A Reason for Revival

This article was expanded from a short reflection that I shared with the committee of GKY Singapore’s Welcoming Youth 2018 in our prayer meeting for the revival service on 29 September with the theme “The X-traordinary”. See the featured image above for more information.

The Status Quo and Questions that Followed

Over the past few months, GKY Singapore organised a series of gatherings (nicknamed Welcoming Youth / “WY”) to welcome Indonesian secondary to university students who are continuing their study in Singapore. The theme for this year is “The X-Factor”, the X of which, besides being a literal X, represents the first letter of Χριστός, the Greek for “Christ”. Such a theme invites the youths, especially the newcomers, to notice the uniqueness of Christ who is the sole defining factor that differs Christianity[1] from other faiths. This aim is evident in all of the fellowships held, which are culminating on Saturday night with a revival service. The theme of the service itself highlights the X-Factor by persuading those who are coming to reflect on the “X-traordinary” identity of Christians as the salt and light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14).

Having examined the stage of the revival service to which I’m going to present a reason for, several questions may form in your mind. “The X-traordinary”-related questions aside (e.g. “What does Jesus mean by ‘salt and light’?”, as they would be answered in the sermon), I would like to devote this writing to answer the following queries I find more relatable with me: “Why are we having a revival service as the finale of WY again after we had one last year? Or, more generally, what kind of place does revival hold in a Christian life?”

I have been looking for the answers since my appointment as the chairperson of this year’s WY committee last May. They did turn up, but as seemingly disconnected from each other. By God’s grace, as I was preparing my message for the prayer meeting for the service, I stumbled across a part in the Bible that ties the loose ends. Let us now turn to that passage, which I think satisfyingly connects the importance of revival with the general theme of “The X-Factor”. This link consequently provides a reason for revival.

A Prayer for a “Perfectly Fine” Church

16 [I pray] that according to the riches of his [the Father’s] glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians‬ ‭3:16-19‬‬‬ ESV)

As I found out that I was to share a short reflection only a few hours before the prayer meeting, I didn’t conduct a proper background study of the passage and epistle. Instead, I rashly skimmed through the previous parts and falsely concluded that there was an apparent conflict between the Jewish and non-Jewish members of the Ephesian church. I arrived there due to Paul’s rich explanation about three matters: the repentance experience of every believer by grace through faith (2:1-10), the unity of all believers under Christ (2:11-22), and the mystery of the gospel (that by His death and resurrection, Jesus also redeemed the non-Jews; 3:1-13) in passages before this magnificent prayer.

However, after cross-checking several commentaries, I discovered that there had been no conflicts at all between the Jewish and Gentile believers. In fact, while Paul generally wrote letters to address certain issues (e.g. 1 Corinthians), Ephesians is one of the few that have any issues at all. This fact confused me. Why did Paul utter such a great prayer for revival for a congregation that had been doing fine? Let me first explain the flow of this passage before I get to that question and why I call it “a prayer for revival”.

In response to the glorious truths in previous passages, Paul began his prayer in verse 16 by requesting that the Holy Spirit in the heart (“inner being”) of every member of the Ephesian church (the “you” is plural in Greek) may strengthen them with His power according to the Lord’s grace (“the riches of his glory”). But what is the aim of this petition? That Christ may dwell in their hearts through the Spirit-empowered faith (v. 17). It does not stop there. Paul pled that by these, all of the individual members of the congregation may communally have the strength to understand the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, which leads them to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (vv. 18-19). In other words, Paul was praying that the Ephesian church may be able to know their glorious Lord and Saviour as who He is more personally and closely so that the fullness of God may be present in their lives. This passage is a series of causes and effects that Paul prayed to God in the intercession for the Ephesians, one petition building upon another.

What’s interesting here is that the verbs in all of Paul’s requests[2] are aorist, a type of verb in the Greek language that began at one point in the past and continues indefinitely into the future. For a church in such a good condition (i.e. they had no critical issues that an apostle-level leader needed to address), why would Paul pray so passionately and unblushingly[3] for such great things to happen continually in the Ephesians?

One of the Greatest Prayers for Revival

I think he was warning them against spiritual leniency. We can trace the trails this intent left in the remaining parts of the epistle. For example, right after this prayer, Paul urged the Ephesian church “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1). Why the urgency? Why so serious? Because if they weren’t living appropriately to their calling, they might unknowingly follow the false teachings that were surrounding them (4:14). The Ephesian believers may have fared well in their growth as disciples of Christ, but if they didn’t keep reminding themselves that they were in a spiritual warfare, they would lose. Paul notably used vivid imagery of the armour of God in his last exhortation to the Ephesians to describe the battlefield they were in: not against physical beings, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”‬ ‭(6:12‬).

But what is the calling that the Ephesians—and all Christians at large—have been called to? To hope in the salvation that was given in Christ by grace through faith and be united with all fellow disciples under Him, as we learnt in chapter 2 of the letter. Furthermore, in light of the big picture of the Bible, especially with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) in view, it is a calling to bring others to the same hope that we have in Jesus. How? We must first be like Him, in one sense that you are really filled with His love and fullness. How? By knowing who He is, the Lord and Saviour whose glory and majesty is immeasurable by human standards of breadth and length and height and depth. Again, how? By having Christ to dwell in us first. For we by our sinful nature are hostile to the Lord (Romans 8:7). Lastly, how? Through the works of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to have the strength to believe in Him. In other words, Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:16-17 that God Himself may continually revive us from our tendency to spiritual death and open our blind eyes to be able to see the immeasurable, inexplicable Christ for who He is. Thus we have one of the greatest prayers for the revival that we ourselves can utter, too.

Come to the Revival Service to be Revived

The Christian life is the fight to see, the war to keep sight of and understand about Christ and His love amidst “the waves… and every wind of doctrine,… human cunning,… [and] craftiness in deceitful schemes”‬ ‭(4:14‬). As we still live in a sinful world, our natural inclination is to focus on those distractions instead of Jesus. This is where the means of revival, particularly a revival service, come in handy. They are like divine defibrillators operated by God as the Emergency Room officer; it revives both the people who have been long spiritually dead and those who are not aware that they have been walking around half-dead this whole time. This analogy also shows that we cannot resuscitate ourselves; God must be the initiator, and all we can do is put our trust in Him.

A revival service is held not only for unbelievers who are seeking for salvation and truth in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but also for believers who recognise that they have wandered from the path of the Lord and seek to return. It is an occasion where the current and new members of a congregation respectively take and renew their commitment to “strive... for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). And as one who identifies with the latter, I’m coming to the revival service this Saturday night with this desire in mind: to be revived and see Christ as Christ again, not as a counterfeit god my heart created, and consequently live my life in His light.

I realise that my own spiritual walk has not been faring very well. I thought I was fine, but I was actually a mess. It has been two months since I graduated and I haven’t been successful in my job applications. I was called for some interviews, but none ended in an offer. I think I was at my lowest a few weeks ago when I was rejected by three institutions in consecutive days. I had since questioned God’s faithfulness in my life. The joy and warmth I usually experienced during my daily devotionals and prayers evaporated in an instance. There were spikes and signs of their return, but they always faltered. Preparing and sharing my reflection on the idea of revival helped me recover a bit, but right on Monday, I quickly rejected the offer to play in the beach and instead plunged back into my swamp to make mud pies[4]. I binge-watched the season 1 of Marvel’s Daredevil on Netflix in two days (that’s about 13 hours of my life gone) while also completing other job applications but neglecting my other responsibilities, for instance leading my small group leader and, shamefully and regretfully, writing this article (hence the delay of publication and the shorter time for you to reflect yourself). Thank God, I was offered a short staycation by a friend of mine these past few days, which helped me to reorient myself to God and complete this writing.

You may be experiencing a similar occurrence to mine: you start doubting the Lord and His characters and trying to run as far as possible from Him. You may even realise your bad spiritual condition and are trying to return to Him (which is good, because it’s a sign that the Holy Spirit is working in you). But you feel that the weight of sin is too burdensome that you can’t even take a step closer to God. I’m not saying that I myself have recovered to my usual shape, nor can I promise that you can cast the burden away after the revival service. But this is the attitude of the heart that, by God’s grace, I’m hoping to attain when I enter the main sanctuary for the revival service: a full conscience that I’m not worthy before God and a total surrender to He who is able to break even the hardest of stones and heal even the blindest of eyes. For only Lord Jesus can carry our weight of sins, even all of humanity’s, as the resurrected Lord and Saviour. Yes, let us long that His Spirit may revive us again to see and savour the glory of Christ that is broader than the Pacific Ocean, longer than Nile River, higher than Mount Everest, and deeper than the Mariana Trench!

Two Last Things to Say

First of all, I’m aware that I have put such a great emphasis on revival in this writing that it may seem that it is an end in itself. As a result, you may expect that after attending the revival service, your relationship with God and others would once again flourish. That is the first thing I would discourage you to expect. When Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter at the end of Luke 8, He ordered that she was given something to eat (v. 55). The twelve-year-old girl didn’t play right away, but she first recovered her bodily strength. It’s the same with us. Slowly (re)build up various spiritual disciplines, for instance of Bible reading, prayer, and fellowships with other believers. These disciplines would help you to habituate yourself to be filled with the fullness of God daily and (re)activate the spiritual muscles that have not moved for a time. I particularly mention the example of fellowships with other believers because, in case you have not noticed, that is what Paul meant by “with all the saints” (Ephesians 3:18). You can’t know the immeasurable glory of Christ and be filled with God’s fullness alone; they are to be done communally, not individually. Commit to your small group if you have one and go join one and commit there if you have not any.

Finally, in response to a question in the beginning and the last few sentences in the previous paragraph, what tops the closing act of a welcoming event other than a sincere invitation to be a part of a caring community who strives toward godliness together to become authentic disciples of Christ?

See you at the revival service! Soli Deo Gloria.

Footnote

[1] And His followers, because they have Christ in them (John 17:22-23).

[2] They are “grant”, “be strengthened”, “dwell”, “have strength”, “comprehend”, “know”, and “be filled”.

[3] If “the breadth and length and height and depth” is not passionate and unblushing, I don’t know what is.

[4] In reference to C. S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory sermon.
More resources on revival - An interview with John Piper in the episode 1013 of the podcast "Ask Pastor John" - What is Revival and Where Do We Find It? - A sermon by Timothy Keller in The Gospel Coalition National Conference 2013 - A Biblical Theology of Revival - An article by Robert W. Caldwell III - How Revival Turned Protestants into Evangelicals