Back to the Basics: Three Simple Rules

Back to the Basics

Three Simple Rules 

James 1:19-26 (CEB)

¹⁹ Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. ²⁰ This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. ²¹ Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you.

²² You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. ²³ Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. ²⁴ They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. ²⁵ But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

²⁶ If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. ²⁷ True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

Discussion Questions

• What are the Three Simple Rules?  How do you already live them in your life?  How are you missing the mark in living them in your life?
• James tell us to be "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry".  Clearly this was a difficult 2000 years ago as it is today.  Why is this?  How does one develop the ability to be quick to listen and slow to speak?
• Read the quote below from Rev. Esther Rodríguez, a fellow United Methodist pastor...

"May we open ourselves to the idea that simply because we haven’t experienced something a particular way it doesn’t mean others have not experienced it that way. Just because we haven’t, for example, experienced discrimination, racism, sexism, or other -isms doesn’t mean that others haven’t and still do. Just because we’ve grown up understanding the world, our nations, and the way things are one particular way does not mean others have experienced and understood it that way. We all come from different stories, experiences, and ways of seeing the world that are shaped by those. Let us remember these words from James in our dealings with others (and please in our posting & sharing on social media): My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry...” May we be better listeners, more thoughtful speakers, and ones who leave the judging to God."  Rev. Esther Rodríguez

• Discuss the quote together.  Thoughts? 
• Have you ever had an experience in your life when you have tried to explain your point of view to someone but they have been unwilling or unable to listen?  Share about that time?  How did it make you feel? 
• Visit this site and read about the Three Simple Rules for Social Media.
• Discuss the article together.  Thoughts?
• What new practices can you place in your life to help you live out the Three Simple Rules? 

In your devotion time this week or as you meet with your Faith Group, Pastor Jim and I encourage you to also take time to open yourself with the following Wesley Challenge question:  Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold resentment toward, or disregard? If so, what am I going to do about it? (pages 117-122 in The Wesley Challenge) 

Back to the Basics 

Week 1

Grace

Ephesians 2:1-10 You were dead through the trespasses and sins ² in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. ³ All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ 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.

This week as you meet with your Faith Group talk about the following questions...

1. Has there been a time in your life when you have literally gotten lost using a physical map or your map app on your phone?  
2. Tell about a time in your life when you have allowed other people, influences, or "maps" to guide you in your life?  How did it turn out? 
3. In my sermon I talked about how often we settle for God as the side dish in our lives.  Can you relate to this or share a story where you have only allowed God to be a tiny part of your life? 
4. In my sermon I talked about how God's grace is free but that we have to accept it and grow in our relationship with God.  One of the best ways to grow in our relationship is through the Means of Grace.  Read the article at this link and discuss the Means of Grace and if you are practicing them in your life. 

Finally, as you meet this week, Pastor Jim and I encourage you to also take time to open yourselves up as a group and dialog on the following Wesley Challenge question:  Is Jesus real to me? (pages 19-22 in The Wesley Challenge)