Why I'm United Methodist
Title: Why I’m United Methodist
Text: Luke 10:27
LUMC – October 14, 2007
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, with your entire mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."
(Prayer)
When our children are in the 3rd grade, we give them Bibles.
4 years later, when they are in the 7th grade, we invite them to attend Confirmation. Usually we have a Confirmation Class beginning in February, and ending with Confirmation on Pentecost, which is usually in May.
After youth complete the Confirmation Class, we invite them to stand before the Congregation, and make their choice to become a Christian.
Then the Confirmation Class has another decision, which flavor of Christian do they want to be.
Methodist Christian, Presbyterian Christian, Lutheran Christian?
I like chocolate chip, I like chocolate, all good flavors.
Some of you are long time United Methodists and you may need this re-affirmed for you.
Some of you are new to this church…..and you need to hear what we believe.
I’m United Methodist for many reasons:
1. First, I’m United Methodist because we stress the Grace of God more than we do the Judgment of God.
We talk more about the Love of our Lord, more than we do the Wrath. We emphasis that Love is unconditional; we believe God always loves us, as opposed to always getting angry with us.
When we want to know who God is, we go to the N.T., Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and we try to figure out who Jesus is. Jesus is very loving, very unconditional in His love. This is what we believe.
Now you could go to probably 50 churches in a 10 mile radius, and find those church’s that stress the Judgment of Jesus, more than they stress the Love of Jesus. That church’ will beat up on you, they will tell you what you need to do, and what you shouldn’t do, and if that’s what you like then that’s ok.
A lot of people want that, a lot of people need that, a lot of people even like that…..I like a little of that, but I tell you, I generate enough guilt on my own, so I don’t want that every week, I don’t want it, I don’t, I don’t really care for it.
When you are going to a United Methodist church, you are going to a Grace filled place. Methodism is all about Grace, we look at the story of the Prodigal Son, we are all like that Son that ran away from home, girl or boy, we all get in trouble, and when we come home we don’t want somebody beating up on us, no one wants that, we all want to be embraced and loved, unconditionally, and that’s what we as United Methodists are about.
If you want the other stuff, there are plenty of places that offer that, but if you want Grace, we think it’s here.
WE BELIEVE IN THE MEANS OF GRACE…we find God continually uses familiar ways to give us Gifts of the Spirit: like Holy Communion, Baptism, Prayer, Reading the Bible, Fellowship, and Acts of Service. God is in everything, and we are more likely to encounter God, when we are experiencing His Grace.
WE BELIEVE IN THE LIVING GOD….Christianity isn’t merely a set of doctrines, a list of do’s and don’ts, or even profound emotions. The faith is first a vital relationship with God through Jesus Christ, made real in us by the Holy Spirit. This relationship of Grace transforms us and makes us know we are worth something.
2. The 2nd reason I’m a United Methodist is….we keep it very simple.
We are not very complex, we try to educate, not force or indoctrinate. Some church’s say to their friends over lunch or whatever, United Methodists believe in everything, so they don’t believe anything.
I don’t believe that’s true. WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE as the guide and “measurement” of our beliefs and actions. We have different ideas about how the Scriptures are divinely inspired. But whatever we believe, we are not satisfied until the Bible connects with THE Word of God – Jesus Christ. We have found theories don’t same, Jesus saves.
What we believe is very simple, we read every Sunday morning in the Apostles Creed.
We believe in Jesus Christ, and we believe the Creed,
You don’t have to believe all of it, but the Creed is what we teach, and the Creed is what we believe.
You can still be a good United Methodist and not believe the entire creed. But these are the core values of our church.
Let’s make it real simple. Fast forward to Acts, where Paul and Silas are in Jail, this huge earthquake comes, blows the doors off the jail, Paul is free, the jailer is there and he asks….. what can I do to be a Christian?
What Paul says is very interesting, he didn’t go over a whole litany of things the guy had to do….Paul said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
WE BELIEVE IN Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Christ not only saves us from anything that would destroy our inner most selves, Christ is also the one we report to, the one we want to please.
As the basic fundamental principle of United Methodists, we believe in Jesus Christ. I like the simplicity of this.
I like United Methodist teaching because it’s filled with Grace, and it’s very simple…
3. The 3rd reason I’m United Methodist, I don’t have to know everything about God.
It’s ok to have doubts, it’s ok to have questions, and it’s ok to say I don’t understand some things. It’s ok to read your Bible and put some circles about the things you like…..and it’s ok to put some question marks about the things you question.
I have lots of question marks in my bible, and when I get to Heaven I will get the answers. And that’s ok, and the United Methodist church says that’s ok. We don’t know everything about God, and that’s ok.
I grew up with some kids, who thought they knew everything there was to know.
There’s a Bible story about Jesus and a little girl. Jesus said to the Father do you believe, and the man said I believe, help my unbelief.
That man must have been the 1st Methodist.
I believe, help my unbelief.
I believe, but I have some doubts,
I believe, but I have some question marks,
In Methodism we don’t have to judge someone because they have questions.
Grace, Simplicity, We don’t know all there is about God.
We have an inward – outward balance.
The greatest commandment is…. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself.
There’s a vertical axis and a horizontal axis.
4. The 4th reason I’m United Methodist is because we believe in Works and Faith.
In the book of James we read – Faith and no Works, and you’re going nowhere in your life.
1500 years later….Martin Luther said throws that part of the Bible out.
If you do one…..and not the other, you miss some of the teaching of the Bible.
You must have something inward loving God,
You must have something outward loving others.
WE BELIEVE IN TRADITIONS…The Church has learned deep truths over the centuries, and we receive these lessons gratefully. Meanwhile we are called to interpret the “old story” in new ways for today, just as our grandparents did in their day.
In the United Methodist Church we say….Come, Pray, Love God, and do great things.
5. The 5th reason I’m United Methodist is….We are free to interpret the bible the way we want to interpret it.
We don’t need a preacher to interpret the Scripture.
We don’t need the Bishop.
We are like the Quakers.
We can each one of us interpret the text.
We are a mystical, solo journey, faith.
6. The 6th reason I’m United Methodist….We emphasize the head as well as the heart.
We are not a dumbbell religion. We have some smarts about what we believe. John Wesley was the brightest guy in the 18th Century. He was top in his class at Oxford. He was the founder of Methodism. What he really believed about knowing God, and being Faithful….Wesley said you must bring your intellect, and your logic, and your reason, your belief in Scripture, your experience, and your tradition, to understand what you can learn about being a Christian?
We believe you don’t check your brain at the door to be a Christian. God gives us a brain to look at the Bible, to make some decisions, we don’t take this blindly, we take the brain God has given us, and we say hey, this is what the faith is all about.
WE BELIEVE IN a balance of heart and head. The love of God does touch us deeply, and moves us emotionally. At the same time, we don’t accept everything that “feels” right, nor are we asked to believe in nonsense. God gave us a heart and brains, and we strive to use both.
WE BELIEVE IN DISCIPLINED LIVING….we “press on” to more faithful and courageous lives. This doesn’t happen if we pay attention to God only when the whim hits us. If we fail to be committed, we remain shallow in our personal lives and fearful in our public witness.
That’s the United Methodist Faith….I like that.
Flavors….
Prayer…
God our Lord we thank you for the blessings of life, you have blessed us in so many ways. You give us confidence, you give us choices, and most importantly you give us your Son.