John Wesley's Three Simple Rules
Rule Number One: Do No Harm
June 28, 2009
Dr. John Wesley Slider
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.(Galatians 5.15)
There were two speakers whose words and activities were covered on the front pages of the national media. Large crowds gathered to hear both of them speak. Phrases were used such as “Change,” “Change you can believe in,” “Hope for change.” Does it sound like some slogans used in last years presidential campaign?
Of course it does, but the point in history I have in mind is the mid-eighteenth century in England; and the popular speakers were George Whitefield and John Wesley. When Whitefield preached usually in an open field near a factory or a coal mine, he would often attract 20,000 people, some times more than 30,000. He often spoke without notes and certainly with no microphone. Charles Wesley, John's brother, once said that Whitefield had a voice that could raise the dead.
Whitefield's message was about change. “Come poor, lost, and undone sinner,” he would say at the end of his sermons, “come just as you are to Christ.” This was an invitation to let God change their hearts through Jesus Christ.
Whitefield got John Wesley started as a revival preacher. At first Wesley was reluctant, but soon he caught fire. Within just a few years Wesley was drawing thousands as well to his message of change of heart and life through Christ. All over England Whitefield and Wesley were household names.
These two friends, however, were different in many ways. Wesley increasingly became concerned about the long-term results. Many would come to hear Whitefield and Wesley. Many would respond to the invitation and declare their faith in Christ and their desire to change. Of the two, however, Wesley saw the need for something more – the next step, the day after.
Whitefield did not have any provision to ensure that the new converts connected with a fellowship of faith where they could grow spiritually and be held accountable morally. He awakened a need for change, but did nothing to sustain it.
Wesley, however, put in place a way to sustain the change so that people would not slip away from following Jesus. John Wesley said that his revival movement was like starting a fire – the initial blaze burns bright, but a fire needs to be fed and tended for the blaze to continue. Without continued attention, Wesley realized those who were initially fired up, would quickly burn out. Deep and lasting change in which a person can believe required something beyond the first step. Real faith was more than a flash in the pan.
We can understand what Wesley was saying. Maybe we have experienced something incredible in worship, or maybe we have read something or watched a television program that makes our faith take a big jump forward, or maybe we have a personal crisis and our suffering moves us closer to God. Powerful experiences can fire up our faith. We see the world differently and they make us feel different. Yet, so often in a day or two we revert back to the same old patterns.
Amy Grant's song, 1974, is about her baptism as a teenager. She writes about her initial excitement:
We were young
None of us knew quite what to say
But the feeling moved
Among us in silence anyway
Slowly we had made
Quite a change
Somewhere we had crossed a big line
Down upon our knees
We had tasted holy wine
And no one could sway us
In a life time
In the chorus, as she reflects back, she voices her fear of losing those initial feelings. She prays:
Stay with me
Make it ever new
So time will not undo
As the years go by
How I need to see
That's still me
John Wesley understood our fear and longing. He knew that faith is precious and also fragile. Our faith needs nurturing.
The people who first heard Wesley speak had the same need for change, and the same concern that the change would not be lasting. It was hard for them to find a way to continue the first step.
The Church of England in John Wesley’s day in the 1700s was in decline and disarray. Many clergy were corrupt & self-serving. Country parsons often lived and lived it up in cities far away from their parishes. Even urban clergy often caroused more than cared. Those absentee pastors collected their salaries and appointed inexperienced seminarians to tend to their ignored congregations.
Church attendance was at an all time low in England. The great cathedrals, like Westminster & St. Paul’s many times had worship attended by less than a dozen. Many of the poor were not baptized, and had absolutely no knowledge of the Bible and God’s love for them.
The nation itself was in a sorry state, too. England was just beginning its transition into the age of industrialization. Great Britain controlled the slave trade. The struggling poor, who were the overwhelming portion of the population, worked in the dangerous coal mines of Bristol or the depressing workhouses of London. They lived in the deepest kind of poverty. Historians remark that the fabric of England was in shreds, another civil war was likely, and the survival as a nation was in jeopardy.
Those same pessimistic historians credit one man, John Wesley, and his Methodist preachers (most of whom were not ordained) with not only reviving the Christian faith in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and America, but in saving England itself – both politically as well as spiritually. There were certainly many other famous and ordinary Britons who deserve some credit – Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, William Wilberforce, and the countless simple Methodists who listened to the message of Christ and tried to live it in their lives. John Wesley, though was the energetic and focused heart of the movement.
Wesley realized that his Methodists needed a simple guide for living the Christian life in between worship and their society meetings. They needed something profoundly Biblical and Christ-like, yet easy to remember and live. To his brothers and sisters in the faith, John Wesley gave The General Rules, or what you and I can call The Three Simple Rules:
- Do no harm.
- Do good.
- Stay in love with God.
You can see, that these three rules are for those who have already accepted God's love in Jesus Christ. They are for those who have already taken the first step and who desire to continue in the journey.
John Wesley shared Saint Paul's confidence that God would finish the good work He has begun in us, but Wesley also believed as did Saint Paul that permanent spiritual change comes only to those persons who earnestly and actively seek it. It is a partnership with God.
John Wesley would often say that spiritual growth was like moving into a house. Our first step of faith is like stepping on to the porch. God opens the door and invites us into the house; but we do not stop there. We explore the rooms and begin to make it our home.
This is where the three simple rules can help us. Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.
In order to move into God's house and make it our home, Wesley did two things. First, he organized his Methodists into small groups so that they could watch over one another and hold each other lovingly accountable. Second, he gave them the three simple rules. Follow these three simple rules and your life will be Christ-like, you will grow spiritually, and you will be at home with God.
For the next three Sundays we are going to look at each of these three simple rules for our lives. Today, let us focus on the first – Do no harm.
It is interesting to me that Wesley starts off his three simple rules by going negative. He says, “Do no harm.” Instead of calling on us to do something, why did Wesley first instruct us not to do something.?
I believe that Wesley started at this place, because that is where we need to start as human beings. Though we are created in God's image and have within us the prevenient grace of God, we human beings are deformed by sin. We do a lot of harm.
Our son William has been a lifeguard for six years. I asked him what the first thing he was taught to do when he sees someone who may need first aid or CPR. He told me something I did not initially expect, but that makes sense. He said the first thing to do is to assess the scene – to look at all the surrounding factors so that no additional injury is done – to the victim, the rescuer, and anyone else – and so that some idea as to the cause of the injury may be determined in order to focus the next steps. The first thing is to do no harm.
Yes, God can and will rescue, save, reform, and change us. We can be set on the path of doing good things with God; but first we have to cease from doing harm. We have to stop it.
Jesus on the cross said some important things for us. One of the things He said was, “It is finished.” Those words of Jesus are filled with meaning, but one way to understand what He said is to hear Him saying, “Stop it. It is over. The worst that can be done has been done to me, and through me, to God. In my death and resurrection you can find the way to do no more harm.
Wesley starts by going negative. There are some other rules for living that God gives in the Bible called the Ten Commandments. We often fail to realize that eight out of the Ten Commandments are negative – “Thou shalt not ….”
Paying attention to the “nots” is important. It is essential for a healthy and holy life. What we do not do often contributes to the lives of others as much as what we do.
We often think that negative commands or rules are restrictive and oppressive. Actually, the opposite is the case. I tend to be one who enjoys beating the system. I have discovered that a rule that says “do not do this one thing” gives me freedom to do every other thing. “Do no harm” frees me to do all the good that God has for me to do.
If you are like me you are saying, “Very well, then tell me how to do no harm. What specifically am I to avoid?” You see, I want some method to my Methodism.
Let me look at doing no harm from another perspective or starting point. Instead of starting with the rules, let me start with the relationships. Let me start with you. Let me approach our friendship with a spirit that first seeks to do you no harm.
When I approach you or you approach me with that spirit, then suddenly our friendship is transformed. I can stop thinking defensively and passively. I can put down my guard. I can prepare for the next next step – to do good for you.
You and I may disagree on this or that method or issue, but when we approach one another first with the spirit of doing no harm, we can begin to be brothers and sisters in Christ. Living in tune with Jesus calls us to Do No Harm first. This is actually the most passive of the three simple rules, yet it is often the most difficult.
Do no harm. The first of Wesley’s three simple rules serves to remind us that people are more important. When we make this a priority, we agree to no longer gossip or speak disparagingly about someone. Doing no harm means we no longer disparage or stigmatize those who do not agree with me.
Do we have any guides for doing no harm? Someone has suggested the following quick list to guide us in doing no harm today.
- Refuse to gossip
- Avoid unfair criticism
- Rely on fact rather than rumor
- Be respectful
- Deal with disagreement openly and honestly
What I have discovered in applying this first rule is that the best starting place is one-to-one. The more people involved, the more mature judgment is needed. No relationship, action, or moral decision is made in a vacuum. My relationship with one person has an impact on my relationship with another. Still, if we seek to do no harm – if that is our beginning standard, then we are on the right path following Jesus.
A good sermon is supposed to end with a great illustration of the main theme. I tried to find a good illustration for “do no harm;” but I could think of none. The best illustrations are the way in which we respond to various situations. I want us to think for a moment about how we would do no harm in given situations:
- A man walked up to me the other day on the street. He said, “Would you give me five dollars for a sandwich?” What would your answer be? (Actually, I just threw that one in to see if you are awake!)
- You are visiting a friend at a local college campus. You see your pastor kissing one of the students. What do you do?
- A friend at church calls you late one night. “I need your help,” he says. “I am in jail. I got arrested in the mall restroom for soliciting.” What do you do?
- You are at home relaxing one night with your spouse and small child. It is a cold rainy evening. A stranger knocks on your door asking to use the telephone. He is drunk. What do you do?
- You are at home relaxing one night with you spouse and small child. It is a cold, rainy evening. A member of the church who is an alcoholic knocks on the door asking to talk. What do you do?
Wesley’s three-simple rules are designed to help us grow in grace together, and to show others the love of God for them within us. They are not a check list, but a way of living – even the way of truly living abundantly and eternally. Doing no harm is a way of living that will not only transform us, but will transform the world. It is change in which we can believe.
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