I recently had my eyes opened to a phenomena that took me by surprise. I was listening to a favorite radio station, KLOVE, which plays Christian Soft Rock. The lyrics of a song struck me and I realized that I really liked them, except for one particular line. The song is “I believe”, by Wes King from the album “The Robe”. It is a very good confessional song, laying out the beliefs of a man in the basics of Christian faith, much as the traditional creeds do. However, the chorus states, “I believe, I believe, I believe in the Word of God, I believe, I believe, 'Cause He made me believe”. The concept of free will is completely ruled out by the last line. Where is personal responsibility? Where is our place in the plan of God?
According to all orthodox systems of doctrine the plan of salvation was conceived and carried out by no one but God. It is administered by the Holy Spirit and is only valid by the Blood of Jesus. We cannot save ourselves by any stretch of the imagination. Our only part is in accepting the free gift of God given by His grace. But it is in accepting that gift or rejecting it that we find our part in the plan; we are not robots controlled by God's unseen hand.
The theology of John Wesley is a hybrid between John Calvin’s doctrine of election and predestination and that of the theology of Jacobus Arminius. The Holy Spirit was emphasized and the doctrine of free will was acknowledged. (Caveat: Yes, yes, I know it is more complicated than that!) It is the basis for the great Wesleyan and Holiness movements of the 1700’s and late 1800’s. All branches of Methodism, Pentecostalism and several other lines owe their existence to these movements.
Despite this, what I see being represented in the marketplace is dominated by a more deterministic theology, not even a true Calvinism, but with a severe lack of free will and personal responsibility. There is a lack of knowledge of the true power of God to not simply whitewash over the sins of a fallen mankind, but to truly cleanse the sinner through the Holy Spirit. We are told that man must sin in thought, word and deed every day. This is reflected in books, music, movies, articles and interviews. It results in either a very fatalistic faith, or a very fuzzy faith.
According to all orthodox systems of doctrine the plan of salvation was conceived and carried out by no one but God. It is administered by the Holy Spirit and is only valid by the Blood of Jesus. We cannot save ourselves by any stretch of the imagination. Our only part is in accepting the free gift of God given by His grace. But it is in accepting that gift or rejecting it that we find our part in the plan; we are not robots controlled by God's unseen hand.
The theology of John Wesley is a hybrid between John Calvin’s doctrine of election and predestination and that of the theology of Jacobus Arminius. The Holy Spirit was emphasized and the doctrine of free will was acknowledged. (Caveat: Yes, yes, I know it is more complicated than that!) It is the basis for the great Wesleyan and Holiness movements of the 1700’s and late 1800’s. All branches of Methodism, Pentecostalism and several other lines owe their existence to these movements.
Despite this, what I see being represented in the marketplace is dominated by a more deterministic theology, not even a true Calvinism, but with a severe lack of free will and personal responsibility. There is a lack of knowledge of the true power of God to not simply whitewash over the sins of a fallen mankind, but to truly cleanse the sinner through the Holy Spirit. We are told that man must sin in thought, word and deed every day. This is reflected in books, music, movies, articles and interviews. It results in either a very fatalistic faith, or a very fuzzy faith.
Where has John Wesley’s insight into this power of the Spirit gone? Where is the knowledge of a God who can change the heart of a person so they no longer desire to do wrong, to act contrary to the will of the Father? Where is repentance?
We see in the so-called civilized areas of the world that there is a debate among Christians over this doctrine. We see widespread losses in American churches because we preach a Gospel without power, leaving people in their sins and feeling that this is the normal course of Christian life. But in other areas of the world there is no such watered-down Gospel no matter the official doctrine, and the church is indeed in revival. Look at Asia, Africa and South and Central America and the churches are booming. Here, there is no question of the power of God to transform lives.
We need a revival of the Holy Spirit to sweep over us once again. To do so, we need to return to preaching and teaching the power of God over sin, and the need for personal responsibility and repentance among the people of the church. Sin, not simply doing wrong, but living willfully in sin cannot be the norm in the church. We cannot teach that it is the normal course of a Christian’s life to accept salvation and then see no change in their life. The Gospel is nothing if not tranformative.
Until we preach and teach this, and our people believe it and desire it with all their hearts, I fear that John Wesley will remain hidden, and revival will not come.
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We see in the so-called civilized areas of the world that there is a debate among Christians over this doctrine. We see widespread losses in American churches because we preach a Gospel without power, leaving people in their sins and feeling that this is the normal course of Christian life. But in other areas of the world there is no such watered-down Gospel no matter the official doctrine, and the church is indeed in revival. Look at Asia, Africa and South and Central America and the churches are booming. Here, there is no question of the power of God to transform lives.
We need a revival of the Holy Spirit to sweep over us once again. To do so, we need to return to preaching and teaching the power of God over sin, and the need for personal responsibility and repentance among the people of the church. Sin, not simply doing wrong, but living willfully in sin cannot be the norm in the church. We cannot teach that it is the normal course of a Christian’s life to accept salvation and then see no change in their life. The Gospel is nothing if not tranformative.
Until we preach and teach this, and our people believe it and desire it with all their hearts, I fear that John Wesley will remain hidden, and revival will not come.
.
