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.
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3 SIMPLE RULES: TREASURES FROM OUR METHODIST HERITAGE
“Stay in Love with God”

REVIEW

    1. Our Methodist heritage is a treasure, like “Gibson.” From it come 3 simple rules:
      1. 1) Do no harm, 2) Do good, and 3) Stay in love with God.
    2. Methodists see salvation as a PROCESS, the destination of which is the restoration of the image of God.  Jesus Christ is the physical manifestation of this image.
    3. While God works by sanctifying grace to lead us toward being full of love for God and neighbor, we respond by practicing the 3 simple rules.

    RULE #3 – – Stay in Love with God (“Attend upon all the ordinances of God”)

    1. John Wesley believed certain spiritual practices were modeled by Christ. These are...
      1. the public worship of God,
      2. reading, hearing and meditating upon the Word of God,
      3. the Lord’s Supper (or, Holy Communion),
      4. family and private prayer,
      5. fasting or abstinence.
    2. These spiritual disciplines keep us connected to God. They teach us to live our lives in harmony with something larger than ourselves and larger than that which the world values as ultimate.
      1. The exact list of spiritual practices we keep are probably not as important as the fact that we keep some.
    3. John 21:15-17 concerns the central question of loving Christ. “He whose only concern had been to announce the unconditional love of God had only one question to ask, ‘Do you love me?’” (Henri J. Nouwen)
    4. In this passage we see a condensed version of the 3 simple rules. The issue on the table is staying in love with Christ (rule #3). While staying in love with God involves prayer, worship, study, fasting and the Lord’s Supper, it ALSO involves feeding Christ’s lambs, tending the sheep, and providing for the needs of others (rules #1 and 2).
      1. Staying in love with God involves works of piety AND works of mercy.
    5. When we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, while we will be released from many things, we will also be taken to places we had not intended to go. (John 21:18)
    6. Jesus’ question remains – “Do you love me?”

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