August 19, 2001
If You Only Knew the Father – Part 5
INTRODUCTION
Last year, a movie was released called “Pay It Forward.” How many of you have seen it?
A couple of months ago, I finally took Greg Boldt’s advice and rented it. An evening well spent.
In the movie, a boy, played by Haley Joel Osment has a social studies assignment to find a way to change the world. His idea - Do something good for someone that they can’t do for themselves, then that person pays it forward.
As at catches on we see people engaging in acts of kindness to others only to say, “Don’t pay me back – I’m looking for nothing in return – pay it forward. Find three other people and do something for them.”
Essentially, the heart of “Pay It Forward” is the Golden Rule. It’s something Jesus thought of 2000 years ago, and if taken seriously, it can still change the world today. Jesus doesn’t suggest we limit our actions to just to three people – but to adopt it as a way of treating everyone we meet.
**READ TEXT – MATTHEW 7:12**
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
That statement of Jesus is commonly called the Golden Rule, and the Big Idea for us capture in it is this:
Big Idea: I will take the initiative to do something good for another person.
TRANSITION: If this is to happen, we’re going to have to embrace the Golden Rule in three ways. #1, we have to…
I. VIEW THE RULE POSITIVELY
…Do to others what you would have them do to you…
In many other religions the rule is stated negatively.
Most notably is a story of an event that took place in 20 B.C. That is, around 50 years prior to Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. The tale was told of a Gentile (a non-Jewish person) who approached Rabbi Hillel and his rival teacher of wisdom. The Gentile promised each that he would convert to Judaism if one of them could teach him the entire Law while standing on one foot.
So Rabbi Hillel said this: “Do not do to your fellow what you hate to have done to you. This is the whole law; the rest is explanation.” (A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Craig S. Keener, p. 249)
That incident would have been legendary by the time of Jesus, like I said, just 50 years later. Every Jew would have heard about that and probably even repeated it a few times.
So Jesus takes a very familiar statement and turns it around – so that it is no longer stated negatively, but positively.
I was trying to think of something said in our culture 50 years ago that has become legendary. And I thought of what John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address of 1961.
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
What if someone today said, “Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country can do for you.” Big difference. And you would easily see the impact of what the person is saying because of the familiarity of the statement he is changing.
Think of what Jesus is saying to his crowd on the mountain. There is a big difference between do not do to others what you don’t want done to you and do to others what you would have them do to you. And his hearers could not have possibly missed it.
If you don’t see the difference yet, let me give you an example…
Let’s say someone has been in a coma their entire life. Born comatose and lived their whole life in that condition. (I don’t know if that’s possible, but for the moment let’s pretend it is). At that person’s funeral we could say, “What a great man. He never stole, he never lied, he never lusted, he never once lashed out in anger.” All of that would be very true.
Another person might say, “Sure, but on the other hand, he never gave sacrificially, never once complimented anyone, never offered a shoulder to cry on and never ever said thank you.” All of that would be true as well.
A person in a coma has a pretty good excuse for inactivity. We have excuse. “Do not do to others what you don’t want done,” can be observed by anyone – no initiative is needed whatsoever.
That kind of rule can be obeyed by simply sitting still and vegging out – and by the way, this kind of rule lacks the fortitude to change the world.
But stated positively, “Do to others what you would have them do to you” – This requires a pulse – this requires conscious and concentrated effort. This gets us out of bed and fills – This is counter-cultural and revolutionary.
Margaret E. Sangster captures the difference between the positive and negative treatments of the Golden Rule in her poem called, “The Sin of Omission.”
It isn’t the thing you do, dear,
It’s the thing you leave undone
That gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flowers you did not send, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother’s way;
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle, winning tone
Which you had no time nor thought for
With troubles enough of your own.
(In The Book of Virtures, ed. By William J. Bennett, p. 138-139)
If our rule is don’t do to others what we hate we neglect doing for them what we love. So Jesus says, Look beyond the negative form of the rule. No glory in observing that alone. Be positive in your approach to godliness. Do to others what you’d want done.
TRANSITION: Second way we have to embrace the Golden Rule if we are to take initiative to do good. We have to…
II. UNDERSTAND THE RULE COMPREHENSIVELY
Jesus said this rule…
…sums up the Law and the Prophets.
What did He mean by that? It sums up the Law and the Prophets. The Sermon on the Mount shows us the answer…
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)
Look what Jesus spent time talking about next. The Old Testament Law and how it was not accurately being observed by the people who assumed they were the most religious.
5:21 - Don’t murder – stated negatively. The fulfillment of that law? Verses 23-26 – DO be reconciled to the person at odds with you.
5:27 – Don’t commit adultery – Again stated negatively – Jesus said, “I’m not abolishing that law – but you’re not fulfilling it when you lust. The fulfillment is DO – love other people as brothers and sisters instead of sex objects.”
5:31 – Don’t divorce without a certificate – Jesus said – DO what you’d want done to you – be faithful to your spouse!
5:33 – Don’t break your oath – Jesus says, “Here’s something better – DO be a person of your word. Just say what you mean and mean what you say – that’s how you would want others to talk to you.”
5:38 – Don’t leave retribution undone – eye for eye and tooth for tooth – Jesus says, “That kind of justice is for the law courts. DO be a forgiving person and a giving person.”
5:43 – Don’t show love to your enemy – Jesus says, “DO be perfect. God loves those who don’t love him. Treat them the way you want to be treated.”
When Jesus says, “this sums up the law and the prophets,” He’s telling us that the person who consistently lives according to the Golden Rule is keeping all the regulations in Scripture directing one’s conduct toward other people.
The Rule, when understood comprehensively, allows us to keep all of the rules in the Law concerning how others should be treated.
It enables us totally and holistically to fulfill God’s righteous requirements for relationships in one sentence.
TRANSITION: To embrace the truth the of the Golden Rule, #3, we have to…
III. FOLLOW THE RULE DAILY
Jesus says to do this…
In everything…
The principle must guide our day to day treatment of others.
Living by the Golden Rule prevents the need for laying down and endless list of little rules and regulations to govern conduct.
Think what the person would like, then do it.
ILLUS - Let me read you a piece of anonymous e-mail that sometimes gets forwarded among friends. It’s a parable for all of us. A person learned from a cat what it means to love as we want to be loved.
Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and shall we say, love. The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their affect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one eye, and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner. His tail had long since been lost, leaving only the smallest stub, which he would constantly jerk and twitch. Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby-striped type cat, except for the sores covering his head, neck and even his shoulders with thick, yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. “That’s one UGLY cat!!”
All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction. If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around feet in forgiveness. Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.
One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor’s huskies. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled. From my apartment I could hear his screams, and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Ugly’s sad life was almost at an end. Ugly lay in a wet circle, his back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down his front. As I picked him up and tried to carry him home I could hear him wheezing and gasping, and could feel him struggling. I must be hurting him terribly I thought.
Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear. Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head. Then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring. Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battle-scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.
At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.
Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterward, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly. Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful.
He had been scarred on the outside. But I was scarred on the inside. And it was time for me to move on and learn to love truly and deeply. To give my total to those I cared for.
Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful. But for me, I will always try to be Ugly.
Even in our pain it is possible to give to others what we would have them give to us. To do for them what we’d done.
Ugly just did what he would want done to himself. And his actions changed the heart of a person who needed to show greater love.
Jesus knows we can change the world. Do to others what you would have them to do you. Don’t wait for them to do something for you. Take the initiative.
You want to be forgiven? Forgive!
You need affirmation? Affirm!
You feel hurt, wounded, broken and could stand a gentle touch? Be gentle with others!
You appreciate tact? Be tactful!
You enjoy a nice compliment? Compliment others!
The Golden Rule will transform our actions. If we truly apply it, we’d never be mean, always generous, never harsh, always understanding, never cruel, always kind.
I’d love to be like that wouldn’t you?
Sound impossible? It is without the grace of God.
In the storyline of the movie “Pay It Forward,” people first needed to have something done for them by someone else before they passed a good deed along. That’s not all that different from our relationship to God.
He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die for us – to do something for us that we could never do – that is be cleansed of our sins. He demonstrated the ultimate love, and now He asks us to “pay it forward.” Do to others what you would have them do to you.”
APPLICATION ACTIVITY:
Find something to write on – get a pen.
Write down the name of someone you know. The first name that comes to mind.
Let’s make it our assignment this week to take the initiative to do something for them that we’d want done to us.
TRANSITION: Because taking the initiative is the heart of the Golden of the Rule.
CONCLUSION
One of the hottest Christian music groups on college campuses today is known as Caedmon’s Call. They write music, not for nonbelievers but for Christians who are trying to be disciples of Jesus.
They call themselves a “spiritual band.” They play acoustic folk music. Their name comes from an ancient tale from the seventh and eighth century about an obscure figure named Caedmon, a man who could not sing. Whenever singing was required, he ran away.
One day, after running away, he heard the voice of God telling him to sing. He said “No.” Then the voice came again: “Sing.” This time Caedmon opened his mouth, and to his surprise he sang verses he had never heard before. These songs were so beautiful singers and songwriters tried to imitate them. But no one could match the splendor and majesty, since the songs Caedmon sang came as a gift from God.
The songs of the group Caedmon’s Call are a gift to the church.
For example, their tune “This World” is a reminder of to us of the opportunities God is giving us before taking us home. The first stanza says...
There’s tarnish on the golden rule
And I want to jump from this ship of fools
Show me a place where hope is young
And a people who are not afraid to love.
Will this church be known as a place where “hope is young, and people who are not afraid to love”?
Will we be known as a people who rub the tarnish off the Golden Rule?
Go into the world to make it a place where “hope is young.”
Go into the world and be a person who is “not afraid to love.”
