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Redemption, revival and reformation are three critical components of a healthy church. Redemption is what God does to lost people. A healthy church will have lost people in its midst. They are the ones whom the Father is drawing to Jesus. We often call them as seekers; but really it’s the Son who is seeking them. A lost person is spiritually dead. He cannot understand God; he does not desire God. God works in him to believe. When he repents and believes, he is born again.
Revival is what God does to saved people who have given in to sin. It implies several things about a person: 1) He was made alive in Christ, 2) he now looks dead, and 3) he can live to Christ again. Genuine revival is a work of the Holy Spirit wrought in the body of Christ, not the lost. Someone who knows Christ as Lord but by active sin or passive neglect has grown cold and unresponsive to the Spirit looks dead. We can’t tell whether he is spiritually dead or just asleep. The Spirit convicts the Christian of his sin and Christ’s righteousness. When he repents and believes, he is revived.
Reformation is what God does to saved people who need spiritual guidance. It means change. It is the reshaping of something that’s alive. A gardener prunes living plants. He removes dead ones. Reformation involves the whole person. As we grow in Christ, the Spirit teaches us things about God we never knew. He leads us to want to do what pleases God. He reforms our consciences, attitudes, and behaviors. As he works in the church family, he reforms our doctrines, our worship, our ministries, and other practices. When we repent and believe, we reform.
In the context of the widespread ecclesiastical corruption of the 16th century, God restored to the church five essential principles, which came to be known as the five “solas.” The Reformers discovered that everything the church believes and teaches must stand on Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) and not church traditions. They learned that salvation was by God’s grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide) in Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus), and not by anything we might do. They believed that the purpose of all God’s works was God’s glory alone (soli Deo gloria). They also knew that God was active in all the affairs of men, especially in matters of salvation. They taught that God was the sovereign Creator and that all events came to pass by his design because He “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
Reforming ourselves and our church must always be our goal. That is, we must continue to deepen our understanding of God and his Word in order to maintain our spiritual fervor and be shaped by the Spirit’s leading. Churches that cease to reform stop growing, become stagnant, and die.
In 1656, Richard Baxter wrote, “Can we think that the reformation is wrought, when we cast out a few ceremonies, and change some vestures, and gestures, and forms! Oh no, sirs! It is the converting and saving of souls that is our business. That is the chiefest part of reformation, that doth most good, and tendeth most to the salvation of the people.”
May God continue to reform us in his image.
By grace,
Pastor Chris
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