Wesley Sermon #17

THE MARKS OF THE NEW BIRTH

So is everyone that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8)

I propose to lay down the marks of the new birth in the plainest manner, just as I find them laid down in Scripture. The marks of the new birth are faith, hope, and love.

Faith is the foundational mark of the new birth. By faith we do not mean mere assent to the proposition ‘Jesus is the Christ,’ but also a disposition of the heart. It is a rejection of the flesh and an active trust in Christ. It yields power over sin, so that whoever is born of God does not commit sin. It also yields peace which passes understanding.

There is such a thing as false hope, but true hope is a mark of having been born again. This is the assurance of salvation. The Spirit bears witness that we are, indeed, children of God. Present sufferings cannot destroy such hope.

The greatest of these marks is love. Primarily, this is a love for God, but this produces a love for all people (neighbors and supposed enemies). We are willing to die for them. This love exists, first and foremost, in the heart. But if plays out in actions towards God and people.

Each of us knows if we are presently experiencing this faith, this hope, and this love. Is this your present experience? If so, you bear the marks of new birth.

Anabaptizing The Wesleyan Church

I'm an ordained Wesleyan minister. But let's be honest... a lot of that is happenstance. Soon after their conversions, my parents started attending the local Wesleyan church. That was almost 30 years ago. I'm still there. I love my home church. And I love The Wesleyan Church (TWC). Almost a decade ago I read through this handbook of denominations and determined that TWC was my 2nd favorite denomination behind only the Church of God (Anderson, IN). 2nd place out of so many is pretty great. In other words, nobody should interpret this blog-post as an anti-Wesleyan Church rant. I love my branch of Christianity and have every intention of spending the remainder of my earthly life there.

That being said, I do think The Wesleyan Church needs a bit more Anabaptism in its blood. Over the last decade I've become a lot more Anabaptist in my theology/doctrine. But I don't think TWC should become more Anabaptist because I did. I think TWC should become more Anabaptist for its own sake (surviving post-Christendom) and for Jesus' sake.

One of the go-to places to discover the basic elements of Anabaptism is the Schleitheim Confession. It lists 7 core convictions of Anabaptists:

1. Believer's Baptism
For the most part, Anabaptism has already won the day on this front in TWC. It is my impression that MOST (not all) Wesleyan pastors either highly prefer or exclusively practice only believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism). That being said, I definitely do sense a movement within TWC arguing FOR infant baptism. And, of course, that argument goes right back to John Wesley himself. Recently I've been leading a group through 60 of Mr. Wesley's sermons. One thing I've found is that Wesley seems to have had an intense internal debate about the practice. He was beholden to his (infant baptizing) tradition while hating some of its results. I'm not suggesting that we end the debate, but I do feel strongly about believer's baptism.

2. The Ban (Church Discipline)
Church discipline is in The Discipline, but it is generally not in the churches. Of course, it's super difficult to do church discipline in a culture where people can (and do) just change churches upon their first grievance. But I wholly believe that we need to find some way to discipline (in love) members who are falling away from the faith.

3. The Lord's Supper
Now, here's proof that I'm not just following Anabaptism step for step. In my readings of Wesley sermons, I really enjoyed his take on communion. He seemed open to anyone who was taking a step toward Christ participating in the sacrament. It was truly a means of grace (maybe even saving grace) for Wesley. Anabaptists seem more adamant that participants must be saved & baptized believers. I'll side with my understanding of Wesley here.

4. Separation
This is the area that stands behind my motivation for posting this today. It seems that lately (maybe its because I just attended a conference with Bruxy Cavey, Greg Boyd, and Brian Zahnd) I can't help but seeing as ugly the blending of church & state in America. Often, our local church are more passionate about patriotism than the Kingdom of God. Anabaptists, rightfully in my opinion, see themselves as a counter-cultural movement. I get the impression, however, that TWC sees itself much more as a para-culture ministry. I'll give one example. Today I was on the Wesleyan Pastor's page (Facebook) and found out that a number of pastors would be unwilling to marry a couple that didn't want a state license, but would have no problem recognizing a couple as married that did the whole deal before a secular judge. Something is backwards here! I'm not sure if we've nationalized our faith... or faithified our patriotism. I think all Wesleyan pastors should read this post from the Dean of Wesley Seminary.

5. Pastors
The Schleitheim Confession speaks of the importance of pastors. I don't think there's too much difference, here, between Anabaptists and TWC. I'm probably different from both of them. I feel like the ideal situation for any pastor would be to work their way out of a job! But that's another blog post.

6. The Sword
I don't anticipate the peace-making position to become a majority view within TWC. Personally, I don't believe Christians should participate in violence. I believe we are called to play a different role in conflict (prayerful peace-makers). But I try to be a realist. TWC isn't an Anabaptist denomination. It is enough, for me, that it allows those with Anabaptist convictions in its ranks (and promises to support them in their convictions). But I long for the day when we, as TWC, actually have confidence in the power of sacrifice. I long for the day when I stop hearing Wesleyans say things like 'Just nuke em.' I long for the day that when we talk about 'our' response... it's not the response of the nation that we have in mind... but the response Jesus wants to make through the church.

7. The Oath
Anabaptists are against taking oaths. TWC is against secret oaths. Close enough. This post is getting pretty long and I don't feel passionately enough about this issue to make a big deal out of this point.

To summarize, I feel that the Anabaptist tradition raises important issues for Wesleyans to consider. They make strong arguments for believer's baptism, the practice of church discipline, viewing the church as a radical counter-culture, and the peace-making position. These are all areas that I think TWC needs to seriously consider in order to survive in post-Christendom and, even more importantly, in order to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

I have no desire to leave The Wesleyan Church for an Anabaptist denomination, but I have every intention to bring these beautiful and powerful elements of the Anabaptist tradition more and more into The Wesleyan Church.

Modern Sitcom Top Ten

It's time to update my modern sitcom top 10 list. The criteria here is that the show has to be a half-hour situational comedy no older than Cheers. This was a hard list to make and many quality shows had to be left out. I originally made this list in 2012, so this is just an update.


Changes:
1. Arrested Development passes Coupling into 4th place
2. How I Met Your Mother jumps from 10th to 7th
3. Parks & Rec jumps Friends, but stays in 8th

10. 30Rock
I liked this show quite a bit, but I don't think it'll last forever on this list. It's barely on the list now as I debate shows like Scrubs and NewsRadio. Even still, Tracy Morgan's character is really funny in this, to me, for some reason.

9. Friends
Friends drops 2 spots in this most recent update. I know a lot of people love it and it was certainly one of my favorite shows for a couple of years. It had a good run and plenty of funny lines, a decent storyline, and a good cast. It is possible, I suppose, that a fresh viewing could secure its spot in the top 10 forever.

8. Parks and Rec. still has the potential to move up a little bit on this list. I think the Andy character is hilarious. Of course, if the show gets lame it could lose a couple spots and be left off the list. Along with Arrested Development, it is the only current show currently on my list.

7. How I Met Your Mother
On my previous list, I had this show at #10. I was only in the midst of watching the 2nd season. After finishing the show, I have moved it to #7 overall. I really enjoyed the characters and the running jokes. Somehow they were able to make the storyline last for a decade.

6. Cheers
Like Friends, Cheers makes number 6 largely out of respect. Yes, it's a great show, but I also value the role that it played in changing television. I think Cheers really prompted a new era of sitcom. The cast on this show was great. Few shows can change leading ladies and survive. They also switched bartenders pretty successfully. I liked the squabbles with Gary's Old Town Tavern a lot.

5. Coupling
This is a BBC show. It's like Friends in a lot of ways, but more obsessed with sexual humor. I just found it so well written and cast. It'll be hard for any current shows to reach this level in my book, so Coupling's spot in my top 10 is pretty safe for a while I think.

4. Arrested Development
This is a very different kind of show, but in a good way. I don't think nearly as many people have seen this show than the others on the list. It has a lot of re-watch-ability in my opinion b/c of the fast paced humor. Netflix brought this show back in an interesting and impressive way, pushing it to the 4th spot... but it'll be next to impossible to climb higher.

3. Frasier
Frasier is not so much laugh out loud funny as it is just downright clever. Well crafted, I cared about the characters in Frasier more than those of any other show on this list. It wasn't just a comedy; it actually said something about life sometimes. But that's not to take away from how funny it was.

2. The Office
The Office (US version) was well on its way to claiming the top spot, but then it faded pretty fast and has only sometimes recovered with a good episode here or there. The first 3 or 4 seasons were pure comedy gold. Almost every episode was classic and quotable. Later episodes were hit or miss. The final season, in my opinion, saw the show regain its footing to secure 2nd place.

1. Seinfeld
Seinfeld wins the top spot. Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer and friends took a little while to develop great chemistry, but then kept it for season after season. It really was a show about nothing, but at the same time it was about people interacting with all their idiosyncrasies. The last season wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst either. This show contained too many great quotes and moments not to be first.

Wesley Sermon #16

THE NEW BIRTH

Ye must be born again (John 3:7)

The ‘new birth’ is a fundamental doctrine. It is of great importance that we understand why we must be born again, how we are born again, and to what end we are born again.

Why must we be born again? Though people were made in the image of God, they were not made immutable. Humanity fell and died (spiritually). From this dead state each individual must be re-born (again, spiritually).

How does this happen? Certainly we can’t fully grasp how this new birth occurs, but we at least accept what Scripture says. At the new birth, God changes the person inwardly. The person is now equipped with the mind of Christ and the presence of the Spirit.

To what end? The new birth begins a process, a hike toward holiness… a path to perfection. Without heading in this direction, one has no hope of salvation. The ‘end’ toward which the new birth points is readiness for heaven, holiness of heart, happiness of life.

In case there is confusion on this point, the sacrament of baptism is not synonymous with the new birth. The former is an outward symbol, the latter the inward reality. It is possible to have the former and not the latter. Be you baptized or unbaptized, you MUST be born again.

OnceFutureMission

I went to a conference this past weekend and wanted to share summaries of the first 4 speakers that I heard.

Speaker #1 Greg Boyd

Greg Boyd joked that he was a rising star in evangelicalism in the late 80's, but began to feel more and more uncomfortable with what was being passed off as evangelical. He was struck by the inter-mixing of church and state in America and grew more and more concerned about the gap between his view of the kingdom and his perception of the church.

Certain theological themes were resonating with Boyd during this time. He started seeing Jesus as the full revelation of God. He started viewing faith in terms of covenant instead of in terms of belief (individual mental assent). He started seeing salvation as holistic instead of just as a ticket out of hell. He started seeing the Gospel as a non-violent revolution. Boyd believed in a Jesus-looking-God who was wanting to raise up Jesus-looking-people to serve the world in Jesus-looking-ways. But things came to a head in 2004 when he was pressured to weigh in on American politics and instead decided to boldly solidify his leanings.

He believes, now, that we're on the cusp of a theological explosion within Christianity... that within 50 years The Reformation might look like a hiccup. But he's also concerned about some things. He's concerned that some of these revolutionaries might throw out Scripture in their re-thinking of Scripture. He's concerned that it'll prove very difficult to add people to the revolutionary ranks who have been previously immunized to the true Gospel (they think they're already OK). He's concerned that the revolution won't find ways to network without becoming just another centralized power structure. And he's concerned about how we'll transition the current church situation (mega-churches) into true kingdom communities (grow small).

Speaker #2 Meghan Good

Meghan Good started with the story of Jesus walking on water during the storm. Peter questioned whether it was Jesus. It is important to note what TEST Peter utilized to discover if it was really Jesus. Peter identified Jesus by seeing if he'd be asked to FOLLOW Him. Wherever Jesus goes, after all, He expects us to follow. Jesus is the one that says come do as I do and makes that thing possible... that's the most defining thing about Jesus, the true test of His identity.

Most of us see Jesus as the one who calms the storm for us, but Jesus actually calls us into the storm as well. Anabaptism takes us into the storm. Jesus delivers us from the false-safety of the boat. The essence of the Gospel is DYING & RISING (baptism is, therefore, a microcosm of the Gospel). Salvation and Discipleship are synonymous.

Jesus calls us to play a part in His work... to be the miracle we seek. It's now POWER that we lack, it's our refusal to act. We're just as blind to Gospel RISING as we are to its FALLING. In the end, though, the two turn out to be the same. The POWER of the universe IS FALLING. Falling and Rising are actually 1. We, as Christians, fall upward.

Speaker #3 Brian Zahnd

In the discussion b/w Jesus and Pilate... we tend to side with Pilate. Pilate believed that the real truth was that power and force are the way to rule the world. Jesus has a different answer. The cross indicts the worldly system and reveals a new way: An Axis of love. Jesus presents to us a radical yet viable alternative to the sword.

The church has sided with Paul by trying to separate Jesus from His ideas. We've picked Caesar but we think Jesus is cool so we name Him "Secretary of Afterlife Affairs." But this approach hasn't worked. Christian Empire has failed. The experiment is over. We're in Post-Christendom. Post-Christendom takes Jesus seriously. He's not "Lord ELECT." He's Lord NOW. The church is to be an outpost for the new regime. We are like a movie preview moreso than an agent of change.

To love your neighbor as yourself is a viable political policy.

Speaker #4 Bruxy Cavey


God wasn't content with a petting zoo. God has 1 desire (to share love with the world). God always asks "Who can I do this with?" God takes the slow and patient route because God is relational. The Bible is a big book b/c we screw up a lot. God sacrifices efficiency for intimacy.

Our doctrine of Scripture should be pretty simple: Scripture comes from God & we use it! The CHURCH is actually the pillar and foundation of truth according to Scripture. God didn't go back to the printed page after Jesus. His favorite way of communicating is the Body of Christ, not the Bible. We don't get bonus points for being more modest than God has called us to be. We need to step up and be Jesus in our communities. We believe in the inerrant & infallible Word of God... and His name is Jesus.

Disciples connect to a teacher to learn the ways of THE teacher (Jesus). Disciples learn the words of Jesus and the ways of Jesus. Disciples live out what they learn in community. Disciples find and train other disciples. Cavey sees his church primarily as a network of small groups that finds a cultural use for Sunday morning gatherings.