We are continuing our series of John Wesley’s sermons today – today’s sermon is about salvation. Really – what does it take to be saved? This sermon described what “saved” means – it talks about what is required and it talks about what faith means. As Wesley says, this is a “serious inquiry.” Before we go any further….
LET’S PRAY.
John Wesley struggled with the assurance of salvation for a lot of his life. He was ordained a minister in the Church of England in 17XX. He was seminary trained. He had followed in his father’s footsteps (his father was also a minister). He had been raised with a mother who taught Bible study in her home (in the 1700’s it was rare for a woman to teach Bible at all). He was mired in the tradition and in religion from the time he was a little boy. He trained at Oxford and became a minister. Realize that he was preaching and teaching and going about the business of the church. This is a man who is walking the walk. He meets with his fellows to pray; he reads Scripture constantly, he talks and thinks about God.
After a period he was sent to Georgia – remember at this point that going to the ENGLISH colonies in America to the wilds of Georgia is not like traveling today. Wesley went to Georgia before the war for independence. He went primarily to ‘save the souls’ of the Native American peoples – whom everyone assumed were not yet saved.
But something strange happened on the trip to America. The ship was in a horrible storm. And it seemed certain that everyone on board would be lost. In the midst of that terror of a storm John Wesley was petrified – truly afraid and very worried. And in the midst of the storm John Wesley looked over to see several Christians riding out the storm as if it were nothing. They were praying and it seemed that they were at peace. Later, when the storm was over and none of them had perished John Wesley asked them and they confirmed that they were at peace even in the midst of the storm. It’s not that they “knew” that everything would be all right – it was that they were certain that nothing – not life nor death – could keep them from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Wesley, the minister, didn’t have that assurance. And after his trip home from America (we’ll talk some other time about what a disaster that trip was) Wesley went to a mentor in England and confessed that he had no assurance that he was saved. That he didn’t have that peace that surpasses all understanding. Basically Wesley could intellectually get the concept that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and died for our sins – but it didn’t seem personal to Wesley.
He asked his mentor if he should quit the ministry. And his mentor promptly said “no.” Wesley said, then what shall I do? And his mentor said, “preach until such assurance comes.”
That story is important because it helps us all to see that salvation is a big issue – it’s huge and important – important enough that we should think of it a lot and we should talk to our friends about it. But that story is also great because it shows us that these are not easy concepts these are things that real, and faithful, people struggle with.
So, let’s start where John Wesley started – he started by answering the question, “What is salvation.” I love this,
“The salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness. It is not the soul’s going to paradise…it is not the blessing that lies on the other side of death.”
Wesley points out that the words are not future tense – it’s not you will be saved – it’s you are saved. And that should make a difference in our lives NOW. When Wesley says ‘salvation’ he means,
“The entire work of God from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory….[it is] the desires after God, which, if we yield to them, increase more and more; all that ‘light’ wherewith the Son of God ‘englightens everyone’ …showing every [person] to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.”
And Wesley says salvation has two parts – both of which come by grace through faith. Salvation includes Pardon (which Wesley calls Justification) and Moving on to Perfection in Love (which Wesley calls Sanctification). For Wesley Salvation means we are pardoned for our sins and then God continues to work in us, perfecting us.
The pardon comes through Jesus Christ. We are forgiven our sins for all the Jesus has done and suffered for us “until he poured out his soul for the transgressors” -- that’s us folks, the transgressors. And in that moment when we understand that we are pardoned – when we receive some assurance from God of that pardon we often feel the peace of God poured out on our lives. We see a change in our lives.
It is at that point that we understand that we are truly God’s children – and at that point that we can begin to have childlike faith. It is at that point that we are born from above – some people call that being born again. For some folks this is an incredible overwhelming event that is so transforming that they remember all their days the time that it happened – the hour and the minute – the sounds that when on around them – everything. Some folks only remember the moment in retrospect. The moment comes and they notice something but later in their lives they look back over the years and realize that that must have been the moment when things began. It’s different for every person. Some people remember that moment as the “moment they were saved.” John Wesley would probably disagree – remember he says salvation has two parts – and pardon – this moment of understanding that we are forgiven – is only one part. The other is the process of God perfecting us in love.
Wesley says,
“From the time of our being ‘born again’ the gradual work of [God perfecting us in love] takes place. We are enabled by the Spirit to [die to sin]. And as we are more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to God. We go on from grace to grace, while we are careful to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil,’ and ‘are zealous of good works,’ …worshipping in Spirit and in truth; while we take up our cross and deny ourselves every pleasure that does not lead us to God.”
God doesn’t just stop once the work is begun – the work goes on continually bringing us to the gate where we can love perfectly – even as we are perfectly loved.
Pardoned and then Perfected in Love – that’s what John Wesley means when he says “salvation.” And it’s what the United Methodist Church means too. And what is required for that salvation? Faith. By faith we are saved by grace – there are other things that are expected of us in the process of pardon and perfection – things like repentance and good works, but the only thing required of us is faith.
And Wesley is careful enough with us – and this subject is serious enough to him that he doesn’t leave us hanging – after he explains what he means by salvation he explains what he means by faith.
Faith, he says – and he’s getting this straight from scripture – is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. And then this man of science, the very intelligent man of God gives us more detail. He says that this implies,
“Both a supernatural evidence of God and of the things of God, a kind of spiritual light exhibited to the soul, and a supernatural sight or perception thereof…faith is a divine evidence and conviction, not only that ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself’, but also that Christ ‘love ME, and gave himself for ME.”
It is by this faith that we receive Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King. It is by this faith that we are saved.
This faith is a funny thing – because we sometimes (most of the time) believe that we can manufacture this faith all on our own. But the truth is that this faith is a gift of God. God saves people. God chooses the moments. God sends the supernatural assurance. God sends the peace. God pardons. God perfects.
I could be the best preacher that God ever created and I could preach the Gospel in all sincerity according to God’s will every single day and still it might be that no one in this congregation will ever feel that assurance during a worship service. Or it may be that you as you are walking through your daily life, make an off-hand comment about God taking care of you in a grocery store checkout line and that’s the moment when the clerk is assured that Jesus died for her – even her. That gift of assurance is a gift from God. It’s the gift that allows us not only to say, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior” but to also know it.
Wesley says the best place to wait for that moment of assurance is in church – reading Scripture, worshipping, serving the needs of God’s people, praying, sharing the Lord’s Supper. Wesley felt that moment of assurance at a prayer meeting when someone was reading Luther’s preface to the book of Romans. He says, suddenly I KNEW that Jesus died for my sins – EVEN MINE. I’ve read the intro to the book of Romans – I don’t even agree with theology much less am I moved to an assurance of Christ’s work on my behalf. That moment of assurance was a gift from God.
As we go through our life journey we may be at any point along the way. We may have confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and yet not really received the assurance that Jesus lived and died for us – just like John Wesley in his early ministry career. We may have received that assurance – and really know that we have been pardoned in Christ and joyfully dance as children of God. We may be in the process of being perfected by God in Love – not every really being able to pinpoint the moment of assurance but still knowing it must have occurred.
The truth is that no matter where we are in the journey God wants us. God wants us so much that God sent Jesus after us – to earth to be with us in the most genuine way possible. And Jesus lived and died for us.
I taught Sunday school class once at a different church and we were doing a Lenten study and I was trying to get this point across. I asked them if Jesus coming to earth felt personal. One brave soul said, no, it didn’t seem personal at all – he could get that Jesus came, but it didn’t seem personal to him. So I went and stood in front of a him and I said, “Peter – what if I told you that God looked out and say you Peter and said – you know what – that Peter, that Peter whom I love – I think I will send my Son for that Peter.” Would you believe it? Do you believe that could happen?
Shocked at my intensity and at me staring him right in the eyes he looked at me and said “I hadn’t really considered it until you just said it.”
That’s what I want you to do this week – I want you to consider it. No matter where you are on the ‘salvation scale’ recognize that God’s heart is reaching out to you – saving you, pardoning you, perfecting you in love. And be assured that we are indeed ‘saved by grace through faith.’
Amen and Amen and Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. From this sermon, what’s your understanding of salvation? How does this differ from what you thought before?
2. From this sermon what’s your understanding of faith? How dos that differ from what you thought before?
3. God reaches out to us in all ways – what are you doing in your life to live as a Christian?
