17. If not *required* to break with my conscious; disciples are duty bound to continue;

WESLEY:

But perhaps such persons will say, "We did not do this willingly; we were constrained to separate from that society, because we could not continue therein with a clear conscience; we could not continue without sin. I was not allowed to continue therein with breaking a commandment of God." If this was the case, you could not be blamed for separating from that society, 

1. Suppose, for instance, you were a member of the Church of Rome, and you could not remain therein without committing idolatry; without worshipping of idols, whether images, or saints and angels; then it would be your bounded duty to leave that community, totally to separate from it. 

2. Suppose you could not remain in the Church of England without doing something which the word of God forbids, or omitting something which the word of God positively commands; if this were the case, (but blessed be God it is not,) you ought to separate from the Church of England. 

3. I will make the case my own: I am now, and have been from my youth, a member and a Minister of the Church of England: And I have do desire no design to separate from it, till my soul separates from my body. Yet if I was not permitted to remain therein without omitting what God requires me to do, it would then become meet and right, and my bounden duty, to separate form it without delay. To be more particular: I know God has committed to me a dispensation of the gospel; yea, and my own salvation depends upon preaching it: "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." If then I could not remain in the Church without omitting this, without desisting from preaching the gospel I should be under a necessity of separating from it, or losing my own soul. 

4. In like manner, if I could not continue united to any smaller society, Church, or body of Christians, without committing sin, without lying and hypocrisy, without preaching to others doctrines which I did not myself believe, I should be under an absolute necessity of separating from that society. 

And in all these cases the sin of separation, with all the evils consequent upon it, would not lie upon it, would not lie upon me, but upon those who constrained me to make that separation, by requiring of me such terms of communion as I could not in conscience comply with. But, setting aside this case, suppose the Church or society to which I am now united does not require me to do anything which the Scripture forbids, or to omit anything which the Scripture enjoins, it is then my indispensable duty to continue therein. And if I separate from it without any such necessity, I am just chargeable (whether I foresaw them or not) with all the evils consequent upon that separation.

PRAYER:

Matthew 8:8-10 (MSG)  “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t want to put you to all that trouble. Just give the order and my servant will be fine. I’m a man who takes orders and gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all about God and how he works”.

REFLECTION:

Wesley touches on the core and central question of any schism:  is my Church requiring me to “do anything/omit anything” that my conscioius considers to be against God’s will?

And Wesley uses 2 historical contexts of schisms for justification for disaffiliation (Rome vs England,  Church of England vs Protestants).  Then gives 2 personal justifications that center the whole disaffiliation into the integrity of aligning one’s life with their conscience.   And then clarifies that the whole choice is whether the church requires or does not require a specific action of me. 

Let us be very clear.  If my neighbor sins, I am not to judge.   

• If my neighbor divorces, is that a burden on my conscience?   

• If my neighbor practices immoral business practices, is that a burden on my conscience?

• If I disagree with my church’s stewardship (use of funds), is that a burden on my conscience?  

There are many whose consciences are burdened by such events within their church family.    And some are called to speak to those, in Holy caring, for the souls of others in our family. Still, we would not ask for the whole church to disaffiliate because some of our members sin.   To force the family to divide into the pure and impure.  Simply, we are to care but we are not to judge. 

Let us also be very clear.  No one is requiring our church to ordain a gay person.  No one is being told they must perform a same-sex marriage.  And while we all agree that we should “welcome”  LGBTQ persons, no one is required to go against their conscience and “affirm” such LGBTQ persons.  And while the conscience of some within our church are advocating for such changes, NO ONE IS REQUIRED to burden their conscience because of diverse views across our family. .

Thus we arrive at  the real driver for any disaffiliation - fear.  It is the “fear that eventually we will end up with diverse theology within our local church”.  Real or unreal fear?   And while such cases (ordination, marriage, affirmation) may shift in our ‘Methodist movement’ what is being required of you?  Pause now and search your soul.   

Search of fear of future expectations; and let the truth of that fear shine bright. For we all carry such fears to some degree - some very minor and some a very major fear.   In Matthew 8:10, Jesus reminds us to trust in God when he says “ this kind of simple trust in Israel”.   Note that Jesus did not suggest a trust in a specific denomination or religious organization.  He says “Israel”, ie. the “people of God” and our conectionalism.  Oh how I pray that each member of our church may find clarity and peace in the wisdom of our Lord thru Wesley words.   Clarity of what is being required of a religious organization vs what is being required by God of your conscience.

• NEXT: 18. FOOLISH: those who profess much religion imagine separation to be no sin at all.