The Golden Rule
Matthew 7 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
I believe it would be fair to say that we live in a culture where people are fairly self absorbed. We have apps to post about ourselves, cameras to check ourselves out, and YouTubers telling us about how we should hustle to get more for ourselves. And while there is nothing wrong with taking a selfie for Instagram or watching YouTube for inspiration on how to do a job better, there is an issue with us being so caught up with ourselves that we forget to consider others.
I’ll be honest with you in saying that one area where I frequently struggle to consider others is when I am driving. When I’m running late, I need everyone to move out of the way because I need to go! But when I’m just driving down the road and some car comes speeding up behind me or around me I act as though they are the rudest people in the world, or, if they harass me enough, I may slow down just to mess with them. Well, I shouldn’t be that way and I’m not condoning such behavior, but what I’m trying to depict for us is how easy it is to place us as the center and rarely think of others.
Well, today, the Lord is going to give you one verse that will sum up a great majority of the Christian faith and it is here in Matthew 7:12 where we read,
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The reality is that we all deal with people everyday. I was at the gym last week and a guy walked in front of me and the back of his shirt said, “Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” And because of that, when you’re dealing with difficult people, remember this. When you’re dealing with upset people, remember this. When you’re dealing with popular people and unpopular people, remember this. This verse packs a calling for you to obey now and for the rest of your life.
So, as you deal with people, I want you to remember that the love of God is most seen in us when we treat others the way we would want them to treat us.
And as we look into this verse today, we will examine three things to motivate us in doing this:
I Have Messed Up Too
I Have Messed Up Too
Illustration: One of my first sermons after Ragan and I got married I messed up and said something stupid.
As we look at this verse, Jesus gives us a command to be actively seeking the good of others. What’s interesting about this statement is that all throughout history we find Kings, Poets, and writers saying things like, “Don’t do to other what you wouldn’t want done to you.” And while that’s perfectly fine, that’s not all that Jesus is commanding us to do here. What He is calling us to do is to always seek to be doing for other people what you would want them to do to you. That doesn’t mean just leaving them alone and not hurting or bothering them, it means contributing good to them.
But here’s the problem, we don’t want to. All throughout the Old Testament we find commands to be generous and loving followed by examples of Israel being self-centered and uncaring. This is the natural state of our hearts as sinners Romans 2:8
8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
This is why David cried out, in Psalm 119:36
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Lets look in Leviticus 19:9-18
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. 11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
God is calling on us to look out for the needy over our own profits (Not that making money is necessarily bad), He is calling for us to constantly seek the goodness of others. About this issue, Calvin said,
“We are here informed, that the only reason why so many quarrels exist in the world, and why men inflict so many mutual injuries on each other, is, that they knowingly and willingly trample justice under their feet, while every man rigidly demands that it shall be maintained towards himself.Where our own advantage is concerned, there is not one of us, who cannot explain minutely and ingeniously what ought to be done. And since every man shows himself to be a skillful teacher of justice for his own advantage, how comes it, that the same knowledge does not readily occur to him, when the profit or loss of another is at stake, but because we wish to be wise for ourselves only, and no man cares about his neighbors?” -Calvin
Well, If Jesus is saying that living as someone who loves God and others fulfills the whole law and we don’t want to do it and don’t do it; what does that make us? Lawbreakers! And those who do not obey the law of God, will be judged by Him on the last day for their sins. Guys, if you hate the thought of ministering to others, if you hate the thought of showing grace to the fallen, to the rejects, to the unpopular, if you hate the idea of restoring broken relationships; you may need to question whether you know Christ at all.
When we go about our lives, dealing with people of all kinds, we must remember that we have messed up too. Or, to put it better, Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
I Have Known The Love of God
I Have Known The Love of God
Yes, we have all sinned. Yes, the wages of sin is death. It is eternal separation from God in eternal Hell. But that’s not where it ends, Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And Romans 5:10-11
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Guys, because of our sin, we were separated from God, we were utterly hopeless. We hated Him and we didn’t truly care for others, but Jesus Christ has come! He cared for the poor widow, He cared for the blind, He cared for the prostitute, the downtrodden, and the mess-ups; and in His righteous life and death, we, who have fallen in sin have been saved by Him alone and we are made right with God!
If you don’t know Christ, if you have convinced yourself that you don’t see the need or that you have messed up too much. You’re wrong. Each and every one of you needs Christ; you are absolutely hopeless without Him. It is this Jesus that opens His arms and says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Now, it is because of this saving love of God that we now know God not only as Creator, but as our loving Father. Maybe you guys remember two weeks ago where Chris taught on Matthew 7:7-11 and the love of God who is greater and more caring that any earthly father. It reads,
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
This is the God we have, a God who lavishes grace upon us and it is to this God that we have nothing to give but our worship and adoration. Well, it is because of this love, that we find our last point which is :
I’m Here to Make His Love Known
I’m Here to Make His Love Known
I want you to look at Matthew 7:12 one more time with me as we make two observations for us today to discuss.
First, notice that we are commanded to actively seek the good of others.
a. What do you think this looks like?
Second, notice we are to actively seek the good of others even if they don’t return the favor.
a. How do you think we stay motivated if people aren’t returning the favor?
i. By reminding ourselves of Christ’s love for us.
I’d like for us to read 1 John 4:7-21
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.