Sermon 2: “The Almost Christian”

This is a University Sermon. Oxford fellows were on a regular rotation to preach before the university. Though they regularly traded or delegated this assignment, it was still considered a part of their duties as fellows of the university. The congregation would have included numerous students and other fellows and persons connected with the university.

Oxford at the time was very committed to the High Church flavor of the Church of England. Politically the atmosphere was very Tory (leaning more toward a conservative view of authority, especially relating to the Crown). Further, to be a student at Oxford, let alone a fellow, you had to be committed to the orthodoxy of the Church of England: Catholics, Puritans, Quakers, and Baptists were not welcome. Oxford was a Christian University, and an explicitly Anglican one. The University motto is still (in Latin), “The Lord is my light.” Wesley was an insider who very much fit in here, and this atmosphere was very formative for him. But that didn’t prevent him from being willing to throw a few grenades at the official chapel service. It would be one of the last times he would be invited to preach at St. Mary’s in Oxford.

Wesley takes as his jumping off point a comment from Agrippa to Paul. Wesley follows the KJV in translating this odd Greek construction with, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28 KJV). Wesley, so thoroughly obsessed with real, genuine, full-blooded Christianity was undoubtedly inspired by this small moment in Acts. Wesley nearly ignores the story in which this line is embedded in the remainder of the sermon, and instead he spends the whole message wrestling with this notion of what an “almost” Christian would be, versus an altogether Christian.

The Almost Christian

Wesley has high expectations for real Christianity. The rhetorical power in this sermon starts with the way he builds up an incredibly high expectation for nominal Christians!

First, an almost Christian must be at least as good as a virtuous pagan. I think Wesley overestimates the goodness of at least typical Greco-Roman pagans from the classical period, but you can already get the sense of what he’s rhetorically building here. His audience would have recognized the pagan philosophers under this heading, including Platonists, Aristotelians, Stoics, and Epicureans like Horace whom he quotes a few paragraphs down.

Second, the almost Christian should have the form of godliness. She should have the outward appearance of Christianity. Again, the standard here is quite high! Notice here Wesley’s ordering of this barrage of material in terms of three simple categories: avoiding vice, pursuing virtue, and making use of the means of grace.

Finally, an almost Christian is not only generically good like a virtuous pagan, and externally good to at least appear like a Christian, but also sincere about it. The almost Christian wants to do God’s will and takes that as the central motivating factor of his life.

Wesley at this point has built a brilliant rhetorical “itch” that demands to be scratched! How can someone have all that and be only almost a Christian? Before answering, Wesley acknowledges that his is, in fact, where he was until only recently. What, then, is an altogether Christian?

The Altogether Christian

First, an altogether Christian loves God. This is no mere sentiment or idea. It is a total love for God, above all things and persons in the world. Second, an altogether Christian loves their neighbor. This includes the seeking of the good of all persons, including our own enemies and God’s enemies as well!

Third - and here’s the kicker - the altogether Christian has faith. Such faith is the ground of the rest. In fact, if it is genuine, such faith must lead to the visible fruit of all that has come before.

Am I of That Number?

Wesley closes with a bold challenge: which column do you fall under? Are you even an almost Christian? Are you even as good as the wise pagans? Do you even look like a Christian on the outside? Are you even sincere? Have you even gone that far? But even if you have, none of these things make a Christian!

A real Christian loves God and neighbor and has faith in God. Do you?

“May we all thus experience what it is to be, not almost only; but altogether Christians; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus; knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ; rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; and having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us!” (II.11)