In the interest of transparency, I must acknowledge the following fact: I count myself among the tribe of Christians who are the ecclesiastical heirs of John Wesley, the Church of England priest who started the worldwide movement and family of faith that is commonly known as the Methodists (or known in theological terms as Wesleyan Arminians). I am in the tribe by conscious choice rather than by birth or accident. I know full well the faults and foibles of Papa John, the tensions within Wesleyan theology, and the struggles among his Methodist descendants. However, I have experienced church life within the context of other “families” (I refer more to theological traditions than to specific denominations), and I have discovered the greatest degree of congruence with Biblical teaching in the historic beliefs and practices of the "people called Methodist." As a result, I cannot offer thoughts upon preaching or teaching the Bible without presenting the context from which I have developed my thoughts, and my understanding of the Bible and its place within the life of the Church and of the individual Christian has been profoundly shaped by academic professors, clergy peers, and church leaders within my “tribe.”
In a recent sermon I asserted the following:
As a people of faith, we cannot turn back the forces of post-Christendom. Our walls have been torn down; our gates have been burned. Where do Christian leaders begin to rebuild? The answer is clear: the pulpit...We must prophetically call the Church to remembrance and renewal; the first step is to faithfully teach the people of God the word of God once again, in the very midst of the rubble. We must address the question marks of a confused and unfocused faith community with the exclamation points of God’s emphatic Word, which always begins with remembrance of the brokenness and rubble of Calvary and the healing, hope-restoring power of an empty tomb. The Church must once again be a people of God’s word…a people, in the words of John Wesley, “of one book.”
John Wesley was an avid reader of books both old and new, and he encouraged others to read widely as well. Nevertheless, he indeed called himself a “man of one book.” In his Preface to the Sermons he wrote:
To candid, reasonable men, I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God: Just hovering over the great gulf; till, a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, — the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: For this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri (man of one book). Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: Only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of Lights: — “Lord, is it not thy word, ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God?’ Thou ‘givest liberally, and upbraidest not.’ Thou hast said, ‘If any be willing to do thy will, he shall know.’ I am willing to do, let me know, thy will.” I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” I meditate thereon with all the attention and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God; and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach.
For Wesley, the Bible stood alone as the supreme authority for Christian faith and practice; it showed him how to live on earth and how to get to heaven. He wrote, “The Scriptures are a complete rule of faith and practice; and they are clear in all necessary points.” Wesley would not permit any other sphere of authority to stand either above or on an equal footing with the Word of God.
Commenting on 2 Timothy 3.16, Wesley wrote:
“The Spirit of God, not only once inspired those who wrote it, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists those that read it with earnest prayer. Hence it is so profitable for doctrine, for instruction of the ignorant, for the reproof or conviction of those in error or sin; for the correction or amendment of whatever is amiss, and for instructing or training up the children of God in all righteousness.”
Wesley knew that the Word of God needed to be appropriately and accurately comprehended and interpreted. He knew there were obscure passages that were hard to understand. He knew there were difficult passages that had provoked disagreement among sincere Christians throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, he recognized that the most basic teachings in the Bible needed to be identified and highlighted in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the ongoing instructional process of discipleship for Christians.
This led Wesley to present a practical method for interpreting the Word of God correctly. He wrote, “The general rule for interpreting Scripture is this. The literal sense of every text is to be taken, if it be not contrary to some other text; but in that case the obscure text is to be interpreted by those which speak more plainly.” Wesley studied the various passages of the Bible in the light of the Bible itself. He stated, “As the Scripture is the best expounder of itself, so the best way to know whether anything be of divine authority, is to apply ourselves to the Scripture.” Wesley interpreted the Bible with the help of the ancient church fathers as well as the scholars of his own day. He emphasized the importance of reason in understanding Scripture, along with the confirming value of Christian life experience in coming to interpreted conclusions on the teachings of the Bible.
Above all, Wesley insisted that Bible study and interpretation was not an end unto itself. Study of the Book should always lead to a closer relationship with the Author. He wrote in his preface to the Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament:
This is the way to understand the things of God: “Meditate thereon night and day;” so shall you attain the best knowledge, even to “know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.” And this knowledge will lead you “to love him, because he hath first loved us;” yea, “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Will there not then be all “that mind in you which was also is Christ Jesus?” And in consequence of this, while you joyfully experience all the holy tempers described in this book, you will likewise be outwardly “holy as He that hath called you is holy, in all manner of conversation.”
It is my conviction that effective sermons begin with a Biblical text, prayerfully determined via the intersection of the pastor’s life of study and the congregation’s current needs (which in my view cannot occur when a message is completely regurgitated from the plagiarized manuscript of another pastor). Like the foundation of a building, the Scripture text defines the parameters of the message. Preachers should strive to inductively construct the sermon within the framework of the passage: making observations of the text, interpreting the text in light of the author’s use of structure and terminology, evaluating the interpretation within the context of the rest of Scripture, and drawing appropriate parallels with contemporary reality in order to offer practical applications for the people of God. I readily admit that, thirty years after my graduation from seminary, I am still not as proficient in all of this as I wish to be and am still learning what it takes to be a “good preacher.” But, like Wesley, I continue to strive to be a preacher of “one book.” I would urge all of my fellow pastors to “go and do likewise.”
Inspirer of the ancient seers Who wrote from Thee the sacred page, The same through all succeeding years; To us, in our degenerate age, The spirit of Thy Word impart, And breathe the life into our heart. – Charles Wesley
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