Scripture Reading | Psalm 105:1-4 NIV
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 4 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Faith of our Fathers – John Wesley
Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
Today, we have arrived at our second to last Sunday of our sermon series, Faith of our Fathers, in which we are looking at the faiths of four men and how their lives changed the course of the Church and of the world. We began by looking at Paul, a Pharisee who became Christian and opened the Church to everyone. His life reminds us that the faith we profess is for all the earth, for all people. Next, we looked at Saint Patrick, a man who lived in the 5th and 6th centuries who fo llowed his call from God to return to the land which enslaved him and share the Good News. His life reminds us that we can follow where God is calling us, even when there is trouble brewing, because God’s strength is enough to see us through. Last week, we looked at Martin Luther, a monk who lived in the 16th century and redefined who the Bible was written for. Facing, excommunication and execution, Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so that common people like you and me could read it. His life reminds us how precious the Holy Scriptures are, how important they are to our lives, and how the only way we should experience them is firsthand.
Before we come to the man we are talking about today, I want to address something which I think is important. Last week after service, Ken Siegesmund and I talked and he made a very important point which bears repeating. None of the people we are talking about in this series are perfect people. If you look hard enough, you will easily find their imperfections and mistakes. The reason we are looking to their lives for guidance in ours is not because they are the examples of perfect lives lived. Rather, we look to them as perfect examples of how God does His incredible work through the lives of terribly imperfect people. When we look to these people, we see how opening our lives up to God’s use, even when we, ourselves are severely flawed, allows for God to work His wonders through us.
And with that said, we move on to the man of the hour, John Wesley. Today we dive into what it means to find God in the midst of our mistakes. But first, we have to practice our memory verse!
Memory Verse: Turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Proverbs 2:2.
Today, we go back to the 18th century when America was still a colony and a young man was born in Epworth, England. John Wesley was born to Samuel and Susanna Wesley. John would famously go on to found the Methodist Movement and subsequently the Methodist Church in both America and in England. Wesley received his education from Christ Church at Oxford and would start societies around the English Empire to create the revival movement which is the ancestor to the United Methodist Church of today. But one of his greatest achievements came not while Methodism was on the move or during his moments of fame or wealth. But at the very early part of his life, when things were much shakier and his faith was barely formed.
On October 14, 1735, almost exactly 285 years ago, John set sail to the New World. He had been newly ordained in the Anglican Church and had accepted a post in the Colony of Georgia where he was to pastor a local church. But for John, it was more than that. He was bound to convert the native peoples living there and bring them to life in Christ. But from the early moments of the excursion, trouble brewed. As he headed to Georgia on a rickety boat, swaying side to side, a storm approached and began to violently knock the boat around. As the black waters began to conquer the little ship, everyone panicked and frantically worked to save the ship. Its passengers huddled and began waiting for their imminent death. As John looked around and took in everything happening to him, he saw a group of people, called Moravians, in a circle singing hymns and praying God as if nothing was happening. This experience made Wesley begin to believe that there was an inner strength which he lacked and these Moravians had.
In Georgia, he would have similar luck as to his voyage to America. He became the minister of Christ Church in Savannah Georgia, a church which is still around to this day. During his time there, attendance and those who received communion increased all while John created the first Sunday School in America as well as the first English Hymnal designed for Americans. But all of this was aside from the fact that his ministry with the natives of America fell completely flat. It was an abysmal failure and after two years it sent John back to England, defeated. Looking back, by today’s standards, John did very well! He grew the church and developed new programming and tools which would help the church for ages to come. Yet this experience had revealed something within him, something which was lacking.
Wesley was now back was now back in England, utterly depressed and defeated. This low point in his faith brought him back to the people who had exemplified strength during times of trial, the Moravians. One such Moravian was Peter Bohler. On one Sunday, John was convinced that he did not have faith. How can one preach if one does not have faith? So, he asked Peter for his thoughts on if he should skip preaching. This is what John’s journal says, ‘“He answered, ‘By no means.’ I asked, ‘But what can I preach?’ He said, ‘Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”’ This is something which changed the perspective of Wesley and would help lead him to a path where he would have his famous Aldersgate moment, for which we have churches named and have a special Sunday. But this Methodist movement, which today claims 80 million people around the world, began with this man who didn’t think he had enough faith to preach on Sunday.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly had those days. I had moments in my life where I truly didn’t know if God was there, if God even exists. For myself, there have been times where it seems like it makes more sense for the whole thing to be made up – these beautiful myths of a long dead civilization which we have mistaken for carrying truths. It is normal for Christians, especially Christians of young faith, to have doubts. There is not a Christian who has ever lived who has not doubted at one point or another. Even Peter, the beloved disciple of Jesus – a man which spent years living with Jesus – showed his doubt and fear at Christ’s crucifixion.
What John Wesley’s story shows us is that doubt is not the enemy. Giving in to doubt is the enemy. John could have gone down a completely different path should he had chosen to skip preaching that day. John could have never showed up to hear Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle of Romans and completely missed the Aldersgate moment. But even while John was in doubt, he kept going. He kept seeking and preaching.
Our scripture for today, which you by now must be wondering what on earth it has to do with Wesley, actually gives us some light in this subject. Psalms says, “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His Name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. Glory in His holy Name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” This passage gives us a perfect plan for those moments when faith seems far away, when it seems like God is long gone. It says, give praise to God and proclaim who God is. Start by saying what you have known to this point and retell the stories in the Bible. Look to scripture for guidance and see what it witnesses to. The people who wrote the Bible did so that you may have a constant witness to who God is and what He has done. Next, glory in His name. Spend time with God and take time to appreciate all that we know about what God is and what He has done. Finally, the Psalm says to seek God and rejoice in your seeking because God is our strength.
There are moments when faith is more seeking than anything. But we have a promise that if we seek for God and truly wish to find Him, that we will. We have a witness from John that even in his lowest points of life, even in utter defeat and absolute loss of faith, God is still faithful to those who seek. From this doubting man who did not know God came a movement which would reform the Anglican church and bring the faith to millions in America and around the world.
Even when we have moments of doubt, even in moments of fear or loss of self-worth, we have strength and we have hope. If you are in one of those moments right now, one of the best things you can do is talk with someone else who has faith. John Wesley turned to Peter Bohler who helped him through his moments of doubt. That other person can be there for you and encourage you to stay strong and to keep seeking. If you are someone whom someone else turns to, assure them that it is okay to doubt; that every Christian has moments like these. But most of all, encourage them to keep seeking. Our job, this week and always, is to be there for each other as Christians. One of the first things we talked about is supporting the church by presence. When we live into that calling, we are there for each other when we inevitably have doubts.
Our challenge for this week is to keep seeking. As we’ve talked about, there will be times where we have doubts, when it feels like our faith has left us and God no longer exists. In those moments, our challenge is to keep seeking. To look upon the face of God and rely on His strength that in our seeking, we may find Christ.