God who wants to be their friend. And this instance is no different.

But that’s also why I want to share how I’m processing a crossroads of emotions when it comes to naming something a “revival,” the Gen Z as a “chosen generation” insinuations I’ve been seeing, and what in recent years has been inconsistent support (or lack thereof) for various expressions of “revival.”

Why?

Because I’m concerned we can find ourselves blinded in these revivalistic situations to the wholeness of what God is doing.

We can find ourselves unwilling to address potential blindness that has been around for a while within contexts we are most familiar with.

We can unintentionally put our hopes in something God does instead of who God is and who He wants us to be.

I’ve spoken to others feeling similar ways but who are nervous about voicing it for fear of coming across as “against” how God is working.

We don’t have these feelings because we don’t long to see God move, or haven’t seen Him move in our own lives and ministry settings – time and time again.

Those I’ve spoken to are not against the movements of God. We are for them. We’ve been a part of them. Most of us still are. Just not in the same box we once used to think God’s movements happened in.

We just have questions about what I’ve been calling spiritual dissonance that seems to exist in the midst of what is happening (and has existed for some time now).

I’ve been defining spiritual dissonance as an inconsistency in behavior, attitude and/or thoughts concerning someone’s (or a group’s) expressed faith statements and what really gets experienced by those around them.

And I actually think if we will deal with the dissonance – instead of ignoring it all out of the fear of offending someone – a revival might genuinely spread farther than it has in a long time.

Don’t think I’m posting these things lightly or hastily. It’s taken me a week to unpack the reasons I’m struggling, and here’s what I’ve talked with Jesus about so far…

FIRST

I am unsure why we need to label something “revival” so quickly.

Merely 3 hours into the continuous worship service at Asbury we were already seeing this language. Similar worship services are popping up elsewhere and people are immediately calling them “revival.”

Why do we “need” God to be at work in this specific way or measure up to our expectations of such words?

That’s a real point of wrestling for me.

What God is doing is not what I’m questioning. I’m asking why we need it to be “something” instead of just being present to and describing what is happening.

Especially when we mix social media into it, the lines blur between attention grabbing and sharing what’s going on. Definitely once we escalate the language to using words like “revival” and “awakening.” Those are loaded words.

This has been a problem for a long time in the recent American church culture. The use of words that hype things instead of just describe them.

It’s a weird dissonance since we believe in a God who doesn’t need to be hyped.

I’ll be honest, it comes across as us needing God “to move” more than us just needing God alone.

I’ve seen this across the spectrum of denomination and theological preference. This deep need for God to be “at work” as opposed to just allowing God to “be.”

Revival involves a heightened awareness of God’s presence.

Can’t we just be present to that heightened awareness of Him, instead of needing to name it something so quickly?

SECOND

I’m not sure the things I’ve already seen being spoken over this generation are helpful for them nor actually helpful for spreading “revival.”

I am (in generational terms) an elder millennial.

My generation was spoken over by our spiritual fathers and mothers as if we were a “chosen generation” to bring revival so many times I can’t count.

Remember, we are the WWJD and True Love Waits “purity ring” generation told to be like Jesus in every area of our life.

We are the the Passion Conference’s 268 generation fulfilling the promise of God to raise up a new generation of Christian leaders to change the world.

We are the World Changers, World Race, Charity:Water, TOMS generation (and on I could go listing numerous organizations) that come out of the “change the world” complex we were handed.

We are a generation that popularized youth worship bands and attended packed out youth group conferences across the nation.

We are a generation that has ushered in the era of worship concerts and worship bands becoming chart topping recording artists.

And we are now a generation that is in widespread deconstruction of many of these things.

Being a part of a generation who has experienced all this is why the “Gen Z as a chosen generation” insinuations reveal such a dissonance.

Are we just going to repeat the mistakes with this generation that were made with my generation?

Are things being spoken over them that could lead to the same disillusionment it has for so many in my generation?

Instead, couldn’t we just give them the space to, at their own pace, embrace the work of God in their lives and in the world thru them?

Without it needing to “lead” to something like “revival.”

Can’t we just encourage them and be present to what is happening and not what we desire something to become?

THIRD

Probably the largest reason for my mixed emotions deals with a cultural bias that I can no longer look past in the church world.

Actually, it’s the blindness of not being able to see a major cultural bias that continues to be present in many quarters of Christ’s body.

One example of it relates to what happened just a couple years ago when revivals were breaking out on the streets. In the midst of the protests and pain of racial injustice, we were seeing worship services, salvations, baptisms, miracles. The reports of what was happening were amazing!

But I didn’t see my social media feeds blow up with the same excitement about those moves of God in the same way it is with the current one. Instead I saw skepticism and cynicism.

I didn’t see many of these same church leaders and people flocking to those revivals like they’re flocking to this one. Instead I saw discouraging remarks or at best distant platitudes offered.

I have many thoughts on why, but I’ll only share just a few.

It’s easy to support a “revival” when it fits into the box of the cultural expectations we have as to how “revival” should come.

Of where we’ve been taught God should be moving.

Of whom we’re used to expecting to see God at work among.

Of historically who we’ve become accustomed to “revivals” as starting with.

Of politically who we’ve been influenced to believe are the real Christians who must have the Holy Spirit.

I’ll be blunt: this current “revival” fits the right box for majority white American church culture.

It started at a majority white Christian college, in their chapel, expressed thru an ongoing time of worship and personal confession and scripture reading and such.

It fits. Its comfortable. It’s normative.

But because it’s firmly planted within a specific set of cultural expectations, it’s also disconnected from how God has been at work among His people who do not see those specific cultural settings as normative.

There are other “moves of God” and “revivals” that have been happening across various church circles, that don’t check this same cultural box, all over the country for a while now.

Many in those circles have been experiencing such movements for decades even.

Maybe you haven’t seen or heard about them because they don’t fit in the box that would get the approval or attention of majority culture.

Maybe they just happened in places that didn’t get the same coverage as this one is getting.

But they’ve been just as real. And just as “revivalistic.”

Spontaneous prayer vigils going for days.

Worship services that last however long they need to.

Miracles.

Salvations.

Testimonies.

Confessions.

Altars flooded.

The Spirit moving.

Some of these things are even normative in church cultures that the majority white church culture has struggled to fully embrace.

And yet when they happen in these cultural contexts that aren’t normative to majority church culture – the same support, acknowledgement, social media frenzy, and flocking to be a part doesn’t seem to follow.

This reveals a blindness.

A blindness along the lines of cultural preference. It’s a cultural bias. And we can say it’s cultural because it’s not cultivating a unified community.

It’s a bias that has kept us siloed and consistently isolated from others who are also members of the one body of Christ.

If we’re honest, this blindness is not about whether something is a “revival” or not – but rather whether God is moving in the way and among the people I’m comfortable with or not.

SO WHAT NOW?

I will continue to struggle with all 3 of these areas of spiritual dissonance, while also praying for a continued experience of God’s presence in what is happening. Not just at Asbury, but all over the Church.

I won’t let any of these feeling keep me from continuing to pray that what is happening would spread.

It’s not an either-or for me.

But it is an acknowledgment of the reality of these things.

And of the crossroads of my own life experiences, cross-cultural relationships, and ministry contexts.

I am not against what is happening.

I am not skeptical of it.

It’s genuine.

And I am for it.

But I also just can’t act like these other things aren’t still very real at the exact same time.

Or else I wouldn’t be true to what the Spirit of God has been “reviving” in my own relationship with Him and His people for decades now.

See, I was a part of a church that experienced a year and a half long revival when I was a teenager. You’ve never heard of it, just as most of us never hear of most of these things.

And then just last month I spent a weekend leading a retreat with Gen Z teenage guys where we saw the Spirit move in powerful and humble ways, just as we’re seeing at these colleges.

I’ve experience a number of “revival” moments throughout my life. That sort of movement of God is a part of my lived experience.

So my struggle is not with the work of God happening right now in peoples lives. It is with the dissonance that seems to continue to remain unaddressed in many of these settings.

My goal is not negativity. But it is honesty.

I don’t know what God’s plans are.

I hope it’s to spread “revival” across all our lives. Across all our churches. Across our nation and our world.

If I didn’t want that, I wouldn’t be a part of an international prayer movement seeking that very thing.

So, seek “revival.”

Go to Asbury or expect it right where you are.

But also be cautious about the expectations you place on God and others concerning such things. And make sure to look for it even when it doesn’t fit into your expected cultural box.

God is with us. He has always been.

In the “revivals” we’ve experienced.

In the ones we’ve overlooked.

And in the everyday ways that never get called “revival.”

My plan is to stay true to the path He’s got me on and pray for those on the path He’s got them on.

And hopefully all of our paths will cross, and all of our dissonance will be resolved, into a beautiful unity that leads to widespread revival.

May it be so, Lord.

May it be so.