Rules of the Road, part 2
I used to belong to the YMCA, and there was one thing that really bothered me. No, not the people who were obviously there to be seen, not to work out (“really, you’re going to walk on the treadmill in flip flops?” Or “you chose to wear that to work out in?” or “Not so much perfume next time, please!”). The one thing that really bothered me was the lack of attention to the rules. The track was the big place where some people constantly chose to disregard the rules, especially regarding the direction traffic was flowing. I don’t know how many times I had to dodge people who were going the wrong way!
My mom would laugh at me for saying this, but I am a rule follower. I like to know exactly what the rules are, and honestly I can tend toward a Pharisaical attitude toward the rules. I can find myself thinking, “Well, I would never do that,” when there are other rules I obviously would break. That reminds me of a parable Jesus told: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”(Luke 18:10-14)
The Pharisee followed the rules, but it didn’t get him to God. This is why it’s important that as we look at the Wesleyan Rules of the Road, we looked at rule #3 first: stay in love with God.
The most important rule, as Jesus attested to, is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27). If we are focused entirely on loving God and loving neighbor, then the rules seem to fall into place.
This doesn’t mean that biblical rules are outdated or relative. Where God makes a command, who are we to think we somehow know better than he does what’s best for us? God doesn’t make rules just for fun; God’s rules are meant to demonstrate our need for him and to help us live. An example: current culture tells us that you wouldn’t buy a car without going for a test drive, so why would you marry someone without first living with them? First of all, you’re really comparing your potential spouse to a car? Really? And the truth is, living together first doesn’t establish your compatibility; all it does is normalize a low level of commitment. After all, if it doesn’t work out, one of you can just leave. But then when marriage comes around, you realize that you will perform just as you practiced. You’ve practiced low commitment – what makes you think you can now live out high commitment?
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was extremely concerned with even the minutia of living a holy life, not as a Pharisee, but as one who realized that there are consequences to what we do – both good and bad. We are constantly reminded of the consequences of our bad decisions (or other people’s bad decisions), but there are consequences to our good decisions as well.
The General Rules of Methodist Societies, which we find in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, includes these words of John Wesley: “It is therefore expected of all who continue therein that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation…” (if we want to be in the church, it’s expected that we are moving forward in our spiritual journey). So we have the General Rules. Bishop Reuben Job wrote a little booklet called Three Simple Rules, and he paraphrased the General Rules this way: Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.
Last week we focused on staying in love with God. This week we are doing no harm and doing good. As we begin looking at these rules, I want to remind you that nothing that we do will “win” our salvation. Salvation is a gift that God gives us, completely by God’s grace, not because of how good we’ve been. We can never be good enough to earn our salvation, but God knew that and Jesus sacrificed himself on our behalf and nailed our sin to the cross.
So the first two rules of the road come in response to God’s gracious gift to us, as we demonstrate that our faith is real. I read earlier from James 2, where James writes that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17). Our faithful actions come in the categories of Do No Harm and Do Good.
Let’s look at the first category: Do No Harm. Wesley directed that, if we desire to continue on the journey, we must continue to show evidence of our desire of salvation by doing no harm and by avoiding evil of every kind. Keeping away from evil has been a solid category for church people for a long time. We don’t smoke and we don’t chew and we don’t go with girls that do. Don’t dance. Don’t play cards. Do No Harm has become the obvious measure of a Christian. John Wesley included the following examples: no taking God’s name in vain, no fighting or brawling, drunkenness, slave holding, dodging taxes, or returning evil for evil.
These are pretty obvious. But Wesley also included these good ones: using many words in buying or selling; doing what we know is not for God’s glory, which includes putting on gold and costly apparel, softness and needless self-indulgence, laying up treasure on earth, and borrowing when you know you can’t pay back; and uncharitable or unprofitable conversation, “particularly speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers.”
So as you go to lunch today, remember that speaking evil of a minister is specifically forbidden by the United Methodist Church.
The problem is that our culture has moved so far from orthodox Christian belief and behavior that we now get backlash for being so provincial as to actually think we need to follow these old, outdated rules. C’mon – everybody does it nowadays.
In fact, I’ve heard fellow Christians justify sinful behavior by quoting Paul: Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules? (Colossians 2:20). Context, friends, context. Paul does not give a license for immorality! Most people I know who quote scriptures like that just do so to do whatever it is that they want to do, not to allow Jesus Christ to transform them completely.
When it comes to doing no harm and avoiding evil, I somehow grew up with the idea that this was easy. That immediately when we are saved, our behavior automatically changed. Guess how guilty I felt when I realized that it wasn’t true in my own life!?
That unfortunate thought has led to problems in the church, mostly problems of secret sin and hypocrisy. Since everyone in the church is perfect, nobody wants to admit that they are the odd one out. Especially not in a small town. If you are keeping your sin secret and are coming to church gatherings all dressed up and the fake smile plastered on your face, you are doing harm. The church was never meant to be a mausoleum for saints; we are called to be a hospital for sinners!
There are people among us who were involved in all kinds of sin before Jesus got a hold of them, and they were miraculously delivered. Others of us continue on the journey, daily asking God to protect us and to deliver us further.
Do no harm, and avoid all kinds of evil. If you have questions about how this applies to you, I invite you to pray and ask God to 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. (Psalm 139:23-24).
Invite God to inform and transform your life.
That brings us to Wesley’s second rule of the road. We demonstrate our desire to live out our salvation: “By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power, as they have the opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men.”
You see, it’s not just enough to avoid evil. Christianity isn’t about what we don’t do. It’s about who we are in Christ, and, because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we behave in certain ways. True belief in Jesus means we will act on those beliefs.
Our calling is to physically take care of others. In Matthew 25, Jesus compares judgment to a shepherd separating sheep from goats, pronouncing his blessing on the sheep, saying, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:34-36). When the righteous wondered when they had done such things to him, he replied, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40).
Do you realize why our food pantry is so important? We are not just feeding various people around town; we are feeding Jesus Christ. I know there are many different schools of thought when it comes to what we should be serving people and how often they should be allowed to visit, but here’s my thought: we are not just serving “the least of these.” We are serving Jesus Christ himself. I am sick and tired of people thinking that Jesus deserves leftovers. A few years ago, I was listening to a radio program and the guest was talking about doing a call-in show, giving advice about preparing Thanksgiving dinner. One caller said that she’d had this turkey in her freezer for 6 years – would it still be good? The host responded that it probably wouldn’t be so good anymore, to which the caller replied, “OK, I’ll just give it to the church.”
You wouldn’t think of giving Jesus your leftovers if you stood face-to-face with him, so when you are serving others, remember that you are ultimately serving Jesus.
God does not only call for us to serve the physical needs of those around us; he calls us to meet spiritual needs. Indeed, what good is it for someone’s belly to be filled, just to end up in Hell?
This is why we are planning and working toward Vacation Bible School – there are children who have never stepped inside a church who are just waiting to be given life, true life. We not only have an opportunity to
reach them with God’s wild love, but we have a responsibility to do so.
Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told his followers to Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)
That isn’t optional. It’s not just for some of us. It’s a command. Part of the wonder of this scripture is that Jesus promises that when we carry out his will, he will be with us. You want to see Jesus? Then do his will, and he promises he will be with you forever.
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