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"THE FATHER OF OUR BRAND"
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE TEXT: PSALM 85

A SERMON BY DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
JUNE 17, 2007 -- FATHER'S DAY

Scripture Text: LORD, thou hast been favorable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.--Psalm 85, KJV

Message: "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Three hundred and four years ago, a child was born in England to the Rev. Samuel and Mrs. Susanna Wesley. They named him John, like the fiery revival prophet who called God's people to repentance just before the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ began. And John Wesley truly lived up to that name. Before his 88 years on this earth were completed, the spiritual lives of millions in England and her American colonies had been transformed - revived - by John Wesley's methodical, unrelenting, crystal-clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would hear. Wesley, by God's grace, had become the father of a fresh, exciting, brand-new expression of Christian faith.

Today, three hundred-plus years later, the various Wesleyan strains of Christian faith, worldwide, encompass between 85 and 100 million precious souls. This makes Wesleyans the third largest church movement on our globe, behind only two very ancient churches - the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox. (And before someone raises the issue, yes, I'm fully aware that the many varieties of the Baptist mark of Christian faith far outnumber Wesleyans and Methodists in the U. S. - but our country isn't always representative of the world at large, despite what some of us may think.) In the three centuries between Wesley's time and ours, as many as half-a-billion persons have been won to Jesus Christ via the Wesleyan, or Methodist, brand of Christian faith. God is continuing to use our spiritual father, John Wesley, in mighty ways - to His glory.

"Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" John Wesley was five years old when fire destroyed the Epworth parsonage in which his pastoral family resided. John barely escaped with his life. From that time forward, his mother taught him that he was "a brand plucked from the burning," certain that God had saved John for a significant purpose indeed.

During his college years at Oxford, John Wesley, his brother Charles, and a handful of others formed a weekly prayer, Bible study, and service-to-the-poor group which they themselves named "the Holy Club." Other students, observing this small group's frequent, deliberate, and methodical attempts to devote themselves to God, His Word and His work, nicknamed them, in derision, "Methodists." But what began as a put-down was embraced by those who were being criticized. Wesley was oddly delighted by the attempted slur, and the "Methodist" brand of Christian faith was inadvertently named.

However, it was not until John Wesley was 35 years of age, following an unsuccessful two years of attempts to win colonists and native Americans to faith in Christ in Georgia, that his life's work for the Lord began in earnest. While attending an evening worship service at a chapel on Aldersgate Street on May 24,1738, Wesley experienced, in his own words, something new in His walk with God. He reported, in his journal, that "my heart was strangely warmed." By the power of the Holy Spirit, Wesley's zeal for God was revived and re-energized. Methodism had its second blessing -- and its true beginning.

"Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" For the next five decades, John Wesley, his brother Charles, and hundreds of circuit-riding lay preachers spread the Methodist revival across the British isles and beyond, to the American colonies - later to become our United States. The message of Methodism was clear - in one phrase its purpose was and is "to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land." I'll repeat that so you can hear it again: The purpose of Methodism is "to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land." For almost 300 years that's what we've been doing; it's what we're still doing today.

What is unique, distinct, and/or different about the Methodist "brand" of Christianity? Unlike some church bodies, Methodists have never believed that we're the "only true church." We gladly accept other Christians as our brothers and sisters in the Lord; we don't expect everyone to become a Methodist. But we do believe, as the father of our brand, John Wesley, believed, that we have distinct and important contributions to offer to the Body of Christ on earth.

"Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Since I can't possibly cover all the uniqueness of Methodism in a single message, I've chosen today to highlight just two important ideas which are hallmarks of Wesley's teaching, and which are unique to the Methodist presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The first uniqueness of Methodism is its constant, unwavering stress upon the free, unconditional, unmerited grace of Almighty God. Grace means that we are saved not by who we are, but by who Jesus is. We are loved by God not because of what we do, but because of what Jesus did. There are no strings, no hidden clauses, no fine print in the grace of God. God simply loves us - because that's His nature. This means that we're not forced to live in constant fear of some sort of a scale, carefully balancing good deeds versus sins, hoping that, in the final analysis, we'll tip in the direction of Heaven. No, God has already done the tipping; Jesus has clearly weighed in on our side. God wants to save every man, woman, and child - taking them into His Kingdom for all eternity. Hell is not God's major preoccupation; Heaven is. And there's no limit, no quota on how few, or how many, will be allowed to enter that blissful Kingdom of Heaven. Methodists stress grace, grace, and more grace - because we believe that's where God's heart really is.

"Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" This Methodist preacher, at least, believes that, over 300 years of time, we Methodists have allowed our clear pronouncement of God's wonderful grace to be encumbered by too much ancillary baggage. The goal of revival is not only to encourage people to repent of their sins, but also to allow them to rejoice in the grace of Almighty God. Most revival preaching that I hear says, "Repent." That's not wrong, it's simply incomplete. What we really need to say is "Repent - and rejoice!" Rejoice that God has removed the weight of sin from your shoulders. Rejoice that God loves you, that He cares for you now and always. More grace, less judgment. That's Methodism at its roots.

The second uniqueness of Wesley's Methodism that I want to stress with you today is its balanced blend of personal and social holiness. From the very outset, the members of Wesley's "Holy Club" at Oxford read scriptures, prayed prayers - and then got up, went out, and served soup to the poor and visited the sick and imprisoned. That's Methodism at its finest: personal piety combined with tangible charity. One doesn't dominate the other; one can't substitute for the other. Both are part and parcel of a balanced Christian life.

Over the centuries since Wesley's day, we've experienced a variety of splits and schisms from Methodism by those who wished to emphasize one side, but not the other, of genuine Wesleyanism. Early in the 19th century, William Booth, originally a Methodist, felt that charitable social action was the true hallmark of Christian faith. He broke with our brand to form the Salvation Army. In the early 20th century, some American Methodists felt that personal holiness was the most significant aspect of Christian faith. They left our brand to form the Church of the Nazarene. Those are simply two examples - there are dozens of others.

Three hundred and four years have elapsed since Wesley's birth, and the brand he founded still struggles with maintaining its unique balance. The so-called "Good News" movement within United Methodism leans away from social action and toward personal piety. The "Methodist Federation for Social Action" leans in the opposite direction. Both contend for dominance within contemporary Methodism. Many Christians outside the Methodist fold, without taking the time to understand what the "balance" in Methodism really involves, take cheap shots -- criticizing us as lukewarm, middle-of-the-road, tepid Christians. But Wesley's spiritual descendants have, thus far, done a pretty good job of maintaining that important distinctive. Like James in the New Testament, we hold that our faith is demonstrated by our works. We're not saved by works, no. But once saved, we are impelled to good works by our gratitude for God's grace.

"Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" As pastor of First United Methodist Church a full year now, I've become aware that there are at least a few "unbalanced" Methodists among us and, without naming names, I would dare to make some radical suggestions. To those of you who love to always study the Bible, day in and day out for years on end, I say this: Close the book, get up from your chair, and begin doing things for others. Don't read another chapter for six months - until you've put into practice what you've already learned.

And for those of you who are perennially the first to volunteer to do something that takes you outside the church - joining the Kairos team, being a table leader at Emmaus, going on a mission trip, volunteering at the Crisis Center - I suggest you take a different kind of turn. Join a weekly Bible study, commit to regularly being in a Sunday School class. Come to me and say, "Preacher, I plan to be in church every Sunday for the next six months; I need to just worship God for a while." One of the meanings of revival is to return - to return to our roots. Let's begin to return to, to restore, the balance in Methodism locally - and maybe we'll spill over to and revive our denomination as a whole.

On this Father's Day 2007, I invite us to honor the "father" of our particular brand of Christianity, John Wesley, by celebrating our uniqueness as Methodists -- who we are and how we began. And, much more importantly, let's look ahead, to a great revival of scriptural holiness throughout our land. "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Amen.

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