Tag Archives: Wesley quadrilateral

November 1, 2021 · 7:58 pm

The Mustard Seed

Introduction

            Every Sunday as Pastor Peter begins the sermon, he invites you to prepare by having your Bible and note taking materials with you.  I had never considered suggesting this practice, especially right before delivering a sermon.  But I like it and you may have noticed I have adopted the same reminder.  

            The Bible provides us a foundation on which to build.  The words speak to us in new and different ways each time we read them.  Sometimes the words are quiet; yet, at other times they yell at us.  They are literature.  The lessons are historical, sometimes it reads like a novel, and other times it is like a how-to-manual, but the themes are timeless.

            Taking a lay speaking course led by Lovett Weems, right here at the university well over a decade ago, I was introduced to the quadrilateral.  This method of reading scripture makes so much sense to me.  John Wesley created the quadrilateral method of reading the Bible.  

The four parts of the quadrilateral (usually illustrated as a square) are (1) the Scripture ,which is the words as written, (2) tradition ,which is the historical and cultural context, (3) reason,which is one’s personal processing, cognitive evaluation of the words, and (4) experience which includes how one understands the application of the words throughout human history.

            Reading, studying, and reflecting on the scripture can speak to us in new and unexpected ways throughout our life.  Today we are reading one of my favorite parables, The Mustard Seed. I would identify it as one of the rocks in my faith foundation.  It connects me to my mom and my dad, it centers me when I become uncertain, and it guides me as I share God with others. 

. . . “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  –Matthew 13:31-32, NRSV

Therefore, I hope you have your favorite translation of the Bible with you and those notetaking supplies ready.  Let us begin with prayer:

Dear God, author of our lives,

Open our ears to hear you speak to us through your words.

Open our minds to understand the lesson the words teach us.

Then guide us to transform our lives so we may live our faith openly.

–Amen

The message

            As you can tell by the screen, I have a collection of Bibles.  I am fascinated by the various ways scripture is presented.  I find that sometimes I need to understand the cultural setting for the words, so I check the Archeological Bible.  Maybe I read the words and feel confused by the structure of the language, so I turn to The Message.  I have even read a version that was the base of a British stage production entitled, The Word on the Street.  Each one speaks to me differently. 

I first became familiar with this study Bible when our cousin Merle gave a copy of it to my mom along with a note.  Mom was fighting cancer, and as she continued through the months, this Bible became her companion, and she would occasionally share something from it with me.  After her death, I opened this Bible and found some of her thoughts those final months.  The words spoke to her and they speak to me.  They speak to each of us through this earthly life.

            The parables served as one of Jesus’ methods to teach the disciples how to shift the culture away from the controlling laws created by the Jewish religious leaders.  The disciples asked Jesus how to grow in faith, so Jesus used parables to help them understand.

            What lesson, then, does the parable of the mustard seed have for us today?  Interestingly, there are two:  (1) the size of God’s kingdom and (2) the size of one’s faith necessary to be part of God’s kingdom.  When one starts reading scripture, then re-reading it, and even googling about the scripture, the message speaks to us in ways God knows we need–the Holy Spirit is at work as you discover the message of the scripture.

Let’s go back to the parable itself.  The Gospels have three different versions of which the Matthew version is the most familiar one.   But let’s look at Mark 4:30-32:

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”  –NRSV

            Both Matthew and Mark focus on the theme of the kingdom of Heaven.  

Yet, the version in Luke 17:6, provides a different insight that turns the parable into a very personal message for each of us:  

6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

            For me, Luke’s version of the parable is a foundational piece of my faith. As a third grade Sunday school student, my mom and her best friend Jewel, were our teachers.  Somewhere during that year, they gave each of us a small gift–a mustard seed.  Mine was a mustard seed necklace which I still have.

            As I grew up, I found myself wondering if I had enough faith to go to heaven.  I would worry about this and try to figure out if I had enough faith.  I think that is a question that surfaces repeatedly during life, and we turn to scripture, we go to worship, we volunteer to do service, yet we wonder, over and over, if we have done enough for God to welcome us to heaven.

            Maybe you have never worried about this.  I know that there are times in our lives that we waiver.  We may have a bad day, or we witness someone who we think is much stronger in their faith than we are–and we ask ourselves again:  Do I have enough faith?  Is my faith strong enough?  

            Jesus used the mustard seed, one of the tiniest of seeds, to assure us that it only takes a little bit of faith, faith that really cannot be measured, to be included in God’s kingdom.  The key is that we live life faithfully. 

            Using the Life Application Study Bible, helps develop this one verse from the ancient agricultural reference into a lesson for today:

The disciples’ request was genuine, they wanted the faith necessary for such radical forgiveness.  But Jesus didn’t directly answer their question because the amount of faith is not as important as its genuineness.  What is faith?  It is complete trust and loyalty to God that results in a willingness to do his will.  Faith is not something we use to put on a show for others.  It is complete and humble obedience to God’s will, readiness to do whatever he calls us to do.  The amount of faith isn’t as important as the right kind of faith–faith in our all-powerful God.  (p.2243)

At times our lives can be so challenging, we falter.  We can get sucked in by others’ behaviors and we lose our direction.  Sometimes we can be swayed by the opinions and ideas of others, agreeing in conversation to ideas that really do not reflect our Christian beliefs.  And then we hear that inner thought that we messed up.  We send up a flash prayer to God and ask him to forgive us.  That should be enough to let go and let God take us back, but we worry.  Is that enough?

            Life has a way of pulling us away from God.  But faith, even the size of a mustard seed, is all it takes to return to God.  Those inner whispers that remind us of God’s law, of God’s grace and forgiveness, call us back.  We reaffirm our faith, we accept God’s forgiveness, and our faith grows a bit more.

            Jesus’ use of the mustard seed made sense to the disciples because they recognized the growing process of such a tiny seed.  Even though I grew up on the farm and understand, the study notes add to my understanding:

A mustard seed is small, but it is alive and growing.  Almost indivisible at first, the seed will begin to spread, first under the ground and then visibly.  Like a tiny seed, a small amount of genuine faith in God will take root and grow.  Although each change will be gradual and imperceptible, soon this faith will have produced major results that will uproot and destroy competing loyalties.  We don’t need more faith; a tiny seed of faith is enough if it is alive and growing.

            Today, you are here with us to worship together.  Your faith calls you to join in worship.  You continue to seek God, to use God’s law to order your life, and you use that faith in all that you do.  You are living that others may know Jesus. 

            You are today’s disciples, and you are planting seeds of faith in others.  As a church family, we are working together to expand God’s kingdom.  We are living our faith in our families, at our jobs, with our friends, and even when we are on summer vacation and traveling to the various ends of the earth.

            As we look ahead, we are committed to growing the faith of our next generations.  We are preparing for the confirmation class.  We are seeking to develop a quality program for the young families and their children with the Next Generation minister.  And as we do this, we know that each of you can share in this ministry by prayer, by mentoring, by greeting and by serving each other with Christian love.

            Jesus’ parables help us to build our faith, but also build our confidence that our faith includes us in God’s kingdom.  The versions of the parable in Matthew and Mark shift the theme to define God’s kingdom.  Today we have the advantage of global communication to know that God’s faithful are at work in all corners of the world.  Where God is at work through us, there is God’s kingdom.

            The mustard seed parable that Jesus used to teach his disciples still teaches us today.  We can grow our own faith through our practices of faith–reading scripture, attending worship, serving one another in any way that we can.  Our efforts then grow faith in others and God’s kingdom on earth expands.

            The symbol of the mustard seed has carried me through any number of challenges.  I wore it through high school, even for my senior picture; I wore it when I had to take college finals, and even now I find myself turning to it on days when I need a little faith strengthening.  Why I even find myself shopping for different mustard seed accessories because it reminds me to stay centered on God.  I even found a company, The Mustard Seed Accessories, but it has more tees than actual mustard seed items.

            But, I am wandering.  Let’s us close with confidence that we are God’s mustard seed.  We are planted, we are growing, and we will provide more seeds for others to plant and grow, too.  The googling led me to two more images–the mustard seed shrub in Israel and I also found that growing mustard seeds is also much closer to us than we might think.  

In fact, when I stumbled into this picture, I realized I had just pulled quite a bit of it out of my flower bed.  God’s kingdom is at our own hands.  We just need to cultivate our own faith and then live that faith openly and confidently so that others, too, may discover God’s grace and love. The parable is so small and yet so powerful:

6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Use these words to strengthen your faith.  Use these words to guide you in spreading God’s love.  Join me in prayer:

Dear Father God, master gardener of faith,

Thank you for your words planted in our hearts.

May our mustard seeds of faith grow your kingdom.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God with us.  –Amen

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November 13, 2019 · 11:39 am

Sometimes one needs reminding in order to move forward

First, let me restate that I am a Christian and that my denomination of choice is United Methodist. 

Also, let me include the framework of my personal study—a year-long Bible study that pairs an Old Testament reading with a New Testament reading. 

For my study, I am using the Wesley Study Bible (WSB) which is a ‘new revised standard version,’ that is considered the basis for Methodists even though I often read other translations like the New Living Translation, The Message, and the New International Version.  

Why is this important?  Because I want to share a quote from the WSB notes that has stuck in my brain for a couple of weeks:

As individuals, families, and congregations evolve, growth entails finding meaningful ways to integrate the present with the past, to connect new members with those who have a long record of faithfulness, and to honor history while embracing change.  The weeping of the elders carries a moving double significance.  Their disappointment with the new construction is at once a sad refusal to welcome the future and an important challenge to a new generation that they have much to achieve to rival the community’s former glory.  Only the elders carry with them the historical memory of the community.  They are the only ones who can raise this criticism.  The combination of joy and sorrow reflects the multifaceted nature of the community, old and young, Jews of Babylonian and Persian origins, along with those from Jerusalem; lay and clergy, along with their differing hopes, fears, and expectations.  Out of this group characterized by difference more than similarity, once again, God will fashion a faithful people.  As Wesley notes, “The mixture of sorrow and joy here, is a representation of this world.  In heaven all are singing and none sighing; in hell all are wailing, and none rejoicing; but here on earth we can scarce discern the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping, let us learn to rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  (p.573)

The context for this study note is Ezra 3, especially verses 12 and 13:

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many should aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish

the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away. (NRSV)

Reading Old Testament scriptures can be confusing as they are not necessarily written in a chronological order and the texts are written by different authors.  Therefore, reading the text takes discernment, especially prayerful discernment.

The context of the book of Ezra is summarized in the introductory notes of WSB helps:

Written sometime in the early period of Greek occupation of Israel’s land (after 332BCE), [the books of Ezra and Nehemiah] tell an idealized story of a reconstituted but small Jerusalem community threatened with obliteration by imperial rule, interethnic strife, and the abusive excesses of an elite class. (p. 569)

Therefore, the scripture is talking about the rebuilding of Jerusalem as the religious center of the faithful Israelites.

John Wesley believed that they study of scripture needed to be done with attention to four elements or, as we might refer, filters:

  • the scripture itself, 
  • the tradition of Christianity,
  • reason (or logical reasoning), and
  • human experience

Using these four filters is considered Wesley’s quadrilateral.  

For some, this structure for Bible study may seem weighty, or maybe even unnecessary; but for myself, I think it is important because it helps me understand how the scriptures can speak to me in the 21st century just as it did in the ancient centuries.  The themes are timeless.

(I understand that is a great deal of background information about studying scripture, and how I personally study.  If I did not do that, then how would anybody understand the significance of the study note I shared in the opening?)

Today, as churches have to reshape themselves; it is difficult to manage the old with the new.  It is difficult for people to let go of what “has always been” in order to embrace the possibilities of “what can be.”

As I read Ezra, I understood how the elders of the faith community were thinking, yet the challenges of ancient society caused things to change.  Being allowed back into Jerusalem to rebuild the temple was critical to the elders, yet the circumstances could not possibly be the same as it was when it was first erected.

The very same circumstances exist today.  In each faith community, the shifts in one’s culture, the wear and tear on a building, the elders versus the younger generations force the church to evolve.

As I read through the study note included in the opening, I was reminded how difficult it is to take a long-standing faith community symbolized by its very structure in the heart of a community, must change.

Read again the first lines of the note:

As individuals, families, and congregations evolve, growth entails finding meaningful ways to integrate the present with the past, to connect new members with those who have a long record of faithfulness, and to honor history while embracing change.  

No process of rebuilding is easy.  The elders will weep.  The youth will cry for change.  But, in God’s world, the constancy of grace and love should bring the generations together.  It will not be easy, but God’s timeline only sees one goal—to love one another as one wants to be loved.

The faith communities today are struggling, but the more I study scripture, the more truth of God’s world becomes evident.  We are gifted with the opportunity to live in this world, and to do all that we can to experience earthly life to its fullest.  

Today’s faith communities are struggling, and the goal is to find ways to carry God’s grace and love forward to others.  The culture changes, it merges with different cultures, technology creates new ways to communicate.  

Change is a constant, but God’s grace and love do not change.  We are taxed to do all that we can in any way that we can to share God’s love with one another; and that means love one another in any way we can.  The faith communities must then accept change within its own parameters in order to grow God’s kingdom any way that we can.

What we must remember is that this earthly life we live is just a human experience and the promise of life eternal guides us in living Christ-like lives now.  Hence the emphasis I added to the study note via underlining:

. . . let us learn to rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Life is what we make it during our earthly journey, but it is just a hint of the glory that awaits us.  Please join in me in prayer:

Dear Lord, our God,

As we continue our earthly journey, growing in faith,

   fill us with the grace and love you show us

   so we may share that grace and love with others.  

Help us to find ways to join the generations

    with compassion and empathy

   in order to lead others to know you personally.  

We want to rejoice with those that rejoice

   and weep with those who weep

   as members of your family, always.  –Amen

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