3RD AND DONE: The 3rd General Rule

This is my final post in the series on the basic doctrines of the CME Church.

There’s an old challenge in Christianity.  We ask, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” 

If you keep the 3 General Rules of Methodism there will be enough evidence to convict you.

It is expected of all who desire to continue in these Societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation…

People who follow Jesus live differently from people who don’t.  We say “No” to things Scripture calls wrong, even when other people say, “I don’t see what’s wrong with that” (General Rule #1).  We do good to others, especially but not exclusively to other Christians; and we do good even when it isn’t rewarded, appreciated, or permitted by law or custom (General Rule #2).

Thirdly, by attending on all the ordinances of God such as:
    The Public Worship of God
    The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded.
    The Supper of the Lord.
    Family and private prayer.
    Searching the Scriptures, and
    Fasting or abstinence.

An ordinance is a specific act of worship, often with an accompanying set of specific procedures and restrictions. 

The Public Worship of God.  You can worship God all by yourself (and you should) but if your worship is about God and not about you (and what’s comfortable or convenient) then you will also regularly worship God in a fellowship of believers. 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10: 23-25)

You can’t hide the evidence of your faith if you leave a

 bunch of witnesses.

The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded.  Worship can take many valid forms, including times with nothing but music and prayer. But, without preaching and teaching, praise alone becomes empty entertainment.  Worship moves us; and the ministry of the Word prepares us to do what we’re moved to accomplish.

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3: 14-17)        

Those who minister the Word of God need courage and understanding.

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4: 2-4)

The Supper of the Lord. Holy Communion is one of two rituals that Jesus ordered the church to perform. (The other is baptism.)  At the Last Supper Jesus told the disciples to “do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22: 19).

Paul warned the Corinthian church against taking the Lord’s Supper lightly.  Communion isn’t a snack or an empty ritual.

Liturgies change and vary, but “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11: 26-27).

Family and private prayer.  Jesus prayed alone (Luke 5: 16).  He used “a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18: 1).  Jesus explicitly explained how we should and should not pray, even going so far as to recite a prayer we can use as a model  (Matthew 6:5-13).   It’s pretty clear that God wants us to pray, often, regularly---as Paul says--- “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Prayer is a dialogue with God, and marriage is the picture of relationship with God, so it’s not surprising that Scripture links prayer and family. 

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Searching the Scriptures.  The preacher must diligently study the Bible to show himself/ herself to be an approved and right divider of the Word, but guess what?  Every Christian has the same obligation to study the Bible.  Yep, every Christian. You, too.

The Bereans sat under the masterful teaching of the Apostle Paul, but they didn’t stop learning when Paul ended a lesson.

           

You can sit under the most qualified and sincere Bible teachers in history, but if you don’t consistently spend your time individually studying God’s Word, you will drift into error.  Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17: 11)

In the gospels, the Sadducees came the most progressive school of theology in Judaea.

Jesus said to them [the Sadducees], “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? (Mark 12: 24)

If you only know what your preacher has told you, you don’t know nearly enough.  Open your own Bible on your own time and become “more noble-minded.”

Fasting or abstinence.  Fasting means giving up the necessary act of eating for a while, and using all the time that you would have spent finding food, preparing food, consuming food, etc. to pray, read, meditate, and serve others.

Jesus practiced, endorsed, and taught fasting.

“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you  (Matthew 6: 16-18).

Jesus’ teaching recalls Isaiah’s detailed instructions for fasting (Isaiah 58). 

Abstinence means saying “No” to anything to which you usually say “Yes.”  You can abstain from social media, television, dessert, sex (1 Corinthians 7:3-5), anything you can do and like to do. 

Abstinence or fasting, searching the scriptures, family and private prayer, the Supper of the Lord, the ministry of the Word, and the public worship of God are ordinances delivered to us by God.  Keeping these ordinances is the 3^rd General Rule of Methodism.

By themselves, keeping the General Rules doesn’t save you. Salvation comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.   The General Rules explain how the world will know that you desire salvation.  If you do good, avoid evil, and keep the ordinances of God you’ll leave enough physical evidence for them to convict you of being a Christian. 

Without evidence, they have to let you go.  So, the finals words of the General Rules state:

These are the General Rules of our Societies; all which we are taught of God to observe, even in His written Word, which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice.  And all these we know His Spirit writes on all truly awakened hearts.   If there be any among us who observe them not, who habitually break any of them, let it be known unto them who watch over that soul, as they who must give an account. We will admonish him of the error of his ways; we will bear with him for a season; but, if then he repents not, he hath no more place among us; we have delivered our own souls.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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