Week #2 of the “I Am a United Methodist Christian Because…” Sermon Series

“The Head and the Heart Meet in a Wonderful Way”

Pikeville UMC

September 9, 2018

1 Corinthians 8: 1-13 (NIV)

¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that "We all possess knowledge." But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. ² Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. ³ But whoever loves God is known by God.

⁴So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that "An idol is nothing at all in the world" and that "There is no God but one."  ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), ⁶yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

⁷But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.  ⁸But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.  ¹⁰For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, won't they be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?  ¹¹So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.  ¹²When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.  ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. 

Review series

Last Sunday, we launched sermon series for the month of September that will allow us to explore our heritage as United Methodists entitled, “I am a United Methodist Christian Because….”  The idea for this series comes from a book of a similar title, Why I Am a United Methodist written by William Willimon. 

Some of us are United Methodist by birth, but others became United Methodist by choice.  I chose the United Methodist Church, and as I was reading Willimon’s book, it made me think that perhaps our church family might benefit from exploring why we are the way we are as United Methodists.

If you were with us last week, you know that I made two important statements to preface this series.  The United Methodist Church is part of the larger Christian family which means that we are unapologetically Christian.  Our faith is in Christ.  Secondly, we do not believe for a minute that we are the only Christians.  You will not hear me say anything disparaging about any other part of the Christian family during this series.  To be United Methodist means being ecumenical.   

While we are inherently an ecumenical people, it is okay to say there is something unique about being a United Methodist Christian; something worthy of celebrating.  I compared it to a combination lock.  This particular lock has numbers from 0-39.  Mathematically speaking, that means there are 64,000 possible combinations to find the correct three numbers required to open this lock.  

Last week, we began working on the first number in the combination as we explored the statement, “I am a United Methodist Christian Because Salvation is only the beginning of the journey.”  We examined what it means to continue our journey of faith after our initial saying “Yes” to Jesus.  We spoke of a journey towards sanctification – the refining of our faith and perfecting of our love for God and what that means – as well as what it does not mean.  

Now, in and of itself, exploring that is hardly unique to United Methodists.  Think of our Wesleyan heritage alone as a tent.  In this case, the tent has a name.  It is the World Methodist Council.  In the World Methodist Council alone there 80 denominations found in 133 countries with 80.5 million members.  Those denominations all understand the idea of a journey beyond our initial “yes” to Jesus as being just part of who we are as Christians, but yes, the idea that God has more in mind for us than our salvation does make us different than some in the Christian family.  

Introduction

As I have already referred to our Wesleyan heritage once, this would be a good time for me to stop and remind myself that, like me, not everyone worshipping in a United Methodist Church grew up United Methodist.  Moreover, not everyone who grew up United Methodist really knows what it means to be Wesleyan, but we fake it because we do not want to appear ignorant. 

So, maybe a brief orientation or perhaps a refresher would be helpful this morning.

It is not uncommon to hear a pastor in a United Methodist Church or one in the larger Wesleyan tradition refer to John Wesley and something he said or did.  You may ask, “Who was he and why should I care?”

I’m glad you asked. 

John Wesley lived in 18^th century England.  He was the son of an Anglican priest.  The Anglican Church is also known as The Church of England.  While dad was a priest, his mother was in my view, and the view of many others, the spiritual giant in the family.  At some point in time, we will definitely say more about her.   

John studied at the legendary Oxford and prepared to be an Anglican priest.  While at Oxford much of what would later become the framework for Methodism emerged.  He met with a group of fellow students, studied the New Testament in its original Greek language and visited the sick and the imprisoned.  Not long after his graduation, he came to the American colony of Georgia as a missionary.  He knew much ABOUT God, but it seems as if his knowledge OF God was more limited.   

Wesley’s voyage to America either launched or intensified a crisis of faith he was experiencing.  A storm nearly sank the ship upon which he sailed.  Wesley was deeply afraid, he noticed a group of German Christians, the Moravians, who were at peaceful and serene.  The incident convicted him of his lack of faith.  Things only got worse.  Wesley’s time in Georgia was a disaster.  He was practically chased out of the colony.  In less than two years, he returned to England feeling like he was a failure and facing a crisis of faith.  

Several months later, on the evening of May 24^th, 1738, Wesley went to a bible study that took a place on Aldersgate Street.  He really didn’t want to go, but he went anyway.  The group was reading a commentary on the book of Romans written by the church reformer Martin Luther.   Suddenly, the combination lock of faith opened for Wesley and, as he listened to the words of Luther, he really and truly heard what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote of how the righteous are justified BY faith.  Wesley discovered that it is not knowledge about God, but faith in God that saves us. 

In his journal, he described the experience as having his “heart strangely warmed.”  Now, he didn’t become a shouting Pentecostal, but the idea that his intellect and his emotions didn’t have to be at odds with one another was a pivotal moment in his faith journey.  At Aldersgate, John Wesley’s head and the heart got on the same page. 

In the Christian tradition that has often been a struggle.  It certainly was for the Church at Corinth.

Text

In roughly the year 55, the fledgling church at Corinth was having more than its share of issues.  It was a deeply divided church, with moral lapses among its leaders and its members.  There were issues over worship and how it should be conducted.  There were lawsuits between believers in civil courts.  It was a mess.

Today, no church wants to be compared to the church at Corinth, but what we need to appreciate about that church is that it was in a frontline, first generation situation and they were dealing with all manner of issues.  They were literally building the bridge as they crossed it.  They were writing the policy manual as they were going along.

Seeking a referee, the church at Corinth wrote to Paul who had already been with them and helped establish the church.  They asked him a series of questions which he addresses in First Corinthians.  Including a question of whether or not it was okay for Christians to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols.

In Corinth there was a large outdoor meat market called the “macellum” and some of the meat sold there had previously been offered to idols as a sacrifice.  For some believers this was offensive, the meat was corrupted.  Others said, “Hey it’s just meat.  I don’t believe in those gods so I can eat it if I want.”  What made things more stressful is that there seemingly had this “knowledge” appeared to enjoy flaunting their freedom to eat the meat in front of those who did not believe they should do so.  Thus, the eating of meat sacrificed to idols became a divisive issue – as many things in the Corinthian church did.  

In 21^st Century Pikeville, this seems like a non-issue.  Meat sacrificed to idols?  Did they use a marinade or a rub for that?  What wood did they use to smoke it? But, in Corinth, this was a major issue.

Not too many of us worry about meat scarified to idols today, but I suspect if Paul were writing to the church at Pikeville he might apply this same principle in other ways.  He might ask, “What are the practices that you engage in that could possibly lead another to stumble and fall?”  He might ask, “Is it really necessary for you to do that when you that you are putting another at risk?”  That’s a different conversation for another day, but the principle that cannot be lost is our knowledge about what we can and freedom to do it must always be tempered by our love for one another.  The head and the heart must balance.

As a young Christian, I struggled with that balance when I went looking for a church home.   

As I visited churches, I saw many traditions within the Christian family that placed a high value on the heart and the feelings that come with it.  They understand this as “being led by the Spirit of God”.

These traditions often give priority to the experiential and emotional aspects of the life of faith.  The worship services were very emotional, occasionally spontaneous and, generally speaking, somewhat loud.  The role of the pastor is to pump the congregation up and inspire them to live out their Christian commitment.     

Likewise, I discovered are other parts of the Christian family in which the life of faith was seemingly regarded as being akin to an academic exercise.  The appeal was clearly to the mind.  Worship was quieter, well designed and highly informative.  Sermons are delivered by highly educated clergy wearing academic robes whose purpose was to instruct and inform the congregation.   

Now, hear me clearly, I am painting with broad brush strokes.  In truth, my examples were the extreme.  

Beyond the worship experiences, about which I will say more in a couple of weeks, the two extremes continued their trajectories in other aspects of how they did church in other aspects.  I appreciate both approaches, and their strengths, but both had their weaknesses as well.

The traditions that placed a heavy emphasis upon the heart and spirit left me feeling left me ill equipped and unprepared to live in this world.  I believed, and still do, that God gave me a mind to use and that – seeking Him first – I should use it.  Moreover, I wondered, “How was I to live out my life of faith when I didn’t ‘feel’ inspired or pumped up about my faith?”  There were times that such traditions felt shallow to me.  

Traditions that heavily emphasized the intellectual approach to Christianity sometimes left me feeling as if the heart and emotions were less important to the Christian faith than the mind.  In fact, sometimes it felt as if such traditions looked down upon the emotional aspects of our faith.  The churches seemed, at times, to be too formal and too stiff.  There were times that such traditions felt dry to me.  Why couldn’t I be excited about my faith?  Was it really such a bad thing if I wanted to raise my hands in praise or say “amen”?

Now, again, hear me clearly.  There are sisters and brothers in both extremes of the Christian family when it comes to matters of heart and mind.  Some of us resonate with what we view as quiet, dignified worship and others get excited about our faith and want to know if I can get fired up for a football game, why can’t I celebrate Jesus?

For people called United Methodists, we can do both.  I needed some place where both the heart and the head were valued.  I needed to experience both the love of God and be equipped to live the life of faith.  I found that in the United Methodist Church in a balance that is, I believe, somewhat unique.

The head informs the heart.  The heart inspires the head.  I do not become overly dependent upon my feelings, but I am so glad that my feelings encourage and challenge me.  I am a total being – mind, body, spirit.  The heart and the head feed off of, and guide, each other.  

The Holy Spirit used John Wesley’s “heart strangely warmed” experience as well as his Oxford education to unleash a major movement of God upon 18^th Century England.

The testimony of this came from George Whitefield.  Whitefield was a friend to John and his brother Charles going back to their days at Oxford.  Theologically they were in different places but love and respect they shared for each other was genuine.  Whitefield was, apparently, a superior preacher to Wesley.  He drew huge crowds and in the days before public address systems preached to crowds of 10,000 or more. His preaching was powerful and heartfelt.  Wesley’s sermons, especially by today’s standards, seemed dry and scholarly by comparison.

While Whitefield could stir the heart, he lacked the insight to properly organize and lead people.  The Wesleys, on the other hand, brilliantly organized small groups and larger ones both of clergy and of laity.  Towards the end of his life, Whitefield in a conversation with one of Wesley’s preachers lamented his failure to organize those whose lives he had touched.  He said that Wesley through his organizational skills had, “…preserved the fruits of his labor…” while admitting that those he had touched were comparable to “… a rope of sand.”  

Head and heart joined together helped to not only make but sustain the Methodist movement.  It still has that capacity to do so today.

Conclusion

A head religion without the heart is a faith of mental gymnastics.  A heart religion without the head is a faith that is like an elevator going up and down depending upon one’s feelings or mood.  A faith that is connects the head and the heart is both anchored and inspired.

Just as Paul understood in speaking to the church at Corinth that they needed to balance what they knew with their feelings for others.  We need to connect what we know with our hearts.

We are not to be ignorant, we are not emotionless automatons, we are total beings in which the head and the heart dwell.  The Lord calls each of us to be totally devoted:  body, mind and heart to him.  In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray….