Sermon 4, “Scriptural Christianity”, captures the prophetic/apostolic side of Wesley quite clearly. To use a Chad Brooks-ism, the end of sermon takes on its audience with the intensity of a knife fight in a phone booth; everyone listening (or reading) was going to get cut somehow. 

The arching premise of the sermon is simple: let’s look at a Scriptural definition of Christianity to see if what we call Christianity today matches up. As Wesley begins with the love of God in individuals and the early community of the church and then looks at what now exists in the rest of the world, he struggled to see anything in his day that would qualify as a Christian city or community. His questions throughout the sermon drive home what he sees as strikingly absent:

• Where does this (aforementioned Scriptural) Christianity now exist? 
• Where do these Christians live? Which is the country, the inhabitants whereof are all filled with the Holy Ghost? 
• Are all of one heart and soul? Cannot suffer one among them to lack anything, but continually give to every man as he hath need? 

And more and more…and his conclusion: that we should confess we’ve never seen a Christian country in our lives. 

From a collective and an individualistic standpoint, Wesley wonders where the people are who live within the Scriptural definition of being Christian. His definition may seem quite idealistic, but Scripturally fits within what Watchman Nee would call the Normal Christian Life. Holiness, hating evil and eagerly doing good, loving God and loving neighbors for God’s sake- these things should not be foreign to anyone calling themselves Christians.

We should be a people who are filled with the Spirit; the fact that it seems odd, rare, or abnormal shows how deeply our definition of normative Christianity has been diluted. Wesley even notes that what he describes is not the norm for clergy or those called to leadership, but rather the norm for Christians of any kind. He calls his audience to repent and cry out for mercy from God, that he would restore his people to a Scriptural picture of Christianity for their sake and the sake of the world around them. 

I’ve been thinking about this sermon in relationship to another book I read lately: Scot McKnight’s The King Jesus Gospel. In it, McKnight argues that the current definition of “gospel” in American/Western Christianity has departed greatly from its biblical definition, and this difference leads to a very different kind of ministry and mission for the church. Our definition of the gospel shapes our actions as the church, and a bad definition will lead to bad/misguiding pictures of God in our ministries. 

McKnight and Wesley both touch on the same idea, and with it offer a critique that is strikingly similar: there isn’t much biblically-defined Christianity around. The prophetic edge of this statement must be taken seriously, at least by those who take their faith seriously: the church that doesn’t look biblical has something wrong. 

In my own context, I’m wondering what Wesley’s argument would single out. At my church, in my life, in the way I live and act (which was always the litmus test for Wesley). Lots to think on out of this…

‘Awake, Though That Sleepest’
Sermon 3 - 1742

CONTEXT:

This sermon may have been inspired  by Fr. John Wesley; however, it was preached by none other than his brother Charles Wesley at Oxford on April 4th, 1742. It is indeed worth noting that the first three of the standard 52 sermons have been preached at the University of Oxford. Each sermon had a polemical tone and were railing against the lapsed Christianity of Wesley’s day. Charles’s message does not disappoint for it was Charles’ evangelical statement and his personal identification with the Revival.

CONTENT:

The sermon of Charles revolves around Ephesians 5:14

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

The three major points of Charles’ message was:

• Describe the sleepers to whom they speak
• Enforce the statement of “Awake thou that sleepiest, and arise from the dead’
• Explain the promise made to such as do awake and arise: ‘Christ shall give his light’

It indeed takes a skillful writer to speak with clarity in the midst of endless questions. Reading this sermon was like drinking from a fire hose to the constant questioning of the fire fighter, “Did you get that.”

Wesley speaks first of what he means by sleepers, “By sleep is signified the natural state of man: that deep sleep of the soul into which the sin of Adam hat sat all who spring from his lions… wherein every man comes into the world, and continues till the voice of God awakens him.” This is not just a state of the heathen, but also the “Laodicean Christian’, neither cold nor hot, but a quite rational, inoffensive, good-natured professor of the religion of his fathers.

You can even pick up echoes from the Second Sermon, “Almost Christian” with the reference to he ‘who having a form of godliness, denies the power thereof’,

He ‘fasts twice in the week’, uses all the means of grace, is constant at church and sacrament; yea, and ‘gives tithes of all that he has’, does all the good that he can. ‘touching the righteousness of the law’, he is ‘blameless’: he wants nothing of gladness but the power; nothing of religion but the spirit; nothing of Christianity but the truth and the life.

Wesley concludes that without the Spirit of Christ, we are dead and sons of the devil!

The right response to the “awake, awake” of God is “what must i do to be saved”? Wesley draws out many examples of the dire situation we find ourselves, “The night is far spent, the morning is at hand when thou art to be brought forth to execution. And in these dreadful circumstances thou art fast asleep; thou art fast asleep in the devil’s arms , on the brink of the pit, in the jaws of everlasting destruction.”

“In what state is thy soul?”, “Hast thou oil in thy lamp?”, “Art thou ‘partaker of the divine nature’?”… the questions of Wesley drives his rhetoric forward, calling out to his audience to “arise from the dead”. Wesley finally explains the promise, ‘Christ shall give thee light.’ Even in this final section, Wesley pleads with his audience to hear the Lord’s cry to awake, “O God, ‘in the midst of wrath remember mercy’! Be glorified in our reformation, not in our destruction.”

COMMENTARY:

Not all the dead who walk the earth will arise. 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ~Rev. 3:20~

Sermon 3’s text is all about waking; following the text of Eph 5:14, Wesley sounds the alarm for those who are asleep in their sins. One of the things I appreciate about Wesley’s preaching in this sermon is how he so explicitedly sees the preaching event as the catalyst for this awakening in his listeners:

God calleth thee now by my mouth; and bids thee know thyself, thy fallen state and only concern below.

For Wesley, the asleep are ultimately those “who are satisfied in their sins”, happy to live in them (knowingly or unknowingly) instead of seeking to become what they were made to be in Christ. This includes both the outright rebellious and those who live by the strictest of morals, hoping to justify themselves before God; both are called to wake up and by the prevenient grace of God come into the light, to freely receive the justifying grace of Christ for their sins. 

As I’ve reflected on this sermon, it hit me that to wake up to one’s sins (following Wesley’s lead) is also to break up with one’s sins. The highlighted quote in the picture above highlights Wesley’s emphasis that this awakening will include a severing of ties with sins and the relationships that anchor us to them. The awakening of our hearts will realign our loyalties and priorities, and that will lead to a pragmatic shift in how and with whom we spend our time.

It is amazing to me how many times in my own life I have found an embedded unwillingness to break ties with certain situations and relationships that I know ultimately lead away from this awakened, liberated life from sin. The “old companions” of sin, ways of living and feeling, and even relationships can breed this unhealthy vantage point that sin is still, somehow and in some ways, really what satisfies me. That is dangerous. 

The gospel of Christ, when proclaimed biblically, should make it really clear that being awakened by the grace of God leads to a naturally breaking away from those things that marked us as asleep, even dead, and apart from God. Waking up leads to a breaking up of sorts, and it must; entering covenant relationship with Christ breaks our loyalties to any other governing power over us. Any preaching of the gospel that allows our ties to sin to continue to exist as in anyway natural or understandable calls a believer to sleep walk, not to rise awakened by the Spirit. 

I think I have another post stirring on this one… we’ll see. Sorry I missed last week. 

“The Almost Christian”

 ”Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Acts 26:28

CONTEXT:

As I wrote this article, I was flying a little above 36,000 feet right now on my way to the Anglican Mission’s Winter Conference. That being the case, I only had the Wesley sermons from my Accordance Bible Software to keep me company during this flight and not the massive volumes of Scripture Notes, Letters, and Journals that I would love to refer to for a more comprehensive context.

I still have available to me some very helpful notes from Albert Outler that pertain to the context of this sermon. The context of the first sermon, “Salvation by Faith” was delivered in the context of a post “heart-warming” experience at Aldersgate, but “The Almost Christian” (another one preached at Oxford) comes in the midst of the Revival and the exponential growth of Wesley’s Societies. Wesley’s hermeneutic of Acts 26:28 is also noted by Outler as being “a familiar one in Puritan preaching. It was, indeed, already conventional to shift from the text’s plain reference (Agrippa’s being almost persuaded to become a Christian) to a discussion of nominal Christianity.”

It is also highly recommended to read Wesley’s later sermon, “The More Excellent Way” (1787) in dialog with “The Almost Christian.” While there is no change in Wesley’s soteriology, the hard-line between the “almost” and “altogether” Christian becomes more gentle and the emphasis given for both orders of Christian to pursue the “telos” of being in Christ, ‘the more excellent way’ of a pure love of God and a humble ‘love of all men for God’s sake.’” Context matters with both sermons since “Almost Christian” is a  polemical sermon delivered to an Oxford audience, whereas “The More Excellent Way” appears to be more pastoral (yet less highly regarded).

CONTENT SUMMARY:

Wesley begins by outlining a concept that manifests itself in every age and culture: nominal Christianity. That plagued words of Herod, ‘almost thou has persuadeth me to be a Christian.’ Wesley, therefore, draws a hard-line between what he designates as the “almost” and the “altogether” Christian.

The “almost Christians” are characterized by a few distinctive features:

•  They are culturally moral people: they abide by the standards of morality. Doing things like telling the truth, caring for the poor, doing things in moderation, etc.
•  They are outwardly Christians: they do nothing that the Gospel forbids. No excessive drinking, gluttony, no scoffing, gossiping, etc.
• They faithfully attend worship services: they participate in the sacramental life whenever they can and even practice privately the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting.
• They are properly motivated by a desire to serve God and do his will: the almost Christian isn’t a hypocrite, but genuinely is motivated by an inward desire to be faithful to God.

But what more than all this to be an “altogether Christian”?

Wesley outlines three main “paradigm shifts”:

• The Love of God: A complete in-filling in heart and deed of the holy love of God. The entire capacity of our soul, the whole heart, all our affections, and the complete extent of all our faculties should be permeated by this love. That God would dwell in us and us in God.
• The Love of Neighbor: This to Wesley means every man, woman, child, and enemy. That the love in us creates a humanizing energy to see the remnant imago dei in each human person.
• Born of God: Wesley then moves into the reality that ‘To as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God.’ That this familial relationship with God comes by the right living kind of faith (echoing sermon #1 “salvation by faith” a few years earlier), a faith that brings forth repentance, love, and all good works… this is also tied to believing more than just in the creeds, the Holy Scriptures,  BUT ALSO to have a “sure trust and confidence to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ”

COMMENTARY:

When I initially wrote this short article, I felt a lot like Wesley must have felt like with the Moravians on his voyage back from America… there was constant turbulence and it wasn’t a “comfortable flight.” In this context, I read Almost Christian.

As I sat in my plane seat and attempt to not only digest the substance of Wesley’s sermon, I also pondered the  “almost” / “altogether” dichotomy presented by Wesley in this sermon and how it applies to the landscape of American Christianity today. The hallmark of modern evangelicalism (and fundamentalism) is an unwavering assent in word (at its best in deed as well) to the tenants of Wesley’s “Altogether Christians” (how many times does ‘Greatest Commandment’ become nothing more than a pithy church slogan/mission statement of “love God – love neighbor”).

In word we say it’s about the Great Commission, the Greatest Commandment, and “being born again”, but in praxis (practice) we are not only “almost Christians’, but “half-ass Christians”… Our church programs, worship services, discipleship, and agendas have deteriorated into the state of become nothing more than a production line for taking “half-ass Christians” and turning them into what Wesley identifies as “almost Christians.” How many people even attempt (let alone attain to) the personal piety that Wesley and the “Oxford Holy Club” had:

“Using diligence to eschew all evil, and to have a conscience void of offence; redeeming the time, buying up every opportunity of doing all good to all men; constantly and carefully using all the public and all the private means of Grace, endeavoring after a steady seriousness of behavior at all time sand in all place… And God is my record, before whom I stand, doing all this in sincerity; having a real design to serve God….”

This is Reverend John Wesley speaking… ordained in the Church of England as a Presbyter, a missionary to the end of the world, Georgia, a faithful observer of daily prayer offices, a diligent student of the Bible, a preacher… And yet Wesley says,

“My own conscience beareth me witness in the Holy Ghost that all this time I was but ‘almost a Christian.”

We motivate those whom we Shepherd to study the Bible, go to adult education electives, go on short-term missionary trips, perhaps go to Seminary and get ordained, pray more often, come to this conference, listen to this music, get more involved in ‘church activities’ … this isn’t necessarily ‘bad’, but without the right Spirit behind it we are merely making “almost Christian” disciples …

I submit that we need to have as leaders an attitude of “taste and see” or “follow me as I follow Jesus.” Encountering the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that we are forever changed, marked, adopted as sons and daughters… A paradigm shift must occur from mentally (or emotionally) assenting to propositional truths about Jesus to ontologically being in Christ, “being hid in Christ.”  A paradigm shift must also occur in ecclesiology… we must go from seeing “the church as an institution with sacraments” to “a sacrament with institutions.” It is a scourge of our age that in order to attract religious consumers, leaders in the church and others use clumsy sayings like, “its about Jesus not the church” “or I love Jesus but hate the church.” This may scratch the ears of the consumers of spiritual fads (and sell some books), but it is not in line with ecclesiology according to the Scriptures, creeds, church fathers, and millennia of the church being the “body of Christ.”

I tend to agree more with the tone of Wesley in his much later sermon, “The More Excellent Way.” Perhaps “nominal” or “cultural” Christian is a title more befitting the qualities that Wesley lays out here instead of “almost Christians.”

It’s sermons like this that do convict me in some strange way. They challenge the core of my desire, the inner cry of my soul, the motive behind my movements, so I conclude with this prayer (it should sound familiar if you read the sermon or St. Paul):

“May we all thus experience what it is to be not almost only, but altogether Christians! Being justified feely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus, knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, and having the lover of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us.”

When I read Wesley’s Salvation by Faith, the first thing that hits me is Wesley talking about grace.  Yes, grace is what saves a sinful man from himself, but it is so much more than that.  Everything, from creation, to the sustaining of life is done by the grace of God; it abounds!  This picture of a grace filled God is a picture that needs to be painted by us preachers constantly.

Then we come to the discussion of faith.  We all have faith.  Faith is something we have going to bed knowing that we are going to get up.  So what is faith that can save us?  More particularly, what are we to have faith in?  It is not just that God is real, or good.  It is even more than believing Jesus is Lord; that’s a part, but there has to be more.  It is belief in the death and Resurrection of Jesus!  In the vein of 1 John, this is how we distinguish between true faith and not, true preachers and false ones: are they preaching the Resurrection?  Even more than just distinguishing between true and false to getting personal for pastors: are we preaching this enough?  Am I?  There is power and hope in the Resurrection, that needs to be brought to light again and again.

It is this faith that can lead us to true salvation, because of God‘s grace.  Salvation from sin and salvation from the power of sin.  What a glorious doctrine.  No longer struggling against ourselves, if we would but trust in God.  No longer do we live in fear and despair of sin.  We don’t have to make excuses for sin.  Because of what God has done in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, salvation has come to us to set us free!  All he asks for us is to have faith.

This sermon is such a great encouragement and challenge to me.  May I be as bold a preacher as Wesley to preach a message like this.

Henry

Wesley’s 52 Standard Sermons form the core of doctrine for the United Methodist Church; that is a principle we desperately need to get back to!

The first sermon comes out with both barrels: “Salvation By Faith,” in which Wesley lays out a glorious and uncomfortable truth: we are saved by grace.

Before we come to Christ, we are utterly sinful, ruined.  It’s not just that our sins are so wicked and we ourselves so defiled by them.  It goes further: there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s favor: “only corrupt fruit grows on a corrupt tree.”  This is the uncomfortable part, the reckoning of and with sin, and the plain fact that there is nothing we can do about— no good intentions, no good deeds, no New Year’s resolutions…

The glorious part of this truth is that the  grace of our Lord Jesus Christ overcomes even the depth of sin, and we receive this gift through faith!

I sometimes wonder if it’s just me, knowing my struggle with pride, that finds the notion that there is nothing I can do so uncomfortable.  Be that as it may, I am thrilled to know that God has done for me what I could not do for myself, by sending His Son Jesus in the likeness of human flesh, to die for me, the be resurrected for me.  And this I receive simply, by faith.

Wesley says, “Christian faith then is not only an assent to the whole Gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ, a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection.”

This would be enough, I think, for us to praise God for the goodness of His mercy and grace.  But He’s not done!  This grace, this faith, yields our salvation.  Forgiveness from the guilt of past sins, to the point that we need no longer fear a terrible wrath from God on the last day.  And piling grace upon grace, we receive power over sin’s continuing influence in our lives… to the extent that we can claim with faith:

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin” 1 John 3:9.  This verse, which we can hardly comprehend, which so many try to explain away, comes with power into our lives!

I pray that this will be my Gospel, the substance of my preaching to reach people for salvation in Jesus’ name: that we are saved from sin and resurrected to new life!

-Aaron Mansfield

After reading through this sermon for the first time since spring of 10, i was struck once again with Wesley’s breadth and depth. The sermon covers every possible listener, yet it is not simply a surface message. O for that ability in my own preaching.

From a theological perspective, i was struck by the point he makes in paragraph 2 section 4 where he says “from fear of wrath of God, whom they now no longer regard as severe Master, but as an indulgent Father.” What a reversal! Salvation turns our life’s completely on its head and God graces us with the ability to chose this. 

I was also struck once again by paragraph 2 section 5 where he states “through faith they are saved from the power of sin, as well as from the guilt of it.” What a liberating message. We do not have to resign to “being people cemented in sin, “but on our way to heaven.” We can be free from sin right here and now- inaugurated eschatology! I was challenged to how i can begin preaching that in my context. 

Finally, i was struck in paragraph 3 section 2 where Wesley makes the argument that those who are saved by faith and grace are more likely to live holy lives then those who seek salvation through works. When one has encountered the grace of Christ through the Spirit, they know from whom there bread is buttered. Thank God for grace! 

I really look forward to this endeavor! 

~Joshua Toepper

(Wesley’s sermon 1 found here)

I feel this strange obligation to begin with an overflowing gush about the quality of Wesley’s preaching. I will more than likely feel this way every week. So I’m going to skip over my personal awe and joy in reading these works and just get to some of the stuff that’s stirring in my heart as a result of this sermon. But, so you know, I think Wesley is the bees knees. I thank God for the witness of his life and preaching. 

One of the things I enjoy most about Wesley is how clearly he defines his arguments. He goes out of his way to make sure the terms he uses from the pulpit are clearly (and Scripturally) defined. I was listening to the podcast of a well-known preacher this weekend whose terminology seemed to get muddier and muddier as he preached. I have noticed the same thing happen in some of my own preaching. This is a point i can learn from. 

In its most basic definition, Wesley defined faith as the condition upon which a person is saved by the grace of God. This faith, though, is to be distinguished from faiths of other sorts:

• It is not the “faith of heathens”, which acknowledges God’s attributes, some form of judgment and the need for a moral life. 
• It is not the “faith of a devil”, which believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
• It is not the “faith of the disciples while Christ was on earth”; such a faith leaves all and follows Christ, believes in miracles, healing, and the authority of Christ, and even may preach Christ as able to do such things. 

Notice, the faith described above could pass in many churches. God is powerful, Christ is the Son of God, Christ is able to heal, answer prayers, etc… What is missing from this equation?  Wesley puts it simply: the death and resurrection of Christ. 

Assent and faith are two different things. Agreeing with the claims of the gospel and having faith in them to save must be seen as two very different postures of heart. Wesley notes, 

Christian faith is then, no only an assent to the whole Gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ; a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection; a recumbency upon him as our atonement and our life, as given for us and living in us. 

As I’ve thought through this difference, I have to think that all these types of faith probably exist in my church (and maybe a few other types). As a pastor, I want to see people live into this saving faith, and I have to soberly admit that my preaching could easily call people to assent about Christ over faith in Christ if I am not careful.

Wesley has a solid argumentative structure to his sermon, but it doesn’t stop there. He sees that Christ alone can save, and preaches in a way that still desperately depends on Christ to reveal himself if salvation is to come to the listener. Persuasion alone may lead to assent, but only revelation will lead to saving faith. 

Questions: What does Wesley teach us about preaching salvation by faith? How can preaching move beyond persuasion into the kind of revelation needed for others to respond in faith? 

-Drew Causey

Salvation By Faith

“By grace ye are saved through faith.”

- Ephesians 2:8 -

CONTEXT: 

Weds, May 24th, 1738:

In my return to England, January, 1738, being in imminent danger of death, and very uneasy on that account I was strongly convinced that the cause of that uneasiness was unbelief; and that the gaining a true, living faith was the “one thing needful” for me. But still I fixed not this faith on it’s right object: I meant only faith in God, not faith in or through Christ. Again, I knew not that I was wholly devoid of this faith; but only though, I had not enough of it…

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

If you go and read John Wesley’s journal entries from the days between his “Aldersgate” experience above and the preaching of the sermon “Salvation by Faith” on the Festival of St. Barnabas, June 11 at the University of Oxford, you will find a man working out in his personal experience the substance of his proclamation from Ephesians 2:8, especially the themes of faith and salvation. 

Albert Outler, also notes that the Moravian elements of the sermon are qualified by echoes from the Book of Homilies (as in the claim that salvation involved the power not to commit sin - see especially the homily “Salvation of Mankind”)

Content: 

1. The relationship between Grace and Faith - Wesley brilliantly begins by differentiating between “grace” and “faith”: “If then sinful man find favor with God, it is ‘grace upon grace’… ‘By Grace’, then, ‘are ye saved though faith.’Grace is the source, faith the condition, of salvation…. Now, that we fall not short of the grace of God, it concerns us carefully to inquire…” Wesley then goes on to inquire on the condition of faith and the scope of salvation. 
   
   The subtlety of this beginning is profound. If you begin not with God’s grace as source, then you may stumble into the heresy that one’s faith is both the source and condition of salvation. This is the misinformed argument that I face amongst my Reformed brethren, “Is it your faith or what Jesus did that saved you.” The underlying question being, “does your faith independent of anything God does or doesn’t do bring about salvation?” Wesley, I believe would say no. It is only by God’s grace that ‘he loved us enough while we were yet sinners to send Jesus Christ  to die and save us.’  It is by grace through faith.
    
2. The scandal of particular faith - Wesley doesn’t just say that all you need is any form or flavor of faith, but a faith of a particular genre, “It is faith in Christ - Christ, and God through Christ, are the proper object of it.” Furthermore, it is not just a faith of mental assent, “Confess with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead” 
   
   If you look at the other categories of faith that Wesley uses in this sermon, “Faith of a heathen”, “Faith of a Devil”, “Faith of the pre-easter Apostles”, then you find in fact that truly ‘the road to destruction is wide and spacious, but the narrow gate leads to life, and few find it.” For Wesley, the linchpin of the faith by which one is saved is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not just mentally assented to, but an ingestion of truth whereby the reality of the Gospel becomes “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.”  I love the scope of Wesley’s definition of Christian Faith:
   
   “Christian faith is then not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ, a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection; a recumbency upon him as our atonement and our life, as given for us, and living in us.… It is a sure confidence which a man hath in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favor of God; and in consequence hereof a closing with him and cleaving to him as our ‘wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption’ … or, in one word, our salvation. 
3. Scope of Salvation - For Wesley “salvation” wasn’t just a ‘get out of hell card’ or an ‘escape from the fallenness of creation’ or a ‘say this prayer and be saved’ genre of salvation. As the quote above illuminates, salvation is personal: it involves the second person of the Holy Trinity, Christ Jesus and it involves each one of us as people (in other words, “God has no grandchildren”, but sons and daughters through Christ).
   
   Salvation also is  ”presently powerful”: Salvation isn’t just something you wait for when you die, but can be experienced in this life. Forgiveness is linked with formation- our desires, actions, ‘modes of being’, are transformed to the likeness of Christ - even the guilt of sin is transformed in our salvation in Christ. 
4. Objections - What preacher you know today at the end of his or her sermon will say, “and now for some objections to preaching so and so.” Then to answer the objections with humility, sobriety, and grace. 
   
   Objection 8 is particularly interesting to me because of Wesley’s distancing of his presentation of “salvation by Faith” against that of the church of Rome (a claim again that some theological camps wrongly make by ascribing Wesley’s teaching to a romish semi-pelagian heresy). He also says that this doctrine, “by grace through faith” is called by the Church of England to be the foundation of the Christian religion and the reason for “popery” being driven from the land. He even references Martin Luther in a very flattering way. 

COMMENTS:

As an Anglican priest, theologically educated in the Wesleyan tradition, I am thankful the Reverend John Wesley. He is not only a gift to Methodism, to Wesleyanism, to later Anglicanism, but to entire Body of Christ. He is a saint that is truly worthy of his feast day (which in the Church of England consequentially falls on May 24th, but in the Episcopal Church USA on the 3rd of March).

When I read Wesley, I am always struck with how comprehensive his sermons are. He doesn’t just tell you to do this and do that, but advances a cogent argument, a well defined pathway that lets you wrestle through the layers of theological extremes that clutter and distract you from the road. Wesley is also someone who lived out his sermons. Part of my plan this year as I go through the 52 Standard Sermons is to also read through the journal entries before and after each sermon delivery date. I want to become better friends with John Wesley this year, and perhaps, this friendship will be a means of grace by which to I will grow in love and knowledge our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is my prayer for us all.