Apr 26, 2022
Today we’re setting the stage for a series on “Hope and the Means of Grace.” There is a two-fold purpose for this series. First, to encourage you as Christ-centered leaders to tend to your faith formation. Second, to revisit the means of grace as a source of hope.
In each episode, we’ll explore one big idea as well as answer two questions: What’s the leadership message? Where is hope? This week, we begin with an introduction to the means of grace. The question, “How do you tell the difference between giving and receiving grace?” reminds us of why the means of grace are vital to Jesus followers.
Along the way, we explore the meaning of grace in scripture and turn to John Wesley for his understanding of the means of grace.
The Means of Grace
John Wesley had a clear view of the means of grace. He noted, “By ‘means of grace’ I understand outward signs, words, or actions ordained of God, and appointed for this end – to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men preventing, justifying, and sanctifying grace….
The chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures (which implies reading, hearing, and meditating thereon) and receiving the Lord’s Supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of him; and these we believe to be ordained of God as the ordinary channels of conveying his grace to the souls of men. [II.1]
Explore John Wesley’s Sermon 16 On the Means of Grace
More than anything, remember this: wherever we are in our journey of faith, hope abounds! Want to encounter that hope? Explore the means of grace.