In my sermon yesterday I referenced John Wesley’s ministry and Methodism’s unique connection to Christian friendship. Wesley thoroughly believed that we need one another for support and encouragement. God uses other people for our own edification. Friendship is a part of sanctification, or God making us more like Christ. To put it simply, to be a Christian means you need some sort of community of faith.

Another unique part of Methodism’s past was the “Holy Club” lead by Wesley during his early ministry. He would meet together with other Christian friends and they would examine one another’s hearts and spiritual walk. They also studied the bible, visited the poor and imprisoned, and even taught reading to orphans.

Here are the 22 questions the club members would go through. Some of the language might sound kind of dated, but I think there is an overarching truth to these themes–definitely applicable for our lives today! Perhaps as you discuss your faith with family and friends, some of these questions can guide your conversations:

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1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

3. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence?

4. Can I be trusted?

5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?

6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

7. Did the Bible live in me today?

8. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?

9. Am I enjoying prayer?

10. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?

11. Do I pray about the money I spend?

12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

13. Do I disobey God in anything?

14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?

16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?

17. How do I spend my spare time?

18. Am I proud?

19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?

20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?

21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?

22. Is Christ real to me?

You may be aware of a theological debate about the nature of salvation. Once you accept Christ, is it possible to “lose” that salvation in the future?

Consider the hypothetical example of someone incredibly involved in church. We’ll call him John. John has been around the message of Christianity his entire life. He remembers inviting Jesus to live in his heart at a young age. It seems as though John is all set, right? However, fast forward a few years. What if things take a turn for the worse for John? What if he stops reading scripture, worshipping God regularly, and eventually gives in to sinful desires without remorse? What if John begins to act out violently, mistreating his neighbors and living an utterly cruel life? What if John even arrives at a point where he utterly denies Jesus in word and action?

Would John have “lost” that original salvation? Or would John still be “saved?”

To further parse out the question, consider the following: (1) How is salvation given, and (2) how is salvation kept? Most agree on (1), that God grants us salvation through grace by faith. But Christians often disagree about (2) above. How does one “keep” a relationship with Christ, and likewise, can someone “fall away?” If God keeps salvation eternally, despite deliberate human rejection and blasphemy in the future, then it seems as though our “friend” John can do whatever he wants with impunity.

On one hand, there’s the belief that “once saved, always saved.” God reminds us in scripture that God does not neglect the salvation covenant. On the other hand, however, there’s the view that one may eventually reject that original relationship. God also reminds us in the bible that people can fall away and change for the worse.

To put it simply, Methodists do not believe in “once saved, always saved.” We have a lifelong calling and choice to pursue a Godly relationship and live into God’s grace. The important thing to do after accepting God is to continually nurture and grow it with God’s help. Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards, a pastor who once worked for our denomination’s discipleship ministry, has this to say about the matter:

A short, but very incomplete answer, is that [the UMC] teaches we can end up “losing” the salvation God has begun in us, and the consequence of this in the age to come is our eternal destruction in Hell. God freely grants us new birth and initiates us into the body of Christ in baptism. The profession of our faith and growth in holiness are necessary for God’s saving grace to continue its work in us, and both of these are things we must do for our love to be genuine and not compelled. We thus remain free to resist God’s grace, to revert to spiritual torpor, and possibly experience spiritual death and Hell as its consequence.

Burton-Edwards further explores the complexities of this issue, too, noting that there is a lot more to the question and possible answers.

I mention this issue because it connects perfectly with our sermon yesterday about recommitting oneself to God. Since we have a lifelong calling, it is so important to seek God after times of sinfulness and giving into temptation. We have that choice to make to continue following Christ.

If you ask me, I think that if someone has truly has an encounter with God, I think the chances for later “rejecting” God go drastically down. To know God and to experience the life-changing power of Jesus Christ will absolutely change your life. And to recommit yourself to God will further reveal the truth that God always welcomes us back, despite our failings.

Burton-Edwards sums up this ideal perfectly in the link above: Instead of “once saved, always saved,” how about a different saying?

“God is out to save us, one and all.”

“People reap what they sow.”

This well-known phrase has its origins in Galatians 6:7. As we discussed yesterday in the sermon, this perfectly summarizes the difference between being righteous and unrighteous. If we invest in a relationship with God, we experience God’s healing, restoration, and power as we share that with other people. If we sow seeds of evil, we will undoubtedly reap destruction due to neglecting a Godly relationship.

This idea might sound kind of familiar to another religious topic: karma. This teaching from Hinduism and Buddhism states that a persons actions impact a future self. The belief is also connected with the idea of reincarnation, that life recycles after death into varying states of existence. So if you happen to be experiencing pain, according to karma, that is due to misdeeds in your past.

Even if someone doesn’t believe in reincarnation and an endless cycle of rebirth after death, belief in karma is still fairly common in our world. “What goes around comes around” is a phrase many people ascribe to.

So what’s a Christian to do with the idea of karma? Does Galatians support it? Should we believe that “what goes around comes around?”

My personal take on the matter is that “people reap what they sow” is not karma. There are several major differences for the scriptural truth:

1. Karma is wrapped up in the teaching of reincarnation. I personally don’t see how someone can square away this teaching with the Christian tradition, which states that God resurrects us instead of sending us into an perpetual cycle of earthly existence.
2. Karma teaches that good fortune comes from personal action. In other words, if you are good or evil, your future self will personally experience good or evil. On the other hand, sowing and reaping focuses on God’s work. We plant seeds, while God works in someone’s life to yield a harvest. Galatians is focused on what God is doing, rather than humanity all on its own.
3. The benefits of karma are also focused on earthly goods. “What goes around comes around” usually refers to someone benefiting or being punished in his or her physical life (for instance, consider witnessing a rude driver being pulled over by police). In reality, following Christ will likely not win you much worldly praise. Additionally, people do often get away with evil actions with no consequences. The deeper question is how these actions impact our entire life–particularly our spiritual state with God.

To sum it all up, I really don’t believe Galatians speaks of any notion of karma. It is significantly different due to the nature of Christ’s teachings on sowing and reaping in God’s kingdom. We might desire that “what goes around comes around” would be true and that everyone would be repaid accordingly right now, but in reality, this is simply not the case for our world.

So if you do encounter someone who believes in karma, that might be a great opportunity to explain what you believe about faith. Unfortunately, not everything that comes around goes around, but there is good news in God’s kingdom. God will eventually make everything right. It is not up to us to fix everything, but rather we are called to turn over our actions and cares to God. Likewise, when we sow seeds of love in God’s kingdom, we can be assured that God will be doing the work to bring about a bountiful harvest.