Author Archives: Rev. James M. Wilson

The Greek word translated “love” describes acts of the will by which we show ourselves to be “for” the other person by seeking good for them or working for justice for them. To love the other person as Jesus loves us, is to be for him or her just as Jesus is for us. Certainly emotions play some role, but they are not central. This love represents your commitment to seek the good for the other, to act for him or her, even when it is costly to you. Such love demands truthfulness, respect, authenticity, self-giving, justice-seeking.

This is a fundamental reality of the Christian faith. We do not live alone, by ourselves, as individuals. We live in relationship with Christ Jesus and all those who confess Him as Lord. He is the Vine that empowers us, the branches, to bear fruit—the fruit of witnessing to the Good News, serving in His Name, walking faithfully after Him, imitating His love, knowing the joy and hope He offers.

I am not suggesting that faithful people never doubt or never experience fear. I am suggesting that when you and I know the story, the story from which we are called to live, we can be honest about our doubts and fears, and know that the grace of the One who meets us in the Risen Jesus is sufficient. We are no longer hostages to our doubt or our fear. We are recipients of life-giving, life-transforming grace.

What I want to suggest to you this morning is that doubt, at least a certain kind of doubt is not a bad thing. In fact it is a very good thing, even an essential thing for a vital faith. This is a doubt that is creative, that asks questions, that probes issues all in order for faith to grow. It is quite different that the doubt that is destructive, a doubt that seeks only to tear down and destroy. I have encounter people with both kinds of doubt. I strongly prefer those with creative doubt, even more than people who are so absolutely certain.

Easter tells us that it is a new day, the night is over, and those powers of darkness that keep our lives in the shadows have been overcome. This is what Easter is all about, an end to the old order, the defeat of those powers of fear, doubt, hatred, bigotry, and all those powers that fragment our lives and hold us hostage. Easter tells us God has raised the Crucified One and the story goes on.

The test of any relationship, whether friendship, marriage, work, team, is when things get tough, when there is pain and threat. Are we full-time friends, spouses, colleagues, teammates or just part-time? So it is for discipleship. If you really want to see Jesus, then you must walk the journey, even when that journey goes through the valley of the shadows. But in that valley, you will know One is there with His rod and staff to protect and deliver you. Christ Jesus is there in the tough times.

The Temple had fallen far from its purpose. Built by Solomon at the behest of God, the Temple was to be God’s dwelling place on earth, the reminder of God’s presence with His people. Now it had become a mega mart. Jesus’ anger was not because there was buying and selling in the Temple, that was inherent in the cultic life. His anger was due to the violation of the Covenant, the core principles and values by which Israel was to live.

The church does not exist primarily to meet people’s perceived needs. The church exists primarily to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. When the church faithfully proclaims this Gospel, needs get redefined, moved from the superficial to the real, to the need for forgiveness, the need to be made whole, the need to be set free, the need to be accepted and loved, the need to serve and witness. In short, the need to be found.

I find these temptation stories both very meaningful and very helpful. They certainly challenge any sunny, superficial view of Jesus. Jesus is the One who from the beginning of His ministry confronts the wild beasts, the powers of evil and death. The stories also challenge the notion that the life of faith is a life of constant joy and uninterrupted bliss. Being faithful to Christ Jesus means we too must confront the wild beasts, those forces arrayed against God’s intentions…

From our very origins in the Holy Club at Oxford, Wesley brought friends together for disciplined living, supportive fellowship, and then the going out to minister to the poor, the lost and the least in Christ’s name. While Wesley firmly held that we are justified by grace received in faith, he also believed that as justified believers our lives needed to bear fruit, give evidence of our justification or as he put it in a sermon, “Faith is not negated or supplanted by works, rather our works testify to the presence of a living faith working in us.”