We live in an increasingly complicated, fast-paced, and frenzied world. Technology brings the world to us and makes us available 24/7 – cell phones, text messages, e-mails – which is generally a good thing. But this is not always in our soul’s best interest. By being available 24/7, we’re always “on.” As a consequence, we can feel “trapped” into becoming something we don’t really wish to be. And we can get pulled in so many directions that we lose touch with any core sense of meaning and direction in life. Is there a way, we wonder, to cut through the complexities and turbulence of our modern lives and put our feet on some bedrock?

As United Methodists, we have a life-enhancing treasure from our Wesleyan heritage: 3 simple rules that have dramatically changed the world and which, when applied to our lives, can dramatically change us. These 3 simple rules are ... 1) Do no harm, 2) Do good, and 3) Stay in love with God.

SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS
Week 1: “Be Loved” (Luke 10:38-42; Philippians 2:12-13)

Series summary
We live in an increasingly complicated, fast-paced, and frenzied world. Technology brings the world to us and makes us available 24/7 – cell phones, text messages, e-mails – which is generally a good thing. But this is not always in our soul’s best interest. By being available 24/7, we’re always “on.” As a consequence, we can feel “trapped” into becoming something we don’t really wish to be. And we can get pulled in so many directions that we lose touch with any core sense of meaning and direction in life. Is there a way, we wonder, to cut through the complexities and turbulence of our modern lives and put our feet on some bedrock?

As United Methodists, we have a life-enhancing treasure from our Wesleyan heritage: 3 simple rules that have dramatically changed the world and which, when applied to our lives, can dramatically change us. These 3 simple rules are ... 1) Do no harm, 2) Do good, and 3) Stay in love with God.

Sermon summary
We live in an increasingly complicated, fast-paced, and frenzied world. Technology brings the world to us and makes us available 24/7, which is good for our productivity, but not always good for our soul. We’re always “on.” As a consequence, we can feel “trapped” into becoming something we don’t really want to become. And we can get pulled in so many directions that we lose touch with any core sense of meaning and direction in life. Is there a way, we wonder, to cut through the complexities and turbulence of our modern lives and put our feet on something solid, some bedrock? Our Methodist heritage has some solid guidance to give us for what is fundamentally a spiritual issue. As disciples of Jesus Christ and spiritual descendants of John and Charles Wesley we don’t have to stay trapped in this situation. We are living with a treasure – a treasure like Gibson – that can show us how to live a life that leads to wholeness and meaning. That treasure is our Methodist heritage which can help us discover the “one thing needful,” how to be restored to the image of God in which we were created.

Questions:

  1. How do you feel about technology making you constantly available to others? Is that a good thing overall or not? What are the challenges living in a “constantly available” state?
  2. Share what you know about John and Charles Wesley and the history of Methodism. How important is it to know the heritage from which we emerged? Or is it just ancient history that no longer is relevant for us?
  3. What is salvation in your opinion? What are we saved from? What are we saved for? What role, if any, does salvation play in THIS life?
  4. Why are we urged to do “good works,” like mission trips and Faith in Action day, if we are saved by faith? Look up Romans 4:1-25 and James 2:14-24. Are these two passages contradicting one another? What is your understanding of the place of “works” in salvation?
  5. What is the meaning of “the image of God” in which we were created in Genesis 1:27?
  6. In the sermon, Bob says, “All the questions, all the sermons, all the theology books, all the doctrines – while not unimportant – boil down to just one simple thing: the goal of salvation is _____________________________.” Fill in the blank. Do you agree that this is the “one thing needful” of Luke 10:42?
  7. Discuss the meaning of Colossians 1:15, which reads, “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...”
  8. So, according to our Methodist heritage, the desired end result, the goal, of our salvation is what?
  9. Discuss the meaning of Bob’s statement, “Salvation, for a Methodist, refers to the WHOLE PROCESS of becoming Christlike, not just the MOMENT of placing faith in Christ for the first time and being reconciled with God. And while salvation certainly has ETERNAL benefits, it is very much a process with impact in THIS LIFE as well as the next. As Wesley conceived it, salvation is not a ‘pie in the sky bye and bye’ sort of thing that is so darn heaven-focused that it does no earthly good.”
  10.        Read carefully as a group Philippians 2:12-13 and Ephesians 2:8-9. Discuss what Paul meant by “work out your own salvation.” What is God’s role in our salvation? What is our role, if any? If having faith is something we must do for salvation, is that a “work?”
  11.        What are the 3 simple rules? How do they relate to what Wesley called “the works of mercy” and “the works of piety?” What are some examples of works of mercy? What are examples of works of piety?
  12.        How is it that these 3 simple rules are NOT simply works righteousness, or salvation by works?
  13.        What distinguishes between what Wesley called “the Almost Christian,” and “the Altogether Christian?”

Follow my experiment of living the 3 simple rules in July. Read my blog at brobob53.wordpress.com!