Three Simple Rules

A friend asked that I post my sermons on Bishop Job's "Three Simple Rules." Sermon One below. Rick

Three Simple Rules

(Matthew 22:34-40; Matthew 7:12; James 3:2-18)

A. Introduction
1. Football week. Are you a college football fan? Which teams? We’re normally fans of our schools, or our regions, or follow the same teams our parents did. For example, we wouldn’t expect to find Kansas fans in Columbia or Fayette. But it’s my understanding that they do exist. The story goes that a Fayette school teacher before letting her classes out for the holidays was asking how many kids were going to watch the Alamo bowl and root for Missouri? All but one child raised their hands. The teacher asked Johnny who his favorite team was and astoundingly he said “Kansas.” The teacher: “Johnny, how can it be that you live here and are a Kansas fan?” “My mom and dad are Kansas fans,” he replied. “Well,” the teacher said, “What if your mom was stupid and your dad was crazy?” “Well,” Johnny replied, “I guess then I’d be a Missouri fan.”

2. We’re captured by our heritage aren’t we? We’re Missouri fans, or Kansas fans, or Army fans, or CMU fans. We’re Methodists because our parents were, or we’re Baptists because we were raised that way. Atheists or agnostics or unknowing maybe simply because our parents may not have given us a heritage.
a. But sometimes the mold is broken. Bishop Ann Sherer used to tell the story of giving her life to Christ as a teen-ager in a Baptist church, but later chose to become a Methodist because the Methodism taught her what to do after she said yes.
b. So the question for all of us is “What is it that we should do?” What rules should we follow? After all, many religions have lots of rules. Those of the Jewish faith have 633 commandments in the Old Testament. That’s a lot of rules.
c. Here’s the good news, John Wesley had only three rules, Three Simple Rules to live our lives by. Yet even though there’s only three, let alone 633, we seem to have lost them or their meaning has been lost in our culture of me-rules.
d. But here’s the really good news: There’s a new book out, a small book, entitled, guess what, “Three Simple Rules, A Wesleyan Way of Living,” by retired Bishop Reuben Job. And even better, it’s short. Sixty-three pages plus appendices.

3. The rules are easy to remember and they are life changing, in fact world changing if we would but follow them. Wesley used them to change a nation and the Methodist movement used them to forge the values of a newly expanding nation in America. We need them again.

4. These simple rules according to Reuben Job are
a. First, do not harm
b. Then, do good
c. And lastly, Stay in Love with God
d. Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. Easy to understand. Easy to remember.

5. The great thing is that these simple rules, like the teachings of the Bible, transcend time and culture. Imagine what the world would be like if
a. All those around you suffered no harm from another.
b. If random acts of kindness brought smiles to the face and joy to the hearts of those you love.
c. If everyone’s motivation for all that they did and didn’t do was the love of God.
d. Just think what the world would be like.
e. Easy to understand. Easy to remember. There must be something more to it or the world would be different and the sermon would be over by now. Here it is: They are difficult to do.

B. Body
1. Today we’re going to talk about the first of the three rules: “Do no harm.”
a. I’ve always been intrigued by why Wesley chose to list this one first. And I’ve told you before, I think it’s because harm is so difficult to undo. We can be forgiven for doing harm, yes, but sometimes the consequences of harm can just never be undone. First, do no harm.
b. Harm too is what happens when we are careless with those we love the most. And have you noticed that that is who we are most apt to harm? Those we love the most are sometimes hurt, irreparably damaged by unkind, unthoughtful, harmful words.

2. “Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never harm you.” Not true is it. Not true. James understood the power of words to harm: “the tongue is a small member…the tongue is a fire…itself set on fire by hell….No one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
a. So, if we really followed the rule to do no harm, we would have to set aside gossip. We would have to quit talking about others in any disparaging way. It has the potential to harm both the target and the talkers. In fact it harms us to be silent partners in a gossip conversation. We never know all the facts, we never know what’s in a person’s heart. We never know how our words are going to be interpreted. And even the silent persons are conspirators. The next time the story is told in another circle, it goes, “Well Peggy (the silent one) and I were talking the other day.” Suddenly Peggy is part of it.
b. A story with facts behind it. A school girl was away for the summer. Unbeknownst to her in her absence a story began circulating about her and being gone she could not refute it. By the time she returned to school in the fall, the parents of her best friends would not allow them to associate with her outside of school. Harmful? You bet. Disastrous. “Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never harm you.” Not true. NOT TRUE.
c. Thinking of sticks, Jesus said, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log [big stick] in your own eye?”
d. But it’s so fun to talk about people. Stephen Covey, one of my gurus, says that we should only talk about another as if they were present. First, do no harm.

3. A simple rule isn’t it? But what does it mean?
a. We need to be careful how we define it. It can’t mean, for example tough love. There are times where others may see harm when they are actually for good.
b. And we’re not necessarily talking about pain. After all, no pain, no gain. Training for a race, around the track or in life, may seem harmful in those intense early training sessions, but no pain, no gain.
c. What we are talking about those things that harm the spirit, that diminish, denigrate another, that deprive another of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Things that harm the spirit, the being of another, are evil, harmful. They kill. And they may not be obvious.
i. Gossip harms the spirit, the reputation, the being of another. It can actually reshape, deform their lives. It can change a school girl from a happy-go-lucky child to one immersed in a world of misery. It can change a cheerful neighbor into a self-doubting target of whispers.
ii. But there are actions, too, that we need to be careful of: Driving drunk increases the potential to do harm. Anything that puts another in harm’s way, physically or spiritually, that enslaves them like substance abuse or gambling or pornography.
iii. Sometimes seemingly innocent things, buying clothing--made by child labor is harmful. But how do we know? To refuse to buy products made in third world countries would deprive them of wealth and would also be harmful. Sometimes doing no harm requires study and discernment.
iv. Our use of resources. Knowing what is really true about the environment is difficult. While we’re waiting to find out, while the world is discerning whether its sunspots or CO2, maybe the rule should be to do no harm while we’re waiting to find out what is true. “First, do no harm.”
v. Or what about doing harm to those who want to first do harm to us? Can we limit our response in a way that is not irreparable? Can we avoid collateral damage? The fear of harm is one of the reasons that just war theory insists on proportional response. Can we limit our harm?
vi. Or on a personal level, can we speak the truth in love with gentleness to those who want to do us harm? Even in the face of evil, can we limit our harm? These are important questions on how we are to live our lives.

4. What would it mean if we committed ourselves to follow this simple rule?
a. It would mean that we would need to think before we act.
b. It would mean that we would have to think after we act.
i. We would need to be reflective.
ii. We would have to examine ourselves.
iii. We would have to do the hard work of discernment, what is true, what is fair, what is just, what is beneficial?
iv. We would have to repent. And we would have to as Jesus said, “leave your gifts before the altar and go be reconciled to your brother or sister.”
c. It would mean that we couldn’t lash out at those with whom we disagree. What would happen to our political discourse if the politicians followed the rule to do no harm?
i. Civility might actually be restored.
ii. If we followed this rule of discourse and understanding, new insight, fresh dialogue, new discovery might be possible.
iii. Even church meetings might become more civil.

5. Before we get off track we need to know that doing no harm does not mean doing nothing. Here’s a writer’s view from the cartoon Luann: Three girls sitting on the couch, the activist among them says, “All the woes of the world and here we sit doing nothing. Not helping one bit.” Girls 2: “Hey, I’m not out littering, or spreading a disease, or joining a gang.” Girl 3: “Yeah, I’m not fighting a war or polluting or using gas.” Girl 2: “We’re very busy doing our part.” Girl 3: “It’s tiring to be helpful.” Exasperated Girl 1: “ Why to I even like you two?”

6. Doing no harm may need to be proactive. It may be laying aside our weapons, whether tanks or tongues; it may be actively seeking new ways; it may be searching for common ground; it may be finding a common table; of finding equal measure of God’s love.
a. Think of the possibilities if the Israelis and the Palestinians played by the rule of first, do no harm.
b. Or the Serbs and the Croates
c. Let alone the Hatfields and McCoys, or you put the names to it.

7. The results seem so obvious, so what is it that keeps us from living out such a rule?
a. It requires trust. Not only in one another, which may be fleeting, but trust in God. It takes a radical trust in God that if I just let this thing go, don’t retaliate, don’t do something to elevate my own importance, don’t protect my own self-interest that God will make it right. I can trust Him.
i. I can also trust God’s wisdom. Remember that passage from James about the tongue? He says, “13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”
ii. It requires a trust that if we obey him, if we become like him, that he will take care of us. Why is it that we fail to walk like Jesus walked? We lack trust. “Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now.”
b. A second reason that we can’t follow the simple rule is that we are bound to a certain theology or ideology rather that being bound to Christ as both Savior and Lord. The extreme may be the Middle Eastern crisis where both sides are bound in both theology and ideology. But there are others that bind us.
i. We would rather be Republicans rather than Christians, Democrats rather than disciples, citizens of earth rather than of the kingdom.
ii. Giving up our ideology is painful. “You mean I’d have to stop hating Bush?” Or “I’d have to stop denigrating immigrants? I can’t call them spics anymore?” Of course the answer is no. Jesus loves "Japs" as well as Jews, Croates as well as Serbs, Bush as well as Barrak. He told us that even the hated Samaritans are our neighbors. Do no harm.

8. Another reason why we fail to do no harm is that we are not wise enough.
a. We don’t always know the truth. The Pope persecuted Galileo. The Pope wasn’t wise enough.
b. We aren’t wise enough to see ourselves let alone to see our neighbor. And since we aren’t wise, we must do no harm.

9. Stephen Covey, author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” emphasizes how much we have to learn in his very spiritual book “First Thinks First.” He boils down life to four areas: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy; and then I heard him summarize it all on a TV show in about 15 seconds. He could have been saying do no harm.
a. He said, “Live as though you are recovering from a heart attack. Diet, drink, dream in moderation.” In other words do no harm to your body. After all they are temples of the Holy Spirit.
b. He said, “To love. Talk about others as if they can over hear you.” Covey insists that we should never get caught being an innocent bystander of gossip. Instead, ask, “I wonder what he or she would say about that. I have a cell phone, shall we ask?” Be proactive in doing no harm.
c. To learn. Covey says that we need to treat the half life of all knowledge as 2 years. In other words, don’t harm our minds. Be continually learning.
d. Finally, to leave a legacy. Covey says “Live as though every 90 days you have 1 hour face to face with God to settle your accountability to Him.” Do no harm to your souls.
e. Do no harm to your bodies. Do no harm to your relationships. Do no harm to your minds. Do no harm to your souls.

10. Others too teach ways to do no harm. We talked one sermon about the Rotary Four Way Test, the rules that Rotarians use to guide what we think, say or do. It goes “Of the things we think, say or do: Is it true, is it fair to all concerned, does it build good will and make better friendships, is it beneficial to all concerned?” In other words, of the things we think, say or do, do no harm.

C. Close
1. Can you imagine what the world would look like if we took this simple rule seriously? I was wondering what we are called to do and thought of our baptismal vows.
a. The first one is “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?” In other words, do you reject harm?
b. But the good news is that we don’t have to do it alone. The second question is “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in what ever forms they present themselves?” We can be more powerful in rejecting harm than we know. We simply need to accept the power of the Holy Spirit that is poured into us.
c. And third, “Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him s your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to peoples of all ages, nations and races?” Will you walk in the example of Jesus Christ, put your trust in him, ask the question, “what would Jesus do?” Would he do harm?

2. People of God, first, do no harm. So may it be in all our lives. Amen.