What do you do with a Gift Like That? Works of Mercy
Matthew 7:12-23; Galatians 5:1, 6, 13-15
A Dutch pastor was helping Jews escape the Nazis when he himself caught. He was loaded into a boxcar with several Jews and others to be sent to a concentration camp. It was a long, frightening journey through the night. Finally the train stopped, the doors opened, and lights were shining in their faces. They thought their worst fears were fulfilled and then they realized that something unexpected was happening. People were cheering and singing. And the folks on the train discovered that they were in Switzerland, safe in the hands of people who cared for them. Someone had dared to switch the track. The pastor, telling this story, then asked, “What do you do with a gift like that?” In his letter to the Galatians, Paul describes a tremendous the gift of being freely justified by God’s grace. He announced and described this freedom in the first four chapters of the letter. Then, in chapters 5 and 6 he says, “What do you do with a gift like that?” In other words, how do we live in response to the grace given us?
Over the last few months, we’ve been looking at the workings of God’s grace in our lives. John Wesley identified three movements of God’s grace. First is prevenient grace. This is God’s love at work in our life loving us and wooing us seeking a response before we know Him as Savior. Second is justifying grace which we receive when we confess our sins and accept God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That’s the beginning of the journey of faith and God’s sanctifying grace in us to developing our character, heart and mind to become like His Son. From this point on, we seek to lead a life of holiness. Wesley identified two kinds of holiness. First is personal holiness which is avoiding sin and developing the character of Christ. We develop this through the Means of Grace which include, weekly worship and communion, prayer, fasting, Personal Bible study and small group accountability. Second is social holiness.
And so what do you do with this gift of grace we have received? Lead lives of holiness. Because God has accepted us, forgiven us, and given us new life, the only acceptable response is to follow in Jesus’ example, to love and obey God and to love and serve the needs of others. We are saved by faith. Faith is the root, watered and developed through the Means of Grace. Works of mercy are the fruit, making a difference in the lives of others. Jesus calls us to be salt and light – preserving, flavoring, blessing, influencing and we do that through the Means of Grace and Works of Mercy.
Works of Mercy are at the heart of what it means to be Methodist. When John Wesley returned to Oxford University, he became the leader of a small group Bible study started by his brother Charles. They became known as the Holy Club because they sought to lead lives of holiness. The first purpose of the Holy Club was to study of the Bible, searching the Scriptures earnestly, open-mindedly and unceasing. The second was to put their faith into practice for James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” The Holy Club started with visiting those in prison. They then also began to visit the poor and providing an education to those who otherwise receive one. In addition, it was their practice to give away all they had after they had met their basic needs. Every raise was not used to increase their standard of living but was given away to help those most in need.
Wesley’s Works of Mercy can be characterized around three things. First is poverty. He wanted to put the poor to work so they could become self-sufficient. Education, job training and opportunity were the focus of Wesley when it came to poverty. Wesley also was known to fund struggling entrepreneurs. Second is a focus on the sick. John Wesley not only visited them, he also organized others to visit the sick as well. He established free medical clinics in London, Newcastle, and Bristol. He was also interested in the prevention of illness and even published one of the first home remedy books for the sick. Third is education. Wesley believed education was the key for people improving their station in life, not only for children but adults as well. So Wesley founded schools, starting with Sunday School, a one day school to teach the children working in the factories 6 days week how to reach and write. He even established his own publishing system to be able to provide cheap books and pamphlets so the poor could educate themselves with knowledge of the world and the Christian faith.
Wesley’s Works of Mercy were not done just to help people. At the heart of these acts was the concept of justice. When he looked at the world, John Wesley saw it stained by original sin and a lack of equal financial and vocational opportunity. As a result, things are not the way they should be and there is something wrong with the way the world is now. This, of course, was the result of the Fall of both man and the world. It is through the Christian faith that God intends to “heal the soul” and bring about justice the way it should be. Spiritually, God has enacted justice through the death of his Son and this anticipates full justice for everyone in the world. As recipients of grace, we are brought into redemption and eventual sanctification so that we may participants in bringing justice to those who had none. For Wesley, where mercy was, justice was and where justice was, mercy was. Both would be fully brought about and enacted by God in the future and had, in some sense, already been enacted on the cross. We as the Church are called to participate both in being merciful to those who need it and yet, at the same time, expressing this mercy in the context of God’s justice done on the cross.
Second, it’s about building the kingdom. Wesley’s emphasis on social justice was never strictly for the sake of helping the poor or even justice. He believed that there was an end in sight with the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of the kingdom of God. We are to be co-laborers in building of the kingdom of God and we do so through Works of mercy.
Wesley saw a connection between how one was doing internally, that is, in one's soul, and what one did, or how one lived out the Christian life externally (in one's actions). ''A tree," as the saying goes, "is known by its fruit." Wesley believed that what you believed with all your soul would be manifested by the outward fruit of good works displayed in your life. In fact, it must because we are not just to be hearers of God’s Word but doers as well. But it didn’t just stop there. Wesley saw this connection going both ways.
Fourth, it’s a key to spiritual growth. Not only is the external life the best indication of the inner spiritual health, but carefully managing the outward Christian practices is also one of the best ways to grow spiritually. Wesley was always concerned with spiritual growth because we are on the journey of sanctification and moving on toward perfection by leading lives of greater and greater holiness. Works of Mercy are a key catalyst for spiritual growth and holiness, both inward and outward affecting both the heart and the life.
And so our response to God’s grace is that we then live out that righteousness through practicing the Means of Grace which then lead to doing Works of Mercy. While the Means of Grace are those practices that draw us into God’s presence and grow our relationship to Him, works of mercy are those practices that draw us closer to one another as we serve one another and put the needs of others ahead of our own. This was going out into the community and not just ministering to people but sharing life, life in Christ, with people. Scholars have noted about John Wesley and the Methodists “were (not so much) among the poor as the poor were among the Methodists.” In other words, they shared life together which crossed economic, social, or ethnic boundaries and called people to inward and outward expressions of holy love. This is the calling of the Christian life. To hear the cry of the needy is to hear the cry of God’s children. To respond to the cry of human need means joining in God’s work of healing and reconciliation. For God is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4-5), and his followers share that mercy with others. Mother Teresa said, “If we want the poor to see Christ in us, we have to see the image of Christ in the poor.”
Fifth, it fulfills the Golden Rule. Jesus sums up God’s will revealed in the Law with what we call the “Golden Rule”: treat others the way you want to be treated. Paul says in verse 6, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself or working through love.” This was one of John Wesley’s favorite verses. It sums up the Christian life. Faith is not just passively hearing and receiving. Faith works. And it works through love. Again, faith is the root and love in action is the fruit. Faith and love in action can’t be separated. If we have faith, we will do great acts of love. Genuine faith expresses itself through love. We serve one another in love. This is what it means to “Love your neighbor as yourself” Lev. 19:18. Thus we are called to love and to serve.
Marian Preminger was born in Hungary in 1913, raised in a castle with her aristocratic family, surrounded with maids, tutors, governesses, butlers, and chauffeurs. While attending school in Vienna, Marian met a handsome young Viennese doctor. They fell in love, eloped, and married when she was 18. The marriage lasted only a year and she returned to Vienna to begin her life as an actress. While auditioning for a play, she met the brilliant young German director, Otto Preminger. They fell in love and married. They came to America soon after he began his career as a movie director. Marian got caught up in the glamour, lights, and excitement and soon began to live a sordid life. When Preminger discovered it, he divorced her. She returned to Europe to live the life of a socialite in Paris. In 1948, she learned that medical doctor, theologian, and missionary Albert Schweitzer was visiting Europe and staying at Günsbach. Marian had read about him as a little girl and she wanted a chance to meet him. She phoned his secretary and was given an appointment the next day. When she arrived in Günsbach, she discovered he was in the village church playing the organ. She listened and turned pages for him. After a visit, he invited her to have dinner at his house. By the end of the day, she knew she had discovered what she had been looking for all her life. She was with him every day during the rest of his visit. When he returned to Africa, he invited her to come to Lambarene and work in the hospital. She did and in doing so she found herself. There in Lambarene, the girl who was born in a castle and raised like a princess, who was accustomed to being waited on with all the luxuries of a spoiled life, became a servant. She changed bandages, bathed babies, fed lepers—and became free. She titled her autobiography, “All I Want Is Everything” and in wrote that she could not get the “everything” that would satisfy and give meaning until she gave everything. When she died in 1979, the New York Times carried her obituary. It included this statement from her: “Albert Schweitzer said there are two classes of people in this world—the helpers and the non-helpers. I’m a helper.” She spent the latter part of her life performing Works of Mercy and in doing so experienced God’s grace.
How do you get started? First, start where you are. Serve those around you by sharing the gospel, showing that you care, and helping those in need. John Wesley discovered this and encouraged the early Methodists to live disciplined lives that could be channels of God’s grace. Second, address society’s problems. Wesley focused on three areas: poverty, the sick and education. You don’t have to be limited to one of these three areas but identify an injustice or problem of society and begin to work in jesus name to resolve it or improve it. Third, follow the “General Rules.” Those who wished to be Methodist were expected to follow three rules. The first rule was to do no harm. Second, was to do good, to be, in every way, as merciful as they could. As they had opportunity, they were to do good of all kinds to all people—both in body and soul. Third, was “to attend upon all the ordinances of God” that is to practice the Means of Grace and do works of mercy every day. Again, works of mercy and works of piety belong together. Both are essential to our life in grace. Like a young man and woman who start to realize they’re falling in love, their love grows in time and through acts. That’s what growing as a Christian is like. We develop loving habits. We learn how to love God’s way. Likewise, we are always to be growing in love for God and others and in ways to express our love. We are learning to let faith express itself through love. And when we do, amazing things can happen.
Lewis Grizzard was visiting his home church in Moreland, GA. It had been more than ten years since he’d been there. He recalled when he was in youth group—Methodist Youth Fellowship. Two rough boys in town had been caught breaking into a store. The judge, as part of their rehabilitation, required them to attend MYF for 6 months. Their first night there, they beat up two 5th grade boys. A counselor, the woman who brought the cookies, got onto them. They threw a Cokesbury hymnal at her. She ducked, then gave them a stern look and stared them down saying, “Jesus doesn’t approve of what you’re doing and I don’t approve either.” Then her voice softened as she said, “But if Jesus loves you and forgives you, I guess I’ll have to. Now have some cookies.” They stuffed their mouths full. Lewis said the last time he heard, those two boys were both fathers with honest jobs who never missed church on Sunday. Then he said, “I think that was the first miracle I ever saw.” That’s the power of love and the power of Works of Mercy done through love.
