THE RISE AND FALL

Three Simple Rules:

DO GOOD

Romans 12:9-21

Ephesians 2:8-10

Our good works are a response to the prevenient grace of God.

A sermon preached by

Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot Springs, Arkansas

March 8, 2009

We want to gain new understandings of faith today by returning to some old truths. So let’s begin with a classic story.

There was a man who died and went to stand before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates of heaven. Peter explained to him the entrance procedure. “The way things work around here,” he said, “you have to have 100 points to get in.”

The man who had died was a good man. He thought there should be no problem. He said, “I was a good husband and father. I was married to the same woman for 52 years; we raised our three children to be law-abiding citizens; and I was always a good provider.”

“Excellent!” St. Peter exclaimed. “That’s one point.”

“One point!” the man said. “All that for one point? OK, I was a community leader, too. I served on the City Council, the School Board, and helped build the city park. I was a member of three different civic clubs, and I was the Scoutmaster for the local Boy Scout troop.”

“Wonderful!” St. Peter said. “That’s another point.”

“One more point? That’s all?” The man was getting worried. “What about my church activities? I was Chairman of the Church Board; I sang in the choir; I taught junior high Sunday School for twenty years; and I tithed. Surely that should get me into heaven.”

“No, that’s all very good,” St. Peter said, “But it’s only worth one point.”

“That’s incredible!” the man moaned. “At this rate I’ll never get in, except by the grace of God.”

St. Peter smiled and said, “That’s it! The grace of God—97 points! Come on in!”

Can we ever be good enough to get into heaven? The short answer is “No.” Can we get in by the grace of God? The short answer is “Yes.” So let me ask you this: What good does it do to do good? Why is it important to live a good life?

Jesus was consistent with his Jewish tradition in holding up the importance of good deeds. He said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”[1] Paul spoke the same way in our Scripture text: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. …Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”[2] Obviously there is an important principle at work here. We should strive for goodness. But why? Is this what saves us? Is this how we get into heaven? I thought we were saved by our faith.

One of the great contributions of John Wesley to the history of Christian thought is his way of dealing with this very issue. Wesley put together the concepts of grace and good works in a way that makes a lot of sense. And it leads into our understanding of his second simple rule of life.

For Wesley, God’s grace is always primary. God loves us and gives us his grace before we are even born. He works in us even before we acknowledge him to draw us into a relationship with him. This is called, in Methodist-ese, prevenient grace. This relationship, given by grace, accepted by faith in Jesus Christ, is what brings us salvation. This is how we get into heaven, not by teaching junior high Sunday School.

The key Scripture for understanding grace is Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” We can’t be good enough, because of our sin. But salvation is a free gift from God through the grace of Jesus Christ.

Rob Bell, a pastor and author, compared it to an experience that he had—and I have had—of someone anonymously paying your check at a restaurant. Has that ever happened to you? When the waiter tells me the check has been paid, I always try to find out who did it, so I can thank the gracious person. But sometimes my benefactor has already left the restaurant, and I am forced to accept an anonymous gift. It’s pure grace.

Rob Bell comments on that situation: “I had the strangest feeling sitting there. The feeling was helplessness. There was nothing I could do. It had been taken care of. To insist on paying would have been pointless. All I could do was trust that what she said was actually true and then live in that—which meant getting up and leaving the restaurant. My acceptance of what she said gave me a choice: to live like it was true or to create my own reality in which the bill was not paid. That is our invitation—to trust that we don't owe anything. To trust that something is already true about us, something has already been done, something has been there all along. To trust that grace pays the bill.”[3]

If grace pays the bill, are good works pointless? Do we not have to live our lives in a way that honors God? Should we sin more so that grace might abound? Listen to the next verse in that text from Ephesians: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”[4] There’s the Wesleyan balance. We are saved by grace, but made for good works. Our lives—thoughts, words, and deeds—are a response to the love and grace of God that save us. We do for God because of what has been done for us. As Bradley Nassif, a seminary professor, said, “Grace is opposed to merit, but it is not opposed to effort.”[5]

Which brings us to the second simple rule. First, do no harm. Second, do good. As Wesley put it: “It is expected of all … that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, Secondly: By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all [persons].”[6] Wesley included on his list feeding and clothing the needy, visiting the sick and imprisoned, teaching those new in faith, doing business with Christian believers, and persevering in spite of criticism. Another good list is our Scripture text from Romans 12; you won’t find a better description of the Christian life than in those 12 verses.

What Wesley’s list and Paul’s list are both talking about is living the Christian life in response to God’s grace. This is living with a purpose. This is living out the mission of the church. What I want to suggest today is that we can do good by living out the mission of First United Methodist Church of Hot Springs. This is our mission statement: “We are a community of faith, connecting people to God, to each other, and to the world, through hospitality, discipleship, and proclamation.” We can do good by practicing hospitality, growing in discipleship, and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We do good hospitality by welcoming those who come to visit our fellowship. We put programs into place to help make that happen, but ultimately it comes down to the people in the pews being friendly to those around them. I was pleased to hear this week from one of the families who will be joining today that they visited several churches in Hot Springs, but ours was by far the most friendly one they encountered. Yes!

Hospitality also means taking a proactive stance and not just welcoming those who come, but intentionally inviting family members and friends, co-workers and acquaintances, to come and experience God in our church. The important thing is not what kind of a marketing plan you have for the church—this year, we don’t have money for much of that. The important thing is one-on-one, face-to-face invitations to someone you know. The statistics have remained constant since before the age of the internet. Eight out of ten people who visit a church for the first time come because someone they know invited them, and over half of people who do not attend church say they would come if they received an invitation. The opportunity is there to do a world of good.

We can do good by growing in discipleship. As we learn and help others learn, we are doing good. As we put our faith into action in any way—ministry in the church, ministry in the community, ministry around the world—we are responding to the grace of God (but not earning it).

Retired United Methodist pastor Sam Duree, age 77, could be enjoying his golden years in an easy chair. However, instead of just letting the days fly by, Duree builds birdhouses to support a Moscow seminary. Duree spends four hours a day planning, sawing, sanding, drilling, gluing, and nailing cedar fence pickets in a workshop in his garage. He then hits the road with 35 different kinds of birdhouses, selling them at festivals and craft shows. Over the past six years, Duree estimates he has built about 3,000 birdhouses, raising $85,000 for Russia United Theological Seminary. Duree saw the need for the Moscow seminary during mission trips to Russia and Siberia.

"We have to realize we're part of a global community, and we have a global ministry," Duree says. "I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. The good Lord has plans for us, and I'm doing what I can to carry them out."[7] That’s good discipleship.

Are you spending time, energy, and money to work for the Kingdom of God in your life? Are you learning more? Are you doing something for God? Are you engaging in ministry in some way to show God how grateful you are for the promise of eternal life? Then you’re doing well at doing good.

Finally, we live out our mission by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. We have a message to share, a gospel of love, joy, peace, healing and wholeness for a lost and broken world. We need to get the word out, as a church and as individuals. Do you ever share with anyone that the motivation for your action comes from a love for Jesus Christ? That’s a good word that can really make a difference in someone’s life.

In 1972, a young Egyptian businessman named Farahat lost an $11,000 watch. He was stunned when a garbage man dressed in filthy rags found it and returned it to him. Farahat asked him why he didn't just keep or sell the watch. The garbage man said, "My Christ told me to be honest until death." Farahat later told a reporter: "I didn't know Christ at the time, but I told [the garbage man] that I saw Christ in him. I told [him], 'Because of what you have done and your great example, I will worship the Christ you are worshiping.'"

Farahat studied the Bible and grew in his faith. Two years later he visited the garbage man's village outside Cairo, where between 15,000 and 30,000 people were living in horrible poverty in the garbage dump. Farahat and his wife began ministering to people's spiritual and material needs. In 1978, Farahat was ordained by the Coptic Orthodox Church and became known as Father Sama'an. Now, about 10,000 believers meet in a large cave outside the garbage village. It is the largest Christian church in the Middle East. In May of 2005, a day of prayer was held for Muslims to turn to Christ. More than 20,000 Arab Christians gathered. The event was broadcast on a Christian satellite TV network, where millions were watching. All this, because one garbage man chose to humbly return a watch and made a witness for Jesus Christ.[8]

We can do good by living the mission of hospitality, discipleship, and proclamation. But why? What is our reward? We don’t do it for our salvation; that has already been bought and paid for. We don’t do it for the approval of others; we may not get that. We do good for the satisfaction of doing what God wants us to do, for the joy of obedience, for the fulfillment of responding in our own small way to the awesome grace of God. As John Wesley put it, when we do good, we get “the image of God fresh stamped on our hearts.”[9] That’s worth making the effort to do all the good we can.

Dave Stone is a pastor in Kentucky who had an uncle named Greg. He had cerebral palsy, and he was a quadriplegic. Despite his handicaps, he had a great attitude and was an inspiration to those who knew him. He got around in an electric wheelchair, but his speech was limited.

A few years ago Greg attended a handi-camp week at a Christian retreat center. A fellow church member named John volunteered to go with Greg for the week. 24/7, John was with Greg—feeding, bathing, dressing Greg and helping him with all the activities of the week. John took Greg out on a flotation device in the pool, and Greg went swimming for the first time in his life.

At the end of the week, the camp staff did an assembly to recap the different experiences. They asked each camper: "What was your favorite activity of the week?" Most of the campers always said the same thing—swimming. When they got to John and Greg—who had been nicknamed “Fish” because he loved to swim so much—they knew what to expect. But when they asked, "What was your favorite part of the entire week?" Greg raised a palsied hand, pointed to John, and spoke in a voice as clear as mine and said, “You.”

John said, "Oh, there had to be something else. Was it the swimming? Was it the snack time?" Greg raised his hand up again and simply said, "You."[10]

When you do good, the image of God is fresh stamped upon your heart. You can be the best part of somebody’s day …or week or month. You can make a difference in somebody’s life. You can give God great pleasure in doing so. That is the greatest reward. Amen!