Sermon for Sept. 29,2019

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 22 verses 34 through 40.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

In these verses,,, Jesus is questioned by an expert in the law. The Pharisees were trying to test Him after He had silenced the Sadducees. Instead of being thankful,,, they were still trying to find a reason to get rid of Him.

34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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As the week began,,, I was working on my homework for the class that I had this week and this whole week I have been working on and reading about John Wesley's three simple rules.

I spent Monday writing a paper that I thought was required and it was on a book about our spiritual journey and the way that Jesus spent time with God in prayer and the fact that we need to model ourselves in this way,,, and spend time every day in solitude and prayer.

I worked all day Monday and Tuesday working on all of this along with prayer about this mornings message and what scripture to use.

I received an answer early on Monday but I wasn't sure if the answer was my answer instead of God's so I didn't commit myself to this scripture until Thursday,,, or I should say that God finally made me fully aware of His answer on Thursday morning!

I say that because I spent so much time working on this for class that I wanted to be sure that was what God wanted me to preach on and not just because I was doing class work.

So,,, hopefully we can take these scriptures and use them in our walk with God this week and,,, even as I wrote this,,, I pray that this verse is already a part of your daily walk because it's so important to us as Christians.

(3:03)

I also hope it's a part of your walk because I have used this passage before,,, even though I used the scripture in Mark back in November,,, but I have a different direction from God this time so just bear with me as we go back over parts that need attention.

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Beginning in verse 34 it says: 34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.

Jesus had just finished answering a question from the Sadducees that they used against the Pharisees a lot when they would try to convince each other that their way of thinking was correct.

This is found in which are just before the verses that we read this morning.

Just about all of chapter 22 is spent by the religious leaders trying to trap or trick Jesus in one way or another.

Beginning in verse 15 it starts with the Pharisees plotting how to trap Him by what He said.

They send some of their disciples along with the Herodians,,, to ask about paying taxes to Caesar.

Jesus amazed them with His answer and that's found in verses 15-22.

Then in the verses after the ones I read this morning,,, Jesus questions them and they have no answer to His question.

This is found in verses 41-46.

Verse 46,,, the last verse in this chapter,,, says: No one was able to answer Him at all, and from that day no one dared to question Him anymore.

(4:40)

It's very obvious that Jesus' answers,,, are not only given with authority,,, but the answers that He gives cannot be questioned and they have no choice but to give up questioning Him.

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Verses 35 - 36 says: 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

In this verse we can see from this question that they are trying everything that they can do to trick Jesus into answering them incorrectly so that they would have some reason to publicly turn against Him but as I just said,,, they don't get that chance.

And as we will see in the next few verses,,, Jesus gives them an answer that they haven't heard before,,, and it's also an answer that they cannot argue with Him about.

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Jesus' answer in verses 37 - 40 was:

37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Jesus took all of the rules and regulations that the people were trying their best to live by and reduced them down to these two commands.

If we used the commandments given to us by Jesus the way that we should as Christians,,, the whole world would notice and be amazed.

There would not be any more fighting,,, bickering,,, being mean to one another,,, snide remarks,,, and on and on the list goes,,, because it would all be stopped if we used these two commandments as Jesus intends for us to use!

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That's what John Wesley had in mind when he gave his own rules to live by.

And he gave them to us by the example of the way that he lived his life.

If you've never heard of them before,,, they are called Three Simple Rules.

1- Do no harm

2- Do good

3- Stay in love with God

Wesley thought that as long as we used these three simple rules to live by,,, that we could live like Jesus wants us to live.

I wonder if we have forgotten these rules as United Methodist today!

Along with this command given by Jesus we will look at these 3 rules in a little more detail and see if they can help us along the way.

(7:19)

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Beginning with Do no harm,,, John Wesley thought that these simple rules would help us to act in a more Christ-like manner.

And do no harm sounds so simple as you say the words,,, until you really begin to think about what this entails.

It's not complicated,,, even a child can understand what it means and it also applies to everyone.

So what exactly did John Wesley mean by these words?

Just what it says:

You don't do anything that would hurt anyone,,, in any possible way.

You don't hurt them physically,,, I believe that's obvious,,, almost without mentioning.

You don't let anything come out of your mouth that could be hurtful towards someone.

That would also mean that we don't hurt someone by being silent or ignoring someone.

There are no thoughts of evil towards anyone whatsoever.

No lying,,, sarcasm,,, anything that would be received as hurtful could come out of us.

That means that we would have to stop and think about everything that we are fixing to say or do and be sure that it stays within the guidelines of this one rule.

And if we truly used it today,,, how many arguments would we stop if we all did this one thing?

How many arguments would we stop if we all did this one thing?

I believe that now we might be thinking that this rule isn't as simple as it first sounds,,, is it?

It makes us ask,,, can we really live this way?

It doesn't take very long if you begin to study the way that Jesus lived out His life to see where John Wesley learned this principal.

Jesus' whole life was the example that was used to show us the correct way to live.

This wasn't something new that John Wesley came up with,,, he was only using these words as an example to us of the way that Jesus wanted us to live.

And Jesus is the example that we are supposed to use to guide us in our daily life.

(8:41)

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Then we have number 2: "Do good".

Again,,, this sounds easy to do until you really look at what he meant.

This means that at every opportunity,,, we are supposed to be ready to respond to any need that we see.

Whether they are someone that we agree with or not.

Even before we are asked to help,,, “if we see”,,, then we are told to take care of that need if we have the capabilities of fulfilling it.

This one isn't easy to do either.

Again,,, Wesley used Jesus as a guide for his life and that's what we are required to do also.

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Now we come to number 3: "Stay in love with God!"

The first two rules are important,,, but unless we have God,,, then everything that we do is meaningless!

We can manage the first two rules some of the time without Gods help,,, but there is no way that we can accomplish them all of the time on our own.

Like anything else in this life,,, unless we have the Holy Spirit guiding us and helping us with everything that we do,,, we will always come up short.

This is where our relationship with God is so important.

The daily walk that we have must include God in every part of it.

Beginning each day with prayer,,, Bible reading,,, devotions,,, prayer again after you finish,,, all of the things that you need to do to get your day off to a good start.

Then that continues with staying in touch with God all through your day.

Allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in the things that we need to do.

(9:43)

That's where going to church every week is so important.

The fellowship that we have with each other is so vital to the way that we get through any hard times that we might face.

When we see others struggle and we see that they were able to work everything out with Gods help,,, this helps us,,, through their example,,, to know how to act when we deal with our own struggles.

When we see those struggling that are a part of our congregation then we know how to interact with them to ask them if they need help.

Sometimes if you don't know someone well,,, you can ask the wrong questions or ask them the wrong way and they will refuse the help that we want to give or the help that they need.

But if you know them,,, it's easier to know how to approach them without hurting or insulting them,,, to ask them if they need anything.

The instructions that we receive from Bible studies,,, Sunday school,,, worship,,, sermons,,, all of these help us to stay in touch with God.

And that is vital to our relationship with God and staying in love with God!

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These three rules are the way that Wesley lived his life.

They weren't just something that he came up with and expected others to live that way just because he said so,,, no,,, this is the way that he lived,,, these were things that he lived out daily and we understand these rules because of his example.

The greatest commandment given to us by Jesus,,, in verses 37 through 39 above: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

This verse was used by John Wesley along with these three rules to help him stay on the right path to heaven and he did his best to live this way every day.

His example of the way that he lived his life is what we should be trying to do also.

Jesus' command was given to all of us and His example is what we should be copying,,, just as John Wesley lived his life as an example for us to see.

(12:00)

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So what does this mean for us today?

Hopefully as we begin our week,,, we will remember these 3 rules of John Wesley.

1 - Do no harm

2 - Do good

3 - Stay in love with God

Use them to live out the command of Jesus “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.

It won't be easy.

It will require the help of the Holy Spirit,,, we can't do this on our own.

But,,, if we seriously use these rules and this command to live our life,,, people can't help but notice.

They will see the genuine love of God flowing out of us as we go about our day,,, and that's something that they are searching for,,, even though they might not know it.

That's one thing that I know,,, when you are lost,,, you are trying to find your way,,, you are watching,,, hoping for a glimpse,,, anything that will put you on the path to freedom,,, if you can just find that one example,,, and we should be that example for the ones that aren't here today.

If Jesus is in our hearts,,, then others should see it!

If Jesus is missing in your life,,, I urge you today,,, to take that step and answer His call,,, because it's there,,, Jesus wants everyone to spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

And it's too important to wait until another day,,, because we aren't promised another day.

Remember that we don't know the hour or the day when Jesus is coming back,,, and we don't know the hour or the day when we might be called home,,, we are just told to be ready and God is waiting on your decision today!

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page - 338

Seminary - Hymn Page - 357

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