Like the Pharisees

There has been much talk of revival lately – who has it, if it is the real deal, etc etc. I refuse to enter that conversation, because I dare not touch the Lord’s anointed work.
But it has stirred up old feelings that I used to have, of a horror of the kind of revival-chasing that reduces revival to an experience that we can add to our pursuit of ‘making it as a Christian’. You know the kind of thing: give yourself a point if you have ever
* been to Bible college
* preached before a congregation
* led a worship team (bonus point if people felt goosebumps while you led)
* led a church (bonus point if the church had over 100 members)
* led someone in the Sinner’s prayer
* gained Social Media followers to your Christian ministry/ blog/ page
* had people ‘like’ or even ‘share’ your posts and opinions
* seen an angel
* received a vision
* cast out a demon
* ‘successfully’ prayed for someone to be healed
* been slain in the Spirit/ had any other ‘spiritual’ experience
* been part of a revival move/ outpouring

All of these (and more) are the kind of things that people put on their ‘Christian CV’ – whether it’s done internally and subconsciously, or broadcast for all to see that they have ‘made it’. All while those who have never achieved anything on the list are left feeling inferior – spiritual failures.
But the thing is, none of that impresses God. ALL that matters in His eyes is this: do you know Him? Have you received His life given for you and given your life in return to Him as your Lord and King? Chalking up points as in the list above only identifies us as one thing: Pharisees – those who try to impress with their religious box-ticking.

And one of the things that grieves me most nowadays, that drives me to more prayer nowadays, is how much we the Church are just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, but don’t realise it. We think to ourselves, “If I had lived in Israel in Jesus’ day, I wouldn’t have crucified Him. I love Him. He’s my Saviour. I faithfully worship Him at church every Sunday AND attend midweek prayer meetings. I read my Bible every day… so I would have recognised Him from the prophecies”
And we fail to realise that we sound JUST like the Pharisees who Jesus addressed in Matt 23:30 – “you boast, ‘If we had lived back then, we would not have joined them in killing the prophets.’” (TPT)

And we keep chasing the experience of revival, and coolly discussing anywhere that God might or might not be moving so we can agree between ourselves whether it counts as revival or not, all while failing to examine our own hearts to realise just how very short we have fallen from Christ’s perfection.
In justifying ourselves, thinking ‘we’re not like the Pharisees’, that is the clearest sign that we are JUST like them. We need to repent. Just as Jesus continued in His heartfelt warning to the Pharisees about the sorrow that was waiting for them if they did not change their ways, “How will you escape the judgement of hell if you refuse to turn in repentance” (Matt 23:33)

Church, the ONLY way to ‘making it’ as a Christian is repentance of our own unrighteousness, acceptance of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, and humble surrender to His Lordship. It is acknowledging that all our efforts are like filthy rags in the sight of God, and all our proud opinionated judging over His work is offensive to Him.
We don’t need to decide whether a particular move of God is worth pursuing – we just need to recognise our own need for Him to revive our own heart: to humble ourselves again and cry out to know HIM more. We don’t need to chase someone else’s revival experience. We just need to individually, wholeheartedly pursue JESUS and let HIM revive us back to glorious relationship with Him!

As A W Tozer says in the preface to his classic book, “Pursuit of God”,
“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself… They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.
This is the only real harbinger of revival which I have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon.”

Amen, Lord – let the pursuit of everything else fade away, and lead us back to You, our first love. Amen.