ReDo: Spiritual Renovation

I’m going to do things a little differently today. Usually I give some sort of story or explanation before I read the scripture, but today, I’m just going to jump right in.

Acts 1:3-14

New Living Translation (NLT)

³ During the forty days after his crucifixion, Jesus appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. ⁵ John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

⁶ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

⁷ He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. ¹⁰ As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile.¹³ When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.

Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot), and Judas (son of James).¹⁴ They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

Today we are starting a sermon series on spiritual renewal. We’re going to spend the next few weeks examining this concept of spiritual renewal. What does it mean? How do we do it?

Today we’re going to examine that first question. What is spiritual renewal? That will lead us into the second question. How do we achieve spiritual renewal?

Spiritual renewal is a theme throughout the scriptures. In Romans Paul writes about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. Ephesians says we should let the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes. 2 Corinthians says, “we are being renewed day by day.”

I have to point out the renewal these verses talk about is not renewal like renewing a magazine subscription or your insurance. That sort of renewal is continuing something. This is a different sort of renewal.

The writer of Psalm 51 asks God to “Create in me a clean heart.  Put a new and right spirit within me.” It’s not simply re-committing to the same thing. It’s something new. In Colossians, Paul says we are given a new nature and that new self is renewed in knowledge to conform us to the image of Christ. Jesus in talking with the Pharisee Nicodemus talked about rebirth. Being born anew.  Titus 3:5 says we are saved by this new birth and by the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

So spiritual renewal is a rebirth. It’s a recreation. It’s a cleansing, a reconditioning. Refreshing. Maybe a renovation. We can also talk about spiritual renewal by using an old, and to some people, troubling term. Revival. Revival is one of those words that has bad connotations for some people. Honestly, I’m one of them.

The church where I grew didn’t have revivals, at least not that I remember. The only experience I had with revival came from movies and TV. And most of those experiences were little more than someone screaming about Jesus and the devil and trying to literally scare the Hell out of their audience.

Honestly, what came to mind was this guy. Are any of you familiar with the movie Leap of Faith?

In that movie, Steve Martin plays a con-man. He is a con-man posing as an evangelist, Jonas Nightingale. He travels from town to town performing an old fashioned tent revival. He comes out with really flashy clothes, and fireworks going off, and a huge choir singing behind him. Then he whips the crowd into a frenzy by screaming about Jesus (using way too many syllables). The service climaxes with a series of faith healings which is quickly followed by the offering buckets. The crowd eats it up and fill the buckets, but we get to see the behind the scenes stuff in the movie. We see that off stage, Steve Martin’s preacher character is a foul-mouthed jerk. We see his employees talking to the crowd as they file into the seats and then passing information to his assistant in a control booth. She then gives him the information through a hidden ear-piece to convince the crowd that God is talking to him and telling him who needs to be healed.

There’s more to the story than that, but you’ll have to see movie yourself to find out what happens. I will say this, God has a history of working through scoundrels.

A few years ago, the church I served as pastor held a revival. It was customary for their new pastor to preach the first revival. So I was called on to preach, so I had to work through my preconceptions about revivals.

Some of you may have noticed I’m full of questions. When I learn about something, I usually end up with more questions than answers. When I attempt something I approach it with questions. I guess I’m the analytical type. I want to know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going before I get started. So I needed to figure out what a revival was to get past the image of Steve Martin in a mirrored jacket.

So I began to research, and I went to most reliable source I know. Wikipedia. Are you familiar with Wikipedia? My favorite description of Wikipedia comes from Michael Scott on The Office, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” That was, of course a sarcastic description. But, Wikipedia has this to say about revival – “Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches.”

That sounds like a goal. Increased spiritual interest and a time of spiritual renewal. It also sounds like something that cannot be manufactured. Spiritual renewal doesn’t happen simply because I planned a sermon series. Increased spiritual interest and spiritual renewal are not necessarily things that happen on a schedule.

Which brings me back to our scripture for this morning. As Jesus leaves the Disciples to continue his work, he tells them to wait. Just after the scripture I read, we read about the story of Pentecost. The birth of the church. The Holy Spirit comes to the disciples with a sound like a rushing wind and rests on each of them with what Acts describes as tongues of fire. Empowered by the Spirit, those first believers go out and preach to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem. And by the end of that day, the number of believers grew from 120 to over 3000. There are some important ideas here about spiritual renewal – about revival.

First, Spiritual renewal can only happen through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit; which is demonstrated in our scripture. The Disciples see and talk to the resurrected Jesus who tells them to wait. Wait for the Holy Spirit. So they go to Jerusalem and they prepare themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is only when the Holy Spirit comes to them that they are ready. They are renewed through the Spirit’s presence and by the Spirit’s work in and through them. Then they are prepared to, as Jesus told them, “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth.”

Second, is the importance of prayer. After Jesus ascends to heaven, the Disciples go and prepare themselves for the coming Spirit. According to our scripture they do this by “constantly devoting themselves to prayer.” By devoting themselves to prayer, they prepared for the coming Holy Spirit

There’s something else we learn from the story of Pentecost. And it’s going to be our focus for the next 3 Sundays. There are really three separate renewals going on in this story. Spiritual renewal, true renewal, does not stop with us. The Holy Spirit brought a change in the Disciples. The Holy Spirit revived and renewed their lives and their desire to serve Jesus! Through that renewal of the disciples, the church underwent a renewal as well. After the coming of the Spirit, the church began to fulfill its mission. Jesus gave the disciples a mission. Go make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. Now, empowered by the spirit they are prepared to do just that. This time of spiritual renewal caused revival in their community and “day by day the Lord added to their numbers.” People around them were so moved by what they saw that they knew they wanted to be a part of that group.

To me, this is what revival looks like. This is how renewal progresses. It begins with the individual, spreads to the church, and then spreads throughout the community.

Over the next 3 weeks we’re going to look more specifically at each of these steps. What does it mean to have a personal revival; to experience spiritual renewal? What about the renewal of a congregation? What should a church be & how can we be that church? And finally, how can we let that renewal spread throughout the community?

It begins, though, just as it did on the day of Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit. So, let’s invite the Holy Spirit. Invite the Spirit to begin working in you. Each of us is called by God to something. Each of us is called to minister. To spread the good news of Jesus Christ and the redemptive love of God. Over the next few weeks, I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you as you seek that call.