A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God

It is December of the year 1734 in Northampton, MA.  The town has been in existence for about 82 years and it consists of about 200 families. Toward the middle of the month they began to experience revival, which we have defined as an unusual manifestation of the presence and power of God, during which time believers are transformed and many unconverted people enter into new life.  

No human being planned out in advance what was going to happen in 1734-35 in colonial Massachusetts.  There were no special meetings or techniques to get the thing started.  No one but God knew in advance that it was going to happen.  It was, in the words of pastor Jonathan Edwards, a “Surprising Work of God.”

While the revival was unplanned, it was not completely unexpected.  Their understanding of Bible prophecy led them to believe that waves of revival should be a normal part of church life and that the closer they got to the second coming, that the revivals would become more and more powerful.  In the past 57 years their church had experienced five such visitations of God.

These five awakenings had taken place during the ministry of Edward’s grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who began his ministry in 1671 and continued until his death in 1729.  For a 65 year old person in 1734 this would be their sixth experience of revival.

We are dependent on the pastor’s description for our knowledge of this revival.  The book, which was really a long letter he had written for some friends who wanted an account of the revival, was sent to some friends in New England, who forwarded it to people in England, who went ahead and published it as a book.  I don’t know if the final title was written by Edwards or by these friends in England, but here is the full title in all of its Puritan glory:  “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton.”

As an interesting historical side note, one of the English clergymen responsible for the publication of the letter is the famous writer of hymns, Issac Watts.  He is the author of “Joy to the world.”

I’ll be quoting from Edward’s book throughout this presentation, so whenever my words sound like something from the King James Bible, you can be sure I’m quoting Edwards.

Now if no human being planned this or was in control of it, how did they know that a revival had started.  Let’s go back to our definition:  an unusual manifestation of the presence and power of God in which believers are transformed and unbelievers come to new life in Christ.  This sounds very much like Edwards description.  He said that the Spirit of God “began extraordinarily to set in;” that’s the manifestation of His presence.  And Edwards also wrote that the Spirit began to “wonderfully work amongst us,” as five or six people were suddenly converted.

One of the conversions was of a woman who was a notorious “company-keeper.”  I don’t know exactly what Edwards meant, but I get the sense that we might call her a “party girl.”  Now to 21st Century ears that might create a mental picture of someone attending some sort of orgy, but this was a deeply religious community so that probably isn’t what Edwards was talking about.  He is probably using old time language to describe a frivolous woman who wanted to dance, and play games, and gossip and maybe every once in a while have one or two beers too many with her friends.  She would have been someone who had little or no interest in spiritual things.  Edwards describes her conversion as “a glorious work of God’s infinite power” a “new heart, truly broken and sanctified.”

The influence of this particular conversion story was profound.  Edwards believed that it had a more powerful spiritual impact than any other event associated with the revival.  “The news of it seemed to be almost like lightning upon the hearts of young people all over town.”

The impact eventually spread throughout the town.  “Religion and the eternal world” became the only things that people wanted to talk about.  “All other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by.”  This was true among all people of all age groups and backgrounds.  

The focus on eternal salvation became so intense that some who visited the town started rumors and people were so focussed on eternity that they were not taking care of essential business.  They said that the people in Northampton were completely focussed on “reading and praying, and such like religious exercises.”

Edwards refuted that, saying that people were doing what needed to be done to take care of “their ordinary secular business.”  They made sure businesses stayed open and food was on the table, but as soon as their business was taken care of the focus of their conversation would return to eternity and the salvation of the soul.  Talk about anything else “would scarcely be tolerated in any company.” 

The only thing that people really cared about was to get into “the kingdom of heaven … every one appeared pressing into it.”

It is almost impossible for us to imagine such a scene, but it’s important that we try.  Imagine yourself getting up in the morning and going to breakfast.  Everyone in the family is talking about Jesus and eternal salvation.  As you drive into work you tune into the local talk radio station.  The hosts and all of the callers are talking about Jesus.  At work people take care of business, but on lunch break all the talk is about religion.  If there is a meeting at a local church that evening people are telling each other about it.  If there are no formal church meetings people are making arrangements to gather together in private homes for the reading of the Bible, prayer, testimonies, and the singing of hymns.  When you arrive at the private home for your evening meeting the place is packed out.  In the words of Jonathan Edwards, such home meetings were “greatly thronged.”  They went on “from day to day for many months together.”

Try to imagine living through something like that.  And then ask yourself these questions with fear and trembling.  

Was there perhaps a divine purpose in letting the world go through a pandemic during which a vast majority of the population learned how to attend online meetings?

How quickly could this divine wild-fire spread in the age of the internet?   

Never, Ever Stop

In 1970 it was estimated that there were about 200 Christians in Iran that had converted from a Muslim background.  Today the best estimate is that there are 370,000.  All of these recent converts have become Christians in spite of the fact that conversion to a non-Muslim religion can get you killed in that country.

In India, about forty years ago, there were approximately 20 million Christians.  Today our best estimate is 100 million; and this is in spite of the fact that many in India have been killed for leaving either the Hindu or the Muslim faith.

In China there were about 700,000 Christians when the Communists took over.  Twenty years later, after some of the most brutal persecution in the history of the church, there were about three million.  Our best estimate today is 130 million.  Some Christians are beaten, tortured, imprisoned, and even killed, but people keep coming to Christ.

I personally know of people who have been praying faithfully for all three of these countries for forty years.  I don’t know why the church has been growing so well in the non-Western world in my lifetime while the church has been shrinking and loosing influence in North America and Europe, but I do know this much.

We have to keep praying for a great, spiritual renewal in the English speaking world.  Call it a Great Awakening, call it a revival, call it whatever you want, we have to keep praying.  We have to pray until we die or the revival comes.  If the revival comes then we have to pray that it will last as long as possible.  If the revival ends before we die then we have to start praying for the next wave of blessing.  If the revival doesn’t come before we die, when we get to heaven we have to find out if people in heaven are supposed to be doing this intercessory prayer thing; and if they are, then one of the first things we should do once we get to heaven is pray for revival on earth.  And then keep praying.  And never, ever stop.

Slapping George Clooney

Wrong game, wrong goal, wrong audience.  We’ve got a soccer ball and some tennis racquets and we’re trying to play baseball.  We are using all of the normal baseball rules only we are using a soccer ball for the ball and tennis racquets for the bats.  And we are taking this very, very seriously.  The stands are full of cheering people.  The media writes about us and talks about us.  Everyone in the stands wishes that they were good enough to be in the big leagues and when they aren’t watching the pros play the game they play in neighborhood leagues.  And something’s wrong.  No one can quite figure out what it is, but it’s wrong.
 

Meanwhile there is this really small group of people on another playing field doing something that looks really, really dumb.  They have abandoned the tennis racquets and are playing some kind of game where they are only allowed to move the ball by striking it with their feet and heads.  And there are only three Persons in the stands and the media is not paying any attention to the whole thing except to mock and ridicule it once in awhile.

The Bible calls the big league game “the world.”  The goals of the world are clearly defined in 1 John 2:16:  “a craving for physical pleasures, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions (NLT).”  Far too many of us wish that we could be in the big leagues (see Michael Jordan – sports; Bill Gates – business & finance; George Clooney – entertainment and being so handsome that many of us would like to slap him).  Even if we don’t make it to the big leagues we have a pretty good idea of how we’re doing in relation to our family and friends (the equivalent of the neighborhood leagues).  “I’m not doing as well as so-in-so but thank God I’m doing a lot better than cousin Ralph!”

So we go through life focused on the wrong things and caring about the wrong audience (other people) and all too soon it’s all over, our body wears out, we die … and find out that death is merely the end of the beginning.  If, along the course of our lives, we become acquainted with the good news of salvation, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead, and if we believe that, we find ourselves beginning a new stage of existence in a paradise most of us call heaven.  If we have ignored, rejected, or blown off the life and work of Jesus Christ we will find ourselves cast into a place described by Jesus Christ as “the outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12 NASB).”

I have a growing conviction that the church has to get back to preaching, in graphic detail, about the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  The most horrifying descriptions we have of hell come from the lips of the God-man who gave His life to save us from that horrible fate.  That’s right, gentle Jesus had more to say about hell than any other figure in the Bible.  Everyone who reads these words and doesn’t believe that Jesus died to save them and then rose from the dead will someday find themselves gnashing their teeth because, at least in part, they had the ultimate answer to life’s ultimate question right in front of them on a computer screen one day and they ignored it.  They just blew it off.

But what about the believer, the sincere Christian, who keeps playing baseball with a soccer ball and a tennis racquet?  He’ll make it into heaven, but he will “suffer” the “loss” of his “reward” (1 Cor. 3:14, 15).  In order to gain that extra, heavenly reward he will have learn to play a different game with different rules with a different audience. 

There are three great questions he must learn to ask himself.  To what work am I called?  To what ministry am I called?  And what should my motivation be?

If you are not sure if you are called to the work you are doing, you should just continue in the job you have while being open to God to lead you.  What you are actually doing is not nearly as important as why you are doing it and if the Lord has something else for you in time He will make that clear.

As to ministry, every Christian has a gift that is to be used in ministry in the body of Christ.  You should regularly attend some sort of Christian assembly and find some way to be of service to that group.  Trial and error and prayer will see you to the right place in God’s good time.

In the world’s game there is a hierarchy.  Some are great and some are insignificant.  In God’s kingdom some will be greater than others, but the final judgment won’t be by the world’s standards.  If God has called you to mop floors for a living and help with traffic control in the church parking lot the door to success beyond your wildest dreams lies open before you.  If, at the end of each shift, you look back on what you’ve done and offer it to the Lord as an act of worship done for His glory, you are finally playing the right game by the right rules with the right audience.  Many another man who seems much greater than you by worldly standards will come across the finish line into heaven just barely saved.  His wealth, his position, and his possessions will not benefit him in the life to come because he never got the true issues of life in focus. 

 

You’ll now you’ve finally got it when you start making it a regular practice of offering the work you do to God as an act of worship.  You’ll start to feel like a success.  The thought of envying people who are working their way through life smacking soccer balls with tennis racquets will no longer make sense to you.  And you will probably lose all desire to slap George Clooney.

Bad News

I have written at some length about the dangers of an overexposure to “news.”  Most of what I have had to say on the subject has to do with the problem of bitterness.  Bitterness is a deadly poison and if you are going to spend too much time listening to opinion makers on either side of the political drama in America it will be impossible for you to avoid the poison of bitterness.  

But there is another danger, no less deadly, that lies in wait for the person who spends too much time on current events.  Jesus warned us about things that can grow in our souls like weeds in a farmer’s field.  If the weeds run wild they will choke out the good plants and there will be very little harvest.  Jesus warned us that “the cares of the world … enter in and choke the word,” making it “unfruitful.”  (Mark 4:20 ESV)  

It’s possible for some of us to catch the morning news on TV, listen to talk radio on the way to work and all throughout the work day, and then to watch cable news for several hours in the evening.  I suspect that a surprising number of Christians are doing just that and I’m telling you that we need to stop.  The cares of this world “choke” the word, which means that they also choke off the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, because the Spirit works primarily through the inspired word.  A fifteen minute quiet time is not going to effectively counter eight to twelve hours spent on the “cares of this world.”

If you aren’t making the progress that you would like to be making in the spiritual life, check out the amount of time you are spending on the “news” and start giving more of that time to the Spirit and the word.  Having praise music on in your cubicle at work is a good testimony, and it’s good for your soul as well.

In praise of a closed mind

I’m closed minded about some things; and so are you, if you’re sane.  But there’s a church in my neighborhood that seems very open minded.  They have a slogan on their church sign:  “Open doors, open hearts, open minds.”  Is that the Christian message?  Speaking of his ministry in Corinth Paul said that his entire focus was “on Jesus Christ and the fact of His death on the cross.”  (I Cor. 2:2, Phillips)  Corinth was a major Greek city and Greece was the birthplace of western philosophy.  Paul could have come to Corinth with an open mind, intent on opening up channels of dialogue with all the leading intellectuals.    

But Paul didn’t go to Corinth to hold discussions.  He was absolutely convinced that God the Son had become a man, died on a cross while paying for our sins, and that He had been raised from the dead.  Paul saw this as the ultimate solution to human problems and he proclaimed it with authority.  Jesus Himself said that he was “the way, and the truth, and the life” and that no man could come to the Father apart from Him (John 14:6).  On the basis of that statement Christians have always held that Christianity is right and that every other religion on the planet, while they may contains some true and beautiful ideas, is ultimately wrong.  That sounds terribly closed minded.  We have been culturally conditioned to believe that being closed minded is a bad thing.  That cultural conditioning is pure demonic hogwash.

I once knew a woman who wasted a decade of her life on crack cocaine.  This is what she had to say about it.  “Once the drug has a hold of you, you’ll sell everything you own so that you can buy the drug.  Then you’ll sell everything you can steal.  And once you run out of things to steal, you’ll sell your body.”  I don’t know about you, but I have a closed mind when it comes to crack cocaine.  I examined the evidence, made a decision, and now my mind is closed.  I’m sure the drug must make you feel good while you are high, but I’m not really interested in entering into a dialogue with a pusher on the subject.

I’m not interested in robbing a bank as a solution to a financial need.  You may have come up with what you believe to be an absolutely fool proof plan to do the crime and escape without anyone being hurt, but I’m not interested in your plan.  I’ve thought about crime, made some decisions, and now my mind is closed when it comes to crime.

If there is some poor, confused woman out there who desires to enter into an intimate relationship with me (I know that odds for this are not good) I would want that woman to know that I have a closed mind when it comes to any woman but Nancy Lafyatis Cummings.  I gave the whole issue of monogamy a great deal of thought before I got married and I believe that it is the will of God and the best way to maximize joy and minimize pain as we make our way through this life.  I have a closed mind on the subject of affairs.

Some people don’t believe in vaccines or antibiotics.  I’ve listened to their arguments and I am unconvinced.  I don’t agonize over whether or not to get a prescription when I have a sinus infection.  If I need one I go see the doctor and get one.

I am closed minded when it comes to paying 18%-25% interest on any kind of a purchase whatsoever.  I have a closed mind when it comes to political correctness because I believe in freedom of speech.  I’m closed minded about a lot of things, and so are you, if you are a sane person.

I believe in Jesus Christ.  I believe in Him because of all of the Bible prophecies that have been fulfilled.  If the book of Daniel was written by the prophet Daniel in the 6^th Century B.C. (and I have never seen any convincing evidence that it wasn’t written at that time) then I don’t see how any thinking person who honestly considers the issues could be anything but a Christian.

I also believe in Jesus because of years and years of religious experiences in my personal life, mainly happening in times of prayer.  There is Someone there; He is real; and He consistently confirms the message of the Bible to me.

Last but not least, I believe because the Bible helps me make sense out of life like no other book ever written.  If the Bible is true, then we would expect evil spirits to be present and hard at work manipulating human beings and human culture.  We would expect them to be constantly assaulting our minds and attempting to get us to believe really, deeply stupid things.  For instance, take the idea of being closed minded.  We examine the facts, come to a decision, and when we think we have sufficient evidence we close our minds to what we consider to be foolishness.  We all do it.  It doesn’t make sense not to do it.  (Unless you are currently addicted to crack cocaine in which case none of this will make sense to you.)

So why is it that a mental process, that makes perfect sense when you apply it to high interest credit cards, adultery, and crack cocaine, suddenly feels so wrong when we apply it to religious ideas?  It’s almost enough to make someone believe that there really are dark powers out there messing with our culture; which is exactly what we would expect to see happening if the Bible was true. 

Two important things

There are two important things we all need to get right.  If you can do these two things then, in a sense, you have "solved" life.  You have done the two most important things that you can do with your life.  The first thing is to enter into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  Once you know your sins are forgiven and your place in heaven is secure, no matter what else happens to you, you have taken care of the rest of forever and guaranteed that you will have the ultimate happy ending.

The second thing we must do is to begin to live our lives so as to please God in the here and now.  Do what He wants you to do right now.  If you aren't sure you're in the place God wants you do be in terms of your vocation or your ministry, start doing what you are already doing with a sincere motivation to please Him.  If you form the habit of dedicating the beginning and end of each segment of your day to Him, I believe that you will find Him willing and eager to guide you into any changes you need to make in your vocation and/or ministry.  A humble custodian, sweeping and moping for God, with a clear sense that this is the place God wants him to be, is greater than Secretary General of the United Nations, if God has not called that man to be Secretary General.  And at  the last day, the humble custodian will receive eternal glory for every floor he swept and toilet he cleaned.

Obscurity is simply not an option

Obscurity is simply not an option.  The gaze of God is unblinkingly focused on me.  Eternal glory is mine for the taking if I will simply do my supposedly mundane tasks as acts of worship that I will present to my Heaven Father.  For a creature born in sin, plagued by devils, and living in a world that constantly tugs him in the direction of evil, plain old everyday godliness requires heroic determination and is worthy of everlasting glory.