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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SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS
Sermon #4: Stay in Love with God

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. We need to know, is there a way to live that overcomes the divisiveness that separates, disparages, disrespects, and diminishes us? God says, “Yes, there is! As you choose to live out the 3 simple rules and obey my commands to ‘do no evil,’ to ‘do good’ and ‘seek justice,’ by My sanctifying grace acting through the power of My Spirit, I will give you a bedrock on which to live and grow. I will work within you to restore the image of Christ in which you were created.” Our goal in this sermon is to help people choose to live by the 3 simple rules, especially rule #3, “stay in love with God (by attending to the ordinances of God).”

Questions:

  1. John Wesley believed “staying in love with God” involved what he called “attending upon all the ordinances of God.” That is, that certain spiritual practices were “ordained,” or modeled by Christ to keep us connected to God and spiritually fit. What were these practices that Wesley identified? (ANSWER: 1) the public worship of God, 2) reading, hearing and meditating upon the Word of God, 3) the Lord’s Supper, 4) family and private prayer, and 5) and fasting or abstinence).
  2. Read the following scriptures and discuss which of the means of grace is identified in each passage...
    1. Matthew 4:10; John 4:24 (ANSWER: Worship)
    2. John 5:39; 2 Tim 3:15-17 (ANSWER: Reading, hearing, searching the Scriptures)
    3. 1 Cor. 11:23-26 (ANSWER: The Lord’s Supper)
    4. Matthew 6:6, 7:7-8; Luke 11:13, 18:1-5; James 1:5 (ANSWER: Prayer)
    5. Matt 6:17-18; Luke 5:35 (ANSWER: Fasting or abstinence)
  3. Which of Wesley’s spiritual practices outlined above, i.e., “means of grace,” have been most helpful in keeping you connected to and in love with Christ? Why? Which have been less helpful? Why?
  4. Wesley said, “There is no inherent power in the means of grace themselves.” (The use of any and all means of grace will never atone for a single sin.) “Jesus Christ is the only saving power; however, if Christ instituted these as divine means of grace, why not use them?” What obstacles block your pipeline of grace keeping you from using these means of grace? How can we help one another clear away these obstacles?
  5. Discuss these quotes from the sermon and what each adds to our understanding of spiritual disciplines as a means of grace...
    1. “Spiritual disciplines teach us to live our lives in harmony with something larger than ourselves and larger than that which the world values as ultimate.”
    2. “While we may name our spiritual disciplines differently [than Wesley did], we too must find our way of living and practicing those disciplines that will keep us in love with God – practices that will help keep us positioned in such a way that we may hear and be responsive to God’s slightest whisper of direction and receive God’s promised presence and power every day and in every situation. It is in these practices that we learn to hear and respond to God’s direction.” (Rueben P. Job)
    3. “All we have in life is life. Things – the cars, the houses, the educations, the jobs, the money – come and go, turn to dust between our fingers, change and disappear. ...the secret of life ... is that it must be developed from the inside out.” (Joan Chittister)
    4. “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)
    5. “What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, ‘Do you love me?’ We ask, ‘Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom?’” (Henri J. Nouwen)
  6. Read John 21:15-17. Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” What obstacles stand between Jesus and our fully loving Him? How can we help each other love Jesus more?
  7. John Ortberg, in his book God Is Closer Than You Think (Zondervan Press, 2005), identifies seven what he calls “spiritual pathways” to God. To the conversation about spiritual disciplines, he adds the notion that what works for one person as a pathway to a rich experience of God may not work for another because of the way we are differently wired. Which of Ortberg’s seven pathways to God works best for you? How can you develop this pathway to a deeper love for God in Christ?
    1. Intellectual - connection with God through the mind
    2. Relational - connection with God through relationship with other people
    3. Serving - connection with God through serving others
    4. Worship - connection with God through praise
    5. Activist - connection with God through taking a stand and trying to change the status quo
    6. Contemplative - connection with God through the inner, deep life of the Spirit
    7. Creation - connection with God through nature
  8. Bob says, “But there is something else we learn from Peter’s experience of loving Jesus. 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.” Discuss what this might mean for you. Where might a deeper connection to God take you? (See John 21:18-19)
  9. Describe how your understanding of our Methodist heritage has been enlarged these last four weeks.
  10. What will you do in response to this series?

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