Sunday Worship Service’s Sermon (6-11-2023)
God’s
Love was Felt in My Heart Today
(Revelation
3:14-22)
1.
When Cleopas and an unnamed disciple,
disappointed to see Jesus dead on the cross, were going to a village called
Emmaus, Jesus himself came up and told them a story about Jesus written in the
Scriptures. Then, they had a mystical experience of their hearts burning within
them. There was another person who attended a meeting of Moravian Christians who
also had a mysterious experience in which his heart suddenly became hot while
listening to a layman read Luther's commentary on Romans, and his life and
faith changed. That man is the Reverend John Wesley, the founder of The United
Methodist Church.
2.
John Wesley (1703-1791) was born in
England in 1703, the 15th of 19 children. His father, Samuel Wesley
(1662-1735), was a minister in the Episcopal Church of England. From a young
age, Wesley received strict religious education, including daily Bible study
and prayer training from his mother, Susanna. Under the influence of his
mother, when Wesley entered Oxford University in 1726, he created the Holy Club
and led a regular life with the members of the club. He fasted two days a week,
participated in Holy Communion, read and meditated on the Bible every morning
and evening, and immersed himself in studying Greek and the classics. And on
Wednesdays and Fridays, he devoted himself to service and good works, visiting
the poor, the sick, and those in prison. After graduating from Oxford
University, Wesley went to Georgia with his younger brother, Charles Wesley, on
October 14, 1735, to preach the gospel to the Native Americans. However, the
ship Wesley was on ran into a big storm. Wesley's group faced the threat of death.
At that time, Wesley was very anxious and trembled in the fear of death because
he was afraid to die and go to hell. However, he saw that the 27 German
Moravian Christians who were on the boat with Wesley had no fear at all even in
the face of this threat of death. They were joyful and peaceful. They trusted
God. The believed in God's love toward them. At that time, Wesley was greatly
challenged and shocked by the assurance of salvation and the bold faith of the
Moravian Christians who were not afraid of death. He was amazed at their faith
in God's love under any circumstances. For Wesley found no comfort in his
faith. At that time, Wesley saw the naked side of his faith: 'Oh, I lack faith
in Jesus as the Christ! I have no assurance of eternal life or heaven! I have
no assurance of forgiveness, no assurance of salvation! I have no confidence in
God's love!’ Wesley was raised in a devout Christian home and served the Lord
dutifully and religiously as a pastor, but by then (age 35) he realized that
the belief that God loved him was not in his heart.
Fortunately, after arriving in Georgia,
Wesley served as a native missionary for two years. However, he did not reap
any fruit, and on February 1, 1738, he returned to England. John Wesley was
almost in despair. He thought it was not right for him to preach to people
without the assurance of salvation. So, he went to his Moravian friend, Peter
Wohler, and said to Wohler that 'he decided to give up his ministry.' At that
time, Wohler gave Wesley this advice: “Even though you do not have the
assurance of salvation, you must continue to tell people, 'If you believe in
Jesus, you will be forgiven of all your sins, you will be saved.' And then, you
will soon be able to preach boldly with the assurance of salvation."
One day, when Wesley was exhausted from
internal conflict, a great spiritual event that changed his life and faith came
to him. On the evening of May 24, 1738, Wesley reluctantly went to a meeting of
Moravian Christians in Aldersgate Street in London where he heard someone
reading Martin Luther’s preface in a commentary on Romans, which was probably
theological, heavy, and dry. Yet there, while listening to Luther's preface to
his commentary on Romans, at about 8:45 that evening, he experienced his heart
suddenly feeling strangely warmed by the work of the Holy Spirit. Wesley wrote
about this mysterious experience of the Holy Spirit in his journal that day: “Suddenly,
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.”
On this day, as Wesley experienced his
heart becoming strangely warm, he truly began to feel the words of God, which
he had previously known only through ordinary head knowledge. He now began to clearly
believe God’s words in his heart. And on this day, Wesley felt with his whole
body the amazing love of God who saved him through the cross and resurrection.
This is what the Holy Spirit did. Aldersgate's mysterious experience led Wesley
to be reborn and served as an opportunity to ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit
in British society.
After experiencing the Holy Spirit that
day, Wesley confessed: “I wasn't a real Christian until the 24th of May. Until
then, sin had dominion over me. But from that day on, sin no longer had
dominion over me because I have become a man of the Holy Spirit.” And Wesley
confessed: "Until I experienced the Holy Spirit on this day, I was a
person who served God 'with fear.’ However, since experiencing the Holy Spirit
on this day, I changed into a person who served God 'with a grateful heart' for
the love of God who saved me.” In the history of the world church, there has
been no evangelist who has more deeply penetrated the hearts of people to
preach the gospel as well as Wesley. Wesley said, "If there is only one
person left in the world who does not know Jesus Christ, I will run to the ends
of the earth for that person." He preached the gospel by touring the whole
earth more than 13 times, covering an average of 8,000 miles (12,800 km) a year
and 323,000 miles (520,000 km) over 40 years. Even at the age of 50, he
traveled an average of 20 miles (32 km) a day to preach the gospel.
Have you and I experienced the warming of
our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit when we hear the word of God, as
Cleopas and the other disciple who accompanied him experienced? Like Wesley, do
you experience feeling the love of God burning in your heart with the help of
the Holy Spirit when you hear the words of Jesus? This is what the living Holy
Spirit does. When the Holy Spirit comes to us, it helps us know Jesus within us
and helps us to more deeply realize the love of God who saved us. So, the Holy
Spirit warms our hearts toward God.
However, the Laodicea church members we
meet in today's text have not yet had such a spiritual experience. So, they
were rebuked by Jesus for saying that their hearts toward Jesus were lukewarm
(v16) and that they were not earnest (v19). Jesus even said he would spit them
out of his mouth (v16). And Jesus said that the Laodicean Christians say they
are rich and have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But in reality, they
are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (v17). Why were the Laodicean
believers lukewarm in their hearts toward Jesus? Why was their act of faith
lacking passion and earnestness for Jesus? Why did Jesus say they were
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked? It is because the Laodicean
believers lived a life of faith without knowing the love of God who saved them.
Here, when Wesley said, ''I felt my heart strangely warmed” and when Cleopas
and his friend said, “My heart is burning”, it means that 'the love of God who
loves me is finally felt in my heart today.' In other words, because they now
realized the love of God who saved them, when they heard the words of Jesus
written in the Scriptures, they were so grateful that their hearts began to
burn hot for God.
In this
way, when we hear Jesus and what He did, it is the Holy Spirit who makes us
feel, with our whole bodies, the love of God who saved us and warms our hearts
for God. Those who have passionately experienced the love of God who saved them
like this, go out into the world to spread this love of God like Wesley did.
However, the Laodicea church members had not yet experienced the Holy Spirit
who helped them realize the love of God who saved them. Even though the
Laodicean believers listened to the Word countless times and participated of
the Lord's Supper countless times, they still did not feel God's love.
3.
What we need the most right now is to experience the
Holy Spirit, where the love of God who saved us is warmly felt in our hearts
today, like Wesley, and like Cleopas and the other disciples who accompanied
him. This experience of the Holy Spirit makes us happy and is so beneficial to
our lives. This experience of the Holy Spirit makes a big difference in our
lives. The faith and life in which the love of God who saved us burns hot is so
different from any other life. We heard Wesley frankly confess that he was not
a real Christian until he experienced the Holy Spirit that day. However, we
have seen that Wesley's experience of the Holy Spirit had a holy influence on
British society and the whole world along with him. We saw that the 12
disciples of Jesus, Cleopas, and his friend's experience of the Holy Spirit had
a good influence on people all over the world. Let's eagerly wait for and seek
the Holy Spirit that our heavenly Father has promised to give us. Then, the
Holy Spirit that came to Wesley, Cleopas, and his friend, will come to us and
lead us to live happily as people of the Holy Spirit. Amen!