WB Operation of the Heart
It was 1733 and the Oxford Methodists were under serious scrutiny. Many students and professors saw their methods of holiness to be too extreme. John Wesley took the opportunity to preach The Circumcision of the Heart, setting forth holiness as the Christian’s participation in the life of Christ here and now. This sermon continues to inspire me when I find myself growing hard-hearted about people, especially Christians, who I’ve written off as ignorant, ignoring facts, focused on the wrong things.
Humility, Faith, Hope, Compassion
The sermon is based on Romans 2:29, “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter.” No outward form, but a right state of the soul is what characterizes holiness. Wesley notes four characteristics of the life of holiness: humility, faith, hope, and charity (which I’m renaming compassion).
Humility tends to be lacking in many Christians. We tend to replace it with arrogance, pride, certainty, and a willingness to sacrifice civility for being right. Humility is “a right judgment of ourselves,” acknowledgement of the common disease of sin, brokenness, of limited perception that connects us all. It is not the same thing as self-loathing, for a right judgment of ourselves acknowledges that we are truly image-bearers of the Divine. No, humility is recognizing that everything we have is a gift from above. It is a position of gratitude that leaves no room for pride.
This type of humility must be rooted in faith. A faith that Christ truly is the image of the invisible God. For in such a faith do we develop the proper attitude and mind of Christ, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but humbled himself. Faith empowers us to accept that God calls us beloved children (this is a faith statement), a position that leaves no room for arrogance or self-loathing. Christ died for you, he calls you by name and names you worthy. You have been given ability to live in faith, to actually practice loving the way God loves.
Connected to this faith is hope. Hope is a kind of assurance that we have been made right with God. Hope is a kind of trust that God’s promises continue to ring true today. Hope is a characteristic of encouragement, a confidence (not an arrogance) that we have received every gift necessary to run the difficult race set before us. Here Wesley focused on the difficulties of the Christian life. Hope allows us to wrestle with our own ongoing desires, to wrestle with the brokenness of the world, to stand firm in the storms of life. With hope, we acknowledge that in this world we will have troubles, but we take heart, because Christ has overcome this world.
This finally transforms our hardened hearts towards compassion (Wesley calls it charity). Love of God is realized in love for our brothers and sisters. We grow to love justice and practice mercy, to seek in compassion the best for those children of God we meet in our day to day lives. Compassion means we suffer with those who suffer and rejoice with those who rejoice. Compassion can’t be confused with hatred because it is rooted in true humility, it is not like those who hurt others out of love. There is a mistaken concept today that non-affirming Christians are being most loving because they deny same-sex marriage. They believe this is the most loving thing to do, though the fruits of such ministry are self-loathing, depression and suicide among the LGBTQ community. The fruits of compassion must bring life, not death.
It is possible to challenge and question people with a different opinion without developing a hard heart towards them. Holiness is not found in outward forms, but in the inward state of the soul transformed by humility, faith, hope and compassion. Holiness is not found in your right interpretation of the scripture but in the operation of the hardened heart. It is a difficult journey, but it is one rooted and established in the love of God. And that makes it all worthwhile.
New Charlie Baber
The Rev. Charlie Baber, author of Wesley Bros cartoon.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as youth minister at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.