Do Unto Others: Matthew 7:12

[Music] good morning again everybody if you will open up your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 if you didn't bring a Bible well next time you come bring one it's important to bring a Bible in to follow along you need to check up with me and make sure I'm really teaching it to you honest from what the pages of the Bible say but then the next thing you need to do is if you don't have Bible maybe you could look over somebody's shoulder on the person next to you we're gonna take a look at one verse today from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 now normally on Sundays and Wednesday nights at our services here at Calvary Chapel we're teaching verse by verse through books of the Bible and sometimes people think well if you do that then what about special occasions and sometimes for a special occasion will make a special topical message or something like that it's not that we're afraid of or think the topical messages are bad we just want the foundation of our teaching work and preaching work here to be verse by verse through books of the Bible but sometimes God has it planned out so well so I'm thinking what am I gonna do on this one particular Sunday when I want to make the message shorter so instead of like my normal our sermon I'm gonna cut it down to 55 minutes this morning no actually I'm shooting more for about 20 minutes here this morning because we got the children in with us and I think we can get to the point here in enough time to make it about a twenty minute message but what would I teach on well this is the text that comes up before us it's one that probably you're already familiar with something we call the golden rule alright now let me set the stage here for you when Jesus taught this he was seated on a hillside that sloped up from the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee and we don't know what time of year exactly he did this there's different speculation about it but if it was a time when it's a little bit spring or maybe coming into the fall when the rains had come there would be green grass everywhere and flowers growing up the picture that you see up on our video screen right now that's a picture taken from that act spot because when we take tours to Israel and we've got one coming up in just a couple of months when we take tours to Israel we love to go to this spot and talk about the Sermon on the Mount because there at this place Jesus sat down well everybody else stood because that's how they did it in those days look how different we are today I'm standing and you all are sitting but in those days the teachers sat and everybody listening to him stood and he taught people what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus what it meant to be one of his followers it's as if Jesus saying you want to know what my kingdom is like this is what it's like you want to know what it means to be one of my followers one of my disciples I'll tell you right here and he tells us in something wonderful that we call the Sermon on the Mount now the section of the Sermon on the Mount that we're going to look at today is only one verse but it's a big one for a lot of people it's the most memorable verse from the entire Sermon on the Mount and this comes at the end of a section where Jesus spoke about how his disciples the citizens of his kingdom how they should treat other people not long before this Jesus spoke about how his disciples should not be harsh and judgmental towards others we talked about that a couple of weeks ago in the beginning of Matthew chapter 7 now in a few weeks we're gonna finish the Sermon on the Mount and we're coming into a section where Jesus is gonna call his disciples to make a choice and that life is all about choices that's going to be over the next couple of weeks but here we want to focus in on this one statement which is essentially a summary of what Jesus taught about how we should teach each other so how should we teach each other Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 therefore whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets whatever you want men to do to you whatever you want other people to do towards you that's how you should be towards them how you want people to act towards you that's how you should act towards them it's very simple isn't it but oh how powerful it is now there's one thing I have to say from the very beginning please remember the Sermon on the Mount is not about how to get to heaven we'll talk about that in a little bit the Sermon on the Mount is not fundamentally about how to get to heaven the Sermon on the Mount is about how people on their way to heaven should live so if you consider yourself on your way to heaven this applies to you if you don't consider yourself on your way to heaven then we should talk about that but please this is how those who are on their way to heaven should live and how should they live I'll read the verse again therefore whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets now in some ways what Jesus taught here was nothing new other religious teachers in different areas of the world and especially in ancient Judaism of Jesus's day had taught the same thing this principle was around before Jesus ever said it but what's fascinating is is that as far as we know Jesus was the first person to put it in the positive in other words this principle existed in the negative and people understood it this is known especially from a story about a famous Jewish rabbi named rabbi Hillel you see one day a Gentile someone who's not Jewish a Gentile came to rabbi Hillel and challenge the teacher this is what he said he said rabbi summarize the law for me but do it while I'm standing on one leg that's like The Karate Kid theology challenge or you know the Flamingo karate challenge or something theology John says you got to tell me the law while I'm standing on one leg and this is what rabbi Hillel said I can't even stand on one leg for very long he said what is hateful to you do not to anyone else this is the whole law the rest is commentary that's what rabbi Hillel said now in a way it's the same thing that Jesus later said in a way but I want you to notice what rabbi Hillel said in his one-legged theology which it actually was a great statement he said what you don't want other people to do to you don't do that to other people you don't want anybody coming along and spilling their coffee on your lap on the floor it's okay on your lap no so don't spill your coffee on anybody else's lap you don't want somebody come along and to stomp on your foot so don't stomp on anybody else's foot it's a very plain thing what you don't want other people to do to you don't do that to others what Jesus did was he took this principle that had existed before and he spun it around into the positive because you see what Jesus said he said whatever you want men to do to you do also to them Jesus made such an important and significant advance on this to put it in the positive what you want other people to do to you do that to other people he made the command so much broader in doing that okay it's the difference like this you're driving down the road let's say you're driving on the 101 freeway and you can say I'm not breaking traffic laws okay good but do you help a stranded motorist you see you could say okay I don't do the negative but do you do the positive or how about this one it's the difference between saying um I'm not gonna steal your ice cream and saying would you like some of my ice cream big difference between the two putting it and the positive makes all the difference because frankly I would like you to share your ice cream with me so that's the way I should treat you I should be willing to share my ice cream with you do unto others as you would have them do unto you and this principle of the golden rule whatever you want men to do to you do also to them it especially applies just to the relationships and the friendships that we have one with another if we would experience love and have more people reach out to us we must love other people and reach out to them more is it a plane so the person who sits around and maybe legitimately so I'm not saying they're whining or complaining when they say this but legitimately so they say this I wish people would love me more I wish people would reach out to me more what does Jesus say to them go out love somebody go ahead and reach out to somebody this is what Jesus says if you want other people to treat you that way treat them that way first so if you want to be respected what should you do you should be respectful towards other people if you want to have others speak well of you what should you do you should speak well of other people if you want to have friends what did you do you should be friendly to other people if you want to receive grace from others what should you do you should be gracious unto them now this is so simple it's so fundamental but how often it gets crossed up or confused in our minds in our minds we'll just sit around and wait for people to respect us without feeling like we should show any respect towards them but ladies and gentlemen if you show a life that builds a groundwork of respecting others and loving others and speaking well of them you'll be amazed at how much wonderful respect and love and well spoken words come back to you and then Jesus summarized all this look at what he says at the end of verse 12 he added to this thought for this is the law and the prophets Jesus shows us this principle that's so simple and so fundamental that we call it the golden rule that it summarizes everything that the Bible tells us about how we should treat other people in other words if we would simply treat other people the way we would like to be treated then naturally we would obey all god commands us about how we should treat other people so God commands us don't lie let's just say don't lie about other people well do you want people to lie about you well maybe if they told good lies no let's not even consider that you don't want people to lie about you so don't lie about them you certainly don't want anybody to steal from you so don't steal from them you certainly don't want anybody to commit violence against you so don't commit violence against them on and on it's so simple yet it's so profound what an easy and beautiful measuring stick this is of the way we treat other people I like something that the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon said about this he said there's quote oh that all men acted on it and there would be slavery no war no swearing no striking no lying no robbing but all would be justice and love what a kingdom is this that has such a law I'll give you an example and Spurgeon mentioned it in his statement slavery could not exist in a world where people treated others the way that they want to be treated I mean after all you don't want to be forced to be somebody else's slave do you so why would you force anybody else to be your slave this was a idea that the abolitionists appealed to with things like the graphic you see in front of you on the screen that simply cried out and said am I not a man and a brother if you understand that I am a man and a brother to you how can I be your slave then you should treat me the way that you yourself would want to be treated again what an amazing beautiful world this would be and I know it's very easy for us and rightly so we want to apply this to way that nations deal with nations and the way that politicians deal with their laws and they should and it's good but isn't the most important place with us to apply this is in our personal dealings with one another we just think about it and say this is how we will treat one another now this makes the law of God easier to understand what should I do in a situation I don't know what I should do I don't know how I should treat that person well I'll treat them how I want to be treated it makes the law much easier to understand but you know what it does not make it any easier to obey isn't this the truth some people think oh I don't to worry about all the laws of the Old Testament all I have to do is treat other people the way that I would like to be treated oh I can do that how you doing so far it's about quarter to twelve on New Year's here maybe keep a little chart through the year on how well you've really treated other people just the way that you would like to be treated oh yes this lost simplifies things beautifully it takes away so many the complications and things that we like to throw into the mix to make it more difficult but I'll tell you what it does not do it does not make it any easier to obey I'll tell you this no one has ever consistently done unto others as they would like others to do unto themselves except for one person and that's the man who spoke these words when we understand this it makes every one of us say I come up short I don't do this now it can help me do this for other people it can help simplify and clarify things but it still shows me I fall short of God's wonderful standard so this command whatever you want men to do to you do also to them it shows us a few things first of all it shows us God cares about how we treat each other I know that that's such a simple and fundamental principle but it's really true all these people around you God cares how you treat them he does it matters to God and sometimes we get so locked in on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ which lays a gem I think is very important for us to consider that we have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ there are no grandchildren in the kingdom of God we all have to relate to him directly but sometimes our emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ makes us forget that God cares very much about how we treat other people so you need to consider that God cares that you can't just say well I'm right with God that's all that matters no as the Bible tells us in many different ways in many different places if we are right with God it'll show in the way that we treat other people second thing it shows us is very simply we should not do things to others that we would not want done to us oh the negative part of this is true even though the negative part of it preceded Jesus it's still true and then the converse is true as well we should do the things to others that we would want done to us I was thinking about it here this morning I was thinking about how much marriage counseling could be simplified under this principle many knowing nods in the congregation it's true isn't it if we would just say well okay I'm gonna treat my wife the way I wish she would treat me I'm gonna treat him the way I wish he would treat me if it was said on both sides what a difference it would make instead what do we often do we sort of stubbornly stand back and we say why should I be the first to change I'll start changing I'll start treating them better when they start treating me better and she says no cross that off your list you go treat other people the way you would like them to treat you but I'll tell you more than anything what this shows us is this shows us at the end of the day we really need a Savior in Jesus Christ don't we because if you think that you are good enough to get to heaven by doing unto others what you wish they would do unto you then you need to have an honest heart-to-heart talk with somebody because as much as your intentions might be good at least from time to time as much as good that you've done for other people you have to admit there's many times and many places where you and I have failed in this we have not done to others as we would like to have done unto us and so what does it teach us we need a Savior and I'm so happy that the only man to ever live this perfectly was the one who spoke it and he is our Savior he's the one who comes to us and says I see all the times you have failed and will fail to do this and I will pay for every one of those sins and transgressions by my work on the cross trust in me to be made right and then once we're made right with God then we come back to laws like this and we say okay Jesus now you in me you helping me this is how I want to live as your disciple this is how you expect your disciples to live but we never regard this as a road map to heaven no no no this is how those who are on their way there should walk let me finish with this one final thought in some ways we can say this command do unto others as others you would like others to do unto you this command is so precious because in some ways God Himself practices this command isn't it true God wants us to serve Him so what does he do first he serves us God wants us to give to him so what does he do he gives to us first God wants us to keep our promises to him does he not so what does God do he keeps his promises to us first and the greatest example of all we love Him because He first loved us you guys are sharp God tells us to love him why because he loved us first God gives us these instructions because it flows out of his very nature you don't have to do this to get God to love you he's already loved you you don't have to get him to provide you a savior he's already provided it in Jesus Christ and now he shows you this is how I want you to live every one of you every one of us we have an entire year in front of us how much better that year could be in our homes in our marriages in our communities in our schools and our workplaces in our churches if we would simply do unto others as we would have them do unto us and God helping us will keep that commandment and we'll keep it in the right perspective realizing that it points us to a savior that we need in Jesus Christ let's pray together father in heaven thank you for your word thank you for the clarity of it thank you for the directness of it and most of all thank you for providing a savior jesus I I just have to think that as you said these words it ran through your own mind how this is in the nature of God Himself that even though you call us to love you you loved us first thank you God for that and lord I pray that in each individual life especially mine this would be a year of greater faithfulness to this command that you give us and that we could see the blessing it would bring in our homes at our workplaces Lord in this very congregation that we would love others as we would want to be loved that we would do for others as we would want done for us fill us with this heart Lord the heart of our Savior in Jesus name Amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: sermon on the mount, matthew 7, gospel of matthew, enduring word, david guzik, guzik

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Length: 23min 29sec (1409 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 30 2019