PAUL, THE GOSPEL, AND THE MOTHER CHURCH (50 OF 56)
Scripture: Acts 21:17-39
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Paul, the Gospel, and the Mother Church (50 of 56)
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 21:17-39
Read Acts 21:17-39
In 1742, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn that we today know as ''Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild.'' Consider its depiction of Christ.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,?
Look upon a little child;?
Pity my simplicity,?
Suffer me to come to Thee.
Fain I would to Thee be brought,?
Dearest God, forbid it not;?
Give me, dearest God, a place?
In the kingdom of Thy grace
Lamb of God, I look to Thee;?
Thou shalt my Example be;?
Thou art gentle, meek, and mild;?
Thou wast once a little child.
Fain I would be as Thou art;?
Give me Thine obedient heart;?
Thou art pitiful and kind,?
Let me have Thy loving mind.
Let me, above all, fulfill?
God my heav'nly Father's will;?
Never His good Spirit grieve;?
Only to His glory live.
Thou didst live to God alone;?
Thou didst never seek Thin own;?
Thou Thyself didst never please:?
God was all Thy happiness.
Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb,?
In Thy gracious hands I am;?
Make me, Savior, what Thou art,?
Live Thyself within my heart.
I shall then show forth Thy praise,?
Serve Thee all my happy days;?
Then the world shall always see?
Christ, the holy Child, in me.
I am very hesitant to critique a hymn by the brilliant and godly Charles Wesley. After all, in the right context and stressed to the right proportion, this is a perfectly biblical vision of Jesus. Furthermore, it is likely that in the mid 1700's this picture of Jesus may have been needed to balance a predominantly stern or hard vision of Christ. Who knows?
But read in our day it gives one pause. If earlier ages of the Church depicted Jesus as overly stern or hard or wrathful, our age has a vision of Jesus that is so saccharine it is hard to call it ''biblical'' at all. In other words, take that hymn and drop it into a modern worship pep rally with its vaguely biblical but largely therapeutic sermons, its ...
Series: The Church in ACTSion
Wyman Richardson
Acts 21:17-39
Read Acts 21:17-39
In 1742, Charles Wesley wrote the hymn that we today know as ''Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild.'' Consider its depiction of Christ.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,?
Look upon a little child;?
Pity my simplicity,?
Suffer me to come to Thee.
Fain I would to Thee be brought,?
Dearest God, forbid it not;?
Give me, dearest God, a place?
In the kingdom of Thy grace
Lamb of God, I look to Thee;?
Thou shalt my Example be;?
Thou art gentle, meek, and mild;?
Thou wast once a little child.
Fain I would be as Thou art;?
Give me Thine obedient heart;?
Thou art pitiful and kind,?
Let me have Thy loving mind.
Let me, above all, fulfill?
God my heav'nly Father's will;?
Never His good Spirit grieve;?
Only to His glory live.
Thou didst live to God alone;?
Thou didst never seek Thin own;?
Thou Thyself didst never please:?
God was all Thy happiness.
Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb,?
In Thy gracious hands I am;?
Make me, Savior, what Thou art,?
Live Thyself within my heart.
I shall then show forth Thy praise,?
Serve Thee all my happy days;?
Then the world shall always see?
Christ, the holy Child, in me.
I am very hesitant to critique a hymn by the brilliant and godly Charles Wesley. After all, in the right context and stressed to the right proportion, this is a perfectly biblical vision of Jesus. Furthermore, it is likely that in the mid 1700's this picture of Jesus may have been needed to balance a predominantly stern or hard vision of Christ. Who knows?
But read in our day it gives one pause. If earlier ages of the Church depicted Jesus as overly stern or hard or wrathful, our age has a vision of Jesus that is so saccharine it is hard to call it ''biblical'' at all. In other words, take that hymn and drop it into a modern worship pep rally with its vaguely biblical but largely therapeutic sermons, its ...
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