This post is written by David McLemore and is published as a companion to Unit 14, Session 4 of The Gospel Project for Adults Vol. 5 (Fall 2022): From Rebellion to Exile.
In 1995, a revival of repentance swept the nation’s evangelical colleges. Here is the account from The New York Times:
“In Illinois, Wheaton College students stood in line all night this semester to confess their sins publicly and renounce drugs, alcohol and pornography.
At Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass., students who used to fidget through the 40-minute morning chapel service sat spellbound for nearly five hours one night as classmate after classmate made public confessions of sins.
At Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, a white student who confessed to the sin of racism was immediately embraced by two black students, as others at the service applauded and wept.”[1]
A Grace-Filled Unsettling
This kind of outpouring of grace may not be what we have in mind for every Sunday, but what if God was pleased to do such a thing? It would be uncomfortable. It would unsettle us. It would remake us and reorder us in ways only God can. It would rearrange our lives and knock down our walls of pride and sin that we hide too easily behind. Perhaps it would even save some of us who have only toyed with repentance, hanging on the sidelines like a wall flower, observing but never participating.
Part of us would rather God not do anything remotely like this. We like the shadows of sin too much. Our flesh doesn’t want the light of Jesus to shine upon it. But we desperately need His light. First John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Walking in the Light
We barely believe that verse. It’s a remarkable claim. If we walk in the light of Jesus, bearing it all, and showing those around us who we really are through confession and honesty, we expect nothing but shame and guilt to flood our hearts and hover over our heads. But what does God promise? Not shame but freedom. Not loneliness but fellowship. Not the revelation of our true filth but the cleansing blood of Jesus.
This kind of fellowship and cleansing in the light of Jesus is what these college students found in 1995. Nothing else mattered during those purifying days. Sin was being confessed. The blood of Jesus was doing its holy work. No power on earth could stop it. This was a heavenly power with heavenly intentions. It was the kind of work only God can do.
What might God do if we prayed for this kind of awakening? How might He start changing our world, starting with us? How might the mighty be humbled? How might the sinner be comforted? How might the strong become weak in God’s grace? How might you change from one degree of glory to another?
It would be amazing to see the Spirt move in this way again, in colleges, in towns, in our nation, in our world. But we don’t have to wait for others. We can live a life of confession on a daily basis, to God and to others. We can trust a verse like 1 John 1:7. God is calling us all into His marvelous light right now. We can take that bold step toward Him and be comforted by His light. Will you take that first step?
David McLemore serves as an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He is a regular contributor to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s For the Church website and a staff writer at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.
[1] The Associated Press, “At Evangelical Colleges, A Revival of Repentance,” in The New York Times, April 30, 1995, https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/30/us/at-evangelical-colleges-a-revival-of-repentance.html.
