Assignment
Sermon Assignment: “The End of Christ’s Coming”
Completion requirements
By today’s standards, Wesley’s sermons appear to be dry and academic, rather than inspiring. We must remember that Wesley lived in the age of Rationalism and that sermons were more treatises on Biblical passages rather than practical challenges to Christian living. With practice, one can follow the very logical development of Wesley’s thought. To assist in this first endeavor to enter the world of Wesley, you may want to print the outline of the sermon provided here and follow his reasoning as he expounds on this text.
One of the great Wesley scholars, Gordon Rupp, describes Wesley’s understanding of the Christian faith as “a pessimism of nature and an optimism of grace.” Wesley took sin very seriously and probably dissected and analyzed it more than any Protestant theologian. He was convinced that apart from the work of God’s Spirit, humans were incapable of any righteousness.
However, he was very optimistic about what God’s grace could accomplish in the life of an individual and in society as well. Wesley believed that the effects of the fall of Eve and Adam could, to a large extent, be reversed. While humans might not be able to eliminate all the physical and natural effects of the fall, they could be restored to the spiritual life that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden – a life of righteousness, holiness and happiness.
Read the sermon “The End of Christ’s Coming.” In Wesley’s day, an “end” was a goal, a purpose for something. So this sermon is not about what happens at the end of Jesus’ return but is about the goal of Jesus coming to earth. After you have read the sermon, respond to the following prompt:
Was Wesley too optimistic about what grace can accomplish in an individual? Do you think faith can reverse the consequences of sin and destroy the works of the devil? Can a Christian attain a genuinely holy and happy life here on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit or must a believer always struggle with sin and frustration at the limits of God’s grace? After reading the sermon write a response of 250-300 words evaluating Wesley’s understanding of this Biblical text. Is he true to Scripture? Does his argument make logical sense? Is his conclusion realistic in our present-day context?
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