The Journey: Rules of the Road (pt.1)

A few years ago, I got the chance to visit my brother and his wife in England. While we were there, we went a few hours west of London for a few days. We rented a car; you might have guessed; I was a little wary of driving in England. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do; shifting gears with the wrong hand, driving on the wrong side. And that didn’t even take into account the fact that we were following unfamiliar maps on unfamiliar roads, going places we had never been before.

I found a couple of things very helpful. First, the traffic moved very politely. Secondly, though I missed my turn about as many times as I made it, there were lots of handy traffic circles. So every time I missed my turn, I knew in a mile or so I’d be able to easily pull a legal U-turn and get back on track.

One thing that is important to find out before getting on the road is what the rules of the road are. Are you legally allowed to make a U-turn? Who has the right-of-way in a traffic circle? The rules of the road exist to get everyone to their destination as safely as possible.

One of the difficulties on our spiritual journey is that often the rules of the road are a little hard to understand. We are used to black and white rules. This is good, that’s bad. Almost every child pushes the boundaries, but what they’re looking for is where that boundary is. No two year old will say, “Mommy, please give me firm boundaries,” but that’s exactly what they are looking for.

The problem with our culture is that we want firm boundaries, yet we won’t acknowledge where they have to come from.

I’ll tell you where firm boundaries generally come from in our culture: they come because somebody has found a loophole in the already-existing boundaries. When I started in youth ministry, I inherited a sheaf of papers, stapled together, with the title “Bev Rules.” Bev had been the youth pastor before me, and whenever the youth had done something bad, she made up a new rule about it. Some of them were pretty funny, and I’m pretty sure that some of them were written tongue-in-cheek, but isn’t that how we generally come up with rules? Until something goes wrong, we don’t figure we have to have a rule?

When I was growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, nobody in our neighborhood locked our doors. In fact, if it hadn’t been for my sister being a little obsessive, we wouldn’t have even known where our house key was. But then there was a break-in on our safe little court, and suddenly everyone needed to lock the doors. We had to put something in place because of what had already happened.

As we continue on the Journey, we’re going to look at some of God’s Rules for the Road. I know some people are already getting excited because you’ve been waiting for me to put the hammer down and start denouncing certain sins – just as long as they are the ones you aren’t involved in, of course.

That’s not what I’m here to do. In the scripture I read earlier, a Pharisee asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life. He turned the question back to the Pharisee, who answered him: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27).

Jesus boiled down everything to two commands: Love God with everything you are and love your neighbor as yourself. Whatever you are doing, you can ask yourself those two questions: Am I loving God and loving neighbor?

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was serious about entire sanctification, having the mind that was in Christ. He was very methodical (yes, this is where the name “Methodist” came from) and he came up with the rules of the road in a three part formula, which we can find in the Book of Discipline, entitled the General Rules of Methodist Societies. He writes: “It is therefore expected of all who continue therein that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation…” (In other words, he expected anyone who would call themselves “Methodist” to be moving forward in their spiritual journey. We all have the responsibility to demonstrate the fruit of our salvation.) To that end, he gave them the General Rules (as paraphrased by Bishop Reuben Job): Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.

I’m going to start with the third rule, because if you are coming from any other perspective, you’ve missed the point. The most important rule, just like Jesus said, was “love God.” This sounds easy, but our culture has confused us when it comes to the meaning of love. I love Coca-Cola. I love long distance running. I love Thai food (extra spicy). I love my family. I love my friends. I love it when a plan comes together. So it’s hard to even understand what “love” means, let alone to understand the intimate, unconditional agape love that God has lavished upon us – the kind of love He asks for in return.

We are in a drive-thru society. We want everything now. We want “love at first sight,” and we even project that onto our relationship with God. You want to know how to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? Give him your all. Spend time with him. I’ll go ahead and say this: if you aren’t setting aside regular time for God every day, not just on Sundays, then you don’t really love God all that much.

What does your prayer life look like? Do you just pray before meals? Do you just pray when you need something? Do you just give God your prayer list? I always liked the ACTS acronym when it comes to prayer: start with A: adoration. This is why the Lord’s prayer starts with “Our Father, hallowed be thy name” – God, Father, your Name is holy and set apart. You are great. Do you remember as you pray to acknowledge who it is you are praying to? This gives us the context into which we pray: we pray to a loving Father who wants His children to come to Him with everything.

Then move to : confession. If you can’t think of something you need to confess, just ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you. Whenever I have prayed that prayer, I have never been denied. Last week we prayed the prayer from Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Confess your sins to God – God already knows what you’ve done; it’s not like you can hide it anyway! Here’s what happens when you confess, though. God says, “I know, and I forgive you. I love you.”

As we continue praying the ACTS prayer, we get to T: thanksgiving. Thank God for forgiving you. We all have things to be thankful for. This week I was visiting someone homebound, and she was a bit depressed. Her health has taken some hits and she had every reason to be miserable. But as we talked, I asked her to think of things she is thankful for. She began coming up with more and more things – she already knew them, but focusing on them gave her a whole new perspective.

The last aspect of the prayer is S: supplication. This is just a churchy way of saying “prayer requests.” Ask God for help. Don’t just pray for everyone else. Pray for yourself as well. God wants to give you good gifts, too!

The only think that the ACTS prayer doesn’t include, and probably the most ignored aspect of prayer is: Listen. If you’ve never listened in prayer, you’re going to have to be quiet for it. And  understand that God doesn’t contradict himself. So if you want to listen to God, you’ve got to know him. How do we know God? By reading his Word. When do you do your Bible reading? I like to get into the Word early in the morning, before I start my work. That way I’ve got a fresh God-perspective in my day. Reading the Bible is not optional for literate American Christians. OK, there are multiple ways to read your Bible. There is the big picture view, where you read through the whole Bible, whether you do a Through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan or read it in Lent, this helps us understand the unity of God’s Word. This is important, but it’s not the only way to read. Reading scripture and meditating on scripture are two different things. To meditate on the scripture, actually ask God to speak to you through the Holy Spirit and through his Word. What is the Word that I need to hear today? What are you telling me through your timeless and changeless Word?

Ask questions of the Bible. Dig deep. Don’t just skim over familiar parts. Maybe God wants to say something directly to you, something you maybe never noticed before. This isn’t to say you can just make God’s Word say whatever you want it to say. Far be it from that. If it’s from God, the Word for today has to fit within the framework of the whole Bible. This is why both kinds of reading are important.

It’s also important to discuss God’s Word with other people. I’m afraid that some people got the wrong impression when we were launching our cell group ministry, because Rudy said, “These aren’t Bible studies.” He was trying to stress the fact that the cell groups aren’t only Bible studies. That’s not the only thing they exist for. But God’s Word has to be central for our groups. Otherwise what standard do we have for everything else? Since you’re reading the Bible every day, talk to other people about what you’re reading. Ask questions. Don’t just talk about what other people are getting out of the Bible – what are you getting?

Stay in love with God by bringing him with you into every relationship you are in. If there are places you go that you’re not willing to bring Jesus with you, that says more about you than it does about the places you are going or the people you’re going there with. Are you meeting with others for encouragement and prayer? Are there other Christians you’ve allowed to get to know you well enough that you can keep each other accountable?

Stay in love with God by putting him first. One time I overheard someone talking about one of my friends; they were pretty much calling my friend weird. My friend was weird because their family was strange. They had all kinds of weird priorities, like everything being centered around God. Their family didn’t do a lot of the things that other families did. They didn’t watch the same kinds of shows. They spent their money differently and made every effort to give a tenth of their income to the church. Guess what: loving God intentionally is going to make us behave differently than the world behaves. Try fasting. Go without something you usually enjoy in order to focus on God. Many of you wouldn’t think of that; it shows where your priorities are.

Stay in love with God. We demonstrate our love for God in our love for our neighbor. Jesus said that whenever we feed, clothe, or visit “the least of these” we are actually ministering to Him, but that if we neglect to do so, we are neglecting him. Do you really want to be the one to whom Jesus says, “I was hungry and you turned me away.”?  I have to say that I am immensely proud of everyone who has volunteered in the food pantry, by donating food or money or by serving in the pantry. Did you know that on Wednesday this past week, we served 55 individuals? We got 55 chances to serve Jesus himself, when I see you stepping up to serve, I am immensely proud. What makes me even prouder is that there were various activities going on at the same time: we had a whole troop of people setting up for the benefit for Becky Warthman, and they were incredibly accommodating of those coming in for food.

We are not simply concerned with people’s physical needs, however. We are concerned with entire people, people who God loves. It makes me sick when I see church people fighting with one another about petty things when there are people all around us who are on their way to Hell.

If we actually love people, we won’t rest until they have at least gotten a chance to know Jesus. This is not just my job. This is the job of every Christian. And don’t say, “I don’t feel particularly called to evangelize.” There was a time when Jesus “didn’t feel like” going to the cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:35-36).

What if Jesus decided, “I don’t want to go to the cross; I’m not feeling like it right now.” Think back to someone who was instrumental in your salvation, someone who brought you to church, someone who encouraged you, who taught you about Jesus. What would have happened if that person had decided, “I don’t feel particularly ‘called’ to share Jesus right now.”

Guess what: there are all kinds of things I don’t particularly feel like doing. I remember my dad used to ask me, “You want to go clean up the yard?” and he would get angry when I’d say, “no.” My mom told him, “Just tell Brian to get out there and clean up the yard. Don’t ask if he wants to.” Of course I didn’t want to. Just as an aside, it drives me nuts when people tell me they don’t want to force their kids to go to church when they’ll force their kids to do all sorts of other things. They never think twice about forcing their kids to go to school. Yet they don’t want to “force” them to come into a place where people are worshiping the God of the universe, putting themselves in a position to change their eternity.

We started out with three rules: Do no harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God. We have only gotten to the last rule, but I think we’d be best set to look at the other two next week.