Lesson 37
What is God Doing in the World?
Part 2
Church History
by Ruth Mahoney Swaim
As stated in the last lesson, when God begins to move in a new way, those who want to move forward always feel the pressure and resistance of the last move. The declension of the wave has it's effect.
God is restoring His church, His body. And He is doing the work in His own time. Often we wonder why things are taking so long for His return. But He has long patience and desires to bring in a bountiful harvest.
Joel 1:4 What the crawling locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten; and what the hopping locust left, the stripping locust has eaten.
The Lord is restoring truths and gifts which were eaten away in earlier generations. He is building line upon line, precept upon precept.
Since the purpose of this teaching is to move you on into recognition and awareness of His presence in today's spiritual climate, I will give you only a very cursory overview of church history and it's revivals. We will only touch on these.
Going back only to the 1300's, we begin with just a few of the brave soldiers of the cross. Those who were tentatively emerging from the dark ages and beginning to see new light on the scriptural truth. Each movement has a key truth and key ministries/leaders and is usually accompanied by persecution and often martyrdom.
History of Restored Truths and Revivals
1300's
A movement is begun to have scriptures placed in the hands of the people and Jesus is preached as the Head of the Church. Scripture is the only law of the church and the church itself and pope are not the last word.
Marsilius of Padua was one time rector of the university of Paris and a physician by profession. He showed that the supreme standard in faith and conduct is the Bible and that the church is the company of those who trust in Christ. He was accused of gross heresy by Pope Element VI and probably would have paid for his view with his life had he not been protected by the Emperor.
John Wycliffe, in his relative youth, was gripped by the power of scripture and was resolved to impart to others what he himself had received. In 1377 he was charged with heresy but his respect with the government and his popularity with ordinary folk made it impossible to proceed with the charge. Tracts in Latin and English flowed from his pen. The most important aspect of his teaching, however, was his acknowledgment of the Bible's exclusive authority. Jesus is head of the church and scriptures are the only law of the church. Church itself and pope are not the last word. He and many who followed him were severely persecuted because it became a capital offense to read the scriptures in English. He was protected by Edward II, thus enabling him to die a natural death in 1384.
1400-1500's
Reformation period. Justification by faith, scripture in hands of the people and the divine sovereignty of God.
William Tyndale, born in the late fifteenth century, studied at Oxford and it was there that he began to study the word of God in Greek (under the influence of Erasmus) and began to see the power of the scripture. He soon moved to Cambridge where the light of witness began to glow. In later years Tyndale was shocked to realize how ignorant the clergy were of the bible but it spurred him on to give the people of England God's word in their own language. To pursue his task, Tyndale had to flee his own country. He remained in exile the rest of his life and lived as a hunted man, moving from place to place to avoid discovery and confiscation of his precious manuscripts and books. Tyndale was betrayed by a fellow countryman and in 1536 was executed.
Martin Luther: We now come to the events of the reformation. Born in 1483, son of a miner, his father though poor was determined to educate him for a career in law. His hunger and profound sense of sin soon lead him to discard this career and he entered the monastery of the Augustinian Eremites.
Martin Luther began to read the Bible and study the scriptures. Through reading Paul's epistle to the Romans, the light shone into Luther's heart and he found peace with God. Justification was through faith alone. Further study brought him to a deeper realization of this truth and the priesthood of all believers, resulting in the nailing of his Ninety-give Theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg. Luther denied the final authority of the Pope and he would now bow to the direct Lordship of Christ and the word of God would be his sole authority and guide.
This, of course, opened the gates to further revelation and freedom in studying the scripture and opening the truth to the average believer. The wonderful truth that they should and could seek God face to face on their own.
John Calvin was born in 1509, son of a respected and influential family. He was sent to the university of Paris and to Orleans to study law. He was a brilliant student but somewhere during the years of 1532-33 Calvin had an experience of conversion which radically altered his life. Through various influences he came to have a high regard for church government and to this day, his tenets as set forth in the 'Ecclesiastical Ordinances' are a guide to much church structure.
His teachings were a great influence on John Knox of Scotland. Calvin had high regard for character in the life of the believer and he also stressed higher education. Unfortunately the weakness of this system was the link which existed between Church and State. Calvin sought the power of the State to uphold the purity of the doctrine of the church. Of course, one can see how this will lead to mans control, human nature being what it is.
1600's
We now come to the era of denominational development. The Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Episcopalians were starting to form at this time. Church government was being strengthened.
We find during the first half of this century groups of Christians who formed a third and increasingly powerful stream of religious life, totally independent of Catholics and Protestants alike. These groups included the Puritans who began seeking religious freedom in North America.
Groups began rising who simply called themselves by name of Christians or Brethren but administered baptism only to those who had an experience of regeneration through faith in Christ. They were stigmatized by the name of Anabaptists, meaning 'those who baptize again.' The brethren did not recognize baptism of children as valid and discounted infant baptism.
Many paid a dear price and underwent great persecution for this truth, being forced to be held underwater and often drowned by their opposition in mock water baptism.
George Fox was one of the most remarkable Christian teachers of the seventeenth century. Born in 1624, the son of godly parents, he soon embarked on a search for spiritual reality, having been much distressed by the great contrast he observed between Christian profession and Christian practice.
Fox was a man of strong convictions and completely rejected a professional ministry along with the observance of sacraments. He held that true sacraments were inward and spiritual and need not be dependent upon any outward form. Many people began to join him and thus was formed the 'friends' movement. We know them as Quakers. They had no paid leadership and were known as people who simply 'waited on God.'
1700's
Personal, rather than corporate fellowship with God was beginning to grow. All did not separate from the church to which they had belonged, but many did and they became known as 'Philadelphia' which means 'brotherly love.'
Count Zinzendorf was born in Dresden in 1700. Brought up by his godly grandmother, he was from early years an earnest lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and in later years influenced the Moravian movement. The most striking thing about the Moravian community was its missionary outreach.
On board a ship bound for North America in 1735 John Wesley met a company of Moravian missionaries. This was an important milestone for John and Charles Wesley's quest for peace with God. John describes his meeting with them: 'I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.' There was great need of revival at this time and John and Charles Wesley were hungry for it. In 1739 John Wesley was invited to Bristol by George Whitfield who, also finding the churches closed to him had begun to preach in the open air to the miners and colliery district with great resultant blessing. He soon formed the Methodist movement, having much opposition from Anglicanism. Charles died at the age of eighty in 1788 and John lived 'til his eighty-eighth year and died in 1791.
George Whitfield was born in 1714, the son of an inn-keeper. He entered Oxford in 1733 and soon joined the Wesley's 'Holy Club' to seek peace with God through fasting and other religious practices. Through reading scriptures and light dawned and he experienced mighty transformation and started on his career as a preacher at a young age. From the very beginning his outstanding power as a preacher was obvious. Debarred from the Church of England, Whitefield would preach wherever there was a door open to him. His theology was strongly Calvinistic, while Wesley's was just as strongly Arminian. Both proclaimed justification by faith and the preaching of each was equally effective.
It is said that many who listened to Wesley chose to follow the Lord, and many who listened to Whitefield found that the Lord has chosen them. Whitfield organized no denomination but many thousands were brought in real subjection to the feet of Christ from his ministry.
George Whitefield was a lifelong friend of Jonathan Edwards who was also remarkably used of the Lord. His most famous sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' brought literally thousands to the Cross and a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many ministries were thrust forth during this time of reform such as William Carey to India, Robert Morrison to China and John Williams to the South Pacific. This was the start of a great missions outreach.
1800's
The nineteenth century is outstanding for progress no less in the spiritual realm than in the realm of science, social and economic development. In this century we see the fruition of the evangelical movement which had begun in the century before and, indeed, we see a more substantial recovery of some aspects of scriptural truth than had been seen for a very long time. The nineteenth century saw in greater measure, in certain circles, a return to the spirit of the early church.
William Carey in 1795 reached into India. It is from this year that the era of modern missions is generally dated.
George Mueller rose to prominence in this century. He was possessed of a grace and sense of balance in holding spiritual convictions as well as a great man of faith. His name is most widely remembered through his orphan homes which he opened in Bristol, England in 1836. From a small beginning of 26 children, that work grew in simple dependence upon God to meet every requirement. He never publicly raised funds, he prayed them in.
The nineteenth century saw the increased dissemination of the Scriptures worldwide by means of Bible Societies and the growth of non-denominational 'faith' missions.
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In the next lesson we will move into our own era, the 20th and 21st centuries. We will explore the truth of I Corinthians 15:46-47; Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
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