“William Hinson, Sr. retired pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, the largest church in American Methodism tells the story about a time when he was going to Columbia, South Carolina to preach in a revival. He had not slept well the night before and had gotten up that morning and preached in two Sunday morning services. He went immediately to the airport to leave for Columbia. He had looked forward to sleeping on the plane but it just so happened that the person next to was a talker and so much for sleep. His plane arrived late so he was immediately picked up by a church member and whisked off to the church. He arrived at the church just a couple of minutes before the service was to begin and did not have the opportunity to freshen up at all. He felt yucky. As he preached he could feel his body swaying from fatigue. When the service was over he was led to the fellowship hall were a receiving line was set up to greet the visiting preacher. The line seemed to extend forever. Near the end of the line, a large man stepped aside and suddenly he saw his youngest daughter.
“His daughter was attending school in Augusta, Georgia and, when she heard her dad was going to be in Columbia, had borrowed her boyfriend’s noisy car and had driven for hours just to be with her dad and to talk with him about some things.
“They left the church and went and got some coffee and pie and then went to the hotel and talked for several hours. When she finally left he said he realized the most unusual thing. He was no longer tired. He had spent time with someone very special to him and found himself renewed.”
James Drake, “Genesis: The Road to Revival” http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=96561&Page=1
Another word for it is revival. Churches define it as series of worship services, but at its heart revival is renewal for individuals, the church as a whole, and, if it’s real, for the community. How does renewal come? It when we’ve encountered a person, Jesus Christ. Revival comes as we enter into God’s presence.
Do you know what happens when Christians don’t find renewal through the presence of the Holy Spirit? Individual believers either get bored or burned out. Churches decline and die out. The communities they’re located experience death and destruction. We need continuous revival. And I’m not talking about preaching services.
There is a road to renewal that can bring people back into the presence of God. We see this in the story of Jacob’s return to Bethel, which means house of God.
Before Bethel, Jacob and his family parked their tents in Shechem. That was chapter 34 which we studied last week. Remember the terrible story? Jacob’s daughter had a sexual encounter with the young man the city was named for and by the end of the story an entire city was massacred, plundered and enslaved. Maybe you caught this last week: God was absent from the entire episode. He’s not mentioned once. Jacob, his family, and the entire community suffered from the lack of God’s reviving presence. Fortunately, chapter 35 tells us the …
Steps on the Journey Back to God
At the end of last week’s story Jacob was in turmoil. After his sons attacked Shechem he was terrified that the surrounding people groups would unite and come after them. This result is typical of God’s pattern with His people. He let’s us go our own way for a while, but then, just before we can completely destroy ourselves and we’re desperate for escape, He show us the way back. In the story, God reminded Jacob that he needed to return to Bethel, the place where God appeared to him more than 30 years before and the place where Jacob promised to return. This tells me something wonderful about the nature of God: He’s on our side. He wants us to be renewed. This leads to the first step on the road back.
Believe that God desires your revival
Our God, is the God of redemption. It is His goal to recreate that which has been broken. The book of Romans tells us that one day every square inch of creation will be renewed from the curse of sin. If it’s true for inanimate creation, it’s most definitely true for God’s people. We must believe that God desires our revival or we won’t look for Him, we won’t listen, and we’ll miss His instructions about what to do.
As a Christian, it is not God’s will for you to be bored with the things of God or burned out trying to do for Him without His power. It is not God’s will for the local expression of the kingdom of God, namely the church, to deteriorate and die. It is not His will for communities to dissolve into darkness or lost people to die and spend eternity in hell. Jesus Christ is proof positive that God desires revival. The gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life through the death and resurrection of the Son of God demonstrates that He is for us and not against us.
Let me talk about Antioch for a minute before we move on. Do you believe God wants to renew this church? I’ve had several people ask me that since I’ve been here. Usually they ask if attendance has been built up any. One had the honesty to ask if I though there was any hope for recovery. My buddy who helped install the sound system asked, “Joel, what is God doing here?” I’ve told each of them that I’m not sure what He’s up to, but if I thought He wasn’t interested in reviving this church I wouldn’t be here.
I believe God desires our renewal. Do you? I know that a handful here still have hope. A handful are seeking the Lord and open to whatever He wants to do. The majority? I’m not so sure about you. That’s okay. God only needs a committed few to accomplish amazing things. But for those of you sitting on the fence let me encourage you that when God calls us to pack up and move to Bethel, the place of His presence, please don’t raise a stink about it. When God’s vision comes it will be risky and messy and maybe even costly. Don’t be a stumbling block or a fount of criticism if you’re not on board. When you see other being renewed and making a difference in Jesus name, make every effort not be envious and tear down what God’s building up. Instead, believe that God desires our revival and come along for the journey.
Abolish all loyalties competing with Christ
Jacob collected and buried the pagan images his family member had picked up along the way and carried with them. He even pulled the earrings off the idols so that his sons wouldn’t be able to recast the metal into new idols. Jacob did everything in his power to declare total loyalty to the Lord God. All competing loyalties to other gods were cast down. Jacob understood this needed to happen to make the Lord the only God of his family.
Idols actually keep us from God’s presence. Whatever holds our loyalty also holds our attention. God is not threatened by the idols people worship, but He is concerned about what they do to us:
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them. Psalm 115:4-8
Idols make us deaf, dumb, blind, senseless, and paralyzed to the things of God. There is no renewal when God’s people are carrying idols.
I’m confident that none of us bow to little images, but more of us actually engage in idolatry than you might think. Today our idols have taken a different form. It works like this: whatever consumes our thoughts, whatever takes up our time, whatever we spend out money on determines our true loyalty. One person said that you can tell what someone worships by looking at their calendar and checkbook.
“Pope Benedict XVI condemned the love of money and power this week during an outdoor Mass in Paris. He argued that both money and power have become idols in today’s world. ‘Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even knowledge, diverted man from his true destiny?’ He asked.”
sermonnews.com
Jesus said that you cannot serve two master or you will love one and hate the other. He said love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He promised that if we’d seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness that all the things we’re tempted with idolizing because we’re so preoccupied with obtaining them that He just give to us. God will not share your loyalty. He will not bless this church until we put down idols that keep us from His presence. I invite you to begin asking Him to reveal these things to us.
Commit to the pursuit of purity
Jacob ordered his family to bathe and change their clothing. This was not the Saturday bath and Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes regime that people practiced half a century ago. The washing and new clothes symbolized personal purity. The people needed to be pure or holy to stand in the presence of a pure and holy God.
Time and again the New Testament speaks to Christians about the need to change their clothes, not physically, but spiritually. Look how Paul describes this in Colossians 3:
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Colossians 3:8-14
We’re supposed to make it our commitment to put off the old nature which was crucified with Christ, and put on the new. It’s a call to do everything in our power, all the time to live from the new heart God gave us when we placed our trust in Jesus Christ.
Purity or holiness matter when it comes to renewal. Remember, renewal comes when we’re in the presence of Jesus Christ. Our lack of purity can keep us at a distance.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord Hebrews 12:14
Is God silent in your life? Do you see Him and hear Him when you gather with His people? Maybe the problem is purity. If you want renewal you’ve got to commit to it in your personal life. For our church to experience revival we must be serious our cleanness before the Lord. Awakening in this community will only come as we live out and work for holiness in every dark corner.
Keep your promises to the Lord
All the trouble Jacob encountered in chapter 34 can be attributed to his failure to keep his promises to God. The first time he encountered the Lord at Bethel Jacob vowed that if God would bring him back safely and prosper him he’d give the Lord exclusive loyalty, building a shrine as a place of worship, and give 10% of wealth, a tithe. God kept his promise and Jacob returned safe and sound and exceedingly rich, but Jacob delayed making good on his promises by about 10 years. In this story, he kept his promises and renewal overtook Jacob and his family.
We don’t really make vows to God like Jacob, but I think we can still make some application here.
“Taking time to remember a wild turkey may seem strange, but a church will hold a moment of silence this Sunday for what the pastor called a model member of his congregation. The Rev. James Huff, pastor of Lambs United Methodist Church, said the turkey regularly attended Sunday services and greeted people as they arrived.
“‘He would kind of wait for me to come in. He knew when I got there. Service was about to begin, and then he would sit on one lady’s car until we were done.’
“The turkey died last week after it was hit by a car on a road near the St. Clair County church. Douglas Bishop, the church’s music director, said congregation members noticed the bird wasn’t there last Sunday. The fowl never missed a service, he said.
sermonnews.com
Did you make a membership vow? God heard that. I hope you’re not being outdone by a turkey. Did you make a marriage vow? You made that in front of God and witnesses. Are you following through with past commitments to the Lord to do this or that? If it is within your power, follow through. If it’s no longer within your power make sure you’ve asked for forgiveness.
God wants His people to reflect his character. He is faithful. He keeps His promises. Jesus took it a step further and said our integrity should extend way beyond vows:
“But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37
As I was preparing this message a question kept lingering in my mind that only you have the answer for. This is for Antioch Baptist Church. When you founded this church were any promises you made to God that you have yet to keep?
Believe that God desires your revival Abolish all competing loyalties with Christ. Commit to the pursuit of purity. Keep your promises to the Lord. This is the road to renewal.
What happened for Jacob and his family can happen for us. Jacob received personal transformation. He was reminded of the name change God had given him 10 years earlier. “You’re Israel, not Jacob the deceiver.” God commanded that people refer to him by the new name. God reaffirmed His covenant and added another detail. He told Jacob that his descendants would be kings. Pretty cool stuff for a wandering nomad. What Jacob received was a corporate vision, how things would turn out for his family in the years to come. I think it’s accurate to say that God’s renewal also brought community impact. In this case, all the surrounding tribes felt a godly fear of Jacob’s family. They refrained from attacking them because the power and presence of God was evident among them.
The same could be true for us. Imagine hearing the Lord’s voice more clearly and seeing what He’s doing more vividly. Dream for a moment about being personally empowered to make a difference in your world. Think what it would be like if when we gathered as a church the power and presence of God was so strong that salvation was common and healing expected. Imagine impacting this community and changing it to look a little more like the kingdom of heaven. God desires our revival. Do you believe that? He must have our absolute loyalty. Are you willing to give Him that? We must be committed to the pursuit of purity. Are you ready to reorient your life like that? We’ve got to keep our promises to the Lord? Are you going to do that?
