Imagine the shock on the disciples’ faces as their Teacher—their Master—removed his outer garment, wrapped a towel around His waist, and began to wash their filthy feet. Washing feet should not be found in the job description of a Rabbi, let alone the Messiah! Yet here they watched Jesus, kneeling on the floor before them and performing this dirty, lowly work of service. Once His task was complete, Jesus commanded them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
I believe that the blessings the Wesleyan Church experiences today are a result of the Church’s service to mankind in the past. The Wesleyan movement struggled against the flow of culture in order to fight social injustice. However, I am fearful that our denomination has begun to merely tread water, or perhaps even to drift with the current of complacency in regards to meeting the needs of others. It is time for us to re-familiarize ourselves with the dirtiness of this world, following the example of our Savior.
In the early years of the Wesleyan movement, radical focus was placed on “righting the wrongs” in society. In fact, the Wesleyan denomination was largely founded (under the name of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America) because, “...there was no church free of the sin of slavery...” The founders of the denomination were so appalled by the refusal of church denominational bodies to act against slavery—the greatest sin of society at the time—that they were willing to start a new church body. Wesleyans were extremely active in the Underground Railroad, risking their own livelihoods in order to serve their black brothers and sisters. They took stances of pacifism, proclaiming the injustice of war until the cause of ending slavery seemed to minimize this stance through the Civil War.
When slavery became abolished in the United States, the denomination continued to work for equality and the rights of the freed slaves. Quickly following their work against slavery, the Wesleyan Church began to work for the equal treatment of women. This was not simply a verbal affirmation of women’s rights. The leaders of the Wesleyan movement were some of the forerunners of feminism. Luther Lee preached the ordination sermon for Antoinette Brown, the first woman to ever be ordained to ministry. Clearly, none of these instances of acting against social injustice were comfortable in the culture of the time, but Wesleyans were willing to lower themselves to a foot-washing position in order to address the needs of their day.
The Wesleyan Church began with a clear understanding of God’s definition of faultless religion. This definition is found in James 1:27 which says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I believe the clear principle can be extracted from this verse that pure religion must be grounded in service that meets the needs of others along with a commitment to personal purity. This Scripture seems to point to a different type of relationship between these two entities than is often presented in the modern church world. Rather than being in competition with one another, they are complementary and perpetuate one another. Pure religion must be a balance of service and holiness rather than choosing an extreme position on one side of a continuum with service and holiness on opposite ends.
According to Donald W. Dayton in Discovering an Evangelical Heritage, in the past, “Wesleyans often spoke of the conjunction of ‘piety and radicalism,’ claiming to excel in both areas.” This conjunction was a living example of the principle of James 1:27. I doubt that many Wesleyans even claim this conjunction today, let alone practice it. The idea of reforming the world has dwindled into a historical fact rather than a present factor in the forefront of the denomination.
This current lacking in the denomination can be vividly illustrated in my own life. In the Wesleyan Church where I was raised, I was constantly told to avoid pollution by the world. In fact, I sometimes wondered if my church really did believe that I was to be IN the world, and simply not of it. I was told to avoid situations that could have potential for service for the sake of keeping my hands clean. I wanted so desperately to please God in personal holiness. This desire has stayed with me as I have become an adult and moved away from my home church. However, in recent years I discovered something very ugly about my desire for holiness.
I remember vividly standing in Carter Chapel, praying yet again that God would sanctify me entirely, when a blatant realization came to me. I was being SELFISH. I had become so consumed with whether or not I could stamp the label of “entirely sanctified” on my forehead that my spiritual life had become all about ME! Suddenly I began to understand the struggle I had been facing with the holiness movement—the struggle that had been clearly observed in my own heart. Is it possible that in our pursuit of personal holiness in the Wesleyan Church, we have actually caused people to turn in on themselves and sin by separating holiness from service? In that moment, God began to speak to me that the only pure motive for pursuing holiness was an intention of serving God and others to the fullest. My holiness could not be about MY holiness.
While I commend and agree with the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification, I am concerned that a twisted nature of this doctrine has impacted our local churches. Holiness, when emphasized in a self-focused manner, quickly can result in self-centeredness. Obviously, this sinful corruption of a holy pursuit nullifies the whole doctrine. Yet, this is what I have observed in many of the Wesleyan and other holiness circles of which I have found myself to be a part. I cannot speak for every Wesleyan or every Wesleyan church, but I can identify this as a problem or at least potential problem within the Wesleyan movement today. Sanctification is taught and preached in such an intrinsic way that believers spend the majority of their Christian walk concerned with their own sin problems and personal pursuit of righteousness over service to those around them.
In contrast, in Mark 10: 43-45, Jesus said, “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Clearly, Jesus’ focus was on the needs of those around Him and the plan the Father had for Him to meet those needs. Even as the Son of God, Jesus demonstrates his holiness in His intent to serve. Christ’s holiness caused Him to be other-focused. Pointing back to James 1:27, holiness without service is incomplete, just as service without holiness is incomplete.
If pure religion flows from the correlation between holiness and service, no denomination should be exhibiting more pure religion than the Wesleyan Church. It only makes sense that the holiness movement should be a movement that is willing to get its hands dirty. Out of true holiness should flow true service. Still, any mention of “social gospel” in many holiness circles brings with it only connotations of liberalism. I had always been taught that “social gospel” was a negative thing, but now I question if it is not the most powerful way to proclaim the Gospel! I believe St. Francis of Assisi was correct when he said, “Preach the gospel. And if necessary, use words.” Luther Lee left behind volumes of writings which, “...provide insight into Wesleyan preaching in an era when the social gospel was still a part of Evangelicalism.” Wesleyan Evangelicals should be the first to preach a social gospel! I am not arguing for a dismissal of personal piety. I am simply arguing that personal piety alone is no more effective than reform alone. Thus, I offer the proposal that the Wesleyan Church begins again to acknowledge the full extent of sanctification. It is time that preachers give attention to the other half of the holiness message from the pulpit. If a pursuit of holiness does not result in serving humanity, it is a failed pursuit.
We are promised that God will bless us when we humble ourselves in service to others. While our culture has changed dramatically since the founding of the Wesleyan Church, needs and social injustices still exist all around us. As God’s people, called to holiness, we must begin to paddle against the Evangelical current of today and bring the social gospel back to its rightful priority in our churches. Are we willing to practice the sanctification we preach by taking our eyes off of ourselves and focusing on the needs that await us just outside the church walls? Is the Wesleyan Church still ready to reform this world for the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I suggest we stop frustrating ourselves with the dirtiness of our own feet which only Christ can wash clean and start washing the feet of others. “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
