We too often flog the Church when the whip should be laid on our own shoulders. We should always remember that we are a part of the Church, and the our own lack of revival is in some measure the cause of the lack of revival in the Church at large.
Many people have recently joined the Church in our country. But are there any fewer cheats than there used to be? Are there less frauds committed? Do we find morality more extensive? Do we find vice coming to an end?
Pay attention to the conversation of the average professing Christian. You might spend from the first of January to the end of December and never hear them speak about their faith.
But even if our conduct and conversation were more consistent with our faith, I would still have this third charge against us: there is too little real communion with Jesus Christ. . . . Men and women, let me ask you, How long has it been since you have had an intimate conversation with Jesus Christ?
Our problem is this: there are many who say they want revival but they do not groan for it, they do not long for it.
To say, "I will revive myself," reveals that you do not know your true state. If you knew your true state, you would just as soon expect a wounded soldier on the battlefield to heal himself without medicine, of get himself to hospital when his arms and legs have been shot off as you would expect to revive yourself without the help of God. I urge you: do nothing until you have first prayed to God, crying out, "O Lord, revive thy work."
In this present era there is a sad decline of the vitality of godliness. . . . When you heard [George Whitfield] preach, you felt like you were listening to a man who would die if he could not preach. Where, where is such earnestness today?
The absence of sound doctrine. . . happened when ministers in the pulpit stopped preaching sound doctrine for fear of how it would be received.
"O!" says one person, "if we had another minister. O! if we had another kind of worship. O! if we had a different sort of preaching." You do not need new ways or new people, you need new life in what you have. . . . It is not a new person or a new plan, but the life of God in them that the Church needs. Let us ask God for it! (pp. 317-320)
O Lord, I have heard of your renown and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work. In our own time revive it. (Habakkuk 3:1-2)Recently I read that the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is about two lost sons. The younger son, most people are familiar with. He is the one who runs off and thinks better of it and comes back. He is the son of unrighteousness. The father longs for his return and comes to him while he is still far away. What picture of God's merciful assistance to people caught in unrighteousness!
But there is another son. He is the one who stands outside the party for the younger son in anger and disbelief. He is the son of self-righteousness. Again, the father goes out to him. Does the father withhold anything that he gave the younger son? No, "all that I have is yours," he says. The story ends abruptly with the question, "What will the older son do?" We all know what the father does. He clothes and honors the lost sons, wherever they come from.
I have no trouble seeing how the older brother misses out on his father's love because of his envy toward his younger brother. I have no trouble seeing his self-righteousness and seeing how it warps his view of his father. What I have often missed is the father's love for this older brother. The father goes out to him as well. He is also invited in. I have usually left the older brother out in the cold.
I have missed the point of the story. God finds and saves what is lost. I have not thought the older brother was lost. No one asks about how to invite the older brother inside. It seems that instead of having the older brother berating his younger brothers for wasting his money on loose-living, nowadays it might be more appropriate to have the younger son berating the older brother. Maybe he would say, "What, him? Don't invite him in! He would only ruin the party with his 'work ethic' and 'piety.' He's a fake anyway. . . ."
So I look at Spurgeon and I wonder if my attitude has been to flog the church like that older brother. Really the troubles come from both unrighteousness and self-righteousness. Neither of them bring a person back the Father. Only when I turn my back on them am I pointed in the right direction. And Jesus says that is all I need do: turn. Turn (repent) and the kingdom of God (his loving arms and blessings) is right there.
The kingdom of heaven is the party. Even though the full celebration is yet to come, Jesus came to say that the party has already started. Anyone who joins in will find that it just being there with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in the communion of party-ers (saints) will find the conduct, conversation, and communion in their lives changed.
In conduct, parties call for certain behavior. They call out joy and celebration. A person not in the spirit of the party would be said not to belong there. So it is with God's kingdom, the gathering of those who follow and obey him. Excitement in following and joy in obedience characterize this party. Outside there is only feeding on pig's food (unrighteousness) and miserable self-justification (self-righteousness).
In conversation, when a celebration approaches, it becomes the "talk of the town." Eager planning is part of the party. Even in the party, there is eagerness to talk about what is good and enjoyable even as we do it. A party that no one talked about would not be much of a party. So with the kingdom of God - his loving influence in these days and into the days to come - conversation revolves around what goods thing are happening and going to happen. In contrast, unrighteousness talks about all the ways it will fill its desires, only to come out empty Self-righteousness talks about how hard it works and how it deserves more appreciation.
In communion, what can be better than being with people who are celebrating? The kingdom of God is a celebration and the most important part is the company of celebrants. At the heart is the Trinity, and such celebration is continual as praise and worship. Unrighteousness, however, starts with friends, but ends up with pigs. Self-righteousness ends up cold and alone.
I have beaten that analogy to a pulp. Although the church does not encompass the kingdom, it certainly is an important part of it. When I have retreated from the church, I find that what I am saying is "I will revive myself." Often as I have attended I have wished for changes in programs and positions rather than in the hearts of those who come, worship, and serve.
Lord, let me find the party in the church. Teach me how to celebrate. My heart is often cold. I find I am not expectant, but weary. I need you to show me how to hope. Pity me! Amen.
I am humbled by Spurgeon's point about wanting revival, but not groaning for it. This is where I am.
