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Stand Firm in the Faith: Sermon on Wesley for Heritage Sunday
Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 8:34-38; Hebrews 10:22a,23-25

    John Wesley had a dilemma. It was late in March of 1739, and he had an important decision to make. Should he stay where he was or move? George Whitefield, his friend and fellow preacher, was moving to Wales and had asked him to come to Bristol to preach and serve God in that city.  Wesley already had a fruitful ministry in Oxford and in London.  Whitefield was persistent; he knew they’d both been banned from preaching in Anglican pulpits - they’d been informed that they were too enthusiastic.  Their zeal made people who were used to long, intellectual, somber services uncomfortable. 
     Whitefield wrote to Wesley, saying, “I rejoice sincerely in your great success in preaching the gospel of our dear Redeemer. I wish you would come here to Bristol at the end of next week.” Then in a postscript, he added, “It is already advertised in today’s journal.” 
      Wesley chose to go but found himself shocked at what he discovered.  Whitefield had been holding preaching services outdoors!  He wrote in his journal, “I can scarcely reconcile myself to this strange way of preaching in open air.  All my life I have been tenacious in every point to do all things decently and in order. I thought saving souls in this manner was almost a sin because it was not being done inside a church.”
     For us that isn’t a dilemma. Churches these days have outdoor worship; outdoor stadiums host music concerts and Christian conferences.   The first to do that on a grand scale was Billy Graham, who held open air crusades in major cities around the world. What seems acceptable to us felt scandalous in 18th-century England for Wesley. “Field preaching”, as it came to be called, wasn’t illegal… but it was seen as highly irregular and often associated with fanatics or heretics.  Wesley’s caution was warranted.  
     Nevertheless, he agreed to try it.   He’d seen Whitefield preach to a massive crowd who were greatly moved by his message.   He wrote, “At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highway the glad tidings of salvation speaking from a small hill near the city to about 3000 people. The scripture I quoted and preached on was: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ " (Luke 4:18-19)
     That first outdoor evangelistic preaching, to mostly coal miners and their families, marked the beginning of what’s now known as one of the greatest revival movements in the history of western Christianity. Did you know that outdoor preaching marked the start of what’s come to be known as Methodism?
      I’ve preached many, many sermons over the years, but most have happened inside the walls of a church.  This has come home to me in recent weeks as I’ve been sorting through three tall filing cabinets in preparation for moving. I cannot count how many thick folders I’ve accumulated, each containing ministry resources.  A good portion of what I’ve kept from my files includes past sermons and weekly bulletins.  
     It’s been nostalgic for me as I’ve looked through tangible reminders of what God’s helped me do as I’ve served in local churches. This week I found myself curious about what’s been said about John Wesley’s sermons.  What made them so compelling?  My not-so-secret hope was that perhaps I’d discover my messages had things in common with Wesley’s.
     I learned that he did five things consistently and effectively in his sermons. First, he had an incredible ability to communicate with everyday people.  He wrote in the introduction to his first book of published sermons, “I design plain truth for plain people; I abstain from all philosophical speculations and intricate reasonings.  I labor to avoid words that are not easy to understand or used in common life.”  Simply put, he was very effective in communicating God’s truths with ordinary people. 
     Another hallmark of Wesley’s preaching was his firm belief in the Bible’s authority. He was as widely read as any academic of his time, but he chose to be “a man of one book”, the Bible.  He said he preached the “whole counsel of God”; he allowed no other rule, whether of faith or practice, other than the Holy Scriptures.  Every one of Wesley’s sermons is based on biblical texts, but if you or I read them we’d likely find them dry, not dynamic.  What historians have discovered is that he was lively and engaging; he used many illustrations in his sermons, usually things his audience could see nearby, that illumined God’s word.  What also came across was Wesley’s deep care for the people he met; they saw that he was genuine, and what we’d call “accessible” today.  
     Something else that distinguished Wesley as a preacher was his work ethic.  Anyone worth their salt, as the expression goes, knows that effective sermons are the result of considerable effort.  He was exceptional in the quantity and quality of messages he wrote during his 53 years of ministry.  He wrote 40,000 sermons, sometimes four a day, and he wrote or edited about 400 books and pamphlets.   It was a labor of love. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he shared the good news of Jesus Christ far and wide, travelling some 250,000 miles on horseback or by carriage.  
      Wesley boldly preached until he was 83 years old!  On one occasion he told his lay preachers, “…you have nothing to do but to save souls…Therefore, spend and be spent in this work and with all your power build them up in holiness.”  Wesley counted on his lay people gathering new believers into small groups called “classes” or “bands”.  Each was composed of 12 to 20 members, both men and women, mixed by age, social standing, and spiritual readiness.  They made a covenant to “do good, avoid all known sin”, and strive to regularly attend worship, read the Bible, and pray daily.  Under the direction of a trained leader, they gave an honest account of their week, confessed their sins to one another, and were held accountable for growing in holiness.  They cared for one another holistically, helping one another through hardships, temptations, and loss. 
     If you wanted to go to the weekly public society meeting – which everyone did - your attendance in small groups was non-negotiable.  To be admitted, you had to show the ticket you got each week with a Bible verse printed on it.  Just as an example, in 1742 in one society in London, there were 426 members, divided into 65 classes.  Eighteen months later, that same society had 2,200 members, all of whom were in classes where each week they spoke openly and honestly about the true state of their soul.      
     This small group strategy designed by John Wesley for developing disciples of Jesus was very effective.  It’s an example of how he put his organizational gifts to work in fulfilling the Great Commission Jesus gave to his followers before returning to heaven.   Circuit riders were sent out to cover a certain territory, to preach the gospel and then form small groups so they could be taught “how to obey Christ’s commands”.  He once wrote, “I am more and more convinced that the devil himself desires nothing more than this, that the people of any place should be half-awakened and then left to themselves to fall asleep again.”    
      Wesley had another well-known saying: “There is no such thing as solitary religion.”  He knew that just as inward spiritual transformation takes place in community, societal transformation can happen when the church unites to make a difference. We are each called to be compassionate, to help meet the needs of the hungry, the homeless, the sick and lonely, but there’s also a great need for justice and mercy at a societal level. Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and ask people why there’s insufficient food, then organize and act to address the causes of our neighbors’ hunger. Christians are commanded to care for the vulnerable, the voiceless, and outcasts by alleviating their suffering and by being the voices that ask public officially why things are the way they are, until we home in on how to change what’s broken or begin something new. Wesley knew that when people saw one person compassionately helping another in need, but wanting no recognition or payment, it amazed people and made them curious. And when a group of people called Christians organized to reform unjust practices (in access to education, medical care, homes for orphans, etc.), many people noticed and were curious.  When Christians, filled with God’s love, freely offer that to others, it makes people notice… and it might just be that they’d go listen to a circuit rider preaching in open air, on a hill at the edge of town.  Thanks be to God, amen.

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