By James Wilson
I will never forget the most controversial Easter sermon I ever preached. My son completed his potty training the day before and I was struck by his stark combination of joy and terror as he realized he was embarked on a whole new journey of human life. As I struggled to come up with a new slant on Resurrection it landed on me that Christopher’s epiphany was a lot like what the rest of us express if we really experience the Resurrection. The joy and terror of launching life in Christ are overwhelming in their collision.
Great Awakenings occur at the intersection of God coming in the power of His Holy Spirit and a repentant people of God pouring into and poring over the Resurrection into which we all – believers and pre-believers alike – are called. They begin outside the churches, are often rejected there, and ultimately overwhelm church and city. We are in the beginning of one such right now. But why would the people of God reject – in the beginning at least – such a dramatic and dynamic move of God?
Leonard Ravenhill, theological guru of the Jesus People, once said, “The reason we don’t have revival is because we are willing to live without it.” The churches are by and large content to dwell on their own distinctives, celebrate their denominational achievements, and hold themselves separate from the world while they harbor as many divorces, abortions, and hidden abuse of family members as that world they call corrupt. They – we – seek to glory in what is already accomplished instead of what has been promised from the beginning. It never ends well. My old mentor, Mike Flynn, gave Ravenhill’s statement a new dimension when he said, “The good is always the enemy of the best.”
This promise of on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven Kingdom life can only be received – not achieved – and it comes only to people whose lives become a progressive re-focusing of attention on God in the wake of turning away from all we have found good enough as a substitute for the grandiose vision of the real thing. This process is the essence of repentance; it requires abandoning sin as we expect Adam to drop his fig leaves. Being satisfied with merely rejecting sin is the surest way to step into ultimate sin – rejection of the Spirit who calls us to be naked before God who is crucified naked before us.
If we would embrace this Awakening He tells us what we must do. Navigating this season will require a re-engagement with all of the Scriptures, not just those favorite texts and passages we think make us superior to the rest of humanity. It will necessitate embrace of the fullness of the Holy Spirit – not just the signs and wonders and not just the hope of truth coming. It will bring us to the sacrifice of every one of our sacred cows – that is the third word – for sacred becomes authentically sacred only when sacrificed. The Lord calls His people to stop judging by appearance and sacred cows are nothing but a self-satisfying appearance of good life until they are let go of in favor of best life. That sacrifice promises a collision of joy with terror precisely because we have no prior frame of reference for it.
The next Great Awakening is underway. It is proclaimed by prophetic words I think credible. It is demonstrated by an unprecedented upsurge in miracles from the heavy early snowfall in California when science knows El Nino prevents it to God literally stopping time so a foreign traveler (me) could get through customs to catch a bus in Australia’s Capitol Territory. The miracles include an outburst of decisions for Jesus like the two thousand who gave Him their hearts during the recent days of repentance along the West Coast. But make no mistake; this Awakening is in infancy. It is nursing and growing in out-of-the-way corners and is visible only to an authentically repentant Body of Christ. 2016 will be a year of new life that does not resemble old life any more than new wineskins look like old.
We have witnessed the utter failure of political action to embody the changes we envision toward a more just and peaceful culture. We have seen the end of the Church’s ability to hide behind piously pursued doctrine and constitutional protection. Reliance now on God’s plan and provision for His Kingdom on earth is the last remaining option. Bearing in mind we are not talking about a theocracy but rather a radical dependency, what have we got to lose? And what have we got to gain?
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
