Providence Baptist Church - Monthly Magazine

Lessons Learned from the Early American Christians

Shepherd's Staff by David Horner

      Fresh winds are blowing in the body of Christ these days. Each week here at Providence, the anticipation of meeting Christ in a delightful, new way permeates the gatherings of believers here. As God's Word is brought to life by the powerful presence of His Spirit, Jesus Christ is exalted and the name of our Father is truly and humbly worshiped. Even newcomers have mentioned that they could sense God's presence in a special way.
      As we look back over the past few years, we realize how gracious the Lord has always been to us, but now we can see that He is building a sense of expectation of great things to come. Over the past few weeks, I have been reading a biography of the life of Jonathan Edwards, a pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts, during the decades preceding the birth of our nation. Although frequently misrepresented as a theological aberration by modern writers, Edwards was actually regarded as one of the primary instruments God used in bringing about the Great Awakening in the middle decades of the 18th century.
      I have been fascinated by the current feel of the accounts of life in pre-revolutionary New England. The issues and controversies they faced mirror in many ways the challenges facing the church in these first few years of the 21st century. The similarities between their situation and ours appear in several categories: theological controversy (the evangelical differences between Reformed and Arminian perspectives were hotly debated then as now); influence of Christians on culture (business and political ethics, moral behavior, public discourse, etc.); musical tastes in worship (the "new" hymns of Isaac Watts threatened the traditional psalmody of the Puritans); religious affections and expressions (concern for what was viewed as excessive demonstrations of exuberance over encounters with the Lord); and genuine conversion versus short-lived crowd-following. In the limited space for this article, I want to focus on the last of these similarities.
      Genuine Conversion.
One of the pressing questions during the Puritan years that carried over into the 18th century involved the nature of a true work of grace in the heart.What actually marked the presence of a transformed heart in the redemption of one's soul? With the sweep of revival across the eastern seaboard, thousands of new converts were reported. Not only in local congregations like Edwards' church in Northampton, but through the efforts of traveling evangelists like George Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent, many were professing faith in Christ. However, the problem arose when the fruit from those public commitments did not show evidence of being consistent with a heart that had been soundly changed by Christ's abiding presence and the Spirit's transforming power. Consequently, there was confusion about how to tell what was genuine conversion and what was counterfeit. Further still, was it possible to know? What would the impact be on the life of the church were such a thing unknowable?
      Edwards struggled to answer the question and preached and wrote often in an effort to provide biblical counsel on the subject. As far as he could tell from his observations in his own church, much of what was taking place was valid. George Marsden wrote, "In his view, what he was seeing was not just a fad of religious enthusiasm, not excited claims to faith without evidence of holiness, not shallow arousal of the affections that would not last, but lives that were being permanently changed" (Jonathan Edwards, A Life, p. 158). But ultimately Edwards came to this conclusion: "I once did not imagine that the heart of man had been so unsearchable as I find it is. I am less charitable, and less uncharitable than I once was." In other words, the false believer could appear to be true, and the true believer could appear to be false-humility forces us to hold back making definitive determinations!
      Many in the body of Christ today have made it their business to issue pronouncements on what is real and what is counterfeit faith. Taking from the experiences of early American Christians, we would do well to measure carefully what remains beyond the determination of human discernment. Are there clear indicators of genuine conversion? For those we rejoice, but we would do well not to be quick to assure someone that he is saved if there is no evidence to support such a conclusion. We would also be wise to withhold judgment about someone's salvation whose experience does not square with our assumptions about what constitutes legitimate faith.
      One would hope that extreme behavior would not force the question as it sometimes did in the Northampton congregation. For example, in one instance the congregation was divided into two camps over some issue facing the church. After one particularly disagreeable meeting to discuss the controversial matter, the leader of one of the divisions waited outside the church and physically pummeled the leader of the opposing point of view! That happened some years prior to the Great Awakening- but can you imagine such a thing?
      Genuine conversion results in changed hearts that lead to changed lives. The body of Christ today needs soundly converted men and women to lead the way in modeling authentic Christian faith. We should always rejoice when we hear that salvation has come to a new believer, just as we should always extend grace to them as they struggle and sometimes fall. But not all who claim faith have faith in Christ. Our calling is to proclaim the truth about what walking with Jesus Christ means and hold out that as our expectation-that we may share in the holiness of the Lord and be steadily made like Him.
      So let us rejoice in the fresh winds blowing in the church today, and give God the glory for the way He continues to work among His people!

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