This morning we turn to, once again, our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, considering chapter 7, verse 12, for the text this morning. Once you have found that, I invite you also to turn to 1 Corinthians 13 as we read this familiar chapter in connection with the text, Matthew 7, verse 12. Matthew 7.12 And keeping that place, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Actually picking up the second half of verse 31 of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians. Hear now the Word of God. And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. and now these three remain faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love turning back to matthew chapter 7 i'd like to begin at verse 7 we consider this portion two weeks ago beginning at verse 7 of matthew 7 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives he who seeks finds And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? The words of the text. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word this morning. Well, beloved in Christ the Lord, with the words of this text, verse 12, Jesus now is coming to the end of the body of His sermon. And then with verse 13, He will begin His conclusion, a conclusion in which He calls for entrance into the kingdom and He gives final warnings to those who reject Him and His Word. As we know, Jesus began with the beautiful Beatitudes describing the character, describing the heart of the kingdom citizen and along with that, giving a call in that first section to be salt and light, to be a transforming influence in this world. And then in chapter 5, verse 17, along with chapter 7, verse 12, our text, these two verses serve, we might say, as bookends for the main body of the sermon as in both of those verses, Jesus refers to the Law and the Prophets. He had said before that He had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. And now He talks about, this sums up the Law and the Prophets. And as we have seen between these two bookends, our Lord gives specific examples, specific instructions about what the kingdom life of righteousness, about what kingdom behavior looks like, especially as it relates to others. And so now with this text, Jesus summarizes all that He has said. He summarizes what that kingdom life looks like with His call to practice the golden rule. So in everything, Do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. Do to others what you would have them do to you. Now, of course, we know this rule. Many of us probably heard it from our parents many times as we were growing up. As parents, we teach this to our children, especially as we are trying to teach them how to get along with others. This is not new for us. Yet, sadly, we live in a world that seems to tarnish this golden rule. To turn it inside out. To operate by the distorted rule that says, do to others what they have already done to you. That's what we see practiced. A rule of revenge. A rule of retaliation. A rule of getting even. We see it in politics with smear campaigns. We see it in our society with all of the frivolous lawsuits that are filed. We see it on the freeway with road rage. We see this rule of getting even being practiced all around us. And if we are honest, we must confess that we too sometimes live that way. Maybe somewhat under the radar for those of us who are older. But especially as parents, don't you find that so often when we ask our children or as teachers in the classroom, we ask, well, why did you hit him? Or why did you take that away from her? So often the answer comes back, well, because he hit me first. Or because she took that away from me first. We too often live by the rule of retaliation. instead of the golden rule. Ours is a rights-driven society. My rights, that is, ought never be violated. But that's not what Jesus teaches. We are called to practice the golden rule, as we call it, that Jesus gives. And that golden rule, we might say, is to be the tool of our Christian profession. Sometimes we talk about tools of the trade. There's often one tool in particular that a tradesman will never be caught without, of all the many tools that they use. A carpenter has his tape measure hooked on his belt. A doctor or a nurse has their stethoscope around their neck. Growing up in the Midwest, I was always amazed. it seemed like every farmer I saw had this leather pouch on their belt and there was one simple tool in that leather pouch called the pliers. Of all the tools that a farmer would use, this one was hooked to them. They wouldn't be found without it. I would always be amazed at exactly what a farmer can actually do on the farm with the pliers. It's pretty amazing. The golden rule. is the believer's necessary, indispensable tool of the trade, as it were. That tool used to live side by side with and for our fellow man. To be used, first of all, with its selfless activity. Its use is to be selfless. Do to others, Jesus says. He does not say, do for yourself. He says, do to others. And this points to the believer's active duty. We might say, as we often do, our walk is to match our talk. One commentator says, It is utterly vain to speak like angels when on our knees before God if we act like devils in our transactions with men. That may seem a little bit crude, but how true it is. Beloved, a godly confession is to be evidenced by godly behavior. Our Lord calls for active duty, not active neglect. And what I mean is this. Notice, Jesus does not give this in the negative formulation. He does not say, do not do to others what you don't want them to do to you, which of course is a good rule to follow as well. Throughout the history of the world, there have been many parallels given in the negative. Even before Jesus came, He's the only one that gives it in the positive. But in the negative, it was given by Confucius. It's found in Buddhism. As well, in the first century, there was a Jewish rabbi and scholar, Hillel, who is recorded to have said, what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow creature. That is the whole law. The rest is explanation or commentary. And of course, it's easy for us to come up with examples in the negative formulation, isn't it? For example, if you don't like being robbed or judged or hated or hit or anything else, don't do that to others. And it's real easy to keep the negative version. In many ways, that's how peace is kept in society. Just ignore others. Keep out of their way. Have nothing to do with them. You see, it's easy to keep the negative form without lifting a finger. That's what the Pharisees did. That's what they made of the law. Just don't do all this bad stuff, and you're in. You've made it. You're done. The problem is that's not what Jesus says. He doesn't say it's okay to never lift a finger for your neighbor. The golden rule is not a permission slip to sort of withdraw from others while in the world so that I can keep from others, and at least that way I don't do what's wrong. The golden rule, with this rule, Jesus says we are to do. To do positively. Indeed, the negative is included. However, that negative is to be turned to doing what positively promotes the good of my neighbor and doing so comprehensively. Jesus says, to others. Now notice, He doesn't qualify that. He doesn't explain that. He doesn't say whom He is talking about. And therefore, we are to understand that when He says, do to others, He is saying to others without exception. He does not say that we can pick and choose and just do for those we like and leave aside those we don't like or do for those we know and leave aside those we don't know. It's comprehensive to others. Those whom God places in our path. But it's also comprehensive in another way. In everything, in every situation, at every opportunity, in my thoughts and words and actions toward others, in all of my treatment of others, there are no ifs, there are no buts about it, there are no exceptions, no what-ifs. In all details of life, in all areas of life, in all of my treatment toward others, This is the believer's positive, active duty. And it includes, of course, the summary of love. Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Here He says this sums up the law and the prophets. We know that when Jesus considered the law into this sermon, He taught the heart of the matter. He taught the spirit of the law, which is love. And that's the spirit of the golden rule. In Matthew 22, Jesus states the golden rule. in that familiar form of the second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. And again, love is active as Paul makes clear. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Love is active. Active for the good of others. Never. Not even when Moses gave the law was the law simply meant to be refraining from committing evil against others as the Pharisees made it to be. Just don't commit physical adultery. Just don't actually end somebody's life and you're okay. But again, they haven't lifted a finger. Love has always been the spirit of the law. In the Old Testament, Leviticus 19.18, Moses says, Do not bear a grudge against others, but love them as yourself. I'm paraphrasing, of course. In Exodus 23, verse 4, he says, If you see your neighbor's donkey loose and running wild, go get it. Go catch it. Bring it back to him. In Deuteronomy 15, he says, Lend to the poor. Be helpful. In Proverbs 24, the writer says, Do not rejoice when your enemy falls. Have sympathy upon them. In Proverbs 25, if your enemy is hungry or thirsty, give him something to eat or give him something to drink. Be helpful to them. The spirit of the law has always been loved. That is the spirit as well of the golden rule. The attitude of love withholds, keeps back, seeks to avoid hurting or harming others and instead actively promotes what is good and for their benefit and for their care. But Jesus not only calls kingdom citizens to use the golden rule tool, to use it selflessly, but He also tells kingdom citizens how to use it. It is to be used according to its selfish standard. It may sound like a contradiction from its selfless activity. We don't mean selfish here in a bad way. Jesus says, in a sense, in order to know what our duty is toward others in the sight of God, look at ourselves. What you would have them do to you. Yet we must acknowledge its natural reaction. The natural reaction, first of all, is selfishness, isn't it? We like to think about what we would have others do to us. We could be consumed, spend a lot of time thinking about how we would like others to treat us. But we need to remember that that phrase comes after the most important part here, and that is Jesus' command to do to others. Ourselves comes in in response to doing to others. Jesus tells us how we are to do to others. You cannot separate these two. Yet, we must also confess that self-love is quite natural because of the sin of selfishness. Let's be honest, we have no problem. We have no problem explaining in detail how we think we ought to be treated, especially if we've been treated poorly. We have no problem explaining in detail what we like and what we don't like. We are in full agreement when it comes to rights. My rights, that is. we are quick to recognize and cry out when we have been wronged or when we have been treated in a way that we don't like but at the very same time we so easily often overlook the fact that others are just like us that others like what we like and they don't like what we don't like when it comes to how we are treated yet this selfish standard that Jesus places before us is to recognize it's true objects. Again, others. Not for ourselves. Even if we take all these words of Jesus, the command along with how He follows it up, it is not to be some utilitarian tool for ourselves. It's not for my own advantage. Notice what Jesus also does not say. He does not say, Do to others what you would like them to do to you so that they will do it for you. Our motivation is not to be to get in return. The fact is we may never receive that kind of treatment in return. That's not what Jesus is talking about. It's not about us. But He calls kingdom citizens to be selfish in the sense of examining ourselves thoroughly and how we would like others to treat us and that then is to be our standard for others and how we treat them, all of them that God places in our path, all the time, in every situation. We are called to be selfish for the sake of others. To look at ourselves, but not for ourselves. Our beloved, the golden rule is not difficult. It's really very simple, isn't it? But we often make it difficult because of the selfishness that we struggle with. You see, this golden rule requires cost that we don't always want to pay. It requires giving and not getting. We would rather get and not give. Yet this rule starts by asking ourselves, What do I like? What pleases me? What helps and encourages me? What are things that I don't like? Again, the negative is included to be turned to the positive. What is it that upsets me or brings out the worst in me? What are the things that I find hurtful and discouraging? Or what do I like others to think about me? How do I like others to speak about or speak to me? What are the things that hurt me? To do a thorough self-examination and then when we deal with others to consider whatever the situation or circumstance may be and to put ourselves in their position and then apply the standard of ourselves to them. To treat them as we would hope, as we desire to be treated. I suspect that we could all agree that we don't like it when others make life difficult for us. We don't like it when others make fun of us or cause us problems. We don't like it when others judge us or undermine us in some way. We don't like it when others take advantage of us or take away from us or gossip about us or don't share with us. We don't like a whole host of kinds of treatment. On the other hand, I suspect that we would agree that we like it when others help us in our troubles or comfort us in our sorrows. And we're given much opportunity to practice that right now, aren't we? To comfort others in their sorrows. We like it when others encourage us or trust us. We like it when others deal honestly with us or forgive us when we ask or give us the benefit of the doubt. Or we like it when others are considerate or charitable or loving. or kind, we like all kinds of certain treatment. Beloved, the spirit of the golden rule is love. Jesus is saying, for example, as he considered throughout this sermon, not only to keep from committing adultery in one's heart through lust, but to promote my neighbor's marriage, to encourage them in it. He is saying, for example, not only to keep from stealing my neighbor's possessions, but instead to help take care of them, to watch over my neighbor's stuff. And the applications are endless. This is the standard of righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Do to others what you would have them do to you. When the golden rule is practiced as Jesus taught, to be sure, again, unbelievers might not respond in kind. And that's not Jesus' point. But when it comes to kingdom citizens, among believers, we ought never find two of us not speaking together. We ought never find two of us avoiding each other. We ought never find two of us being jealous against or gossiping about each other. There are a lot of things that we ought not find among God's people. If it exists, we ought to be reconciled according to the golden rule. We are to be reconciled, especially before we come to the Lord's table. Because again, as the quote says, it is impossible, it is vain, to act like angels before God, but to act like devils in our treatment of each other. The Lord's table is a table of communion with our Lord, and that communion with the Lord Jesus Christ is evidenced by communion and unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul says in Galatians 6, verse 10, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Selfless activity, according to a selfish standard for the sake of others. However, practicing the golden rule, we know, is not natural for mankind. What is natural is the turned inside-out version of it that says, again, and do unto others what they have already done to you. That rule of getting even, that's natural. But not the golden rule as Jesus gives it. And that's why it needs to be practiced. It can only be practiced, thirdly, with the Savior's motivation. In a saving relationship with Him. The one who enables us to practice the golden rule by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who gives us new life, who gives us the gift of faith by which He makes believers kingdom citizens. The Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to see our complete and utter unworthiness before God and at the very same time to see His mercy and grace and love poured out upon us in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us to recognize even as we examine ourselves in preparation for the table, He helps us to recognize as we think about that table that Jesus Christ didn't do to us as we did to Him. He didn't do to us as we deserve. But He exercised His unfailing love for our salvation. As Paul says in Philippians 2, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, something to be held on to at all costs. He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself by taking on, Taking to Himself that sinful human nature. And by becoming a curse for us, by becoming sin for us, unselfishly giving Himself for our salvation. And beloved, our born-again response, our born-again response is to heed the call to practice the golden rule. Treating others as God has treated us with love and compassion and kindness and charity which only flows from the first great commandment, loving God above all. The golden rule is very much tied to that first great commandment as well. We are not able to love our neighbor as ourself. We are not able to practice the golden rule apart from loving God above all by God's grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ in our place gave that complete love to His Father. And our Father now accepts our love in Him. The golden rule, therefore, ultimately, is the believer's response for God's life-saving and life-changing work in Jesus Christ in whom God promises to equip us for kingdom life, to give us what we ask for in faith as we considered with the previous section. He promises to equip us for kingdom life, to mold and shape our kingdom character more and more in the image of Christ to lead us by the Holy Spirit in behavior that reflects His righteousness. And therefore, beloved, we can put it this way, I believe, do to others according to what Jesus Christ has already done for you. Putting others first. Expressing love toward them even as Christ has first loved us. Do unto others what you would have done unto you ultimately, beloved. That means knowing what we know as believers. Knowing what we know as believers. And that is that apart from Jesus Christ, one is only condemned. But that therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Knowing that, then just as we would desire another to introduce us to the only Savior if we didn't know Him, that is what we are called to do to others by introducing them to Him. Kingdom kindness is Christ-like kindness that flavors others like salt, that is light pointing to Jesus. This kingdom's salt and light is unmistakable. It will be experienced by others. There's no greater gift that we can give to another than to tell them about Jesus Christ. Dear people of God, this golden rule from the Savior Jesus Christ is to be the kingdom citizen's lifestyle. His tool of kingdom life. Always ready to be used and used at every opportunity. Indeed, it's often difficult because we still struggle with selfishness. But we are to be comforted because Jesus Christ unselfishly suffered for all of our selfishness. And as we said, as we read in the preparatory form, we do not need to fear then that we will not be accepted by God. He accepts us for Jesus' sake. And now in Him, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit, may we strive more and more to introduce His love to others. Beloved God has poured out His love upon us in Jesus Christ. As kingdom citizens, filled with His love that never fails, may we put His love into practice with others, faithfully using this tool called the Golden Rule. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we constantly need to be reminded of all that You have done for us. Our attention spans sometimes are very short. Our memories as well. And therefore we thank You that day by day You allow us, You call us to be students of Your Word. And Lord's Day by Lord's Day, You allow us to come together as a people of God to instruct us by Your Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And today, again, we are reminded of all that You have done for us in Christ Jesus and how we are called to respond as those to whom You have given new life. Father, we pray that You would increase our love for You and also for others, especially for one another. that as a family of God here in this place each one of us would be those who faithfully exercises love and charity toward each other striving to build each other up to help one another to promote one another instead of tearing each other down we thank you for this precious gift called the church and especially the community of believers here in this place. We thank You for Your love and a demonstration of that love by surrounding us with those who would encourage us and help us in time of need and in all times. May we too, each one of us, be those who respond with Your love for one another. Father, we pray that You would hear our prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.