The Foundation of Methodist Preaching (Standard Sermon #1)

Excerpt from John Wesley—Sermon 1: “Salvation by Faith”

So then, the foundation of all our preaching is, and must be, that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” As the foundation, it must be preached first.

“Well, but not to all,” object some people. To whom should we NOT preach it? The poor? No, they have a special right to have the gospel preached to them. The unschooled? No. God has revealed these things to unschooled, ordinary people from the beginning. The young? By no means. “Let the little children come to Christ, and do not hinder them.” The sinners? Least of all. “He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” So then, if any, we should leave out the rich, the educated, the respected, the moral. And, it’s true, they often exclude themselves from hearing. Still we must speak the words of our Lord. For our commission is, “Go and preach the gospel to all creation.” If anyone distorts it – or any part of it – to their destruction, they must bear their own burden. But still, “as surely as the Lord lives, we can speak only what the Lord tells us.”

John Wesley identifies in the first sermon of his series of standard sermons the foundation of all Methodist preaching. Namely, Romans 10:13: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This foundation of Methodist preaching anchors us to a few core commitments in our preaching.

1) The primacy of grace alone

Methodist preaching stands in the confidence of God taking the initiative to reach out first to us in grace that awakens our senses enough to respond to God. We call this “prevenient grace.” God’s prevenient grace does not “save” us (in a justification and new-birth kind of way), but it does make response possible. We could say that prevenient grace makes humans response-able (responsible). God acts first.

2) The necessity of faith alone

How do we “call on the name of the Lord”? It is only through a response of faith that we fully respond to God’s initial call of grace. Faith is more than mere belief or mental assent. Even the demons have both belief in God and mental assent to the things of God. The demons know the truth of the Trinity and are more orthodox in their theology than even the finest of Christians this side of Heaven.

The big distinguishing mark is faith—that simple act of entrusting our lives to God as both Savior and Lord. The demons do not have this much. They refuse to entrust their lives to God and, therefore, are godless and distorted in their creation.

Only by God’s grace alone and through faith alone does anyone find salvation in God. No money can buy it. No bloodline can earn it. No human works can deserve it. Only by God’s grace and through faith in Jesus Christ.

3) The reality of rejection

To preach that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” implies that some people will not call upon the name of the Lord. Indeed, throughout human history and the story of Scripture, some have, in fact, rejected God. Methodists foundationally affirm that this is not only reality—but it is also the great grief of God that compels us to implore people to be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.

In every true presentation of the Gospel, there is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that we’re all born into the sin of Adam—born into a fallen state. Without the repentance of faith in Jesus Christ—without being born again, we shall not see the Kingdom of God.

But this is also good news. Namely, God does not immediately bring judgement on humanity. Instead, God has made a way in and through Jesus Christ, the Second and Better Adam. God sends preachers to proclaim this Gospel Good News offer of salvation.

People can either embrace the Gospel through faith or reject the Gospel.

4) The hope of salvation to all who believe

This also means that Methodist preaching builds on a hopeful foundation of Gospel Good News! Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! Even if we have no money to buy it—no works to earn it—no bloodline to deserve it. Even if we come from a terrible family tree or were raised in deplorable conditions. No matter who we are, how old we are—fill-in-the-blank—everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!

Theologically, these affirmations resolutely ground the Methodist preacher in a Wesleyan form of Arminianism. Simply put, we believe that God has given humanity free will and has awakened that will for free response through prevenient grace. We affirm that God’s grace can be resisted, and that the atonement of Christ is available to all who believe (as opposed to a pre-selected few).

5) The evangelical call of the preacher

Finally, as the foundation of our preaching, Romans 10:13 directs the Methodist preacher in a decidedly evangelical direction. By “evangelical,” I do not mean “evangelical” in the political way the term is defined. Instead, by “evangelical” I mean to say that we live under an obligation to proclaim the Gospel—to have the aim of bringing souls to salvation in Jesus Christ.

The term “evangelical” derives from the Greek word “euangelion,” which means “Gospel” or “good news.” Truly Methodist preachers do not shy away from the Gospel in either its sharper angles (i.e., the desperation to flee the wrath to come) or its stronger call (i.e., to decidedly embrace God in faith and be born again into a new creation by the Spirit).

In contemporary times, many Methodist preachers have lost this Romans 10:13 foundation. Methodist preaching in contemporary times often tickles the ears of moral therapeutic deism or subtle forms of works-based righteousness through positive morality. Worse still, some Methodist preaching has devolved even further into Universalism, where everyone is assumed to be saved simply by nature of God’s love.

Truly Methodist preaching, however, provides the clear and powerful call of the Gospel. This foundation of God’s offer of salvation stood at the front of powerful early Methodist, Spirit-filled, revivalist preaching.

And it’s well worth recovering in the present day.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [g]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and [h]He has [i]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be [j]sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 6:1 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— 2 for He says,

“At a favorable time I listened to you,
And on a day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is “a favorable time,” behold, now is “a day of salvation”