Our Wesleyan Heritage, The Methodists: Holiness of Heart and Life 1 Peter 1:13-16; Ephesians 2:8-10 A sermon by Rev. Bob Kells Invite to take out the sermon notes. (SLIDE 1, TITLE) This week we begin a three- part sermon series about our heritage as United Methodists. I am preaching on this topic for a couple of reasons. For one, we are celebrating the 185 th anniversary of Weller this year. Most of us know that Weller was not a Methodist Church when it was founded it started as a Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Both of these churches have different stories up until the time they came together in 1968 as the United Methodist Church. The history of these churches is really interesting but it is not the reason for the series. The main reason to preach on this topic is to better understand how God worked through people at different times and places, and how God can work through us today. Looking at how God worked through the Methodists helps us answer questions like: - What is unique about the Methodist tradition? How does it shape our approach to the issues we face as Christians today? - What did the United Brethren bring to our understanding about being disciples of Jesus Christ? - After learning about their examples, how can we become better followers of Jesus in our own time? Today, we begin with the Wesleyan revival in England, and the story of John Wesley. - (SLIDE 2, EARLY YEARS) John Wesley was the son of a Church of England pastor by the name of Samuel Wesley and his wife 1
Susanna. John was born in 1703. He was six years old when an event occurred that would shape his life. The parsonage the family lived in caught fire one night some believe it was set on purpose. Everyone got out all right except for John. As the family watched helplessly, little John came to the window in the front of the house. A group of men from the village climbed up on the house and pulled him to safety just in time. His mother, Susanna, saw God s hand at work in the rescue. Later, she said John was saved as a brand plucked from the burning a reference to the biblical prophet Zechariah. John would refer to this event years later to show God had a divine purpose for his life. A few years later, John was sent to boarding school and then on to Oxford University for a religious education. - (SLIDE 3, SUSANNA WESLEY) I just mentioned Susanna Wesley and since this is Mother s Day, it s right to say something about this remarkable woman. She was very well educated something unusual for her time and she had a huge impact on her children. She was the mother of 19 (John was number 15). Sadly, nine of the children died as infants, so the Wesleys were familiar with grief and suffering. Susanna was an early home schooler, spending time with each child every day to teach, encourage and help them with their faith. (Gives meaning to the proverb Train up a child in the way he should go; and he will not depart from it [Proverbs 22:6]). Sometimes, when her husband was away, she led a Bible study something else that was very unusual for a woman to do at this time. Thank God for godly Moms. - (SLIDE 4, OXFORD) At Oxford, John Wesley started the practices that would make him stand apart from other students. Along with a handful of friends, the group met almost daily for prayer, Bible study and devotional reading. They also recognized God s call to care for the least of these and began visiting prisoners and the poor. Some of the other students saw Wesley and his friends behavior as a kind of religious fanaticism. (Who are these people who pray all the time?) They called them names such as Bible 2
moths, Enthusiasts, the Holy Club, and the term that would eventually stick Methodists, because of their methodical approach to religion. - (SLIDE 5, GEORGIA TO ALDERSGATE) A few years later, after John and his brother Charles were ordained, they were chosen for missionary work in the English colony of Georgia. Both felt a strong call to go to America to convert the Native Americans to the Christian faith. But before he got there, John suffered a crisis of faith. The ship carrying him encountered some severe storms. During these storms, John noted how the English passengers were terrified and feared for their lives. But a group of German Moravian Christians remained calm, sang hymns and offered prayers for everyone on board. Seeing this, John felt shaken. (REFER TO JOHN WESLEY HYMN) Later, when one of the Moravian pastors asked him if he knew Jesus Christ as his personal savior, John was unsure. He thought he did, but now he wondered. John and Charles returned to England two years later after failing to convert any of the Native Americans. This brought John to the point of despair. He wondered if God had abandoned him or, had he abandoned God? He reflected on this for several months. On night, he attended a meeting of a religious society meeting in London at a house on Aldersgate Street. What happened next is best told in his own words. - (SLIDE 6, WESLEY QUOTE) In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone 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. John would describe this as a conversion. What he experienced was the assurance of God s love for him in Jesus. 3
- (SLIDE 7, METHODIST TAKEOFF) After this, the Methodist movement really got going. o With the fire of God s love in his heart, John began preaching outdoors, in the fields and along the roads and in the market squares where thousands of people could hear him. Some of these received the message of God s unfailing love and grace. They accepted Jesus as a personal savior. o Wesley formed Methodist religious societies and established small groups where people could continue to grow in faith. This way, the seed of conversion would not die out. o He also trained and sent lay speakers to preach the Good News. These men became known as circuit riders because they traveled from town to town, preaching the Good News. o The Methodists also took note of the needs of the poor. They collected money and built schools and clinics to help educate and heal people who otherwise couldn t afford these things. In their preaching, teaching and care for the poor, the Methodists lived out Christ s command to his followers to love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. - (SLIDE 8, CHARLES WESLEY) Singing played a huge role in the Methodist revival. That s where John s brother, Charles, contributed his talent by writing thousands of hymns and poems in praise of God. Charles Wesley wrote some of our most beloved hymns including those shown on the screen ( Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and Love Divine, All Loves Excelling ). These songs, and many others, helped fan the flames of revival by giving people heartfelt songs for the soul to sing praises to God. No surprise, but we still have a lot of Charles Wesley hymns in our hymnals today. Anyone want to guess how many? (51). - (SLIDE 9, JOHN WESLEY) For over 50 years, John Wesley kept up a hyperactive pace to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of England. By the end of his long life, he had ridden over 4
250,000 miles and preached more than 40,000 sermons. His followers built meeting houses, schools and hospitals. All of this was God s work through the Methodist movement. Once when he was asked why God chose to raise up the people called Methodist, John Wesley replied: To reform the nation, particularly the church, and to spread scriptural holiness across the land. (SLIDE 10, BLANK) Alright, I ve said a lot now about the John Wesley and the Methodists in England. Now we come to the big question so what? What does what they did 250 years ago mean for us today? There s a lot we could say but there are three things I think are important for us to remember: - (SLIDE 11 Thing #1), You can be assured of your salvation in Jesus Christ. Salvation is God s gift to us. It can t be earned. That s what the Apostle Paul said in this passage from his letter to the Ephesians: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). o What does grace look like? You ve probably heard about the people who go through the drive through lane at a fast food place and pay for the person behind them. Imagine being in the car that comes up to the window to find your meal paid for. You don t owe anything the debt has already been paid by someone else. It is pure gift. It is pure grace. o Grace also looks like a man hanging on a cross on a desert hillside, in a faraway time and place. He did that to take away our sins so we can have eternal life. We don t owe anything the debt has already been paid. It is pure gift. It is pure grace. o Jesus Christ is the assurance of our salvation. When we accept Jesus Christ as savior, God accepts us. 5
- (SLIDE 12, Thing #2), The Methodists made sure people who accepted Christ had a way to keep growing in faith. The first letter of Peter reminds us just how important this is: prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed (1 Peter 1:13). Just like an athlete who wants to compete in a race or a dancer who wants to perform well, we need a spiritual discipline to train us up in the ways of God. o John Wesley stressed the spiritual disciplines that most of us have heard about before: prayer, Bible study, worship, small group study, fasting, and devotional reading. We need all these in order to grow in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son, Jesus. o But disciplines are only good if we are actively practicing them. How are your spiritual disciplines? - (SLIDE 13, Thing #3), Methodism emphasizes a faith that seeks holiness and lives it out day- to- day. John Wesley called this holiness of heart and life. It means we are to be holy set apart for the purposes of God in the world. This holiness has inward and outward pieces to it. o Inwardly, it means becoming more like Jesus every day, loving God with our entire mind, body, spirit and strength. o Outwardly, it means loving God s Creation by doing good works. These works don t save us Jesus has already done that. These works we do out of our love for God. This is what is meant in the Letter to the Ephesians when it says: For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:10). Means giving, caring and sharing with the poor; seeking justice for those unable to obtain it for themselves. It means loving others as we love God. (SLIDE 14, BLANK) Close with extemporaneous prayer for trust in God. Amen. 6