Jesus IS the Golden Rule (Radio / Podcast)

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

The Golden Rule is consistent with the other components of Christ’s teaching as revealed in the Gospel accounts (Matthew 22:37‑40). Moreover, the personal character of Jesus Himself was a living commentary on the rule in action.

Matthew 5:17 – Jesus is the embodiment of this, He fulfilled this

Matthew 5:19-20, 48 – He wasn’t relaxing He was advancing – He is perfect, His righteousness did exceed the Pharisees, and everyone else – Jesus is the opposite of the false ways

He said have no fear what others may do to you, He had no fear

He could have destroyed them but didn’t (my kingdom not of this world, a legion of angels, the only reason you can keep me is because I allow it, blew men down before they arrested Him)

Forgive them they don’t know what they do

He challenged them even though He knew this would bring trouble

He didn’t let others keep Him from doing God’s will

He gave to those who didn’t give back

He knew what they would do but He did it anyway

We cannot simply say, “Go out and live in perfect obedience to everything God said and then you will be like Jesus." If anyone could do that, then Jesus was not the unique Son of God. True saving and sanctifying faith are not found in self-sacrifice, they are found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You need Jesus or you will not be able to walk the road, and we walk it by faith, knowing that He has accomplished the walk for us, and when you fall He lifts you up, it is not your walk, your good works, it is His, but we follow Him along that path because we are saying we have faith, that this is the right way and we follow the righteous One. Jesus IS the Golden Rule, the way the truth and the life of it.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Living the Golden Rule (Radio / Podcast)

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

This Golden Rule is the summation of all that had gone on before it, and we see that there is a road to this is as seen in the Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount starts. The Beatitudes reveal 7 qualities that reflect the spiritual life God desires for His people. These 7 “blessings” are markers along the road to the Golden Rule. In order to be able to live out the Golden Rule as our rule of life, we need to follow along the path that these blessings point to.

5:3 – the walk starts with brokenness, realizing our lack of strength to live as we ought
5:4 – repentance towards God
5:5 – humility
5:6 – hunger for God
5:7 – merciful
5:8 – purity leads to vision, you can see the fruit, and we are being set free from selfish sins
5:9 – James 3:13-18 – we sow because we love as God intended as the Golden Rule teaches
10-16 – they try and douse your flame but it remains this is living it out

We have broken hearts because of misunderstanding these things, and we need God to help us in order to help others through these things. Do unto others as you would have wanted them to do back when you were in that situation, even when people didn’t do you right, now turn that around, Christian, and do others right, this is living the Golden Rule.

He loves us even though we mess up. God doesn’t mess up, but He allows us to go through trying circumstances, and so we often feel like He does mess it up for us, but so do we still love Him? We must admit that the answer is often no, not really, but the beauty of God is that He gives us a chance. Even when we fail on our end of the bargain He still holds up His and we can see that He loves us more than we love Him. He has a greater love and we worship Him for it and become more like Him because of it. We would do Him the ultimate wrong (If you could kill God would you do it, would we kill Him again?) and yet He does us ultimately right, we can learn to see as Paul did (Philippians 3:8) and as Jesus taught us (John 12:24).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Perverting the Golden Rule (Radio / Podcast)

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

Many people espouse their version of the “Golden Rule”. However, the Golden Rule is NOT…

· Do unto others or they will do unto you (fear)

· Do unto others before they do unto you (malice)

· Do unto others because they have done unto you (retaliation)

· I won’t do unto others so that they won’t do unto me. (The silver rule often has been described as “the golden rule in a negative form.” It is the golden rule without the gold. “What you do not wish done to you, do not do to others.” This has found expression in the literature of many different cultures. Sayings like this forbid much, but they command nothing. Many people live by the principle of the silver rule: “It’s not my problem”; “it’s no skin off my nose”; “mind your own business”; and “take care of ‘number one’ ”. You might let yourself off the hook and think you are doing the golden rule by being loose with others, but it really is only so as to give yourself room to sin. The positive form is more telling than its negative counterpart, for it speaks against sins of omission as well as sins of commission. The goats in Matthew 25:31‑46 would be acquitted under the negative form. The negative confines us to the region of justice; the positive takes us into the region of generosity or grace. It isn’t “I want them to leave me alone” it is positive. It is not I’ll do unto others who can do back unto me (Luke 14:12-14) Mercy – helping someone that cannot pay you back it is not just don’t do, but do

· Do unto others as they would have you do (godlessness) – wrong it is not higher than Golden rule, a criminal wouldn’t want you to turn them in

· Do unto others so that they will do unto you (selfishness) (we should do it because we love, not for purchasing love or a desired reaction, thinking we deserve, driven by the desire to be satisfied, this one wears a subtle mask, radical flaw, we do things and expect them to do to us, or recognition, etc.)

· I won’t do unto others because they won’t do unto me (bitterness)

It is universal (whatever) / It requires action (do also to them) / It is grounded in divine revelation (this is the Law and the Prophets)

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Jesus IS the Golden Rule

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

The Golden Rule is consistent with the other components of Christ’s teaching as revealed in the Gospel accounts (Matthew 22:37‑40). Moreover, the personal character of Jesus Himself was a living commentary on the rule in action.

Matthew 5:17 – Jesus is the embodiment of this, He fulfilled this

Matthew 5:19-20, 48 – He wasn’t relaxing He was advancing – He is perfect, His righteousness did exceed the Pharisees, and everyone else – Jesus is the opposite of the false ways

He said have no fear what others may do to you, He had no fear

He could have destroyed them but didn’t (my kingdom not of this world, a legion of angels, the only reason you can keep me is because I allow it, blew men down before they arrested Him)

Forgive them they don’t know what they do

He challenged them even though He knew this would bring trouble

He didn’t let others keep Him from doing God’s will

He gave to those who didn’t give back

He knew what they would do but He did it anyway

We cannot simply say, “Go out and live in perfect obedience to everything God said and then you will be like Jesus." If anyone could do that, then Jesus was not the unique Son of God. True saving and sanctifying faith are not found in self-sacrifice, they are found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You need Jesus or you will not be able to walk the road, and we walk it by faith, knowing that He has accomplished the walk for us, and when you fall He lifts you up, it is not your walk, your good works, it is His, but we follow Him along that path because we are saying we have faith, that this is the right way and we follow the righteous One. Jesus IS the Golden Rule, the way the truth and the life of it.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Living the Golden Rule

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

This Golden Rule is the summation of all that had gone on before it, and we see that there is a road to this is as seen in the Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount starts. The Beatitudes reveal 7 qualities that reflect the spiritual life God desires for His people. These 7 “blessings” are markers along the road to the Golden Rule. In order to be able to live out the Golden Rule as our rule of life, we need to follow along the path that these blessings point to.

5:3 – the walk starts with brokenness, realizing our lack of strength to live as we ought
5:4 – repentance towards God
5:5 – humility
5:6 – hunger for God
5:7 – merciful
5:8 – purity leads to vision, you can see the fruit, and we are being set free from selfish sins
5:9 – James 3:13-18 – we sow because we love as God intended as the Golden Rule teaches
10-16 – they try and douse your flame but it remains this is living it out

We have broken hearts because of misunderstanding these things, and we need God to help us in order to help others through these things. Do unto others as you would have wanted them to do back when you were in that situation, even when people didn’t do you right, now turn that around, Christian, and do others right, this is living the Golden Rule.

He loves us even though we mess up. God doesn’t mess up, but He allows us to go through trying circumstances, and so we often feel like He does mess it up for us, but so do we still love Him? We must admit that the answer is often no, not really, but the beauty of God is that He gives us a chance. Even when we fail on our end of the bargain He still holds up His and we can see that He loves us more than we love Him. He has a greater love and we worship Him for it and become more like Him because of it. We would do Him the ultimate wrong (If you could kill God would you do it, would we kill Him again?) and yet He does us ultimately right, we can learn to see as Paul did (Philippians 3:8) and as Jesus taught us (John 12:24).

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Perverting the Golden Rule

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12 – ESV)

Many people espouse their version of the “Golden Rule”. However, the Golden Rule is NOT…

· Do unto others or they will do unto you (fear)

· Do unto others before they do unto you (malice)

· Do unto others because they have done unto you (retaliation)

· I won’t do unto others so that they won’t do unto me. (The silver rule often has been described as “the golden rule in a negative form.” It is the golden rule without the gold. “What you do not wish done to you, do not do to others.” This has found expression in the literature of many different cultures. Sayings like this forbid much, but they command nothing. Many people live by the principle of the silver rule: “It’s not my problem”; “it’s no skin off my nose”; “mind your own business”; and “take care of ‘number one’ ”. You might let yourself off the hook and think you are doing the golden rule by being loose with others, but it really is only so as to give yourself room to sin. The positive form is more telling than its negative counterpart, for it speaks against sins of omission as well as sins of commission. The goats in Matthew 25:31‑46 would be acquitted under the negative form. The negative confines us to the region of justice; the positive takes us into the region of generosity or grace. It isn’t “I want them to leave me alone” it is positive. It is not I’ll do unto others who can do back unto me (Luke 14:12-14) Mercy – helping someone that cannot pay you back it is not just don’t do, but do

· Do unto others as they would have you do (godlessness) – wrong it is not higher than Golden rule, a criminal wouldn’t want you to turn them in

· Do unto others so that they will do unto you (selfishness) (we should do it because we love, not for purchasing love or a desired reaction, thinking we deserve, driven by the desire to be satisfied, this one wears a subtle mask, radical flaw, we do things and expect them to do to us, or recognition, etc.)

· I won’t do unto others because they won’t do unto me (bitterness)

It is universal (whatever) / It requires action (do also to them) / It is grounded in divine revelation (this is the Law and the Prophets)

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©