I pray for revival consistently. I think about it almost every day. What would it require? What would it look like? Would it take place in a manner similar to the First Great Awakening? The Second? I’m not sure. Part of me thinks that we won’t see a dramatic resurgence of Western Christianity any time soon, but rather a slow, consistent rebuilding of the foundations that have been eroded over time. I’m discouraged by the many scandals I see in churches across the country, but at the same time I believe God is pruning the church. I believe he is rooting out leaders who want power without holiness, authority without sanctification. Nothing is wasted in God’s economy of salvation.
I’m now in my sixth decade of life, and I’ve watched various renewal movements come and go. The church growth movement in the 1980s and 1990s drew large numbers, but we learned that numbers did not equate to lives of discipleship. Remember the emerging church? I was quite taken with this movement, which lasted for a little more than five minutes and then disappeared amid scandals and heterodoxy. I could keep going, but I won’t. You get the idea.
Don’t get me wrong—sometimes these renewal movements can be helpful. They may facilitate encounters with Christ that would not have occurred otherwise. Yet I keep coming back to one word in thinking about the renewal of the church: obedience. If we want the church to thrive, we must first be obedient to our Lord. Sometimes the requirements of obedience are complex. We may not always know the way forward. Yet Jesus was clear on its basic parameters. A life pleasing to God is wholly dedicated to God and characterized by love of neighbor. We read this in Luke 10:25-28:
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
No amount of great preaching, no liturgical renewal, no charismatic revival will renew American Christianity. Each of these might be helpful in its own way, but apart from a dogged commitment to love of God and love of neighbor, these are only noisy gongs and clanging cymbals (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Jesus commanded us: love God and love your neighbor. Everything else in the Christian life is derivative of these two commands.
Love God
I’m not talking about a god of your own making. I don’t mean a god who is essentially the product of your political proclivities, be they progressive, classically conservative, MAGA, or anything else. I don’t mean the wax nose that James Talarico shapes into the likeness of whatever “progressive” idea happens to be fashionable this week. I don’t mean a god you piece together from various religions, since such a god would necessarily be an incoherent reflection of our own tastes.
I am talking about the God revealed to us in Scripture; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who became incarnate in Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life, died for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. This is the God described to us in the great creeds of the church—Nicene, Apostles’, and Athanasian. We are to love God, and not just any god, but the God who has revealed himself to us in history.
This God demands our absolute allegiance. Scripture describes him many times as a “jealous God.” Let’s not misunderstand the adjective here. The use of the term “jealous” is a way of depicting God’s perspective by analogy with human emotions. The point is that God will not abide divided loyalties. The God who created us, who rescued Israel out of slavery and gave her the law, who raised up judges and prophets to call her to righteousness, and, in the fullness of time, came to us in Jesus Christ requires that we orient our lives toward him and no other. To offer our devotion to Baal or Astarte or Mammon or ChatGPT or whatever other god you may wish to name means that our hearts—and thus our lives—will be divided. We cannot know the truly good life unless we are following God relentlessly. The Bible describes many sins, but at the center of them all is idolatry. Thus Jesus, drawing upon his own Jewish tradition, requires us to love God and turn away from all other gods.
We aren’t simply instructed to love God. Jesus teaches, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.” Your heart, your soul, your strength, your mind—these belong to God. In other words, God wants everything. In every aspect of your life, you must turn toward God. Hold nothing back. Confess your sins. Repent. Order your life in a way that honors him. That is the love God requires. We don’t love God so that he will make us rich or powerful. Likewise God is not a means to political ends. God is not a tool we can leverage in order to get what we want. That is not the love of God. That is the love of Satan, and these two are often confused.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’” (Matthew 4:8-10).
Christianity is not a grift. At least, it shouldn’t be. We are to love God, not use God, though the latter is clearly in vogue these days.
Love Your Neighbor
The lawyer who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life wasn’t satisfied with Jesus’ answer. “But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29).
Jesus answers the lawyer by relating the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend” (Luke 10:30-35).
Your neighbor is the person in front of you. Your neighbor is the person who needs you. This person may not share your faith or politics. The immigrant is your neighbor. The unborn child is your neighbor. The person who is sick and dying is your neighbor. The jerk at the school board meeting is your neighbor. (Yes, people can be jerks, even if they are our neighbors.) Your neighbor may be someone you have regarded as your historic enemy. “‘Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise’” (Luke 10:36-37). If you don’t like this, take it up with Jesus.
In most cases, loving our neighbors is pretty straightforward. If you see someone who needs help, you help that person. Your neighbor is sick and needs his lawn mowed, so you mow it. A friend loses a loved one, so you check in on her, let her know you love her, and bring her a meal. Insofar as you are able, you give to the poor and support causes you know will make the world a better place. You visit the sick and care for the dying (rather than simply killing them). You tell people about Jesus. You have the opportunity to drop Facebook napalm on someone, but you don’t do it because it would embarrass that person.
Sometimes, however, it is more difficult to know what love requires. Imagine a scenario in which a longtime employee of the church has become ineffective in her work. She has about a year until her retirement. What does love of neighbor look like in this case? If you let her go, you could hire someone more effective. The ministries she oversees would benefit from this decision. On the other hand, you risk embarrassing this employee, dishonoring her after a long period of faithful service, and creating misunderstanding and hard feelings within the church community. What does love require here? An entirely satisfactory answer may not be possible.
Here’s a thornier example. Traditional Christians do not believe that sex is “assigned” at birth, but rather that it is a fact of biology that should correspond to identity. I affirm this position. Yet how are we to love the person who experiences gender dysphoria, who really feels out of place in his or her body? I don’t believe it is loving to affirm a false identity, to tell a man he can be a woman or vice versa. But, then, what does love look like? What does love require? Truth, yes, but what else? These are uncomfortable questions, I know. Love of neighbor sometimes requires us to ask uncomfortable questions. Whether or not our responses are perfect, love is our goal.
How to Love
Love of God and love of neighbor are difficult for us not only because we don’t always know what love requires, but also because we human beings are full of sin. Left to our own devices, we cannot love rightly. We love the wrong things, and we love in the wrong way (h/t Augustine, the GOAT). We need the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit to align our loves with God’s will. We aren’t holy on our own, but God can make us holy. In fact, he wants to make us holy. God wants us to love him. He wants us to love our neighbors. He will give us the power to do so if we will seek him in humility and faith.
We can open ourselves to the Holy Spirit through the church’s means of grace. When we worship God, receive the sacraments, pray, fast, and read the Scriptures, God works in our hearts. But here’s the catch: engaging in these practices by rote is not enough. Holiness is a matter of the heart, and God goes where he’s wanted. He stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20). When our hearts are open, he will come in. He will cultivate within us love for him and love for our neighbors. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and when we share in his divine life (2 Peter 1:4), we become more like him.
Reforming Ourselves
I started to write, “I wonder how different American Christianity would be if we held up these two values—love of God and love of neighbor—above all others.” But I already know the answer. We would not see the ongoing decline of American Christianity, but its resurgence. I am confident that the church’s authentic witness would draw people into our communities of faith.
Many Christians, in fact, do live this way. I encounter them all the time as I travel through the country. I frequently marvel at the quiet faithfulness of the people I meet. Yet the power of religious conviction means the temptation is always before us to leverage it for our own ends. Politicians, conflict entrepreneurs, vicious ideologues, and others use the language of faith, and even set themselves up as the arbiters of true faithfulness. Grifters gonna grift. I encounter this all the time as well. For American Christianity to thrive, we must reform ourselves. We must recommit ourselves to the sincerity of our witness and demand that our public representatives do so as well.
When the lawyer asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded that he must love God and love his neighbor. A great deal is packed into those two commands, but Jesus’ answer was definitive. He did not hesitate. He gave us the keys to faithful discipleship. The future of American Christianity is not dependent upon some program or person, but on obedience. Love of Jesus means we obey Jesus.
There is a great ache in the heart of many Christians for this kind of writing (and preaching). The old revivalists had to shout because they didn't have amplification. They learned to speak with unction, conviction, and authority. I hear that coming through the simplicity of this message. You are throwing strikes. Preaching the "obedience of faith" is good for the heart, convincing of the mind, and a tonic to the spirit. When the message is loud and clear, more ears will hear.
Thank you. A powerful word that is spot on.