Spiritual Renewal: God’s Blessing or Man’s Work
John Mark Hicks
(From Church Growth, 1st Quarter, 1996)
I recently saw an advertisement which made the claim that a particular
seminar could bring revival. “Your
church can be revived,” it announced. “This
seminar will bring spiritual renewal to your congregation.”
The ad held out the hope, even the promise, that any church could be
renewed if they would only host the seminar and follow its principles.
Is spiritual renewal the sort of thing that can be generated by a
seminar? Are there some mechanistic
guidelines for experiencing spiritual renewal?
Is church revival something as simple as having the right seminar, the
right speakers, or the right method?
Of course, most of us would balk at any such notions.
We recognize that spiritual renewal is not like assembling a computer
workstation where, if we follow the blueprint, the product will naturally come
together. There are no such
blueprints for spiritual renewal. There
are no detailed, step-by-step strategies which guarantee spiritual renewal.
Nevertheless, we often fall into the trap of thinking about church
revival in those kinds of terms. We
have all thought, said or heard said, “Our problem is we don’t have gospel
meetings anymore,” or “If we’d only begin this program, then the church
would truly grow,” or “We need to have this speaker here because he would
really motivate us and get us going.” The
danger of these sentiments is that they look at the problem of renewal
superficially. They do not see the
deeper spiritual problems which lie underneath.
Are a lack of gospel meetings, the best speakers and a particular program
the problem, or is it the hearts of God’s people which need pricked?
Is the problem that we are not working the problem with the right method,
or is the problem that we are working the problem without the right focus?
As we think about spiritual renewal and church revival, we must keep
three important principles in mind.
First, spiritual renewal cannot come through our own best efforts. Revival cannot be conjured up by some magical formula, method or seminar. We must recognize that we cannot draw upon our own resources for renewal. We cannot renew ourselves as independent, autonomous persons. Neither can a church renew itself by pulling itself up by its own bootstraps and kicking itself into high gear. Church renewal is not guaranteed by a human method, a new building a new preacher or a new eldership. If we pursue spiritual renewal through such efforts as if we can obtain it simply by doing the right things, then we have misunderstood the real source of renewal. Very quickly our methodological decisions will be based upon mere pragmatism, and we will attempt to reproduce the successes of others by focusing on their method. In fact, it may not have been the method at all, but the one who used the method, that is, God gave increase through that method, not because of the method, but because of the hearts of his people. Methods do not revive, God does. Of course, it is possible that the increase was not God’s work at all, but was merely the temporary, superficial effect of pragmatic methods which gave the appearance of spiritual renewal. Human charisma can motivate many people, but it cannot offer spiritual renewal. Only God can renew the heart.
Renewal does not arise out of our own efforts, but flows from the Spirit
of God. God renews his people; he
sends his power among them and invigorates their lives and ministries.
We are strengthened and renewed in the inner person through the Spirit of
God (Eph. 3:16; 2 Cor. 4:18). Genuine
renewal is accomplished through divine power and strength (Eph. 6:10), and all
other renewal depends upon human charisma and ingenuity which are fleeting.
This is the constant emphasis of Paul.
God is the one who began the work in us, and he is the one who will bring
it to completion (Phil. 1:6). God is
the one who gives increase to the church; God is the one “who makes things
grow” (I Cor. 3:7).
The quality which most hinders spiritual renewal is the human pride which
congratulates itself on achieving great things for God as if human
accomplishments are the root cause. When
a seminar takes credit for church revival, when a counselor takes credit for
saving a marriage, when a minister takes credit for a conversion, when a method
takes credit for spiritual renewal, the danger is that pride will suppress
genuine renewal, grieve the Spirit of God, and reveal the superficiality of what
was accomplished. In everything, God
is to be thanked, and God is to be given the credit.
We are mere waterers and planters, but God makes things grow.
All genuine spiritual renewal flows from Him, and He gives it according
to his gracious purposes.
Second, spiritual renewal cannot
come without our own best efforts. While
our own best efforts are not the source or the cause of spiritual renewal,
without those efforts spiritual renewal will not come.
To confess that God is the source of my spiritual strength and to
understand that God renews his people by his Spirit does not mean that we are
passive receptacles who idly await God’s work.
On the contrary, we are God’s active instruments, not his passive
loiters who wander aimlessly in the kingdom
of
Paul constantly calls his readers to renewal, to struggle for the
kingdom, to offer their lives in the service of God’s work.
Paul calls upon us to offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice” and to
be “transformed” by the “renewing” of our minds, and to put on the
“new self” (Eph. 4:23-24). Paul
exhorts, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord” (1 Cor.
15:58). He tells Archippus, “See
to it that you complete the work you have received from the Lord” (Col. 4:17).
Paul offers his own life as a model, an example, of one who is always
involved in the struggle for God’s kingdom.
He puts out his own best efforts in the service of Christ because his
goal is to “present everyone perfect in Christ,” and “to this end,” he
writes, “I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in
me” (Col.1:28-29).
There is almost a paradoxical relationship between the two principles I
have offered above. It is reflected
in the last text which I quoted; that is, Paul struggles, but the power of God
works in him to enable him to persevere in that struggle.
This paradoxical relationship is exhibited in all dimensions of our life
with God. God saves, but he does not
save unbelievers (Eph. 2:9-10). God
saved Israel
from Babylonian exile, but he did not save without Cyrus (Isa. 45:1ff).
God transforms us through his Spirit (II Cor. 3:17-18), but calls us to
transform ourselves (Rom.
12:2). God sanctifies us (I Thess.
5:23), but calls us to sanctify ourselves (I Pet. 3:15).
God works through his servants – God is the ground and source, but his
servants are active participants in, instruments for, his work.
Consequently, God will use our methods, our pragmatic decisions, our
seminars, and our programs if we use them to his glory and according to his
purposes. Congregations, then, ought
to pursue methodological discussions; they must make pragmatic decisions; they
must evaluate the effectiveness of programs; and they must decide which seminars
to host or whether to host any seminars at all.
But we cannot lose sight of the fact that spiritual renewal does not rest
in those efforts even though they may be the instruments through which God
renews his people.
This paradoxical relationship is expressed in a famous text in
Philippians. We quite commonly quote
the first part of the text without reading the rest of it.
We have all heard the command to “work out your salvation with fear and
trembling,” but we have not always heard the reason Paul says this.
We must work out our salvation because “it is God who works in you to
will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12-13).
We actively pursue the will of God, we actively pursue spiritual renewal
and church revival, but we recognize that whatever good is accomplished is
God’s work through us. God does
the good work, and he brings it to fruition (II Thess. 1:11).
God must receive the credit for whatever renewal flows from our decisions
and actions. Recognizing this
permits us to see the importance of the next point.
Third, the primary tool of
spiritual renewal is prayer. When
Paul asks churches for help, he asks for prayers (Rom. 15:30-32; I Thess. 5:25),
and thanks God for the effectiveness of those prayers (II Cor. 1:10-11).
When he looks forward to future evangelistic activity, he asks for
prayers (Col. 4:3-4; II Thess. 3:1-3). Paul
understands that God opens doors (I Cor. 16:8-9; II Cor. 2:12), and it is through
the prayers of God’s people that he opens those doors (Col. 4:3).
It is little wonder, then, that Paul almost always includes a prayer
section in his epistles where he thanks God for the faith and joy of believers
and also prays for those believers. In
Philippians he thanks God for their partnership (1:3) and prays that their love
may abound and bear the fruit of righteousness (1:9-11).
In Colossians he thanks God for their faith and love (1:3-4) and prays
that they may be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding (1:9).
In Ephesians, on two occasions (1:15ff; 3:16ff), he prays that God would
give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” that they might “know him
better” (1:17). In the
Thessalonian letters Paul thanks God for their work (I Thess. 1:2-3) and faith
(II Thess. 1:3), and fills his words with prayers for the believers in
Thessalonica. He prays that God will
increase their love and strengthen their hearts (I Thess. 3:12-13), that God
would sanctify them fully (I Thess. 5:23), that God would fulfill their every
good purpose and act of faith (II Thess. 1:11), that God would encourage their
hearts (II Thess. 2:17), and that God would give them peace (II Thess. 3:16).
Clearly the most important tool of church growth is not a particular
method, a dynamic program or a motivational seminar, but prayer.
Renewal comes from God, not programs.
Revival comes through God’s Spirit, not through gospel meetings.
We must ask for God’s blessing and expect those blessings as we are
faithful to the task given to us. Prayer
becomes the centerpiece of evangelism. It
is not the right technique, the right words, the salesmanship of the evangelist,
but it is God who works through us to give the increase.
When we focus on methods, we will fail to see God’s fruit.
We may achieve success, but it will be short-lived or
personality-dependent if God is not the one giving the increase.
A growing church is one which has been blessed by God – God has given
his grace to that believing community (Acts 11:22-23).
Consequently; a church committed to revival, committed to growth, must
fundamentally and foundationally be a praying church.
We see this throughout the book of Acts (e.g., 4:23-31; 13:3) and in the
letters of Paul (e.g., II Thess. 3:1; Col. 4:3).
Church growth is a divine blessing, not a human achievement.
As we seek God’s blessings in prayer, God will be faithful according to
his gracious purposes.
The first theological step, then, to spiritual renewal is to recognize that God gives it. The first practical step to spiritual renewal is to ask God for it. Within the framework of those two steps, we must then fully devote ourselves to the work of the Lord, explore all the relevant tools which God in his providence has given his church, and we will then discover that our work will not be in vain though it may not produce the results we would most desire. We must water and plant, but God will give the increase. We must be faithful to our task and permit God in his sovereign grace to give the church its growth.