Its been at least a month since everybody began talking about “the Asbury revival.” (A “revival” of music based enthusiasm led in part by LGBT progressives, salvation-armyists and other exorbitantly heterodox groups). And yet, people are still talking about it. Now, for some people, this would be all the sign that they’d ever need to tell them that this singalong party is “legit.” And indeed, that questions been at the centre of the discussion around this “revival” since it began. “Is it real?” “How do we discern between genuine and man-made revival?” So on and so forth. And with the conversation dragging on this long and it moving from Asbury to other Schools like Texas A&M, for a lot of people, that’s the sign that it’s “real” (or whatever).
And that bothers me. And I had hoped to wait this out and not have to say anything but becuase people are still asking the question of whether its “genuine” or not, I felt that my hand had finally been forced to explitly tell you all what you probably all knew I would say anyway, which is that the whole question is wrong and that revivalism is just reformation era “enthusiasm” (and a rejection of the efficacy of the Means of Grace) but re-skinned for my fellow Zoomers. And with that being the case, I’m not going to bother discrediting THIS “revival” (though it’d be easy to do so). Instead, I’m going to discredit all of revivalism, like a true son of Luther.
Lets begin here, with the necessary antecedent of revivalism; unbelief.
You see, the general assumption of revivalism, as we all know by now since it started centuries ago in the “great awakening” (asleepening, really), is that CHURCH (and it’s offices, and liturgies, and Sacraments, and normalcy) is dead, God’s Word and Sacraments don’t work, and the normal Christian service of neighbour in our God given vocations isn’t good enough and so we all need to book time off work and have really long sing along somewhere far away that we don’t live as though we were at a pseudo-christian Woodstock festival. And while it began with “exciting preachers” 😑, it’s gotten to the point where preaching isn’t even noticeably present if at all.
But the reality of the matter (contrary to these assumptions) is that God’s Word and Sacraments DO actually work, even if they don’t make you FEEL anything, becuase the efficacy is not intended to primarily illicit feelings within you, but to deliver the promises of God to you. And if there is a secondary intent here or a purposed telos for that primary intention, then it’s NOT SINGY TIME – but the love of others as served in normal and ordinary vocations and acts of charity and mercy. So while revivalism is chasing extra-ordinary dispensation of grace, extra-ordinary experiences of God, extra-ordinary Christian praxis, and extra-ordinry whatever else, God, His promises, and the purposed END of the Christian life (love of the other) is found in THE NORMATIVE AND ORDINARY INSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH AND IN YOUR EVERY DAY SERVICE OF THE PEOPLE ALREADY AROUND YOU. You want to HEAR God? Open the Bible. You want to SEE, FEEL, KNOW HIM, then go to the divine service. Do you want to see God transform lives? Then feed the homeless, clothe the naked, care the widow and the orphan, and preach the forgiveness of Christ to all sinners everywhere.
You want to see a move of the Holy Spirit? Go to church, read the scriptures, pray, and love your neighbor.
The thing is, I’m afraid we don’t want revival. To revive is a restoration of life. Its a resurrection of sorts. That happens in Baptism, it happens in confession and absolution, that happens through the reading and preaching of the Word, through the praying of the Liturgy, through the reception of the Eucharist, and it’s displayed in its glory through the love others. That’s REVIVAL. You want to see a “genuine” revival ? Look at the thing that the revivalistsare accuse of needing resuscitation. You want to see life? It’s what they’re calling dead. This “revival” (and all others like it) are only a mockery of their own name sake.
Nothing kills the church, her ministry, and her witness more than these movements that draw people away from the SUFFICIENCY of the ordinary means of grace, the church, the liturgy, and the power of love lived out in the world around you.
Stop trying to find God where He’s not promised to be, and stop denying that He is where DID promise to be. Stop doing things God DIDNT tell you to do and start doing the things He DID tell you to. Simple as.
Revival is real. It’s just not found at “Revivals.” It’s found at the places the revivalists call dead. It’s found at your local church, and it’s lived out in your home, in your workplace, and in your communities. The chruch, living and vibrant, is found where the Word is preached in its ORTHODOX PURITY, and the sacraments are administered, and received, and believed, according to the scriptures, and in accordance with the ancient faith of the church that has never changed. It’s not found among those who reject these things.
