MOVING AWAY FROM COMFORT TOWARDS OTHERS NEEDS THROUGH THE GOLDEN RULE Part 2

“So [or: therefore] whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12

Last week I wrote that Jesus demands from us a radical new way to live, to move away from the pursuit of our personal comfort, and instead, to move towards others needs. We find this in His profound calling for His followers in one of the most famous verses in the Bible. We know it as the Golden Rule: a name given to this passage around the 17th century. If Jesus commands this, then something unbelievably powerful and earthshaking and reconstructing and overturning and upending will have to happen in our souls. Something supernatural. Something well beyond what self-preserving, self-centered, self-enhancing, self-exalting, self-esteeming, self-advancing, fallen human beings like me can do on my own.

When it comes o relating to others, what does fallen sinful man naturally do? What is their code of relationship? "Do to others as they do to you - treat them as they have treated you." Or "Do to others so that they will do to you." Or “Do unto others before they do unto you." Or "Do unto others and split." Or “Do unto others who can somehow benefit me in my doing unto them”. Or "Do to others but I expect to be reciprocated by you. (I’m keeping score here)" Or “Do unto others what you would like to receive for themselves. (Like the man who bought his wife a ping pong table for Christmas. Honey I was only thinking of you!) The most dangerous view of all comes out of religious performance, works, duty oriented Christianity which says, "Do to others so that God will do unto you” But Jesus said it plain and simple, "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

The main thing I want you to see is that the word "so" at the beginning of verse 12 implies three things:

1) You can’t live the Golden Rule—treat others the way you would like to be treated—without experiencing the truth of verses 7-11, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 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!" What I mean is, without the deep confidence that your Father has given you and will give you every good thing you really need.

2) If you really experience the truth of verses 7-11; the assurance that your heavenly Father meets all your real needs; you will have the inner freedom and desire to live the Golden Rule: to do the good to others that you would like them to do for you.

3) The reason the Golden Rule fulfils the law and prophets is that it assumes the love of the Golden Rule in verse 12 is all flowing from faith in the work of the love of Jesus Christ on the cross to ransom us by his blood and secure for us God’s mercy and everlasting Fatherhood.

All of that is implied in the word so—

SO...

1) If you really treasure your heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you, then you can live for others.

2) If you really treasure your heavenly Father who meets all your needs by only giving you what is good for you, then you will live for others.

3) If your living for others flows from trusting in your Father through the Messiah, Jesus, who paid your ransom and forgave your sins, then this kind of life fulfills all that the law and the prophets were aiming at and frees us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

In other-wards, all the things that we long for and need: joy, happiness, hope, love, security, safety, fulfillment, and significance is found in God alone through Christ who freely, generously, joyfully gives us all we need and satisfies us heart, soul, mind, and strength; and with that great discovery-that God is the never ending bread of life and living water, and provider of all good gifts –the way we love others is forever changed. I am free!

Doing to others what you would have them do to you is moving from comfort toward need as Jesus Christ has moved from His comfort towards your need. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (I John 3:16) Jesus has given us the motivation, the desire, the provision, and the power to care for others by revealing to us the Father's heart and the Father's provision. We are freed to care for others because God has revealed His care for us. Knowing that our needs have been met by the Father and will be met as we ask, seek, and knock frees us to reach out to help meet the needs of others. Being recipients of the father's love frees us to love. You have a Father in heaven who, because of Christ’s work, only gives his children what is good for them.

Therefore, love people persistently. Treat them the way you would like to be treated. Your Fathers’ blood-bought care for you is the spring of your moving from comfort towards need. If you experience him as this kind of Father, you will love people like this.

To be continued next week: HOW DO WE LIVE THE GOLDEN RULE?
Pastor Bill