Study Guide: "Living Like Captain Ahab"

Text: 1 Peter 1:13-17

OPEN:

Perhaps the best known fishing story in all of literature is Herman Melville's 1851 epic pursuit of the white whale Moby Dick by Captain Ahab. Ishmael narrates the voyage of the whaleship Pequod and its captain's crazed pursuit of the whale Moby Dick, which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg below the knee.  Ahab's life becomes one of relentless pursuit.

Peter tells us in 1:13-16 that you and I are to live like Captain Ahab. We, too, are to be in relentless pursuit. Not seeking revenge, but a much higher and nobler mission--the pursuit of holiness. In very clear language, Peter demands that every believer is to be on mission; our mission is to be holy. But like an unexpected twist in a plot, Peter explains that a holy life is something we pursue from the inside out.

I. The Pursuit of Holiness Is All Consuming (v. 13).

"Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed."

Peter describes in detail what is required for this all-consuming pursuit of holiness:

  1. "Therefore" connects this verse with the preceding ones that tell us that our perseverance in our faith to the end authenticates the reality of our faith.

In other words, Peter clues us that he is about to describe in detail exactly what will be required of us in order that "the genuineness of our faith--being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1:7).

  2. "Prepare your minds for action"

 The KJV reads, "having girded up the loins of your mind."

"Girding up the loins" refers to the long, loose robes worn by Orientals, which are drawn up and belted at the waist when one wanted to walk or work with energy.

The expression is used here figuratively with reference to the mind, which includes thinking as well as the resultant 'willing.' 

Instead of allowing our thoughts, purposes, and decisions to hang loose while we move leisurely and recklessly along in life as impulse and occasion may move them, the readers are admonished to gird up our minds like people who are energetically set on going somewhere.

Instead of mentally idling, drifting along and being pulled toward this and that momentary attraction, we are called to develop a rigorous thought life.

"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).

  3. "Discipline yourselves"

This is translated elsewhere as "be self-controlled" and "be sober."

This word "discipline" means the opposite of infatuation with the world.  This is a calm, steady state of mind that weighs and analyzes things, and thus enables one to make a right decision.

This is the opposite of "if it feels good, do it." This mindset refuses to bend to the moment and stays committed to developing a longterm pattern of right thinking.

illus:

Jay Walker-Smith, President of the Marketing Firm Yankelovich, says that in this country we have gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970's to as many as 5,000 a day today.

Without mental discipline, it is easy to have our morality, spirituality, swept away into thought patterns that do not align with godly thinking and a holy lifestyle.

  4. "Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring when he is revealed."

"Hope" is a key word in this letter.  This is not wishful thinking.  A better translation may be "confident expectation."

We are convinced of the truth, therefore we put it into practice even before we can see the end result.

Because we are convinced that Christ is real, and that his way is best, we refuse to be sidetracked into the prevailing mentality of our day; we discipline our minds in such a way that it promotes a godly lifestyle.

Peter gives us a picture that paints a dramatic comparison for us to consider:

"Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance" (v. 14).

The comparison is between children & adults, between immaturity & maturity.

Children live according to their feelings at any given moment.  They have to be trained over time to develop good behavior.  They cannot be left to their immature impulses.

Mature Adults supposedly live according to a higher level of decision making.  Adults are able to weigh the consequences of their behavior, and then act accordingly.

This does not come naturally, it comes from consistent and relentless training/discipline.

Lord of the Flies is one of those books that is required reading in most high school English courses.  Written by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, it tells the story of a group of British boys stuck on an uninhibited island who try to govern themselves with disastrous results. The leader, Ralph, asserts three primary goals, the first of which is to have fun. Things deteriorate from there. It is a dark portrayal of what happens when children are left to themselves.

We see amazing parallel with what has become accepted behavior in this country--people left to themselves, living & choosing on the basis of what is right for me at this moment, without any regards for the rights of others or even what is best for me in the long run.  I see this struggle in my adolescent daughters. God expects something entirely different from his children.

II. The Pursuit of Holiness Proceeds From the Inside-Out (vv. 15-16).

"Instead, as he who calls you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"

Holiness is normally though of in terms of things you don't do:

dictionaryofchristianese.com contains an article on the topic:

"Christians don't smoke or chew, or go with girls who do."

This actually comes from a quote by Abraham Lincoln: "Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't chew. Don't swear. Don't gamble. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Love your fellow man, as well as God. Love truth. Love virtue, and be happy."

If we're not careful, Christianity is known more by what we don't do, than what we do. That is not what Peter is telling us.

According to Peter, holiness is something that works itself out from the center.

  1. Every act of obedience is the result of a previous internal decision.

Notice the sequence: willful discipline of mind/heart "prepare your minds for action" > "do not be conformed"

"So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you to be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out, so that you may be able to endure it." 

(1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

If you have to stop and decide on the basis of the moment, all is lost.  Right acting is the natural and inevitable result of right thinking.

    2. Our example is God: "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (v. 16)

God always acts out of who he is.

Behavior follows identity, not the other way around.

This is acting out of who we are.

Make the choice to belong to God, discipline yourself to think like you belong to God, and then you will act like you belong to God.

CLOSE:

A holy life is something we pursue from the inside out.  This order is absolutely critical.

Thomas Kelly set high standards for his life, desiring excellence in all areas. Born into a Quaker family in Ohio in 1893 and educated at Harvard. While a student, Kelly said to a professor, "I am going to make my life a miracle!" He drove himself to the point of a complete breakdown until, in 1937, he had an experience with God that ended the strain and striving. I stead of obsessing over his behavior, his efforts were now aimed at developing an intimacy with God rather than working for God.

When Christ becomes to us everything, we will desire Him more than anything else.  We will guard our thoughts and intentionally develop the muscle of our mind in a godly direction.  Then, when the test comes, we will quite naturally prove that we belong to God.

1) What is revealed about you when the test comes?

2) What are you doing to develop your thinking now, so that right behavior follows? 

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Study Guide: "Weighing In"

Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9

OPEN:

The key verse in this passage is verse 7:

“so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious 

                    than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be    

                    found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus

                    Christ is revealed.”

I’m afraid there is a lot of confusion and even misunderstanding about what the Bible explicitly means when it refers to the security of the believer.  Peter believes in the security of the believer in a way that almost no one does today.  It believes so strongly in eternal security that it says we verify the fact that we were truly born again in the past if we hold firm to that faith to the end.

What Peter is saying is essentially this: Genuine faith perseveres to the end and, therefore, perseverance authenticates our profession of faith.

I.  INCLUDES A STRONG STATEMENT ABOUT GETTING STARTED (vv.3-5) (Starting point is called "salvation")

     1.  Genuine Salvation is Entirely a Thing of Mercy, Not Good Works.(v.3)

*This is a crucial point and must be kept in mind as we unfold Peter’s  meaning of the perseverance of the saints.

a.  “By His great mercy. . . “

“Mercy” comes from the Greek word eleos, meaning "clemency, the moral quality of feeling compassion and showing kindness toward someone in need."

“Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  

Empowered and made possible by the resurrection.  The crucifixion was essential but made complete by the resurrection.  Never settle for a cross without an empty tomb.

     2. Genuine salvation is accompanied by enduring security.(v.4)

         a.  “Into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,

               kept in heaven for you.”

            - Cannot/will not diminish, end, lose its power and significance.

            - Inheritance never fading – security; kept in heaven – eternal.

Ephesians 2:4-7: 

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

     3. Genuine salvation provides divine protection. (v. 5)

         a.  “who through faith are shielded by God’s power.”

This is why we are called to leave our comfort zones as Christians. 

This promise protection is not a protection from harm, disaster, crisis, disappointment, illness, even death – Americans have a false and erroneous concept of God’s promises and obligations.  If you take issue with this, talk to Job/Read Hebrews 11:32-38 (emphasis on vv.35b-38).

It is protection from losing your inheritance/salvation which is kept for you in heaven. *Nothing external can steal away your salvation.  Satan cannot take it from you.

II. EMPHASIS UPON A STRONG STATEMENT ABOUT FINISHING (vv.6-9)

     1.  Genuine salvation motivates us to persevere through all kinds of trials. (v.6)

          a.  “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may

                have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

This is the Greek term dei, which means required or necessary when connected to a conditional sentence.  Peter is stating that godly living will result in persecution. He repeats this theme of persecution often in this letter.

Our eternal security helps us keep rejoicing when all around us we find no natural reasons to rejoice.

Phil. 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: rejoice!”

     2.  Our perseverance or lack of it reveals the authenticity or falseness of our faith in Christ. (v.7)

                   “so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious 

                    than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be    

                    found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus

                    Christ is revealed.”

         a. This passage is really all about proof.

Illus:

No doubt you've heard of and probably have used the phrase "the proof is in the pudding."  The phrase dates back to at least 1615 when Miguel de Cervantes published Don Quixote. In this novel, the phrase is stated as "The proof of the pudding is the eating."  The point of the term is that one cannot determine how good a dessert will be during preparation or based on appearance. How good a dessert will be can only be determined by the final taste. 

*What would the conclusion be if you do not hold fast to the end?  Not – you stopped being a partaker of Christ.  The conclusion that follows is – you never were.

Genuine salvation is fought for, lived out day-by-day, not coasting your way to glory on the basis of some past event you can barely remember.

There are no doubt unsaved church members who are right next to the grace of God.  They’ve heard good preaching, been baptized, taken the Lord’s Supper, their lives have been moral externally, been touched and healed by prayers of other people, been lavished with the love of God by people around them, seen miracles, and yet they are lost, never having been partakers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus talked about this in the parable of the soils (Mt. 13:3-23)

- on the path (birds ate), rocky places (quick start but sun withered), among thorns (choked plants)

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23 KJV)

- prophesy (preachers), drive out demons & miracles (miracle workers)

- Not known by Jesus never having partaken of Christ

b.  What shall we do to persevere?  Make perseverance your life.

The Christian life is not coasting, it is fighting, the fight of faith.

John Piper: “This is the problem with so much teaching about eternal security today.  ‘I remember when you were 6, you prayed the prayer.’  The New Testament is filled with the necessity of perseverance.  We’re on a long journey of Christlikeness, more to be treasured, desired, counted on, hoped in than anything the world can offer.”

So many of us treat Christianity like a vaccination rather than a lifelong therapy.  I receivd a Smallpox vaccination when I was in elementary school.  They used what looked like a machine gun, and it left a nasty scar.  Do you have one of those?  But I haven’t looked to see if it’s still there for about 10 years.

How do you think Christ feels about being treated like a vaccination?  “I got saved/vaccinated against hell way back there.  I haven’t looked at it for 10 years but I’m secure.”  Jesus did not come into this world, live a sinless life, die a cruel death on a cross, spend three days in hell, raised himself from the dead top be treated like a vaccination.  He came into this world to be magnified in my life and your life day-by-day, hour-by-hour!

3.  Our perseverance greatly glorifies Jesus Christ and is to be the goal of our lives. (v.7b)

a.  “may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Whose praise, glory and honor?  Ours?  Never! Jesus Christ’s.

      

Here’s the bottom line :

"All of creation, all of redemption, all of church, all of history is about one main thing: the glory of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.  It’s about the supreme value and beauty of Christ, the sufferings of Christ, the power of Christ, the wisdom of Christ."

Now, if that’s true (and it is), if that’s what my life and your life is about, this church is about, this city is about, history is about, all of creation is about, all of redemption is about, does it begin to make sense that Christ would design the Christian life so that you can’t treat security like a vaccination, but like a day-by-day, fight to the finish, in each other’s face exhortation of Jesus to remain unstained by the world and true to Christ?

        b.  “For you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (v.9)

Salvation is viewed in the NT as a decision made, but also as an ongoing process with a future consummation (called “glorification”)

If we only have a past orientation – I got fixed back there and now I’m safe – Jesus gets no glory from that.  And make no mistake about it, He means to be glorified now and the way he is glorified is when we live our salvation openly day-by-day, living like Jesus is great, more than anything else.

CLOSE:

At the end of the fishing, everything comes down to results.  This is often called "weighing in" -- calculating the size and number of the catch.  Results matter, especially if you went out to catch dinner!

Results matter most when it comes to living out our faith.  It matters so much that Scripture tells us that only the real thing, authentic faith, will make it through all the trials of life and endure to the end.  Shaky churchgoing that peters out when the going gets tough simply reveals that there was nothing of substance to start with.  

So, why not put it to the test right now?

Have you given your life to Jesus Christ?

Are you walking with Him in a love relationship?

Is your heart tender toward the ways & Word of God?

Genuine faith perseveres to the end and, therefore perseverance authenticates our profession of faith.

Study Guide: "INTRODUCTION TO LIFE LESSONS FROM A LIFELONG FISHERMAN"

Text: 1 Peter 1:1-2

OPEN:

Today, we begin a new series of messages that I've entitled, "Life Lessons from a Lifelong Fisherman." We will study a small letter that the Apostle Peter wrote near the end of his life.  It contains some amazingly practical advice for Christian living and church life, but we shouldn't be surprised at such down-to-earth advice from such a down-to-earth kind of guy.  After all, Peter was an earthy fisherman when Jesus called him to be his disciple, and Peter never fully abandoned his love for the sea.  His vocabulary may have cleaned up (thank Heaven), but he never forgot his roots as a fisherman.

In the first couple of verses of 1 Peter, the aging fisherman gets right to the heart of what matters most in life--grace! "May grace and peace be yours in abundance" (v. 2b).

Immediately, when reading the statement in verse 2 (”grace and peace be yours in abundance”) I have a serious problem.  The problem is produced by knowing the context of this letter:

1. Its author was no stranger to trouble.

This is a letter written by Peter, one of Jesus’ original 12 apostles.  He was the one named Simon that Jesus renamed “Rocky” on the basis of his confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

As Eugene Peterson writes by way of introduction to Peter’s letters, "Peter seems to have been a natural leader, commanding the respect of his peers by sheer force of personality. In every listing of Jesus' disciples, Peter's name is invariably first." 

Peter exerted enormous influence in the early church due to his relationship with Jesus and forceful, if not erratic, personality. By virtue of his position, he was easily the most powerful figure in the Christian community.

Peter knew persecution firsthand.  Beaten and jailed, Peter had been threatened often and had seen fellow believers jailed and die and the church scattered.

This letter was written by Peter while he was in Rome not long before his death at the hands of Nero in 64 AD.

2. The recipients of the letter were familiar with trouble too.

Persecution of the early Christians began in Jerusalem at the hand of Jewish leaders, then spread to the rest of the world and climaxed when Rome wanted to rid the Empire of those who refused to bow to Caesar as god. The early Christians were persecuted for basically four reasons:

1) They refused to worship the emperor as God—so they were labeled ‘atheists.’

2) They refused to worship at pagan temples—business fell off from lack of idol sales.

3) They were accused of being cannibals—eating the body and drinking the blood of Jesus.

4) They were accused of being immoral—“agape or love feasts”—like the mystery cults.

Nero blamed all the problems of the decaying Roman Empire on the Christians—used them as human candles to light his gardens.  Blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians.

Peter wrote to the church scattered and suffering for their faith, giving comfort and hope, and urging continued loyalty to Christ.

So, how can Peter speak of abundant living to this persecuted audience?  Seems like he is adding insult to injury.  The key to understanding this is your point of reference.

- If the American Dream is your point of reference for prosperity, success, and abundance, what Peter writes (and the rest of the Bible, for that matter) will make no sense to you.

- If, however, Jesus Christ is your point of reference, Peter’s instruction will make perfect sense and will form a roadmap for navigating difficult waters.

What we can say is that according to Peter, believers are actually chosen by and set apart for God to experience God’s fullness and abundance.

Irenaeus, 3rd Century Bishop of Lyons said, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive.”  

In other words, God’s glory is most clearly seen in you and I living lives of abundance.

Jesus himself declares, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and live it to the full.” (John 10:10)

So, what is this abundance we are supposed to have?

I. BELIEVERS HAVE SPIRITUAL ABUNDANCE (v. 2)

“Grace… be yours in abundance”

To understand this aspect of our abundance, look back to verse 1.

 

"Exiles"

Parepidemoi=persons belonging to some other land and people, who are temporarily residing with a people to whom they do not belong.  There are for the time being aliens, foreigners, not natives.  Aliens are often held in contempt by the natives among whom they dwell.  Yet, despite this estimate of the natives, Peter exalts his readers far above the natives among whom they live.

"Chosen"

“Chosen and destined by God… to be obedient to Jesus Christ.”

There is obviously something incredibly special about being chosen.

Rom 8:33, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?”

Col 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…”

Eph 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

Destined

“Foreknowledge” is prognosin, from which we get our word “prognosis.”  It is a compound word in Greek made up of pro—before; gnosis—to know intimately.

This is makes us the object of loving care.  God literally loves us to himself.

Jesus died for us while we were still alienated from God (Rom 5:6-10).

He also set us apart for himself as his own unique possession.  This is the sanctifying work Peter speaks of in 1:2 (“sanctified by the Spirit”).  

"And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses; erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands.  He set this aside, nailing it to the cross."(Colossians 2:13-14, NRSV)

Here’s what grace is—God knew all about us and chose us anyway, forgave us and declared us righteous in Christ before we ever knew him.

This is not based on anything in us; it is all by the mercy and love of God.

This is abundant life—all our sins forgiven—an infinite number of new beginnings/fresh starts.

II. BELIEVERS HAVE EXPERIENTIAL ABUNDANCE (v. 2).

“Peace be yours in abundance.”

Eirene (peace)=harmony, balance, everything in its place.

1. God wants to help sort your life, put everything in its place with himself surrounding us.  

This peace is much more than the absence of conflict.

Jn 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Phil 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the

peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your 

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Picture this as a circle with a dot in the center.  We are the dot and Christ is the sphere around us.

Acts 17:28, “For in him we live and move and have our being.”

Nothing gets to the dot without first passing through the circle. God is truly in control.

Hannah Whithall Smith: “The darkness of our doubts or our fears, of our sorrows, or our despair, or even of our sins, cannot hide us from him, although it may, and often does, hide him from us.”

2. Joy comes from surrendering to his control.  

He is in control—that’s not up for debate or question.  The secret is to surrender to that control.

Mt 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (in other words, ‘everything good from God will be theirs’). 

The meaning of ‘meek’ is that of the horse that is “broken”/trained, still with all the strength and fire but under control—not “sacking out” but ‘Join-Up.’

This was Job’s difficult lesson (Job 38-41)

CLOSE:

When you have this kind of abundance, you have everything!

Believers are actually chosen by and set apart for God so that we may experience God’s fullness and abundance.

God loves us to himself.

He is the Good Shepherd, not a cattle herder.

He draws us to himself.

God’s grace is our spiritual abundance.

Surrendering to God’s control provides experiential abundance.

How would you describe your life?  

Miserable and miserly or abundant and flowing?

What do you need to do to move into abundance?

Receive & relish God’s grace and live like the chosen, forgiven, holy person that you are in Christ,

Surrender to God’s control—acknowledge on an ongoing basis his control and bow to his leadership.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)

Dramatic Portrayal of John Wesley

All are invited to tomorrow's worship service and dramatic portrayal of John Wesley.  The dramatic monologue will conclude our series, "Summer With the Wesleys." Worship begins at 10 am.

Study Guide: Wesley and Global Ministry

Text: Acts 1:1-8

OPEN:

“I look on all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”

“The world is my parish.” This well-known quote of John Wesley, founder of Methodism, is familiar to most Methodists. Beyond that, we don’t often give a lot of thought to Wesley and missions since he did not write extensively on the topic of international missions. He himself did go as a missionary to the colony of Georgia. That did not go so well for him, although a statue of Wesley in Savannah attests to that part of his life that set him on the search that culminated in his heart-warming experience at Aldersgate. 

Wesley’s teaching and practice of the Christian faith have significant implications for Christian mission. There are three that are most significant and much-needed approaches in global mission today.

I. Wesley Taught That God is at Work All Around Us. 

Wesley called prevenient grace that which acts in a person prior to his or her acceptance of Christ. "It is the grace that allows us to breathe, that keeps the planets spinning, and, most significantly, enables us to respond to God’s invitation to salvation. While the usual application of prevenient grace is to the individual, if applied to cultures, it has a major impact on how we approach missions. If God’s grace is already active in a culture prior to the sharing of the gospel, then we should expect to see signs of that already embedded in the culture. So a key missionary task is uncovering where God’s grace has been working and allow that to be the starting point for expanding on what the full gospel means in that cultural context." (Jim Ramsey)

One mission statesman tells of a T-shirt he had seen of a mission team which stated, “Taking Jesus from Texas to Costa Rica.” He goes on to say that if we think we are taking the gospel or even God himself to another culture, we are apt not to look for where God has already been at work. We need to remember God’s prevenient grace has been active long before we got there, giving witness to himself. 

- The job of the missionary and our opportunity is to identify and work within the currents his grace has already created. (Jim M. Ramsay is Vice President for Mission Ministries at The Mission Society.  - See more at: http://goodnewsmag.org/2013/12/john-wesley-and-missions/#sthash.FBKwdHgU.

- Henry Blackaby says that God is always at work all around us and our task is to recognize what God is doing and join Him in it.

II. Wesley Preached an Holistic Gospel. 

Missions of the 20th century was often characterized by an unfortunate dichotomy in the thinking of Western Christians between social concerns and evangelism. Mission groups tended to focus on one or the other exclusively and even disparaged those who focused on the other. Throughout his life, Wesley demonstrated no such dichotomy. His movement was characterized by evangelism – unapologetically calling people to repentance and to faith in Christ. But it also included a commitment to the poor and marginalized.

Wesley wrote, “The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.” 

Missions with a Wesleyan understanding suggests that we cannot restrict our concern only to the salvation of souls, but must also be seeking for full transformation of the culture, addressing social issues such as poverty and justice. Social transformation should be a natural outflow of personal repentance and commitment to Christ. At the same time, an emphasis only on justice issues without recognition of the need for repentance and the power of the Holy Spirit is also incomplete and will not bring about the true transformation that only the gospel can provide.

Wesley taught that people must be Christians in both word and deed, which were to express the love of God. He believed that Christians must grow in God's grace, which first prepares us for belief, then accepts us when we respond to God in faith, and sustains us as we do good works and participate in God's mission. John Wesley not only preached about works of mercy, he "practiced" what he preached. He:

- lived modestly and gave all he could to help people who were poor

- visited people in prison and provided spiritual guidance, food, and clothing to them

- spoke out against slavery and forbade it in Methodism

- founded schools at the Foundery in London, Bristol, and Newcastle

- published books, pamphlets, and magazines for the education and spiritual edification of people

- taught and wrote about good health practices and even dispensed medicine from his chapels

John Wesley was prolific in his correspondence. Wesley's last letter was to William Wilberforce, who had been converted under Wesley's ministry and was a member of Parliament. Wesley expressed his opposition to slavery and encouraged Wilberforce to take action. Parliament finally outlawed England's participation in the slave trade in 1807.

February 24, 1791

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant, John Wesley

*Missions is a necessity, not an option.

John Wesley:

“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrines, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”

Emil Bruner: "The church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning."

III. Wesley was Passionate that All Can Know Christ. 

Wesley agreed with the understanding that, while God is fully sovereign, he chose to give humankind free will. Christ died to make salvation accessible to all people, and his prevenient grace gives all the possibility of responding positively to this offer. 

This understanding impacts the motivation for mission:

- Are we serving in missions simply due to a duty we have to fulfilling God’s predetermined purposes? - Or has God invited us into his mission and heart that “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4)?

He calls us to be the conveyers of this good news. 

His ultimate purposes will be accomplished, yet our obedience to his call does make a difference in the lives of people. 

When one considers that nearly one third of the world’s population – roughly about two billion people – have yet to even hear the name of Jesus, one can’t help but wonder what the cost of disobedience to that call has been over the past 2,000 years.

It is critical that we understand the Concentric circles of mission in Acts 1:8;  Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, World.

- This means sharing the Gospel with those who are just like me, with those who are similar to me but different (language, etc.), and with those who are nothing like me.

- This does not detail a linear progression. These are concentric circles. We are called to be engaged in all three at the same time

CLOSE:

Those in the Wesleyan tradition have a great legacy and great opportunity in Christian mission. Motivated by God’s desire that all should have the opportunity to respond to him, we look upon the entire world as our parish and responsibility. We see where God has already been active in the culture and seek to connect that to a full understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ. As people encounter Christ, we too embrace them, helping disciple them to experience the transformation that God desires for individuals and communities.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)