Power and Love: “A Heart Strangely Warmed”

Sermon Title: Power and Love: “A Heart Strangely Warmed”

Good News Statement: Jesus strangely warms our heart

Preached: Sunday, May 26th, 2024, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Acts 2:1-13 – Today’s scripture reading comes from the Book of Acts, penned in Luke’s own handwriting. In our text for today, we are reminded of the day when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven to dwell amongst the people; and from the Holy Spirit, the people received a sense of power that encouraged them to act in love—much like John Wesley did when he was empowered by the Holy Spirit to create a movement for the People Called Methodists. Let’s read about the Power and Love of the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter Two, Verses One thru Thirteen. May the hearing and reading of this scripture add understanding and meaning to your life.

 

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹² All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

This Sunday is a special Sunday in the United Methodist Church! Today, we celebrate the moment, the divine revelation, when our founding father, John Wesley, walked by faith and was given the vocation to create a movement known as the People Called Methodists.

May 24th is known across the Methodist/Wesleyan family as “Wesley Day.” It marks the day when John Wesley got the order of salvation right. Prior to May 24^th, 1738, John Wesley believed he had to be perfect before God would forgive him of his sins. Instead, after attending a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, John Wesley realized that we don’t have to be perfect to be forgiven by God. We can be forgiven right here, right now—imperfect  as we are—because that is what God does: He forgives us today and doesn’t wait until we are “perfect.” When Wesley realized this, as his journal notes, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”[1]

Today, as we honor and remember the day when John Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed, we are challenged to live out the marks of Methodism as we realize that we are set free to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love those whom God loves, as God loves them. Through these Five Marks we learn to love God, rejoice in God, give thanks to God, pray constantly, and love others. John Wesley set out to start a movement by which would reform the church of today so that others may come to know the love and faith of Jesus Christ tomorrow. What Wesley began, we have been called to continue by following his five marks of Methodism; and these five marks are under the guidance of the power offered by the Holy Spirit.

Body:

Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, the fiftieth day after Jesus’ resurrection, when the Holy Spirit—which descended from heaven like the sound “of a violent wind” (Acts 2:2)—fell upon a group of people, who were of divided tongues, “like fire” (Acts 2:3). “All of them there,” shares Luke, “were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:4).

Leading up to Pentecost Sunday, Jesus appeared to doubting Thomas, who put his fingers into the holes in Jesus’ hands and side: at that moment, Thomas believed (John 20:26-28). Then, at some later time, Jesus met with seven of his apostles and some disciples in Galilee while Peter and a group were fishing in the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-23). Then Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time and was seen by James and the other apostles (1 Corinthians 15:6-7). Then Jesus appeared to Cleopas and one other disciple on the road to Emmaus but they did not recognize him until it was too late (Luke 24:30-31).Then Jesus offers his disciples The Great Commission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:16-20). Finally, after being on this earth, Jesus led the apostles out as far as Bethany—the place of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus—to the Mount of Olives. Jesus lifted his hands and blessed them. Jesus, was then, carried up into heaven in a cloud and was seated at the right hand of God (Luke 25:50).

A lot took place during those fifty days leading up to Pentecost; and each of those moments leads us to the receiving of the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Christ on earth as it is in heaven. Through the Holy Spirit, we are given a “power”—dunamis in Greek—to live a life that allows our heart to be strangely warmed by the love of Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we become one body, one faithful community, and one witness to the works of Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we learn that differences and disagreements are no match for unity found in the one who ascended into heaven. It’s this power that we need to focus on as we, like John Wesley did, allow our heart to be strangely warmed. To do so, I invite you to consider the following acronym: P.O.W.E.R.

Movement One: Its Pentecost, Let the Holy Spirit Bestow Power

P stands for Prayer:  On the Day of Pentecost, the promise that Jesus made was fulfilled. Jesus instructed the apostles and the believers to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit.  He said “…For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” He told them to wait and pray.

Still today, God tells us to pray as He answers our prayers through promises.  God promises us goodness and mercy.  The Lord promises never to leave us nor forsake us. Jesus promised that if we seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness first, all the things we need will be added to us. God kept his promise to give the apostles the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, but it took a while. They prayed for 40 days. They might have wondered if it was really going to happen. Jesus had left and waiting is hard. God’s promises are often slow in coming to us as well but we need to trust that His timing is always right.

We need to pray. Keep praying and praying. God always hears our prayers and answers at just the right time. Keep praying and do not lose heart or give up. As we wait, God has time to shape us and mold us into God’s image and prepare us  for new opportunities. The Holy Spirit warms our heart as we pray, so pray without ceasing.

O is for Other: These men from Galilee began talking in languages, in other languages, they did not know and they never had to go to class to learn them. I wish I had that gift when I took Spanish, or learned Greek and Latin. I studied and studied, and worked and worked to learn a new language: I learned the language but it didn’t come effortlessly like it did for the disciples and the others. Speaking in foreign languages and being understood by all, was certainly a gift—the works of the Holy Spirit.

God gave this gift so that the people could understand about Jesus Christ and the salvation that he came to bring the world. This gift was for everyone, not just the Jews. God was going public with this for all people and nations. We need to strive to communicate it any way we can, be it spoken languages, or sign language, or twitter or YouTube, or Facebook, or Instagram, or TikTok. We need to speak God’s language and God’s language is love. When you speak love it doesn’t matter if you understand a foreign language, it doesn’t matter if people disagree on certain topics. All that matters is that all people are learning this other language—the language of love—and are not afraid to share it with others. When we speak in terms of love, our heart is strangely warmed.

W is for Witness: On Pentecost the apostles not only received the gift of other languages, they were witnesses to their experiences. They told the many people who were in Jerusalem about the works of Jesus Christ in their life and they referenced it back to the teachings of Scripture found in the prophet Joel.

Your personal witness is the most powerful thing you’ve got when it comes to growing your church and helping people receive Christ as their savior. If we would all do more of that, every pew in the country would be full every Sunday, and the 11 o’clock hour would no longer be considered, by Martin Luther King, Jr. “The most segregated hour in America.” But we are fearful sometimes, we don’t want to offend, we think we don’t know how to share our faith or we think it is only the preacher’s job to grow the church, to fill the pews, to be the witness of and for the church. But it’s not: we are all witnesses of the faith.[2] We all have experienced Christ in some way in our life by which we need to share with someone else.

Witnessing for Christ means telling what Christ has done for you personally so that others will receive a review of how Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, that can warm their heart. If you want your heart to be strangely warmed, then don’t be afraid to share your faith story—don’t be afraid to share about your witness.

E is for Empowerment: Empowerment goes along with witness. Prior to the day of Pentecost the apostles were a group of fearful men. They hid in a locked room, expecting at any time to be arrested or even killed for being a follower of Jesus. Peter denied Jesus and all of them fled on the night of his arrest. Very few were at the cross to be with him as he died. This was a demoralized group but they started to pray and things began to look up.

After this long time of prayer, the Holy Spirit showed up in wind and flame and gave them power to forget their fears and get in front of the crowds. They not only received the gift of other languages but they were empowered with gifted preaching skills so convincing that 3,000 joined the church at the end of the day. God empowers us with spiritual gifts to do the work of ministry: preaching, teaching, prophetic gifts, healing, administration, giving and many more so that we can reach the multitude, so that we can grow the church. If you are a Christian you have been gifted with skills from God’s very own Holy Spirit to do the work of ministry. Every one of you is a minister and every one of you has the gift to change someone’s life, to lead them to Jesus Christ.

Each of you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to use your gifts to not only bring life to the church and direction to your ministry, but to empower others to use their gifts to find Jesus. Because of you, the church has the empowerment that it needs to be a place and space where hearts are warmed. Let your gifts empower you today so that your heart is strangely warmed.

R is for Rejection: At the speaking of tongues some people laughed at the disciples and said they were drunk. They looked at the holiness of God and called it something profane. They rejected the message that was being proclaimed. Still today people are dismissing the power of the gospel as untrue, weak, ineffective or worse yet as mean and judgmental. There will always be critics and they are a gift to us in that we always need to be ready to give an answer for the hope inside of us. We need to always be on our best behavior as people are watching. “They will know we are Christians by our love.” When you face trials or criticisms or rejection for your faith, remember that Jesus faced even more suffering and rejection than we will ever know.  A disciple must expect to suffer but we are not alone. Christ is with us and upholds us with an overcoming spirit. As John Wesley famously said, “The best thing of all, God is with us.” With each rejection, we learn more about who Jesus is and what Jesus does in our life so that our heart remains strangely warmed by his spirit and presence.

When John Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed, he received the power of the Holy Spirit and from this power he created for us, not only descriptions of the Holy Spirit but how the Holy Spirit works in our life. John Wesley now invites us to use the power of the Holy Spirit to live out what Steve Harper calls ”The Five Marks of Methodism.”

Movement Two: Aldersgate Day, the result of Five Marks and Power

Steve Harper notes in his book Five Marks of a Methodist: The Fruit of a Living Faith, that these marks are “distinguishing marks.” These distinguishing marks are the foundation upon which would establish a Methodist person or group on the right foot and sustain them for one lifetime after another. So, in The Character of a Methodist (1742), Wesley provided a solid foundation for the early Methodist movement in particular, and one that is necessary for any follower of Christ to have a heart strangely warmed and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.

This foundation consists of five distinguishing marks: 1) A Methodist Loves God, 2) A Methodist Rejoices in God, 3) A Methodist Gives Thanks, 4) A Methodist Prays Constantly, and 5) A Methodist Loves Others. Let us explore each of these marks, praying that they will help us to become the disciple that Christ needs us to be as we continue to make disciples for the transformation of the world as we walk by faith.

First, A Methodist Loves God. In paragraph five of The Character of a Methodist, John Wesley wrote, “What then is the mark? Who is a Methodist, according to your own account? I answer: A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us.’”

Our life in Christ begins in the fact that we love God. We are like Peter, sitting with Jesus on the shore in John 21:15-19 and hearing him ask three times, “Do you love me?” There is no other starting point for the life of faith or the journey of discipleship or even spiritual formation, than to say we love God. But, when you say you love God, what do you mean you love God? Do you love God because He is there for you? Because He cares for you, sees you, and hears you? Because He answered your prayers when you prayed that your car would start? Do you love God because He loves you? Why do you love God? And how many times does Jesus need to ask you, “Do you love me?” before you respond to His question.[3]

By naming the first mark of a disciple to be a person who loves God, Wesley is inviting us to step into the stream of scripture and tradition; to join with the first followers and subsequent saints who have made the love of God their heart’s desire, a desire made possible because we are made in the image of God; that is, created with the desire and the capacity to receive and give life. The love of God is the goal to which we aspire. A heart strangely warmed, loves God. Do you love God?

Second, A Methodist Rejoices in God. In paragraph six of The Character of a Methodist, Wesley simply wrote, “Rejoice evermore!” When one of my good friends from seminary sends me an email, she ends the email by using these words: “with His joy.” For my friend, this phrase is much more than a happy-go-lucky way of ending a communication. It captures the spirit of biblical living. It brings forth the words of Nehemiah 8:10 “Don’t be sad, because the joy from the LORD is your strength.” It leads me to understand that when I rejoice in the LORD, His joy shines through me to others as my heart is strangely warmed.

While standing in the stream of the Christian saints, John Wesley said, “God is the joy of his heart.” How many of you have the joy of God in your heart? How many of you have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in heart to stay? Through this joy, Wesley shows us that joy (like everything else) flows from the love of God. Wesley also demonstrates for us that there is more to joy than what we may realize.

Wesley asserts that joy is happiness: a disciple is “happy in God.” As a matter of fact, when studying the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, instead of saying the word “blessed,” as in “Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are the pure in heart…Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:3, 8-9), John Wesley states, “Happy are the poor in spirit, Happy are the pure in heart, and Happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Happy are those who come to love God with their whole heart, mind, body, and soul. In His joy, let us rejoice evermore! As a Methodist we are called to rejoice in God and receive is His joy of everlasting. When we allow joy be our blessed happiness, our heart is strangely warmed.[4]

Third, A Methodist Gives Thanks. In paragraph seven of The Character of a Methodist, John Wesley wrote, “And you who have God’s hope…in everything give thanks.” Wesley’s third mark is that disciples, or Methodists, give thanks. In 2 Corinthians 9:15, Paul wrote, “Thank God for his gift that words can’t describe”; and in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” When was the last time you gave thanks to God for what God has done, is doing, and may do in your life? This thanks doesn’t have to be complicated: it can be simple and still change your life.[5]

John Wesley closes his third mark of Methodism by reciting this prayer: “God, you are the great creator and sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, you are the father of angels and human beings, you are the giver of life and protector of all your creatures, mercifully accept this my morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which I desire to offer, with all humility, to your divine majesty.” The third mark asks that we give thanks to God. When you give thanks to God, your heart is strangely warmed.

Fourth, A Methodist Prays Constantly. In paragraph eight of The Character of a Methodist, John Wesley wrote, “For indeed one ‘prays without ceasing.”[6] Prayer is the way we create and sustain our relationship with God, it’s a conversation. John Wesley viewed prayer as a means of grace, saying that “the chief of these means is prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation.” He goes on to say, “The heart of a disciple is a heart of attentiveness, and devoting ourselves to prayer is the main way we confirm our desire to hear from God and then put what we have heard into action.” The key element in prayer isn’t what we say to God but rather what God says to us. Wesley knew that by praying from the heart, it is possible to be fully engaged in the affairs of life while simultaneously being attentive to God.

John Wesley prayed with words and in silence. He prayed alone and with others. He prayed when he felt like it and when he felt as if his prayers were making no difference. He prayed with inspiration and guidance of the Bible and with the instruction of tradition. He prayed with the full range of emotions. My point is that John Wesley prayed at anytime and anywhere: He prayed outside of Sundays. He prayed without ceasing and he prayed for all people. 1 Timothy 2:1 asserts, “First of all, then, I ask that…prayers…be made for all people.” We discover in the fourth mark of a disciple that Wesley has given us a vision and pattern for prayer that is for anyone, anytime, and anywhere.[7] We are called to live a life of prayer, and as we pray our heart is strangely warmed.

Fifth, A Methodist Loves Others. In paragraph nine of the Character of a Methodist, John Wesley wrote, “One who loves God, loves our brothers and sisters also.” The fifth and final mark of a Methodist is that we love others. 1 John 4:20 states, “The person who doesn’t love a brother or sister who can be seen can’t love God, who can’t be seen.” Paul wrote to the people of Ephesus, “I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…” (Ephesians 4:1-5). In the second greatest commandment Jesus calls us to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Mark 12:33) which echoes the words spoken by God in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

We are simply called to love others. The United Methodist Book of Discipline asserts, “We affirm that God’s grace is available to all. We will seek to live together in Christian community, welcoming, forgiving, and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us.” Christ’s love is something that Wesley didn’t wait to share. As a matter of fact, Wesley hastens to say it extends to people we don’t know, and to people whose lives are not like our own, and to people we don’t necessarily agree with. It extends even to our enemies. We are called to love others.[8] In all that we do, in all that we say, in all the places we go, we are called to help God by showing Him our love and by offering our love to all people. When we love others with the same love Christ gives us, our heart is strangely warmed.

Everything Wesley described as being a mark of a Methodist—loving God, rejoicing in God, giving thanks to God, praying constantly, and loving others—are intended to be a spring of living water that can nourish those around us, as we love them in Jesus’ name. Wesley offered us a firm foundation to build upon, and he did so by offering us five marks of Methodism that are not complicated but aren’t simple either, that can strangely warm our heart, and that can help us learn to walk by faith and not by sight. We have all been marked with the “seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13) so that we may go out into the world making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

Every time I think about Pentecost, I catch myself thinking about Kurt Kaiser’s hymn Pass It On. In verse one of this beautiful hymn, we get an image of what the disciples were called to do with the spark of fire that rested above their heads. Kaiser melodically wrote, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love once you’ve experienced it; you spread his love to everyone; you want to pass it on.” We have all received the spark of the Holy Spirit: we have been given a power that calls us to pray, that motivates us to strive to understand the languages of others, that needs us to be witnesses for God, that empowers us to share the love of Christ, and that gives us strength to overcome rejection. We have been given the Holy Spirit in our life so that we can spread his love to everyone.

As we spread Christ’s love, our heart, similar to John Wesley’s, becomes strangely warmed. As we allow our heart to be warmed, we love God more, we pray more, we give thanks more, we rejoice more, and we love others more. Pentecost in combination with Aldersgate Day encourages us to dig deep in our faith, to keep that spark burning, and to be a disciple and church filled with love and power. Elaine Heath  stated in one of her books, “Now I emerge, breathe, sing, and live”^[9] knowing that my faith is being guided by the Holy Spirit.

Let the Holy Spirit guide you today. Let the spark of the church burn brightly. And let your heart be strangely warmed by the love of Christ. Let it be so…

Closing Prayer:

Let us Pray: Dear Jesus, create a spark in us today—as disciples and as a church—that empowers us to live a life worthy of your love. Bestow upon us the power of the Holy Spirit so that we love you more, pray more, give thanks more, rejoice more, and love others the way you love them. O Lord, we pray that you warm our hearts every day. All honor and glory is yours now and forever, Amen.

 

Benediction:

John Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed on May 24^th, 1738 because he devoted his life to walk by faith. I pray that the Lord warm your heart today and every day as you are blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, living and experiencing the marks of a faithful disciple. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

[1] https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-aldersgate-day

[2] Simply tell people what Jesus has done for you. That is why advertisers spend millions of dollars producing TV ads with people telling their real life stories in order to sell their products.  We want a witness of what that product will do for us. An another example of witness involves the website called “Angie’s List.” This website gives consumer reviews on doctors, lawyers and other professionals.  People want to know what regular people like them think of these businesses before they go to them for help.

[3] In many ways, love of God was John Wesley’s keynote theme for the rest of his life and ministry. We see it continuing in his sermon “Scriptural Christianity” (1744) where he lays the foundation of the love of God in ways that are remarkably similar to what he said in The Character of a Methodist. While looking at the first Christians on the Day of Pentecost, Wesley noted, “This then was the very essence of his faith…the love of God the Father.” There is no greater day in the Christian life than when we discover that salvation means wholeness. It doesn’t merely mean going to heaven when we die; it means living abundantly while we are here on this earth. “But for this to happen,” states Harper, “we must love God.” Having received God’s love first (1 John 4:19), we love God in return with everything we are and have. We do it in relation to every aspect of our life. We do it every day and to everyone. This is the first and foremost mark of a disciple. We must love God.

[4] In the hymn “Rejoice the Lord is King,” Charles Wesley writes, “Rejoice the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore; mortals, give thanks and sing, and triumph ever more. Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; rejoice; again I say, rejoice.”

[5] Wesley offers us four things to consider when thinking about giving thanks to God. First, Wesley notes that gratitude is the Christian’s response to God. Gratitude is the response to grace. Second, gratitude is grounded in the nature of God, in the works of God, in the ways of God, and in the teachings of God. Gratitude guides us towards goodness and avoiding harm. Third, gratitude is a means of leading us out of anxiety. Because God is good, we can cast all our anxiety on God (1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6). And fourth, gratitude leads to prayer and realizing that we are never a bother to God; and no matter whether we understand what is happening or not, we can always “take it to the Lord in prayer.”

[6] Every relationship is established and maintained by communion and communication, so it comes to no surprise that Wesley describes the Christian life in relation to prayer.

[7] Charles Wesley wrote, “Pray, without ceasing pray, (Your Captain gives the word). His summons cheerfully obey, and call upon the Lord; to God your every want in instant prayer display; Pray always; pray and never faint; Pray, without ceasing pray.”

[8] And this love leads us to pray these words from Frank Laubach, “Lord, what are you doing in the world today that I can help you with?”

[9] Elaine A. Heath, The Mystic Way of Evangelism: A Contemplative Vision for Christian Outreach (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 171.