“Marks of Methodism: Loving God and Rejoicing in God” Neh 8:10 Matt 22: 36-38

11/04/2018   “Marks of Methodism: Loving God and Rejoicing in God”

Neh 8:10

Matt 22: 36-38

If I asked you what the foundation of your life was, how would you answer? Really take time to think about it. Now picturing that foundation in your mind, how does your life actually reflect this?

I think for many folks inside of the Church, they would say the foundation, the thing that they have built their life upon, is Jesus Christ. And praise be to God for that! But I have to wonder how that is actually lived into. Are you so in love with Jesus, that folks cannot help but know that about you? Does you life radiate the hope you have in Jesus Christ?

Not too long ago, one of the members of the parish and I ventured to Windy Hill to lead worship. Generally, local pastors and lay members take turns throughout the year leading worship on Sunday afternoons for the residents. However, the pastor that was slated for that day couldn’t do it, so I stepped in for him. When I lead worship, I usually preach a similar message to what you hear on that Sunday morning, but we also share life - asking the residents to shout out joys and concerns for prayer as well as their favorite hymns. As wonderful, however, as this worship is, usually my favorite time comes before and after the actual service when I take time to spend with the residents. For some of them, they have family that is able to visit all the time. Others hardly have anyone to visit at all, so this is such a powerful time for them. 

On that particular day, one woman grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and said, “You love Jesus. I can tell because his joy radiates out from you when you talk about him.” Friends, that was my first time meeting that woman, and yes, she had watched me lead worship, but that wasn’t what she identified as the way she knew I loved my Lord. It was the passion with which I spoke about him. 

Friends, that passion is not reserved for pastors. Its not reserved for those who have loved Jesus for countless years. In fact, John Wesley described it this way: “A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed aboard in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us’”. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, we should be shining the love of Jesus out into the world. When our heart is changed, we cannot help but share the love of Christ. 

And that changed heart, that changed life, leads us on the journey of a lifetime - the journey of discipleship. For the month of November we are going to take time to talk about what that looks like for each of us. But before we get into this sermon series, I want to take a moment to make an important point - discipleship is what comes after the foundation of our life being Jesus. In other words, the scriptures that we are using this morning to talk about discipleship - what it means to be sold out for Christ - presuppose that you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. This is the fruit that comes from having our lives rooted in Christ. If that isn’t you this morning, know that I would love to talk with you about what it means to give your heart to the Savior. Please find me afterwords or someone else you can trust to talk to you about having a life in Christ. 

The truth is, however, even when we have that foundation of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it doesn’t always mean that we are great at reflecting that truth out into the world. For John Wesley, that reflection most often shows itself through living into Matthew 22: 36-38. The story surrounding these verses goes like this - some of the religious leaders called Pharisees were getting upset about what Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God, so they wanted to trap him in something they could bring charges against him with - so they sent of their disciples, their followers, to ask Jesus a bunch of questions about paying taxes and resurrection of the dead. Finally, one of the lawyers for the religious courts asked the question that he thought could ultimately trick Jesus, saying which commandment (singular) is the greatest. Remember that there are hundreds of commandments throughout the Jewish scriptures and he is asking Jesus to rank them in a way. But Jesus doesn’t give a singular answer - he gives two - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind. Noting that this was the first of the ten commandments, on which everything else hinges. And to love your neighbor as yourself. All of the laws boil down to these two. 

I often sum these up by saying love God with all you have and all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. For John Wesley this was the essence of the Gospels, just as it was what Jesus said its the essence of what the laws and the teachings of the prophets boil down to. 

Yet, even the disciples didn’t always get that love right. As Jesus gave his life on the cross, all of the twelve fled but one. Peter, after Jesus’s resurrection, has this encounter with him on a beach over breakfast, where Jesus keeps asking him the same question three times, Peter - do you love me? Jesus was asking Peter to make sure that this love - love of God and love of neighbor  - was the foundation of his life. And friends, we need to be asked this question as well, because if we take time to admit it - we know that we are just as prone to wonder and flee from the love of Christ as Peter was so long ago. But this wasn’t the end of the story for Peter - he went on to boldly share about Christ in Jerusalem and beyond. Read through the first eight chapters of the book of Acts to just see how he was making the love of Christ known in the world and how many people were having their lives changed. When he reclaimed that foundation and lived into it. 

This, Church, this the love that will not let us go. This is the love that leads us to have a whole life response, because that, that’s what discipleship is. Not giving a piece of our life for Jesus to use, but giving our whole lives. To share this love with our neighbors - not just those who love us in return. But unconditionally love like Christ. Love with grace. 

Now I am under no allusions that we are going to get this right all the time. Or that we we love perfectly as the Church. We are broken people bound together by a Savior. But we can try. We can be the people that have joy that flows froth from us because of the love of God. Joy that can spill out onto the streets and have people ask what’s different about us. 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Nehemiah talks about a Jewish man in exile who was a cupbearer to the King. God spoke into his life and gave him a vision that he was to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple - not an easy task. But as the people returned, they  were called back together to hear the word of God and worship. And Nehemiah told them that as they faced this insurmountable task ahead of them, that they joy of the Lord was to be their strength. 

Do you know where that joy comes from, Church. Loving God. Do you know how it expresses itself - love of neighbor. It takes strength to love and one expression of that strength is joy, joy that flows from the love of God. 

But when we lean into that joy, friends, lives can be changed. We have opportunities to share that the joy of the Lord is our strength because we are a forgiven people because of the cross. We have the opportunity to share how our lives have been changed. We are given the privilege to share the word of God. The love of God. The hope we have in a Savior. 

Friends, how is the love of God the foundation of your discipleship? How are you responding with your whole life to the love of the Savior? How are you loving God with all you have and all you are and your neighbor as yourself? For now is the time. The time to rejoice in the love of our Lord. Amen.