Revival: Works of Mercy. James 2: 14-18

We are now in the final week of our sermon series focused on revival. We have talked about how different people experience revival in their faith lives in different ways. We have focused on the role of God’s grace in the midst of revival. Today as we end our time together, I want to hone in on what we do once we experience revival in our lives. 

Wesley deeply believed that how we live our our faith lives matters. In fact, Wesley even had a phrase that he used to describe this active, living faith - “works of mercy.” Works of Mercy were intentional acts of care and assistance for those who need God’s help. 

James also understood the necessity of works of mercy in the Christian life. Earlier this year we studied James in our parish Bible studies and discovered that some Christian leaders, chiefly Martin Luther, weren’t big fans of the book of James because they felt that it focused too much on our own works of faith. As a result it has been misinterpreted over the years to be bearing the message that we can be saved by our works - but that in fact isn’t the message of James at all. Instead of saying that we are saved by what we do, James is trying to get across the point that we are saved from sin and death for something - for righteousness. For holiness. For works of mercy. 

James’s message is just as pertinent to the church today. Sometimes we can get caught in the trap of thinking that the entire goal of being a Christian is being born a new. But then we stop. I have often said that I find it much easier to be in conversation about Jesus with folks who do not yet know his love and saving grace then those who say that they know Jesus, but don’t act like it. Then those who say that it is all about them and Jesus and then they stop. When we get caught in the trap of just worrying about whether we are saved instead of asking what we are saved for - which is service to our Heavenly King - then we only have half of the story of being Christian.

Now am I saying that a personal relationship with Jesus isn’t necessary - not in the slightest. Nor am I trying to say that accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior isn’t absolutely vital - because it is. But what I am trying to get across is the fact that being saved isn’t just about getting to Heaven some day. It’s also about making God’s Kingdom known on this earth here and now. We aren’t just saved for the future when we die, we are saved for the sake of the world we live in now. And Wesley would claim that anything less is spiritual narcissism - being solely focused on one’s self to the point where it is absolutely detrimental to your faith life. 

We see this type of self-focus in the book of James. Remember, authors didn’t take time to write letters about things that were not already problems in the communities that they were addressing. In this particular community, which is actually Jews who have come to known Jesus spread across different geographic regions, James has heard that there has been a problem with how people are treated. Some people, based on their status, wealth, and appearance, are being treated better than others. They get the best seats in gatherings. They get the best food. So James is trying to emphasize that unequal treatment - lifting up some based on their status - that isn’t what this whole Christian thing is about. In fact, what it is about isn’t about being served, but rather serving others. 

Which leads him to ask the famous question posed in today’s scripture passage -  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Then he goes on to give a haunting example (that I have personally witnessed more than a few folks do in today's world). Someone needs clothes or food or something to sustain their very life. But instead of offering to help in any way - you look at them and say “I’ll be praying for you.” Friends, even if you mean that you truly will be praying for that person, prayer was never meant to be a blow off. Or an excuse not to reach out to someone in need. Should we pray for the folks we serve - absolutely! But James reminds us that faith without action is dead.

Rev. Adam Hamilton states that is exactly where some of our churches are headed today. When the church stops serving - stops reaching out to the least and the last and the lost - exactly the people we are called to be ministering to in Jesus’s name - the church starts to die. 

For Wesley, works of mercy were in no way separate from the teaching about God’s grace that could free people from sin or God’s love. We’ve bought into this destructive lie today that some churches teach about Jesus and some serve Jesus. No! No! No! James reminds us that we do both - we serve because of our faith and in our service we are give profound opportunities to teach about the love of a Savior. Our faith on these points is not either/ or, its both/ and. 

Wesley experienced the power, love, and joy of the Lord in works of mercy when he was invited by a friend to come and serve at Castle Prison, where he taught Bible study and offered prayer, often several times a week. Because our God is gracious and good, often works of mercy aren’t just about the person who is receiving them, but for the giver as well. Think about your own life - how did you feel when you served in the Lord’s name? I know for me, some of the times I felt most deeply connected to God were when I was serving. Time when I was able to engage in works of mercy. In fact, it is one of the many things that I treasure about the United Methodist Church - an emphasis on sharing our faith through word and action as we serve others.

At my last appointment, we discussed how service has no ability or age limits. One year I took two college-aged women from the congregation to York, PA to do home repair through Servants, Inc. I did not know a single thing about home repair and everything that could go wrong went wrong on that particular trip - but I still had a deep joy in getting to serve folks. Another year, we took a group of retired folks down to Mission Central to sort out items for UMCOR disaster kits. On the way home, we kept talking about how good it felt to serve, even if we never get to connect with the folks who will receive the works of our hands. 

What makes works of mercy so meaningful are the values that ungird it when we serve in Christ’s name. Our service proclaims that we value people. We value lifting up Christ’s name. We value being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. We value loving our neighbor as ourselves. And through service, we are changed! Praise be to God!

Wesley, later in life, took service even further. While he still reached out to individuals, he also worked hard to change society to be a reflection of the Kingdom of God. He spoke out about the injustice of the slave trade, even when many people in the Methodist Society made their living off of the works of slaves. Why? Because Wesley believed that we were saved for good works, as a reflection of our heartfelt gratitude of what Christ has done and is doing in our lives. And that leads to yielding ones entire life to Christ - including what we do and what we say. 

Friends, I have often told folks that the only day we know that we are given is today. And I don’t know about you, but I want to yield my life to Christ this day so that I can strive to bring Christ glory in everything I do. That is a reflection and an overflow of my personal relationship I have with Jesus and thankfulness for the gift of salvation I have received. May we go forth from this place, living into the spiritual revival we have experienced, so that others may come to know the love and freedom of a Savior! Amen!

“Revival: The Necessity of Grace” Eph 2: 8-10

If you had one message that you could give to the world what would it be? For John Wesley, after his Aldersgate Experience, the one message that he became deeply passionate about was this: God longs for everyone to come to know the love of the Savior and God’s grace is available to all who accept Christ. He was so passionate about the message of grace that he traveled over 250,000 miles by foot, horseback, and carriage in order to preach this message. In fact, he was so passionate about Paul’s presentation about grace in today’s scripture passage that he preached on these verses from Ephesians over forty times. 

What makes Paul’s message so compelling in Ephesians? I believe that it is his emphasis on the fact that grace is a gift. A gift from God. It is not something that can be earned or accomplished by our own means. It is was something that we could accomplish on our own then we wouldn’t need God - it would be our own medal of honor, not something that proclaims the very glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. 

We have lost something in our culture around gifts. I know that out of the Five Love Languages as described by Gary Chapman -  Words of Affirmation, Receiving Gifts, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Acts of Service - the way that I best express my love for folks is by giving gifts. A fellow gift giver once described it as thinking long and hard about the perfect gift to give someone so that you can watch their face light up when they realize that you thought just about them. 

But as much thought that I may put into giving the perfect gift to those whom I love, Jesus gave the best gift. The most perfect gift. When it became evident that we, as humans, were incapable of following through on the first covenant God made with us through the law, Jesus came to earth to show us how to live, before giving his very lift for us. He offered himself as a gift. Allowing us to have the opportunity to choose to have new life and salvation through Jesus Christ himself. 

For Wesley, there were at least three different types of grace in our lives, as he studied the New Testament and saw the Greek word for grace (which also means gift - char is) appearing over 148 times. 

First, there is Prevenient Grace - the grace that comes before. Wesley firmly believed that God is at work in our lives before we even know God, realize that we are in need of God, or know how to reach out to God. God loves us so much, that God laid the foundation for salvation, the foundation for us to accept this wonderful gift, before we even knew how wonderful it was. 

For a lot of folks Prevenient Grace is best noticed by the people in our lives who were sharing with us the love of Jesus before we even knew that we needed Jesus. The Vacation Bible School Directors. Sunday school Teachers. Mothers and Fathers of the church who shared with us countless Bible stories, taught us how to pray, and told us that yes, Jesus Loves each of us.

For those who came to know Jesus later in life, it may have been a co-worker who you noticed something was different about who kept inviting you to church, even if you didn’t know if you felt comfortable coming. Or the friend who kept telling you that they were praying for you and meant it.

Prevenient grace invites us into the space where we can encounter justifying grace where we accept Jesus into our lives as Lord and Savior and grow in trust of him. Trust him to save us. Trust him to redeem us. Trust him to give us victory over sin.

The thing about justifying grace is that we need to be able to accept or at least hold on to two fundamental truths of the Gospel message. First and foremost, Jesus saves. Jesus made a way for us on the cross. And Jesus selflessly gave his life for us on the cross, even though we are completely undeserving. But we also need to understand that we are sinful. That sin is missing the mark and we have done the time and time again, which is why we need Jesus to save us. To save us from our sinful selves and to save us from the mess that sin leaves in its wake. If we don’t think that Jesus can save or we aren’t aware of sin and why we need a Savior, we may not be ready yet to accept Jesus into our lives.

The Apostle Paul describes sin this way in his letter to the Romans: I don’t do the good that I want to do, but I keep doing the evil that I don’t want to do. Sin living in me does this. Sin ruins things, brothers and sisters, but Jesus can to set us free from the power of sin in our lives.

For a lot of folks justifying grace is that date and time when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Or that moment when you see how Jesus has been working in your life all along. This type of grace looks different for each person.

The third type of grace is sanctifying grace. This is the grace where we grow closer to God. But we can try to resist growing with God. I often tell folks how many years you have been a Christian doesn’t always reflect how deep your relationship with God is, which can be really hard to hear. But there are some folks, once they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who simply stop there. They think the fact that they have been saved is good enough. They come to worship on Sundays and may pray from time to time or read scripture occasionally, but they aren’t super interested in getting any closer to God than that.

Sanctifying grace can also be frustrating, but we notice it a lot more in others then we see it in ourselves. Every year at the conclusion of camp, I send my campers a manila envelope containing a cd of this years camp songs, pictures from the week, but also a note. Over the years, as I have had the same campers, I have been able to write them notes about where I see them growing with God. Sometimes we need other people to help us see the sanctifying grace in our own lives.

Wesley wanted believers to be positioned for this type of growth with God. So outside of the weekly larger meetings, he broke them down into smaller class meetings and bands, where they could study the word and pray for one another. In our modern language we may call these groups Bible studies or small groups. Further, these groups were encouraged to serve, in a variety of ways.

Just as Christ selflessly gave himself for us, so we are at our best, most living into the God image inside each of us, when we are serving others. This is simply how we were created to live. Sometimes I become deeply frustrated with the institutional church. When we aren’t serving. When we aren’t talking to folks about the good news of Jesus. But then I am brought back to a place where I remember that spiritual growth is a process, that begins with folks who are laying ground work even before we are ready to accept the gift of salvation. Brothers and sisters, may we be the folks laying the ground work. May we been the ones inviting people to come and accept the gift Jesus is trying to offer. May we be the people encouraging each other to grown. All for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Revival: A Crisis of Faith Romans 4: 3-5, 5: 1-2

11/12/17 Revival: A Crisis of Faith Romans 4: 3-5, 5: 1-2

As Christians we often live between two tensions. On one hand, we want to live holy lives that are pleasing to God, we want to do what is right. But on the other hand, we have to know that our faith life is about a lot more than what we can do to honor and please God - its about trusting God’s goodness and grace in our lives. Rev. Adam Hamilton, author of Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It puts it this way: [Our faith life is about] “Balancing the quest for holiness with the trust and confidence in God’s grace by which we are saved.” And perhaps we see no better example of that in the Apostle Paul.

Saul was known as being “zealous for the law”. It was his desire to keep the faith and keep it correctly/ well that lead him to persecute the Christians - holding folks coats as they stoned Stephen in the book of Acts and going as far as getting a letter signed to go into different provinces in order to round up the Christians - who he saw as breaking the Jewish faith and laws. But one day, along the road to Damasus, with that letter in hand, he had a profound experience with Jesus Christ, as he heard him crying out “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me” before striking him temporarily blind. Through that experience he was changed by God’s grace and love and the community of faith that was expressed through Anaias who took him in and prayed for him. 

Saul prior to becoming Paul often gets portrayed as a bad guy, because from our Christian perspective he was persecuting those who believe in Jesus - and that is very true. But it is equally true that Saul deeply felt that he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting the faith and living into God’s will, even if it was misguided. 

I think Saul was seeking to live a holy life by protecting the Jewish faith. But the thing about trying to live a holy life, is that at times we forget about God’s grace. Which leads us, even now today, to think that we have to keep doing more and more to please God instead of resting in what God has done for us. 

Welsey also knew what it was like to be singularly focused on pursing a holy life. Wesley did amazing things for God: he fasted one to two days a week. He didn’t cut his hair so he could give that money to the poor. He received communion at least once a week, if not once a day. He woke up early to pray. He read his Bible. And he was doing all of it in order to please God. 

But as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans, using the example of Abraham, faith is about more than works. It is also about believing in God and trusting God fully. In fact, at the opening of Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” 

I think we can only live by faith, if we know the one we believe in and trust in the grace of God. When we try to be holy for the sake of pleasing God, what it often can turn into, when grace is absence, is the belief that we need to earn our place in Heaven. Or prove to God that we are good enough. Or seek the acceptance of God. In other words we try to earn God’s love. 

But the truth is that we can never be good enough. Or earn God’s love and forgiveness. And we are accepted because God says that we are through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. The truth is God’s grace is a gift to us, freely given, and not earned. It isn’t based off of our goodness at all, but instead is all about the generosity of God. 

It looks a long time and a series of personal trials and failures for Wesley to come to really, truly trust the grace of God. After his time with the holiness club, Wesley went on to be a missionary in America. On his way to the colonies, his ship hit a literal storm. As the waves were crashing in, many of the passengers were becoming scared. But Wesley noticed a group of Christians, German Moravians, who remained calm even in the midst of the storm, singing the Psalms together. Then when Wesley arrived in America things did not go well at all in his ministry. He forced people to follow very strict rules - like attending a 5am prayer meeting in order to be able to receive communion - that made him quite unpopular. He also experienced heartache. And as a result he returned to England with his tail between his legs and head down. 

Often it is the storms in life that humble us enough to receive God’s grace. God doesn’t always cause the storms in our lives, but God can certainly be working in the midst of them. When I think of my own life, it was often when things did not go as planned, or well at all, that lead to a place where my faith grew stronger in God, as I learned to more fully place my life and hope and trust in the hands of God. 

There was a woman who has went on to glory from Grace who had a favorite scripture verse from Romans -Romans 8:28 - which says this: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purposes.” Even the rocky moments in life. Even the storms. Even the raging seas can teach us to trust God, if only we humble ourselves to admit that we are not in control and have it all together on our own. 

Which is exactly what happened to Wesley during his Aldersgate Experience after returning from a failed missionary journey to America. It was during that moment, hearing the words of Martin Luther’s preface to Romans read, that Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed. In Wesley’s words: “I felt that I did trust 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.” Later on Wesley realized that he was a Christian before his experience at Aldersgate, but he grew in his faith that day as he took a step to trust God more fully. 

This past year at camp, after much prayer and discussion, the camp dean and I, along with the counselors, decided to take a step of faith. For the past several years, campers had been invited to share their testimonies on commitment night, but it had divulged more into a time of confessional about not so great things that had taken place in the campers lives, and sometimes they had a hard time connecting that part of their story to their faith in God. So instead, we invited three campers to share their testimony. The young man who shared from my group said something profound, that he didn’t feel like he had a testimony, because he didn’t have a big moment where he fell away from God, instead he just learned to follow God more every day. 

How many of us fear that we don’t have a testimony to share because we didn’t have an Aldersgate moment? A moment when our hearts are strangely warmed? The truth is we can have big and small encounters with Jesus over the course of our lives that change us little by little, helping us trust God more fully, that can be just as much on a revival for us as a big conversion moment. Neither is better than the other, because both draw us closer to God and change us. 

And sometimes the change that we need is from rules based faith to a personal relationship with Jesus. Sometimes the change is finding the balance in our lives between pursing holiness and trusting in God’s grace. Sometimes it is more fully coming to believe the truth of the Gospel that, according to Hamilton, “Out of his great love for us, God has taken the initiative to save and deliver us. Our lives are lived in grateful response.” Whatever it may be for us of us, let us pray, even here and now today, for a revival of our spirits that draws us closer to our loving God. Amen. 

Revival: A Longing for Holiness” 1 Peter 1: 13-16

Over the summer, while on vacation with dear friends, I found myself in a late night conversation about salvation. We had started talking about what I like the most about being a pastor, where my passion in ministry lies, and I said I was deeply touched when I had the opportunity to form relationships with people who do not yet know Jesus. Quietly, my friend shared that this was something that she struggled with, and told the story of someone she cares about who is in the dying process, but insists that she is a good person so she will make it to heaven. How do you respond to that, my friend asked.

I would venture a guess that many of us have heard a litany of things that we wished salvation was based off of over the years. Sometimes people claim a spot in heaven by saying that they are generally a good person, substituting kindness for religion. Inside and outside of the church, we have folks who claim that they aren’t as bad as someone else they know, so surely they will make it into heaven. And inside the church in particular, we find folks who think you can earn your way into heaven by reading the bible and praying. All the while, these wishes don’t speak of Jesus.

However, sometimes we can also swing to far to the other side of the discussion about salvation. One day I came home to a “gift” that a stranger had sent me through amazon.com. It was a book that essentially argued that the church talked too much about discipleship and not enough about salvation. On the surface an interesting concept. But as you dive in deeper to the underlying premise, it would seem that the book was arguing that as long as you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it didn’t quite matter how you lived your life, or if you were a disciple, because eternal salvation was the only thing that matters.

In between wishing and hoping to have salvation based on things outside of Jesus Christ and thinking once you are saved you can do whatever you want, we find today’s teaching in 1 Peter about holiness. On one hand Peter writes that we are set all of our hope and grace on Jesus Christ - I would classify this as accepting Jesus as your savior. But then he goes on to talk about about obedience and being holy - which I would call discipleship - following Jesus in a way that brings glory to God.

I’ve shared with Bible Study groups before that I actually find it much easier to talk with someone who does not yet know Jesus then someone who thinks that they are Christian and have it all together. Folks who have accepted Jesus as their personal savior, but then think that gives them the license to behave however they wish. I especially find problematic the attitude of “its about me and Jesus and everyone else needs to get out of my way.” That, dear friends, is not an attitude that brings much honor and glory to God.

So how can we live for he glory of God? 1 Peter would instruct us, that after we have placed our hope firmly in the grace of Jesus Christ, we are called to be obedient. I often tell folks that everyone has faith in something, it is just a matter of what or who you have truly placed your faith in. The same is true of obedience. We are all obedient, or follow, something or someone. Peter is asking us to examine ourselves and make sure that our obedience is in Christ and not in our previous desires. Those desires that we let rule our lives before coming to know Jesus, or as he put it “the desires you formerly held in ignorance”. 

But bringing glory to God doesn’t just stop with the choice to be obedient to Christ. Peter then admonishes us to be holy in our conduct. I have found a lot of folks who will tell me that they understand the obedience thing, though they may struggle with the concept or practice of obedience, but being holy is something that alludes them. Something that they aren’t so sure about.

In the United Methodist Church we describe holiness as moving on to perfection, and honestly, the entire idea of being holy and perfect can become daunting. We conjure up images in our minds of holy people who never laugh. Never smile. Always scold others. For a long time I would think back to the Little House on the Prairie book series, where Laura describes how awful Sundays were in her childhood - where all she could do was sit and read the Bible. No talking. No laughing. No playing. 

But when we let these images around holiness take hold in our minds we miss what holiness is really about - its about doing everything for the Glory of God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians - “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God”. Whatever you do for your vocation - do it for the glory of God. When you babysit your grandchildren - do it for the glory of God. When you go out to eat or cook dinner for your family - do it for the glory of God. When you do your laundry - do it for the glory of God. 

For the early Methodists they firmly latched onto this idea of moving on to perfection or holiness by doing everything for the glory of God, by encouraging one another to not necessarily subtract things from their daily lives, like the Little House on the Prairie books, but instead by adding spiritual practices to their lives. They began to spiritually mentor one another. They read the Christian classics about faith. They studies together about what was important in the spiritual life. They fasted and rose early in the morning for prayer. And they did this all while they were in college together, essentially forming one of the first campus ministries. 

After studying and mentoring, they added service to their lives together. They visited the prisoners, the sick, the poor, and the elderly. They worked with low income children. They gave alms to care for those in need. Rev. Adam Hamilton writes, “They were labeled ‘Methodists’ for their intentional and methodical approach in pursuing holiness.”

Friends, what about us? Are we also being intentional about our approach to holiness? Because the truth is, holiness isn’t something that just happens. It requires effort. Effort in how we think and talk about God. Effort in how we humbly and lovingly serve God by serving others. Hamilton continues, “For Wesley and his friends, holiness included a complete yielding of one’s life to God, a desire to become like Christ in heart and action, acts of compassion for others, and a resolution to live one’s life for God’s glory.”

Where are you at today with Jesus? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not yet, then maybe today is your day to tell Jesus that you want him in your heart and life. Have you accepted Christ, but struggle with obedience? Then maybe today is your day to say to Christ that you want him in control of all of your life, not just in lip service, but in complete control. Have you told Christ that you will be obedient to him, but how want to yield your whole life to him, becoming like Christ in heart and action as you move towards holiness - then maybe today is your day to ask Christ to walk with you through your whole life as you intentionally try to bring Glory to God with you whole life. Holiness is a journey friends, that does not simply begin and end in the moment we accept Christ as our Savior, but instead beckons for our whole life, every single day. Amen.