A Methodist Rejoices in God

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

on Five Marks of a Methodist, by Steve Harper

Mark #2 of 5, A Methodist Rejoices in God

With Philippians 4:4-13 and Exodus 15:1-18

Exodus 15:1-3 (CEB)

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

I will sing to the Lord, for an overflowing victory!
    Horse and rider he threw into the sea!
² The Lord is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
This is my God, whom I will praise,
    the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim.
³ The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.

Two people were walking down a country road.
One said to the other “Ah, the king must be home!” 

“How do you know?” said the other. 

“The castle is all lit up.”

When God lives in you, your castle is lit up.

And that’s what this book is about,
Five Marks of a Methodist, by Steve Harper.

Five marks that indicate “the king is home”.

• Who are we, and what are we about,
John Wesley asked and taught 300 years ago.

For one, we are people who receive the love of God –
the first mark: A Methodist loves God.
And last week we considered how God seeks us,
how we love because God first loved us.

We are people who receive the love of God,
and therefore we are people who rejoice:
A Methodist rejoices in God.

Why do we rejoice? Because of the love of God.
Nehemiah 8:10
(Don’t be sad, because the joy from the Lord is your strength), 

Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.
This is my God, whom I will praise.

We rejoice because we’ve been unlovable,
we’ve done unloving things…yet God loves us.

• DISCUSS: How do you feel when you’re driving along and a police car turns behind you?

Suppose the police pull you over to inform you [there’s something wrong with your car]
How do you feel now? Relief. Release. Joy.

•WHAT IS JOY?
In Exodus reading it is the song that results from the Lord victorious. It is praise.
In Philippians, it is the nearness of the Lord, eradicating anxiety. It is belonging to God.
John Wesley writes that Joy flows from God. It begins in happiness, produces peace and love… no fear. Joy facilitates shalom.
And btw, you can have sadness and joy at the same time… deep and long confidence in God, in spite of present circumstances which may produce sadness.

• DISCUSS: What is *opposite* of joy?

Despair, complacence, boredom, fear, anxiety, dread, bondage, cop-in-the-mirror

•Joy is response to Grace. A disciple rejoices because the prodigal son’s relationship is restored, because what was broken is made new. John Newton wrote I once was lost but now I’m found – rejoice! Charles Wesley wrote Amazing love, how can it be that Thou my God should die for me?!

It’s remembering Romans 5:8, that God proves his love in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us & for our salvation.

Read John Wesley’s journal after his Aldersgate experience:

In the evening I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, 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.

•A Methodist loves God, and a Methodist Rejoices in God.
The second mark of a Methodist is joy. The king is home, and the castle is lit up.

•If you are wondering about or lacking a sense of joy, read today’s readings.
Respond to God’s grace, plus think on these things.
Read today’s readings. Pray to know God’s reconciliation.

• Into Hymn 371 I Stand Amazed in the Presence

Philippians 4:4-13     (CEB)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. ⁶ Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. ⁷ Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

⁸ From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. ⁹ Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.

¹⁰ I was very glad in the Lord because now at last you have shown concern for me again. (Of course you were always concerned but had no way to show it.) ¹¹ I’m not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. ¹² I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor.
¹³ I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.