Wesley's Questions #5

  

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them.  

John Wesley’s Questions

Responses by Charles Wesley Areson

 

5. Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God and to God’s work?

I am resolved to devote myself wholly to God. This is what it means to me to make Jesus Lord of my lives. I am devoted completely to him. The beautiful thing about this is that God isn’t looking to just make me a slave or servant but his child. My commitment to God means that I don’t give up living but that I can now live a fuller and more fulfilling life. Yes, there are things I need to let go of, but being fully committed to God means I gain far more than anything I surrender.

When it comes to fully embracing the work of God I hesitate for a second because often when we speak of the work of God we think of the work of the church. The work of the church is important. The work of an Elder is an important role. However, God's work for us is more than just church work. The work of God is first and foremost changing our own lives and striving to be holy. Secondly, working with our families. God’s work in communion with our marriage partner, parenting, and the care of parents carries greater weight than church work (1 Timothy 3:4-5). So yes I'm fully committed to the work of God but it is my heartfelt belief and I believe scripture agrees that my first responsibility is to work for the Christ-like benefit of my family. Further, when it comes to the work of God I have to be willing to accept as Wesley said in the Covenant Prayer God willing not just to work and be employed but also to be laid aside to be full or if necessary to be empty if that is the will of the Lord. Oswald Chambers often reminds us in My Utmost for His Highest that we have to guard against letting the work of God become our god.

Wesley's Questions #4

 

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them.  

John Wesley’s Questions

Responses by Charles Wesley Areson

 

4. Are you earnestly striving after perfection in love?

When I consider striving toward perfection in love, I don’t think of my struggles to break bad habits or even to study the word of God as important as those may be, I think of loving as God would love. This for me involves living a life of forgiveness and seeing everyone as God does.

I have written on forgiveness in Impossible to Forgive: What God Can Do When You Can’t. I do not wish to go into those struggles here but to say that for me if I am not willing to forgive everyone for even the least offense then I am putting myself in a place where my ability to love will be challenged. Truly you can’t fully love those you are unwilling to forgive. This isn’t even considering the dangers of cutting myself off from God (Matthew 6:5-15).

Secondly, I strive to remind myself that God loves everyone and wants to see everyone redeemed. Red and yellow, black and white, conservative or liberal, Christian, heathen or atheist… God loves them all even if they aren’t little children. God so loved us that while we were, yet sinners Christ died (Romans 5:8). If I love only those that love me, I’m no better than the world (Luke 6:32). This isn’t always easy but remembering scripture and praying for those I disagree with as Jesus commanded (Matthew 5:43-48) helps me live out this love.

 

Wesley's Question #3

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them.  

3. Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?

Jesus would not make the command be perfect as my Father in Heaven is perfect if it were not possible for us to achieve. We see in the New Testament that Paul talks about us being able to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the rest of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). John tells us that we’re to walk in love and there's an expectation that we do not have to sin (1 John 1, 2 John 2:6). The very fact that 1 John 2:1 (NIV) said “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin…” (not “when you sin”) is a clear indication that we can live in perfect love and above sin.

There have been times in my life when I feel that I was walking in entire sanctification/perfect love. These times have been broken by bad habits or ingrained patterns. There are still some, perhaps more than I now know, but I strive against them. I trust that through the power of the Holy Spirit I will eventually break their power. I have the promise Jesus will finish the good work He started in me (Philippians 1:6). My cooperation with the Holy Spirit in this effort lead this into question four.

Wesley's Question #2

 

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them. 

2. Are you going on to perfection?

In myself, I cannot move on to perfection (Romans 7), however, when I submit to the power of the Holy Spirit and walk as He would have me I can and do strive to move on to be perfect as Jesus commands (Matthew 5:48).  John says that those who have this hope within them purify themselves. Paul says that we're to crucify the flesh here again there's an expectation to strive toward perfection.

For me, going on towards perfection means giving Jesus my whole heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37) and I would add my body. I am striving to do this work by putting myself in places of accountability, reading scriptures, writing, attending church services and prayer meetings, and other spiritual disciplines which bring my mind and spirit into communion with God.

In the last few years, God has laid upon my heart the need to maintain the body that He is giving me. We are bodies not just spirits. If I'm going to be all that God wants me to be (entirely sanctified), I must maintain, to the best of my ability, the body God gave me. This is one of the more difficult challenges I have faced in my striving toward Christian perfection. However, I trust with God's help and the assistance of family and friends I will see victory also in this area.

Wesley's Questions #1

NO! John Wesley, not John Wayne!

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them. 

1. Have you faith in Christ?

Romans 10:9-10 says, "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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved" (NIV). I have and do declare that Jesus is Lord of my life. I trust in His death on the cross has paid for my sins and His resurrection is proof the payment for sin is covered and that by having faith in Him, I too will have everlasting life. I further believe Jesus’ words that He is the only way to salvation (John 14:6).

I responded to an alter call at the First Baptist Church of Clinton, Indiana when I was 7 years old. I remember before consenting to baptize me the pastor sitting down with me in his office and asked if I knew what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. I do not recall the exact words I used but I understood Jesus paid the price for my sins and I could have a new life in Him and heaven when life was over. Since that time, I have come to understand more of the price Jesus paid, the depth of my sins, the promise of eternity, and the hope of a better life now with Jesus as my Lord (master, director, leader). 

Picture by CARTER SAUNDERS

Weeding in the Drought

John 9:4, "We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work." 

 A few weeks back we had a small stretch of drought. Actually, I probably shouldn't call it a drought but three weeks without rain in Indiana in the early summer feels like a drought. The grass was drying and the weeks weren't even growing. 

No rain, of course, meant I didn't have to mow the yard but I had to water my pitiful little garden. Little is relative of course so 5 rows of beans, 28 tomato plants, a row of each sunflower, beets, and carrots,  4 hills of zucchini, 4 hills of cucumbers, watermelons, and pumpkins might be big to you. For me, small garden might not be the right word, but more on that later. I watered and weeded a little. Weeding a little was the problem. I wasn't worried too much the weeds were small, the tomatoes could wait to be tied up, and I thought I had time. 

Then the rains came, and came, and came, usually when I was off work so I didn't have to worry about watering the garden. YAH! or maybe not. Those weeds that were so small aren't now. Where did my carrots go? The beets are gone and somewhere among the weeds, beans and onions can be seen, mostly. The tomatoes are leaning over one another and I can't tell where one is and another begins. However, the sunflowers are taller than the weeds about them (small comfort).  

Now I have to mow the too tall grass, vegetables needing tending. and a garden of weeds. If only... 

This is where this article comes in because I realized if I had weeded in the drought I wouldn't be having this trouble. I had the time I wasn't spending on mowing I could have done this, but now I have a mess. At the time I should be tending my vegetables and preparing them to produce or even gathering some of the fresh vegetables, I need to weed. Not just weed but now I have a lawn to maintain. Bother!  

So how does this apply to life? 

I would suggest there are times when things aren't busy when things aren't seeming to grow. It isn't that the weeds aren't growing nothing you or I are trying is going anywhere. If we take the time then to deal with the small problems which if left unattended will grow into a problem then we may find that we have a bigger problem later. There are things in our lives that we may be able to ignore during the time of drought, but we need to remember we won't always be in this period of our lives. Waiting to weed things out, doing the maintenance, and the like is a bad idea. 

Don't wait.

Look around and ask yourself, "What should I do when things aren't growing?" or "How do I prepare for when things do begin to grow?" For me, I look at my busy life and wonder? Should I have started (weeded) this garden project?  I can see clearly now, that the answer is Yes. I started it when things were just starting to get busy in my life. Now as strange as it may sound my garden isn't a blessing. Yes, my garden is a weed. Perhaps you have things in your life that if you're honest with yourself might be a weed later. May I suggest, Weed it now before it grows. If you don't your life will look like my garden and it won't be a blessing. 

What if you have waited? Well, you have a lot of hard work and probably if you are honest, you knew better. I did. So, get your gloves out and start pulling because those weeds aren't getting smaller.

Do you want it there?

 

In the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of the types of soil that the Word of God lands on when we sow. I was thinking of this when I came home and found a pile of seeds laying on the road. This is just one of the things you see when you live in rural Indiana.

While loading up harvested wheat, the local farmer spilled some of it.  It seemed like a waste to me but when the farmer considers how much effort and time it would take to try and recover the wheat without contamination, I'm sure, it was not worth the effort. One thing I am sure of was this wasn't done on purpose. Later this year I'm not going to find wheat growing on my gravel road and the farmer isn't looking for a harvest there either.

I wonder how often the church pours the seed of the Word on the road. I don't want to say we should try and judge others' hearts and not give to those who might only look hardened. This being said, perhaps, we should consider if what we are doing is where we should be working. Jesus told his disciples in Judea to leave towns that did not receive the good news. On the other hand, God told Isaiah to preach all his days but in the end, everything but 10% would be lost (Isaiah 6).

So what do I conclude? Be wise, but also be obedient. Use the resources God has given you wisely. However, if God says to invest in something that will by all human measurements fail, then do it anyway.