One of the deadliest schemes that Satan uses against the saints is Revivalism. You may ask, “Isn’t revival good thing? People repenting and coming to Christ?” Yes. But not the Revivalism. What is revivalism? I would define it as:

Anchoring one’s Christian identity not in ordinary means of grace but in extra-ordinary means of grace.

Notice, I am not equating Revivalism as Emotionalism. There is tendency in many conservative Reformed churches that showing any kind of emotions during worship as “superficial, inauthentic.” No, God uses emotions. Look at the saints in the Bible after meeting God face to face. No one was un-emotional: fear, gratitude, joy, confusion were the way men responded to a living God.

God uses ordinary means (Word, Sacraments, Prayer) to communicate his grace to his children. Sure, there is a room for extra-ordinary means of grace because God is God. At the end of the day, God can use any means for his own purpose. But that is not his modus operandi.

Are you one of those Christians saying, “I need conferences, retreats, etc to get closer to God”? God can use those to strengthen you. But if you IGNORE ORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE, it becomes “quest for illegitimate religious experience” (borrowing R. Scott Clark‘s term).

I as a pastor am fighting (i) Legalism (will post more about this) and (ii) Revivalism in 2nd gen Korean Americans. Both forms are not the Gospel and people fall away from Christ/Church because they never were rooted in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Word of God.

If you are wondering, “in this retreat, I didn’t feel as much as my last retreat,” God will say this to you: my grace is sufficient for you. Now start LIVING a Christian life: loving God and loving neighbor as yourself in Christ.

Come back to Ordinary Means of Grace. Jesus is waiting there for you.