TO BE COLD OR TO BE COOL

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

This may be the wrong time of year to talk about this - but imagine yourself toiling in the heat of the day under a harsh burning sun. Sweating profusely, your mouth is dry, and you only have one thought - to just have a cool drink of water.

The Bible uses the ideas of hot and cold in different ways. Hot may suggest a passionate devotion to God. Cold, on the other hand, may refer to the lack of love - a cooling down of one's fervor in serving the Lord. That's why in John's letter to the church at Laodicea he conveys this message, "So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16

Jesus was also making reference to this same idea when He taught about the conditions which will prevail during the last days, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12 (NIV - "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.")

On the other hand, James writes about the "fervent" prayer - "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

Fire itself is often used as a symbol of the presence of God and His Holy Spirit. It was a pillar of fire which accompanied the Israelites through the wilderness, and during the mountain show-down with the prophets of Baal, Elijah called down fire to consume the sacrifice. On the Day of Pentecost, in answer to the faithful prayer of the disciples, tongues of fire rested on each one of them as they spoke in other languages, giving praise to God.

Perhaps that's why today we often use the expression "to be on fire for God", referring to a person who serves the Lord with enthusiasm.

But then there is a paradox here. When Peter explains to the crowds what they must do to be saved, he tells them that God is sending a time of refreshing. This is literally a time of cooling down from the intense heat.

So, it's as though we have been given a choice, "To Be Cold or To Be Cool".

As we approach the end of another century, and millennium, a lot of attention is being given to the subject of "revival". We ourselves have planned for three different times this year when we will focus on our own need and desire for revival. We are reminded that it was just 100 years ago, near the turn of the last century that there was a significant revival, a movement which has been called, "The Modern Pentecostal Movement". And now again, especially during the past two years, we have been learning about the "revival fires" which seem to be breaking out here in America as well as in other parts of the world.

It is our understanding that all through history there have been "times of refreshing" - seasons of special outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Now may well be one of those times. The Scripture makes it clear that these blessings come from the Lord. That's a very important thing to remember. Genuine "revival times" can't be brought about by human endeavor, nor should we try to bring them about. That is not to say that human endeavor cannot generate religious enthusiasm. To be sure, people can become excited just by being around other people who are excited. It's like the smile, it's contagious. It works like this, a group of people get turned on to a particular idea, or practice, or work. If they are excited about what they are doing, others will be infested with the same feelings. The group will grow, and soon there can develop a large group of very energized people who together can accomplish much good - or in the case of a mob, much destruction. But what are they excited about? Getting a man to the moon, or sending a space ship to Mars? Building a faster computer chip - like the one which will soon be able to perform more than 1 trillion calculations per second? (That's equivalent to every person on Earth doing 200 sums on a pocket calculator - all in that same second!)

Or perhaps they are excited about religion. A charismatic leader stirs his followers by his enthusiastic speeches, and soon the group around him grows to become a large following, constantly bringing others into the group until the mere size of the group attracts others and it begins to grow exponentially. These are differentiated from other groups because they're interested in religious ideas, and that's good. But it's still a group driven by human energy. Be sure of this, it's not a "revival". "Times of refreshing" come from the Lord.

In today's world, revival is associated with excitement, enthusiasm, jumping, loud singing to a driving beat, shouting, fainting and other so called manifestations. Sometimes it is brought about by the working ourselves into a heated frenzy by singing certain songs, the clapping or hands and rhythmic dancing. In our determined quest for a "feel good" religion, we get what we ask for. But when the feeling subsides, we are left cold, and lifeless because the life was not from the presence of the Lord, but from the presence of people all engaged in emotionally charged activities.

The text speaks of "times" of refreshing. This could best be understood as "season", or even "opportunities" of refreshing. Jesus used this same word (kairos) in Acts 1:7, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." The word is also found in Ephesians 5:16, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."  So if these "times" are under God's control, not ours, and we can't bring them about, is there anything we can do? Yes. The formula is noted in Peter's words. Repent, turn to God, and be forgiven. It's very clear that "revival" is not primarily an emotional experience. Certainly, when we know that we have been forgiven, there is a response of joy, but "revival" is not just one more way that we can be involved in "The Pursuit of Happiness." To repent is defined this way, "to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins ". You see, it has to do with one's mental view of one's self in relationship to sin and God. It's when we stop trying to prove our own goodness, recognize our sinfulness, and put our full trust in God to save us.

Furthermore, we can ask for such "times of refreshing". Jesus said, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13

And we can also note James 4:2, 3. "You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." This certainly can apply to our seeking for revival - we must stop our quarreling and pray. But we are not praying in a selfish way, to get a blessing for ourselves.

Furthermore, we believe this praying for revival involves "tarrying", or waiting. The "time of refreshing" Peter spoke about came because the disciples, 120 of them, obeyed the command of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and waited in prayer for the Promise of the Father (Acts 1:4). However, this could well be in direct conflict with our "culture of haste". We live in an age when everything must come quickly. Here's a commentary written by a secular author and printed in the New York Times.

"The 20th century is being called the 'hundred-year madness'. It started with horses and hours. It ends with Maseratis and microseconds, with cars speeding acreate highways, airplanes streaking acreate skies, microprocessors burning acreate desktops and magnificent metal birds called Discovery, Endeavor and Columbia circling the earth. This century's mad dash of innovation has produced all of these things -- and the most frantic human era ever.

"We phone. We fax. We page. We e-mail. We stuff day planners. We race from one end of life to the other, rarely glancing over our shoulders. Technology, mass media and a desire to do more, do it better and do it yesterday have turned us into a world of hurriers.

"Stop and smell the roses? No more. Instead, better wake up and smell the coffee. What an exhilarating, exhausting world we've created - a world of seven-day diets and 24-hour news channels and one-hour photo processing and 30-minute pizza delivery and 10-minute facials and two-minute warnings and Minute Rice.  "Fast food. Fast computers. Fast cars in fast lanes. And Nestle Quik and Quik Marts and quick-cut commercials. A superhero faster than a speeding bullet and a bullet train faster than a speeding car. VCRs with five fast-forward settings. Sound bites and the rat race and instant coffee and microwave popcorn and radio stations that make a breathless promise: `You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world.'

"Get rich quick. Get fast-tracked. Get your 15 minutes of fame. Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse. Run on empty. Just do it.

"About this time a century ago, America was still a rural nation. Meals could take entire afternoons to prepare; trips into town ate up whole days. Those with telephones made calls by turning a crank and dialing ``central'' to connect them.

"Then, everything accelerated. The innovations in transportation alone boggle the mind:

• --1903: the first speed limit, in England, 20 mph.
• --1908: the Ford Model T, top speed 45.
• --1911: the world's earliest air-mail delivery in India.
• --1933: the Boeing 247 - 600 miles in four hours.
• --1947: Test pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier - 700 mph.
• --1969: Apollo 10's three astronauts become the fastest humans ever - 24,791 mph.

"And consider this standard of speed: a North Atlantic createing. By sea, the leisurely old-fashioned method, the liner SS United States set the record in 1952 with a trip of 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes. By air, Charles Lindbergh took 33 1/2 hours in 1927. In 1976, the supersonic plane Concorde cut that to three hours (1,453 mph).

"People do recognize this kind of hurry in their lives. They talk of fixing it, but they don't have the time. A survey conducted for Hilton hotels found 71 percent of Americans think time is moving too quickly, but only half of them would slow down if they could. And even fewer -- 43 percent -- don't think thinning their packed schedules would make them happier."

This is a snapshot of the world we live in, and I'm afraid that the church is falling into the same trap. We want a religious experience, but we're not willing to wait for it. Just lay hands on me, knock me out, and give me instant spiritual gratification. Unfortunately, the "times of refreshing" which "come from the Lord", will only come to those who wait.

Let's go back to where we started. Though the weather outside is characterized by the cold of a winter's storm, many today are living life at a "fevered pitch". There is the stress of anxiety as we wonder what will happen in a world of wars and pending economic collapse. There seems to be nearly constant friction between groups of people as well as individuals, not only in the world, but even in the church. We're overworked and worn out - in need of refreshment. Now, as never before, is the time we need to receive a God-sent "Revival". Are we willing to take the steps needed for its realization? Repent? Turn to God? Receive His forgiveness? The choice is clear, "To Be Cold or To Be Cool".