Discipleship and the people called Methodists - BEH District

Three simple rules…?
Well, what about the rules themselves? They are these. Do no harm. Do good.
Love God. Are you surprised by how few there are? How short they are? This kind
of rule necessarily requires examples, and John Wesley offered early Methodists
lots of them.
To ‘do no harm’ meant to “avoid evil”, he said. Therefore Methodists were not
to take the name of God in vain, they weren’t to get drunk, fight, quarrel, go to law
with fellow Christians, or do those things which they knew didn’t glorify God. Nor,
specifically, should they buy or sell ‘uncustomed’ (ie black market) goods, borrow
without a probability of paying back, or more generally “lay up treasure on earth”. To
live by this rule would be evidence of a continuing desire to be a disciple of Jesus.
To ‘do good’ meant Methodists being kind and merciful to all people, as far
as was possible. This goodness was directed at both the body and the soul.
Goodness to the body meant giving food to the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting
or helping the sick and those in prison. Goodness to the soul included evangelising,
“instructing and reproving”, encouraging all they met and bearing witness to God’s
goodness. Wesley said that Methodists should deny themselves and follow Christ
daily, enduring any reproach or suffering for the sake of the Lord. To live by this rule
would be evidence of a continuing desire to be a disciple of Jesus.
‘Loving God’ entailed “attending upon all the ordinances of God”. Wesley lists
these as public worship, the ministry of the Word, “either read or expounded”, the
Lord’s Supper, family and private prayer, searching the Scriptures and fasting or
abstinence. To live by this rule would be evidence of a continuing desire to be a
disciple of Jesus.
In 779 a much older John Wesley wrote a sermon (Sermon 07, titled ‘On
God’s Vineyard’) in which he provides perhaps the best single statement about the
Methodist way of forming disciples. Assuming attendance at and membership of
both society and class he wrote:
Nothing can be more simple, nothing more rational, than the
Methodist discipline: It is entirely founded on common sense,
particularly applying the general rules of Scripture. Any person
determined to save his (sic) soul may be united (this is the only
condition required) with them. But this desire must be evidenced
by three marks: Avoiding all known sin; doing good after his
power; and, attending all the ordinances of God.