Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Revival or Reformation?

One well know Charismatic writer wrote these words:
"The World awaits a fresh manifestation of the Spirit in the Body of Christ......I am tired of the airy, fairy doctrines of Theologians. The fresh manifestation of the Spirit will have NOTHING to do with sound doctrine.”"
Is that statement true? Is it true that a fresh manifestation of the Spirit is going to come independent of sound doctrine? What is true is that the Church in some circles is accepting just about anything that smacks of spirituality without checking it out with the Word of God first. We see it in the way the Church has embraced a marketing approach to ministry, viewing the gospel as a product to be hocked. We see it in the therapeutic approach to handling life's problems as opposed to a Biblical approach where God’s Word is seen as sufficient. We see it in the health wealth and prosperity gospel, where God is seen as a cosmic genie as opposed to the awesome Sovereign Holy One. We see it in the acceptance of shabby theology in Christian book stores, with books being written that have little to no relation to Biblical teaching. The extremes are see in the bad theology of some Charismatics to the non-theology of some emergent Church writers.
What is the Problem? There has been a breakdown of theology on the Local Church level where Pastors have opted out for a perceived better way as opposed to the Pauline example of consistently teaching of the whole counsel of God, and modeling a distinctly Christ-like living pattern.
As David Wells says in the last Chapter of his fine book “No Place for Truth; Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?”
"We need reformation rather than revival. The habits of the modern world, not so ubiquitous in the evangelical world, need to be put to death, not given new life. They need to be rooted out, not pampered over with some fresh religious enthusiasm.” ( His thesis is that proper theology leads to revival..) “The death of theology has profound ramifications. Theology is dying because the Church has lost its capacity for it. And while some hail this loss as a step forward toward the hope of a new Evangelical vitality, it is in fact a sign of creeping death. The emptiness of evangelical faith without Theology echoes the emptiness of modern life."
As the body of Christ we must stand with a balance of love and sound doctrine. It seems to me that we have swung from an emphasis on Orthodoxy (right belief) to an emphasis on Orthopraxy (right practice). The point is that we need both, without either the Church ceases to represent Jesus. Pray that Pastors would have a renewed confidence in the Word of God. God’s people are starving for the knowledge of God and it is time for the Shepherds to step up to the plate and deliver it, line upon line, precept upon precept.

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