Category Archives: Christian Living

Love Goes First – A Prophetic Word for Such a Time as This

30 Tuesday Sep 2025

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living

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The Rev. Andrew Forrest has written Love Goes First: Reaching Others in an Age of Anxiety and Division and it is easily one of the ten most important books I have read in the past decade.

Love Goes First offers penetrating cultural analysis. Andrew does the best job of anyone I’ve seen of providing a roadmap for the times in which we are living. I have read a fair amount of cultural analysis that leaves me feeling discouraged, pessimistic, and hopeless. Basically, the feeling I’m left with is: Why even try? 

Almost as bad, may worse actually, is cultural analysis that is thin, overly optimistic, and obviously in denial about the seriousness of the challenges we are facing.

More importantly than offering an accurate diagnosis of where we are, Andrew points us to the way forward. On the one hand, Andrew is honest about the challenges facing the church, which can be sobering. On the other hand, he refuses to be a victim of circumstances beyond his control.

I have seen quite a bit of hand wringing about problems facing American Christians in our cultural moment. I have not seen nearly as much positive and proactive guidance on how to move forward that does not somehow involve putting our heads in the sand.

Here is the unique challenge facing the American church today: For the first time ever, we are  faced with reaching a culture that has been exposed to the gospel and is largely built on Christian foundations but is now post-Christian. As Forrest puts it, “It is certainly nothing new for the church to be hated… but it is unprecedented for the church to be hated by a culture that once used to honor and respect it.” (8-9)

And so, Love Goes First is “about how we, as American Christians, can reach the people who believe we are the problem, those who hate us and all we stand for.” (7)

Here is the big idea of the book that Andrew unpacks over the following chapters: 

“If you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.” (10)

Some people will miss just how profound that statement is because they will think they already know it. So many of the most important truths in life are obvious when they are stated, but their deep impact comes from the commitment to live according to reality. 

It is living according to the way things are that is difficult and potent.

“If you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.”

This requires willingness to be rejected. It requires willingness to be hurt emotionally, perhaps even physically. 

Andrew is a wordsmith. And this book has so many truth bombs sprinkled throughout. Here are a few:

“Young people interviewed on the street might applaud our accommodationist values, but they would never come to our churches.” (48)

“Accommodation would mean a church without distinctiveness, judgment would mean a church without success, withdrawal would mean a church without purpose. What do we do now? Our only option is to move forward…. to go first.” (68)

“One of the great problems with contemporary higher education is that our young people are being permanently infantilized because we are teaching them to prioritize feelings above facts, a manner of instruction that will ultimately benefit neither them nor us.” (77)

“Going first as I use the phrase is not about you at all: It’s about the other.” (116)

“The Bible’s understanding of love is exactly opposite to that of the world.” (135)

“Going first comes with a cost. The love of God, though freely given, was indescribably costly to give. The same is true for us – yes, going first has the power to change the world, but it is going to cost us everything.” (179)

“If you decide to go first, you will get hurt. It will sting. You’ll be misunderstood.” (187)

These quotes give you a taste of the seriousness of this book. Andrew is not playing games. He is not tickling ears. This book is a product of years of leadership in the church and reflection on how fast things have changes over the past decade or so.

Love Goes First is the battle plan for how Christians can turn the tide in a time of increased hostility and even persecution in our day. The book does not offer wishful thinking for people who just want everything to get better without having any skin in the game or having to risk anything.

My prayer is that Love Goes First will serve as a wakeup call to the American Church. My experience in my own part of the American church has been so insular, petty, and obsessed with denominational fighting that I think the enemy has been using it to keep the church focused on itself and distracted from its central mission.

In all times and all places, the church is called to reach everyone, everywhere, and teach them everything Jesus has taught us. (This is how Andrew paraphrased the Great Commission [Matthew 28:16-20] in his sermon this weekend, the first in a sermon series on Love Goes First. It was fantastic. You should watch it.)

How are we doing with making disciples of Jesus Christ?

In my experience, every church in the United States knows that their mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And yet, almost no churches know how to actually do this.

We need to recalibrate the activities that happen in the church and ask ourselves: Is this helping the people who participate take the next step in their faith in Jesus? Is this helping someone move from considering the claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ to faith in him? Is this helping someone with new faith in Jesus become closer to Jesus? Is this helping someone who is growing closer to Jesus learn to put Jesus at the very center of their lives and become a mature committed follower who is willing to risk everything for faithfulness to Christ?

Love Goes First is not a discipleship handbook. It is more like someone pulling the fire alarm. The building is on fire. We’ve been so numbed and complacent, we’ve fallen asleep. I believe the Lord is waking the American church from its slumber. And I think Forrest’s book is one of the ways he is doing that. 

I’d like to offer a personal word about Andrew Forrest. I believe Andrew is the best preacher of his generation. He is a bold and courageous leader. He is an exceptional pastor. I’ve known Andrew for 17 years. We met during my first year in the PhD program at SMU when he was working on his MDiv.  Our sons were born within a few weeks of each other while we were in Dallas. My wife and I were part of the launch team for the church Andrew and his wife led in East Dallas for more than a decade. Andrew and I were in an accountability group together for several years.

From 2011 to 2023, I moved 4 times. During those years, Andrew was a faithful friend. In August of 2022 Andrew became the senior pastor of the church my parents had been attending for more than a decade, Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. Andrew came to Asbury at a difficult time in my life. My mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the Fall of 2022 and she died in early 2023. Prior to my mom’s illness, I was in the midst of the most challenging season in work and ministry I have ever experienced. Andrew’s kindness and concern for me since we met in 2011 has been remarkable and consistent. 

The generosity of Asbury Church made it possible for my family to move to Tulsa and begin work at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the seminary’s Tulsa Extension Site. Working for Andrew at Asbury Church has been so fun! I have learned so much.

By the way, Andrew writes regularly at his own website. You should check it out.

Love Goes First is an excellent book. It stands on its own. You don’t have to know the author to read it and benefit from it. However, it is a particular blessing to me to know the author of this book and be able to enthusiastically commend Andrew to you as much as the content of the book itself.

You should buy a copy of Love Goes First now. Read it. Talk about it with your staff, your community, your family, and your friends. It officially releases on October 7th, one week from today. Pre-order it now. 

I don’t know what is going to happen in the American church. Only the Lord knows. But I am sure that we must follow the example of our Lord and go first in love to a world that is broken, hurting, and angry. 

Even if it costs us everything.

Love Goes First is a prophetic word for such a time as this. I hope you will check it out!

[Full disclosure: Andrew is also my boss. He did not ask me to write this review. I am writing it solely because I believe this book will help you if you are a leader in the church or seeking to grow in your faith in Jesus.]

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

John Wesley’s Theology: A Great Question (and Better Answer) about Band Meetings

13 Tuesday May 2025

Posted by in Accountability, Christian Living, Holiness, Methodist History, Teaching, Wesley

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I want to share one of my favorite memories from teaching this semester.

I had the privilege of teaching The Theology of John Wesley, which is one of the core classes at Asbury Theological Seminary this spring. Every student, regardless of degree, must take The Theology of John Wesley to graduate with a Master’s Degree. This is one of the ways Asbury anchors its identity and resists institutional drift. And I love it!

The class also gave me the opportunity to re-read core texts on John Wesley’s theology. First, we read sixty (yes, 60, not 6) of John Wesley’s sermons, including all of the original Standard Sermons. (Whether you want 44 or 52 in the list, they are all in the Collins and Vickers edited volume of Wesley’s sermons!) And we read my colleague Professor Kenneth J. Collins’s John Wesley: A Theological Journey and The Theology of John Wesley: Holy Love and the Shape of Grace. These are both masterful!

The class is a deep dive into Wesley’s theology. It is thorough and has been expertly crafted through decades of experience. I taught the class exactly the way it has been taught by those who have gone before me this semester. I had a blast because I was able to teach in an area I really enjoy teaching. And I was able to continue learning and growing as a follower of Jesus Christ and as a teacher.

Ok, so here is the memory I wanted to share:

One of the places there is always lively discussion, if students are tracking and understanding the material, is around John Wesley’s conviction that one who has experienced justification and the new birth does not commit outward sin. This is based on John Wesley’s reading of the canon of Scripture, particularly passages like 1 John 3:7-10:

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (ESV)

Collins brilliantly summarizes this in John Wesley: A Theological Journey:

Justification delivers from the guilt of sin, regeneration from its power or dominion, and entire sanctification from its being. Unfortunately, these distinctions are often neglected in contemporary Methodism where a decided “shift” has taken place; that is, freedom from the power of committing sin is attributed not to the new birth, as it should be, but to Christian Perfection, with the result that freedom from the being of sin is then relegated to the afterlife and glory. (190)

The conversation in class around freedom from the power of sin in regeneration led to a great question. I reached out to Professor Collins to get his perspective and his response was so good I asked for his permission to share it with my students and then to share it with all of you here. Here is how I framed the question:

How do I best talk to students about the correct definition and understanding of the new birth in connection with the band meeting, which both has a prerequisite of the new birth (and more), and weekly questions connected to sin.

I.e., if a students says, If someone does not commit outward sin after they receive justification and the new birth, why are the band meeting questions focused around sin? (I.e., “What known sins have you committed since we last met?”)

Here is Dr. Collins’s reply:

First of  all,  given the small numbers of people in the band meetings there may not be many responses to the weekly, sin-probing questions among the children of God, but there will likely be at least some responses over time.  Real Christians do at times break faith and commit sin of the high hand, so to speak.  The way forward then would be and must be one of repentance, of doing the first works afresh.  So then, when Wesley affirmed that a born again believer is free from the power and dominion of sin (“The Marks of the New Birth,” “The Great Privilege of Those that are Born of God”) he  was not teaching that real Christians would never sin again (a common misunderstanding among my students) but that Christian believers would have grace sufficient to remain faithful and to walk in a trusting and accountable way in the graces of regeneration.   How do we bring all of this together?  How can we summarize this basic and precious gospel truth which Jesus Christ, himself, affirmed (John 8:34-36)  and which John Wesley repeatedly taught?  I offer the following summary of the several elements here, though this language is not Wesley’s but my own.   However, I do believe that such language captures Wesley’s basic meaning.  And so here goes:    “Willful, intentional sin,  breaking faith with Christ,  should be the grave exception in the Christian life and not the rule.”  Our problem today, however, in American Christianity in general, and even at times in Methodism in particular,  is  that we have made sin the rule and grace the exception.  We need to turn this upside down.   Jesus Christ died for far more than to leave people in the bondages of which they are ashamed. 

Second, I think the very great value of  such questions for the saints that played out in the band meetings during Wesley’s lifetime is that they are a wonderful means of grace that ensure that responsibility and accountability will remain in place.   Think of  band members, for example, who are sorely tempted during the week but who in the midst of  that temptation are reminded by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth,  that they will have to confess such a sin (if it is committed) before several trusted and beloved others in just a few days.   At that  point the power of the temptation is broken (1 Cor. 10:13) by the light of the prospect of upcoming fellowship,  accountability and love.   That’s precisely the point!   In other words, the questions of the band meetings are themselves a wonderful means of grace, used by the Holy Spirit,  as a means by which faithful Christian discipleship is strengthened and lived out to the glory of God.  Put another way, evil and sin love the darkness; however, Wesley made sure that the infrastructure of Methodism in general, and the band meetings in particular would be flooded by an abundance of light in the form of relationship, accountability and the richest love.   In short, those questions are both precious and necessary  for serious Christian discipleship. 

So good!

Want to know more about the band meeting? Scott Kisker and I wrote a book that is designed to reclaim this practice. Check it out here.

The Most Important Distinction in the American Church Today: The Next Underground Seminary

12 Wednesday Mar 2025

Posted by in Christian Living, Ministry, Teaching, Underground Seminary

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We are going to have back-to-back Underground Seminary meetings here in Tulsa (March 27 and April 6) and I am pumped!

What is Underground Seminary?

There are some things that don’t fit in courses I teach, or perhaps even in the seminary curriculum at all, that people preparing to lead in the local church need to wrestle with, think about, or just have someone tell them. There are also conversations that I want to have with people who are preparing to in the church that I think will be helpful to them and I don’t know where they would fit in specific classes.

In my role for Asbury Church, I’m still interested in shaping pastors. So, I have been working on optional, not-for-credit, opportunities that typically come alongside classes I am teaching for Asbury Theological Seminary. I’m calling these special events “Underground Seminary.”

Underground Seminary is for people preparing to lead in the church who are hungry to learn and grow. They want to gain as much wisdom and experience as they can from as many different places as possible as they are prepared and equipped to lead.

I’m most excited to work with people who know God has more for them and they are going after it. Underground Seminary is for these people.

Our next Underground Seminary meeting:

Rev. Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church’s senior pastor, will lead our next Underground Seminary. It will be focused on the ways dramatic changes in the broader culture have impacted the church and radically changed the context in which we seek to share the gospel. Andrew will share a diagnosis of the problem facing the church and point to solutions for a way forward.

I’ll let Andrew share more about what he wants to do in this workshop in his own words:

The most important thing for church leaders to know in 2025 is that we are living in what Aaron Renn has called “the negative world.”

Things are different these days. Over the last decade, American culture has changed in ways that have become more hostile to the church and the claims of Christ, the result of which is that a majority of those who hold the keys to power in American society—those in politics, media, and education—have a negative view of Christianity. In light of these changes, I believe that the most important distinction in the American church today is not in the ways we normally categorize the church. The most important distinction in the American church today is between those who recognize we live in “the negative world” and those who have not yet accepted this fact.

This distinction matters because it directly affects our strategies for carrying out the Great Commission. Our mission from Jesus has not changed, and our responsibility to evangelize cannot be avoided. But the strategies we employ to complete that mission need to be constantly shifting, depending on the cultural context. The problem we face today is that many of our strategies for evangelism were developed in and for a previous cultural context, one that was largely positive about Christianity and that saw the Christian faith either something good or at best neutral. But that culture is gone, and it’s time for new strategies. If we keep running our plays out of the old playbook, we are going to lose the game.

I want to talk frankly about how we can lead the church to not only survive in negative world but thrive.  I’m interested in talking to people who are hungry to make a difference and who are not satisfied to keep running plays out of an outmoded playbook.

Andrew is a brilliant strategic thinker about the local church and its role in the world. He has boldness and courage that I admire. He is willing to do the deep work it takes to get to clarity about hard things and big ideas. This is going to be a challenging and convicting conversation. And I think it is going to be a lot of fun. (If you want to know more about “Negative World” check out Aaron Renn’s book. The link is an Amazon affiliate link, which helps support my work.)

How to join us:

This Underground Seminary will be Sunday April 6th following worship Sunday morning. Lunch will be provided, and we will conclude by 3pm. In order to ensure that there is food and space for everyone, you need to RSVP if you would like to attend. We will send the location for the meeting to you after you RSVP by emailing Laura.Wilkie@asburyseminary.edu. Deadline to RSVP is March 28th. 

P.S. It is not too late to register for the March 27th Underground Seminary with Rodney Adams, which I’m playfully calling “What They Don’t Teach You in Seminary.” Details here.

Kevin M. Watson is Director of Academic Growth and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. He is also Scholar in Residence at Asbury Church. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.

Raising Up Next-Gen Church Leaders

21 Friday Feb 2025

Posted by in Christian Living, Ministry, Teaching

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I’m trying to think more clearly about how to raise up the next generation of leaders for the church. It seems clear to me that things are shifting and changing, sometimes dramatically. Institutions are changing and sometimes failing. Key leaders are leaving the scene, sometimes because they have retired or died, and other times because a moral failing has been exposed.

I don’t have it figured out yet. But I want to start talking about it more.

My writing often comes from a burden to figure out what I think about something and then try to communicate it as clearly as I can. I think some of my best writing comes when there are two things working in me:

First, I notice that I am working over a problem in my mind and am working hard to get clear about what I think is at stake (something that seems important and complicated or confusing).

Second, I notice a sense of pressure to not talk about it. This is usually unspoken and intuitive on my part. This means I could be wrong, or I could be seeing things. The pressure to not talk about it can either be because it seems like everyone views something as settled, while I have questions or concerns. Or, silence could come from the sense that speaking out could be problematic in terms of upsetting people in power.

Here are two examples of writing that has come from this:

1. I urged churches to start reopening five months into the Covid-19 pandemic. 

2. I expressed my concerns with the proposal of United Methodist bishops to make affirmation or prohibition of same sex marriage dependent on the surrounding dominant culture. 

Neither of those posts are perfect. In rereading them today, I would say things differently in both. But they both helped me think more clearly about matters that were very important to me (and to the church I was part of) when I wrote them. I am proud of them because I believe the Lord used them to help people think more clearly and make hard decisions during very challenging circumstances.

If you aren’t familiar with my writing, these will give you a sense of it. I hope they show my commitment to telling the truth. Of course, I also make mistakes. One of things I think I have often done well is move a conversation forward and bring clarity where it has gotten bogged down or stuck.

So, I’ve been thinking about raising up the next generation of leaders for Jesus’s church.  I’ve been thinking about this longer than I usually think about the kinds of things I write about here. And to my own frustration, I don’t feel like I’ve made as much progress as I usually would have by this point.

I want to articulate why I think this it is hard. It is important to work to understand the moment in which we find ourselves. And I want to begin by naming two models that have been used to raise up the next generation of leaders for the church. I want to suggest that people in my networks have almost completely missed the importance of the second model. But first, why is this so hard to think through?

The church in the United States is experiencing major challenges due to massive shifts in the culture, academy, and the church herself.

Aaron Renn does a great job talking about the changes in the dominant culture and how it impacts the church. Check out his book Life in the Negative World [Affiliate link]. I also follow his work at aaronrenn.com.

The academy is also undergoing massive change, which includes theological education (the seminaries where pastors are trained). This would be another post, so I won’t unpack this further right now.

And finally, the church herself is undergoing dramatic change. I think most of the changes in the church come from the influence of the first two. Many large non-denominational and congregational churches have also been impacted by the fall from grace of senior leaders of these churches. This has happened enough over the past few years, many feel uneasy in these kinds of churches, even if their own local church has not been directly impacted.

Here is an image I have used to describe what I think is happening:

Tectonic plates are shifting in the culture. When tectonic plates shift, there are earthquakes. There is rumbling. There is shaking. Often major edifices are damaged or even collapse when tectonic plates shift.

I think we are seeing this kind of major disruption and change in the church today.

There have been (at least) two major models for raising up leaders for the church.

I’m sure much more nuance could be added here, so feel free to fill this out in your own thinking or experience. The point here is to get some things in place in order to move forward.

My own experience was largely with the first model. I will call it the ecclesial bureaucracy model. I’ll use my experience to explain it:

I received a calling to ordained ministry through a short-term mission trip to Mexico when I was a junior in college. One short week changed my life in so many ways. By the end of the week, I had a deep sense that there was nothing more fulfilling I could do than give my life in service to the church, by the grace of God. I remember time and time again being stunned by how joyful it was to serve the Lord through the church.

I knew nothing. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. And I made a lot of mistakes along the way.

But there were also a lot of things that were clear and decisions I didn’t really have to make. I was a United Methodist and didn’t question whether I should pursue ordination in the UMC or not.

The blessing of this was that the path forward was clear. The obvious next step was to attend seminary after I graduated from college. I began having conversations with the senior pastor of the church I was attending, who was generous with his time and wisdom. I formally applied to become a “certified candidate” during my first year of seminary.

I did not have a long-term relationship with the same local church throughout my time in the ordination process. I moved quite a bit from my freshman year of high school through seminary.

So to summarize: Once I felt a calling to ministry, I basically got on a moving walkway where the next step was fairly clear. And if I was approved for ordination by denominational authorities, I would also be appointed to pastor in a local church. If approved for ordination, I would, literally, be guaranteed an appointment (a pastoral position in a local church).

I think there are strengths and weaknesses of this model. And they could be done better or worse than it was done in the UMC when I went through the process. When I was teaching United Methodist polity, I used to tell students that the number one value of the UMC ordination process appeared to me to be persistence. If you kept going, you would almost certainly be ordained. 

(This was most evident to me when someone in the conference I was ordained in clearly revealed that they did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. They were not discontinued or removed from the process at that point. They were deferred and had to rewrite and repeat the interview process the next year. They were then approved and ordained. Is it more likely this person’s views on the bodily resurrection of Jesus changed, or that they found a more acceptable way to present (or cover up) their heretical views?)

The second model I’ll call the apprenticeship model. It was not my experience, so I can’t give as much detail. I think this approach is most common in non-denominational and congregational church polities. For this reason, I also suspect it is less uniform and more organic and relational.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. A person is raised up for leadership in the church by someone who is recognized as an excellent leader in the church. Preparation for ministry comes by being invited to get closer to the senior leader with behind-the-scenes access. Over time, they are given opportunities to lead with the senior leader’s oversight and feedback. And eventually, they are released to lead on their own, though likely with continued oversight or spiritual covering.

Sometimes a person in this system will replace the senior leader when they step down. Depending on the system, they might move to a different context taking on significant leadership responsibilities.

This model is highly relational. The person who is being raised up for leadership in the church spends significant time with the person who is discipling, mentoring, or apprenticing them. It is inefficient in the sense that it requires proximity and a lot of time together. It is also driven by the needs of the person being raised up and so is very contextual and responsive to where they are and how they need to grow. It is also inefficient because one person cannot have this kind of relationship with an unlimited number of people.

Another way to think of this model is to think of Robert Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism and other relational discipleship making tools. These are usually focused on discipleship as the goal for all who come to faith in Jesus Christ. It is not surprising that those who are raised up to lead in these kinds of contexts continue to be raised up to lead in this way.

I suspect that very often a sense of calling to lead in the church comes within the context of these discipling relationships.

During the season when I first began to feel a tug to rethink some of my assumptions about how to best raise up leaders for the church, I started getting to know a non-denominational church near where I lived. The folks in this church were very gracious to me and the senior pastor met with me. I wanted to ask him two questions in particular:

How did you get to be in your position? I remember the answer, though it was more fleshed out than just this, because I had heard it from others in the same church family: I lived in Buddy’s basement. 

In other words, the founding pastor invited him to come closer, literally into his home, for a season. And he poured into him and raised him up.

The second question was: Is there anything that I do that can help you and those you are raising up? We developed a degree at Asbury Theological Seminary that came directly out of my conversations with this pastor and the pastor of another large non-denominational church at another place I taught. (Send me an email [scroll down] if you want to know more about it.)

I think both models would be improved by the other.

Non-denominational and congregational churches that don’t require any formal education outside of themselves make themselves vulnerable.

Large denominations that have heavily bureaucratic ordination processes have greater risk in my view.

My working hypothesis is that the most effective pastors in the United States at present came up through more of the apprenticeship model than the ecclesial bureaucracy model. My experience is that almost all of them end up pursuing a seminary education, but it usually comes after they have been leading in meaningful ways in the local church.

So, Now What?

For most established leaders reading this, the action step is most likely to look for people to bring in closer to walk with you and build them up. One of the problems with bureaucratic approaches to ordination is that they are so depersonalized. People don’t grow in self-awareness because the kind of one-on-one conversations that happen in an apprenticeship don’t happen nearly as often.

Here is what I am seeing: I believe the church, particularly healthy large congregations with stable leadership and deep roots, is only going to be more important going forward for the work of raising up leaders for the church. All churches are important in this work. The local church is the ordinary context for hearing a calling to ministry. I think larger churches just have the capacity and the resources to invest in the next generation for their own sake.

I think large churches will develop coaching trees like Nick Saban did at Alabama. People will serve for a season in these churches and experience accelerated growth in a host of ways in these contexts. Some, who can joyfully stay long-term in an associate type of role, will stay for decades. But most will serve for a season, be built up, equipped, and sent out to lead with excellence.

And I have a feeling this will be less dependent on denominational affiliation than it has ever been in the history of Christianity in the United States.

This vision excites me because Asbury Church (where I am) is the kind of church that can do an excellent job of apprenticing people to be excellent leaders.

Asbury is a conservative evangelical church from the Wesleyan theological heritage that averages about 2,500 in person in weekly worship at one campus. At Asbury, intentional and strategic attention is given to the culture of the church. Asbury not only has a great culture, but the senior leaders can tell you why they are doing what they are doing and how to work to set, shift, or move culture. This is so important! And there is a clear emphasis on discipleship. As with our work to build and maintain a great culture, the church can articulate a coherent vision for how we make disciples.

And one of the most unique things about Asbury Church, within the context of this post, is that Asbury has a passion for education. Asbury hosts the Asbury Theological Seminary Tulsa Extension Site on its campus. So, a person preparing to become a pastor could come to Asbury Church and be in seminary here at the same time.

Asbury Church’s commitment to education is also evident in its decision to launch Asbury Classical School this year.

One of the saddest things to me about my time in theological education has been seeing the negative impact a seminary tends to have on local churches in the immediate geographical area of the seminary. At a previous institution, someone commented on the “dead zone” that surrounded the seminary. 

What a gift that I get to teach at a seminary whose mission and values I agree with at a church I am proud to be part of and that I am confident will bless my students.

If you, or someone you know, is wrestling with a calling to ministry, I would love to connect with you. Maybe you should move to Tulsa and see for yourself. I am learning more and more that proximity and time within a relational atmosphere are crucial to raising up the next generation of leaders for the church.

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Kevin M. Watson is Director of Academic Growth and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. He is also Scholar in Residence at Asbury Church. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.

Understanding the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States: Interview at Asbury Church

16 Friday Aug 2024

Posted by in Christian Living, Life, Methodist History, Sermons, Wesley

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The Rev. Andrew Forrest, the senior pastor at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK, interviewed me about my new book this past weekend in all of our services. It was so fun!

Andrew is not only a gifted communicator, he also has the ability to help other people refine and clarify their own ideas. It was really fun to see his mind work in terms of distilling what was most important from the book for people at Asbury Church.

Here is a screenshot of the interview. Click the link below to view it.

https://asburytulsa.org/sermon/why-and-how-churches-lose-their-way/

Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States has already sold out of the first print run! (It continues to be available as an e-book and an audio book.) I am thrilled by the interest the book has received and look forward to seeing it continue to build.

As I’ve talked with people about the book, I’ve only become more convinced of its importance for such a time as this. As we move into new futures, it is essential that we be able to recognize real Methodism from cheap imitations. In order to do so, we have to know where we have come from and be regrounded in our identity. I believe John Wesley was right to lay out the following as the litmus test for Methodist vitality:

“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 doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.” – John Wesley “Thoughts upon Methodism” (1786)

My book describes the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which Methodists first set out and traces adherence to them across the history of the Wesleyan family in the United States.

Methodists were at the center of the First Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening. I am convinced that one way or another, the DNA of real Methodism will be at the center of the Third Great Awakening.

May it begin with us!

Powerful Moments at West Plains Annual Conference: A Reflection

21 Friday Jun 2024

Posted by in Christian Living, Class Meetings, Life, Ministry

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When Rev. Mike Schafer, President pro tem, of the West Plains GMC Annual Conference reached out to me last fall and asked me to preach and teach at the upcoming conference, I was thrilled! And the West Plains Annual Conference exceeded my expectations.

One of my favorite moments of the conference was when Mike described something he had never had happen in his entire ministry: an Annual Conference attendee asked if they could bring a friend! That gives an idea of the atmosphere and spiritual environment in West Plains.

I showed up planning to preach one message, and instead spoke on Matthew 13:44:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sees all that he has and buys that field. [NRSV]

I shifted because the Spirit did something when Mike prayed for me right before my sermon. I don’t remember exactly what he prayed, but it had something to do with the Spirit opening me up to receive what he wanted to say, even if it was different than what I’d planned. I had been wrestling with a sense that what I had prepared was not quite right and Mike’s prayer brought clarity that I was supposed to change courses and trust the Lord.

The truth is that I don’t really remember most of what I said because it was so unscripted. That is not a comfortable place for me. And I didn’t think I did a great job. When Mike gave an altar call after my sermon, I went to the altar and repented and apologized to the Lord because I just felt like I missed it with my message.

I am grateful for the exceptionally gracious feedback I received from many people in West Plains about how the Lord had used the sermon for them.

God is good!

The ordination service was powerful as well. A few things really stood out to me. First, the unity in the room, not only among the ordinands, but also among the clergy and laity in attendance was palpable and a joy. When Bishop Jones went through the Historic Questions, it was the first time in my ministry I wasn’t wondering if people meant “No” even though they were saying “Yes.”


Bishop Jones led in a way that kept the focus on the main thing and the seriousness of what was happening. That was a gift to experience. 

Two other things happened in the ordination service that were beautiful. First, immediately after ordination, Bishop Jones celebrated Communion and the newly ordained served the rest of the congregation. It was so well done! Second, after Communion, Bishop Jones gave an invitation to receive a call to ministry during the final song. I saw at least three people from the congregation respond to that invitation! I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed that before. It was so hopeful and encouraging to just have a strong focus on the significance of ordination and even more so on the Triune God who speaks and calls us to serve.

Rev. Schafer asked me to speak on Wesleyan discipleship, focusing on class and band meetings on Saturday morning. If you know me, it is pretty easy to convince me to do that! I have been thinking quite a bit about the old(er) Barna survey that is outlined in the book Maximum Faith (you can find a summary of the ten stops of the Christian life here). I summarized those findings and the way they point to the need for relational connection and deeper discipleship across the church in the United States. This, in my view, only increases the importance of returning to our Wesleyan heritage of intentional discipleship through small groups.

I had a blast teaching that material!

Finally, I got to experience two of the three TED-style talks given by folks in West Plains. Wow! The first talk was about a fire ministry after the massive fires in Texas last year. Even more than that, it was a powerful testimony about God’s work in one woman’s life. The second talk was by a rancher and a lawyer who felt called to co-pastor the GMC church in their town. The commitment to the local church and the authority of Scripture was powerful! I wish I’d been able to stay for the final one and the rest of the afternoon!

Preaching and teaching at a place like the West Plains Conference is an enormous privilege. It still surprises me to be asked to speak in places like this. I love doing it and it is a blessing to me. Every time, I think, I can’t believe I get to do this! God has been so kind to me and I am thankful.

One final thing about my time at this conference. Mike Schafer will become the first Connectional Operations Officer for the Global Methodist Church, starting August 15, 2024. Leadership in West Plains recognized Mike for his service as the first President of the West Plains Conference and gave thanks for this new role. One of the people who praised Schafer’s leadership in West Plains commented that he was exactly the right person to serve in this new key leadership role in the GMC because he had not spent his entire career trying to receive this kind of position. I loved the way that was put! And it rings true of my experience with Mike. His selection for this role is encouraging to me and a hopeful sign of things to come for the Global Methodist Church. (You can read more about Rev. Schafer and his new role here.)

Thank you, West Plains, for having me! And special thanks to Emma Stonum for sharing the photos I’ve used in this post.

Reminder: My new book releases next Tuesday, June 25th

My new book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States releases on Tuesday, June 25th. I wrote a post about the book here. Please check it out. This is the first book I’ve directly asked folks to pre-order. Doing so helps the long-term success of the book in a variety of ways. It would really help me out if you would take a moment to head to Amazon (affiliate link) or Zondervan and order the book now. I am really encouraged by the early interest in this book! Thank you so much to all of you who have already pre-ordered it.

In this time of rapid change and chaos, it is imperative that we reground ourselves in our identity. This book explains the core identity of the Wesleyan theological tradition and points to lessons from the past that will help us be more faithful in the present and future.

Thank you!

Secrets and the Wisdom of the Wesleyan Tradition

08 Wednesday May 2024

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Wesley

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I don’t know about you, but I find it so encouraging when I read something outside of the church that highlights the value of what Christians do.

Here is an example I just came across:

One of the cornerstones of the Wesleyan movement throughout John Wesley’s lifetime was a small group called the band meeting. There were a list of prerequisites for joining a band meeting. But the basic activity of the band was pretty simple – confession of sin for the sake of growth in holiness.

At the weekly meeting, participants each answered five questions:

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2. What temptations have you met with?

3. How were you delivered?

4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

5. Is there anything you desire to keep secret?

(You can read the entire “Rules of the Band Societies” here.) 

I first joined a band meeting when I was a seminary student. And joining that band meeting was, by far, the most important part of my seminary experience.

Not long after I graduated from seminary, I began to feel a more specific calling to pastor people who were preparing to become pastors. If I was going to pursue that calling, it would mean that I would need to complete a PhD. When I realized that no one had studied the band meeting in depth, I decided to write my PhD dissertation on the band meeting in John Wesley’s thought and in the popular experience of the first Methodists. I revised my dissertation and published it with Oxford University Press as Pursuing Social Holiness: The Band Meeting in Wesley’s Thought and Popular Methodist Experience.

During my work on the band meeting, I noticed that the fifth question was removed at one point by an editor of the original “Rules of the Band Societies” (the document where the five questions was published) sometime around the early nineteenth century.

As best I can remember, the fifth question was not used in the first band meeting I joined.

Is there anything you desire to keep secret?

It isn’t hard to come up with reasons why that question might be disappeared. It is intense! If you have a secret, kind of by definition you don’t want to share it. But the question is a game changer because it brings everything into the light of Christ and his healing grace in the appropriate place.

So back to the beginning of this post.

I just finished reading The Secret Life of Secrets by Michael Slepian. 

The book is an in-depth and interesting study of secrets and the role they play in our lives. 

The big takeaway at the end of the book could not have been much better aligned with the early Methodist band meeting and its simple question: Is there anything you desire to keep secret?

At the end of the book, Slepian shows that while everyone has had or has a secret, it is helpful to be able to share secrets with people you know and can trust.

All the way back in the 18th century, Methodists were creating band meetings in order to not only share secrets, but to seek the wholeness and healing described in James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one antoher, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Secular scientific study is confirming the instincts Christians have always had. How cool is that?

Want to know more about the band meeting?

For the academic and historic work, see Pursuing Social Holiness.

For an introduction to what a band meeting is and a guide to starting band meetings in our own day, check out the book I wrote with Dr. Scott T. Kisker, The Band Meeting.

Life in the Negative World: A Review

14 Wednesday Feb 2024

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Ministry

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In February 2022, Aaron Renn published a piece in First Things Magazine titled “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism.” The article laid out a metanarrative for thinking about the changes evangelicalism in the United States has experienced over the past fifty years or so. (Renn actually first developed this argument in 2014, but the First Things piece brought a significant increase in attention to his argument.)

This article received a lot of attention, both positive and negative. I have found Renn’s way of framing the moment we are in to be very helpful. I was thrilled to see that he was publishing a book on this topic, Life in the Negative World, which was released just a few weeks ago.

Here is the heart of the argument:

Since that bygone midcentury era, the status of Christianity in America has passed through multiple thresholds as it declined, dividing that post-1963 period into three major eras, or worlds, characterized by three ways society at large has viewed and related to Christianity. These are the positive world, the neutral world, and the negative world (dates are approximate).

  • Positive World (1964-1994). Society at large retains a mostly positive view of Christianity. To be known as a good, churchgoing man or woman remains part of being an upstanding citizen of society. Publicly being a Christian enhances social status. Christian moral norms are still the basic moral norms of society, and violating them can lead to negative consequences.
  • Neutral World (1994-2014). Society takes a neutral stance toward Christianity. Christianity no longer has privileged status, but nor is it disfavored. Being publicly known as a Christian has neither a positive nor a negative impact on social status. Christianity is one valid option among many within a pluralistic, multicultural public square. Christian moral norms retain some residual effect.
  • Negative World (2014-present). In this era, society has an overall negative view of Christianity. Being known as a Christian is a social negative, particularly in the higher status domains of society. Christian morality is expressly repudiated and now seen as a threat to the public good and new public moral order. Holding to Christian moral views, particularly affirming the teachings of the Bible, or violating the new secular moral order can lead to negative consequences. (6-7)

Renn unpacks this argument at length in Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in An Anti-Christian Culture. But the book is actually more about how Christians ought to live in negative world than it is a book-length argument trying to convince you that we are in negative world.

The phrase that has kept coming to mind as I have thought about Renn’s thesis and as the church seeks to respond faithfully to our present cultural moment is this: 

Everything depends on knowing what time it is.

If we are in negative world and we respond with neutral world strategies, we will fail. Every. Single. Time.

And my sense is that most of the people in my tribe are living as if the last page of the calendar in 2014 had never turned. 

One of the biggest indicators that you are attempting to live in the past is any attempt to woo the world on its own terms.

And I see this all over the place. If we could just explain ourselves in the right way, people would realize that we are reasonable, good, and likeable people. Let me put my understanding of Renn’s argument sharply: 

If you are an evangelical Christian, they will never like you. 

My sense has been that for quite a while, the church in America has tried to do evangelism by winsomeness. But if you are a traditional Christian, they are never going to like you. Instead of seeking to avoid giving any offense and trying to explain why our convictions are reasonable on the anti-Christian culture’s own terms, we need to evangelize. We need to seek conversion to Jesus and submission to him as Lord of all creation. Winsomeness is a losing strategy in negative world. (Please note that this is not the same thing as recommending the opposite of winsomeness as the right strategy. I am also not advocating for anger or bitterness or anything else contrary to the fruit of the Spirit.) 

If you think all of this is dead wrong, I would encourage you to read Renn’s book. If you read it and are entirely unconvinced, then there will at least be clarity that we are working on very different problems. May God bless you in your work. I hope you will ask the Lord to bless my work as I work according to the truth as I best see it.

I am convinced those of us in the American church do live in negative world. This is true of our context. And it is independent of denominational affiliation across that context.

I suspect that most of the engagement with Renn’s book will consist of two responses:

  • Evaluation of the framework itself. Does he get the details of positive, neutral, and negative world right? And most importantly, are we in negative world?
  • Engagement with the prescriptions for life in negative world. What does Renn get right? Where is he off?

I think these are important and I will read these kinds of engagement with interest.

However, I want to respond to Renn’s book in a different way. 

As I read Life in the Negative World, I often just felt sad. I felt sad because I know so few people who are doing this kind of work. I felt sad because even after having left the United Methodist Church, I still often feel like making progress on the issues facing the church is an uphill battle. 

Having left the UMC, some seem to think the first order of business is showing the world we are not the crazy, bigoted fundies our enemies have said we are. But this posture is still reacting on the terms set by those who fundamentally disagree with us and will never like us.

Rather, I think the first order of business for those leaving the UMC is to get our own house in order as soon as it is properly our house and not the United Methodist Church’s house. 

For many of us, a ruthless inventory is needed before we seek to enter the Promised Land of whether we are still carrying Egypt around with us.

Life in Negative World is, in my view, an important book simply because it is paying attention to the big picture and it is willing to risk speaking the truth as clearly and accurately as possible, even when it is uncomfortable, seems like bad news, or might offend.

On the one hand, we need to do our own work to develop moral courage, boldness, clarity, and a willingness to suffer for the core claims of the gospel, if necessary. And on the other hand, I believe that those who find themselves in leadership positions must use their power and influence to make it easier and not more difficult for people to “live not by lies.”

It is past time for those in the United States who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ to lay down their reputations and fear of man in obedience to the Lord.

If we live in negative world, and I believe we do, there are major adjustments that need to be made, and yesterday, in almost every single way we approach the Christian faith. Evangelistic strategies that worked in the 1990s and 2000s will not work in negative world. (And at least in my world, we never really had evangelistic strategies in these decades anyway.) The same is true for discipleship.

I have been reading Daniel 3 over and over again for years now. Daniel 3 is a beautiful story of cultural differentiation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are so grounded in their faith that they can respond under immense pressure to the claims of the world and the demands of empire on their lives. They are differentiated from their cultural moment. They don’t pick fights to be nasty or pursue conflict. But they are willing to stand and put their entire trust in the Lord, even under very real threat of death.

This passage gets me every time:

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up. (Daniel 3:17-18 NLT)

I long to see a church in the United States with his kind of clarity, conviction, and courage.

I am thankful for Aaron Renn’s willingness to step forward and offer new ideas and prod evangelicals in the United States to think more carefully about the times we live in that we might be faithful. This is not easy to do. I suspect it has come at a cost for him personally, though I do not know this.

If we are wrong, we can change our minds. But if we are too afraid to think or take any risks to ask questions or challenge the dominant culture and its brokenness, we are blind guides.

One more thing:

I was excited to see that the senior pastor of my church, Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK wrote an endorsement for Life in the Negative World. Here is why Rev. Andrew Forrest thinks you should read the book:

The most important distinction in the American church today is not the one between liberal and conservative, or high church and low church, or mainline and evangelical; no, the most important distinction in the American church today is between those who recognize that we live in the negative world and those who haven’t yet accepted that fact. I am in the former camp, and Aaron Renn has given me the vocabulary I need to help others see the world as it is. Every now and then a writer and thinker comes along who helps us see the world more clearly, and Aaron Renn has been that guide for me. In Life in the Negative World he does two important things: (1) He helps us see the world as it actually is and not as we wish it to be. (2) He gives us a way forward. I’d recommend this book to every pastor I know, and I’d like everyone in my church to read it.

(Links to the book in this post are Affiliate links, which means if you use them, it helps to support this blog.)

Pray the Psalms with Me!

12 Wednesday Jul 2023

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As I mentioned in my last post, my appointment to Director of Academic Growth & Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK has also provide the blessing of joining the staff at Asbury Church as Scholar-in-Residence. Reverend Andrew Forrest, the senior pastor at Asbury Church, wrote about my work at the church in a post published a few weeks ago. Read it here.

The first thing I get to do in my role as Scholar-in-Residence for Asbury Church is help Andrew by writing some of the commentaries for Asbury Church’s daily Bible reading. I’d love for you to join me in reading one psalm a day. We are on Psalm 94 today (July 12th). You can read today’s commentary here.

It has been a lot of fun to spend time reading commentaries and praying through these psalms. It has also deepened my appreciation for how much work it has taken for Andrew to write daily commentaries for Asbury Church’s reading plans since his arrival.

As Andrew often says, Asbury is a Bible reading church. I’m so grateful to be joining this faith community.

I’ve decided against republishing these commentaries on my own blog but wanted to share part of what I’m up to with you. It is easy to signup at Andrew’s blog here. Be sure to check the second box “Daily Bible posts” towards the bottom.

I hope you will pray the Psalms with me!

John Wesley’s Sermon “The Law Established through Faith, II”: A Brief Summary

23 Tuesday Mar 2021

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John Wesley, Justification by Faith

This is the 31st sermon in this series. It is very encouraging to see how many people are reading these posts and clicking through to read the sermon itself. Just joining the growing number of people reading these sermons? Feel free to start at the beginning by reading the first sermon by John Wesley in this series, “Salvation by Faith,” or jump right in with us!

Background:

Did you know that many of John Wesley’s sermons are part of the formal doctrinal teaching of multiple Wesleyan/Methodist denominations? Wesley’s sermons have particular authority because these were the main way he taught Methodist doctrine and belief.

“The Law Established through Faith, II” is the 31st sermon of the Wesleyan Standard Sermons. This sermon builds on the previous sermon, “The Law Established through Faith, I” and outlines a more positive vision for how the law is established in the lives of followers of Jesus Christ.

In hopes of sparking interest in Wesley’s sermons and Methodism’s doctrinal heritage, here is my very short summary of “The Law Established through Faith, II.” I hope it will inspire you to read the sermon in its entirety yourself. Links to the sermon and other resources are included at the end of this post.

Key quote: 

Can you say, ‘Thou art merciful to my unrighteousness; my sins thou rememberest no more’? Then for the time to come see that you fly from sin, as from the face of a serpent. For how exceeding sinful does it appear to you now! How heinous above all expression! On the other hand, in how amiable a light do you now see the holy and perfect will of God! Now, therefore, labour that it may be fulfilled, both in you, by you, and upon you. Now watch and pray that you may sin no more, that you may see and shun the least transgression of his law. You see the motes which you could not see before when the sun shines into a dark place. In like manner you see the sins which you could not see before, now the sun of righteousness shines in your heart. Now, then, do all diligence to walk in every respect according to the light you have received. Now be zealous to receive more light daily, more of the knowledge and love of God, more of the Spirit of Christ, more of his life, and of the power of his resurrection. Now use all the knowledge and love and life and power you have already attained. So shall you continually go on from faith to faith. So shall you daily increase in holy love, till faith is swallowed up in sight, and the law of love established to all eternity. [III.6]

One sentence summary:  

The moral law of God is established in our lives through sound doctrine, faith in Christ, love of God and neighbor, and holiness of heart and life.

Scripture passage for the sermon:

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law.”

– Romans 3: 31

Concise outline of “The Law Established through Faith, II”

1. A summary of the previous sermon. This sermon asks, positively, “How do we establish the law through faith?”
2. Establishing the moral law is not the condition of our justification. And yet, “we still, in the Aposle’s sense, ‘establish the law.'”

I. We Establish the Law by Our Doctrine
1. We establish the law by offering “the whole counsel of God” with “great plainness of speech.”
2. The law is established by our doctrine when “we declare every part of it, every commandment contained therein, not only in its full, literal sense, but likewise in its spiritual meaning; not only with regard to the outward actions which it either forbids or enjoins, but also with respect to the inward principle, to the thoughts, desires, and intents of the heart.”
3. The law must be established through doctrine because “as important as these things are, they are little considered or understood.
4. “The law of God, as to its inward spiritual meaning, is not hid from the Jews or heathens only, but even from what is called the Christian world.”
5. Even though it is offensive to many who hear it, “All that is written in the Book of God we are to declare, not as pleasing men, but the Lord. We are to declare not only all the promises but all the threatenings, too, which we find therein. At the same time that we proclaim all the blessings and privileges which God had prepared for his children, we are likewise to ‘teach all the things whatsoever he hath commanded.'”
6. “It is our part thus to ‘preach Christ’ by preaching all things whatsoever he hath revealed… We are not ourselves clear before God unless we proclaim him in all his offices.”

II. We Establish the Law by Preaching Faith in Christ in a Way that Leads to Holiness of Heart and Life
1. Even faith in Christ is not the end result God aims at. “God hath given this honor to love alone. Love is the end of all the commandments of God.”
2. Faith “is the great temporary means which God has ordained to promote that eternal end [love].”
3. Faith cannot be preached so as to “swallow up all things” and become more important than love.
4. “Nor is it certain… that faith, even in the general sense of the word, had any place in paradise.”
5. Faith was necessary before the fall. “It was only when love was lost by sin that faith was added, not for its own sake, nor with any design that it should exist any longer than until it had answered the end for which it was ordained – namely, to restore man to the love from which he was fallen.”
6. “Faith then was originally designed of God to re-establish the law of love.”

III. The Most Important Way of Establishing the Law Is by Establishing It in Our Own Hearts and Lives
1. It would serve no purpose to preach the law through our doctrine and preach Christ in all of his offices if it “were not established in our hearts.”
2. “How may we establish the law in our own hearts so that it may have its full influence on our lives?… This can only be done by faith… Faith in general is the most direct and effectual means of promoting all righteousness and true holiness; of establishing the holy and spiritual law in the hearts of them that believe.”
3. “There is no motive which so powerfully inclines us to love God as the sense of the love of God in Christ.”
4. “Nor does faith fulfill either the negative or positive law as to the external part only; but it works inwardly by love to the purifying of the heart, the cleansing it from all vile affections.”
5. “Let us thus endeavor to establish the law in ourselves; not sinning ‘because we are under grace’, but rather using all the power we receive thereby ‘to fulfill all righteousness.'”
6. Can you say, ‘Thou art merciful to my unrighteousness; my sins thou remeberest no more’? Then for the time to come see that you fly from sin, as from the face of a serpent…. Now use all the knowledge and love and life and power you have already attained. So shall you continually go on from faith to faith. So shall you daily increase in holy love, till faith is swallowed up in sight, and the law of love established to all eternity.”

Resources:

Read “The Law Established through Faith, II” in its entirety.

Check out my brief summaries of the first thirty Standard Sermons:

“Salvation by Faith”

“The Almost Christian”

“Awake, Thou That Sleepest”

“Scriptural Christianity“

“Justification by Faith“

“The Righteousness of Faith“

“The Way to the Kingdom“

“The First-Fruits of the Spirit“

“The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption“

“The Witness of the Spirit, I“

“The Witness of Our Own Spirit“

“The Means of Grace“

“The Circumcision of the Heart“

“The Marks of the New Birth“

“The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the First“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Second“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Third“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Fourth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Fifth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Sixth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Seventh“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Eighth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Ninth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Tenth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Eleventh“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Twelfth“

“Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Thirteenth“

“The Original, Nature, Properties, and Use of the Law“

“The Law Established through Faith, I“

I highly recommend the critical edition of Wesley’s sermons, which has excellent references that show his reliance on Scripture throughout his preaching. There are four volumes if you want every known Wesley sermon. The sermon outlined in this post is in volume II. These books aren’t cheap, but this is the most important publication by Abingdon since its release. And they are designed to last. Highly recommended!

There is also a three volume edition of Wesley’s sermons in modern English, which is easier to read if you find the 18th century English frustrating. Here is the first volume.

Kevin M. Watson is a professor at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He teaches, writes, and preaches to empower community, discipleship, and stewardship of our heritage. Click here to get future posts emailed to you. Affiliate links used in this post.