This is part V of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Our Wesleyan Anthropology, our story, should consist of:

Freedom from Addictions and Restoration of Families

People who are living witnesses of being set free from their addictions, of all kind. May families be released from the destruction of drugs and alcohol. May freedom from pornography help homes define the word “love” according to God’s holy lexicon. 

Healing Marriages and Ending Divorce

May people witness Marriages restored. May Divorce stop being the “go-to” option, both in and outside the Church. May covenant-keeping relationships of all kinds be the norm. May children of all ages, who come from broken homes, discover what covenant-keeping looks like as people are made new in Christ. May our marriages become sacred signs that declare the glory and mystery of God’s faithfulness to us. 

Honoring and Obeying God’s Word

May God’s word not merely be read but may it most profoundly be honored and obeyed; not out of necessity but out of our recognition that we are being cleansed (re-created) by His words of love. 

Embracing Forgiveness and Reconciliation

We need forgiveness of all kinds to rule the day. Especially forgiveness of Jesus’ chief mandate; forgiveness of our enemies. Our highest call is not “forgiveness of sin” but of reconciliation to those who have hurt you. This is a “hard word” indeed. But refusal to do so is indistinguishable from intentional disobedience. Of course, we are not called to do this on our own. But by Him participating “in us” and with us dwelling within the Triune Community. Listen to John 15; “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted.” So, what are you asking Jesus to do in your life? Mere forgiveness or utter transformation and reconciliation with an enemy?

Modeling the True Gospel

Friends, we have this compelling story that must be modeled for others to witness. So many people want this story to be true. They long for this story to be true. But they see such poor representation of this in our churches, because we preach an “easy” Gospel. “What is the least I need to do.” May we cease preaching easy believe-ism and a gospel of cheap grace. Why not declare “the transformation of lives and the restoration of God’s Good creation.”  It may sound “too good to be true.” But it is the embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus and the core of Paul’s teaching. 

Offering the True Gospel

I hear from evangelical pastors these days that society has become so secular that the Church has been marginalized. We are silenced from speaking into our fractured culture; except during Sunday mornings. May I give you a theological term to describe this concept; baloney. Society has not placed us where we are. Our irreverence for God through our theological and practical Church decisions have “created” us to be irrelevant to society. We are sitting precisely where our less-than-robust theology has placed us. In most cases, we are offering nothing that people cannot find anywhere else with secular social gatherings or a good mental health counselor. If “fire insurance from hell” is all our gospel ensures, I myself might wait to seek it until I really need it. 

Living Like Jesus

For us today, one helpful biblical metric of faithfulness can come out of John 13-17. In this last great teaching of Jesus, He is training His disciples (and us) this reality, “Will you live ‘just like me’ in the absence of my physical presence?” Remember, Jesus has just made this counter-intuitive statement, “It is good that I go away because if I go away, I will send you another comforter. AND greater things than these you will do when I go to be with the Father!” To be clear, the disciples are all thinking to themselves, “No Jesus. You stay right here. You lead the revolt over Caesar and when You are victorious, you will sit on the re-established throne of David. We will pay You honor as King Jesus. No, Jesus says, “I get to define the meaning and substance of “good.” And His Good is the most compelling story of all time. He will lay His life down for His friends. He will free them (and us) from our slavery to sin. He will rise from the dead and then ascend to reign with the Father on the throne in heaven. And in the absence of His physical presence on earth, His Gospel says, “We will do greater things than Him.” He NEEDS us to complete the story in His absence. Listen now to the closing of this story in John’s Gospel. Please, I urge you to allow Jesus and only Jesus to define what is “good.”

Being Good Stewards

John 21.

• Simon, son of John, “Do you love me?”
• Yes Lord. You know that I love you. You know all things. 
• Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.

If I was telling this story, I would have made it about reciprocal love. I love God and He loves me back. And the story would then end in a holy group-hug. But the Gospel story does not climax “my way.” Listen, I love God and He trusts me with His wayward children. He trusts us to care for His sheep in the same manner that He does. (See John 10) He fully trusts us to draw them into the Jesus story with an incarnational reality; “Christ in me, the Hope of Glory (Col 1:27). 

God’s Trust in Us

Did I say it enough times to make the point? God TRUSTS you and me to be “carriers of the Gospel of Christ.” God TRUSTS humanity with housing the Holy Spirit (acting like temples) and then reflecting the Image of His Son to a broken and deeply divided world. 

For me, I have skepticism about the way Jesus chooses to bring the Kingdom into reality here on earth. We all know that Jesus can and does perform signs and wonders. That would be my method of choice. Jesus, you do what only you can do. People will be impressed with Your power and will be drawn to it and we will passively watch in the background. 

Yet, often, God chooses to reveal His power and His glory embodied within people just like you and me. Yes, the natural way, even supernatural way for God to reveal Himself to people is stated by the second century theologian Irenaeus. He words it this way, “The glory of God is man made fully alive.”

This is the Wesleyan story of the world. We are not principally offering people “heaven when they die.” Rather, first, we are offering them forgiveness of sin and its resulting shame. Next, Christ is offering freedom from the power of sin. This Spirit-filled life means we have the power “not to sin.” And this should become a “normal Christian life.” Not just for those whom we call “saints,” but for everyone. The story gets even better. Original sin which laid siege to our mortal bodies is stamped out beneath the crushing heal of the Son of God. In the end, our dys-functional relationships with God and with others can be gloriously restored as John puts so aptly;  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message (that’s you and me), that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 

This is the Wesleyan story. The “Imago ME” can once again be re-fashioned/re-created into the “Imago Dei.” 

Drawing Lessons from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring

The BEST book I have read this year gives us a good picture for us here.  It’s not really one but four; The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

Now, if you have only seen the movies, you will not be able to relate to any of this. And may I offer a spoiler-alert to those who have not read the books? (skip ahead three paragraphs for any still tarrying on enjoying this classic)

In the Return of the King, the ring is cast into the fires of Mordor by Frodo and Sam on page 270. There is still 30% of the book to go. Hollywood portrayed Smeagol/Gullum biting the ring off the finger of Frodo and falling into the fires of Mt Doom grasping the ring as the climax. But from a literary perspective, you cannot have a climax in the middle of the story!  

In fact, Tolkien paints a whole different story-world. All the sacrificial efforts of the characters in the trilogy thus far merely serve as the preparation of the story. The realization of the narrative unfolds with what Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin will do when they return home to the Shire and experience the evil that Saruman and his minion Wormtongue have inflicted upon the Shire. At Mount Doom, the power of the ring has been destroyed. But it is still personified in Saruman and all those who follow his abusive power. In the end, the climax of this story is the destruction of evil right where the Hobbits live and move and have their being, in the everyday affairs of life

in the Shire. 

Engaging with Contemporary Issues

Now, churches today find themselves embroiled in many conversations, dialogues, and fights on matters deeply important for our time (immigration, war, LGBTQIA+, etc.). Yes, developing white papers on how we might dialogue with folks that have experienced gender dysphoria can be a gift to the Church. Even how we express love and grace to people whom we see in an adversarial role to our home church. However, our role should never be so myopic that we diminish it to forming our “right position” as it stands against the other stories of culture. That would make us apologists not anthropologists. We could easily see ourselves missionally as writing pithy statements to win arguments…and miss the mark of us welcoming the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and love, so that in the end, ultimately, we win our personal battle against self-righteousness. May we long for nothing less than what will make the other people flourish and be wonderfully drawn into the holy community called the Church, with Christ as our head. Our thrust must be to preach and live the whole Gospel as detailed above. Otherwise, we have nothing to offer except opposing arguments which increase the height of the wall between us or the vastness of the chasm which separates us. 

The Challenge of Unity and Holiness

NT Wright says that the hardest part of the Gospel to integrate is Unity and Holiness. Unity without scriptural holiness is the ever-shrinking progressive church of today, running wild. Holiness without unity is the exclusive church of legalistic heritage often seen throughout history; rules without love and grace.

The hope of our holiness tradition is that Christ Himself NEEDS us to be Gospel carriers. Since He now reigns from heaven, His Holy Spirit would relish the opportunity to make His home in your heart and use you as a contagion to share the experience of heart holiness with a world looking in every direction for answers; except the Church and Jesus. More profoundly, not only does Jesus NEED you, but according to John 21, He TRUSTS you and me to be emissaries throughout the world. This begins in the very community in which you live, work, and worship. May your Shire become a holy habitation for a world that desperately wants our story to be true. AND IT IS. 

This is part IV of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I, Part II, and Part III) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Finally, to the chapter of our Worldview story that Wesleyans can make the most profound contribution, “What is the solution?” What is our Soteriology and Eschatology narrative?

Understanding Eschatology: A New Heaven and a New Earth

In Good biblical fashion, may I address the last question first? Eschatology. As you read the end of the Story; Rev 21-22, we discover that it’s a precise bookend to that of our orienting story in Genesis 1-2. It is a glorious reuniting of Heaven and Earth as ONE. The new heaven and the New Earth COME HERE. Doesn’t that just fly in the face of most evangelical theology, which is commonly dispensational at heart. They want to be raptured to heaven and then have the “evil-infested” earth burned. But listen to Revelation 21:1-4 and then 22:1-5:

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Full removal of the curse and restoration for us to rule in a place which re-connects heaven and earth. Yes, Eden-like but with one major difference: there is no longer an adversary. God’s good creation is now gloriously re-ordered; our role is re-established under the reign of God and with humanity as His co-regents. The end of our compelling story echoes its similar beginning. But now, God’s “good” has come in its fullness.

With God’s revelation of his full story, what is the full solution to the problem? What is the Good and the beautiful story of redemption? 

Moving Beyond Conversion: Embracing Discipleship

Regarding our salvation story, we MUST take the spiritual high ground. We cannot settle for the generic evangelical bumper sticker that reads; “I may not be perfect, but I am forgiven.”  Forgiveness of sins cannot be our primary metric! 

Otherwise, we functionally demote “holiness” to be mere optional equipment in a Christian’s life. We must declare to all who will listen; one cannot remain a mere “convert” as a Wesleyan and be satisfied. John Wesley says, “in describing our main doctrines, which are three; that of repentance, of faith, and holiness. The first of these we account as the porch of religion (repentance); the next the door (faith), the third is religion itself (holiness). We cannot permit the message we tell to settle for second best in the Kingdom. Otherwise, we offer “another Gospel” than what Jesus or Paul proclaimed. Remember Paul’s stern warning in Galatians 1:6:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – 7which is really no gospel at all.” 

Let’s protest when we hear someone reduce the gospel to this question, “What is the least I need to do to get to heaven?” 

Let’s stop answering people’s hunger-for-all-God-has-for-us with a less than nourishing story of the “Roman’s Road.” 

Let’s stop helping people “make decisions for Jesus” and instead come alongside the Holy Spirit as He wants nothing less than to “make disciples.” 

Let’s resist making “conversion” the mission of our Churches. And yes, our primary metric for success. For when we do this, we theologically and practically separate conversion from transformation; making Discipleship a spiritual add-on.

Let’s start using the language of “Initial sanctification” and “new birth” instead of mere conversion. For “Initial sanctification” and “new birth” both assume growth in the direction of completeness, maturity, wholeness, and full restoration. Moreover, both terms assume intentional spiritual parenting by a disciple-maker.  Let’s make sure that Salvation and Ecclesiology co-habit the same sacred place in a Wesleyan Story.

While we are at it; let’s abandon the “widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need him as Savior and we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord.” (AW Tozer, I Call It Heresy, p1.) This is often stated “I accept Jesus as my savior. I have just not made Him my Lord.” I humbly submit, that is heresy. For it starts from a completely unbiblical definition of repentance. Repentance explicitly has a turning towards the very voice of the One who created me and assumes my obedient re-alignment to His mind and His will. Genuine Repentance never assumes one can be saved today and put off obedience until tomorrow. 

Once again, our metrics may be an underlying factor in the problem. We are a people who fully embrace evangelism. It’s the air we breathe. Therefore, in the excitement of someone sincerely seeking Jesus, we may declare them forgiven when in actuality, we may witness them encountering the “prevenient grace” of God; not His “saving grace.” Rather than guiding them to full repentance and re-orient their lives to fully count the cost; we instead take the “shorter way” and hastily declare them forgiven. Our evangelistic fervor of leaning into the “shorter way” of Salvation may arise from the revivalist-camp meeting strain in our Wesleyan DNA. Let’s call this “Phoebe Palmer made new.” 

May I suggest; the Holy Spirit makes a disciple rather than a “person makes a decision.” This shorter way to Jesus may not always have lasting results. For we also have clear metrics to see how wide open our churches back doors really are. People are looking for life change and the possibility of being made “whole” as their hope in this world. Yet in our rush to spiritual judgment, we offer them “sins forgiven and heaven as their home in the next world.” Surprisingly, in Wesley’s journal, we find that people attending his class meetings take an average 2.3 years being nurtured in the faith “before repenting and becoming Christ followers.” (Hal Knight, John Wesley: Optimist of Grace, p. 53).

The Importance of Commitment in Wesleyan Societies

I know many of you are aware that wherever John Wesley rode as he was discipling his lay-preachers and Societies (let’s say he was serving as a surrogate DS), his Societies became smaller. He asked people to leave who did not take their commitment to their societies seriously. People who did not attend Class meeting with strict regularity were not admitted to Society Meetings. To put this in modern terms, Wesley believed that folks who are not part of the full solution are part of the future problem. Our today has become that prophetic reality. 

Story of Transformation

A transformed life and freedom from sin and shame is the most compelling story ever told. Let’s tell THAT story. Let’s LIVE that story. Let’s reflect the Imago Dei and our hope and hunger for holiness to family, friends, even to those who are watching our spiritual walk that we are unaware of. 

Let’s make certain that HIS story of the world is far and away the most compelling of all. Others may live, for the time being, by another narrative. But they really want our story to be the REAL one. 

So, is there any real downside if we lower the bar on our soteriological story and make it generically evangelical? 

Let’s confess that one of the reasons for the “rise of the nones” over the last 40 years is that we fail to offer them a radically transformed life as the Christian norm. Our culture has so many people who are desperate to have their lives redeemed from the trauma of this present age and to experience new Creation. Yet, as we continue to embrace our attractional church model, we want them to feel “comfortable in church.” We place no real expectations on them to change. Low lights, anonymity, and no commitment. People who come to Church for true spiritual help and personal healing are leaving in droves. Why? We are offering them “half a gospel.”

I am hard pressed to find a biblical model of Sunday morning “comfort gatherings” Biblically, the Church is to be a Kingdom of priests who stand between a Holy God and the people for whom He seeks. Practically, no one should feel comfortable in a holy place. Reverent? Yes. Awe and wonder. Most assuredly. We are to be a temple of the Lord who connects heaven and earth. Sunday morning should be a sacred place where no one enters without first seeking God’s means to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). Our churches should be filled with Spirit-enabled worship, word-centered teaching, sacramental grace, and an expectation that God and God alone can make us “as Christ.” Most of all, may this never be limited by squeezing this into a 90-minute window on a Sunday morning. May every minute of every day be us serving as living compasses pointing others towards the New-Life giving Jesus.

In my last article I focused on the notion of mission as “making disciples who make disciples.” I introduced the term “discipleship evangelism”, as the essence of evangelism. I hinted at the claim that there is “no great commission without the great commandment”. We must nurture and cherish the bond between word and deed, ideas and consequences, beliefs and actions. Good works do not save us but are the evidence of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and the fundamental nature of practical Christianity.

Faith Working Through Love

One of the best definitions of practical Christianity that you will find comes from the apostle Paul. It is this: faith working through love. In Galatians 5:6, Paul makes the case for the essentials of the Christian life, over and against the superficial claims of religious preference: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” J. B. Phillips translates this “faith which expresses itself in love.” The New English Bible reads “faith active in love.” Paul is saying that, in God’s judgment according to Christ, the question is not whether we are obedient to the law, whether we are circumcised or uncircumcised, whether we are Methodist or Baptist. The question is whether in faith we have been shaped according to the reality of God’s love expressed ultimately in his crucified Son. And when there is a testing of that faith, it will involve not the doctrinal positions to which we have given intellectual ascent, not even the doctrine of the uniqueness of Christ, but whether our faith has expressed itself in love.

The goal of every church should be to have a congregation of disciples who are on a mission of discipleship. Disciples making disciples, that is the essence of evangelism.

An Example to Follow: Pauline Hord

At the last congregation I served as lead pastor, we didn’t have a church-full of disciples making disciples but we had some, and the number was growing.

Let me tell you about one of our prize examples, Pauline Hord. She has now passed on to glory. What a remarkable woman. She is the most unique blending of prayer and personal piety, with servant ministry and social concern, I know. When grave needs arose in my life, Pauline was one of the first persons I called, inviting her to pray with me.

Pauline was always going to someone or some group to give herself in prayer. Hardly a week passed that I did not receive a call from Pauline, telling me about some particular need in our congregation or in our city – a need that may call for emergency housing, or transportation, or medical attention. I don’t know how she was in touch with all of this, but she was.

Pauline’s primary passion was literacy and prison ministry. Our state, Tennessee, had and has a tremendous literacy problem. Thousands of people in our city can’t read and write well enough to function adequately in society. Pauline  worked with our public schools, training teachers in a new literacy method. She gave three days a week, four or five hours a day, to teaching this new method of literacy through model programs.

But, also, once a week she drove over a hundred miles one way to Parchman State Prison down in Mississippi, to teach prisoners how to read and write. Along with this, she ministered to them in a more encompassing way as she shared her love and faith, and witnessed to the power of the gospel. Think about this, She was eighty-five years old.

During those years, then President Geoge Bush started a program, called “Points of Light,” calling for citizens to exercise positive and creative influence and service in the communities where they lived. I nominated Pauline and she was chosen and written up in the daily newspaper. 

A few months later, President Bush came to Memphis and wanted to recognize the seven “Points of Light” there at a luncheon.

But he made a mistake. He set the luncheon on a Wednesday. That’s the day Pauline spent at Parchman Prison, teaching prisoners to read and write, and witnessing to them the love of Christ. She would not give that up to have lunch with the President.

That says it, doesn’t it? 

The Essence of Evangelism

Disciples making disciples: this is the essence of evangelism. Real evangelism cannot happen except where disciples are being made. And those who are growing in discipleship become bearers of real evangelism. As I have claimed, all this takes place primarily in the local congregation.

This is part III of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I and Part II) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

What is our Hamartiology?

Bill Arnold’s third question to establish a “world view story” has to do with “What has gone wrong? What is our Hamartiology?” (As a review, Harmartiology means our understanding of sin, or what’s gone wrong).

We flow immediately from our “orienting story” in Genesis 1-2 to a “dys-orienting” one in Genesis Chapter 3. Yes, this can be seen as Eve’s mis-trust (dys-trust) in Word and voice of God. But the serpent is even more sly as he asks Eve if she would like to employ her God-given authority to add one more tree to the list of “good?” This would be her first recorded act of ruling. She would re-define God’s “no” as a “yes”.

Redefining Good and Evil

Doesn’t this sound like our modern culture today? This “fill in the blank _______” is pleasant to my eyes…this feels good…I am meant for this…This is my truth and God created me for this. Good is now defined as what I desire and even deserve. Evil is defined as what restricts or hinders my personal trinity of un-holy wants, needs, desires. At least as I define it! 

The Hamartiological story continues past the exile out of the garden (Genesis 3) into the life and death struggle between the brothers Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). As they are offering up sacrifices to YHWH, Cain offers grain and Abel offers the first fruits of his flock. God looks with favor upon Abel’s offering (implying it is “Good”) and does not show favor on the grain offering of Cain. The older brother literally takes matters into his own hands as he wants to re-define “his grain as good” in direct opposition to the will of God. Cain violently “cancels” his competition. The text does not explain the divine rationale for this decision. It simply asks Cain to trust God’s judgment. The point is that God and God alone defines the parameters of “good.” He does not need to defend His choices to us. 

When we create a human lexicon of goodness and redefine righteousness, we have usurped the Throne of God and supplanted it with our own rule and reign. We are creating idols. John Calvin declares that the heart and mind of man is a perpetual factory of idols. As we fashion these idols; we discover it is a self-portrait. Thus, when we employ a definition of “Good” that is not in agreement with God, we fall short of His glory and become shaped into the image of the false one whom we now follow and obey. Simply, we become and reflect that whom we worship. 

Let’s move to a NT example of people redefining God’s definition of good: Peter’s Confession of Jesus (Mark 8:27-33). Let’s make sure to read it in context or else we will miss its profound revelation of the human condition. 

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

The Father – with Jesus’ full approval – has stated that the suffering, rejection and death of the Messiah = Good. In direct contrast, Peter and the other 11 disciples reject (literally: rebuke) Jesus’ plan because they “have in mind” a new human definition of the Messiah and His salvation. Immediately, we overhear Jesus’ counter-rebuke to Peter with these frightening words; “Get behind me Satan.” Jesus’ Gospel story hyperlinks us back to Eden and we discover that the disciples are dys-ordering God’s plan for New Creation and fashioning evil as its new replacement. In summary, we don’t simply make bad choices. We defy God’s good and speak evil into existence.

Why is it so important for us to grasp this dys-orienting story? Well, it’s because others are telling another version of the story which contains their preferred definition of “good.” Rather than employing biblical revelation, they equate “good” with how they personally “experience” life and how they “feel” about themselves. (see Nancy Pearcey, Love Thy Body) This new slant on an ancient story can go one step farther as their story tells them they are “made this way.” You are just as God intended you to be. Without an awareness of the dys-orienting story, their story unknowingly gives life to evil. 

Responding with Love and Grace

What is our “godly” response to their story?  Moreover, why is it important for us to graciously respond with God’s story God’s way? Simple answer: a biblical witness and the larger Wesleyan story is shaped by love. It does not label people unsympathetically as “sinners in need of repentance.” They are, as we were; characters in a story who are “lost and need to be found.” Christian finger-pointing only cements our opposing stories into an “us versus them” narrative. Moreover, we must remember our own not-so-distant past. We embodied their story. It was our story (Col 3:7). But now, we share in the Resurrection life of Jesus. Let me state it this way; it is less than helpful to confront them on the need to be forgiven until they witness new life lived out in us. They are not an evangelism project to be implemented or a broken person to be worked on. 

The role of human-fixer is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, we model for everyone what a life “in Christ” can do to change a human being (Ezekiel 36:22-38, Jeremiah 31:31-34). We must be living-breathing-models of people who have encountered the Living God and made-new. Yes, we must reflect the Imago Dei and radiate what New Creation promises, all the while welcoming others into a new story. The Message translation of 1 Peter 3:15 says this well:

Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. 

Let’s both show and tell the story of hope, as Jesus welcomes all to eat at His table; saints and sinners. During the closing hours of Jesus’ life, the “theologians in us” long for Him to provide a solid theory of the Atonement to explain how His death on the cross takes care of the human sin problem. But instead, He graciously hosted a meal and then told a story of the re-enactment of the Passover. Yes, table fellowship with an ancient story; a story that He gets all of us into! 

Blasé Pascal, in his Pensées, writes that humans are depicted as a broken and desolate creation. But they are nevertheless not left hopeless; for they can be radically transformed through faith in God’s grace to serve the world set before them.  Here are his words of cure for the human condition: 

Men despise religion, they hate it and are afraid it might be true. To cure that, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason. That it is worthy of veneration and should be given respect. Next it should be made lovable making the good [men] wish it were true. Then show that it is indeed true. (Pascal’s Pensées)

What is my summary of Pascal? Well, really what about Jesus’ summary from John 13, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:33-34)

This is part II of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview.  (Check out Part I here) Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

What is our cosmology?

When my son Joshua was very young and I would put him to bed at night, he would say this, “Daddy, tell me a story. BUT make sure to get me into it.” 

We are indeed people of story. But first and foremost, we need an orienting story. A compelling story from which to stand and gaze upon the beautiful world. 

Genesis 1-2 is just such a story, a revelation, told by the One who was there from the beginning. Let’s summarize this Creation event with the foundational orienting principles for our story.

A Temple Text: The Creation of Heaven and Earth

Any person from the Ancient Near East would recognize that this narrative is not merely about God creating material things. It was not seen as an argument of science (evolution) versus Faith until recent days. No! Genesis 1 is a text about the creation of a temple (see John Walton, George Beale, Sandra Richter). This is the story of God creating the Heaven and the Earth as His domain in which He will rule. On the 7th Day, God (Elohim) sits down on His throne to rule. Let’s be clear, He is not tired from Creating. Rather, He now “rests” from the work He has done. The word “rest” has royal implications. He rules from heaven and the earth is His footstool (Ps 2, Ps 110). Heaven and earth are to be seen as wonderfully interweaving and overlapping. They are to be seen as One just as we and the Creator God are to be One. Unity is part of creation and new creation. And of course, the last thing done with the creation of a temple in the ANE is to place an Image of the God in the Temple. That would be Adam and Eve, that would be you and me. First orienting truth: Genesis 1 is a Temple Text; and we are His “Icons” in the middle of this orienting story.

Humans as Divine Image-Bearers

Humans are created to reflect the Image and Likeness of the King. The text of Gen 1:26-28 tells us three times; humanity (we) are created to rule-to subdue-to rule. Genesis 2, utilizing the covenant name YHWH Elohim, reports to us that in the Garden, we are to “work it” and to “take care of it.” Profoundly, this is the same job description given to the priests as they served/worshiped in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Our vocation (or if you prefer the designation “our calling”) to be rulers can be best defined as this: to reflect the Imago Dei into the world as we care for our Eden. May people see God in us as we live in the “Eden” where God has placed us. In John Chapters 1-12, 3x’s Jesus says, “I only do what I have seen the Father do. Equally, 3x’s he says, “I only say what I have heard the Father say.” This is the model for Adam-Eve as they rule, and for us as well. Paul calls this being “Christ-like.” The second orienting truth: We are to rule-care for Creation in the precise manner that God reigns from Heaven. 

Defining Good and Evil

God declares His creative acts as “Good” six times. With the creation of humans, He ups the critique, calling us “very good.” Take note that in Genesis 2:9, we are told that out of the ground, God causes to grow “fruit bearing trees that are pleasant for sight and good for food.” It is God who defines what trees are good and what are evil. This is not Adam or Eve’s role. Nor is it ours. God’s orienting story defines “good” this way, “it functions and operates according to God’s intention.” Conversely, when we push back against God’s definition of “Good”, we are not merely naughty children; we are literally un-creating God’s good order. May I humbly interject, this has everything to do with how a small yet vocal part of our society is re-writing time-honored definitions of “goodness.” Let’s not interpret this as humanity growing and progressing. Rather, we are regressing into rebellion once more, causing dysfunction to reign. The orienting story of Gen 1-2 is not primarily about God “making material things.” Rather, The Lord is speaking and ordering things according to His revelation of “Good.” Our third orienting truth: We are entrusted to rule “our Eden-like place” but God gets the final say on what is good and what is evil. 

What is Our Anthropology?

The second question upon which our story is created is this: Who are we? What is our anthropology?

Allow me to briefly interject a few Wesleyan moorings upon this theological question. 

First thought, “Does your anthropology begin at Genesis 3 or does it take seriously the orienting story of Genesis 1 and 2? Is “being human” defined by what he/she does or how God originally created them as Image Bearers and godly rulers? Many of our Reformed brothers and sisters see “humans-as-sinners” in word, thought, and deed; every minute of every day. Moreover, their approach to this sin problem will not be taken care of until we are “glorified.” This theological position reveals our vast anthropological differences. Here are three examples which should be fleshed out to fully grasp the Wesleyan story. 

Imputed vs. Imparted Righteousness

Imputed vs Imparted Righteousness. Yes, this is both a mouthful and a mind-full. In short, imputed righteousness states that a believer would only “appear” righteous as he/she stands before God; not fully made new. The narrative should be told with the full restoration of the Imago Dei in view. Imputed Righteousness has justification at the core; think “positional holiness”. Imparted righteousness points to the work that sanctification accomplishes; think “personal or actual holiness” (see 2 Cor 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”) 

Freedom from Sin: Now or Later?

In this lifetime, only freedom from the guilt of sin but not from the power of sin. The curse will not be reversed until the eschaton and not in the here and now. Our position is that in Jesus, New Creation has already begun; thus, the curse is being reversed. There are huge ramifications to this reality. Let’s look at one key aspect with reference to our story; our egalitarian position vs the generic evangelical view of a complementarian. The undergirding theological difference is this, “Has the life, suffering, death, Resurrection, Ascension of Jesus, plus the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost reversed the curse?” If not, we must ask, “What is lacking in the work of Jesus that the reign of the fall remains intact between men and women?” Nothing is lacking! We must live in the “It is Finished-ness” of Christ’s redeeming work. The reality that all humans have once again been declared equal (see, Galatians 3:28).  This is a significant element in our story and the tradition of the Wesleys. Our position on this issue reveals so much of our stand on the completeness of salvation and our renewed ecclesiology based upon Pentecost as the climax of Christ’s work and not just Easter (Acts 2: Holy Spirit coming upon men AND women). 

The Danger of De-Humanized Anthropology

Second thought is that we have often unknowingly bought into a de-humanized anthropology. We graciously excuse sinful behavior with the sarcastic remark, “Sorry. I was just being human.” May that never come from our mouths. Our anthropology must be based upon the revelation of who Jesus is as a model human being. Anything else “falls short of the glory of God.” And glory is, in part, what we are to reflect through the Imago Dei. Read Psalm 8:

1Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory  in the heavens.
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels (gods?) and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: (see Ps 2)

9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Reflecting God’s Glory

In Jesus’ priestly prayer of John 17, the exchange of “glory” is one of the primary topics. The prayer begins, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.” (17:1) Jesus continues, “I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (17:4-5). The Father and the Son mutually exchange glory.

Now begins the plot twist which makes this our most compelling part of the story, “All I have is Yours, and all You have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. (17:10). People. Humans. The disciples bring glory to Jesus. 

The Trinitarian Wesleyan Anthropology

Finally, the John 17 prayer transitions from Jesus praying for His 12 Disciples to His intercession for “all those who will believe in Jesus because of the message of the disciples” (aka, that would certainly include you and me). Shockingly, Jesus prays, “I have given them the glory that You gave to Me – that they may be One as We are One – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” This is the new creation plan of the Father and the Son; for us. This is a Trinitarian Wesleyan Anthropology. 

Our Role in God’s Grand Story

But the prayer does not climax there. Jesus explicitly reveals the purpose for us reflecting the Glory of God, “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Yes, the World will be transformed by seeing God’s Glory in us. You may say Jesus’ understanding of the human mission is too hopeful. Is too good. Maybe our anthropology is simply too small. 

Embracing Our Divine Narrative

There are many stories in the world, both ancient and modern, that discuss what it means to be a human being. Anything that falls short of Jesus and His glory, is not compelling enough. Let’s listen carefully as the world tells their stories based upon human brokenness and disorder. Then let’s proclaim clearly, graciously and a little salty the Biblical story.  Jesus gets His opportunity to tell His Story, through us. Yes, (1) through His Word, (2) the convicting Holy Spirit and (3) by us as His Image Bearers. We will glorify Him. Anything that falls short of this is inadequate to explain a proper anthropology.

Many local churches I know have as a part of their mission statement, We need to be deliberate in our churches in “making disciples  who will make disciples.” It rolls off our tongues so easily, but is demanding in actualizing. As I insisted in my last article, we must nurture and cherish the bond between word and deed, ideas and consequences, beliefs and actions. And I’m certain that the primary place where this kind of evangelizing can and must take place is the local congregation.

Engaging with a ‘Generic Christian’

Sometime ago, I was driving on Poplar Avenue, a main street in Memphis  on which the church I served for 13 years as lead pastor is located. The car ahead of me had a bumper sticker. The bumper sticker is a way for a lot of people to sow whatever seeds they want to sow in the minds of other people. Also, it is one of our dominant means of communication, to say to the world around us that we’d “rather be sailing,” or that we “love our dog.” When I got close enough to the car ahead of me to read the bumper sticker, I saw, in big letters, “I am a generic Christian.” That attracted me. I wanted to know what that meant. So, I got closer to the car, knowing that there were some smaller letters written beneath those large ones. I got dangerously close to the back of the car to read the words: “Ask me what I mean.” Well, that intrigued me even more.

I suppose my interest was whetted further by the fact that the car on which that bumper sticker was displayed was a $85,000 Mercedes. I wondered how any driver of a Mercedes could be considered a generic anything. The car turned into the carwash. I had no intention of getting a car wash that day, but my interest had so peaked that I couldn’t pass it up. So, I turned in to get my car washed also – but really to engage that fellow in conversation.

He told me that, while he was a member of a local congregation in our city, he was so tired of the denominational emphasis in so many churches that he wanted to proclaim a different kind of message that the important message was to be Christian in the generic sense, not a “brand-name Christian.”

The Need for True Discipleship

Well, he had a point. But I wonder, don’t we have too many generic Christians and not enough disciples? Sometimes the reaction to “denominationalism” can become an excuse for refusing to be involved in any actual congregation. Still, to merit the faithfulness of erstwhile generic Christians, congregations must be prepared to get deeply and truly involved in the privilege and challenge of making disciples.

Too many congregations slink into the pattern of offering episodic programs emphasizing the mission statement. I believe the more desperate need in most congregations is deliberate consistent training in the “core” of the Christian faith and what it means to be a disciple, an intentional follower of Jesus Christ. We must have a “design” for that which will move folks along in a deliberate way in their discipleship growth. Our goal is simple, but requires comment and consistency. We want our congregational members, as Christians, to be reasonably informed, reasonably inspired, and reasonably equipped.

Understanding Discipleship Evangelism

I don’t know who coined the term “discipleship evangelism.” I believe it is a good one because it names the nature of evangelism: discipleship evangelism. Reflect on what that means.

First, it means that we can’t claim Jesus as Savior without a willingness to surrender to him as Lord.

Second, it means that an emphasis on a faith which does not include fidelity to Christ’s call to walk in newness of life and to share that life with others is a distortion of the gospel. Faith which does not give attention to holy living and ethical issues, telling the truth, seeking to live morally clean lives, shunning evil, fighting personal immorality and social injustice, feeding the hungry, caring for the needy, seeking the lost, suffering for those to whom the world has said no– that kind of faith, a faith which does not give attention to holy living and ethical issues, and does not care for others, is dead (James 2:26).

Third, it means that a faith which emphasizes holy living, ethics, and good works as a saving way of life is a false faith. Does that sound contradictory to what I have just been saying? What do I mean? I mean that holy living, ethics, and good works do not save us, but rather are the evidence of the transforming work of the Spirit within us.

Designing for Discipleship Growth

Along with owning the meaning of discipleship evangelism, I repeat, we. must have a “design’ for that which will move folks along in a deliberate way in their discipleship growth. That’s the way we will move to accomplish our mission of “making disciples who make disciples.”

This is part I of a five part article outlining a Wesleyan Anthropology arising from a Biblical Worldview. Originally an oral presentation for the Wesleyan Church, it has been revised and updated for a broader Wesleyan Methodist audience.

Being retired from Indiana Wesleyan University means I no longer need to prepare 12 lectures a week or to lead faculty meetings or solve student issues as an administrator. Now, I have time to read for leisure. 

The second-best book that I have read this year was Boys in the Boat.

A Riveting Read: Boys in the Boat

Boys in the boat. It’s the story of a world class rowing team (crew) at University of Washington in the early 1930’s, climaxing in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Now, if you only saw the movie, none of what I will say makes sense. For Hollywood made an amazingly complex story into a mere sporting competition. Life is much more complicated that running (rowing) a race. 

Boys in the Boat is an intricate study of the interweaving of multiple social forces at work.

1. The North American-European geo-political interactions with pre-WWII Nazi Germany. These tensions are magnificently intermingled throughout the book; until they rise to a crescendo at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 
2. It also a complex economic study of America, especially in the American Northwest during the first half of the Great Depression.
3. The book delves into the science of weather patterns in the State of Washington, which consequently lead to the horrific Dust Bowl years of 1930-36. 
4. The book was also about the amazing art form of boat building from cedar, oak, and other native wood from virgin forests of the northwest. All trees were harvested, transported, and handmade by artisans who have developed these skills over generations.  
5. This a book about a sport that most, if not all of you have never seen in person, unless you did your PhD in England, where this still reigns alongside “football”, cricket, rugby. From an American perspective, you might be shocked to learn that “8-man crewing” in the 1930’s drew national attention on the radio and newspapers, on par with baseball and American football. 
6. Boys in the Boat also includes the psychology of human persons, the intricate mastery of the mechanics of the sport. The book goes into detail of practice after practice to perfect its time-tested techniques and strategy. It’s not to be seen as pure power but glorious team unity as a boat is not rowed “through” the water.  But rather, if done perfectly, they ride “upon” the water with harmony and symmetry.

Boys in the Boat is not a “sporting book” but a carefully researched and beautifully written anthropological study of how social, economic, cultural, and scientific forces all come together into a complex matrix. In life, every-single-thing is impacted by EVERYTHING. That is anthropology. It’s the most complex academic discipline of all, because you must be aware of all the outside forces and inner pressures which alter human decisions and shape culture.

Integrating Anthropology with Theology

Now, in our conversation today, we will make anthropology even more complex by integrating it with the metaphysical world, thus creating Theological Anthropology. And just to add to the level of complexity, “EVERYTHING” is theological. 

What does it mean that the Lord Himself is engaged in the creation and his on-going conversation with humans? Aaron Perry, in a recent email defined it this way for us, [Theological Anthropology is] “considering human beings (that is the Anthropology part) in light of the Word, work, and will of God (that is the theological part).” 

A Biblical Worldview Through Crucial Questions

For me, the best way to begin defining this God-Man conversation in Wesleyan terms is to portray it through the lens of a biblical worldview. Bill Arnold, beloved professor of Old Testament at Asbury, has created a simple model based upon our answers to 4 crucial questions:

1. 1. Where have we come from? What is our cosmology?
   2. Who are we? What is our anthropology?
   3. What has gone wrong? What is our Hamartiology?
   4. What is the solution? What is our Soteriology and Eschatology?

May I say, a helpful world view is not found in a systems theory or a philosophical argument but in a story. And our story of the world must be truly compelling. Our biblical worldview must captivate all those watching us.  Yes. In Christ, we have become a made-new person and the way we live in allegiance with this revealed worldview is the best tool for discipleship ever devised. It’s not another program – Four Spiritual Laws or Evangelism Explosion. To know the world this way is not merely an intellectual or cognitive act. It’s a full commitment to embracing the person of Jesus and His revealed truth. David DeSliva, in his book Transformation: The Heart of Paul’s Gospel says “Paul’s mission was not essentially about ‘winning souls’ . . . It was primarily about working with people to surrender themselves to the work of God, to deep and fundamental transformation whereby their lives cease to be what they were, and begin to be an extension of Christ’s own willing, being, and doing,”

So, what precisely is our compelling worldview story? First, we need to address, “Where have we come from?”

Georgia Harkness was once considered one of our most outstanding theologians.

She was certainly a brilliant thinker and spoke prophetically to the church. Here is such a word: “We must rescue evangelism from the red-light district of the ecclesiastical community.” That’s putting it unquestionably straight.

Evangelism has been prostituted for money and personal gain. That’s the reason we need to remind ourselves that the focus of evangelism must be the local congregation, not primarily the street corner, the storefront, or the television. What may be most helpful is to think of evangelism and discipleship together.

Jesus’ Charge to His Disciples

In his parting word to the disciples, Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

He spoke this word to the persons he had chosen, trained, tested, and nurtured. His charge to them was not a heavy command, “you ought to” or “you must”; not even “you should.” It was a simple statement of fact, “You will be my witnesses.”

The Great Commission

In another setting, Jesus gave his call to the early church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and remember, l am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). There’s no room for confusion about direction in this explicit instruction of our Lord. Spreading the gospel was to be top priority. No Christian was exempted from the task of disciple-making, and no aspect of life was excluded.

While the so-called great commission has been used as a foundation in evangelistic literature, and a challenge to churches to fulfill their missionary and evangelistic responsibility, it is more than that. It is a definition of the nature of mission itself. The resurrected Lord calls his disciples to “make disciples of all nations; baptizing and teaching them.”

Discipleship in Modern Evangelism

In the past three or four decades, there has been a renewed emphasis on discipleship in evangelism. One of the chief promoters of this emphasis, according to Mortimer Arias, has been the Church Growth school under the leadership of Donald McGavran; so much so that they have coined the term discipling as the verbal form to describe the evangelistic task. According to Arias, making disciples is for McGavran the specific evangelistic mission, and teaching and baptizing are left to other ministries in the church, and for a later stage in the life of the convert or disciple.

In our ongoing conversation we should note that Leslie Newbigin has charged that McGavran’s exegesis of the text will not stand scrutiny. It is clear in the original Greek that disciple the nations is the main verb, and that baptizing and teaching define what discipling’ is.(1) 

Thus, while we can agree with McGavran that discipling is the heart of evangelism, we can also agree with Newbigin, against McGavran, that discipling, and thus evangelism, includes “baptizing and teaching”.

Evangelism in Practice

This was our Lord’s definition. All too often, however, it has not been the practice of those who claim to evangelize. The evangelism of the electronic church, for example, does not seem to be too concerned about making disciples. Further, I doubt if these “trans-national corporations of evangelism,” as Mortimer Arias calls them, are taking seriously the call to make disciples, which in Jesus’ own words means “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.”

We can’t explore here the depth of all this means, but we can at least register the direction of what is implied for the local church. The Great Commission sends us back to everything Jesus taught. Certainly if we wanted a summary of the content of everything Jesus taught, it would be Jesus’ own summary of the law and the prophets and the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

The Great Commandment and the Great Commission

John R. W. Stott, the British evangelical leader, was right when he declared at the 1974 Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization: “There is no Great Commission without the Great Commandment” 

We can’t talk about evangelism in and through the local church without talking about discipleship. And we can’t talk about discipleship without talking about evangelism.

Future Reflections

I will be writing a series of reflections on discipleship and evangelism in the weeks to come. Though I may not be thorough and systematic in these articles, I will seek to underscore the core of the Christian faith and way from a Wesleyan perspective. If you have wondered, that’s the reason we are publishing on WESLEYAN ACCENT.

(1) Mission in Christ’s Way: Bible Studies (Geneva: WC C, 1987) quoted  in Arias “The Great Commision” p. 17

Don’t believe the story.  So went the surprising proclamation of DL Moody – 

Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal—a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.” “I was born of the flesh in 1837.

I was born of the Spirit in 1856.

That which is born of the flesh may die.

That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.

The evangelist who desired all to know Jesus – the story of His life, death and resurrection – knew the reality beyond the headlines of newspapers. The man knew well who he was – whose he was. Do we still know this good news today?

It can be easy to be distracted and lose focus. Today, we have more capacity to connect with whoever and whatever than at any prior point in history. With smarter devices and the digitalization of everything, the vast majority of the known information is available at our fingertips. If the headlines are right, we are on the verge of transcending knowledge in a technological utopia.

Tragically, the data does not bear this out. Studies show we have fewer close friendships than ever before, even though social media portends thousands of friends. We have more publications to choose yet close ourselves off from reporting which does not go along with our narratives. All are a short notification away, but loneliness has been declared an epidemic threat against our health. In the age of connection, we seem to be less connected than ever.

Still, the good news of Jesus persists. We are not condemned to be alone, but rather to be loved by God and others (1 John 4:7). We need not be conformed to this world any longer (Romans 12:1-2). We should not be confined to the prison of our desires and the resulting destructive habits (James 1:14-15).  

John Wesley wrote it clearly and simply:

God loves you; therefore, love and obey him. Christ died for you; therefore, die to sin. Christ is risen; therefore, rise in the image of God. Christ liveth evermore; therefore live to God until you live with him in glory.

God’s grace allows us to know ourselves as loveable. As loveable people we are capable of turning from the dark pain of our past towards the eternal life illuminated in the light of Jesus’ resurrection. Knowing, confessing, and living this truth rests our life with God for eternity. God’s love can then flow through us to others in a beautiful, gracious cycle. 

Only as individuals, we can get caught in the constant stream of information. Alone, and untethered from community, our eyes drift to the shadows which pull us down the day to day current, rather than to the eternal light of Christ which gives light to the whole world. Headlines call us to fear and division. Our cell phones vibrate with endorphin laden distractions. Babylon beckons with promises of fulfilled ambition and just out-of-reach wealth. Issues rise up and tempt us to partisanship which adds to the atmosphere of division among image bearers of God.

We do well to remember the words of Paul which were written while imprisoned by the headline makers of his days:

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Paul reminds us where to fix our gaze. True power does not reside in the temporal, but in the one who created time. True hope is not in the next vote or deal, but in the reign of Christ. We must act here and now, but followers of Jesus must live lives which are different, holy.

Followers of Jesus are in this world but not of this world. Our orientation is toward the heavenly Kingdom. Through this focus, we are able to passionately serve those around us. Minds fixed on Christ remember the heart of the issues before us are the issues of the human heart. For when we try to fix an issue without first dealing with the sin which separates us from God (and thereby the good and one another), we are not good estimators of what is actually  happening around us. Our supposed solutions to the present problems then become the problems for our children to solve. 

Wesley went on to say we are called to proclaim what the Holy Spirit has revealed to our hearts. The love of God, and by it, the love of all mankind in word and deed.

It was by a sense of the love of God shed abroad in his heart, that everyone of them was enabled to love God. Loving God, he loved his neighbor as himself, and had power to walk in all his commandments blameless. This is a rule which admits of no exception. God calls a sinner his own, that is, justifies him, before he sanctifies. And by this very thing, the consciousness of his favour, he works in him that grateful, filial affection, from which spring every good temper, and word, and work.

Wesley knew well that pursuing holiness meant a downstream blessing for all our neighbors. Allowing the Spirit to work within us means we can impact the world through love in ways the world cannot think possible. Loving our neighbor means we always see the person in every issue. We seek the heart of the person in front of us more than winning an issue. We seek truth and justice as we seek our fellow humans. We live tabernacled/incarnate lives in our neighborhood, not just in the digital footprint.

Wesley lived this out to the tune of prison, hospital, and orphanage reform. Those in his movement followed with works of abolition, ministry to alcoholics, presence amongst poverty, and combating illiteracy. The people called Methodists answered the call to draw near to all who needed the gospel. Even if it was far from the spotlight of the latest headline. Wesley knew where his citizenship was held, where his life really resided. By being so heavenly minded, he was of great earthly good.

Headlines are intended to grab attention regardless of the facts of the story or impact of the tale. In Jesus, we are grafted into a story which calls all people to love, hope and peace. Followers of Jesus still have good news worth proclaiming.  Our lives are not solely dependent on what humanity thinks and does right now. Rather, we have the knowledge of an eternal life of love, and the means of the Holy Spirit to share that love with our neighbors wherever we live – whatever the conditions.

It may not be good writing or even good grammar, but I deliberately put a question mark after the title of this article, Falling from Grace? This is a follow-up to my last article where I also put a question mark in the title Once saved always saved? Oh! Both, “falling from grace,” and “once saved always saved,” have to be questioned.

I closed my last article by suggesting that whether we can or can’t fall is not as important a question as whether we do or don’t. I continue the discussion here because the issue is important.

In our Wesleyan Methodist tradition, we talk about going on to salvation, because Salvation is a journey – the climax of which is being saved to the utmost, which comes through sanctifying grace, giving us power over sin. But that raises an opposite point: that there may be sin in the life of the believer.

That thought calls for a clear understanding of what we mean by sin. Wesley meant by sin “an actual, voluntary transgression of the law;… acknowledged to be such at the time it is transgressed.” Wesley always left open the possibility of involuntary sin, which he felt did not bring God’s condemnation. But to sin willfully in a continuous way certainly jeopardizes our salvation, for it separates us from God.

With that understanding the case was clear for Wesley. We may “fall from grace” and forfeit our justification, but we don’t have to. Whether we can or can’t fall is not as important a question as whether we do or don’t.

It helps our understanding to stay aware of two major principles. First, there is the principle of the abiding potential of evil within our lives – the old way of sin, which remains latent even in regenerated persons. Second, there is the principle of our absolute dependence on God. Even after we have been converted, we can do no good by ourselves, but must rely completely on the Spirit of God which performs the good in us and through us.

That means we must give ourselves to moral and spiritual discipline. As Christians, we repent daily, and cast ourselves on God’s grace. We grow in that grace and move from the threshold of faith – our justification by God – toward the fullness of grace, our sanctification. And all along that journey, we can be kept from falling from grace, kept from forfeiting our justification by the glorious assurance of which, with Fanny Crosby, we sing,

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood.