Pursuing Relationship with God
Whitefield writes and preaches from the perspective of outreach. He wants to give his congregation the tools they need to understand their purpose with religion. Why are they Christians? To Whitefield, the answer is in order to pursue a relationship with God. This personal connection is the common theme which ties all of his sermons together. In essence, this is Whitefield's philosophy, although the concept is by no means unique to him but has been a tenet of Christianity for sometime. In his sermon "Walking With God" Whitefield really communicates the heart of his purpose in preaching. He explains that the primary motivation for subjecting oneself to the religion is to develop fellowship with God and to be known by Him. He proposes that this relationship can be accomplished by learning to understand and anticipate God's desire -- or will -- better. To Whitefield this is a process of a forward progress. One is not immediately transformed upon committing to follow Christ; rather one must continue to cede one's own will in favor of the divine will. The process is one of surrender, much the same as any other relationship.j In fact Whitefield delivers an entire sermon on "Christ the Believers Husband" in which he describes the relationship of the Church and Christ as that of newlyweds. In order to be in community with others, one must learn to sacrifice one's own desires. This is the heart of Whitefield's message.
Suffering
A lot of people turn to religion because they encounter suffering and do not know how to find peace afterward. Eventually everyone faces the challenge of suffering. It's unavoidable. But must it necessarily be undesirable? Whitefield addresses the problem of suffering and how to suffer well throughout his preaching, demonstrating a thorough understanding of his role as preacher. He is instructing the people in how to find peace, which is often placed as an opposite of suffering. In his sermon "The Temptation of Christ," Whitefield directly addresses the concept of suffering, which he calls "temptation." He professes the belief that first and foremost one must surround oneself with community. With the support of friends, the individual becomes stronger to resist negativity in the midst of suffering. Whitefiled instructs his congregants to pray and fast when they encounter temptation. As a leader in the church, he insists that other leaders join him in the same practices. The idea here is to make one's body understand that one relies solely upon God. Finally, Whitefield points out that suffering occurs in times of trial. He encourages his listeners to be prepared for trouble and to keep their attitudes humble, despite suffering. Thus Christ becomes an example to the believers not because he did not suffer, but because he showed them how to suffer well.
Idealism
Much of Whitefield's teaching is centered around idealism, although he never expresses his ideas in acknowledgement of the term. He preaches about how Jesus serves as a standard for the believers. He is the ultimate ideal human, which makes him the ideal role model. In Whitefield's sermons, he continually points his congregation back to Jesus as the example. Do as he did. In other words, in order to become more god-like one must first become self-sacrificial, to adopt the humility of the martyr. Whitefield's model of sermon preaching is to take a text from the Bible, to read it aloud, to explain what's happening in the story, and then to apply it to his listeners' lives. He demonstrates how one can measure and compare oneself to Christ in order to follow his example. This is the model for all of Whitefield's sermons, which rather unconsciously reinforces the concept of idealism. Jesus is the pillar to which everyone looks. His life, recorded in the Bible, provides an example which other people can emulate in order to draw closer to God.
