Holding Our Ground in the Faith
Note: I am a United Methodist pastor who wrote this sermon in response to a recent ruling to allow a gay pastor to retain her ministry in the church. Though this message exhorts United Methodists to take a stand against a few radical elements within our fold, I believe that the message for all of us, regardless of what denomination we belong to, is that we are to take a stand for what is Biblically right.
Last weekend, after a three-day trial, a jury of thirteen fellow ministers acquitted Karen Dammann, an Ellensburg, Wash., pastor of violating United Methodist Church law by living openly as a lesbian, saying the church has not clearly declared homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teaching.
Dammann, 47, and her partner, Meredith Savage, 44, a wetlands biologist, have lived together for eight years and were married this month in Portland, Ore., after county officials there began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They are rearing a 5-year-old son who was borne by Savage and legally adopted by Dammann.
Many United Methodists believe this decision to be a travesty and I count myself among them.
"I believe the vast majority of United Methodists are in grief and shock today. I’m personally heartbroken," said Patricia Miller, executive director of the Confessing Movement, a conservative movement within the church that claims more than 600,000 members.
How do we as United Methodists respond to this? As I reflected on this week, my mind turned to the passage in 1 Chronicles 11:12-13.
1 Chronicles 11
12 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines. 14 But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.
What this verse speaks of is David and Eleazar holding onto a barley field against an onslaught of Philistine troops. Everyone else may have retreated, but they were determined not to give any ground to the enemy. We are to express our opposition to anythng that is contrary to Scripture!
And this is what God is calling us to do as evangelical United Methodists and this is what He is calling for other Christians to do. Many conservative United Methodists feel tempted to leave our denomination, but that would be a mistake. You see, most within our denomination really do hold to the traditional Christian position on this issue.
We should not jump ship, but hold fast to our convictions and defend Biblical truth. We should not let those representing a few drive us either into leaving the denomination or accepting their position.
The following story about a Civil War battle illustrates the crisis we face and how important it is for us as evangelicals within the denomination to hold fast to the high ground of our principles.
America experienced its greatest crisis as a nation during the Civil War. Indeed, to many by the summer of 1863 it seemed that the Union would fall apart.
The fate of the Union and the fate of the war rested in a confrontation between Union and Confederate forces at a Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.
One of the most crucial points of the battle occurred on the second day, when Union forces were attempting to defend their positions along the high ground at Cemetery Ridge.
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his 20th Maine Regiment were ordered to defend a strategic point on the ridge known as Little Round Top. The regiment was placed on the extreme left flank of the Union Army.
On positioning Chamberlain and the 20th Maine, Colonel Strong Vincent wanted to make sure Chamberlain understood his responsibility, and that of his men:
"I place you here! This is the left of the Union line. You understand. You are to hold this ground at all costs!”
The 20th Maine became engaged in a fierce battle with the attacking Confederate forces and suffered heavy casualties.
At one point the Confederates threatened to get around the 20th’s left flank. If they had succeeded, the Confederate Army would have been able to have attacked the Brigade’s rear. This would have cost the Union army the battle and possibly the war.
Chamberlain ordered his officers to stand firm in holding the front and to cover their rear.
At one point in the battle, Chamberlain’s forces were almost out of ammunition. Their situation was desperate, but retreat was not an option.
If they lost the high ground, they would lose the battle. So Chamberlain did what many would think crazy—he ordered a bayonet charge. It was bold because many of his men charging had no ammunition left in their rifles. Chamberlain later described the event:
“The men turned towards me. One word was enough-"BAYONET!"--it caught like fire, and swept along the ranks. The men took it up with a shout...”
The result was that the charging 200 men of the 20th Maine captured 400 Rebel prisoners.
Many of these Union soldiers had little or no ammunition in their muskets. The point of this story is that the soldiers of the 20th Maine refused to give up the high ground. They didn’t retreat—they advanced. They knew that victory would be lost if they gave up the high ground.
For his actions, Chamberlain was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. We as believers need to hold fast to our convictions.
We as United Methodists need to be steadfast in holding the high ground of truth left to us by the apostles and by John Wesley. We cannot allow the enemy to flank us. We cannot retreat. We cannot give up our denomination.
We must remain committed to advancing the Kingdom of God in our denomination and in the world, and we must remember that this is a battle that can only be won on our knees.
So how do we hold our ground in the faith?
1. Return to our first love
Revelation 2
3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.(NIV)
We need to get back to what started our denomination—a passion for Jesus. Methodism came out of a great revival that swept England in the eighteenth century. We have a cross and flame for our symbol.
We desperately need to feel the heat of that flame again. We need that flame to consume us so that others around us will see it and feel the heat of that flame!
We as a denomination and as individuals need to seek the presence of God again! Illustration: A shining example of a seeker that God blessed was John Wesley. Wesley had grown up in a fine Christian home and answered the call to ministry. He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1728.
It was 1735 and John Wesley was going to America on a missionary endeavor in Georgia. It was his experience during the voyage to America on board the Simmonds that was to have a profound affect on his life. While crossing the Atlantic there was a ferocious storm, during which Wesley began to fear for his life. He claimed later he was "much ashamed of my unwillingness to die."
During the storm, however, he noticed the behavior of 26 German Moravians who were among his fellow passengers. Even during the worst of the storm, they serenely continued in prayer and praise to God, quite unlike their "crying, trembling neighbors," Wesley later testified. They seemed to have something he didn’t have. They had a deeper assurance and experience with God that he wanted. There was a storm raging around them, but they had peace in the storm. Their bodies may have been in peril, but they knew their souls were in a refuge that no storm could touch.
When Wesley returned to London, he began to attend Moravian meetings there. It was at a place located on Aldersgate Street in London on Wednesday May 24, 1738 that John Wesley’s heart was "strangely warmed.” This experience with God changed his life. You know the rest of the story.
In 1904 in a church service in Blaenanerch, Wales, a young man named Evan Roberts cried out: “Bend me! Bend me! Bend us!”
He didn’t just desire for God to change him, he was desperate for God to change him! He was on his knees, tears flowing, desperately crying out for God to change his heart. He wasn’t an unbeliever praying, he was a Christian!
What happens when Christians get desperate for God to change them? Revival happens! It isn’t enough that Christians merely desire for God to change their lives for revival to happen, they have to get desperate! Do you desire revival in your life, in your church? How desperate are you?
God heard Roberts’ prayer. God used this young man to send a sweeping revival throughout Wales. God eventually sent him back to his home church where he started a youth service.
Meetings that started around seven lasted until midnight with young people crying out for the presence of God. Meetings eventually lasted until 3 a.m. with people crying out for revival.
People started flooding the prayer meetings. Revival broke out throughout Wales. It was such an awesome revival that the donkeys stopped working in the Welsh mines.
These animals were so used to being ordered by cursing miners that they didn’t know what to do when many of these miners got saved. The revival even spread to many churches in England.
It started with the cry of one young man: “Bend me!” Roberts once said: “Bend the church and save the world.” What would happen if Christians got desperate to change their lives—revival would happen!
There is something about being desperate. People who are desperate give priority to that which they are desperate.
When you read a history of the great revival movements, it always started with a man who was desperate to change his life. It wasn’t enough for these men to exist for God. It wasn’t enough for them to live for God. They had to burn for God!
2. Pray
Romans 12
12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.--Martin Luther
What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.
E.M.Bounds
John Knox, the father of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was a great man of prayer. While on his deathbed, he said to his wife: "Read me that Scripture where I first cast my anchor."
Upon hearing the prayer of Christ in John 17, Knox forgot his illness. He began to cry out to God, praying his fellow believers. He interceded for the lost. He asked God to strengthen those who had been recently received Christ.
As he prayed, his spirit departed. About John Knox, Mary the Queen of Scotland said: "I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men."
Who we should pray for
a. Pray for our authorities
Romans 15
30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
b. Pray for those who have not submitted themselves to God
1 John 5
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.
We pray that those in spiritual authority would either submit to God or be removed if they are in rebellion. We pray that those in the church who are in rebellion would be broken before God and repent of their sins.
c. We remember that our denomination is in a spiritual battle and that our enemies are not flesh and blood.
Ephesians 6
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We have to remember our battle is with the forces of darkness. If we oppose others for the sake of spiritual principles we need to do so with confidence and conviction, but also out of love and humility.
3. We must remain active in sharing our faith
Philemon 1
6I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
Even as this crisis continues we must remain active in sharing the love of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. This is what United Methodism was about in the beginning when John Wesley preached in the fields of England.
4. We ground our selves in the faith—We dig in.
This means we learn the Word of God. When armies fought in World War I they dug themselves trenches. We dig ourselves into the Word of God to defend ourselves against the onslaught of the enemy. We also use the Word to stave off the attacks of the enemy.
We need to know why we believe what we believe.
Consider the words of the Apostle Peter:
1 Peter 3
15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect,
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.--Hebrews 4:12
New International Version (NIV)
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.--Ephesians 6:17
New International Version (NIV)
The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.--Psalm 37:31
It speaks of the word of God being like a sword. You know I am fascinated with medieval warfare. In the middle ages knights battled it out with long swords. You see you needed a long sword to do effective battle in the middle ages.
Consider this: How much time you spend in the word determines how long your sword is. For some believers their sword is only a nail file. For other believers their sword is only a pocket knife. For others their sword is a dagger.
Remember that your enemy has a long sword. Remember that you are daily in a spiritual battle. Remember that you need to arm yourself daily in order to do effective battle.
Arming yourself with the word keeps you sharp! It keeps you on fire!
In conclusion, God is calling us to revival! Let this crisis serve as a call to arms--arms raised to God in prayer! He is calling us to fervently intercede! God is calling us to hold the higher ground.
We can have the flame back in United Methodism if we would only call upon the name of the Lord.
