Three Simple Rules: Do No Harm Sermon Romans 12:1-8

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Let’s play a fill in the blank game this morning. Like a good neighbor…is there. I wish I was an… Bring out the … and bring out the best. A…is forever. Have a … and a smile. Please don’t squeeze the … Plop, plop, fizz, fizz oh… These slogans are engrained deep in our minds and companies pay millions of dollars to advertising agencies to come up with these catchy slogans so that you will remember to buy their product. Some of these slogans become so popular that they become pop culture icons. But why? They are short, pithy, and easy to remember.

Sometimes we need those pithy slogans in other parts of our lives to help us to remember to do the things we need to do. When Methodism was in its infancy the people asked John Wesley to give them some rules to live by and work toward. Wesley looked at Scripture and he looked at what he was preaching to the people and he developed the General Rules of the United Societies. He developed three rules that are short, pithy, and easy to remember. They are do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. These were the standards that the people called Methodists were held to and worked toward. These three rules were the exemplary ideals of the Christian life. If a person held to these rules perfectly then that person would reach Christian perfection, of course that never happened and no one has ever reached perfection in this life. However, this does not mean that we should not try to work toward that goal. These rules are not only life changing they are world changing. If we all worked to adhere to these rules together, think of how the world could change.

Bishop Ruben Job, a retired bishop from the Iowa Episcopal area, wrote a new book, called Three Simple Rules that remind us not only of our Methodist heritage, but also of these three rules that are meant not only for Methodists, but for all Christians. For the next three weeks I am going to be looking at these rules one by one to see how we can implement them in our own lives, how these rules can change our lives, and why we should be doing it in the first place.

Today’s simple rule is “do no harm”. It seems odd that Wesley would begin with a negatively based rule, by telling us what not to do. However, if we look at the Ten Commandments then we see that most of those rules are do not and shall not. Perhaps John Wesley understood as God understands that we need to be taught what NOT to do first. Do no harm, it seems like a simple thing to do. We don’t do anyone any harm. We don’t beat up on people, we don’t have someone locked in the trunk of our cars. This seems like an easy rule to follow, but is it?

This rule is not just some rule we follow, it is a way of living. It is a way of interacting with people we meet and with people a world away that we will never meet. Doing no harm means, as we talked about last week, seeing each and every person as a child of God worthy of our love and respect. When we do this and when we approach people with the understanding that we will do them no harm then it changes us. It makes us look at others in a different way. Instead of seeing people in a negative light, we see them as a child of God.

You might be thinking, well I already to that. I don’t go around beating up on people or crashing my car into people. I am doing no one any harm. Doing no harm does not just mean physical harm. It means that I will not undermine anyone to get what I want. I will not cheat you, swindle you, or talk you into something I know will lead to harm. I will not gossip behind your back, I will not spread rumors about you. I will not call you stupid or ignorant because of how you dress, or act, or believe. I will not think you are stupid because you do things or believe differently. I will not tear you down in order to build myself up. I will not mutter under my breath with you cut me off. I will not smile to your face and then stick a knife in your back. The list goes on and on and new items are added everyday. So maybe this rule isn’t as easy as we first thought. But imagine the possibilities. Imagine for instance a presidential election where the two candidates followed this rule. There wouldn’t many of those TV commercials, would there?

How do we implement this rule in our lives? First we have to inventory our lives. We have to look at our routines and ask the question, does this harm another person directly or indirectly. Do the choices I make negatively affect other people? Each decision we make should be prefaced with the question, will this cause anyone any harm?

This leads us to the second phase of implementing this rule in our lives. We have to educate ourselves on how our actions, the actions of the companies we support with our money, and the actions of our government cause harm to people around the world. We need to know if the shoes or clothes we wear were made by people in sweat shops for pennies a day. We need to know if the food we eat was grown by people making pennies a day. We need to know if the companies that get our money are harming their employees, the environment, or anyone else. Once we know that our actions cause harm we must change. We must find alternatives and new ways of living that are in harmony with our neighbors worldwide.

We cannot avoid the topic. If we do nothing we only perpetuate the harm that is done in the world. We cannot remain silent or apathetic because silence and apathy causes harm. We must speak for those who have no voice. We must cry out against the wrongs we see done at home, at work, in our cities, in our state, in our nation, and in the world. We can be the change we want to see in the world.

As Paul says in our lesson from Romans “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When we follow this rule we reject the conformity of this world. We become different, we become lights in the midst of darkness. We have seen, over and over again, how the kingdom walk, the gospel walk, is different than the worldly walk. The values of God are not the world’s values. It will take time to change. In fact, in all likelihood it will take a lifetime and even then we will not perfectly follow this rule, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

So the question before us is this, so what? Why should we adhere to this rule? Why should we go into our lives and examine the harm we are causing? What difference can one person make? First, when we change our lives we begin to change the world. We become examples to live by; we become ambassadors of God’s love and forgiveness. We become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. We become the hope we read about in Scripture and we become the change we want to see in the world.

We also become closer to Christ. We do what God has called us to do, to be what God has called us to be. Jesus lived his life on earth following fully the rule of do no harm. He lived with malice toward no one and no harm to anyone even to those who nailed him to the cross. Imagine that, he forgave those people even as they nailed him to the cross. He offered no revenge, no hatred, and no harm to those who sent him to his death. When we follow this rule we walk closer to Jesus. We become more Christlike and that is the point of the Christian life. We should strive each day to be more and more like Christ.

This simple rule is not meant to confine us but to renew us into a Christlike life. It is meant to help us live with our brothers and sisters in the world in the way that God wanted. God loves us so much and gives us so much that following this rule is a worshipful response to that love and grace. As the body of Christ we can make a difference, if we all make the decision to change our lifestyles and approach everyone with knowledge that we mean them no harm then we can make a big change in the world. It is not easy and it takes a lifetime to master, but in Christ all things are possible.

Let us pray…
Grant, O Lord,
that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.