Golden Rule; Golden Gate

Matthew  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Scripture

Matthew 7:12–14 NKJV
12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Lesson

The golden rule

The so-called “golden rule” would be shocking for Jesus’ audience.
They were used to hundreds and hundreds of complicated rules that only an expert could sort out. Salvation was about “doing what you were told to do by the expert”.
But Jesus’ assumption is that one person with a new heart can fulfill the law and the prophets with one simple rule.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
When your salvation is doing what you are told, then it is a competition. Stay away from sinners, do better than that guy. Measure yourself against the competition. Stay away from one who might defile you.
The world, then, was made up of authority and submission. The authorities were the experts and it was their responsibility to ensure that their inferiors did what they were told for their own good.
Take marriage, for example - something tangible.
Modern patriarchy.
The husband is the one who is to be knowledgeable. He is to study the scripture daily so that he can feed his family spiritual truths. He is the leader of the home and it is the responsibility of the leader to stand between his wife and children and God. He will patiently instruct them, guide them, get them to church.
Their responsibility - mother and children - is to do what they are told to do. She must clear any reading material through him. She must get dinner on time, school the children according to the rules that he has laid down, ask permission to spend any money of her own - for she is easily deceived, inferior in role, and by nature leads people astray.
This is exactly how the Pharisees thought. Put the Pharisee class in the place of husbands, and put sinners, women, ignorant, poor, masses in place of the wives and children - but the thought is exactly the same.
Now see how Jesus turns it on its head:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
This means you really need to understand yourself.

Understanding yourself

Here we turn to the scriptures, to understand a bit about how we were made.
We were created image-bearers of God - with dignity, honor, fellowship.
There was no hierarchy before the fall, except in the order of creation.

That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved

A beautiful loving union. “who’s the boss, here” wasn’t a question until after the fall, when sin and disharmony entered.
We have a desire to control others, a fleshly desire to be as gods over one another; or, on the other hand, to be completely withdrawn from others, as too big of a hassle.
Both are forbidden by this positive command.
It is a command of what we are to do.
When I was researching this, many of the summaries looked like this:
“If you want people to respect you, then you need to respect them” - that is the positive form.
Negative - if you don’t want people to hurt you, then don’t hurt them.
But neither one of these are what Jesus is saying.

First, it is NOT a way to manipulate other people’s behavior. He says nothing about doing something to get the same kind of treatment back.

Second, he isn’t telling you NOT to do something. It is a positive command. It can’t be fulfilled by moving to a cave somewhere and keeping to yourself. It is a positive duty. Something to DO.

Third, it fulfills all of the law and the prophets.

How does all of this go together.

Thinking deeper.

It goes deeper than “If you want to be respected, respect others” but that is as true as it goes.
But Jesus’ point is different.
The Pharisees’ whole religion was a list of hundreds of rules enforced strictly.
But man was created free, creative, loving, in relationship.
In our heart of hearts, what do we desire. Fellowship with God, and freedom to live as ourselves - redeemed creatures, using our gifts and our abilities to the best of our strength.
Creating and moving, and working, and writing, and living in harmony without envy and without hatred and without fear.
Micah 4:4 NKJV
4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
When you tell your coworker what his problem is, how does that go over?
How do YOU react whenever someone tells you what you need to be doing?
And yet, the Pharisees of old dictated dress, rituals, prayers, positions while praying, the distance you would walk on the Sabbath..
And the church has been plagued by that spirit from the very beginning.
How to raise your kids, how to live as a married couple, how to write, what to read, what to watch, what to listen to,
And what is the whole of the law and the prophets about?
Freedom. Restored relationship with God, where our hearts are changed and we no longer desire to satisfy our needs by crushing our neighbor, our wives, our children, underfoot.
Where “he saw that
That it was good
And so he took”
…is no longer our operating manual, but now we desire to create as God created, make beautiful things, learn beautiful songs, dance beautiful dances, let our friends live, and love our wives and husbands more and more deeply and long for God’s smiling countenance upon us and our families...
That is what the whole Bible is about. How we get from Genesis to Revelation, who brings us there, and what to do while we are traveling.
It is the gospel, the liberty by which we are made free.
And when we truly know that liberty, we want nothing else but for everyone around us to know it as well.
We want them to have a taste of what kindness is, so that they would seek it.
We want them to have a taste of what genuine love is, so that they would settle for nothing less.
We want them to catch a glimpse of beauty so that they wouldn’t settle for ugliness anymore.
Freedom - the day when everyone sits under their own vine and under their own fig tree without fear.
And that is EXACTLY what Jesus came for.
This is why when he says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...” He is pointing at himself, and again asking that deep, deep question -
“What do you really want...”
I want to be set free from this body of sin and death so that I can serve you with a free conscience.
“And why do you want that?”
Because I want to be beautiful. I want to be wise. I want to be accepted. I want to be loved.
I want to belong. I want to be noticed. I want to be free.
Because I think I have something beautiful in me that is longing to be free - so I want you to set me free.
Now do you begin to understand how to treat others? What if we treated our wives, our husbands, our friends, our neighbors - the same way. Just as if they were already free, so that they might long for something with hope, instead of darkness.
But we far too often think that what we really need is to tell people what to do.
If we only had the women submissive, like they are supposed to be.
If only the sinners were kept in control by the law.
If only religious leaders would tell people what to do more often.
(Ten Commandments example) - kids won’t keep the commandments if they don’t say them every Sunday.
Pooh. Does that work for YOU?
Why would it work for others?
In fact, that was has been tried since Cain. Work harder, produce more, offer a better sacrifice than that guy.
It’s the wide lane. It looks like me and people just like me.
The keep the right sort of laws, wear the right sort of clothes, avoid the wrong sort of people, and eventually they will get to the perfect city, where all of the riffraff will be excluded.
But Jesus says, “That lane leads to destruction.”
The gate that leads to eternal life is narrow. We don’t see it because we are looking for a gate that fits ourselves. But this gate looks like Jesus, and so we miss it.
The only way to enter the narrow gate is to strip down all of those things that we think will give us our heart’s desires, and stand before God vulnerable, naked, oppressed, and desperately longing to be free - and at the same time, knowing that we cannot break these chains ourselves.
That’s the gate that most people miss.
Because they are looking for the gate where they are in charge, they are leading their flock into the perfect world where everyone looks like me - we aren’t in bondage to anyone. We are the free ones, the real ones, the humans. And we are doing just fine.
The only ones who see the narrow gate are the ones who know that they aren’t doing fine at all.
They are in bondage, broken, wounded and helpless before enemies - so they fall at the narrow gate, which looks like a cross, not a crown.
And that is the way to eternal life.
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