The covenant between believers is WAY BELOW the marriage covenant for the married

ONE: When God wants to rebuke you, His first method is through His Holy Spirit directly to you. This “Priesthood of Believers” is the single greatest message of the New Testament. We each can approach God directly and God is very able and willing to discipline us directly. (Hebrews 12:5-11) Whenever human authority is OVER-emphasized, the great truth of the Priesthood of Believers gets dangerously diminished.

TWO: When God wants to rebuke you, His second method is through your marriage partner (if married or parents if a child, a mentor/ friend if single). The highest covenant is salvation. The second highest is marriage. The covenant between believers is WAY BELOW the marriage covenant for the married.

Ephesians 5:21-33 says that the marriage covenant is the highest and clearest picture of salvation that we will ever see on the earth. This point is not only Biblical but Practical. If you are married, then you are probably already smiling at the obvious wisdom of this point.

THREE: W hen God wants to rebuke you, His third method is through
circumstances. Scripture is clear that your SIN is what rebukes you. (Romans 6:23) When you won’t listen to God, or your mate, then God will allow you
to receive the wages of your sin.

FOUR: T he only New Testament examples of Church rebukes are for:

• Open Sexual Immorality
• Vicious Continual Strife and Gossip
• Teaching Heresy (Not just minor doctrinal differences but major truths about salvation)

Sanctification

Christian Perfection is “holiness of heart and life.” It is “walking the talk.” John Wesley expected Methodists to do not only “works of piety” but “works of mercy”–both of these fused together put a Christian on the path to perfection in love.

In the holiness tradition of Methodism, which Wesley initiated, sanctification is another word for perfection. Wesley said that being perfect meant:

“to be ‘sanctified throughout;’ even ‘to have a heart so all-flaming with the love of God,’ ‘as continually to offer up every thought, word, and work, as a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to God through Christ.’ In every thought of our hearts, in every word of our tongues, in every work of our hands, to ‘show forth his praise, who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.’ O that both we, and all who seek the Lord Jesus in sincerity, may thus ‘be made perfect in one!'”

I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:1-6

Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God

These three simple rules – do no harm, do good, stay in love with God – are the hallmark of a follower of Jesus.

Jesus was always cultivating his relationship with God.  He stayed in love with the Father.  He regularly went apart to pray.  He studied the Torah and psalms and prophets, the scriptures of his day.

He worshipped with his religious community.  He stayed in conversation with others about the life of faith.  He fasted.  He was always setting a table for and feasting with his followers, with the rich, and especially with those who lived in the margins of his society.

Practicing regularly these habits opened Jesus to receive God’s love.  It aligned Jesus’ heart with the heart of God so that when others encountered Jesus they exclaimed, “The Son of God!”

Today these same practices – prayer, reflection on scripture, Christian conversation, worship, fasting, Eucharist – open us to God’s love and align our hearts to God’s heart when we practice them regularly.  Wesley patterned his general rules on Jesus’ life.

How can we over the long haul do no harm and do good unless we open ourselves in a regular and disciplined way to God’s grace through the practice of these means of grace?