“Impossible Dream”
Ezekiel 37:1- 1-14, Matthew 13:31-35
June 27, 2003

     The cry goes out, “Code blue! Code blue!” All of a sudden the medical team bursts into the room. The flurry of frantic activity is underscored by barked orders, by the clacking clatter of the crash cart being sped to the bedside, by the shrill, single tone of the heart monitor declaring that the patient is dead.
     In moments the defibrillator is ready, paddles hovering over the patient’s chest. Someone yells, “Clear!” There’s a loud, slamming noise. Pow! The patient’s body is jolted off the bed and quivers like jello. The monitor’s monotone drones on. Try again. “Clear!” “Pow!” Quiver. This time the monitor starts to beep. The patient is alive again.
     What I have just described for you is a revival. To revive means to bring back to life.
     For six or eight months now I’ve been telling you that God is about to do something wonderful in our community. I’ve called it an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I’ve called it a spiritual awakening. I’ve avoided calling it a revival because that term turns some people off. But in it’s best sense, “revival” is a perfectly good word for what is coming our way. God wants to send us new life. God wants to restore spiritual vitality and vibrancy to our lives, our churches, our families, our community.
     I believe with all my heart that this wonderful move of God is coming. I feel it in my spirit, I feel it in my bones. And I’ve been inviting you to work with me for revival, to pray with me for revival, to ask God to let revival begin with us.
     But maybe there are some objections that need to be answered in your mind. Maybe there are some questions you’d like to have addressed. Are we sure we want  revival? Do we really need revival? Isn’t revivalism un-Presbyterian? And last but not least, isn’t hope for revival pretty unrealistic?

So, let’s address these questions. First, are we sure we want revival?
1. Are we sure we WANT revival?
     All in all, life is pretty good for us. Oh, we have our share of problems. There’s some sickness. Some of us are unemployed. But by and large we’re comfortable. We’re satisfied. We’re pretty happy. Why mess up a good thing? If life ain’t broke, why  fix it?
     As I pondered that question I remembered a sermon that Dave Garrison, our youth director, preached not long ago. In that sermon he quoted CS Lewis who said that we’re often like children who are perfectly content to make mud pies in the slums because we have never even imagined a holiday at the beach.
     In other words, what God has for us, in this life, here and now, is far more wonderful that what we are already experiencing. I know I have only scratched the surface of what it means to live in a loving relationship with God, and I want more. I want everything God has to offer.
Psalm 34: 8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
     Jesus said, in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
     Do we want revival? If we understand all that means we most certainly do. If we want more of God, we most certainly do. If we want all the life Christ has for us, that is if we want to live life to the full, we most certainly do!
 
     But we all know that there is a vast difference between what we want and what we need. And that raises a second question. Do we really need revival?
2. Do we really NEED revival?
     The very question makes me think of what the risen Jesus said to the church in Laodecia. He told that church that they were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. They had lost their fire, their zeal, their passion for Him. So He told them He wanted to spit them out of His mouth. Then he said, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Revelation 3:17-18 )
     Those Christians were spiritually bankrupt, wretched, blind and naked, and didn’t even know it. That got me to thinking. How many of you have seen the movie “Sixth Sense?” I wonder if you can be spiritually dead and not even know it. I wonder if you can be in desperate need of revival and not have a clue. I wonder if we are there.
     Listen again to Ezekiel 37:1-2 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
     What are the dry bones in our lives, in our community, in our society? Well, there are the obvious things. Drugs. Family Violence. Sexual deviancy of all kinds. But there are other dry bones that we may not have even noticed. Perhaps we watched them rot and dehydrate so slowly that we aren’t even aware the bones are there.
     Have you noticed how vulgar our culture has become? You can hardly watch TV without seeing something that ought to make you blush. But we become desensitized. For example, one night my kids were watching “Friends.” In my self-righteous smugness I thought, “This is terrible. Foul language, people who aren’t married sleeping together, total disregard or disrespect for Christian values and beliefs.” I could hardly wait till it was over -- so I could watch “Fraisier.” And guess what I found on “Fraisier” Foul language, people who weren’t married sleeping together, disrespect for Christian values. It was just as bad. In both cases, because we enjoyed the humor, we were willing to indulge the vulgarity. That’s a dry bone.
     Or, consider the fact that Orlando is in serious danger of loosing our only Trauma 1 emergency center. If that happens, lives will surely be lost. And why? Because insurance companies want more money. And lawyers want more money. And doctors want more money. And plantiff/patients want more money. Lives will be lost because we all have allowed our greed to go unchecked. That’s a dry bone.
     But now that we recognize these problems, what do we do about them? Where can we find a solution?
     Once when I was a young boy, my family went fishing out in the gulf stream. We were miles from shore when we started taking on water. I don’t remember if the boat started leaking or if rough seas were spilling over the sides. I do remember that we were all trying to bail out the water with buckets and coke cans and anything we could find, but the water was coming in faster than we could bail. We were going to sink and no one knew what to do. No one except by grandfather. Papa started the boat and headed toward shore, full throttle. We wondered what good that would do. There was no land in sight. We would surely sink before we made it to the marina. Then my grandfather told my dad to pull the stern plugs. Was he crazy? Just what we needed: two more holes in the boat! But as we sped towards shore the water was sucked out through the plug holes. And as long as we kept moving fast, we were dry. It seemed to us the situation was hopeless, but we had everything we needed right at our fingertips -- no matter how unlikely the solution may have seemed.
     In the same way, can’t we see that revival is the answer to substance abuse, family violence, greed, the spread of AIDS? You see, as people are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to really live the Gospel, these problems that would drown us are simply sucked away.  Yes. We need revival.

     Still, isn’t revivalism un-Presbyterian?
3. Isn’t revivalism Un-PRESBYTERIAN?
     To be sure Presbyterians have tended to steer clear of some forms of revivalism. When revivalism is manipulative and exploits the emotions, disregarding the mind and the will, we’re suspicious. When revivalism focuses exclusively on feelings and fervor without seeking to change people’s behavior, we don’t care for that.
     That’s why we don’t often have “altar calls” in our worship services. Sometimes they are perfectly appropriate. Last Friday night four leaders in our church participated in an altar call at Promise Keepers, where more than 1,000 men dedicated or rededicated their lives to Christ. And occasionally we have altar calls here. It is appropriate to give people opportunities to literally take a stand for what they believe. But we’re not interested in people walking down the aisle on an emotional whim, saying a prayer, but not having their lives transformed. If that’s all revivalism is, then thank you, but no thank you. Instead, we have people take the Explorers’ Course, start reading Scripture and praying every day using the 5 Keys devotional booklet, and urge them to make a genuine commitment to live for Christ.
     Nevertheless, let me remind you that many of the great revivals in our country were led by Presbyterians. Most notably the Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards was sometimes a Presbyterian and sometimes a Congregationalist pastor. Even George Witfield, though he was ordained an Anglican priest, was such a strong Calvinist you couldn’t tell he wasn’t Presbyterian!
     Furthermore, it is part and parcel of our belief system that the church exists to transform society. John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian expression of Christianity, was not content merely to pastor the church in Geneva, he dedicated himself to transforming the whole town, creating a Christian community. And the Massachusetts Bay Puritans came to this country with the express purpose of building what they called “a city on the hill.” They were referring to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13-15 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”
     It is woven into the very fabric of what it means to be Presbyterian that our task, our mission is to transform the culture in which we live with the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now when a culture is transformed by the Gospel, I’d call that a revival, wouldn’t you? True revivalism -- the kind that changes the way people live -- is thoroughly Presbyterian.
     I think we lost track of that idea in the Eisenhower years, the 1950’s. In those days we felt no great need to transform the culture. If our neighbors weren’t Presbyterian, they were Lutheran or Episcopalian or Methodist or, in the South, Baptist. There was a “Christian consensus.” American Bandstand was the raciest show on TV. Even Rob and Laura Petrie slept in separate beds. What was there to transform?
     Now to be sure that culture was far from perfect. It was a Christian consensus that tolerated racism and was content with giving women less than equal rights, for example. Nevertheless, we could assume that, at least in public, most people tried to live by Christian beliefs and values.
     But friends, no matter how much you might have liked Ike, he isn’t president anymore. And there are few shows as mild as American Bandstand. And there is no longer a Christian consensus in our culture. Those days are gone. We need transformation. We need the kind of revival that Presbyterians have always been good at.

     But that leaves us with our fourth question. Isn’t this just a big fantasy? Isn’t hope for revival unrealistic?
4. Isn’t hope for revival UNREALISTIC?
     Listen again to Ezekiel 37:3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live? I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
     First let me admit that, in a way, it is totally unrealistic. In fact, it would take a miracle for this community to be transformed by the Gospel.
   a. It would take a MIRACLE.
     But listen to I Corinthians 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
     Let me ask you, do you believe that? The Christ, God’s Son, died for our sins. And somehow His death takes our sins away? And on the third day He came back to life? Do you believe that? The Bible says if you do believe that to the degree that you invite Christ into your life and trust Him completely, your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life. Do you believe that?
     Well that was a miracle, wasn’t it? If you believe God raised Jesus from the dead, how can you doubt His power to give new life to those who are spiritually dead? If He really has changed your life, why is it hard for you to believe that he can change the lives of your neighbors?
     Listen to some things Jesus said about unrealistic hopes. In Matthew 17:20 “... I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Now if nothing is impossible, what can be unrealistic?
     Jesus said something similar in Mark 10:27 Now what makes this passage even more interesting is the fact that Jesus was answering the question whether rich people can be saved. You know, people who have indoor plumbing, and several sets of clothes, and air conditioning. Rich people. People who are too attached to their comforts to truly seek the things of God. (I’ve often wondered if we wouldn’t need to face some kind of crash or calamity before we could experience revival. But I digress.) In response to the question whether rich people could live in God’s kingdom, Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
     Of course the kind of revival I’ve been talking about for the last half year is unrealistic. That drug abuse will disappear. That children will no longer be abused. That you won’t be able to buy or rent pornography on this side of town, even if you wanted to, but you won’t want to. That people’s hearts will turn toward God and their lives will change. Of course that’s unrealistic. But all things are possible with God.
     All things are possible with God. I haven’t been talking about something we can accomplish by our own energy, industry or intelligence. I’ve been talking about a miracle.

     Second I want to point out that revival grows.
   b. Revival GROWS.
     In Matthew 13:31-33 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
33He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
     If I were to light this stick of incense, it would not be long before it’s fragrance would permeate the whole room, and the whole church would smell like incense.
     As I put this drop of food coloring in this glass of water, it spreads throughout the whole glass, turning all the water green.
     That’s how revival works. It spreads. It grows. First God gets hold of a few people who say, “Lord, here I am. I surrender totally to you. Fill me with your Spirit and use me however you will.” Then God fills those people, and makes them contagious. And through them the Holy Spirit spreads revival through their families and their church and their neighborhoods until a holy epidemic breaks out and infects the whole community with salvation. And soon everyone is exhibiting the symptoms of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
     Further, revival is like sanctification. It’s a process. In Philippians 1:6 Paul talks about “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” And in I John 3:2 we read, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
     One of these days you and I will be made perfectly like Jesus. But that isn’t going to happen totally until He returns. Nevertheless, day by day, month by month we are being made more and more like Him. That’s our goal, and that what we strive for.
     Now listen, [Name a church member who is present] is a very good person. And I would love to be as good as [Name]. But I’m not going to model my life after [Name]. I’m not going to try to be like him or her. It’s like in the movie “Multiplicity.” When you make a copy of a copy, it gets less like the original. I don’t want to be a clone of a clone of Jesus. I don’t want to be a copy of a wannabe. I’m going to aim at becoming like Jesus. I know I won’t make it in this life. But I will make it much much farther in this life if I try to pattern myself after Him than after anyone else.
     By the same token, I know that when this coming revival is at full force, there will still be problems in east Orange county. I know we won’t reach everyone for Christ. I know there will still be people trapped by addiction. I know families will still have stupid fights and some will fall apart. I know. I know that in this age the transformation will never be 100%  But why shoot for a 50% revival? Let’s shoot for 100%. Then, if we only make 99%, I’ll live with that. If we only make 80%, if we only make 75%, we’ll be way ahead of where we are today. An over all, our community will still be transformed.

     And that leads me to a third answer to the objection that our hopes for revival are unrealistic.
     The Second law of Thermodynamics states that things move from a state of relative order to a state of relative disorder. Sometimes I look around in my study and think, “It’s great to be on the winning side.”
     But I don’t believe that, because of the second law of thermodynamics, the world will ultimately disintegrate and vanish with a whimper. Instead, I believe I Corinthians 15:22-25. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
     I believe that this world will end with Christ’s triumphant return as King of kings and Lord of lords. I believe that the day will come when at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I believe that at the end of this world Jesus will bring about the Kingdom of God in its fullness. And that will be the ultimate revival. So ultimate revival is certain.
   c. Ultimate Revival is CERTAIN.
     And friends, it’s great to be on the winning side! Ultimate revival is sure to come when Christ returns. Until then, our greatest joy will be to take part in revival here and now.

     One last thing. Revival is the work of the Holy Spirit.
5. Revival is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT.
     Listen again to Ezekiel 37:4-6, but before you do, know that In Hebrew and in Greek, the word for “breath” also means WIND and SPIRIT. In Hebrew the word is Ruach. So when we read the words wind or breath in this passage, it could also mean “Spirit.”
      Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath  enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
     When Ezekiel first prophesied to the dry bones, they came together bone to bone. They were covered with muscle and flesh and skin, but they were still corpses. And left as they were, they would have only rotted and turned back into dry bones. They needed the wind. They needed breath. They needed the Spirit. The Holy Spirit.
     Ezekiel 37:9-10 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-a vast army.

     Think of the dry bones in your life. Your marriage or family life? “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” Your career? “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” Some sin or habit that seems to be choking the spiritual vitality right out of you? “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” Or maybe complacency, satisfaction with the status quo, spiritual dryness, lukewarmness. Maybe you’ve lost your passion for the things of God. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”
     Think of the dry bones in our community. Teen pregnancy in our high schools. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” Neighbors, family members, or even church members who aren’t on speaking terms. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” The problems we mentioned above: Greed, addiction, abuse, vulgarity. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”
     Again I ask you to work with me for revival. I ask you to pray with me for revival. I urge you to ask God to fill you and me with His Holy Spirit, and let revival begin with us.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”