Don’t do anything that will hurt another person

We are in a series of three messages about three rules for living. I think, if we get these things right, our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves will be moving in the right direction. All of the principles come from 1 Corinthians. Here are the three rules which should govern how we conduct ourselves:

Don’t do anything that will hurt yourself. ()

Don’t do anything that will hurt another person. ()

Don’t be mastered by anything. ()

Say them to the person sitting next to you.

Last week, we spoke about the principle of not doing anything to hurt yourself. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You were bought with the high price of the blood of Jesus Christ. You are to glorify God with your body. Therefore, don’t do anything that will hurt yourself. Today, we are going to look at the second principle for living: “Don’t do anything that will hurt another person.”

Before I go any further in this message, I do want you to understand, when the statement is made, “Don’t do anything that will hurt another person”; I am not speaking of police, law enforcement, military, or the like because the Bible is very clear in teaching about proper use of force in order to protect and serve. The Bible is not against self-defense. The life principle of “don’t do anything that will hurt another person” is not a call to passivity. The Bible is full of occasions where God told his people to use force and even the death penalty. This is not about the affirmation of a snowflake mentality or creating safe spaces. Sometimes people need to be confronted with the reality of their situation. Sometimes people need a firm hand to guide them back onto the right path.

I heard a saying that I have come to believe. Someone said, “Hard times produce strong people. Strong people produce good times. Good times produce weak people.” As I see the problems facing our nation, I wonder if we haven’t had it so good and so easy that we are going to be facing some hard times because of the type of people we are producing.

When we talk about “not doing anything that will hurt another person”, what are we talking about? Open your Bible to .

1 Corinthians 9:19 CSB

19 Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.

Paul is saying, I am free. No one owns me. Paul was free to make his own choices and live his own life, but yet Paul willingly placed his desires and preferences beneath others for the sake of the gospel.

Paul is solely focused on the mission of reaching people with the gospel. Therefore, he voluntarily places himself in the position of slave to everyone so he can be most effective in reaching people with the gospel. Paul is willing to serve everyone in whatever way he can in order to have an opportunity to reach people with the message of Jesus Christ. Listen to the list of things he endured for the sake of the gospel from .

2 Corinthians 11:24–27 CSB

24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.

Paul was willing to do whatever necessary to reach people with the gospel. Paul is echoing backing to what Jesus said in .

Matthew 20:28 CSB

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25–27 CSB

25 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;

Matthew 20:25-27

Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.

Continuing on in , Paul is going to list examples of those he has enslaved himself to in order to minister to them.

1 Corinthians 9:20–22 CSB

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. 21 To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

, Paul is going to list examples of those he has enslaved himself to in order to minister to them.

Saint Augustine once said, “A person who nurses a sick man becomes, in a sense, sick himself, not by pretending to have a fever but by thinking sympathetically how he would like to be treated if he were sick himself.” In essence, this the Golden Rule: “Do unto unto others what you would have them do unto you.” Paul was willing to do whatever it took to reach people with the gospel. He was adapting himself to their spiritual condition.

Reach people where they are.

Sometimes people get the impression that they have to change themselves first to be with us. Perhaps they think they need a new wardrobe. They think their clothes aren’t good enough to comes to church. Maybe they think they are of the wrong social status. Maybe they think they have too many problems. I have had several people tell me that they couldn’t come to church because they have tattoos. We need to be removing barriers to the gospel. The gospel is offensive enough on its own. We do not need to add any barriers to the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t want to do anything to hurt another person and so we reach them where they are.

Now you might say, “Wait a minute. People are going to think Paul is a hypocrite because he acts one way around the Jews, one way around the Gentiles, and one way around spiritually weak people, and one way around spiritual strong people.” You would be right. Paul is opening himself up to criticism from all directions because of his adaptations; however, to criticize Paul for his adaptations is to misunderstand his motivation. Paul is not motivated to simply be a people pleaser. Paul is looking for ways he can adapt himself in order to have an opportunity to reach people with the gospel and minister effectively to the people with whom he is in contact.

The best way to illustrate Paul’s mentality is to look at the life of Jesus in . In , Jesus is approached at night by Nicodemus and Jesus has an intellectual and theological debate with Nicodemus in order to have an opportunity to bring Nicodemus to an understanding of the nature of salvation. In , Jesus approaches the Samaritan woman and takes a very different style of approach with her than he did with Nicodemus. With the Samaritan woman, Jesus speaks in riddles and demonstrates a personal knowledge of her situation. Then, he reveals who he really is to her by plainly declaring to be the Messiah. Jesus tailored his interactions with people in order to reach them.

We should follow their examples. We shouldn’t do anything that will hurt another person because we need to reach people where they are. You see, we don’t know the hearts of people, so we should position ourselves with everyone with whom we are in contact to have opportunities to reach people at the right time with the message of salvation.

Let me ask you a question. When you are in crisis, when things are not going well for you, or when you have a serious problem, who is a person you want to talk to? You want to talk to a safe person. You want to talk with a person you can trust with you hurts, problems, and needs. You don’t want to talk to the person who condemns you or is judgmental. You don’t want to be around a person who hurts you. We try to guard ourselves from people who behave in those ways; however, we open ourselves up to people who love us. Reach people where they are and create opportunities to minister to people.

Create opportunities to minister to people.

In other words, don’t do anything that will hurt another person because we want to have opportunities to minister to people.

We try to guard ourselves from people who behave in those ways, however we open ourselves up to people who we think love us.

1 Corinthians 9:20–22 CSB

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. 21 To those who are without the law, like one without the law—though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ—to win those without the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

:

Dr. William Barclay said, “More people have been brought into the Church [to Christ] by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world.” Apologetics, being able to give a defense for your faith, is important, but demonstrating Christ-like love is more important. Our job is not to intellectually wrestle people to the gospel. Our job is to love people to the gospel.

I have heard many Christians use the cliche’, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” It is true that we should hate sin. We hate sin by recognizing it for what it is, refusing to take part in it, and condemning it as contrary to God’s nature. Sin is to be hated, not excused or taken lightly. However, often, our hatred of sin is viewed as the hatred or condemnation of people and that is a major problem. Only God can perfectly separate the sin from the sinner. We can’t. We are to have compassion on sinners for whom Christ died. We love sinners by showing them respect.

We are to have compassion on sinners for whom Christ died. We love sinners by showing them respect.

Show love through respect. ()

We need to remember that every person is made in the image of God. Everyone, no matter how marred, is an image bearer. Therefore, we show them honor.

1 Peter 2:17 CSB

17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Show love through prayer. ()

1 Timothy 2:1 CSB

1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

(

Show love by sharing the gospel. ()

It is a true act of love to treat someone with respect and kindness even though you do not approve of his or her lifestyle or sinful choices. Condemning a sinner is as silly as going to the county jail and telling every inmate there that they are guilty. Even Jesus did not come to condemn sinners because they are already condemned.

and witnessing to them of Christ. It is a true act of love to treat someone with respect and kindness even though you do not approve of his or her lifestyle or sinful choices.

John 3:17–18 CSB

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

We don’t want to hurt others because we need to reach them where they are. We don’t want to hurt others because we want to have opportunities to minister to people. Paul gives us a statement for his reasoning of why he would adapt himself in all of these ways. Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 9:23 CSB

23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

Paul wanted to share in the blessings of the gospel. Paul wanted to see people move from where they are to where God wanted them to be in Christ. 4 times in verses 22-23, Paul uses the word “all”. He says he has become “all” things to “all” people so by “all” possible means he might save some and he did “all” of this for the sake of the gospel. He didn’t do what he did for his own glory or to make himself a hero. He did what he did because he was passionate about creating opportunities to reach people with the gospel. He was passionate about having opportunities to minister to people. He was passionate about loving others. If you hurt people, you will lose the opportunities to reach them with gospel, to minister to them, and love them.

Perhaps you say, but aren’t there times when we need to confront someone who is not doing right? Confrontation can be hurtful to the person being confronted about a bad behavior. You are right, the truth can be hard for people to hear. So how do we bring to light things which are harmful to people without hurting them?

Use a scalpel not a machete. A machete is not a precise tool. It is for hacking and slashing. A scalpel is used for precise incisions. Let’s say you go to the doctor because you are sick. The doctor finds a problem. You have a spot of skin cancer which needs to be removed on your arm. The doctor careful removes the trouble spot from your arm. The doctor doesn’t amputate your arm. When doctors are doing surgery, they use scalpels to make incisions, not machetes. In our spiritual lives, we must do the same. If we find ourselves in a position where we must confront someone because who is in sin, we must use a scalpel, not a machete. Our goal is never to hurt the person and we must be careful not to injure the person. Our goal is to bring about healing. In church world, too many times, we speak the truth, but not in love and we injure people – we use machetes. People leave us wounded and hurt because we didn’t handle things right. I believe Jesus taught this concept when he talks about going to someone who has offended you.

You may think, but if I make myself a slave to all people like Paul did, won’t they just take advantage of me? As you may know, I have 3 children. 13, 12, & 7. Sometimes my youngest son wants to play with one of my older children’s toys and things. They don’t want him to play with the item because he might break it; however I tell them, “who buys your toys and things?” They say, “Daddy and Mommy do.” I say, “Well, if Koen breaks your toy, then who will replace your toy?” They say, “Mommy and Daddy will.” I say, “Then who is really taking the risk by letting Koen play with the toy.” Of course, the answer is, Mommy and Daddy. The same is true in your relationship others.

You might think, but if I am a slave to others, people will take advantage of me. You are right. They may. However, who gave you the resources you have? God did. If you give of yourself and serve someone and they take advantage of you, who are they really taking advantage of? It is God they will answer to in life. God told us to serve others. He has entrusted life and resources to us. If I am obedient in serving others as God has told me to do and someone abuses me, then God will handle them and take care of me. My responsibility is to not do anything that will hurt another person.

This morning, I am asking you to consider a second principle for living. The first principle was to not do anything to hurt yourself. The second is to not do anything that will hurt another person.

Pray.

Father God, I ask you to move our hearts and mind this morning. We need to view people the way that you view people. We need to love them as you have loved us. Sometimes we hurt people without even knowing. Father, if there are relationships which are damaged in our lives, let us be willing to do what it takes to restore them. Father, give us opportunities to to reach people where they are and minister to people. Draw people to yourself and use us for your glory and honor. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

As we continue to pray, perhaps you are here this morning and you have never given much thought about your relationship with God until now. You have carried the weight of your life experiences all on your own. You have done things that you are not proud of; things that make you feel dirty and ashamed. Perhaps you have even thought that after all the things you have done that God can’t love you. The reason you think that is because you don’t understand how good God is. You don’t understand how much he loves you. You see, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make him love you less.

Even when you have what you think are the “big” sins in your life, even when you have hurt so many people, God still loves you and what makes his love so amazing is that he sent his son Jesus, who was perfect in every way. Jesus became sin for you on the cross. He died for the forgiveness of our sin, but he didn’t stay dead. He was raised from the dead. Why? So that anyone who calls on him would be saved. Anyone who calls on Jesus will have their life changed forever. No matter what you have done. No matter how dark your life has been. The Son of God gave his life so that you could live.

If you are here this morning and you would say, “Yes, I’m carrying the shame of my past. I want to be forgiven.” Would you pray this prayer with me,

Pray with me, “Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, would you raise your hand so I can pray for you?

Pray.

I am going to ask our deacons to come forward at this time. Our deacons will be coming forward to pray with you and for you. If you prayed to receive Jesus, please come to the front of this worship center and let us pray with you and celebrate your new life in Christ. If you want to pray for someone you know who needs to receive God’s gift of salvation, you come and get on your knees asking God to reach into that person’s life. Maybe you need to come in rededication of your life to God as we are on the verge of a new year. This is a time for you to respond to the call of the Holy Spirit in your life.

<after closing the time of invitation>

Perhaps you didn’t come forward for one reason or another, but you really do want to talk with us about what is going on in your life. Perhaps you need help, prayer, or you just want to know more about being a follower of Jesus. I would encourage you to do one of two things. After we are dismissed, just stay where you are. One of our deacons will come and talk with you and pray with you. The other thing you can do is check one of the boxes on the Connection Card. Put it in the offering plate as it passes. We will get in touch with you this week. You see, this church exists to minister to one another. We are here to support you in your walk with God.