“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Eph. 4:15-16, NIV)
In a sense, John Wesley was a “son of the Church,” born in a Church of England rectory in Epworth in 1703. His life and ministry almost spanned the century; Wesley joined the company of the saints in March 179l. Many people in the Wesleyan Methodist tradition of the Christian faith are familiar with the broad outline of Wesley’s life. Having been raised by his mother Susanna, his father Samuel a priest in the Church of England, John practiced the disciplines of holy living while a student at Oxford University. There are few examples of a more disciplined religious person: he rose at 4 a.m., read the New Testament in Greek for an hour, and then prayed for an hour with his brother Charles and others who had joined him in what was derisively called the “Holy Club.” He spent time visiting prisons and gave to the poor all of his money except what was absolutely necessary for his own living. He was someone desperately seeking assurance of his salvation.
We have wonderful records of Wesley’s ministry in his sermons, journals, and letters. He was a disciplined journal writer and an avid correspondent. Eight volumes of his journaling and at least 2,600 letters have been preserved. He joins the line of saints who continue to inspire, challenge, and shape our Christian discipleship.
Wesley was a champion of “plain religion,” writing, “let my religion be plain, artless, simple! Meekness, temperance, patience, faith, and love, be these my highest gifts; and let the highest words wherein I teach them be those I learn from the book of God.” (Journal, Dec. 30, 1739)
Throughout his ministry he showed concern for those who were “almost Christian.” On May 16, 1753, he wrote to Ebenezer Blackwell, “I have often observed with a sensible pleasure your strong desires to be not almost only but altogether a Christian. And what should hinder it? What is it that prevents those good desires from being brought to good effect? Is it carrying a right principle too far? I mean, a desire to please all men for their good? Or is it a kind of shame? The being ashamed not of sin but of holiness?”
As Wesley noted in his call for religion that is plain, artless and simple, “let the words I teach them be those I learn from the book of God.” Throughout his life, he took Paul’s word to the Ephesian church to heart, that, “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Saints alive!
There are degrees in faith, something Wesley wrote about in his journal. “There are degrees in faith, and a man may have some degree of it before all things in him are become new – before he has the same assurance of faith, the abiding witness of the Spirit, or the clear perception that Christ dwelleth in him. Accordingly, I believe there is a degree of justifying faith (and consequently a state of justification) short of, and commonly antecedent to this. I believe the way to attain it is to wait for Christ and be still; in using all the means of grace.” (Journal, Dec. 31, l739) For those intent on moving deeper in degrees of faith, Wesley often mentioned the means of grace, like baptism, reading Scripture, the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and prayer.
Moment of Reflection: Have you experienced degrees of faith?
Prayer: God, do not let me be content to be an almost Christian; move me through degrees of faith, and strengthen my will to trust your grace in its many forms. Amen.
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