Do Good

Do Good
This week we continue our series on John Wesley’s 3 simple rules. These rules were the basis that John Wesley required those in the Methodist societies to live by. As the members of the small groups gathered together they shared together how it was with their souls based around the general rules: Do no harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God. In their small groups, they were held accountable for their actions and responsible for deepening their faith together. It was John Wesley’s intention that through these Methodist societies, the Church of England would ultimately be revived. As with most revolutions, that proved to be impossible and the beginning of the Methodist Church was started. We didn’t become the United Methodist Church until 1968 when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Bretheren Church joined together. In the past few years there has been a resurgence in connection with the Wesleyan way or the way that John Wesley taught and preached. One of those reconnections has been through the general rules. Ruben Job wrote a small book on these general rules in order to help understand these general rules and that has been the basis of the 3 Simple Rules.
Last week we considered the first rule: Do no harm and discovered that it may be more difficult than originally thought. But we continue to strive toward the goal of doing no harm and for the times when we fall short, God’s grace is there.
So on the other side of do no harm, would be to do good. Which just like do no harm seems to be quite simple! Many people would agree that the world would probably be a better place if more people helped one another and cared for one another as Jesus taught. So if do good is such an easy rule, why is the world not such a perfect place? Maybe because do good isn’t as easy either…
Whenever I hear the rule do good, I can hear my dad’s voice…It must have started when I was little, but I can remember all the way until I graduated high school the message that he left whenever he left. “Be good.” He always said…Now, that meant to follow all the rules and be respectful and help out…None of that was ever spelled out, but it was what he meant when he said, “Be good.” I wonder if that’s partly what John Wesley meant when he said, do good.
The full rule from Wesley is “do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the places that you can.” Now, I don’t know about you but I can name a lot of places to do good…And I can name a lot of places where good is not done…
It’s not enough to just do no harm…Because even if you succeeded in doing no harm perfectly, what would you be doing? You’d be focusing so much on that that you would forget anything else! So as we try not to do harm we also try to do good.
As Jesus continues his teaching on the sermon on the mount, he is talking to the crowd about spiritual disciplines—fasting, praying, and giving to the poor. In each case he gives them an instruction on how not to do the discipline and how to do the discipline….
”Whenever you give, do not sound trumpets so others will notice…Instead, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” Now, in the past few years many celebrities have been outspoken about the donations that they have made to charities…And for some it is a way to get more people to give, but for others it’s a way to draw attention to themselves…Bill & Melinda Gates—the world’s richest couple have also been the biggest philanthropists, and although some of their work is starting to get some attention, the Gates do not bring attention to the amount of money that they give, just to the work that’s being done. In May of this year at our General Conference the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations issued the challenge to double whatever was given to the Nothing But Nets campaign to buy nets for those who live in countries where malaria is rampant. I have not yet heard what the collection has been, but as the Northern Illinois Conference we have collected $22,983 during annual conference. Now some of you are probably thinking that you will not ever see that amount of money and so it’s pretty easy to think about not broadcasting how much you give…And although giving money is important because God commands it, it’s not the only way that we give…We give our time, our talents, our prayers, and our service as well…If the motivation of getting attention is your motive for doing good, are you really doing good or are you serving yourself? What does it mean to give without drawing attention to yourself? Well, it means to do good…
Jesus also talks about prayer….He talks about the hypocrites who pray loudly in order to be seen and get attention…Jesus says go into your closet and shut the door…What was happening was there were people who were in the temples and in the streets praying loudly and broadcasting all of their accomplishments and what they had done and focusing on themselves rather than on God. So when Jesus says go into your closet and shut the door he is reminding them to focus on God and their relationship with God rather than making themselves look good.
Jesus also talks about fasting—the discipline of giving something up, usually for 40 days. Most Christians understand this as a part of Lent, but fasting is not limited to the Lenten season. Fasting is something that can be done year round and in many different ways. Some people give up eating…some give up a particular item…What is important to remember in giving something up, is that we fill the time doing whatever it was that we gave up with spending time with God. So if your fast is from eating, the time that you would normally eat, you should spend that time in prayer and study with God. What was happening with the hypocrites as Jesus called them is that they were fasting for attention…They would go out into public looking pathetic…A way of saying, “I’m so faithful and holy--- look at me!” But Jesus says, to continue to fast and go out as though nothing had changed…Shower, dress up, put oil on your face and don’t look pathetic…Don’t draw attention to yourself because that defeats the purpose…
Jesus continues by saying not to store up treasures on earth—for where your treasure is there your heart will be also…Do good…If we are so focused on ourselves and what people think about us, are we doing good? Are we loving with sacrificial love like Jesus taught? Where is our treasure? Is it in our stuff? Is it in what other people think of us? Is it in God? As we love our neighbor as we love ourselves? Do good…
Doing good is important and there are many things that constitute doing good…But what is the motive behind it? Is it to get attention or is it to humbly serve? Do all the good you can in all the places you can to all the people you can.
It’s not enough to do no harm…If you hold your tongue from saying something bad about someone are you telling them something good instead? If you stop from hitting someone are building them up instead? If you stop gossiping are you instead sharing your faith? Are you doing all the good you can in the all the places you can to all the people you can? Even if we avoid doing no harm and do no good we have still been doing harm…Silence speaks volumes many times.
The Sudan has been called by the United Nations as the worst humanitarian crisis. Sudan is a country in Africa that is torn by war and genocide…Our government has called what is happening in Sudan a genocide…Children are being killed daily or forced to become soldiers…Women are being raped or forced to become slaves…There are conditions that we can’t even begin to imagine…We can say we won’t support the terrible regimes that are causing this harm and doing these things, but if we don’t follow that up with doing good our silence seems to agree with those who perpetrate the crimes against humanity…What does it mean to do good?
Maybe if more people focused on doing good the world would be a much better place…And it would be easy to look at the world and say, “well no one else is doing it so why should I?” or “There’s just too much to do and I’m only one person…” Maybe you’ve heard the starfish story? (Starfish story)…What difference are you making in even one person’s life? Are you doing all the good you can in all the places you can to all the people you can? It doesn’t have to be a grand event or something huge…It can be simple, but powerful…Like pushing someone’s cart back for them…or buying some extra food for the food pantry…or giving a smile to someone who’s had a hard day…giving someone a compliment rather than sharing gossip…Sharing your faith rather than worrying about what they’ll think about you…
There are countless ways to do all the good we can in all the places we can to all the people we can…And we don’t do good to earn favor with God…We do good because we’ve already gained favor with God…Jesus already took care of what we couldn’t…We are justified through Jesus because he did what we could not…Because of that justification we strive to do good…Not because we want God to love us more but because God has already loved us more than we can imagine…God doesn’t keep a tally list of how much good that we do and that means we get a bigger reward or it makes up for the times that we didn’t…We do good because it’s what God wants us to do…To love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourself…To do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with our God…Do do no harm, to do good, and stay in love with God…