“In ‘believing’ on Him, we justify, enjoy, and adore ourselves”
Karl Barth, reflecting on Romans 1:18 in The Epistle to the Romans, offers these powerful and sobering words…
But what does ‘apart from and without Christ’ mean? Our relation to God isungodly. We suppose that we know what we are saying when we say ‘God’. We assign to Him the highest place in our world: and in so doing we place Him fundamentally on one line with ourselves and with things. We assume that He needs something: and so we assume that we are able to arrange our relation to Him as we arrange our other relationships. We press ourselves into proximity with Him: and so, all unthinking, we make Him nigh unto ourselves. We allow ourselves an ordinary communication with Him, we permit ourselves to reckon with Him as though this were not extraordinary behavior on our part. We dare to deck ourselves out as His companions, patrons, advisors, and commissioners. We confound time with eternity. This is theungodliness of our relation to God. And our relation to God isunrighteous. Secretly we are ourselves the masters in this relationship. We are not concerned with God, but with our own requirements, to which God must adjust Himself. Our arrogance demands that, in addition to everything else, some super-world should also be known and accessible to us. Our conduct calls for some deeper sanction, some approbation and remuneration from another world. OUr well-regulated, pleasurable life longs for some hours of devotion, some prolongation into infinity. And so, when we set God upon the throne of the world, we mean by God ourselves. In ‘believing’ on Him, we justify, enjoy, and adore ourselves. Our devotion consists in a solemn affirmation of ourselves and of the world and in a pious setting aside of the contradiction. Under the banners of humility and emotion we rise in rebellion against God. We confound time with eternity. That is ourunrighteousness. - Such is our relation to God apart from and without Christ, on this side of resurrection, and before we are called to order. God Himself is not acknowledged as God and what is called ‘God’ is in fact Man. By living to ourselves, we serve the ‘No-God.’
(page 44).
How does this brief passage affect you?
The Church is a Whore…
…but she’s my Mother.
This is my submission for the Eighth Letter, a conference that is asking writers, bloggers, tweeters and everyone else to compose a letter, in any form, to The Church in North America, a la the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Here’s my submission below (Cheers, David Henson)
To the Church of North America…
From birth you have been nurtured by Mother. You have nursed at her breast, ignorant of the bands of love that pulled you from grace to grace. You learned from Her about your Father in Heaven, and waited anxiously to be confirmed so that you might proclaim for yourself His age-old story.
As you matured you naturally became more aware. You seemed ready to eat the fruit; to see your nakedness. And when you did, you discovered your Mother to be a whore.
She is often found in bed with the nation and any number of special interest groups. Her blood-stains are not that of the Lamb who was slain but of the lions she attempts to tame.
She has propagated numerous injustices, from blessing countless wars to sanctioning slavery to subjugating women.
She has lost sight of her God-given calling to make disciples and has instead succumbed to the easier, more placating mission of making good citizens.
She has been obsessed with sex, judging some while victimizing others.
She has forgotten the meaning of stewardship, choosing instead to fill her coffers with the gifts of her suitors and hoard them for self-maintenance rather then self-sacrifice.
She may be a whore but she is very selective about her bed-mates, welcoming only those who look and think like herself, making her the most segregated harem in all of America.
But I have this against you…
When your eyes were opened and you saw your nakedness you recapitulated the wrong story, and you hid, ashamed.
You think you know best how to be my Bride, taking countless scalpels to my dress, dividing and dissolving that which is not yours to rend.
You rail continuously against the various ways my Body moves and breaths and has her being in your midst, always presuming the way you do church is the best and most valid way.
You froth at the mouth in anticipation of the fall of denominations and ecclesial authority because you arrogantly assume submission is futile – a virtue for less enlightened minds.
You gather in large rallies, thanking God you are not like your Mother, that your ways are higher and more sophisticated than hers, going even as far as to invite a nation of individuals long weened from their Mother to critique Her by way of an Eighth Letter. Do you presume God is speaking to you?
You have forgotten that you are a servant to one who stands over and against you, the Lord of heaven and earth. God is not ashamed to be associated with a whore. Why are you?
Recall the better story, Church…
There once was a certain whore. The religious mob that charged her, that dressed her down in their eighth letter, were right according to their custom and law to do so. They were prepared to tear her to shreds, to ridicule her, to take a scalpel to her dress and stone her unfaithful body. They threw this whore at a Teacher and asked him to bless their intentions. Falling to his knees, this Teacher quietly drew in the dust, the same dust from which everyone at this rally came, and the same to which they would return.
“Let whomever among you is without sin throw the first stone,” he said.
When the rally had gone quiet, and no one was left but Jesus and the whore, when it was possible for her to hear, he turned to her and spoke, “Has no one condemned you? Then neither do I. Now go,
and
sin
no
more.”
Face to Face with Evil: My Family Visits an Islamic Community Center
With all the news and fear surrounding the planned Islamic Community Center at Ground Zero in NYC I determined to do something. Deciding that the best offense is a good offense, I went on the offense, and called the Islamic community center near me with a plan of my own. I would invite a Muslim family over for dinner on Sept. 11th, sending their people and their sinister planning committees into a tail spin as they try to decipher the meaning of my good gesture. Perhaps news of this would reach New York City, putting a cog in the wheels of their community organizing. Perhaps not. But I have a dream.
My phone call was intercepted by a man identifying himself as Roman Shareef and he claimed to have just finished praying. He listened to my story with what I assumed to be feigned interest, acting delighted, even touched, that I would suggest such a meal. I had him right where I wanted him. Just give me the names and numbers of a family or two with young children, Roman, because I have 5 kids of my own and it would be nice if they could make some new friends, too. This was going to be easier than I thought. But Roman was obviously well trained.
“It just so happens,” he countered, “that I will be with a whole bunch of Muslim families tonight at our recreation center for our 6th annual community dinner. It’s open to the public. Why don’t you and your family come join us?”
Well played, sir. Well played.
What Roman did not know is that I was well trained myself. I watch Fox News. Without skipping a beat I accepted his offer, not wishing for him to think that I thought that he thought that my thoughts were, well, working. I was prepared to take the game to his home court if that is what needed to be done to restore honor to our land.
We drove into the heart of Durham, following the directions of Mr. Roman Shareef. Our trip took us into an area I have rarely ventured, the other side of the tracks, as they say, and into a neighborhood that seemed every bit as threatening as the Muslims I was about to be eating with. As I parked my mini-van in what I hoped was a safe lot I was struck by the sheer brilliance of these people. What better place to conduct your sinister community dealings then in the heart of the projects, a place where white Christians won’t bother you? As the 7 of us got out of the car I told the kids to be on their best behavior. Not wanting to scare them, I said only to myself, ”Self, these are professionals we’re dealing with.”
The moment we entered the center they surrounded us. I didn’t pay any attention to their words of welcome nor their smiling faces because I was zeroed in on the sign-in sheet asking for not just my name, but the name of every person in my family attending. Although the lady asking for this information did not look like your average Muslim spy, I wasn’t taking any chances. I gave them the names they requested, but for each of my children I misspelled their name by one letter. You can have my wife and I, but not my children!
We were seated at a table in a gymnasium and handed a program (what I’ll call evidence) full of information about tonight’s event.
It was hard to concentrate as there was so much commotion around us. Kids were playing and socializing, a jazz band was getting ready to play and people kept taking turns at a microphone spouting off various kinds of information, or propaganda. They directed people to a room where free blood pressure screens were being done and another where you could get free HIV testing. A long table off to the side seated many volunteers from all sorts of organizations in Durham, such as the fire department, the police force, soup kitchens, churches, child care services, and employment agencies.
My God, I thought, their reach is further and deeper than I ever thought possible! It was exactly how I would plan a community take-over.
My fear-driven thoughts were interrupted by my cell phone ringing. It was Roman Shareef. My God, I thought, how have they gotten my number so quickly?? And then I remembered. I gave it to him.
Roman was looking for me. My eyes scanned the gymnasium hoping to spot him first as he chatted away, saying how glad he was we made it down. Luck was not on my side, however. We saw each other at the same time, his face lighting up in a smile that said, “Fatwa.”
Roman embraced me like we were brothers, probably checking to see whether or not I was armed. He then took great interest in each one of my children, introducing himself by name and asking for theirs, no doubt checking up on the information I provided to the spy at the reception desk. These guys are good, I thought. He proceeded to talk to me about how God is so good to have brought us together like this and how providential it was that he had just finished his prayer time when I called, otherwise we may never have met.
Recalling my reason for being there I asked him questions about Ramadan, their month long season of fasting. He told me the hardest part for him was the thirst on a hot day such as this. The hunger pains, however, he welcomed. He told me those help him to identify with the many who go without food all the time. My trained eyes scanned the gym once more. I noticed that Muslim men and women were serving plates of food to dozens of hungry people, my family included, but not eating themselves.
“When can you eat?” I asked.
“In about an hour, when the sun goes down. But listen, you and your family enjoy! God’s peace to you!” And as quickly as we had met, he was gone. Off to recruit a less-suspecting family, I presume.
I opened up the program I had folded in my hands and read the mission statement printed inside.
‘Believers United for Progress’ is to build a better community through people working together for the reconstruction of family values through moral, social, economic development, and comprehensive vocational training. The goal of the organization is to use social interaction and engagement for the good and excellence of humankind. We all need to do our part to bring dignity and respect back to all communities.
As the jazz band began to play, providing an opiate for the masses, I decided we had seen and heard enough. We made our way to our car while it was still light outside, hoping and praying that our tires were not slashed. They weren’t. Evidence that they want us back again to double their efforts at converting us.
Whatever terror I felt before this night it was nothing compared to the nightmare this evening revealed. If this is the sort of thing conspiring to take place in New York City and other parts of our country, our great land of the free, then God help us all.
Money, Money, Money!
The past two weeks I have been preaching on the joy of stewardship, framing it in the much wider (and biblical) concept of our vocation as human beings created in God’s image. We are, as Dr. Douglas Meeks puts it, “Economists” after God, or “house-managers.” And anyone who manages a house knows that it is not limited to money alone.
So stewardship is about much more than money and church budgets. Yet it does include that.
This week we will be talking about that. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on tithing. Do you do it? Why or why not? What benefits have you discovered? What trials?
Share your 2 cents!
War Prayer
Having served in the US Navy for 8 years I recall many times praying the first prayer, but never having the guts to utter the second. And yet, it’s there, isn’t it? I’ve since ceased praying either one.
This is based on Mark Twain’s “War Prayer.” It was published after his death. He didn’t think it would get published while he was alive.
Stewards of God’s Mysteries
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
~Saint Paul, First Letter to the Corinthian Church, 4:1-2
I used the above text 2 weeks ago in a sermon where I introduced a series on stewardship. In that sermon I spoke primarily about how everything is God’s, including the earth and all that is in it (Psalm 24:1-2), and we have been entrusted by this God to make appropriate, responsible use of that which is God’s (which, again, is everything). Hopefully we will be found trustworthy in this endeavor.
But, like most sacred texts, it means more then that.
The other day I read a pastor’s blog post where he questioned the idea of life after death and whether or not Paul was right to say we of all people should be pitied if Christ is not raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:19). Now, if all that this amounted to was an honest question or raising some doubt that this could be true, especially given all the evidence to the contrary, who would mind? He wouldn’t be the first pastor, nor the last, to doubt the story entrusted to us to proclaim. I need to go no further then to look in a mirror to find all sorts of reasons to disbelieve God is moving me from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).
But this pastor goes much further. Rather then approach the incredible and extraordinary story with the humility of the father who cried to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24) this pastor appears quite comfortable and even obstinate in his unbelief, going so far as to long for the day when Christians everywhere will no longer be burdened with this silly notion of resurrection. Instead, we can get on with more important matters like attending to this present moment and facing our own mortality like grown ups (as if a belief in resurrection automatically excludes those possibilities).
And so I wondered….is this pastor being a good steward of “God’s mysteries”? Can it be said that he, not to mention you or I, will be found “trustworthy” of the story we did not write ourselves but inherited – a story that we confess claims us, not the other way around?
There is always talk within the church universal of being willing to push the envelope and ask questions and explore the depth and mysteries of God. This is a needed task for all of us to undertake, one that resists the lull of stagnation and maintaining the status-quo. We need to be progressive – aggressively so – if we really believe that God sent his Spirit to lead us into truth. Who are any of us to assume this leading has ceased and that we have arrived?
But we must always remember that if we are being led, we are followers. We chase a story that we do not own, but owns us. We are entrusted with this story and asked to be good stewards of the mysteries of God. This is an immense calling which ought to humble us to our knees! More then ever before we must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the community of saints as we discern not only where we are but where we are going. But also, being good stewards of this story must require, at bare minimum, that we not re-write it when and where it doesn’t conform to our present state of disbelief.
So with all this in mind I have some questions: How can we be good stewards of God’s mysteries? Are we being good stewards when we remain silent in the face of competing claims on the Christian story, particularly when those claims are made by other professing Christians that deny or reject the resurrection of Christ? How do we be both good neighbors and good stewards? And finally, how do we hold each other accountable so that we can all be found “trustworthy” in our calling to be good stewards of the faith passed on to us?
Looking forward to your thoughts.
We Band of [Disciples]: Demanding More of our Members
Eight chairs are arranged in a circle at the front of the sanctuary. Half, plus or minus one, will be filled on this Wednesday evening, but no one seems to mind. After a few minutes of greeting each other, a period of silence ensues followed by prayer. Marrows Tap, the weekly small group of Marrow’s Chapel UMC, has begun.
The first half hour is filled with each member of the group answering three simple, yet profound, questions. First, How have you done good? Second, How have you done harm? And finally, How are you staying in love with God? The newest member of the group is a little surprised by this. She shares that though she’s been coming to church all her life no one has ever asked her that. Do you mind if I go last so I can collect my thoughts? Of course not, we assure her.
The second half of the meeting is spent going deeper into the text from the previous Sunday’s sermon – a loose, informal discussion where nothing is out of bounds. We close in prayer and dismiss.
The following Sunday several of the group members approach me during our time of gathering to say, “Chad, every day I have been thinking about how I am doing good, how I have done harm and how I am staying in love with God. Looking forward to Wednesday!” I have to admit, as a pastor, those words are music to my ears.
The stated mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. A short and simple statement with long and deep implications. That is, at least, if we actively strive to live into it. Unfortunately for us Methodists, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we have allowed the brevity rather than the profundity of the statement to shape us. We make it simple to be a Christian. As Jon Stewart recently observed,
Being a Methodist is easy. It’s like the University of Phoenix of religions: you just send them 50 bucks and click “I agree” and you are saved.
The truth is, we don’t require 50 bucks. We don’t require much of anything. But that isn’t how it has always been.
The first Methodists were known for their requirements. Chief among them was that in order to be a member of the church you had to be part of a small group, or class. These class meetings took place throughout the week (something added on to Sunday’s corporate worship service) and were generally held in the home of the person leading it. Classes consisted of no more than a dozen people and their primary purpose was to share with each other how they have been staying in love with God (for a great read on this, with a lot more depth, see Kevin Watson’s blog, which I stumbled on while writing this post).
The first Methodists knew that making disciples of Jesus Christ required placing certain demands upon those who felt the desire to be called a “member.” Jesus’ invitation to, “Come, follow me,” required one to leave what they knew and go somewhere else. Disciple-making, it would seem, makes no apology for placing demands upon its members.
Today, however, we seem to be in the business of making apologies. As a student-pastor in the United Methodist Church I have to say I am finding it increasingly difficult, not to mention hypocritical, to make the bold, radical, scandalous claim from the baptismal font that in this act we acknowledge God’s claim upon us only to later demure at the prospect of placing demands upon our church’s members. Whether this is due to my own immaturity as a pastor or a cultural attitude I have inherited, I am not sure. But if I am aware of the contradictory message I send when I demand nothing of our members, then surely my church is as well. God claimed me in baptism, but requires nothing of me?
And pastors everywhere bemoan the preponderance of nominal Christians in the church today and our denominations ever-declining membership. Could it be because we demand less from those entrusted to us to “make disciples” then, say, the YMCA demands of its members? There, at the very least, your 50 bucks a month will be required.
And so it was that while sitting with our band of disciples on Wednesday night that I got to thinking….
What if every member of my church were doing this once a week? What if every night of the week a class-meeting like this were made available? What would happen if we returned to our roots and made membership contingent upon being part of a small group? What would the spiritual vitality of your church, of my church, look like if half if not more of the people attending each Sunday were going through their week with the questions, “How have I done good? How have I done harm? How am I staying in love with God?” on their hearts and minds? What if membership actually meant something again, something intrinsic to being formed and shaped into a disciple of the one who still says, “Come, follow me”?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Wesley on The Sacraments as Means of Grace
This is the last segment of an 8 part series. At the bottom of this post I provide links to the rest. I hope you enjoyed this series on John Wesley’s thought!
So you have experienced the direct witness of the Spirit of God assuring you of your salvation and are convinced that this salvation is not some future event only but a present reality, one that will transform your entire self into the expressed image of God so that you will love like you were created to love until Christ returns in final victory, swallowing up death, the final enemy. What to do till then? How does a babe in Christ move from “grace to grace,” from “glory to glory,” as he or she journeys from a nescient faith to one more mature? The answer: The Means of Grace.
For the Wesley’s, the means of grace are everything to the Christian. They are the “outward signs, words, or actions ordained of God, and appointed for this end – to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to [humankind] preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.”(58) A sacrament, of which John and Charles recognized only two: Baptism, the sacrament of initiation, and Eucharist,(59) the sacrament of nurture, is an “outward sign of an inward grace.”(60) As such, the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist fall under the general title of “means of grace,” as being 2 of the ordinary channels through which God conveys grace. The other common channels, while not sacraments, by which God’s grace is conveyed and the Christian soul is nourished and strengthened are prayer, Scripture, worship, acts of mercy, and accountability (holy conversations, meetings).(61)
It is important to note (as Wesley often did) that the means of grace are not an end. The common objection posed to John and Charles about observing “constant communion,” for example, was that people behaved as though it were a badge of honor, as though by their partaking of it they have arrived at the goal. John writes, “the whole value of the means depends on their actual subservience to the end of religion.”(62) And what is the “end” of religion? Perfect love of God and neighbor. So the role of these means of grace (and thereby sacraments) are to move us along through this journey we call faith so that we “might be assisted to attain those blessings which he hath prepared for us; that we may obtain holiness on earth and everlasting glory in heaven.”(63)
How similar are the times, theirs and ours. How often I have heard (and expressed myself!) the lament that God appears absent. “No,” we say, “I am taking a break from my prayer life, studying the Scriptures, public worship and the Lord’s Supper until I hear from God – until I feel right with God once more.” Given the weight John Wesley places on “waiting in the means”(64) and how intricately tied these means of grace are to the gracious empowerment gained by them, our answer to such excuses must be, “How can you expect to hear from God when you have in essence gagged and tethered him outside your room?” The means of grace are essential to our well-being as a Christian. They nurture our ability to respond to the God who has chosen to speak through such means. The means of grace will carry us along from the first stirrings of prevenient grace, along the path of sanctification and unto our glorification. Charles sang it well:
Sure and real is the grace,
The manner be unknown;
Only meet us in thy ways
And perfect us in one,
Let us taste the heavenly powers,
Lord, we ask for nothing more;
Thine to bless, ’tis only ours
To wonder, and adore.(65)
58 Sermon 16, “The Means of Grace,” II.1, Sermons (Outler), 160.
59 Article XVI, “Of the Sacraments.”
60 Ibid.
61 The chief of these John names as prayer, Scripture and the Lord’s Supper. See “Means of Grace,” II.1., 160.
62 Ibid, II.2., 160.
63 Sermon 101, “The Duty of Constant Communion,” II.5, Sermons (Outler), 505.
64 “Means of Grace,” II.7., 161.
65 Hymns on the Lord’s Supper (1745), #57, st. 4. See also UMH 627.
If you liked this, check out the other 7….
Wesley on the Person and Work of Jesus
Wesley on the Holy Spirit in Christian Life
Wesley on our Fundamental Nature as Human Beings
Wesley on the Scope and Character of Salvation
Wesley on the Timing and Nature of God’s Reign (Kingdom of God)
Wesley on the Timing and Nature of The Kingdom of God
This is part 7 of an 8 part series. Please see the rest of the series here: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI
Jesus said often to those gathered around him that the “Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). This was one of John Wesley’s favorite texts to preach. For Wesley, this pronouncement by Jesus cuts through all the sophistry surrounding religion – it cuts to the heart of true religion. So what is the nature and timing of this Kingdom?
It is not meat and drink (Rom. 14:17). In other words, it is not outward appearances, acts, practices, forms or ceremonies, religious or otherwise.(53) Nor is the nature of the Kingdom something that can be summed up by “orthodoxy or right opinions.” Plenty of people are orthodox on every point, including the devil himself, and yet they do not possess true religion.(54) True religion is a religion of the heart. It is, as Paul sums up in Rom. 14:17, “Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This is the nature of the Kingdom.
By righteousness we mean living the greatest two commandments given to us: Love God and neighbor. To be made perfect in love is the goal of the Kingdom of God. Those who are part of such a Kingdom are those who desire such a love.(55) By peace we mean happiness along with holiness. When the Spirit of God bears witness to our spirits that we are a child of God, we cry out “Abba, Father!” thus banishing fear of death, hell and the wrath of God. We have peace that only God can give, peace that “passeth all understanding.”(56) Finally, it is a Kingdom full of the joy of the Holy Spirit. The religion of the Methodists is a joyful one! It is no wonder that the early Methodists were often referred to as those “Shoutin’ Methodists.” They had joy! Many of our churches today could use a reminder that the Kingdom of God is not confined to holiness alone (in the somber, negative sense) but necessitates happiness and joy.
But, you say, I will be happy and joyful in heaven, for that is when the Kingdom of God shall come to pass. No! Jesus said this Kingdom is “at hand.” It is with us even now. Wesley insisted that this Kingdom is immediate and instant in the heart of those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who reconciled them to God. Believe the gospel, Wesley says, “and the kingdom of God is thine….as soon as ever God hath spoken to thy heart, ‘Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee,’ his kingdom comes; thou hast righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”(57)
Tomorrow: The Role of Sacraments and Other Means of Grace in Christian Life
53 Sermon 7, “The Way to the Kingdom,” I.1,3, Sermons (Outler), 124. This same argument can be applied to the means of grace taken up in the next section.
54 Ibid., I.6., 125.
55 Ibid., I.7-9, 125-26.
56 Ibid., I.10., 126.
57 Ibidl, II.9., 130-31.
Wesley on the Scope and Character of Salvation
This is Part 6 of an 8 Part series: See Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
What is salvation? In Wesley’s day and our own there exists a voice (sometimes faint, sometimes loud) of Christianity that wishes to reduce salvation to a future event. Many adherents to such a faith are often found worthy of the adage, so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good. This is not the sort of salvation espoused by John and Charles. John writes:
What is salvation? Not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness. … it is a present thing … the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory.(46)
Salvation, beginning with the preventing grace that draws us to the Father has a three-fold character: Justification, Sanctification and Glorification.
Justification is our forgiveness -our being accepted by God through the blood of Jesus Christ. The immediate effects of our being justified are the “peace of God,” the “hope of the glory of God,” and “joy unspeakable.”(47) It is at this point that our sanctification begins. It is here that we are enabled by the Spirit to “mortify the deeds of the body” and move from being “more and more dead to sin” to “more and more alive to God.”(48) Sanctification is the necessary work of salvation if salvation is to be of any meaning to us at all in this life. It is here that the image of God that has been defaced by sin becomes restored, renewed, healed. Charles closes a hymn where he names the three aspects of sin from which we are being healed , “From sin, the guilt, the power, the pain, Thou wilt redeem my soul. Lord, I believe; and not in vain: My faith shall make me whole.” This same hymn began: Jesu, if still thou art today as yesterday the same, present to heal, in me display the virtue of thy name (emphasis mine).(49) Sanctification is the restoration of the divine name within us. It is here that we grow in grace, even going on to perfection (in love of God and neighbor). Wesley is consistent throughout his ministry to insist that salvation is about our full restoration to the divine nature – it is wholistic in scope. The third phase of our salvation is our glorification, where the effects of sin and pain will be eradicated altogether. This is what Wesley calls our “full salvation” or our “entire sanctification.”(50) This is the goal, the beginning of which was the first wooing of our spirits by God’s preventing grace.
Of course, God’s scope of salvation is not limited to us as individuals anymore than salvation for individuals is limited to fire insurance. God has a plan of salvation for all of creation, which just so happens to include us humans. Wesley speculates on this new heaven and new earth which is part of God’s saving plan, writing, “All the elements … will be new indeed; entirely changed as to their qualities, although not as to their nature. … All the earth shall then be a more beautiful paradise that Adam ever saw.”(51) Even animals will be transformed and restored to a place of higher beauty and importance as before.(52) Pastorally, Wesley hoped that such a vision of how God’s mercy is over all God’s works would encourage us to imitate such a God.
God’s grand scope of salvation has a direct impact on Wesley’s theology later in his life. It is because God cares to redeem and restore even the “brute animals” in our midst that Christians should care about any number of matters that order our lives. The use of money and time, how we care for our environment and the social sin of slavery became important topics for Methodists to wrestle with – topics that early on in the movement were not so readily apparent. It seems obvious that to the degree one believes God desires to save is the same degree to which the Church mobilizes to love.
Tomorrow: The Nature and Timing of God’s Reign (The Kingdom of God)
46 Sermon 43, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” I.1., Sermons (Outler), 372.
47 Ibid., I.3., 373.
48 ibid., I.8., 374. Like God’s holiness, this double effect of sanctification is both negative and positive. Negative in that it roots out sin and positive in that it presses us into deeper acts of love and mercy.
49 Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740) 71-74, st. 1, 20.
50 “Scripture Way of Salvation,” I.9, 374.
51 Sermon 64, “The New Creation,” X, XVI., Sermons (Outler), 496-98.
52 Sermon 60, “The General Deliverance,” III.3., (blackboard).
