SOMETHING MUST BE KNOWN AND FELT
A Missing Note in Today’s Christianity
By Stuart Olyott
Evangelical Movement of Wales.
150 pages. £4.90 plus postage
ISBN 978 1 783 970 674
Stuart Olyott is something of a prophet to contemporary evangelicalism. As such what he has to say is usually both encouraging and at the same time uncomfortable.
His opening paragraphs ring true and rightly disturb us. ‘Today’s Christianity is largely composed of doctrine (believing the right things), ethics (behaving the right way) and methodology (doing church and evangelism in the best possible way). It is a three-legged stool, but it is not the same shape as the three-legged stool of God’s Word. There we find that methodology is not of any great importance. The three legs on which biblical religion stands are doctrine, ethics and expe- rience – God’s revealed truth is believed, it is lived out and it is felt. It impacts the soul. If we forget this we will eventually lose biblical religion altogether.’ This hits home. Many of today’s church plants proceed with methods which are likely to work just as readily as if you were forming a luncheon club or sports gathering for a certain sociological age group. Many of today’s sermons (my own included) can be technically proficient but powerless. Listeners are fascinated by new Bible knowledge but lives are not changed.
Understanding the soul
Stuart then goes on to explore the place of emotion in biblical Christianity. Here readers may disagree with his analysis. Resting on Calvin, he posits the idea that the soul is composed of two parts only – the understanding and the will – and that emotions are simply intense expressions of the will (page 22). As I remember, Dr Lloyd-Jones’ exposition of Romans 6.17 speaks about the understanding, the will and the emotions as a separate faculty of the soul. In this matter I think I go with the doctor. However, in a sense the precise composition of our inner lives is by the way. The fact is that Bible faith ought to contain holy emotions. How we understand them is a secondary matter. The question is: ‘Do we experience them?’
Prayer before the Word
The book now begins to gather pace. There are excellent chapters on the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul, assurance of salvation, the felt presence of Christ and how we experience God’s guidance. This all builds to the climax of the last two chapters which concern prayer and the necessity of waiting on the Lord. Stuart’s assertion that the preacher needs to pray more than he studies is totally alien to today’s training colleges. This is not meant to say necessarily that preachers should study less, but that they ought to pray much more. The chapters are filled with examples from church history and the writer’s own experience. And he’s got something. Many of us would attest that the note of true authority missing from many pulpits today is rarely missing when Stuart preaches. We can be in danger of being like the religious teachers of Jesus’s own day. They diligently searched the Scriptures, but did they use them to truly search for the presence of the living God? With an open Bible we need to wait on the Lord.
The idol of immediacy
Let me close this review with another quotation from the book. ‘Our modern world does not like waiting. It puts no value on it. In fact it detests it. Office workers groan with frustration when their computers slow down. Now is what matters… And immediacy is not the only idol. They also worship the idol of activity. Busy people are looked up to, whatever may be the cause of their hustle. Elderly people are praised for remaining ‘active’, even if their activity is self-centred. Being ‘on the go’ is everywhere regarded as a merit… In complete contradiction to the impatience and busyness of this world, the Holy Scriptures call us to “wait on the Lord”. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. He knows nothing of hurry. It is contrary to his nature (as the sovereign God). It follows that those who wish to know him well must learn to walk at his speed. They must learn to slow down. In fact, they must come to a standstill, to stop, to be still and wait.’
