Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

• 1 Timothy 6:11-16

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

• Romans 10:9

“ ‘He said. “My brother, l must first ask you one or two questions. Have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your Spirit, that you are a child of God?” I was surprised and knew not what to answer. He observed it and asked, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” I paused and said, “I know he is the Saviour of the world.” “True”, replied he, “but do you know that he has saved you!” I answered, “I hope he has died to save me.” He only added, “Do you know yourself?” I said, “l do.” But I fear they were vain words.’ (Journal, 7 February 1736)
“ ‘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.’ (Journal, 24 May I738)”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

John Wesley (1703-1791) and Charles Wesley (1707-1788) were ministers, hymnists, and co-founders of Methodism.  John Wesley traveled the circuit more, while Charles Wesley wrote more hymns (6500 to John’s 225).

When John Wesley first went to the New World, with his brother, to be missionaries, he confronted a Moravian pastor.  Moravians were Pietists following the teaching of Spener.  The post on Spener’s theology can be found HERE.  The two years spent in the colony of Georgia were far from successful.  The brothers came home and soon, John Wesley was outside a gathering of Moravians at Aldersgate.  He heard someone reading the Luther’s preface to Paul’s letter to the Romans, and he believed and trusted in Jesus as the preface described.  This has been considered John Wesley’s conversion and I do not doubt it, although the author of the book on theology draws doubt to that statement.  Regardless, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield accepted Jesus three days earlier.  Whitefield, with Johnathan Edwards, were the pastors when the first Spiritual Awakening, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, occurred in the colonies.

The Church of England in their day had drifted so far from the concept of faith, that as the two Wesleys and Whitefield preached salvation by faith were ostracized from the church.  It was never John Wesley’s goal to create a new denomination.  It was thrust upon him.

The book that I have been using speaks of the “History of Christian Thought.”  We start with the Bible where we learn salvation is by faith alone, but then as politics and church politics, which is sometimes much worse, take three steps backward and forget for long periods of time to ever go back and take a step in the right direction.

However, John Wesley was such a vehement opponent to anything Calvinist, he made a clean break with it all.  While Methodism is based on Wesleyan theology, it is mostly John Wesley’s theology, but the heart of the early churches was largely from Charles Wesley’s hymns.  Charles Wesley spoke better through his hymns to express his theology.

By the end of his life, John Wesley had about as many Methodists in the colonies as he did in the British Isles.  And the hymns of the Wesley brothers are still sung today.

While I have been a lifelong member of one Presbyterian church or another, for a couple of years in college, I was part of a lay witness missionary team within the Methodist church.  And we had one mission at a Presbyterian church.  A Presbyterian church outside downtown Jackson, Mississippi, shared a parking lot with the Methodist church next door.  We had a mission at the Methodist church and a year later, we went back to do the same thing at the Presbyterian church.  It was said, “After that lay witness mission, the Methodist were encroaching on our half of the parking lot, and we wanted to have the same thing for us.”  Odd, Wesley broke away from Calvinism, but Presbyterians can get along with Methodist just fine.  They may argue, but that’s okay too, as long as you understand that salvation is by faith alone.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.