Discipleship
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, the vestments, the anointing oil, the bull for the purification offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting, Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.” … Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded through Moses.
Leviticus 8:1-5; 36
STORY
Charles Wesley is the younger brother of John Wesley, who is the founder of Methodism. Both brothers left England and journeyed to the American colony of Georgia as missionaries. After a few months Charles was disillusioned by his lack of success in converting Native Americans to Christianity, so he returned to England. This pilgrimage with its many disappointments and difficulties also had Charles questioning the sincerity of his relationship with Jesus. Shortly after arriving in his home country, he became associated with a group of Moravians. This religious sect held a weekly Bible study in a meeting house located on Aldersgate Street in London. On May 31,1738, while attending a meeting Charles experienced his “spiritual conversion.” This is sometimes referred to as Charles Wesley’s “Aldersgae Experience.” The very next day he wrote his first hymn, whose message reflects a conversion experience, reading:
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
a brand plucked from eternal fire,
how shall I equal triumphs raise,
or sing my great deliverer’s praise?
By the time of his death, over a span of 53 years Wesley composed more than 6,500 hymns.
DEVOTION
The hymn A Charge To Keep I Have, which was written in 1762, is considered by some scholars to be the hymn that reflects the central purpose of all of Wesley 6,500 hymns, which is to always be a spiritual and disciplined disciple for the Lord. The hymn inspired Wesley when he read Matthew Henry’s commentary on Leviticus 8:36, with the scriptural passage reading, “So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.”
Matthew Henry born in 1662 in Flintshire, Wales. He began preaching at the age of 23, and from 1687 to 1712 he pastored a Nonconformist church in Chester, England. He was a prolific writer, most famous for his Commentary on the Whole Bible which he began in November of 1704 and left incomplete upon his death in 1714. Henry wrote a commentary on the biblical books from Genesis through Acts. Ministerial colleagues completed the work with reference to his notes and writings.
Throughout his life as a minister, Henry was a diligent student of the Word, sometimes rising as early as 4 o’clock in the morning and often spending 8 hours a day in his study. That was in addition to his daily pastoral labors. He was also a devout man of prayer. His lifelong concern for prayer originated with his recovery from a potentially terminal illness at the age of 10.
Henry wrote in his commentary on Leviticus 8:36, “We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us account about it, and it is our utmost peril if we neglect it. Keep it ‘that ye die not’; it is death, eternal death, to betray the trust that we are charged with; by the consideration of this we must be kept in awe.”
The hymn A Charge To Keep I Have popularity today can be seen that the title of President George W. Bush’s autobiography is titled A Charge to Keep, which was drawn from Charles Wesley’s hymn by the same name. The first stanza of the hymn reads:
A charge to keep I have,
a God to glorify,
a never-dying soul to save,
and fit it for the sky.
Let us always be obedient in our spiritual service to our Lord.