I have some big news to share:

My family will be making a significant transition this summer. I will be transitioning from being a member of the faculty at Candler School of Theology, Emory University to joining the pastoral staff at First Methodist Waco. I am so excited to join the pastoral staff at the church as Associate Pastor of Discipleship!

This is a challenging post to write because I am thinking of so many different audiences as I write this. I am aware that this post will be read by people where we live. It will also be read by people at our new church. And it will be read by a lot of people who have followed this blog over the years and will wonder why I am stepping out of an academic position where I earned tenure just about a year ago in order to return to the local church. 

First of all, I want to say that the past seven years have been wonderful in so many ways. God has been so faithful to us! Our family has thrived here. When we moved to Atlanta, we had a 1^st grader, a child starting pre-K, and one who was just barely walking. Our youngest is now older than our oldest was when we got here. Melissa and I are so grateful to have lived here for this season. Thanks are especially due to Grayson United Methodist Church! We have been blessed to have a community come around us and love each one of us so well. We will take countless memories with us and cherish the friendships that we all have formed throughout this season. Thank you for all you have done for us and all you have been to us.

My time at Candler School of Theology, Emory University was filled with blessings as well. I got paid for seven years to teach, read, write, think, and pray with students. I am regularly surprised and delighted to receive emails from former students updating me on their lives and thanking me for teaching them. It is still surreal to me that I got paid to teach and that people acted like I had done them a favor. Candler provided generous and exceptional support for my work as a scholar that allowed me to do research that would not have been possible otherwise, especially the work on Old or New School Methodism?

Candler also provided a context where I was able to think more carefully about the teachings of the United Methodist Church. Over the past seven years I learned, I hope, how to more effectively advocate for my church’s doctrine and discipline. In my classes, we talked openly about the controversies facing the UMC, in part because I’ve never been very good at ignoring the elephant in the room. As an elder in the church who was teaching students preparing for ordination in the same church, I felt obligated to do what I could to try to help students think as well as they could about these issues. I also wanted them to hear the most faithful and gracious case I could make that affirmed the current teaching of their church.

But my favorite part of teaching was getting to talk with students about the keys to Methodism’s spiritual vitality when British and American Methodism experienced revival. I loved teaching the class on Methodist doctrine, where I walked through the way of salvation, particularly engaging students on Wesley’s audacious optimism of the possibility of perfect love, by the grace of God, in this life. And I loved teaching the class on the central importance of small groups in early Methodism. I enjoyed teaching both of these particular classes so much because I believe they are still relevant for Methodists today. I want to see them come back to life in local churches today. I am certain that where Methodist churches return to the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out, God’s blessing will follow. 

And above all else, I loved praying with my students. I prayed at the beginning of each class. And I invited students to ask me to pray with them. The highest honor given to me over the past seven years was when a student would reach out to me for prayer. And it was such a gift to see the Lord move in the lives of my students! I have had the particular privilege these last few years of having a student become my pastor and my family’s pastor. God is good!

Candler has been supportive of my teaching and scholarly career since the day I arrived, and I know that support ultimately derives from my Dean’s generosity and kindness to me, for which I am grateful. Jan Love has been consistently kind, generous, and gracious to me. The gift of tenure that Candler gave me last year is just one example of many of the support shown to me over the past several years. I would be lying if I said that making the decision to leave wasn’t hard.

So, why am I leaving full-time teaching within the academy to serve on a pastoral staff in the local church?

The short version is because I believe God has called me to this place and to this role. Melissa and I have had a growing sense that doors were closing here and that God was going to open a new door for us to walk through. We have been praying regularly for God to open the door that He wanted to open and to keep doors closed that should stay closed. And we prayed that God would unite us as husband and wife, that we would be deeply unified in our desire to walk through the door God opened.

In the academy, it is often hard to make space for testimony and speaking to a sense of God’s guidance and direction in one’s life. It is important for me to say that we are making this move because we feel like God is in it. Above all else, we want to be faithful to the Lord and grow in our love and dependence on Jesus. 

And I cannot express just how excited I am to be joining the staff at First Methodist Waco! Pastor Ryan Barnett, the senior pastor, is a person I deeply respect who has shown moral courage. His love for Jesus and Christ’s church is visible. I am humbled to join his team. In the brief interactions I’ve had with the other pastors on staff, I have been extremely impressed. Pastor Brandon has already been a gift and encouragement to our family. (Our kids cannot wait to visit Fabled!) I am also aware of the faithful witness of those who have served before me. I hope to honor their work by building on it.  

It took me awhile to recognize what was happening, but I have had a growing desire to be more fully involved in the life of the local church, not only as an active participant, but as a leader on the ground in the local church. When Pastor Ryan invited me to come and serve in this role, it caught me a bit off guard at first. But I realized that he was asking me to do what I have been urging pastors across Methodism to do for the past thirteen years. My passion has been calling Methodists to return to their roots in deep discipleship to Jesus Christ, giving all of their lives to Jesus. Methodists have historically done an exceptional job of helping people avoid being merely fans of Jesus, but leading people to become deeply committed followers of Jesus Christ. In the work I have done on Wesleyan discipleship, especially the need to reclaim class and band meetings, the response I’ve gotten time and time again is something like this: “Ok, we agree with everything you’ve said. But how do we actually do this on the ground in the local church?” This is where people have often wanted to hear more.

And so when I was asked to step into a multi-site congregation, one of the strongest and healthiest congregations in the Central Texas Annual Conference, and to focus particularly on discipleship systems and building small groups and community to help Christians grow in their faith, it just made more and more sense. My soul shifted from: “What will people say if you walk away from tenure at Emory?” to simply sensing a deep peace and a simple, “Yes!”

I want to give myself to this work. This is an opportunity for me to put into practice what I have been researching and writing about my entire academic career. I have always hoped that my academic work was ultimately in service to the church. Being given the chance to practice what I’ve preached, so to speak, is a tremendous opportunity!

And so, to the folks at First Methodist Waco: Melissa and I are so excited to meet you and build relationships with you! I am a Texan. I was born in Houston and lived there until just before starting school. We moved back to Houston when I was in high school. And anyone who knows me at all knows I am a die-hard and unapologetic Houston Astros fan. Our second child was born in Dallas, when I was working on my PhD at Southern Methodist University. So, we are 40% Texan already! I can’t wait to get back to Texas!

I want to spend time learning about you and your church. I want to get to know you first. I want you to know up front that I have two main goals at the outset. First, by the grace of God, I will do everything I can to help you know where you are in your walk with Jesus. You need to know where you are before you can know what the next step is. Second, once you have a sense of where you are in your life with Christ, again, by the grace of God, I will do everything I can to come alongside you to empower you to take the next step in your faith. There is nothing more meaningful or fulfilling in this life than seeing people grow in their faith.

People of First Methodist Waco, we cannot wait to meet you!

(Click here for the announcement First Methodist made yesterday afternoon.)

Kevin M. Watson 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.

This is the 32nd 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 Nature of Enthusiasm” is the 32nd sermon of the Wesleyan Standard Sermons. This sermon describes enthusiasm, imagining you are someone you are not. Wesley applies this in a variety of ways, some of which will likely be surprising and convicting to many contemporary Christians.

In hopes of sparking interest in Wesley’s sermons and Methodism’s doctrinal heritage, here is my very short summary of “The Nature of Enthusiasm.” 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: 

But the most common of all enthusiasts… are those who imagine themselves Christians and are not… That they are not Christians is clear and undeniable, if we believe the oracles of God. For Christians are holy; these are unholy. Christians love God; these love the world. Christians are humble; these are proud. Christians are gentle; these are passionate. Christians have the mind which was in Christ; these are at the utmost distance from it. Consequently they are no more Christians than they are archangels. Yet they imagine themselves so to be; and they can give several reasons for it. For they have been called so ever since they can remember. They were ‘christened’ many years ago. They embrace the ‘Christian opinions’ vulgarly termed the Christian or catholic faith. They use the ‘Christian modes of worship’, as their fathers did before them. They live what is called a good ‘Christian life’, as the rest of their neighbours do. And who shall presume to think or say that these men are not Christians? Though without one grain of true faith in Christ, or of real, inward holiness! Without ever having tasted the love of God, or been ‘made partakers of the Holy Ghost’! [16]

One sentence summary:  

This sermon describes the dangers of enthusiasm: imagining you are someone you are not.

Scripture passage for the sermon:

“And Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself.”

– Acts 26:24

Concise outline of “The Nature of Enthusiasm”

1. “If you aim at the religion of the heart, if you talk of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, then it will not be long before your sentence is passed: ‘Thou art beside thyself.'”
2. “It is no compliment which the men of the world pay you herein. They for once mean what they say. They not only affirm but cordially believe that every man is beside himself who says the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him, and that God has enabled him to rejoice in Christ with joy unspeakable and fully of glory.”
3. The thing the world counts as madness is “the whole spirit and life and power of the religion of Jesus Christ.”
4. The “madness” Christians are accused of is of a specific kind and is called “enthusiasm.”
5. Enthusiasm is much used but seldom understood.
6. Wesley discusses the questionable Greek origins of the word.
7. The word may have been untranslated because it always had a “loose, uncertain sense.”
8. “It is not therefore at all surprising that it is so variously taken at this day, different persons understanding it in different senses quite inconsistent with each other.”
9. Others understand it to mean “uncommon vigour of thought.”
10. But most people use it to mean something “evil… this is plainly the sentiment of all those who call the religion of the heart enthusiasm. Accordingly I shall take it in the following pages as an evil – a misfortune, if not a fault.”
11. “As to the nature of enthusiasm, it is undoubtedly a disorder of the mind, and such a disorder as greatly hinders the exercise of reason.” An enthusiast “imagines himself to be what he is not.”
12. “Enthusiasm in general may then be described in some such manner as this: a religious madness arising from some falsely imagined influence or inspiration of God; at least from imputing something to God which ought not to be imputed to him, or expecting something from God which ought not to be expected from him.”
13. The sermon shifts to describing the most common forms of enthusiasm. The first is “those who imagine they have the grace which they have not.”
14. “The foundation of all their reveries is this: they imagine themselves to have faith in Christ.”
15. “There are many other enthusiasts of this sort.”
16. “But the most common of all enthusiasts… are those who imagine themselves Christians and are not… That they are not Christians is clear and undeniable, if we believe the oracles of God. For Christians are holy; these are unholy. Christians love God; these love the world. Christians are humble; these are proud. Christians are gentle; these are passionate. Christians have the mind which was in Christ; these are at the utmost distance from it. Consequently they are no more Christians than they are archangels.”
17. “Ah, poor self-deceivers! Christians ye are not. But you are enthusiasts in an high degree.”
18. “A second sort of enthusiasm is that of those who imagine they have such gifts from God as they have not.”
19. “To the same class belong those who in preaching or prayer imagine themselves to be so influenced by the Spirit of God as in fact they are not.”
20. It is also enthusiasm to attribute things to God in one’s private life that are without “any rational or scriptural ground.”
21. “To this kind of enthusiasm they are peculiarly exposed who expected to be directed of God, either in spiritual things or in common life, in what is justly called an extraordinary manner.”
22. The point is not that Christians shouldn’t want to know the will of God. The point is that the primary way they should seek to know the will of God is through Scripture.
23. What if Scripture doesn’t directly speak to a specific circumstance? “The Scripture itself gives you a general rule, applicable to all particular cases: ‘The will of God is our sanctification.’ It is his will that we should be inwardly and outwardly holy; that we should be good and do good in every kind, and in the highest degree whereof we are capable.”
24. When faced with different choices in life, we ought to ask, “In which of these states can I be most holy, and do the most good?”
25. The assistance of the Holy Spirit is present throughout this process of discernment.
26. “This is the plain, scriptural, rational way to know what is the will of God in a particular case.”
27. A third sort of enthusiasm is when people seek to “attain the end without using the means, by the immediate power of God… Such are they who expect to understand the Holy Scriptures without reading them and meditating thereon.”
28. Some say enthusiasm is “imagining those things to be owing to the providence of God which are not owing thereto.” But Wesley argues everything that happens can be ascribed to the providence of God, so the charge of enthusiasm does not apply here.
29. “Don’t you see that he who believing this imputes anything which befalls him to providence does not therein make himself any more the favourite of heaven than he supposes every man under heaven to be?”
30. Enthusiasm leads to pride.
31. “Together with pride there will naturally arise an unadvisable and unconvincable spirit; so that into whatever error or fault the enthusiast falls there is small hope of his recovery.”
32. “Being thus fortified both against the grace of God and against all advise and help from man, he is wholly left to the guidance of his own heart, and of the king of the children of pride. Nor marvel then that he is daily more rooted and grounded in contempt of all mankind, in furious anger, in every unkind disposition, in every earthly and devilish temper.”
33. Take care that you do not talk of enthusiasm without knowing what you are talking about. “Know the meaning of this hard word; and then use it if need require.”
34. Second, “beware of judging or calling any man an enthusiast upon common report.”
35. “If enthusiasm be so great an evil, beware you are not entangled therewith yourself.”
36. “Beware you are not a fiery, persecuting enthusiast.”
37. “Beware you do not run with the common herd of enthusiasts, fancying you are a Christian when you are not.”
38. Do not fall into the snare of “fancying you have those gifts from God which you have not.”
39. “Beware, lastly, of imaging you shall obtain the end without using the means conducive to it. God can give the end without any means at all; but you have no reason to think he will… Thus expect a daily growth in that pure and holy religion which the world always did, and always will, call enthusiasm; but which to all who are saved from real enthusiasm – from merely nominal Christianity – is the wisdom of God and the power of God.”

Resources:

Read “The Nature of Enthusiasm” in its entirety.

Check out my brief summaries of the first thirty-one 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“

“The Law Established through Faith, II“

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.

This is the 30th 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, I” is the 30th sermon of the Wesleyan Standard Sermons. This sermon outlines ways that Christian leaders nullify or void the moral law of God through the doctrine of justification by faith. Wesley shows the ways this happens and warns against these mistakes. Faith in Christ empowers one to obey the law, rather than making it irrelevant. Faith in Christ enables us to live the kind of life God intends for us to live out of loving response to God’s love for us.

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, I.” 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: 

This, it must be acknowledged, comes home to the point, and is indeed the main pillar of antinomianism. And yet it needs not a long or labored answer. We allow, (1), that God ‘justifies the ungodly’, him that till that hour is totally ungodly, full of all evil, void of all good; (2), that he justifies ‘the ungodly that worketh not’, that till that moment worketh no good work – neither can he: for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit; (3), that he justifies him ‘by faith alone’, without any goodness or righteousness preceding; and (4), that ‘faith is’ then ‘counted to him for righteousness’, namely, for preceding righteousness; i.e., God, through the merits of Christ, accepts him that believes as if he had already fulfilled all righteousness. But what is all this to your point? The Apostle does not say either here or elsewhere that this faith is counted to him for subsequent righteousness. He does teach that there is no righteousness before faith; but where does he teach that there is none after it? He does assert holiness cannot precede justification; but not that it need not follow it. St. Paul therefore gives you no color for ‘making void the law’ by teaching that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness. [II.7]

One sentence summary:  

This sermon warns of voiding the law through faith in Christ, when faith actually empowers one to obey the moral law.

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, I”

1. Justification is by faith, without the works of the law.
2. It is easy to anticipate that someone might then ask, does justification by faith abolish the law? Paul replies, “God forbid! Yea, we establish the law.”
3. It is the moral law that is established by faith.
4. But many disagree with this.
5. Have those who disagree that the law is established by faith “observed the connection between the law and faith?”
6. This sermon observes the ways people wrongly void the law through faith. Secondly, the sermon teaches “how we may follow the Apostle, and by faith ‘establish the law.'”

I. The Usual Ways the Law Is (Wrongly) Voided by Faith
1. A preacher can void the law by faith by not preaching the law at all.
2. Not preaching the law “proceeds from the deepest ignorance of the nature, properties, and use of the law; and proves that those who act thus either know not Christ, are utter strangers to the living faith, or at least that they are but babes in Christ.”
3. They argue that preaching the gospel “answers all the ends of the law. But this we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell.”
4. Some argue that there are Scriptural precedents for offering Christ to the “careless sinner” but Wesley does not believe there are any.
5. Paul should serve as our example for preaching. And Paul preached Christ crucified.
6. Wesley uses the example of Acts 13:39-45. “He first reminds them that they could not be justified by the law of Moses, but only by faith in Christ; and then severely threatens them with the judgments of God, which is, in the strongest sense, ‘preaching the law’.”
7. Paul then preaches that they should “turn from those vain idols unto the living God.”
8. Wesley gives further evidence from Scripture of Paul preaching in different ways based on the state of his listener.
9. To those who argue that Paul preached Christ differently in the epistles, Wesley responds that the epistles are 1. not preaching at all; 2. directed to Christians in various places, not unbelievers; and 3. every epistle is full of the law.
10. “Doubtless St. Paul judged himself to be preaching Christ both to Felix, and at Antioch, Lystra, and Athens: from whose example every thinking man must infer that not only the declaring the love of Christ to sinners, but also the declaring that he will come from heaven in flaming fire, is, in the Apostle’s sense, ‘preaching Christ.'”
11. “To ‘preach Christ’ is to preach all things that Christ hath spoken: all his promises; all his threatenings and commands; all that is written in his Book.”
12. Preaching the merits and sufferings of Christ can sometimes lead to a great blessing, but so can preaching that cuts to the heart and humbles to the dust.

II. A Second Way of ‘Making Void the Law through Faith’ Is Teaching that Faith Supersedes the Necessity of Holiness
1. There are many who void the law through faith by teaching that faith supersedes the necessity of holiness.
2. Those who make this mistake suppose that 1. holiness is “less necessary now than it was before Christ came; or, 2. that a less degree of it is necessary; or, 3. that it is less necessary to believers than to others.”
3. The first group teaches that “we are now under the covenant of grace, not works.” But only Adam was under the covenant of works.
4. “The case is not therefore, as you suppose, that men were once more obliged to obey God, or to work the works of his law, than they are now.”
5. We are justified by faith, without the works of the ceremonial or moral law.
6. But works of the law “are an immediate fruit of that faith whereby we are justified. So that if good works do not follow our faith, even all inward and outward holiness, it is plain that our faith is nothing worth; we are yet in our sins.”
7. That holiness does not precede justification does not mean that it does not need to come after it.

III. The Most Common Way of “Making Void the Law through Faith” Is Living as if Faith Was Designed to Excuse Us from Holiness.
1. Paul warns us against this in Romans 6:15.
2. Being ‘under the law’ may mean four things: “1. being obliged to observe the ceremonial law; 2. being obliged to conform to the whole Mosaic institution; 3. being obliged to keep the whole moral law as the condition of our acceptance with God; 4. being under the wrath and curse of God, under the sentence of eternal death; under a sense of guilt and condemnation, full of horror and slavish fear.”
3. From the moment someone believes in Jesus, they are not under the law in any of the preceding senses. “He obeys, not from the motive of slavish fear, but on a nobler principle, namely, the grace of God ruling in his heart, and causing all his works to be wrought in love.”
4. Shall we be less obedient to God as accepted and beloved children than as fearful servants?
5. Are you as careful to please God now that you have faith in Christ as you did when you were convicted of your sin and separation from God and seeking forgiveness and pardon?
6. How about in regards to being praised and the risk of pride?
7. “God forbid you should any longer continue thus to ‘turn the grace of god into lasciviousness!”
8. What about sins of omission, not doing what you know you ought to do (such as attending worship services)? Do not be less zealous for God now than you were before you received saving faith.

Resources:

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

Check out my brief summaries of the first twenty-nine 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“

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.

This is the 29th sermon in this series. I hope the break between the 28th and 29th sermon summary is the longest we will have in this series! Thank you for your patience with me. I intend to get back into the routine of publishing one sermon summary each Tuesday morning. It is very encouraging to see how many people are reading these posts and clicking through to read the sermon itself. Thank you to those of you who reached out and told me you were missing these. I appreciate the encouragement!

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 Original, Nature, Properties, and Use of the Law” is the 29th sermon of the Wesleyan Standard Sermons. This sermon addresses the argument that the moral law is unnecessary or unhelpful for Christians. Wesley shows the origin of the law and why it is essential for our salvation. The law is not to be feared. Sin is to be feared. The law is holy, just, and good!

In hopes of sparking interest in Wesley’s sermons and Methodism’s doctrinal heritage, here is my very short summary of “The Original, Nature, Properties, and Use of the Law.” 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: 

The law of God… is a copy of the eternal mind, a transcript of the divine nature; yea, it is the fairest offspring of the everlasting Father, the brightest efflux of his essential wisdom, the visible beauty of the Most High. It is the delight and wonder of cherubim and seraphim and all the company of heaven, and the glory and joy of every wise believer, every well instructed child of God upon earth. [II.6]

One sentence summary:  

The law of God is holy, just, and good.

Scripture passage for the sermon:

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”

– Romans 7:12

Concise outline of “The Original, Nature, Properties, and Use of the Law”

1. The law is often misunderstood or ignored.
2. Paul is referring to the moral law, as can be seen from the beginning of Romans 7.
3. “The Apostle having gone thus far in proving that the Christian had set aside the Jewish dispensation, and that the moral law itself, though it could never pass away, yet stood on a different foundation from what it did before, now stops to propose and answer an objection. ‘What shall we say then? Is the law sin?’… ‘God forbid!… The law is an irreconcilable enemy to sin, searching it out wherever it is.'”
4. This sermon will I. Show the original of this law. II. The Nature of this law. III. The properties of this law (holy, just, and good). IV. The uses of this law.

I. The Original of the Moral Law
1. The moral law goes back even before creation “even beyond the foundation of the world.”
2. The moral law was given to angelic minds “to make way for a continual increase of their happiness; seeing every instance of obedience to that law would both add to the perfection of their nature and entitle them to an higher reward, which the righteous Judge would give in its season.”
3. When God created humans, he gave them the same law, written “in the inmost spirit both of men and of angels.”
4. When humans broke the moral law “God did not despise the work of his own hands; but being reconciled to man through the Son of his love, he in some measure re-inscribed the law on the heart of his dark, sinful creature.”
5. God then chose a particular people “to whom he gave a more perfect knowledge of the law. And the heads of this, because they were slow of understanding, he wrote on tables of stone.”
6. Today we hear the law of God with our ears, but it must be revealed by the Spirit of God. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

II. The Nature of the Law
1. The law and the commandment are sometimes taken to be different things, but they are the same. And neither is the same thing as the ceremonial law.
2. The law mentioned in Romans 7 is not the Mosaic dispensation.
3. “This law is an incorruptible picture of the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity. It is he whom in his essence no man hath seen or can see, made visible to men and angels.”
4. The law is “divine virtue and wisdom assuming a visible form.”
5. From another vantage point, the law is “supreme, unchangeable reason; it is unalterable rectitude; it is the everlasting fitness of all things that are or ever were created.”
6. “The law of God… is a copy of the eternal mind, a transcript of the divine nature.”

III. The Properties of the Law
1. The law is holy, just, and good.
2. It is holy: “‘pure religion and undefiled’; or the pure, clean, unpolluted worship of God.”
3. Because the law is holy, it is enmity to sin.
4. This is why Paul objects so strongly to the suggestion that the law is sin or causes sin. Rather, the law reveals sin.
5. The law is just, rendering each their due.
6. Wesley acknowledges the question of whether the will of God causes the law and creates right and wrong. “Is a thing therefore right because God wills it? Or does he will it because it is right?” Nevertheless, this question is “more curious than useful.”
7. The difficulty of the question comes from thinking about God’s will as something distinct from God. “But the will of God is God himself.”
8. The point above is reinforced.
9. It may be granted that “in every particular case God wills this or this… because it is right, agreeable to the fitness of things, to the relation wherein they stand.”
10. “The law then is right and just concerning all things. And it is good as well as just.” The law is good because it comes from God.
11. The law is “mild and kind; it is ‘sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.’ It is winning and amiable.”
12. The law is good “in its effects, as well as in its nature.”

IV. The Uses of the Law
1. The first use is to convince the world of sin.
2. The second use of the law is to bring us back to life, through faith in Christ, so that we may live.
3. The third use of the law is to “keep us alive.”
4. The law is “of unspeakable use, first, in convincing us of the sin that yet remains both in our hearts and lives, and thereby keeping us close to Christ, that his blood may cleanse us every moment; secondly, in deriving strength from our Head into his living members, whereby he empowers them to do what his law commands; and thirdly, in confirming our hope of whatsoever it commands and we have not yet attained, of receiving grace upon grace, till we are in actual possession of the fullness of his promises.”
5. The law shows every true believer the truth more and more clearly.
6. Illustrated using “Thou shalt not kill.”
7. “Therefore I cannot spare the law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ; seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ as ever I wanted it to bring me to him.”
8. Who are you, then, to judge or speak evil of the law?
9. If you are convinced that the law is holy, just, and good, cling to it all the more.
10. “And if thy Lord hath already fulfilled his word, if he hath already ‘written his law in thy heart’, then ‘stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made thee free.'”

Resources:

Read “The Original, Nature, Properties, and Use of the Law” in its entirety.

Check out my brief summaries of the first twenty-eight 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“

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.

I am excited to participate in a workshop hosted by Spirit & Truth on class meetings. The workshop is tomorrow January 14, 2021 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm EST.

I will give a brief introduction to the role class meetings played in early Methodism and why we should retrieve them today. What is most valuable about this workshop is that you will have the chance to hear from John Wayne McMann and Will Leasure. John Wayne and Will are pastors who have both successfully launched class meetings in their churches. You will get to hear their testimonies to how they have seen God use class meetings to change lives in their churches. There will also be practical concrete suggestions on the nuts and bolts of launching new class meetings.

Here is the description of the workshop from Spirit & Truth’s website:

Small group accountable discipleship is the heartbeat of disciple-making. In recent years many churches are discovering the power of reclaiming the class meeting model which served as the fuel for the Wesleyan revival of the 1700s. If you want to get far more intentional with your discipleship strategy as a church, invest in your small groups, or launch a small group ministry from scratch…this workshop is for you. If you’ve been wanting to implement class meeting style small groups, but you’re not sure how to practically get started…this workshop is for you. It’s time to start investing in the Great Commission more than just talking about it. Join us for this online interactive workshop led by two pastors who have been implementing this discipleship system with great success.

Schedule: 2:00-4:00pm ET on Thursday, January 14 via Zoom

Cost: This training is FREE! (But pre-registration is required.)

The workshop will be recorded, so you will also be able to view the recording after the event if you can’t be with us tomorrow.

To register and learn more, go here.

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.