"Glory to God, and No One Else"

 Scripture:   Isaiah 26:12-14, Luke 9:23-26, John 5:41-44, John 8:54-56

 So far, you may have noticed that Wesley’s tract “The  Character of a Methodist” is actually about our relationship with Almighty God.  But unlike our human relationships, the qualities of this one have already been established.  For when we come to Christ in faith, it must be through the example that Jesus has set for us.  Jesus, the mortal man, was constantly seeking the word and will of His Father, and never took the position that, just once, He wanted to give His way a try instead the Father’s!

 And the character trait that we will consider today is all about who will get the glory for the faithful life that we live.  Jesus was very intentional in giving the Father His honor and obedience in every step He took.  In John 8:50, He tells the Pharisees “I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.”  When we show honor and respect to the LORD, He receives it, but then passes it on to the Father.  So, while we still glorify Christ, it doesn’t end there – God in His entirety, will be praised and honored by our words and deeds.

 But for today, we will consider what glorifying God is all about, and what Wesley intended for Methodists when he wrote “By consequence, whatsoever he doth, it is all to the glory of God.  In all his employments of every kind, he not only aims at this, but actually attains it.”

 Read Isaiah 26:12-14

 The Prophet speaks on behalf of the people, and proclaims that even though there have been other authorities and gods in their lives (or “lords”), they only consider their Jehovah God as being worthy to be honored and praised.  This statement is not only important as a matter of fact and commitment to the one true God, but in regards to other gods that they may have been giving allegiance to, it is a confession of sin. 

 Acknowledging God as the only one worthy of praise, is a marvelous means of glorifying His Holy Name.  It’s a statement of faith and trust in who God truly is, and who deserves our love.  The Prophet continues with the acknowledgment that all other rulers and gods are representative of death, and without saying so, that the True God is all about life and His authority over the existence and memory of all the rest who may demand our praise!

 Almighty God certainly deserves our best for not only what He has already done for us, but for His certain promise of what He will do for us in our life with Him, and for what His life will come to mean on that Day of Christ’s Judgment.

 Read Luke 9:23-26

 Jesus is making a point of what it means to be a disciple of His.  He says that there are 5 issues that we must be prepared to live with.  First, we must seek Him; second, we must set Him first in our life, and reject everything about ourself; third, we are to shoulder our own cross each and every day; fourth, carry it as we follow in the way of Jesus; and fifth, if we cherish the life we now live instead of the one Jesus offers, it will be the only life we will ever know, but if we surrender dependence on this life, and claim all that a life in Christ can bring, life eternal will become ours.

 This passage is nothing less than a call to see the way of Jesus Christ as the only Road to Glory.  For many, the challenge is in the surrendering of everything that they have ever seen as joyful and pleasurable and rewarding, in favor of the unknown.  The problem is that the way of Jesus should never be seen as an unknown – everything we need to know has been given to us through scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit, and it’s the way of earth that actually hides in the fog of time. 

 So what will it be?  Give God the glory now, and receive the fullness of His blessing on the day of Christ’s return, or look to the glory of this life, and miss out on all that God will give in His time?

 Read John 5:41-44

 This passage opens with Jesus proclaiming that He has no desire for our praise and honor.  But please don’t think that He is rejecting the love and thanksgiving that we may be showing to Him – He is simply saying that He seeks and keeps none for Himself - that it all belongs to the Father! 

 And He continues with the explanation – that acceptance of Him and love for the message He has been sent to share in this sphere, is the only way that we can ever show our love to the Father.  This is a condemnation of those who claim to love God, even while they reject the Son!  They give honor and acceptance to others, while disgracing the glory that Almighty God should be receiving, and they continue to think that they are on the right track with the LORD, and that it’s the faithful in Jesus who are the liars!

 Those who reject the word and way of Jesus are also rejecting the glory that God is prepared to pour out upon all who believe!  One day, glory – God’s glory – will come to all who give Him the glory today, but when we seek and claim the glory that others offer, we had better enjoy it now because that is all we will ever receive!

 Read John 8:54-56

 Even Jesus looks to the Father as the source of all glory!  Imagine – the Son of God will never justify or demand the glory that is rightfully His, but instead simply obeys all that His Father asks of Him, and humbly accepts whatever is granted Him from heaven.  He not only knows where glory comes from, but He also knows the one who sends it!

 And if those who refuse to accept the fullness of Christ’s message and promise, and yet claim that they follow the way of God, Jesus tells them that they are nothing short of liars!  Now, I’m not sure about you, but I wouldn’t be all that comfortable if the LORD God Savior of my life accused me of lying every time that I say “I love God”! 

 And then, Jesus lifts up the name of Abraham – the one who the Jews had always seen as their connection and advocate to Jehovah God – and says that he is one who testified first to the authority and worthiness of Jesus!

 Abraham is the one who God blessed; Abraham is the one who God turned the offered blessings into a covenant (Genesis 17:3-8); it was Abraham’s lineage that established them as the people of God; it was Abraham who talked with God and believed in all that he was told; it was Abraham who truly knew God, and the Pharisees, who trusted Abraham and believed in Moses, are the ones who rejected the Promise of God in Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 11:8-13).

 Do we truly give God the glory for all that we have?  Is our honor and praise even close to sufficient to thank the LORD for all that He has done for us, and for the promises that He continues to keep that bless us each and every day?  Do we give God the credit for the victories and joys of this life, or do we try to keep some of that honor for ourselves? 

 John Wesley wrote “Whatever ye do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the LORD Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”  He is worthy of it all, you know, so praise Him all the time, for every gift received, for every hope that is given, for every promise that is kept, in every moment of every day - for there is no one else who will ever deserve it, and He is the only one who will ever be able to return the favor on that marvelous day of eternal glory!

“Obedience Guided by Love”

 Scripture: Psalm 119:166-167; John 14:23-24; 1 John 2:3-6; 2 John 1:6

In this, our 10^th examination of John Wesley’s writings on what a Methodist should be about, we begin with this excerpt from his tract “The Character of a Methodist” – "All the commandments of God he accordingly keeps, and that with all his might. For his obedience is in proportion to his love, the source from whence it flows.”

Wesley had come to know that the first commandment that we need to accept and nourish in our relationship with Almighty God is our love for Him. That is what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 22:36-38 - that we are to love the LORD our God with our entire being, and not just in ways that may be convenient! Without depth in the bond that our LORD offers to us, faith will never move beyond the shallowness that it began with. The problem, unfortunately, is that many folks don’t fully understand what “loving God” is all about! It requires that we trust Him and His word, have compassion and understanding for others, live in a desire to learn His ways, and develop a dedication to follow in the steps of His Son Jesus. And efforts that are made in a half-hearted or tentative way can never lead us to the throne of our Almighty God.

Obedience to the commands and ways that Christ taught us will never go anywhere until we love God in His entirety – Father, Son, and Spirit – and with our entirety. Anything less will end in personal failure, a wayward life, and false worship. Love of God, and obedience to His perfect word, is that important for our growth and life in faith!

So what else does scripture say about this?

Read Psalm119:166-167

The Psalmist is reassuring the reader that our God is a God of Hope and Promise. Salvation itself is the promise of Christ for all who will believe that the eternal life that He lives can also be ours! But we also know that while the world's way would be to require a quid pro quo of equivalent value, the LORD asks very little of us to receive that great and exceptional promise. While we wait for Jesus to arrive on that great day of expectation, we are to continue living a Christ-centered life, following the commands and teaching that He gave while He walked among us.

But should our attitude about this issue be the same that we show toward the commands of society? Do we readily accept, obey and even appreciate the laws of the nation? If you are anything like me, most laws will fit with my own desires and I follow them to the best of my ability, but there are always a few that I either regularly complain about, or flat out decide that I can live a much better life without!
But when it comes to the ways of the LORD, we are to accept, and love them ALL. Not because we have to, not because the punishment for disobedience is too great, but because we know that they come from the One who loves us, knows all about us and will always have our best in His heart. And in response, we not only love Him for His gracious and forgiving nature, but because He and His ways are given to us out of His eternal and infinite love.

Love of God? Absolutely! Love of His ways and commands? Without any hesitation or objection whatsoever! They come to us out of Godly love, and we accept them out of love and gratitude for all that He has already done and given to us.

And there is no other way.

Read John14:23-24

In the verse preceding this passage, a follower of Jesus asks Him to explain why He will be seen and understood by the faithful, but not by the rest of the world's people! And He gives the reason that we see here. Jesus is saying that the ability to see Him at work in our lives is proportional to the love that we have for Him – and that proof is founded in our obedience to all that He has taught us.

Now you may ask - does Jesus really need proof that we love Him? Doesn't He already know if we love Him or not? Of course He does, but I think the point here is whether we are living proof of the depth of our love of God to others, or if we are still holding back in a few areas! Love, true love, must be total, uncompromising, and obvious!

And our love of Christ, and our obedience to His ways, will be rewarded through the complete and divine love of God through His acceptance, His salvation, His forgiveness, His restitution, and the gift of His eternal life. And then in verse 24, we see that the lack of obedience is the evidence that we are lacking in our love of Christ! But note that the LORD didn't say that we won't be loved – God loves all, regardless of our sin! In Romans5:8, we read that God's love was demonstrated to each of us through Christ's sacrifice at Calvary – and that was long before we ever loved Him. But the one thing that God will not be able to do until we do love Him, is to send the Holy Spirit to our lives, to work within us and through us. For without our love and obedience to Jesus, the Father and the Spirit will be absent from all that we do (John14:15-17).

Read 1John 2:3-6

Here is the reason for proven love – it is for our understanding, not for God's. We will know Him if we obey His commands! We will know God if we love Christ's teachings and obey them. It's as simple as that! And if we refuse to obey? That is the proof that there is no love for God within us. But are we disobedient every time we slip up and sin? Yes, but the critical issue is whether we love His ways and want to follow, and seek His forgiveness, or whether we reject those ways and have no intention of obeying!

When we deny Jesus' teaching and live in a way that is not what He has taught, we can never claim to know God and He will never know us. (Matthew 7:21-23) And when we lie about our relationship with Christ, the truth of God will never be in us. Remember that it will never be what we say, or even what we do that will matter – it is what is in our heart that God will see, and heart felt love for Christ and His way is the only hope that we will ever know.

The love that God has shown to us through the works of Christ, must always be our example for how we are to love Jesus and His word in return. But again, without obedience, we will never be able to love Him in any meaningful way.

Read 2 John 1:6

Walking in love is demonstrated by walking in obedience – but still, what does that mean? Loving others has nothing to do with what they do with their life – it requires acceptance of the individual, not the things they do; it demands that we listen and help them in any way we can, without being judgmental and discriminatory; it is leading them to recognize the sinfulness of their ways, and to desire the hope that life in Jesus can bring, while letting them decide for themselves that they need to welcome Christ into their lives; it is allowing love to become evident when we live a truly Christian life in the way of Jesus, and becoming an example of that way for others.

The problem is that this isn’t all that easy to do, and even more difficult to describe. But in spite of our own inadequacy of words, our actions - those that mimic those of Jesus - will be seen by others, raising up a curiosity as to why we are different. Humanity may say that they want to live differently, but it is the example of others that they actually see and understand. After all, why did the Father send His Son, in human form, to this unGodly place? So others could see, and discover the difference between humanity and Christ for themselves!

And I would leave you with one more quotation from Wesley’s tract – “He continually presents his soul and body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; entirely and without reserve devoting himself, all he has, and all his is to His glory”! Are we devoted and committed to loving and living the difference that will make Jesus obvious and real for others? If not, maybe it’s time!

Snow Day

 March 13, 2022

Note to all - both of my churches were closed today due to heavy snow accumulation.  Message will be posted next week!

Many blessings.

Pastor Bill

“Fruitfulness”

 Scripture:   Matthew 3:7-10, Matthew 21: 42-45, John 15:1-8

 In today’s message, which is #10 in our series on Wesley’s “The Character of a Methodist”, (section 12, page 9) we will be considering what it means to be productive in a Christian sense.  Since the beginning of time, God has called His people to be “fruitful” as they follow in Godly ways.  But the LORD doesn’t leave us to our own understanding of what this call may mean.  He gives us examples and explanations, over and over again, of how we are to live in faithful obedience.  In Genesis 1:11-12, God created seeds on the third day, that they would grow on the land, and be nourished by the water, and would produce plants to continue bearing grains and seeds, and trees to produce seed bearing fruit.  But God didn’t leave it up to the land to care for this “production” all by itself!

 On the sixth day, God created Man, as male and female, in His own image, and placed them on the land.  But they weren’t there to be cared for by creation – their task would be to care for the LORD’s creation (Genesis 1:27-31).

 Throughout the Hebrew texts, we see an increasingly important addition to humanity’s responsibility – that they were to also care for God’s Church (Numbers 1:50), as well as for each other (Deuteronomy 15:4-6)!  And when Jesus came on the scene, He began to make this new effort a priority for us.

 Read Matthew 3:7-10

 John the Baptist came to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. John was to be the proverbial one who would be the “… voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Isaiah 40:3-4).  And the words that John spoke against the Pharisees would be a call for them to stop leading the people away from the truth of Jehovah God.  In caring for each other, John reminds the learned men of Israel that they were failing in their charge, that they should be leading others into repentance from their sins, and away from false worship, which they weren’t – they had it all backwards! 

 Caring for each other involves more than living in some legalistic existence in faith, or in satisfying the physical needs of the body – it must also involve strengthening the spiritual understanding that God wants us to have in our relationship with Him.  John not only preached to the masses, but in preparation for them to meet Jesus, he began baptizing them.

 Baptism is the commitment that we make to God and each other, that we will become part of the caring effort that is extended to all people on behalf of our loving and caring LORD.  In baptism, we take vows to accept God’s way, and to reject the ways of earth, and begin following in the footsteps that will lead us ever upward!

 Read Matthew 21: 42-45

 This passage follows closely behind Jesus’ parable of “The Tenants”, in which He teaches against the beliefs of the Pharisees, and prophesies to His own approaching death.  And as this lesson continues, we gain a glimpse of what will come from Christ’s resurrection and its power.  Jesus compares Himself to a foundational stone – the reference stone that every “building” needs to have for its alignment and direction.  Faith, through God’s truth, also needs the reference and direction that the LORD brings to our lives.

 But more than that, the cornerstone of Jesus will be rejected by many, and when they do, it will not only be their downfall, but it will, more importantly, be their condemnation and destruction.  The heavenly Kingdom that Israel had always assumed would be theirs could no longer be their hope and promise, but would be given to those who let the word of God in Christ become the “cornerstone” of their faith.  It would no longer be who you are in the world that matters, but rather it will be who you are in Christ that will be your salvation.

 We need to be careful, though, before seeing this passage as a condemnation on Israel as a singular whole.  The people who will be “crushed” won’t only be part of Israel – it will be all who refuse to claim Jesus as LORD and Savior, and those who will inherit the Kingdom of God will include both Jews and Gentiles - it will be all who accept Jesus as their “way, and truth, and life” (John 14:5-7).  This is what will allow Godly ways to blossom within us, it will be where the true fruit of God will begin to grow, it will be the time when the life of true believers will begin to bring glory to God, and it is then that the Holy Spirit will bring the blessed key of eternal life to fruition within us.

 Crushed or Fruitful?  Not much of a choice, is it!  But it is still the choice that each and every one of us has to make.

 Read John 15:1-8

 This passage is the epitome of what fruitfulness is all about.  It requires that a healthy vine be firmly connected to an effective root system, and that every healthy branch be well connected to the central vine.  Without this, nutrients will be unable to flow to the buds and fruit, for nothing of substance will grow without it.  But even more importantly, the One who tends the vines will see to it that the branches are not overloaded to the point that the fruit becomes a small and very poor crop.

 The Gardiner cuts away old branches that have died and only serve to crowd out the good.  And a second responsibility that is just as important as the first is to remove excessive good growth to make the branches even healthier and stronger, so the remaining branches will be able to produce the greatest and best fruit that they possibly can.

 Without the root, the vine is dead, and without the vine, the branches are dead, and without a healthy and living plant, there can never be any fruit.  So what is Jesus trying to tell us?

 The Vine that is Jesus, is an integral part of the root system, which represents the power of the Father.  Together, they bring the food and truth of heaven to every branch that is connected to them.  And only these branches will be nourished by the Holy Spirit, to produce the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God (Galatians 5:22-25).  The Gardiner can graft other branches onto the Vine, but it will always be to the Vine of God, and the truth that He brings is that which will  enable the fruitfulness of every branch.

But what about the “cutting” and “pruning” that Jesus talks about?  What are we to learn from that?  The point that we are to hear is that when we are “dead” to Jesus and His word, there can never be any fruit within us that will bring honor  to the LORD, and the only option that we have is to allow God to cut it away from our life. 

 But there will also be those times when we tend to take on too many opportunities to serve God, and it places too great a demand on our time and energy, and when that happens, everything we love will begin to suffer.  The truth is that we need to constantly consider just what Christ would have us do, and not to let our own desires and joys to have too great an influence on our Christian service.  And as hard as it may be, when the Spirit calls us to reduce the amount of time and effort that we are expending, it will be the time for us to say "No” to any more.

 Regarding fruitfulness, John Wesley wrote this - “He runs [in] the ways of God’s commandments, now he hath set his heart at liberty.  It is his glory so to do; it is his daily crown of rejoicing, to do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven; knowing it is the highest privilege of the angels of God, of those that excel in strength, to fulfil His commandments and hearken to the voice of His word.”

 Think about that – to be fruitful in God’s way and to His glory is the “highest privilege” that we will ever know!  Giving our precious LORD honor and glory, showing Him our respect, love, and obedience gives our God pleasure in the life we have received from Him, and nothing can ever break the relationship that He has defined and established for those who believe in His Son, Jesus the Christ.

 The world can never offer anything that will ever come close to the grace of God that comes to us when we are fruitful for Him.  Rejoice, be fruitful, and give Him your thanksgiving today.