Thursday, October 9, 2014

The Witness of the Spirit (Discourse 1)

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16)


     This is the first of a two part sermon series that John Wesley has on the doctrine of assurance. The doctrine of assurance is an assurance given to us as followers of Christ that we are indeed children of God. Here Wesley tries to steer us away from two extremes. The first he labels "enthusiasm" the second is "formalism." Here, enthusiasm refers to misplace confidence in being children of God. Wesley makes the observation that we can deceive ourselves about this or the enemy can deceive us. The opposite error, then Wesley labels formalism. This is the belief that we can never be assured of our salvation, the best we can do is go through the motions of religion and hope for the best. 
     Wesley suggests a middle way, that steers clear of both errors. In this middle way, Wesley encourages us to avoid the error or enthusiasm, but not deny the great privilege of being children of God as formality does.  To do this, Wesley deals with two basic questions. 

1. What is the witness or testimony of our spirit and the Holy Spirit?
2. How can we differentiate this joint witness from delusion?

The Witness of our spirit and the Holy Spirit

     Wesley notes that in the immediate context of the passage, the witness is one of crying out to God as "Abba, Father." The question remains, what does this mean? The first that Wesley talks about is being lead by the Spirit. If we see ourselves as helpless children calling out to our Father in heaven it makes sense that we will not be lead by our own desires and wishes. Instead we trust the Holy Spirit that our Father has sent us to follow.
     Continuing on, Wesley describes where the Holy Spirit will lead us. We will be led to a relationship of love for God and others. This love is one that is for the sake of the beloved not for what the beloved can do for us. Put differently we love God for who He is, not what He has done, or will do, for us. We are indeed grateful for what He has done for us, but we love Him for His own sake. Here Wesley is careful to remind us that these marks of love are not what save us but are marks of redemption.
     How, then do we know if these are appearing in our lives? Wesley takes the very practical approach  of asking "How does it appear, that we do love God and our neighbour, and that we keep his commandments Observe, that the meaning of the question is, How does it appear to ourselves, not to others" (Italics mine)? In the same way we apprehend we are alive we can apprehend that our hearts are being transformed.
     Wesley seems to indicate that, if we are honest with ourselves, we know if we are growing closer in love of God and neighbor and are therefore being lead by the Holy Spirit. An analogy I thought of is how do you know, as you're reading this right now, that you are healthy? You feel healthy. Now we all know that certain diseases can mask themselves, and we can ignore signs of being unhealthy, that's why there is another segment to this discourse.

Questions

1. Have we ever been loved, not for what we could do, but for our own sake? What was that like?

2. What is the difference between loving someone for what they can do for us and loving them for their own sake?

3. What are some specific ways in which the Holy Spirit has lead our spirit recently?

True Witness verse False Witness

     Wesley, directs us to Holy Scriptures to help distinguish the true witness of the Holy Spirit to our spirit from a delusion of our natural mind or deception from the devil. The first has to do with repentance and conviction of sin. Consistently, scripture refers to true repentance and conviction of sin going before the witness of pardon. Here Wesley uses examples from the gospels and the book of Acts where people are preaching the good news of Christ being savior. In every instant, repentance and conviction of sin precede the acceptance of the gospel. If we put much thought into this, this is really the only way salvation could work. If we do not admit we need a savior how can we need saved? So the first way we can know that the witness of our spirit is truly responding to the witness of the Holy Spirit is if we feel, conviction, remorse, and a desire to turn from our sin. 
     Because of this reality, one who is redeemed, has a broken and contrite heart. A broken heart over one's sin and a contrite heart that desires to live differently. This is the second way we can tell the true witness from the false witness of our spirits. If the Holy Spirit is witnessing to our spirit that we have been redeemed and brought into God's family, we will earnestly desire to be obedient to our Father in heaven. This is not an obedience driven by fear of hell or wanting to earn God's love and approval. Instead it is an obedience motivated by love. We love God so we want to please God. Wesley puts it this way "Love rejoices to obey; to do, in every point, whatever is acceptable to the beloved. A true lover of God hastens to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven."
     Another way in which we can differentiate between a true and false witness is asking ourselves if we are complacent and prideful. Do we feel like we are kind, loving, and 'good' enough to be acceptable to God? To this Wesley says "Discover thyself, thou poor self-deceiver!" Indeed, when the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God we are given confidence in the grace of God, not our own abilities. 
     Instead, the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit by giving a sense of humble joy. Humble, because any growth in love, kindness, gentleness, or any other Godly quality is not by our own work but through the merits of Christ mediated by the Holy Spirit. This is also a spirit of Joy because we feel fortunate, blessed, and excited about this transformation. It is because of this that we ought to be confident in God's grace, joyful in where it has brought us thus far, but never complacent in thinking we are done growing. 
     The final piece of evidence Wesley looks at is fruit. What fruit is our walk with Christ bering. Reminding us again, that we are not saved by our works, Wesley is insistent that if we walk with the Lord we will grow in meekness, gentleness, patience, love, and self control. Wesley also directs us to the fruit of our lips. Who do we sing praises to? To whom do we thank for every good gift? Jesus Christ Himself reminds us in Luke 6:16 that "the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." 
     The discourse closes with the recognition of what an unspeakable gift the witness of the Holy Spirit is to our spirit. It is a gift that comes out as praise on our lips and through our lives. The gift of being adopted as children of our Father in heaven!

Questions 

1. In any aspect of your life, when have you been deceived, by yourself or otherwise? What tipped you off to the deception?

2. Think of a time when you obeyed a commandment or fulfilled an obligation, not because you wanted to but because you had to. Now think of a time you obeyed a commandment or fulfilled an obligation because you wanted to. How were those two experiences different? 

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