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Scripture Reading:
NRS Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is
rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through
our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been
saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he
might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. 8 For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God-- 9 not the result of
works, so that no one may boast. 10
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Recently
a radio station ran one of their games where you had to guess the answer to the
question that they were asking. It was: What is more powerful than a tornado,
higher than the tallest mountain, gentler than tissue paper, invisible like the
wind, and as real as you or I? For several weeks this question was asked of
adults who listened to the station without an answer. On the third week, the
announcer went into an elementary school to do a show and tell and he thought
well why not. So he asked these 5 and 6 years olds the question and they got it
within a minute. What is the answer to this question?
John Wesley
begins his sermon entitled “Salvation by Faith”, given at Oxford upon his
return from Georgia on June 11, 1738. It contains the change of heart he experienced
after failing as a missionary in Georgia to win one single soul to Christ among
the American Indians he worked with. On his return trip he experienced a Moravian
group in the midst of a storm that changed how he viewed his faith, culminating
in his Aldersgate experience in May of 1738. He begins with these words, “All the blessings which God hath bestowed
upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour;
favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies.
It was free grace that "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into him a living soul," and stamped on that soul the image of God, and
"put all things under his feet." The same free grace continues to us,
at this day, life, and breath, and all things. For there is nothing we are, or
have, or do, which can deserve the least thing at God's hand. "All our
works, Thou, O God, hast wrought in us." These, therefore, are so many
more instances of free mercy: and whatever righteousness may be found in man,
this is also the gift of God.”[i]
What then
does it mean to be saved, to have as a foundation of our lives the knowledge
that we are eternal beings and God has given us a great gift of eternal life?
We have lived under the fear of death and dying. It is a part of my life as a
Pastor and friend that I have to see members of your families, both close and
extended, friends of the church and community and sometimes even one of you
face this part of our physical existence. Without salvation, what is there to
live for and where can there be hope? For if we are all sinners as Paul points
out, what hope can we have of redemption? John Wesley makes the point that
belief is only part of faith and we need to tread carefully through the mine
field that we have been taught. For all people inherently believe there is
something greater than this. That there is some being of great power that
created the world we live in. But is that enough, to simply believe that Jesus
existed and that He went to the cross as atonement for you and me? Even the
devil believes that Jesus is the Son of God and that God not only exists, but
controls the universe we live in. Did not the Apostles believe and yet Jesus
said to even them, if they would only have the faith of a tiny mustard seed
they could move mountains? What then is faith? John Wesley puts it this way, “This then is the salvation which is through
faith, even in the present world: a salvation from sin, and the consequences of
sin, both often expressed in the word justification; which, taken in the
largest sense, implies a deliverance from guilt and punishment, by the
atonement of Christ actually applied to the soul of the sinner now believing on
him, and a deliverance from the power of sin, through Christ formed in his
heart. So that he who is thus justified, or saved by faith, is indeed born
again. He is born again of the Spirit unto a new life, which "is hid with
Christ in God." And as a new-born babe he gladly receives the adolon,
"sincere milk of the word, and grows thereby;" going on in the might
of the Lord his God, from faith to faith, from grace to grace, until at length,
he come unto "a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ."[ii]
Faith is not
only the belief in Jesus, God and the atonement on the cross, but in the change
of heart that occurs when that belief becomes faith. It becomes faith when we
realize that God has given us an unearned gift that we cannot repay. It must
acknowledge the death of Jesus on the cross, the atonement for sin at that
moment, the resurrection of the body and death no longer having its hold on
humanity before belief becomes faith. It is that deep understanding that Jesus'
death on the cross is that sacrifice that was required to redeem you and me. It
is not a future event but it is here in this moment a here and now opportunity
to share in eternity with God. We attain it when we allow our hearts and minds
to transform. We are saved or born anew against the backdrop of our inherent
desire to be God, to be in control, and to be willfully disobedient. We realize
that there is no limit, no restriction and whether we are Jew or Gentile, the
gift is offered to each of us equally. We are reminded that there is nothing
that can separate us from the love of God through the cross and the empty tomb.
Wesley believed that we could attain a place where do not habitually sin
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
But some
object that it is not faith alone. That to preach it is to preach against
holiness and good works. Now like you I know many people who do great things
for the people around them. But those works do not alone give them a ticket
into salvation. Paul reminds us that it is not works but faith while James
admonishes us that faith without works is an empty faith. Does this then
encourage one to sin? Wesley asks that very question as he preaches that God’s
gift is the defining gift to the world. Indeed it may he says. There are some
even today who would have us believe that Jesus died for all so all are free,
whether they walk in the ways of God or not. Others would have us believe that
once we mouth those words asking Jesus in and receive the living water that
nothing else in life matters from that moment on. Wesley’s response to that is,
“But their blood is upon their own head.
The goodness of God ought to lead them to repentance; and so it will those who
are sincere of heart. When they know there is yet forgiveness with him, they
will cry aloud that he would blot out their sins also, through faith which is
in Jesus. And if they earnestly cry, and faint not, if they seek him in all the
means he hath appointed; if they refuse to be comforted till he come; "he
will come, and will not tarry." And he can do much work in a short time.”[iii]
Isn’t
it a marvel how plants and flowers automatically direct themselves towards the
sun. I remember as a young pilot in North Dakota how we would fly east and the
ground beneath us was a mixture of yellows, browns and natural colors. But when
we turned west, the ground beneath us became a vivid yellow as we traveled over
miles of sunflowers. Isn’t it remarkable that all of nature, as we know it, the
non-reasoning species which include all plants and animals except man,
instinctively have faith and recognize their purpose?
What are we
supposed to do in the face of adversity, oppression and often our own humanity
but to have faith in the God who redeems and sustains us? We have faith in our
belief in the resurrection. We cannot see it, we were not witnesses to it and
many argue that it did not happen and yet we believe because of faith. Faith is
the sustaining power that gets us through times of trouble. So why is it that
we struggle with faith? Why can’t we accept that there is a God, that God is real
and that God’s grace is real? What would it take to convince you that your
whole existence depends on faith? I can remember that once when I was a college
student in a Math class the question was asked, “Why is 1+1=2?” Do you know? The answer is because it is. We
must take certain things on faith and believe that they are what we say they
are in order for the world not to be one of chaos. Faith in God is exactly like
that?
Oh,
by the way, did you get the answer at the beginning of the sermon? Why of
course, it is God. God is more powerful than a tornado, gentler than a tissue,
invisible like the wind and as real as you or I. It is this last part that we
adults sometimes begin to question as we get older and should I say
sarcastically, wiser.
Wesley concludes this sermon with
these words. I felt they summed it up better than I ever could so listen to his
words from 1738. “For this reason the adversary so rages whenever
"salvation by faith" is declared to the world: for this reason did he
stir up earth and hell, to destroy those who first preached it. And for the
same reason, knowing that faith alone could overturn the foundations of his
kingdom, did he call forth all his forces, and employ all his arts of lies and
calumny, to affright Martin Luther from reviving it. Nor can we wonder threat;
for, as that man of God observes, "How would it enrage a proud, strong man
armed, to be stopped and set at nought by a little child coming against him
with a reed in his hand!" especially when he knew that little child would
surely overthrow him, and tread him under foot. Even so, Lord Jesus! Thus hath
Thy strength been ever "made perfect in weakness!" Go forth then,
thou little child that believest in him, and his "right hand shall teach
thee terrible things!" Though thou art helpless and weak as an infant of
days, the strong man shall not be able to stand before thee. Thou shalt prevail
over him, and subdue him, and overthrow him and trample him under thy feet.
Thou shalt march on, under the great Captain of thy salvation, "conquering
and to conquer," until all thine enemies are destroyed, and "death is
swallowed up in victory.”[iv]
[i] Outler
and Heitzenrater, John Wesley’s Sermons, 1991, Abingdon Press, page 40
[ii] Ibid,
page 44
[iii] Ibid,
page 45
[iv] Ibid,
page 47
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