Showing posts with label The Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Gospel. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

The Oxford Holy Club: The Wesley's and George Whitefield



(The picture above is where Charles Wesley and George Whitefield walked and prayed together while living in Oxford, England.)


The Holy Club was a small group of college students at Christ Church in Oxford, England. The club was founded by John and Charles Wesley in 1729 - in reaction to the dead religion, they observed at Oxford. Mocking students nicknamed this group The Holy Club. They were also known as Bible Moths, Bible Bigots, Sacramentarians, and Methodists. These men were perceived as fanatics because they refused to partake in worldly activities with the other students. They prayed and studied the Bible together. They fasted and took the sacraments and read and discussed books. This group of young men was focused on spiritual growth and ministering to prisoners and the poor. 


George Whitefield would become one of the most effective Evangelists of that era. He was about 19 years old when he joined this group. The Wesley brothers influenced the founding of the Methodist Church. Their goal was not to divide the Church Of England but to see it reformed. The establishment of the Methodist Church was not John or Charles's idea - they never left the Anglican Church.   


The Church of England was full of compromise at that time. Whitefield, in particular, resorted to extreme measures to ensure his salvation. His health declined from excessive fasting and neglect of his body in hopes of earning his salvation. Try as they did - their good works could not save them. John and Charles Wesley sailed to America as missionaries in search of redemption. That did not work! 


On one voyage, John was on board with Moravian Christians. When a massive storm began, John feared for his life. He noticed that the Morivians had no fear as they sang hymns. The faith of the Morivians impacted Wesley's life dramatically. These three men experienced true salvation when they discovered child-like faith. 


The rediscovery of Justification by Faith Alone was the key. They each read a book by Henry Scougal, "The Life Of God In The Soul Of Man." That book had a profound impact on all three men. All three came to see the need to experience the life of God on a personal level. True salvation comes from experiential knowledge and encounter with Jesus. 


This was Whitefield's response after reading Henry Scougal's book:


"Shall I burn this book? Shall I throw it down? Or shall I search it? I did search it, and holding the book in my hand I thus addressed the God of heaven and earth: 'Lord, if I am not a Christian, or if not a real one, for Jesus Christ's sake show me what Christianity is, that I may not be damned at last!' God soon showed me, for in reading a few lines further, that 'true Christianity is a union of the soul with God, and Christ formed within us,' a ray of divine light was instantaneously darted into my soul, and from that moment, and not till then, did I know I must become a new creature." (1) 


 Speaking of his salvation experience, Whitefield wrote:


"I know the place: it may be superstitious, perhaps, but whenever I go to Oxford I cannot help running to that place where Jesus Christ first revealed himself to me, and gave me the new birth."


John Wesley describes his salvation experience this way:


"In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." (2) 


Charles trusted Christ through conversations with the Moravian Peter Böhler (who had influenced John) and his discovery of the gospel in Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians. He writes:


"I marveled that we were so soon, and so entirely, removed from him that called us into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Who would believe our Church had been founded on this important article of justification by faith alone! I am astonished I should ever think this a new doctrine, especially while our Articles and Homilies stand unrepealed, and the key of knowledge is not yet taken away." (3)


Charles's encounter with God happened three days earlier than John's. He wrote this hymn:


"Where shall my wondering soul begin

How shall I all to heaven aspire?

A slave redeemed from death and sin,

A brand plucked from eternal fire,

How shall I equal triumphs raise,

Or sing my great Deliverer's praise?


Flowing from the complete assurance they felt in God's love and forgiveness, their faith was lived out in lives that went on to influence millions.


Charles went on to write over 6,000 hymns, while John used his organizing genius to turn a spontaneous movement into the structured body which became the origin of today's world-wide Methodist Church". (4) 



(1) Goerge Whitefield: God's Anointed Servant In The Great Revival, Kindle, location 17.


(2) Wesley and the Anglicans p 59


(3) Charles Wesley (Kimbrough and Newport, Manuscript Journal, 1:100)


(4) www.methodist.org.uk



Saturday, April 8, 2023

Jesus Tasted Death On The Cross

 


…Adam tasted the sweetness of the apple and obtained the bitterness of death for the whole human race. In contrast to this, the Lord tasted the bitterness of gall and obtained our restoration from death’s sting to the sweetness of life. He took on himself the bitterness of gall in order to extinguish in us the bitterness of death.” – Chromatius Of Aquileia

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 16:24-25 ESV


Jesus took on Satan in head-to-head combat and won. He wrestled lost humanity from the devil’s evil grip. Our Lord lived in constant communion with the Father. And he waged spiritual war with the devil by obedience to the Father. Satan's defeat on the cross was decisive. 


"After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." - John 19: 28 -30 NKJV.


Jesus took on the religious system of the day and exposed the worthless traditions of men that had taken it over. He came to offer the broken and hurting a new way of life. Jesus called those that would be his disciples to turn their backs on superstitions and dead religious practices. He commanded his disciples to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him. And he is still calling us to embrace the way of the cross today.


The path to the cross is a path of submission to God – empowered by the Holy Spirit. We relinquish our rights of self-determination for the way of Jesus.


We need help to embrace the lifestyle of the Kingdom of God - Jesus is our example. He loved those who hated him. It’s contrary to our nature to love our enemies - we need God’s empowering grace.


By the time Jesus had reached the garden of Gethsemane, he could say that the devil had no place in him(John 14:30.) He was and is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.


The first Adam lost the battle with Satan in a garden called Eden. Jesus (who represents the last Adam) won his struggle in a garden called Gethsemane.


Jesus tasted death on the cross so that - all who trust him would have eternal life in God’s kingdom.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Christianity Was Not - "Made in America!"




 "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." - (Romans 1:21 ESV)


Some argue the violence in America is the result of gun ownership. Others blame it on the lack of prayer in public schools. These are arguments for the current culture wars in America. A war of words, thoughts, and ideologies. Scripture teaches that people become arrogant when they refuse to acknowledge their Creator - spiritual darkness and violence increase. 


 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - (Ephesians 4:30 ESV)



The United States is experiencing spiritual evil, desensitizing us through exposure to images and ideologies of violence and perversions. God is - grieved by so much sin.


During the nineteen sixties, the U.S. experienced a spiritual invasion from the east. We are all 'gods' was what the eastern mystics told us. That view of spirituality combined with self-centered western materialism makes for a bad combination. 


The new 'priest' of society are those who control education, politicians, extreme environmentalists, the news media, and the entertainment industry. Many of their ideas form the minds of the American public. And science has the final word on everything in the western world - while the biblical worldview - is ignored.


A Christian worldview does not reject 'real' science because God gives knowledge to the world through many different sources. But followers of Jesus understand that the supernatural cannot be proven scientifically.


Those from the "majority world" outside of the western world have a greater understanding of spiritual - realities - both good and evil. Christianity was not - "Made in America!" It is an eastern religion that teaches the true nature of reality. God came to live among his creation as a Jewish man. He existed in eternity past with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. One God in three distinct Persons. What other religion has a god who came to live with those he created? Christianity is perceived as - just another religion - by those who have not encountered the living Christ. Following Jesus is not one of many ways to enter heaven - he is the only way.


"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - (John 14:6 ESV)


Holding to a strictly scientific, naturalistic, anti-supernatural worldview grieves the heart of God. We saw the results or the fruit of this atheistic worldview from the Nazi and Communist regimes of the twentieth century. Will we ever learn?


Education and passing better laws can be helpful, but until the human heart is changed, we are only putting a band-aide on a terminal wound. 


Religion without the love of Christ does not work either. That is the reason Jesus told Nicodemus, "you must be born again." When Jesus returns to the earth to set up his kingdom - those that follow him will experience the Utopia that so many long to obtain.


 But until His return, we must share the life-transforming truth that only Jesus Christ can give. 

 

Friday, May 27, 2022

The Destructive Nature Of Sin

 



The Word:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” – 1 Peter 4:17 ESV

“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” – Colossians 2:15 ESV

Reflection:

Until we realize the destructive nature of sin, the cross WILL NOT make sense to us. Those who see the cross of Christ as unnecessary or see God as a divine child abuser have no concept of the power of sin. The death of Jesus on the cross disarmed demonic powers and freed us from total enslavement to sin. Jesus’ final sacrifice of himself ended the need for any more bloodshed to atone for sin forever. He gave himself freely out of his love for humanity. Christ paid the sin debt that we could not pay. The cross was a demonstration of God’s self-giving love for humanity.

Yet, much of the Church has neglected the power available to us to live an overcoming life. We all sin, but we do not have to live in complete slavery to it.

As the Church goes, so goes our society.

Cover-ups and scandals plague the Church in America. Disobedient Church leaders and members have re-armed dark principalities and powers through destructive sin patterns. Satan only has power over a believer if we give it to him through unrepentant sin.

The Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, I ask that you would grant repentance to the American Church. You have many faithful gospel witnesses, still standing for and living the truth. But, much of Your Church in America has compromised with sin. Forgive us for not speaking the truth in love to those who do not know You yet. Revive Your Church. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Sunday, April 17, 2022

The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ: Reflections and Prayers of The Church Fathers

 




“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” – (Matthew 28:6 ESV)

“Jesus Christ who was of the race of David, who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born and ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and those under the earth; who moreover was truly raised from the dead, His Father having raised Him, who in the like fashion will so raise us also who believe on Him.” – Ignatius, (written around AD 110-115.)

A  Prayer
O God, who by your only-begotten Son has overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life, grant us, we ask you, that we who celebrate the solemnities of our Lord’s resurrection may by the renewing of your Spirit arise from the death of the soul; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. [Amen.] –  The Gelasian Sacramentary 

Why The Stone Rolled Back?

An angel descended and rolled back the stone. He did not roll back the stone to provide a way of escape for the Lord but to show the world that the Lord had already risen. He rolled back the stone to help his fellow servants believe, not to help the Lord rise from the dead. He rolled back the stone for the sake of faith because it had been rolled over the tomb for the sake of unbelief. He rolled back the stone so that he who took death captive might hold the title of Life. Pray, brothers, that the angel would descend now and roll away all the hardness of our hearts and open up our closed senses and declare to our minds that Christ has risen, for just as the heart in which Christ lives and reigns in heaven, so also the heart in which Christ remains dead and buried is a grave. May it be believed that just as he died, so was he transformed. Christ the man suffered, died, and was buried; as God, he lives, reigns, is, and will be forever. – Peter Chrysologus, Sermons 75.

A Prayer
“O God, who for redemption have your only – begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection has delivered us from the power of the enemy, Grant us to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him, in the joy of the resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”  – Gregory the Great

“For indeed the Lord remained on the tree almost until evening, and they buried Him at eventide; then on the third day He rose again.” – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, XCII, (AD 100 – 165.)

Speaking Truth To Power

  My Thoughts: Speaking truth to power is a phrase I hear often. It reminds me of the various protest movements against governments that dat...