More Vile

             Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  (Philippians 2:3-4)

“At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation…” (John Wesley)

Vile: unpleasant, immoral, and unacceptable

We all want things, and not just physical things. We want to live, to love and be loved, to be happy/content/joyous, to have enough money that we don’t have to worry about how we’ll pay the bills, to win, to eat good food, to have pleasant company, read a good book, to have significance and respect….

In 18^th Century England, they wanted the same sorts of things, and John Wesley was a pastor. That meant he was supposed to live according to a certain standard, which included being too dignified to preach on the street. He wrote in his journal that one day, he submitted to be more vile.  (Thanks to John Ortberg for sharing this story.) That idea dovetails nicely with today’s passage.

A distinction is necessary. There is a difference between sinning and being “more vile.” Jesus was regularly “more vile” when He performed miracles on the sabbath, and talked to and discipled women. John Wesley was more effective when he preached on the byways and highways, rather than only in churches. The point is that we can and should make decisions to do things that we feel are (or should be) “beneath us.” We should not be afraid to be “downwardly mobile.”