A Golden Vision of Human Flourishing

Vision Moment

Community Picnic - thank you

Prayer meeting

Scripture Reading

Matt 7:

Matthew 7:12 ESV

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Introduction

The power of proverbs and maxims (they extend past cultural and religious divisions)

I was surprised how many cultures and religions have their own version of the Golden Rule

Code of Hammurabi stele and tablets, 1754-1790 BCE

4000 years ago

Babylonian king wrote 282 laws to govern his people

Most of them were warnings of reciprocity

If you do this… then this will happen

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

When reading the code of Hammurabi, it seems the conquering king wanted to create an empire where reciprocity, accountability and incentives were clear

Confucius (551–479 BCE)

"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."

Confucius was not a ruler, but a philosopher

4000 years ago

Babylonian king wrote 282 laws to govern his people

Confucian times (551–479 BCE)

His intentions behind writing such a proverb was to promote individual happiness

I have not read, but reading commentators who have read his writings he believed:

"if everyone worked for the happiness of all, we should have a situation more likely to bring general happiness than any other" (Herrlee G. Creel, Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Mao Tse-Tung, p. 40)--thus, the reason for his version of the "Golden Rule."

This is such a simple verse. Why would we spend an entire Sunday looking at a verse that is so familiar? There are three things that set the Christian version apart from the version of other cultures and religions

The grounded motive, greater mission, and the surprising result

The Grounded Motive

As with the other two cultural versions of the Golden rule there is a motivation behind the rule

Hammurabi began to see his sprawling empire fill up with unjust people

It is interesting to see the types of laws he had inscribed into his code

If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.

If it causes the death of the son of the owner of the house, they shall put to death a son of that builder.

If it causes the death of a slave of the owner of the house, he shall give to the owner of the house a slave of equal value.

If it destroys property, he shall restore whatever it destroyed, and because he did not make the house which he builds firm and it collapsed, he shall rebuild the house which collapsed at his own expense.

If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction meet the requirements and a wall falls in, that builder shall strengthen the wall at his own expense.

My mind looks at those things and says, YES and AMEN!

I think there is something inside of all of us that wants justice to be served, we want people to be held accountable

Think about recent disasters

Oroville dam flooding - apparently the 100 million worth of damage could have been prevented

Hurricane Katrina (1600) deaths and again apparently the levees and spillways, flood-walls and pumps were not designed or maintained very well

Who was held accountable for these things?

As for Confucius, he longed not for justice but for happiness and peace

So if you want to be happy, don’t do something to other people that you wouldn’t want them to do to you

And if enough people don’t treat people the way they don’t want to be treated, the world will be a better place

And again I think YES and AMEN

But the glaring reality is that fear of being held accountable and hope for smooth sailing has massive short comings. How does Jesus motivation for living the Golden Rule differ from others?

What is the first word of verse 12?

The most literal translation says either, “Therefore, in everything” or “In everything, therefore”

What do you think the key word is in understanding the motivation?

The sermon on the mount is not just random teachings of Jesus collected as best as possible

It only takes fifteen minutes to read, so I’m not sure this was all Jesus said during this sermon, but it’s important to understand that each biblical author, including Matthew wrote with a purpose in mind. That’s why each Gospel account varies slightly.

Why is Jesus saying “therefore”?

Verse 12 ends the main body of teaching on ethics in the Sermon, do you remember where it begins?

After the Beatitudes and Jesus words about fulfilling the law, he says this:

Matt 5:

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus teaches what that greater righteousness is in verses 21-48

A whole person righteousness that goes deep into the heart

In chapter six he talks about what that greater righteousness looks like for spiritual disciplines

In verse 19 he begins to unfold what our relationship with money and materials, our relationship with fellow humans, and our relationship with the Father should be like

In summary, when you are grounded in the Good News of

Matthew 6:30 ESV

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Matthew 7:11 ESV

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!

And if you’re humbled and grounded by the truth that I’m probably the one with the LOG in my eye

That means, I’m Free

I’m free from worrying about

Can we not say, most of my problems in life come from

A wrong view of money

A wrong view of people

A wrong view of God

The motive that Jesus grounds us in is a life where we are free from worrying about how we’re going to make it financially, how we’re going to endure tough relationships, and how to see that your Father in heaven is head over heals for you!

And with that kind of grounded motivation, he says because of that...

“In everything, treat people the same way you want them to treat you...”

The Greater Mission

Notice the subtle shift?

Jesus doesn’t quote from Confucius, He actually raises the bar

It is categorically easier to NOT do something than it is to do intentionally DO something

I can avoid doing something to someone by avoiding that person or people altogether

It’s much more challenging to step out of your comfort zone and DO something for someone else

To make it more complex, He says in EVERYTHING or WHATEVER YOU WISH

You can’t escape everything

It’s one thing for a finite human to say everything and an infinite, all-knowing Christ to say everything

The tough part about this is in the way we interpret this

All the introverts just said, “I want to be left alone, I can do that in everything to all people for ever.”

All the extroverts just got stressed out and saw a long laundry list of taking on the weight of serving every person in the world

Perhaps a better example will come for us in watching the life of Jesus

Jesus put himself (literally) in human flesh

He resisted many temporal luxuries so he could identify with the least of the least of His Creation

He went out of His way to talk to the serial adulteress, the demon-possessed, the refuse of society

He accepted a kiss of betrayal, the loss of friends, spit of haters, and a beating yet never made any of them feel less loved

Doing unto others what you wish for them to do to and for you, is not a to do list, but a vision

Imagine a world where Christians looked like Christ

Imagine a world where we could see ourselves in the criminal and have compassion on them, go to them, share Christ’s love with them

What if instead of seeing the immigrant with disdain we actually saw our child

What if we saw our wayward child in the homeless person, how would you want others to treat them?

Doing unto others demands that we sit and pray through what it would look like for you in your family, your workplace, your neighborhood if we began to live out of the freedom that we have in knowing that our Father already knows what we need (in everything) so we don’t have to look for that in other people, or in material wealth.

The Surprising Result

Jesus says that living in this way, having a grounded motivation, and a greater mission, will yield a surprising result

If you are a Jew who has lived under the guardianship of the law, this is a refreshing even surprising reminder

Although it’s not an entirely new teaching within the Jewish writings apart from the Scriptures

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

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.

Sabbat 31a - story of a Gentile who approaches Hillel, saying he will become a convert if the whole Torah can be taught to him while he was standing on one foot, resulting in the response of Hillel

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary.”

What Jesus seems to be saying here is that a proper summation of the Law and the Prophets at least as it relates to “interpersonal relationships” is this vision of doing unto others what you wish for them to do for you.

Jesus speaks to a culture where rule following has been seen as a greater righteousness than loving people.

Conclusion

How might things change for us if our eyes were opened to seeing that this is why and how Jesus came to us?

I often read from as a way of reminding myself that I am no better than any human being alive.

I wonder if we can see ourselves kneeling at the foot of the cross this morning

When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.