Communion with the Trinity

One of John Wesley's later sermons is entitled 'Spiritual Worship' (1780). If you saw that title on a sermon today and listened to the content of Wesley's sermon you might think that there must have been a mistake in the title of the sermon because there really isn't much in the sermon that speaks about 'worship' as it is largely conceived today, in terms of the time slot designated for the gathering of the community of God at the Church on Sunday mornings and/or other times when people congregate there to sing praise songs, hymns, lift up prayers, hear a sermon preached, and (perhaps) receive the Lord's Supper. There's really nothing at all like that in this sermon and though upon first reading the sermon I thought the title as odd, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that what is commonly termed 'worship' today is far too narrow for generations prior to our own. Although Wesley didn't give a title to this sermon upon his first publication of it for the Arminian Magazine, he did give it the title in a collection of sermons several years later, which was the only other record we have of its publication. It is possible that he gave it the title because the last statement in the sermon is a direct appeal to Romans 12.1, "And this moment, and every moment, 'present yourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,' and 'glorify him with your body, and with your spirit, which are God's'."

That's a pretty good summary of what 'holiness' looks like in the life of the believer, but the majority of the sermon is Wesley's exposition of 1 John 5.20: "This is the true God, and eternal life." It is rather well known that if Wesley were to have had a favorite book in the Bible, it would be 1 John. With that in mind, it is critical that he indicates this passage as a "summing up" (recapitulating) the entire letter. "This" in the passage refers to Christ so Wesley expounds on how Christ is the true God and how He is eternal life. Regarding that Christ is the "true God" Wesley goes through the roles of God and how Christ is God in every case: Creator, Supporter (Sustainer), Preserver, Author of Motion (or "Mover"), Redeemer, Governor, and End (or Goal) of all things. Regarding Christ as "eternal life" Wesley instills that Christ begins imparting the benefits of eternal life even now, primarily which consists of happiness (a synonym for 'holiness' in Wesley's estimation of the word).

But before all this, he remarkably summarizes the contents of the entire letter of 1 John leading up to this chapter in just a few sentences: "The [letter] itself treats: First, severally, of communion with the Father, chapter one, verses 5-10; of communion with the Son, chapters two and three; of communion with the Spirit, chapter four. Secondly, conjointly, of the testimony of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, on which faith in Christ, the being born of God, love to God and his children, the keeping of his commandments, and victory over the world, are founded, chapter five, verses 1-12." Now I'm not sure what you're typical modern-day New Testament scholar would say about Wesley's book survey, but Wesley's read of 1 John is emphatically theological, and Trinitarian at that.

Of course, we wouldn't consider Wesley to be a dogmatic or systematic theologian, but it is quite clear that he does more with the higher points of dogma, say the doctrine of the Trinity, than just indicate that they are formulations for mental or verbal assent. He makes them the heart of holy living! It is said that theology is the servant of piety (or holy living), and Wesley takes this to the highest point of theology: who we understand God to be. It's not just that Chapters 1-4 are about the Father, Son, and Spirit, but that they are about the "communion" with (or knowledge of) the Persons of the Trinity. This approach is affirmed in the latter portion of his sermon when Wesley discusses the essence of religion: "Religion, as to the nature or essence of it, does not lie in this or that set of notions, vulgarly called 'faith'; nor in a round of duties, however carefully 'reformed' from error and superstition. It does not consist in any number of outward actions. No; it properly and directly consists in the knowledge and love of God, as manifested in the Son of his love, through the eternal Spirit. And this naturally leads to every heavenly temper, and to every good word and work."

So...what if we understood 'worship' to be nothing less than communing with the Triune God? Sounds rightly-oriented to me!