“What We Teach” Romans 12: 6-7 Matthew 10:24

Confession time - sometime I worry about the church. A lot. But while other people are worried about declining numbers, poor finances, and missing generations - all of which are very important - I am worrying about something else. I’m worried that we don’t quite know what we believe therefore we don’t know what to share with other people.

We are now in the final week of our sermon series focused on living our beliefs as United Methodist. And during this, our final week, I want to focus on what we believe so that we come to re-discover what we teach.

For nine months I was part of group of pastors who studied different leadership skills needed for the Church - aptly called Pastoral Leadership Development. Around month seven, we looked at statistics on world religions. According to a variety of news articles, the fastest growing world religion is Islam. According to Pew Research, one of the most respected statistical research organizations in Christianity, the number of people who claim Islam as their faith is going to potentially grow by 73 percent by 2050. Why? Because Muslims teach their faith. They teach their faith to their children and to other people in a simple and understandable way. Muslims teach five pillars of their faith - sincerity in faith, praying five times a day, giving to the poor and needy, fasting, and pilgrimage. Five core beliefs - five ways to actively live out their faith in a way that is easy to understand.

In contrast, Pew Research, predicts that by 2050, Christians will have a net loss of 60 million people in those who switch their religious affiliation alone. Friends, we need to be able to articulate what we believe better. Christians, particularly in the United States, have become very good at stating what they prefer in a Church home, such as musical style or programs offered. We are less in need of being able to articulate preferences and more desperately in need of being able to say what we truly believe.

We could make an entire sermon series about what Christians believe as a whole, but today I want to focus on what United Methodists believe in, some of which are universal to all Christians, some of which are not. The first belief however, is true of all Christians, we believe in Jesus Christ as our one Lord and Savior. The apostle Paul writes in today’s scripture lesson, in him we have redemption and forgiveness because of his grace. These are such huge and lofty words in our faith tradition. To have redemption is to have salvation. We are saved because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. But we are not only saved, we are forgiven - pardoned from our sin - even though we deserve punishment. All because God we have undeserved and unearned favor from God. We are saved and forgiven because of the great gift of God in Jesus Christ! Praise be to God! Yet sometimes that is so hard for us to explain. We end up only talking about forgiveness instead of the sin that needs forgiven, or we only talk about sin and not grace. We believe that we are sinners saved by grace because of Jesus Christ. 

As United Methodists we strive to lead others to become disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In fact, that’s why we exist as the local church. Not because we like our building or because of our history, but because we are striving to introduce other people to the saving love of Jesus Christ. That should be our focus in all that we say and do as a church because we believe that Jesus Christ has the ability to change hearts and change the world today. We have an active faith, a transformative faith, that starts by transforming each of us and then transforms communities, neighborhoods, states, and the world. We believe that Jesus saves and that Jesus wants to save this world. So number one, we believe as United Methodists in making disciples for the transformation of the world. 

Number two, we believe that we are striving towards holiness, or having a life that is devoted to God. Notice that we are striving for. Not that we are already there. The big word that John Wesley used to describe this journey towards holiness is sanctification - moving towards deeper love of God and neighbor. As United Methodists we believe in two types of holiness - personal and social. We cannot have one without the other. We believe in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we believe that relationship should be seen in how we treat other people. Personal holiness is the transformation of each of our hearts and social holiness is transforming the world. You cannot have one with the other. The book of James describes the link between the two types of holiness this way: faith without works is also dead. We don’t believe that we do good works to be saved, because we believe salvation is a gift from God, not something that we can earn, but we believe that if our hearts are changed by Christ it should be noticeable in how we treat other people by our actions. Number two, we live by two kinds of holiness: personal and social. 

Number three, we have three simple rules. In fact, these are known as the general rules of the Church that dictate how we live: do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. This is practically how we live our faith, feet on the ground. In the early Methodist movement people were held accountable to these ways of living their faith and now, today, we still examine our personal and public actions by them. To do good, is not limited to thoughts or actions, but to all that we say and do. To do good, is to show kindness and mercy, in order for our faith to glorify God. To do no harm, is to avoid evil of any kind and protect other people. Then to stay in love with God, we seek to grow deeper in our relationship with God every day. When we weave together these general rules they show us that how we live has consequences, for good or bad, that always reflects back on the pioneer and perfecto of our faith, Jesus Christ. Number three, we follow three simple rules: do no harm. do good. stay in love with God. 

Lastly, we focus on changing the world through four areas of focus. Our faith is to be lived out in life changing ways. I have already shared with you some of the reasons I’m proud to be a United Methodist. When their is a natural disaster, we are one of the first organizations in and one of the last organizations to leave. We want informed worshippers and congregations that care about our neighbors next door and around the world. We believe that God is still alive, still moving, still changing the world one heart at a time. And because we are a connectional church we learn more about our brothers and sisters in Christ, around the world, as we seek to glorify the same Lord. Number four, we have four areas of focus: developing leaders, creating new places for new people, eliminating poverty, and improving global health. 

How many of you have heard about these four things we believe and live into as United Methodists before: One Lord. Two Kinds of Holiness. Three Simple Rules. Four Areas of Focus? How many of you have had the opportunity to share what we believe as a United Methodist Church with someone else in the last six months? The last year? We need to be people who know what we believe so that others may come to believe. Because at the end of the day it isn’t about us. Its about our master and lord, Jesus. In the gospel of Matthew we are told that we as disciples are not above the teacher. Its not our job to re-write what Jesus said and did. Its simply our job to proclaim it, but that requires knowing what to proclaim. May you go forth from this place, proclaiming Jesus and how to live as a disciple in such a way that others may come to know the Lord! Amen.