When in Doubt, Think of Yourself

Introduction

I am going to start this sermon a little differently than I normally do. I am going to start off in a similar way that we start our invitations with. So I am going to ask you to to bow your heads and close your eyes. I do not want anyone looking around. It’s just me. I am going to ask you a question now, and I want you to do a little self-reflection. I want to consider a short time frame - just the last two weeks. How many of you would say, “Mike , I am well aware that I am not perfect, but I believe that I can honestly say that over the last two weeks, I have been consistently loving God and walking close to Him.” With an uplifted hand, is there anyone that could say that?

Alright, you can open your eyes.

We have been studying the Sermon on the Mount for a while now, and as we have, we have encountered verses that are common sayings among Christians; and some of them are common even among those that do not claim Christianity. Phrases like:

Blessed are the peacemakers (ch. 5)

You are the salt of the earth

Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’

Turn the other cheek

Go the extra mile

The Lord’s Prayer (ch.6)

Consider the lilies/birds of the air

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be

You can’t serve two masters

Judge not (ch.7)

The analogy of the mote and the beam/speck of dust and the log

Casting your pearls before swine

And last session (the week before Easter), we saw another set of verses that has become a common saying, even among the lost. Seek and ye shall find.

In that study, we saw once again that living the Christian life and fulfilling these standards that Jesus is giving throughout the Sermon on the Mount is absolutely impossible. We cannot do it in our own strength, so we are to ask, seek, and knock as we insistently request Jesus’ daily presence to help us to live the way that we should.

Today, we get to look at another common verse in this Sermon on the Mount that has been given its own name.

Let’s take a look at the verse from where what we commonly know as the Golden Rule comes.

Matthew 7:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The title of today’s sermon may seem odd, at first, but I hope that by the end it will be a little more clear. Today our study is titled:

When in Doubt, Think of Yourself

Matthew 7:12, which we just read, is commonly known as the Golden Rule. It is most commonly phrased: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Let’s read Matthew 7:12 again and then let’s clear up some of the misunderstandings and misapplications of this verse.

Matthew 7:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

What the Golden Rule Is Not

There are some common misinterpretations and misapplications of this verse. So let’s go through these briefly before we get into the proper context, interpretation, and application of the Golden Rule.

It Is Not the Sum of All Christian Truth

Though important, this is not the greatest commandment. What is the greatest commandment, church? Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. THAT is the greatest commandment.

Now, this Golden Rule does hang directly on the second greatest commandment - you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The problem is, many people, especially people that do not have a personal relationship with God, have believed the lie that they are “good with God” as long as they treat others the way they would like to be treated.

“Hey, let me ask you a question. If God were to ask you why you deserve to be allowed into heaven, what would you say?” The answer commonly includes, “Well, I try to be nice to others and treat them the way I would be treated.”

Let me be very clear about this, following the Golden Rule is not God’s plan for redemption and salvation. You cannot be saved by following the Golden Rule. You cannot erase your sinful condition by treating others well. You can’t.

In fact, something that we have gone over nearly every session as we have walked through the Sermon on the Mount, this sermon is only for those who already have a relationship with Jesus.

As we have said before, it would be foolish to think that an unsaved person could ever be able to accomplish this. This verse right here, Matthew 7:12, is probably the easiest verse to follow of all of the Sermon on the Mount. I might even venture on to say that it is the simplest and most direct verse in all the Sermon on the Mount. But it is impossible to do if you are not living by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How often do we adopt attitudes toward others that we can’t stand ourselves? How often do we do things and say things to other people that we would be completely offended by?

No, far from being easy, this verse, though simple, is difficult to follow. However, we must not elevate it to a point that we think that by following this, we are “good” with God.

It Is Not a Promise of Reciprocity

I want us to read the verse one more time. Matthew 7:12

Matthew 7:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Is there anywhere in that verse that indicates that if we follow this command from our Lord, that others will treat us well? No! But we get so frustrated when others do not do unto us as we have done unto them. Some people cling to this verse as a promise when there is no promise there. And one of the most discouraging and terrible things you can do as a Christian is to misinterpret a command as a promise.

No this, verse is a command. It not only commands our words and our actions, but it also commands our attitudes. Do not get frustrated, do not get discouraged, do not be surprised when people that you loved, that you spoke to kindly, and that your did all sort of nice things for turn around and do or say something mean and/or hateful.

Following that, this is not a verse that gives us an excuse to treat others badly.

It Does Not Give Us an Excuse to Treat Others Poorly

You might think that this is obvious, and it is, but this verse has been misused to treat other people poorly or vengefully. The reasoning goes a little like this: “So-and-so did this to me, so I am going to treat him/her the same way they treated me. And when I do, they better not complain because they are getting treated the same way they they treat others.”

We see a misrepresentation of this verse whenever we tell others, “Since you got sarcastic, so did I.” “I would have never done that to you if you wouldn’t have done it first.” “Well if you didn’t want me to talk to you that way, you should not have talked to me that way.”

This verse is a command for us to treat others well. Notice that in the same way that there is no promise that we will be treated well, there is not license to treat others poorly if they, in turn, have treated us poorly.

What the Golden Rule Is

Let’s talk about what the Golden Rule actually is.

It Is a Command

This is not a suggestion. It is not a “pro-tip.” It is a command for every believer. The principle of this command governs our actions and our words and our attitudes. When we interact with others, we should think of ourselves first. By that, I mean, our thoughts should be, “If I were that person and they were me, how would I like them to treat me in that situation? What words would I like them to say to me?” When we have determined those things, we can then proceed with our interactions.

If we consider all these things, we can be confident in our actions and words, that they will be right and righteous.

You do not like people saying things about you? Don’t do it to others. You don;t like dealing with difficult people that bring you stress and make your life difficult? Don’t do those things to others.

It sounds great. This would solve so many problems. In fact, to most philosophers, this would solve the greatest modern problem that we have: the problem of relationships. Even greater than the economic problems that the world has, this problem of relationships is far greater. We get so selfish in our interactions. I want you to think of your interactions with just your immediate family over the past 2-3 weeks. If we are honest with ourselves, we would be able to identify selfishness on our own parts. There is selfishness in the way we interact with our spouses, with our kids, with our parents, with our siblings. Selfishness is an ever-present enemy and it corrupts relationships so completely.

But we are instructed, no, commanded to think of others as we interact with them and act in a way that would benefit them.

1. It is a command to sacrifice

This is a command to sacrifice self, to put to death our own desires, our own wants, our own comfort for the benefit of those with whom we interact.

2. It is a command to love

Notice how Jesus ends the statement. Matthew 7:12

Matthew 7:12 KJV 1900

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

I want us to turn to Matthew 22 as we look at Jesus’ answer to what the greatest commandment is, the most important commandment.

Matthew 22:37–40 KJV 1900

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

What Is the Point?

Now that we have the command, we should be asking ourselves, “What is the point of the command?” Well, after seeing that this command is a direct summary of the second greatest command, I believe the point is best summed up in one word - love.

The object of this rule is not to check off another box. This is something that we have mentioned with nearly everything that this sermon has to teach us. The principles given by our Lord are not so that we can do certain things in a mechanical fashion and feel good about ourselves at the end of the day. But these principles that He is teaching, along with their practical examples, allow us to readily see when we are truly being controlled by God and when we are not. When we are walking with the Lord, and when we are not. A while back ago we did a study through the letters of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. These are letters that are written to encourage Christians of all maturity levels. John, however, did not mince words. He was very direct in establishing that the proof of a person’s relationship with God is their love for others, specifically their fellow Christians.

Look at 1 John 4:20-21

1 John 4:20–21 KJV 1900

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If I say I love God and don't love my brother then I am a liar. If I say I love God and don’t love my family, I’m a liar. If I say i love God and don’t love my church, I am a liar. John says similar things throughout this letter.

1 John 3:14 we are told that loving our spiritual family means we are abiding in light and life; in other words, that we are truly saved.

1 John 3:14 KJV 1900

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1 John 3:17 we see that love for out spiritual family means we have the love of God abiding in us

1 John 3:17 KJV 1900

17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1 John 3:23-24 says that love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is proof that we believe in Christ

1 John 3:23–24 KJV 1900

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

1 John 4:7 - Love is proof that we know God

1 John 4:7 KJV 1900

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1 John 4:16 - Love for others is proof that we are in fellowship with God

1 John 4:16 KJV 1900

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

And we read in 4:20 says that Love for others is proof that we love God.

Our love and our fellowship is not measured in what we say, it is measured by how much we love others. One of the primary ways that we can show that love is through consideration. This is what the Golden Rule is all about.

If I fail to be considerate in my words and actions and attitudes toward others, then it is an indicator that I am living in my own strength, I am not following and walking with the Lord.

Earlier, to begin the sermon, I asked you to do some self reflection. I asked you a question. The question was, “As far as you know, have you been walking consistently with God over the last two weeks?” Many of you raised your hand. Well, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

The proof is in how you treat others. We have a boiler downstairs in the basement of this building. It is rather huge. That boiler needs to have water in it to work properly, and it needs a certain amount to be in there. Now, you can’t just open the boiler and look inside to see how much water there is, but there is this little gauge on the side of it. When you look at that gauge, it indicates how much water is in the boiler.

There is an indicator to how close we are walking with God. Others cannot see inside of us, and honestly, sometimes our own knowledge of how close we are walking with Jesus is quite wrong. But one of the big indicators for ourselves and for the world is how much love and how much consideration we are showing others.

Why is the Golden Rule so important? Because when we are truly following it, it gives us a solid indicator that we are indeed living in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is an indicator that we are walking with Jesus. Just like loving our enemies is an indicator that we are the children of our heavenly Father, our consideration of others lets people know that we are the sons and daughters of God.

Invitation

We are going to close with a brief invitation. I’ll ask Tahsha to come and play a song.

I want to close us out with the same question that I opened us up with. With every head bowed and every eye closed, once again I want you to take a look at your life over the last two weeks. Consider the interactions you have had with your friends and with your co-workers. Consider the interactions that you have had with your kids and with your spouse. Teens, consider the interactions that you have had with your parents, with your siblings.

Have those interactions been full of consideration toward them or have they been selfishly driven? Have your actions been taken with active consideration toward others? Have the words you have spoken been intentionally chosen to consider the people you are talking to?

If the intentional consideration that you have shown others over the last two weeks were the only indicator of how close you were walking with God, could you with an uplifted hand honestly say, “Mike, I can show with my actions and consideration toward others that my walk with God is close,” would you raise your hand.

If you were unable to honestly raise your hand, I want you to do this: Would you identify in your mind the person or the people that you have lacked consideration for? Whoever that person or those people are, would you take a moment to confess that to the Lord?

Here’s the next thing that I want to encourage you to do. If that person or those people are here, I want you during this invitation time, to go to them and ask forgiveness.

If it was your spouse, just lean over to them and say, “I’m sorry.” If it was a child, if it was a parent, a sibling. If it was a friend, or if it was a fellow church member, would you have a humble heart right now and find them to say, “I’m sorry. I’ve been selfish. Will you forgive me?”

Man, I know it’s a hard thing to do. But husbands, there is no greater way to honor and love your wife than to apologize to her when you’ve done wrong. Parents, there is no better example that you can give to your child than to recognize your shortcomings, and when those failures of character affect your children, to apologize to them.

It takes being humble, it takes swallowing some pride.

As Tahsha sings just a verse or two from this song, will you make things right with God and with others?

If those people are not here right now, pray for them, and commit to making things right with them.

But if one of those people is a spouse

The Golden Rule is golden, not because is makes you Christlike. It is Golden because it shows you, and others, how much you are allowing Christ to influence you.