Pulpits aflame with righteousness

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there... in her fertile fields and boundless forests—and it was not there… in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there... in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.”

- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

There’s something about holiness that anoints people with power. I think of the words of Robert Murray M’Cheyne as quoted by Charles Spurgeon, “It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful [as in awe-inspiring] weapon in the hand of God.”

But where has our hunger for holiness gone? When did our zeal for righteousness fade? The music, movies, and content we consume unsettlingly resemble the world. And the words from our mouths betray the compromise in our hearts.

Read the Revivalists. Read the leaders of great moves of God. We will find little about relevance and much about holiness. Little concerning methods and much concerning prayer. Few references to culture and many references to consecration.

We consume the contents of world. We praise what the world praises. And all the while we wonder where our power has gone. We ask, “Where is the power of God?” A better question would be, “Where is the purity of the Church?” In the words of Os Guinness, “The Church is weak because she is worldly.”

Too often we act as if those who preach holiness are underminers of grace. They aren’t. The call to holiness is not a call to beat ourselves up but to call ourselves higher. Grace is not a means for compromise but a gift for empowerment.

We long for revival, forgetting that revival begins with repentance. If we want revival without repentance, we’ll wait until we die. If we want power without holiness, we’ll have to settle for mere performance.

God wants a holy Church. It’s time He finds one in us.