New Years Day 2023 - Entire Sanctification

New Year’s Day

Covenant Renewal Service

Entire Sanctification

Once again, I want to wish you a Happy New Year and welcome you to our Covenant Renewal Service! We as First Methodist Church have been through a lot in the past couple of years and I am so proud of where we are today. God has done some amazing things through you this year. We have given thousands of dollars to support local missions. We have seen dozens of people rededicate their life to the Lord, we have had a dozen baptisms this year and already have some on the books for next year.

BUT… God isn’t done with us. If I could paraphrase Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, “Naw…We’re Just Getting Warmed Up.”

God is calling us forward. God is calling us to go on to perfection. God is calling us to become more and more like Christ as individuals and as the church.

That is what this Covenant Renewal Service is all about. Renewing our commitment to God, to follow the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. We are Methodists, but first and foremost, we are followers of Jesus Christ.

In 1786, only 5 years before his death, John Wesley wrote his “Thoughts on Methodism.” What had begun in 1729 as a band of friends at Oxford agreeing to meet together daily for Spiritual growth, and had grown to only 15 after 6 years seemed to be nothing but a small group of pious members of the Church of England. However, by the time of his writing in 1786, there were more than 20,000 Methodists in the Americas and thousands more in England.

In his “Thoughts on Methodism,” Wesley wrote:

1. 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.

We as Methodists today have come dangerously close to Wesley’s description of a dead sect.

I want us to take a moment to consider a part of this doctrine that we seem to have let go of. It is a part of the foundation of the Methodist movement that has slowly but surely dwindled to the point that Seminaries only mention it in passing and excuse it as something to happen in the next life.

This doctrine of Methodism that we are talking about is what John Wesley called the “Grand Depositum of Methodism.” He believed that it was the very reason the Methodists existed. He believed that it is the calling of the people called Methodist to share with all the religions. It has had numerous names through the years, The Pentecostals (who came from the Methodist movement) call it the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Others of the holiness movement would call it the second Baptism. Some of the early Methodists called it Sanctification or Christian Perfection. Often, John Wesley would use the term, “Full Salvation”, or call it “being made perfect in love.” What ever you want to call it, it is living a life as a follower of Jesus to the point that we become like Jesus.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians he writes:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Paul didn’t say almost perfect. He didn’t say kinda sanctified… a little...

No! May God Sanctify you completely!

You just heard the words from 1 John read by Esme, that we are to live our lives in righteousness. All through Scripture we read that we are to be made perfect in this life. I want to tell you. Those who have told you that you can’t be made perfect in this life are professing a false teaching… Including myself. I was indoctrinated with this false teaching in my seminary classes. I was led to believe that John Wesley didn’t believe entire sanctification was possible in this life, and yet, the more I study his teachings, the more I realize that John Wesley not only taught it and believed it possible, there is witness after witness professing that they did receive the gift of Perfect Love.

OK, so, what does this really mean? What did John Wesley mean by Christian Perfection or Entire Sanctification?

In his sermon, “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection” he gives a succinct definition:

That Christian perfection is the love of God and our neighbor, which implies deliverance from all sin. That this is received by faith. That it is given instantaneously, in one moment. That we are to expect it, not at death, but every moment; that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

What he was saying was that he wanted followers of Jesus to actually live and experience the kind of life and faith that Scripture tells us is possible. He wanted us to realize that there is nothing we can do to earn this, except to desire it and ask for it. This is a gift of God… this is given by the grace of God.

Now, I’m not going to be able to share all the details of this with you in a 10-15 minute message. That’s why I want to encourage your small groups, Sunday School Classes, and book clubs to take some time early this year to study Kevin Watson’s book “Perfect Love.”

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In this book Dr. Watson lays out the foundation and history of this doctrine and shares how we can reclaim this lost power of the Methodist Movement.

And, during Lent, I will be teaching a study on the basics of our faith, the fundamentals of who we are and what it is that we do. Some may call it a Catechism. I know, that word sounds very Catholic, but the word Catechism simply means - a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.

That is all good for the future, but what can you do right now to prepare your heart to receive this gift of Perfect Love, of Christian Perfection, of Entire Sanctification.

First of all, realize that there is such a thing as Entire Sanctification and long to understand it more and more, to seek it in your life, to ask God for this gift.

Just so you know, this is not a new teaching or something the Global Methodists have come up with. Not only will Joey be asked these questions as a part of his Ordination on January 21st, but every ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church has been asked, and every Ordained pastor in the Global Methodist Church in the future will be asked,

(1) Have you faith in Christ?

(2) Are you going on to perfection?

(3) Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?

This has been a part of the Methodist teaching since the very beginning. It’s time we recover it. So, first we need to acknowledge that it is available to us.

Then, Second, to avail yourself of the Means of Grace. These are those things that we can do that help us stay in relationship with God.

Show up at worship – Gather with other believers to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Spend time in Scripture – Read God’s Word. Hide God’s word in your heart that you may not sin. Meditate on it day and night that it might become a part of who you are, the lexicon of your life.

Spend time in prayer - When was the last time you stopped for more than a meal to spend time in prayer and meditation with God?

Fasting – Give up food for a period of time. I am going to plan to fast 1 meal a week and 1 day a month in 2023. I will take this time to pray, to reflect, to remind myself of the sacrifice of Christ for me and my dependence upon the Lord. Often we select a fast for Lent – maybe we give up Chocolate, or Alcohol, or red meat… That is a good thing to do, but maybe we need to expand it beyond just Lent.

Finally, Christian Conferencing – This is what John Wesley called it when believers met together to study scripture and hold one another accountable for living the Christian life. We were not designed to live the Christian life alone. Some of you might remember being a part of an Emmaus Reunion Group where we asked each other about our Closest to Christ and Discipleship Denied moments of the week. That’s what this is. Gathering with a small group to encourage one another as we grow in faith.

Ladies and gentlemen, God has so much more in store for each and every one of us.

Our Salvation is more than just saving us from Hell.

Our Salvation is living into the abundant life God has for us.

Our Salvation is about bringing God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.

Our Salvation is about going on to perfection and becoming more and more like Christ!

But here is the great message of hope for you and me. As we renew our covenant with God, we don’t have to be perfect.

We don’t wash our dishes before we put them in the dishwasher – that’s what the dish washer is for.

We don’t rinse our car before we go to the car wash, right. That’s what the car was is for.

Last night, Renee and I watched a movie called “Father Stu.” It isn’t your Focus on the Family favorite Christian movie, but it is a real movie about a real man who finds God and gives himself fully to God. It is an interesting story of him becoming a priest and going on to perfection, from fighting, drunkenness, cursing, carousing, and the like to becoming more and more like the Christ he followed.

What I’m saying is, We don’t have to clean up our act before we come to God. We don’t have to get over our sadness or our grief before we come to God. We don’t have to fix our broken lives and get things in order.

God accepts us as we are.

Then, through God’s grace He begins a new work within us.

That is my hope for you today. That as we pray these prayers together, you will covenant with one another and with God to renew your faith and to go on to perfection, to seek full salvation as John Wesley would call it.

Would you join me in prayer.