America is in
full-blown crisis. The continuous dysfunction in our
government and culture at large reflect this. The
American family has imploded and hundreds of millions
are hooked on psychotropic drugs. Our national debt is a
giant $15 trillion tumor on our economy while the
welfare state explodes. Pornography is omnipresent, 80%
of new diseases are STDs, while 50 million babies have
been aborted. Our Arts have fallen into mindless
depravity and utter darkness and cannot uplift their
audience. Our ability to reason and debate have
evaporated, leaving mindless emotions behind.
The honest
admit America is a gravely ill land - both emotionally
and spiritually. We have become a licentious, rude,
self-centered, illiterate, perverse, complaining,
short-sighted, illogical, cold, impious, disloyal,
greedy, bitter, materialistic, ungodly, gossiping,
irreligious land full of idolatry. Despite the fact that
nearly 80% of Americans claim to be Christians, as a
society, we allow doubters to set the rules for daily
life. Is Jesus dying in America? Perhaps
Nietzsche was correct
when he wrote: ” Whither is God?...
We have
killed him—you and I. All of us are his
murderers.” In other words, we need revival.
A “revival” is
defined as the bringing of new life to dead churches,
institutions, persons and societies via the Holy Spirit.
Great revivals in history have inordinately affected the
West. For example, colonial historians claim the revival
immediately preceding the American Revolution gave the
Founders the logic, faith and bravery to defy England.
The question asked in this essay is whether the
exploits, character and religious affections of Timothy
Richard Tebow might spark a return to our spiritual
roots, and possibly save America from its current
precipitous decline?
Tim Tebow’s
Broncos lost monumentally in the NFL playoffs the
weekend of January 15, 2012. But even if he were
permanently deprived of football tomorrow, his mark on
America is cemented. Already, you’d have to be deaf,
dumb and blind to not have noticed the Tim Tebow
phenomenon. He is the starting quarterback of the NFL’s
Denver Broncos. He is regarded by some as the greatest
college football player in history. Yet, given poor
mechanics in his throwing motion, he was dismissed as a
professional football prospect. But other experts took
the measure of the young man and claim his leadership,
work ethic and other intangibles made him an outstanding
prospect. Admittedly the latter are the minority
opinion.
It therefore
surprised many when Tebow was taken in the first round
of the 2010 NFL draft. He then made a splash upon
winning a few games let in 2010 when allowed the
opportunity to play. During the next summer, Tebow
drifted to the bottom of the depth chart and many
wondered if he had any future in the league. Then,
something uncanny transpired. After Denver started the
year 1-4, a fevered campaign was launched by fans
demanding he be played—including a billboard. Management
relented, and he was allowed to start and compiled a 7-1
record before experiencing three straight defeats. Yet,
improbably, the Broncos executed an improbable back-flip
into the playoffs, where they won one game, then lost
the next.
Yet, the real
Tebow story gripping America is not his athletic
prowess, but instead his apparent humility and Christian
witness which appears to have no parallel in modern
America.
II. Revival
What is a
“revival”? Generally speaking, a revival is a
revitalization of the church, especially regarding
obedience, purity, and outspokenness regarding the
elements of faith. Charles Spurgeon, the minister
regarded by some as the greatest preacher of the 19
th century,
defined “revival” this
way:
While a true
revival in its essence belongs only to God’s people,
it always brings with it a blessing for the other
sheep who are not yet of the fold. Let the Lord revive
a believer and very soon his family, his friends, his
neighbors, receive a share of the benefit; for when a
Christian is revived, he prays more fervently for
sinners.
When
Christians are revived they live more consistently,
they make their homes more holy and more happy, and
this leads the ungodly to envy them, and to enquire
after their secret. Sinners by God’s grace long to be
like such cheerful happy saints; their mouths water to
feast with them upon their hidden manna, and this is
another blessing, for it leads men to seek the Savior.
Church
historians point out that revival can occur when a
nation is in the midst of more decline, and a pervasive
sense of confusion and unease hangs over the
disconsolate people. One Christian writer lists
9 elements
characterizing revivals:
- They occurred
in times of moral darkness and national depression;
- Each began in
the heart of a consecrated servant of God who became
the energising power behind it;
- Each revival
rested on the Word of God, and most were the result of
proclaiming God’s Word with power;
- All resulted
in a return to the worship of God;
- Each witnessed
the destruction of idols where they existed;
- In each
revival, there was a recorded separation from sin;
- In every
revival the people returned to obeying God’s laws;
- There was a
restoration of great joy and gladness;
- Each revival
was followed by a period of national prosperity.
In the Old
Testament, the revival brought about by King Hezekiah
was a classic study of the topic. One theologian
offers
a brief outline,
Hezekiah’s
Revival—I Kings 18:1-8
I. He served
the Lord from his Youth
a. Began at 25 years old, a young king doing what
right in the sight of the Lord
b. Walked in the ways of his forefather David. While
young, he walked in the old paths
c. He DID what was right in the sight of the Lord
II. He
purified the worship of the Land
a. He
removed the high places—Jehovah worship at the wrong
place in the wrong way
b. He broke the idols
c. He destroyed Nehustan—idolatry of tradition
III. He was
a man of God
a. He
trusted the Lord
b. No other king like him in the history of Judah
c. He CLAVE to the Lord
d. He followed the Lord
e. He kept the commandments
IV. God’s
Blessing
a. God was
with Him
b. God prospered him
c. He overthrew the bondage of Assyria
d. He defeated the Palestinians
e. This all happened while Israel (the northern
kingdom) was carried away into Assyrian captivity
For any
person claiming to be Christian, revival is a
quintessential need because such men and women realize
that the strength of the church in any society is the
work of God. Mankind, on his own, is utterly hamstrung
and powerless to make the world a better place.
III. American Revival—Great
Awakening
There have
been many important revivals in church history. A few
American revivals have shaken the States to their core,
forever altering our character. For example,
consider
The Great Awakening,
The Great
Awakening, the most important event in American
religion during the 18th century, was
a series of emotional religious revivals spreading
across the American colonies between 1730s—1740s. In
New England, in particular, the Great Awakening
represented a reaction against the growing formality
and the dampening of religious fervor in churches. The
Great Awakening carried profound consequences for the
future. It was the first experience shared by large
numbers of people throughout all the American
colonies, and therefore contributed to the growth of a
common American identity. It also produced a deepened
consciousness of sin within the existing social order
and aroused a faith that Americans stood within reach
of Christ’s second coming.
The affects of
the Great Awakening were to set America on a collision
course with England because a true understanding of
biblical theology is an antidote to tyranny.
Writes one author:
The major
effect of the Awakening was a rebellion against
authoritarian religious rule which spilled over into
other areas of colonial life. Though a religious
movement, the Awakening had repercussions in cultural
and political spheres as well. Practices and mind-sets
were changed by the Awakening like never before. The
effect of Great Awakening unity was an attitude that
went against the deferential thinking that consumed
English politics and religion. Rather than believing
that God’s will was necessarily interpreted by the
monarch or his bishops, colonists viewed themselves as
more capable of performing the task. The chain of
authority no longer ran from God to ruler to people,
but from God to people to ruler. The children of
revivalism later echoed this radicalism and popular
self-righteousness in the American Revolution, when
self-assertion turned against the tyrannical ways of
George III. It was not to any church that the signers
of the Declaration of Independence appealed to, but
directly to the “Supreme Judge of the World”. It was
through the revivalism of the first half of the 18th century
that the colonists were finally able to step out from
under the protectorate of the established Christian
churches and assert religious control over their own
nation’s destiny. So another effect of the Great
Awakening on colonial culture was development of the
idea of state rule as a contract with the people.
So many of
America’s current problems, including rampant deficit
spending, contradictory foreign policy, and tyrannical
acts by the current government would be addressed by a
revived America. Despite the fact that it may seem too
late for America to revive and repent, one never knows
when such a movement might strike the land.
IV. Is it Too Late for an
American Revival?
One of the
chief reasons Tim Tebow is hated is because he makes
viewers realize their selfishness and sinfulness. For
even in failure, Tebow exhibits a sweetness of
disposition and a larger purpose than probably any other
American professional athlete. By contrast he exposes
frauds and phonies through his guileless manner. This
incenses some of the supposed 80% of Americans who claim
to have Christian beliefs. Or, as the Apostle Paul wrote
(
2 Corinthians 2:12-17),
For we are
unto God a sweet smell of Christ, in them that are
saved, and in them that perish: To one we are the
smell of death unto death; and to the other the smell
of life unto life.
It is
doubtless Tebow stirs up passions because he puts folks
on the spot about what they believe—or who they really
are versus whom they claim to be. But a more trenchant
issue is that Tebow shows the way towards a deeper level
of faith, commitment and Christ-likeness which
represents the possibility for repentance, a more
committed relationship with God, or of the opportunity
for salvation.
The question
of this essay is whether Tebow’s example will act as a
model for society-wide repentance that might break out
into a full-bore revival? For there is deep disaffection
in this culture over the state of the church and the
worldliness all around us. Further, the average American
has a deep longing to see their beliefs honored and
lived out.
V. Conclusion
A revival can
be started by the work of a single faithful person, as
others are energized and motivated by their example.
This occurs because Believers begin to renew their faith
seeing it lived out by others. It makes their own belief
suddenly seem more real. And given his obvious
Christ-like qualities and open faith, we should not be
surprised to see Tebow spark a revival in the near
future in America. After all, superstar quarterbacks
like Tom Brady might end up with all the rings, while
Tebow lands the greater prize of crowns. A Scriptural
model for revival is found in Second Chronicles 7:14—
“If My people
who are called by My name will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin
and heal their land.