Global Methodist Church Catechism: How can we escape the wrath of God?
Each week we will explore a question and answer summary of our faith from the Global Methodist Church called a Catechism.
Question 19: How can we escape the wrath of God?
Answer: God justifies or accounts righteous, repentant sinners who confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ( Colossians 3:5-17)
I love war movies, not because I have an infatuation with violence, but because I love watching what men do when they have to. The series Band of Brothers is a great look at men who do what they have to do not only to protect themselves, but their brothers next to them. This week, our Catechism examines what we must do to escape the wrath of God. Our well intentioned culture tries to downplay what must be done, down to a simple “walk to the front”, and accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet, the strength of the Global Methodist Church (and any orthodox expression of Methodism) is not the decision we make for Christ, our strength as a Methodist denomination is what repentance looks like after we make the decision for Christ. The Book of Colossians shows what repentance looks like after we confess faith in Christ.
Death: Pauls image of what we are to do about sin is a powerful one. The believer is tasked not with constantly walking to the front of a church service and admitting (sometimes over and over) Christ into our hearts, but daily killing sin i.e “Put to death therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.”-Colossians 3:5. The phrase he uses for put to death is a military term reserved normally for soldiers engaged in combat. For Paul, repentance was not only putting to death whats bad, but anything that’s good that replaces faith in Christ. For example, what makes evil and greed idolatry is because we think we know whats best for our lives, and the truth is, we don’t (cf Genesis 3). Pauls task for the believer is to put to death our desire to do things our way. To seek our way of things and not the Lords way is a Satanic principle clouded with our good intentions. Book author George Mcdonald said that very thing, stating that the one principle of Hell is that “I am my own.”1 The most famous prayer in the Bible is famous not just for what it says, but what it doesn’t say: Your will be done2 is Jesus teaching His disciples (and us!) to replace our Will with His. To do otherwise is to have in mind not the things of God, but the things of Satan and of men3. As bleak as this looks, Colossians does not stop with death as an image of what repentance looks like. There is also life.
Life: In verse 12-16 in chapter 3, Paul uses verbs such as “Clothe yourself” (with patience), “Put on” (love), even “singing” the Word ( verse 16 as singers know, music is a verb!). These verbs are delegated by Christ who “rules” in our hearts. The image for rule is interesting . It’s a Greek word that describes a director or arbiter in public games in the Roman world. The modern image would be like a referee in a Final 4 game. As any athlete will tell you, you don’t even leave the field or the court without the referee telling you to do so. So escaping the wrath of God through repentance involves death, but also a life giving change, mainly, taking orders from Christ instead of ourselves. Paul believes so strongly that Christ can be trusted over ourselves, he even tells the Colossian church “that whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him”-Colossians 3:17.
I don’t want the wrath of God, I want His grace and blessings. To receive such, I have to ask myself, In whose name do I live and work for today? Thanks be to God only one is tested and true. Live for the name, and both you shall have (cf Acts 4:10-12). In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
http://www.online-literature.com/george-macdonald/unspoken-sermons/30/
Matthew 6:10
Matthew 16:23