FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 8, number 17, April 23, 2009

. . . they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, Acts 14:27.

Marginalization and Revival

Many evangelicals in Venezuela say that the socialistic regime of President Hugo Chavez has been used powerfully of God to build Christ’s church there. Since Chavez's regime began in 1999 Protestantism has grown from eleven percent to seventeen percent of the population, meaning at least 1.5 million conversions have occurred during this time period. Pat Robertson’s call for the U.S. to assassinate Chavez caused him to remove American missionaries. The New Tribes Mission which has worked there for over fifty years was removed from the country a few years ago.

In spite of violent pockets of intense persecution by militant Sikhs and Hindus in India , the church there is growing with millions of conversions and the planting of thousands of churches. The vast majority of these Indian conversions are coming from the Dalit people, the poorest of the poor, the lowest castes in India , the traditionally marginalized people.

A recent Newsweek article spoke of the decline and fall of Christianity in America and our president recently told Muslims on his European tour that America is not a Christian nation. We know that New England remains the least churched region in our country with only one percent being evangelical. And recently a mega-church pastor apparently recanted of his support for Proposition 8 in California , which voted down same sex marriages in that state. As American Christians willingly and unwillingly retreat from the public square it is clear that we are being marginalized, perhaps as never before in our country.

What is happening and why? Is there any hope in the present lethargic, disenfranchised, and marginalized church? First, this is happening because the American church long ago jettisoned the law of God from her life blood. Theologians have long spoken of the three uses of the Law— the usus pedagogicus, the usus civlis, and the usus practicus. The pedagogical use of the law means that we see it as a school master, a tutor if you will, that drives the unbeliever to Christ (Galatians 3:24). We use the law of God to show people they have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, that they are guilty before Him, that they need a Savior, One who perfectly obeyed the law we all failed to keep. So far so good, though many do a very poor job of preaching the law of God. The second use of the law, the civil use, the one on which our Judeo-Christian heritage is based, the very foundation of our legal system, has consistently been eroded in our court systems. To make matters worse, the church has not called our legislators or courts to task for denying the very forensic foundation of our way of life. And then the third use of the law, the practical one, is rarely preached by pastors today. We are so taken with justification by faith, that we have the imputed righteousness of Christ (indeed a glorious doctrine), that we give the mistaken impression to our church members that we can live any way we want, that we are no longer bound to obey the law, that all we need to concern ourselves with is grace, that repentance is easy.

So we are in this condition because we have denied the three uses of God’s law. But is there any hope for us, for a lethargic, marginalized, disenfranchised church? The answer is a hopeful “Yes.” I say “hopeful” because I do not know what God will do with us, and I wonder if we are willing to do what is required. He ought to destroy us from the face of the earth. The degree of our ungratefulness, idolatry, and unbelief is staggering. But perhaps, in His most sovereign mercy and grace, He will strive with us a little longer. Perhaps He will endure with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, causing many more to become vessels of mercy. What then must we do? First, I suggest we must repent of our sin, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, once and for all disavowing our hope in government, technology, or ourselves. Second, we must have faith. We must “see what we see.” Consider the case of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. Nearly everywhere they went in Galatia —places like Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe—they met with severe persecution, beatings, and imprisonment. However at the end of the journey they were able to tell the believers in their home church at Antioch the wonderful things God had done through them, how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Indeed, those who were dwelling in darkness had seen a great light. Indeed, the nations were streaming to Jerusalem . The nations were singing for joy before the Lord, their Maker.

God has brought remarkable growth to His church in Venezuela because of the persecution, the marginalization of believers there. The people know their hope is not in Chavez. The Dalit people of India are converting by the millions to Christianity. They know there is no hope at all in the Indian cultural and economic system. They are finding that the middle wall of partition is broken down in Christ, that all are one in Him, that one’s economic or cultural standing means nothing in the church of Jesus , that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Of course, our brothers and sisters in Venezuela and India are paying a heavy price for the conversions they are seeing; but they have nowhere else to go. They know their help is not in the government. Their help alone is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

So the question for each of us is this—are you willing to pay the price for revival? Are you willing to live the third use of the law? Are you willing to take seriously God’s command to obey Him in all that He says? Are you willing to labor and suffer? Are you willing to be a fool for Jesus’ sake, to bear reproach and falsehood? Are you willing to wait until that great day for vindication of your name and cause? Until we are “done with lesser things” we should not expect any great revival in our land. It still may not come. God is sovereign, but one thing is clear—to live as become the followers of Christ, to take up one’s cross daily and follow Jesus—is always God’s way. Such a lifestyle will, at the very least, bring fullness of joy and godly character. Could it be that God is using our rapid slide into societal marginalization and perceived irrelevance to humble us, to drive us to live out what we should have been living all along? So, in sorrow and grief over the real loss of the Christian consensus in America , humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Seek God earnestly, and believe Him for great and mighty things. Look up for our redemption is drawing near.

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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