This One Rule Series

INTRO.- ILL.- After Confederate General Robert E. Lee retired from military life, he was named president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Originally named Washington Academy because of a $50,000 gift from George Washington, the name of the school was changed in 1871 in honor of Lee who served as its president from 1865-1870.

While Lee was president of the University, a new student came into Lee’s office and asked for a copy of the school’s rules and regulations. Lee replied that the school had no printed rules. He said, “Our only rule is kindness.”

How great is that? Kindness is certainly something good to live by. If we all lived a life of kindness to others what a different country this would be. And if all countries around the world would practice kindness what a different world it would be!

Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Some people, however, have twisted the words of Jesus, saying, “Do it to others before they do it to you.” That’s the way of the world, but it’s certainly not the way of Jesus.

ILL.- All traffic tickets issued in Rockville, Md., were imprinted with these words: “Drive Towards Others As You Would Have Them Drive Toward You.” I guess it was the idea that you should drive with courtesy as you would want others to drive with courtesy toward you.

I think, however, that’s not the rule of the road that many people go by. That’s why we have what is called “road rage.” Many people are not courteous toward other drivers. They run stop signs and stop signals. They show no courtesy by not using their turn signals when changing lanes. They pull out from side roads like they own the road and you’d better slow down or hit your brakes and let them go on. Kindness is one rule that should rule our driving habits and our lives.

If You Were Busy Being Kind

If you were busy being kind,

Before you knew it, you would find

You’d soon forget to think ’twas true

That someone was unkind to you.

If you were busy being glad,

And cheering people who are sad,

Although your heart might ache a bit,

You’d soon forget to notice it.

If you were busy being good,

And doing just the best you could,

You’d not have time to blame some man

Who’s doing just the best he can.

If you were busy being right,

You’d find yourself too busy quite

To criticize your neighbor long

Because he’s busy doing wrong.

Sounds good to me. Be kind to others. Cheer up others as best you can. Do good to others. These are good rules to go by.

“Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule. THIS ONE RULE.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have so many rules and regulations to go by in life? It would be nice if there was just one basic rule that we could live by that would apply to everything we do in life. THERE IS SUCH A RULE! It’s the rule of love.

I Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The greatest way to live and the greatest is the rule of love.

PROP.- This one rule covers many areas.

1- Because you love, you pay your debts

2- Because you love, you do no one harm

3- Because you love, you fulfill the law

I. BECAUSE YOU LOVE, YOU PAY YOUR DEBTS

8 Let no debt remain outstanding.

ILL.- A young college co-ed came running in tears to her father. "Dad, you gave me some terrible financial advice!" "I did? What did I tell you?" said the dad.

"You told me to put my money in that big bank, and now that big bank is in trouble." "What are you talking about? That's one of the largest banks in the state," he said. "There must be some mistake."

"I don't think so," she sniffed. "They just returned one of my checks with a note saying, 'Insufficient Funds'."

Let’s hope the banks don’t run out of money. It’s bad enough that there were times when we had insufficient funds.

Have you ever floated a check? Meaning have you ever written a check, knowing that you didn’t have the money in your bank account but you knew it would be there by the time they cashed your check? Many of us have done that. And this is not a bad thing if you know the money will be there. BUT have you ever written a bad check, knowing the money was not there and wasn’t going to be there? THAT’S NOT GOOD BUSINESS. That’s not good Christian business. That’s not paying your debt.