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Sep 13, 2015

Sunday's Message: John Wesley and Conversion

Sunday's Message: John Wesley and Conversion

Passage: Romans 5:1-11

Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

Series: Saving Grace

Category: Grace

Keywords: conversion, grace, john wesley

Brought up in a parsonage in 18th Century England, John Wesley (the founder of Methodism) learned from early on that it is important to live our faith. But his soul was deeply restless. He begged a friend to help him figure out why he did not feel that he had faith. Yes, you read that right. John Wesley struggled with his faith. He often thought he didn’t have enough faith – or maybe no faith at all. On May 24, 1784, Wesley experienced a “conversion of the heart.”

John Wesley had no intention of starting a church. He had every intention of starting a movement within the Church of England out of a conviction that many worshipers had become apathetic and complacent, simply going through the motions. Wesley and his followers adopted a style of preaching that was intended to kindle enthusiasm and help the listeners to feel the fire of the Holy Spirit. Wesley himself remained a priest in the Church of England until his death.

We talked not long ago of the fact that John and Charles Wesley grew up in an Anglican parsonage, and both of them “went into the family business,” becoming priests. However, John’s entry into the priesthood was not without its challenges. When John began his ministry, his practice of faith was stiff and legalistic. I believe it is not too strong to say that his was a faith based on works – or what is known as “works-righteousness.” His faith was demanding.

About a year after his ordination in 1728, John was called back to Oxford’s Lincoln College to serve out his fellowship there, as a lecturer and tutor, and it was at that time in his life that he founded the Holy Club. This club met regularly to examine each other’s lives and confess their sins to each other. The Club also spent a great deal of time ministering with the poor and visiting those who were in prison. Sounds good – right? Sounds like they were practicing faithful discipleship.

However, this ministry was laden with an underlying need to do what they did in order to receive God’s favor. In a biography of John on the Oxford University website is a telling statement: [Samuel] was concerned about John's yearning to reach Christian perfection, his stiff regulations and graveness. His faith became obsessive rather than life-giving.

During a rather long period of his life, Wesley was frustrated in his ministry. He failed miserably in a mission to Georgia and returned to England sad and broken. He said of himself, “I was indeed fighting continually, but not conquering … I fell and rose, and fell again.” and even more telling, “I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall convert me? who, what is He that will deliver me from this evil heart of mischief? I have a fair summer religion.” –Journal, January 24, 1738.

However, it was on that return trip from North America in December of 1737, that Wesley met a group of Moravian Christians whose faith was a comfort to them during a terrible storm, and a season of spiritual searching began.

With the same kind of obsessive persistence, Wesley began attending Moravian society meetings. On May 24, 1738, Wesley wrote:

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

Wesley’s “conversion” was not a conversion of the kind we often talk about today. He was always a Christian. This was not the night when he “met the Lord.” It was the day that he fully embraced a gospel of grace and was able to articulate a new theology that proclaimed the biblical message that we don’t earn our way into heaven by doing good works. Jesus already did that for us. We do good works and seek to become more like Christ because of God’s gift to us in Christ. His faith became real to him in a way that it had never been before.

We are a busy, busy church. We are busy, busy Christians. It seems that busy-ness is in our DNA as United Methodists, planted there by John Wesley himself. When I’m really honest about this, I sometimes wonder if we ever get beyond John’s works-righteousness period. We wear busy-ness like a badge of honor. We speak of doing church work rather than seeing what we do as ministry. Of even greater concern to me is that I wonder when and if some of us find the time to grow spiritually.

Wesley learned how important it was to move deep into the scriptures, to spend time learning and meditating on God’s word – to move closer to God in our lives. One of the most important disciplines Wesley taught was worship. However, he would say then and now that it is just as important to meditate and study both privately and in a group. Discipleship that plays out in works alone is not sustainable because it is not being nourished by our daily bread – spiritual growth through scripture and deepening our walk with God. Good works are great – important -- necessary. And they will lead to burnout if that’s the sum and substance of our faith.

So, I want to spend just a few moments right now asking an important question. When was the last time your heart was strangely warmed? When was a time when you felt that you did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation? When did you feel assured? When have you felt close to Christ? When has your relationship with Christ deepened?

Would anyone like to share a warm heart moment? Please be sure you are focused on your relationship with God and not simply focused on doing something that made you feel good.