Meet Your Maker, Vol. VII

For some reason this post didnt publish when I scheduled it to on Friday, so here is a happy Tuesday surprise for you!

Ha, I feel as if I should post a warning for you, the reader, as to the contents of this particular sermon of Wesley's. It will challenge your thoughts, I believe; I certainly hope it does. He brings into light a facet of Christianity that we often, according to him, misinterpret and mislabel. Today, he asks us if we really are Christians.

Wesley cites Acts 26:28 from the KJV to kick this one off:

"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

From here, he outlines two implied categories: The almost Christian, and the altogether Christian.

The Almost Christian

Wesley details the almost Christian as someone of "heathen honesty." They have "the outside of a real Christian...and does nothing which the gospel forbids." He then proceeds to present a rather impressive list of activities the almost Christian participates in or abstains from, and the list is what I have termed in my head "hauntingly Christian according to perception." He "profanes not the day of the Lord," "taketh not the name of God in vain," "abstains from 'wine wherein is excess,'" "does not willingly wrong," etc. Then the list gets even more "hauntingly Christian:"

"...constantly frequents the house of God..."

"...approaches the table of the Lord..."

Participates in "family prayer"

Sets time apart for "private addresses to God"

And ALL of this he does with sincerity which Wesley defines here as "a real, inward principle of religion from whence these outward actions flow."

You did realize that we are still under the heading of the almost Christian, right?!

I will utilize none other than Wesley's own transition here:

"Is it possible that any man should go so far as this and nevertheless be only 'almost a Christian?' What more than this can be implied in being 'a Christian altogether?'"

The Altogether Christian

He lists three expressly stated requisites:

1) "First, the love of God. For thus saith His Word: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all they strength.' Such a love of God is this as engrosses the whole heart, as takes up all the affections, as fills the entire capacity of the soul, and employs the utmost extent of all its faculties."

2) "The second thing implied in being 'altogether a Christian' is the love of our neighbor. For thus said our Lord in the following words: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'"

3) "The right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that Holy Scripture and the articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ - it is a sure trust and confidence which a man hath in God 'that by the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God."

According to Wesley, and I agree with him, Christianity is not merely a model of morality as the almost Christian puts it to use. While it is true that it is part of Christianity, it is not, ultimately, what defines Christianity. Other practicing religions have similar if not more stringent ideals of morality, and yet they are not entitled the same as ours. Christ defines Christianity, and beyond that, our belief and acceptance as truth of Christ - His life, His words, His sacrifice and the implications thereof. As Wesley words it:

"May we all thus experience what it is to be not almost only, but altogether Christians! Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus, knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us!"

- Adkins