America’s Open Season: Spiritual Awakening?

During the past few months, America has been engaged in what appears to be an “open season” of accusations and confessions of past indiscretions.  On a national and historic level, men like Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jefferson have been criticized for their racism and bigotry.  Angry reactions have led to the toppling of time-honored statues that have honored these and other American leaders.  

"Search ME O God...see if there be any wicked way in ME."

On the Hollywood scene, disclosure of the sexual improprieties associated with Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and others has exposed a whole culture of immorality with a long history that is strewn with ruined lives.  Then, in recent days, the “open season” has spread to Washington where names Roy Moore, Al Franken, and Bill Clinton are making the news.   It is clear that, not unlike the culture of Hollywood, the “swamp” of Washington has been growing and festering for many years.

On the surface, America’s soul searching appears to be driven by political and ideological motivations, and maneuverings.  However, many Christ-followers are viewing this season as a call to pray that something deeper, more fundamental, and lasting may be possible.  Is it possible that America is beginning to realize the heavy price it has to pay for having rejected God’s moral absolutes?  Will America realize that her foundation has been strong because she has respected the Judeo-Christian moral code that includes loving God above all else and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10: 27)?  These laws were given by a loving God to promote abundant life and blessing, not boredom and pain.  God has been lovingly saying to us through His Word, “thou shall not, because I love you; and if you do, you and others will be hurt!   If you lie, hate, gossip, steal, commit adultery, and covet, it will separate you from my love, and my Life.  I have given you a choice:  life and blessedness, or death and dispair.”

How should Christ-followers respond to the daily news of the “toppling” of statues and the improprieties of personalities representing in many cases people that we held in high esteem?  Many Christ-followers have been praying that God would bring healing of the great political, moral, ethnic, and socioeconomic divisions in America.  Yet this morning, I am struck by the need for the light of God’s truth to be directed into my own heart, first and foremost.  What is being played out in Hollywood, Washington, and in cities across America is not foreign to my own life experience.  I too have sinned.  I sin daily--sometimes in my private thought life, and sometimes outwardly though ill chosen words or actions toward my wife or others.  I am not who I think I am.  I am who God knows me to be.  And, when I open God’s Word, the Bible, I can see as in a mirror the man that I really am.

The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 7: 7, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “Thou shall not covet.”   He goes on to say that, once he realized the Law against coveting, it produced in me coveting of every kind (v. 8).  Paul admits that nothing good dwells in me  because I do the very thing I do not wish to do (Romans 7: 18, 20).”   I can so clearly relate to Paul’s dilemma.  Can’t you? 

We all share the same “flesh” because we are biological and spiritual descendents of fallen Adam (Genesis 3).  But, Romans 8 explains that

Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8: 3-4).

Based on this truth, it follows that when we “die to the flesh” (i.e. give up on our own attempts to be righteous before God) and accept the offering of Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection, that we can be “born again” to walk in newness of life.  Then, as spiritual reborn individuals, we have the power of God’s Spirit within us to direct us along the morally right path in life and to convict us when we tend to go astray in thought or action (2 Timothy 3: 16).

How should I respond to the apparent “open season” on moral transgressors in America?  I must remember that as far as I am concerned, God’s first love and concern is not about Roy Moore or Kevin Spacey, or even about a spiritual reawakening in America.  Rather, God is concerned about my sensitivity to sin and my willingness to confess and turn from my wicked ways. 

Gordon T. Smith, in The Voice of Jesus, Discernment, Prayer, and the Witness of the Spirit, explains that we must “avoid the temptation to look at others rather than yourself.  We cannot know how God is convicting another; we can only know our own hearts.”  We must first examine our own life.  The Spirit of Christ within us calls us to pray with the psalmist David as he prayed (Psalm 139: 23-24),

Search me of God Search me, O God,
and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

As we search our hearts in light of God’s Word (Hebrews 4: 12), we realize that, as Smith further notes,

Sin is not merely bad deeds. 

Rather we are wise to be attentive to…how the Spirit might be convicting us with respect to our speech, the attitude of our hearts, our mental propensities as well as what we have actually done [or]…what we have neglected to do…  But the bottom line remains:  “Lord, where are you calling me to turn—not the person next to me in the pew on Sunday, not my colleagues at the office or family members, not anyone else but me?”  We seek the grace to know the convicting ministry of the Spirit that calls us from death to life; that empowers us to embrace the life of God.

Yes, we are in an “open season” of disclosure of the sins of celebrities and political leaders, and of toppling of historical statues.  But, sadly many don’t know the next step.  We can see “the spot” of individual or national sin.  And, like Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, we are beginning to cry, “Out, damn spot!”  But we don’t realize that only by turning to God can the spots be removed through repentance and confession of our sin.  It’s not Bill Clinton or Roy Moore, “It’s me first, Lord!  Open season on my heart!  I must open my heart to your loving search for what is not life and peace, but sin and death.  May I humbly confess and turn from that which dishonors you and separates me from walking with You.  With David (Psalm 51: 12-13) I will pray,

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

Me first!  Then, what next?   Maybe God will bring another “Great Awakening.”

Individual Accountability and Spiritual Awakening

In the previous Oikonomia article, “Cultural Influence of a Committed Minority,” I confessed that my first reaction to the High Court legalization of same-sex marriage was to resent how five unelected justices could alter the definition of marriage when a large majority of Americans had opposed it.  I even blamed President Obama for not providing moral leadership in opposition to this “legislation from the bench.”

Then I realized that biblical morality is not ultimately upheld by the bench, the legislature, elite focus groups, or the will of the masses.  The Bible teaches that a nation rises or falls based on whether or not individuals and leaders respect God’s moral absolutes, or “ancient landmarks” (Proverbs 22:28; and, see Oikonomia, “Stewardship and ‘Natural Law’.”)  Throughout history, God has used a committed minority to provide moral leadership and spiritual revival.  According to many Christian leaders, America needs revival now more than ever.  Now, I wondered what it would take to bring another great revival.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

In the mid-1700’s, the Holy Spirit moved through men of moral conviction like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield who preached that salvation depends upon individual accountability to God, not family traditions or church membership.  The American Revolution and the founding documents of America were consistent with a biblical understanding of individual responsibility, moral conduct, and governance.  Later, the Spirit used leaders like George Finney (second awakening, 1790 to 1840) and Jeremiah Lanphier (third awakening, 1857 to 1859).  The latter began with a small prayer meeting in New York City.  Each awakening brought men and women back to God’s moral landmarks, and each influenced the social and political landscape of America.   

Today, many are praying for revival in America, believing it to be the only answer to our spiritual decline.  As I have sought revival in my own life, I am learning there are no quick answers or “how-to-do-it” steps to revival.  Rather, by remembering the principle of individual accountability, I am first seeking to identify those hindrances to revival in my own life.  I am becoming less prone to find fault or assign blame to others for moral decline in America.  Christ’s “Beatitudes” are teaching me about my spiritual poverty (Matthew 5: 3), the logical response to mourn and confess my sin (v. 4), and the need to exercise gentleness when I confront my neighbor who lives in rejection of God’s plan for him or her (v. 5).  On the one hand, I want to offer acceptance and compassion toward my “neighbor” (one is gay, one, a lesbian).   On the other hand, I must ask if I am helping my “neighbor” by offering only acceptance and compassion? 

Andree Seu Peterson, in an article, “Compassion in the Midst of Evil”, addresses this difficult balance:

All of us were at one time lost, and occasionally lose our way even now, and so we all want compassion, and must all exercise it too. The main ground rule seems to be that compassion must never wimp out into any sympathy for evil. That would do no good for you or for the one you’re trying to help.

The Apostle Paul, when speaking to the Greeks in Athens about the God of creation said, Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent….  Elsewhere, in Romans 1: 16, Paul professes that he is not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  And, in verse 21, he adds (emphasis mine), For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  While it may seem arrogant (and can look that way to those who reject God’s plan), Christians have been given the commission to be salt and light (Matthew 5: 13-16).  Salt can sting in wounds and light can reveal embarrassing flaws—but salt can also preserve against rot, and light can reveal deadly danger ahead. 

The Gospel of Matthew emphasizes, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (v. 16).   Today, Christ’s followers are enduring great suffering and even death to glorify God (See “Christianity Shines in Dark Places,” Oikonomia July 11, 2015).  Am I willing to at least “die to my pride” so that my neighbor might be reconciled to his or her Creator?  After all, it’s not ultimately our government or the collective will of Americans that will steer us toward godly living.  Rather it requires our individual accountability to God and to our neighbor, in addition to being responsible citizens who will participate knowledgeably in government and hold our respective representatives accountable to exercise moral leadership as civil servants.

How about you?   How have you come to terms with offering acceptance and compassion to our “neighbor” versus challenging him or her to consider the claims of Scripture that will decide their eternal destiny?   I welcome your thoughts about our need for revival as a nation and within the evangelical church.  Perhaps you can suggest spiritual disciplines that are essential to the working of God’s Spirit in our lives to bring revival in the midst of our wandering, wanton, weary world.  What helpful resources in Scripture or extra-Biblical have you found helpful?   I am currently reading some articles from the Gospel Coalition webpage (Search under “Church Life”/ “Revival”).