Manifested Destiny: Jesus and the Revival Culture of The Kingdom
I promised that I'd make this post about revival culture, and I intend to keep that promise. It's been a busy week and I'm in the middle of a good book that's been occupying most of my spare thought-time, so this post has been delayed longer than I initially anticipated. Here we go...
I mentioned in my last post that the church isn't ready for revival, that it needs a culture shift before it's really ready to partner with Jesus and be unconditionally obedient to Him. Do you know what it's going to take? Do you want to know what revival is all about, what your destiny is about? Let's consider Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and dying. In the beginning, the world was perfect, but mankind tainted it, corrupted it, and from then on all persons except one were born sinful; we've only escalated the violence and corruption and idolatry, etc., since then. When Jesus came He caused a paradigm shift, though. The Prince of Peace came to earth and taught that love and forgiveness were the source of freedom from violence and hatred (as opposed to more violence through the policy of "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"). He taught that being filled with the Holy Spirit was the only way to become capable of righteousness (as opposed to trying hard to obey the law), and that He was the only suitable and perfect atonement for sin (that the law was impossible to follow for mortal man). Jesus created a new culture, a new way of living, one that, for the first time since Eden, was in perfect alignment with God's intention for the world. And when Jesus died, He bridged the gap between men and God, destroyed the institution of the temple, and made men into the temple of God, so that, for the first time since Eden, men could dwell with God and know Him personally. Lastly, when Jesus came as a messiah and died without coming into His Kingdom in that life, He didn't do so in defeat, but as a promise of His eventual victory. Jesus is in heaven, waiting for the day when He can come back to the earth and reign for a millennium, and then after He defeats the enemy and destroys all evil forever, He's going to restore the earth, bring Heaven down to it, and live and reign with His people forever. Let me reiterate this: salvation isn't just a "free pass" for an eternity is an other-dimensional heaven; it's a place at the banqueting table of the wedding feast of the lamb, which will be on earth! Jesus didn't come to die and take us all away from the earth forever (though we'll be away from the earth until it is recreated), He came to die so that He could restore us to Himself and win final dominion over the earth, so that He could recreate it back to the way it was in Eden, but even better because Heaven will be on earth!
Don't you see? This is what revival is about! Many of you are probably confused at me saying that, and I don't blame you; it's rather vague. Let me specify. Revival is about making the people of God into Kingdom-culture people, people who live according to the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that we would be the living representation of the Kingdom that is to come, teaching people that God is love and peace, that He has a restorative plan for the world, and that He wants all of us to be with Him forever in that utopia. This is a marvelous plan, it's a majestic gospel, and it's the destiny that many of us are missing. This is part of why we're not ready for revival; our vision is too narrow. For most of our lives we're taught that we should live our lives obediently, seeking God's will for what we should do and where we should go, and that when we die we'll go to heaven if we believe in Jesus. All of this is true; I don't argue with that point. What I contend is that there is a greater beauty of purpose to our destinies than this - we're born in this time to bring a radical facsimile of the Kingdom of God to earth (and a thumping good one, at that, because it's modeled after Jesus' life), so that the whole world will recognize that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom we follow, is the rightful King of earth, that He is full of love and passion for each human being, and that he wants to restore the earth, not destroy it. The destruction is a tragic necessity, to cleanse the sin from earth so that God can dwell on it again. When we say "Jesus is coming back soon", we should recognize how literally true that statement is, and just how exciting that is! This is revival - the process of making the people of God into true citizens of the Kingdom of God - so that the Kingdom can come to earth.
So what does this look like? I'm going to pick the most important point that I can think of, the one which all other characteristics flow out of. The defining characteristic of a revival culture is, fittingly, a devotion to the King of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus. Some of you might almost roll your eyes at this, because it seems cliche, and a while ago I was tired of saying that, too, because it seemed too general, to over-arching, and too often said. But bear with me...
When I say that revival culture is marked by devotion to Jesus, I mean this: a desire for Jesus is both the motivation and the means by which revival happens and the Kingdom is reproduced on earth. If we don't see Jesus' love for us and His plan for the world, if that doesn't grip us and cause us to seek Him out, to chase after Him, then no matter how disciplined we are we will fail in our attempted obedience to Him. Now, we're likely to fail no matter how sound our motivation is, but the right motivation means that we trip on an ant-hill instead of face-planting in a mud-hole. If we recognize Jesus' heart for us, the natural response is to seek to know Him more, and as we come to know Him more and realize what He's done for us, the only logical response is to desire to do something for Him. And what does Jesus desire but the restoration of creation and relationship with His people? So, connecting the dots now, when we really understand how Jesus feels about us (read John 13-17 a few times if you don't know what I'm talking about here), we seek to know Him more, and the revelation of His desires for the world and for humanity compels us to live our lives toward the goal of giving Jesus the desires of His heart, that being a pure and spotless bride with whom to dwell on the new Heaven and earth forever. Doesn't this make sense? Jesus is the reason for revival, He's the means by which it is accomplished, and without Him, if we get focused on signs, on "feelings", on healing, or even on worship, our revival will flare out. It will lose hold of its vine and it will wither up. We might look like a pretty nice flower at that point, but eventually we'll die.
I've said all of this for the sake of making one point: that Jesus is the central focus of revival, and He's the founder and sustainer of revival culture, which is a culture of seeking Jesus, living as He taught, and making His coming Kingdom known. Do you think that the church operates like this now? Do you think we're even close? If we seek revival before we're really, at the core of it, seeking Jesus, we're looking for the wrong thing. Right now, if revival were to come to the church, many leaders would try to control the move of God. Many people would leave churches because they can't accept a God that does miracles and cancels lunch plans to heal and deliver people. Many churches would see God move powerfully, but they'd lose sight of "why" and would get focused on what happened. They'd take control of things, trying to replicate the results that only a sovereign move of God can produce. Many people would get frustrated that things "don't feel" like they did, that someone else was touched by God while they weren't, or that the church is so full of new people that someone took "their spot". It would be short-lived, and it would probably cause as much if not more problems than it would solve them.
I mention these hypotheticals not intending offense, but simply to illustrate a point - that right now the church, as a whole, is not ready for revival. We wouldn't, and couldn't, accept it if it showed up tomorrow, let alone on a Sunday morning. Because in America, the church is more about socializing and "being good" than changing the world. It's more about not doing what Jesus forbade than doing what He did: following Him to the poor, the sick, the dejected and downcast, and to the cross. The church in America isn't ready for revival because revival is about Jesus, and much of the church isn't.
Grace and Peace,
-Ron Campbell
I mentioned in my last post that the church isn't ready for revival, that it needs a culture shift before it's really ready to partner with Jesus and be unconditionally obedient to Him. Do you know what it's going to take? Do you want to know what revival is all about, what your destiny is about? Let's consider Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and dying. In the beginning, the world was perfect, but mankind tainted it, corrupted it, and from then on all persons except one were born sinful; we've only escalated the violence and corruption and idolatry, etc., since then. When Jesus came He caused a paradigm shift, though. The Prince of Peace came to earth and taught that love and forgiveness were the source of freedom from violence and hatred (as opposed to more violence through the policy of "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"). He taught that being filled with the Holy Spirit was the only way to become capable of righteousness (as opposed to trying hard to obey the law), and that He was the only suitable and perfect atonement for sin (that the law was impossible to follow for mortal man). Jesus created a new culture, a new way of living, one that, for the first time since Eden, was in perfect alignment with God's intention for the world. And when Jesus died, He bridged the gap between men and God, destroyed the institution of the temple, and made men into the temple of God, so that, for the first time since Eden, men could dwell with God and know Him personally. Lastly, when Jesus came as a messiah and died without coming into His Kingdom in that life, He didn't do so in defeat, but as a promise of His eventual victory. Jesus is in heaven, waiting for the day when He can come back to the earth and reign for a millennium, and then after He defeats the enemy and destroys all evil forever, He's going to restore the earth, bring Heaven down to it, and live and reign with His people forever. Let me reiterate this: salvation isn't just a "free pass" for an eternity is an other-dimensional heaven; it's a place at the banqueting table of the wedding feast of the lamb, which will be on earth! Jesus didn't come to die and take us all away from the earth forever (though we'll be away from the earth until it is recreated), He came to die so that He could restore us to Himself and win final dominion over the earth, so that He could recreate it back to the way it was in Eden, but even better because Heaven will be on earth!
Don't you see? This is what revival is about! Many of you are probably confused at me saying that, and I don't blame you; it's rather vague. Let me specify. Revival is about making the people of God into Kingdom-culture people, people who live according to the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that we would be the living representation of the Kingdom that is to come, teaching people that God is love and peace, that He has a restorative plan for the world, and that He wants all of us to be with Him forever in that utopia. This is a marvelous plan, it's a majestic gospel, and it's the destiny that many of us are missing. This is part of why we're not ready for revival; our vision is too narrow. For most of our lives we're taught that we should live our lives obediently, seeking God's will for what we should do and where we should go, and that when we die we'll go to heaven if we believe in Jesus. All of this is true; I don't argue with that point. What I contend is that there is a greater beauty of purpose to our destinies than this - we're born in this time to bring a radical facsimile of the Kingdom of God to earth (and a thumping good one, at that, because it's modeled after Jesus' life), so that the whole world will recognize that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom we follow, is the rightful King of earth, that He is full of love and passion for each human being, and that he wants to restore the earth, not destroy it. The destruction is a tragic necessity, to cleanse the sin from earth so that God can dwell on it again. When we say "Jesus is coming back soon", we should recognize how literally true that statement is, and just how exciting that is! This is revival - the process of making the people of God into true citizens of the Kingdom of God - so that the Kingdom can come to earth.
So what does this look like? I'm going to pick the most important point that I can think of, the one which all other characteristics flow out of. The defining characteristic of a revival culture is, fittingly, a devotion to the King of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus. Some of you might almost roll your eyes at this, because it seems cliche, and a while ago I was tired of saying that, too, because it seemed too general, to over-arching, and too often said. But bear with me...
When I say that revival culture is marked by devotion to Jesus, I mean this: a desire for Jesus is both the motivation and the means by which revival happens and the Kingdom is reproduced on earth. If we don't see Jesus' love for us and His plan for the world, if that doesn't grip us and cause us to seek Him out, to chase after Him, then no matter how disciplined we are we will fail in our attempted obedience to Him. Now, we're likely to fail no matter how sound our motivation is, but the right motivation means that we trip on an ant-hill instead of face-planting in a mud-hole. If we recognize Jesus' heart for us, the natural response is to seek to know Him more, and as we come to know Him more and realize what He's done for us, the only logical response is to desire to do something for Him. And what does Jesus desire but the restoration of creation and relationship with His people? So, connecting the dots now, when we really understand how Jesus feels about us (read John 13-17 a few times if you don't know what I'm talking about here), we seek to know Him more, and the revelation of His desires for the world and for humanity compels us to live our lives toward the goal of giving Jesus the desires of His heart, that being a pure and spotless bride with whom to dwell on the new Heaven and earth forever. Doesn't this make sense? Jesus is the reason for revival, He's the means by which it is accomplished, and without Him, if we get focused on signs, on "feelings", on healing, or even on worship, our revival will flare out. It will lose hold of its vine and it will wither up. We might look like a pretty nice flower at that point, but eventually we'll die.
I've said all of this for the sake of making one point: that Jesus is the central focus of revival, and He's the founder and sustainer of revival culture, which is a culture of seeking Jesus, living as He taught, and making His coming Kingdom known. Do you think that the church operates like this now? Do you think we're even close? If we seek revival before we're really, at the core of it, seeking Jesus, we're looking for the wrong thing. Right now, if revival were to come to the church, many leaders would try to control the move of God. Many people would leave churches because they can't accept a God that does miracles and cancels lunch plans to heal and deliver people. Many churches would see God move powerfully, but they'd lose sight of "why" and would get focused on what happened. They'd take control of things, trying to replicate the results that only a sovereign move of God can produce. Many people would get frustrated that things "don't feel" like they did, that someone else was touched by God while they weren't, or that the church is so full of new people that someone took "their spot". It would be short-lived, and it would probably cause as much if not more problems than it would solve them.
I mention these hypotheticals not intending offense, but simply to illustrate a point - that right now the church, as a whole, is not ready for revival. We wouldn't, and couldn't, accept it if it showed up tomorrow, let alone on a Sunday morning. Because in America, the church is more about socializing and "being good" than changing the world. It's more about not doing what Jesus forbade than doing what He did: following Him to the poor, the sick, the dejected and downcast, and to the cross. The church in America isn't ready for revival because revival is about Jesus, and much of the church isn't.
Grace and Peace,
-Ron Campbell
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