After I spoke on the fullness of the Spirit yesterday, somebody remarked, “Sounds like you think we need to get back to an old-fashioned Pentecost.” I didn’t respond but the comment lingers. I asked myself, “Am I, due to my age, longing for the past? Am I remembering days gone by with the soft rosy tint so often imparted by nostalgia?” No! I am eager to experience all that the Lord has for His Church and for me right now. I do not want to re-live any previous ‘glory days!’ I am convinced that there are new and wonderful things prepared in His purposes, that He is not just the God of my fathers, but the God of my grandsons!
After crying out in alarm over the terrible spiritual conditions in Israel, the prophet Joel used a plague of locusts that was devastating the land to illustrate a coming military invasion that would bring terrible destruction. "Sound the alarm in Jerusalem! Raise the battle cry on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us." (Joel 2:1, NLT) But, Joel’s vision did not stop there! "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." (Joel 2:28-31, NIV) Disciple, walking away from the Lord will invite His correction, but – praise Him – He does not abandon us forever. “His mercies are new every morning!”
I believe that He is holding out the offer of a new Renaissance to us if only we will invite the Spirit to give us new dreams, bigger than ourselves, greater than our personal prosperity. The Renaissance period in Europe, beginning in the 1400’s, which brought about the rebirth of culture and learning after the Dark Ages, brought a whole new way of thinking to the Western World. Many thought that Christianity was done, finished by the dawn of the Enlightenment! But, God’s voice spoke through all that tumult of that time to the heart of a German monk named Martin Luther. Through him, the Spirit gave us the Reformation, which not only changed the Church, but laid the foundation for Western democracy, and our entire way of life. Luther did not have a vision about going back to anything. God showed him a new way to worship, a new vision of the Cross of Christ, a new vision of grace.
His famed five ‘sola’s’ shaped the core principles of the rebirth of vital Christianity:
‘Sola Scriptura,’ only the Scripture;
‘Solus Christus’ – only Christ;
‘Sola Gratia’ – only grace;
‘Sola Fide’ – only faith –
‘Soli Deo Gloria’ – only for God’s glory.
These ideas may seem common, even familiar to us, but the Spirit birthed these visions of the core Truths of the Gospel when God revealed these things to Luther 500 years ago! They came to him in a time of terrible darkness and in great struggle.
Let’s believe God, the Spirit, for a new proclamation of the Gospel that engages our world. The Scripture remains! Christ is the same! Grace is the hope. Faith is the only means of receiving that grace. No matter the age, the purpose of our lives is found only in God’s glory. A backward look was the sin of Lot’s wife that led to her demise. So, if we spend our days longing for another era, gazing fondly backward, we will never experience the renaissance that God, the Holy Spirit, has prepared for us. Lift your eyes to Him.
Here’s a word from the Word. Jesus, speaking to His disciples and to us, urges us to receive the vision.
"Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together." (John 4:35-36, NIV)
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Spirit of God, descend upon my heart.
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, Mighty as Thou art.
And make me love Thee, as I ought to love!
Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, heart, soul, and strength, and mind!
I see Thy Cross, there teach my heart to cling,
O let me seek Thee and oh, let me find!
George Croly – public domain
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