The Savior

The revival culture of my past was characterized by preaching that was invitational, singing old gospel songs which focused on the saving work of Christ, and people going forward to an altar to pray prayers of repentance.  Many a person has started their walk with Christ at the altar of a revival meeting.  In some places where revivals played such an important part in the life of the church, folks would talk about waiting for the next revival to give their life to Christ.  It was as if the revival week was the only time such could be done.

 

Even as it is true that the traditional revival meeting has largely disappeared from the life of today's church, what is to be mourned even more is the loss of some of the basic elements of the revival tradition.  One of those things is invitational preaching.  Preaching has become more of a moment to teach, or to promote the needs of the institutional church than to invite people to Christ.  It almost seems that preaching today feels an embarrassment with such a moment.  And while the revival preacher never preached with the assumption that everyone in the sanctuary was rightly related to Christ, preaching today seems to assume that everyone present is already a follower of Jesus. 

 

Making such an assumption undercuts the work the Holy Spirit desires to do in our midst.  The Holy Spirits seeks to point people toward Jesus, but too often the church points the listening people to other things.  When the revival preacher stood up to preach, people expected to hear about Jesus, the way His blood was shed to handle sin, and the common need of us all to believe in Him.  Fine sermons about other themes are surely preached today, but when the saving act of Jesus is left out of the mix, the church and its people suffer and languish in despair.