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KingJimmy
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Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule

by

Jimmy Humphrey

Opening the door for a complete stranger; Picking up your plate after dinner so your wife doesn’t have to; Telling somebody “thank you” after they ring up your groceries; Lending somebody your pickup truck so they can move some furniture; Promptly returning phone calls and text messages; Speaking kindly to somebody who is chewing you out; Promptly apologizing for doing something that was even remotely rude or inconsiderate; Showing up on time when meeting a friend for coffee; Letting somebody else go in front of you at the check-out lane; Listening fully and attentively to somebody, and never cutting them off mid-sentence in a conversation; Giving people the benefit of the doubt; Letting somebody have the last piece of cake at dinner; Allowing somebody else to have the best parking spot at the mall; Discovering money laying on the ground, and trying to return it to the original owner.

My opening paragraph doesn’t exactly seem like an earth shattering theological statement, does it? You don’t exactly go to Bible-college or seminary to learn these sorta things. To look at it, you might think I have simply rambled on a never ending list of good manners. But if you were to look more closely, I am convinced you would see at once the earth shattering theology that is being preached here.

This opening paragraph is perhaps some of the greatest theology one could hope to preach. It is a theology that escapes the minds of most systematic theologians. Yet, it is a theology that Jesus Christ said was the sum of everything that the Law and the Prophets ever talked about. It is a theology of life, and namely, life as a disciple in the kingdom of God.

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12; NASB)

A statement such as this goes beyond merely exhorting us to have good manners and treat people nicely. A statement such as this gets to the heart of who we are as people, and addresses the fundamental orientation of our sinful natures. Namely, it addresses the orientation that we have to put ourselves above others— an orientation that has created the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. And wherever this god exists, you will find somebody who acts out of nothing but greedy self-interest, and making sure they invest themselves fully into the most important person in their lives: me.

To truly walk in the mindset Christ teaches in this verse would require a change of our hearts and minds. It would require a spiritual revolution, and force you to embrace an orientation where you put the welfare, concerns, and interests of others above our own. To treat people the same way you would want them to treat you requires that you go about your daily life with eyes and ears wide open, living with the attitude and mindset of somebody who is a servant of others instead of a servant of self. To be such a person, one must embrace the cross, suffer, and ultimately die to self. To be such a person is to live in the imitation of Jesus Christ.

And I would argue, perhaps to your theological disliking, that if you fail to do things like I talked about in my opening paragraph, such as open the door for strangers, showing up on time for coffee with a friend, or allowing somebody to cut in front of you in line at the grocery store, you are possibly on your way to hell.

Now, I know that probably doesn’t seem like a very nice thing to say. It probably even seems like heresy, especially to those of you who may be much more Reformed in your theology than I am. But it is good theology just the same, and trumps whatever your favorite systematic theologians have said about the doctrines of grace, or salvation by faith alone apart from the works of the law. I believe your protest about such a theology shows how ignorant you in fact are of the doctrines of grace, and how you have yet to have a true revelation of them. Your knowledge of such doctrines is merely mechanical, mathematical, and nothing but a dead scheme. It is something you have memorized by wrote, but have probably yet to understand or experience in actuality.

For Christ said that the Law and the Prophets, which is to say “the entirety of Scripture,” could be summarized by saying that we are to treat others as we want to be treated. This summary is inclusive of your doctrines of grace and salvation by faith alone. For the truth of the matter is, if you truly have experienced grace, and have truly come to an actual saving faith in Jesus Christ, you will experience the supernatural miracle of the new birth in your life, that brings with it a true change of your heart and mind. If you are truly saved, God will do a work in you in which you are crucified with Christ and are raised again with Him to walk in the newness of life. It will be a life in which Christ is on the throne of your heart, which in turn causes you to put others before yourself.

Of course, none of us do this perfectly. And none of us are without room to grow in this regard. But if God has truly begun a work in your heart that He will complete unto the day of Christ Jesus, then it will be demonstrated in the real nuts and bolts of theology, that is, in your daily living. For salvation and discipleship cannot be divorced from one another. If the things of God have really happened to you, then they will demonstrate themselves through the way you live. And if you are not living this sort of life, it is evidence that you have not truly been saved. For if you have truly been saved, then you will have entered into a new way of living.

To further reinforce this teaching, the Lord continued on in the very next two verses:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

We often quote this verse entirely out of context, and explain it by means of quoting verses from the gospel of John about Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life, and how Jesus is the gate that leads to salvation. And while those things are true, contextually, that would be a misinterpretation to these two verses here. For these two verses, in their proper context, come immediately after the preceding verse about treating others as you want to be treated, and serve as some of the concluding statements Jesus makes in His famous “Sermon on the Mount.” This sermon is a sermon that is consumed describing what an actual righteous person looks like in their theology, heart, and in their daily living.

And the righteous person that Jesus so describes in this sermon is one, who, after examining the Law and the Prophets with the Lord, has by means of the grace of God, experienced this radical reorientation of the heart. They realize apart from grace, they cannot be the person Jesus describes in His sermon. For, in order to become a person who puts others before themselves, one cannot become such a person by making a personal resolution and trying really hard to be super nice. For no matter how hard you try to be super nice and to put others before yourself, you will be nothing more than a self-absorbed sinner at the end of the day.

What is needed to become such a person, who lives in such a way? What is needed is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. One needs to actually experience the saving work of Jesus Christ in their lives. It is a work in where God not only declares you righteous on the basis of faith, it is a work that transforms a sinner into a saint, and dethrones our selfish human nature so that we can truly put others before ourselves. It is the result of the inward work of the Holy Spirit, who has changed the fundamental spiritual constitution of a man, and removed the heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. It is a work that changes bad trees producing bad fruit into good trees producing good fruit.

Such a transformation doesn’t come from trying really hard to perfectly keep 613 laws every single day, as the Pharisees did. For in doing such, you will still be nothing more than a selfish sinner like you were yesterday. You will still be nothing more than a son of Adam. Rather, such a transformation comes from Christ, and Christ alone. He alone can change you into a son and daughter of God. He alone can breathe life into your dead body. He alone can save you and put you on the straight and narrow path in which true life is found.

For if you try in your own strength and your own power to do these things, and you will begin to walk a path that makes you nothing more than a greater sinner with every step you take. Your heart will be further hardened, and you will become twice the son of hell. You will pretend, as many do, especially here in the South, to be nice and courteous, and looking out for the needs of others over that of yourself. But it will be nothing more than an act. And pretending to be such a person will only make you all the more selfish and greedy. Internally, you will fan the flames of hate inside of you, which will manifest itself in slander, backbiting, and gossip. Puffed up, you will think yourself “the bigger man” for taking such a “high road” in life, and “inconveniencing” yourself for the sake of others.

With such a dangerous attitude being the result of attempting to fake such a lifestyle, is it no wonder the sages have called the command to treat others as you would have them treat you, the “golden rule.” For a person who truly does these things from heart is somebody who has something truly valuable, precious, and rare. They have been saved “to the uttermost.” They have experienced the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, which comes from being rightly saved and related to God. They have been given a heart like no other. They have been given a heart of gold. And a heart of gold is the most valuable thing in all of the world.

A man who lives by the golden rule will be a blessing to all he encounters. He will instantly change the atmosphere of whatever room he is in. For the room he enters is filled with men whose hearts are bent on looking out for numero uno, and treating others in ways that only satisfy their own selfish agendas. His heart is not so bent. Rather, the man who lives by the golden rule is driven by a desire to take advantage of no one. He is driven by the desire to make a tangible difference in the life of everybody he encounters, for he knows he would want to be treated by people in such a way himself.

The man who lives such a way exposes himself to some inherit risks. Cunning men will likely find such a man gullible, and look to take advantage of his charitable spirit. And the man with a golden heart may eventually become aware that they are to some degree being used and abused. He might be perceived by others as something of a push over, because he never raises a stink about being mistreated. Instead, he continues to be gentle and kind, and treating others mercifully. If others should bring this abuse to his attention, you may hear such a man make what sound like “excuses” for his abusers. But in reality, this man is just treating others as he would want to be treated.

And why should he strike back in retribution? Why should he attempt to play the same game everybody else is playing? Why should he have to assert himself, and watch out for his own rights? Why should he have to live for himself alone? A man who walks according to the golden rule is a man who realizes that God has treated him other than how he deserves to be treated. A man who walks according to the golden rule realizes that Jesus Christ allowed Himself to die a sinners death in his place. A man who walks according to the golden rule is one that realizes the great grace that has been multiplied unto him. He realizes that God is looking out for his own interests. The man who walks according to the golden rule is the man who is ultimately looking to treat others, not merely as he wants to be treated, but he treats others as God has in fact treated him.

http://www.iamadisciple.com/articles/the_golden_rule.php


_________________
Jimmy H

 2012/1/2 15:14Profile
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re: The Golden Rule

Considering the nature of posts lately, I thought I'd "bump" this for "edification" value :-)


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Jimmy H

 2012/1/14 8:10Profile





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