Luke 6:31

morning. Luke chapter 6 and verse 31 and as ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Chess is a rather complicated game. It requires a good memory and certainly good foresight. There are hundreds of different openings and defenses which require you to memorize like thousands of moves in order to play the game well. Because you can’t consult an opening book while you’re playing an opponent so you have to be prepared ahead of time. While I was in college, I did. discovered defense that could be used against all the different openings. It didn’t matter how wide-opened you could use that defense. It was called the Pyrrhic or modern defense. This simplified matters immensely for me and I didn’t have to memorize thousands of different openings and so forth. I could just memorize a limited amount of moves. Now I could always steer the game into familiar waters where I was least able to control things much better and it made chess a lot less complicated for me. Life is also very complex, much more complex than a mere chess game. You have to make hundreds of decisions and often they have far-reaching consequences to them. And when a sudden emergency arises. You can’t just go to a Christian friend or consult a Christian book on Christian conduct as to what to do. So what you need is you need a general rule that will help you in all areas of life in making these decisions, sort of like a modern defense in chess. The Lord Jesus Christ provides such a rule here in verse. verse 31, this is known as the golden rule, for it provides a very simple, easily remembered principle for all your conduct. Now Jesus has been explaining what it means to love your enemies. We’ve been looking at that in verses 27 to 30. But now he is going to give you a general rule for dealing with your neighbor in general on how to handle all these things. If you follow this one rule, you’re pretty much going to be heading in the right direction. And the golden rule is this. Treat your neighbor as if he were you. It doesn’t seem too hard. Our text is really another way of stating the same thing that Jesus said elsewhere in Matthew 1919, love thy neighbor as thyself. If you are sincerely interested, and how God expects you to treat others, you just follow this principle. You don’t start with the other person. You start with yourself. And you ask yourself some questions. What are the things I like? What are the things that help and please me? What are the things which provoke me and irritate me? Make a mental list of your likes and your dislikes about the way you would be treated. And then you work this out with that. respect now to your neighbor. It’s not that complex or difficult. Your neighbor will wish to be treated like you wish to be treated. So the golden rule will always help you to do what’s right and pleasing before God. Do you like harsh and bitter things to be thought about you? No? Well, don’t think harsh and bitter things about others. Do you like unkind things to be said about you? No? Well, then don’t say harsh and unkind things about others. Do you like people who are difficult and obeying and upset you? Well, don’t you behave that way? Do you like it when someone takes advantage of you or uses you? Well, then don’t take advantage of others or use them. This is a very simple rule of thumb. Yet it has a profound. effect on all areas of life. So you’d love your neighbor as yourself. Now you’re to actually put this command into practice. You’ll notice he says here, as you would have men do unto you, do ye also. Often we can be guilty of going halfway here. In fulfilling our duty, we do only when we like it, like to do it. We don’t always do it when we be doing it. You know how you want to be treated by others when it comes to driving etiquette, when it comes to line cutting at the store, when it comes to just basic common courtesy, when it comes to your neighbor’s dog doing his business on your yard or acid tonne people. You know how you want to be treated. You wouldn’t want these things happening to use. Don’t do them of others. Why are we slow then to do it? To put it into practice. you know, one of the many successful men have used the golden rule principle was James Cash Penny. Mr. Penny started with a very small general merchandise store in Kemmering, Wyoming, excuse me, Kemmerer, Wyoming in 1902. And he built a multi-million dollar business from it. and we have all these J.C. Penny stores across the nation. You know what he built his empire on? The Golden Rule. For years, J.C. Penny stores were known as the Golden Rule stores. It was Mr. Penny’s belief in that principle. Always treat a customer as you would like to be treated if you were the customer that governed how he was going to treat people who came into a store. And that was a big part of his growing and his prosperity. Perhaps even more important is how he treated as employees. In fact, he didn’t even like the word employee. He preferred the word partners and actually used the word associates when he referred to them. He devoted himself to treating them as he would like to be treated if he was working for someone else. Most of all, he knew that by helping them make money, he would not only secure their success, but his own. Christ came not only to teach you what to believe, but how to put it into practice. And that’s what he’s telling us here. There have been many human philosophies that are similar to the golden rule. Socrates once said, what stirs your anger when done to you by others, that do not to others. Confucius said, what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. There’s a radical difference between these human philosophies and what Christ teaches here. They’re all negative. What not to do. His is positive here. He tells you what you are to. What you would like done, you do to others. In other words, it’s proactive. Whereas the human philosophies is he’s, just restrain yourself from doing anything that would harm this person. Christ’s teaching is you’re to do good to your neighbor. You try to be positive in your dealings with your neighbor. So you’re to actually put this command into practice. Now, you should realize the golden rule solves problems in all the relationships of life. The great problems that you face in life, a lot of times, resolve around your relationship with other people. Every aspect of your life involves dealing with somebody. Sometimes people think their problems are solely economical or political or social when they clash with other people. But in reality, it’s a spiritual problem because people won’t implement the golden role. Ultimately, it’s not really the money of the position or the status or the education that leads to the division among people. That plays a role. But if we all put the golden world. role into effect, it would overcome any differences. If everybody applied this rule, all relationship problems would be solved. Unfortunately, man in his fallen state, in his sinful state, is unwilling and indeed unable to implement the principle. Take the issue of international relations. We have nations that are often hostile one another. Wars between them or even cold wars where one secretly undermines the other any way they can and so forth. It’s interesting to note that in 1967, when Vice President Hubert Humphrey visited NATO, he suggested the golden rule for international diplomacy between the nations. I think that’s an interesting thought. He suggested we follow the golden rule that each of us consult as soon, as often as frankly, as we would wish the others to consult. Think it would happen if the leadership of a nation began to apply the golden rule to other nations. I won’t spy on this nation because I don’t want them to spy on me. I will not falsely accuse a nation of wrongdoing because I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. Did someone make false accusation against me? I will be generous and kind of this nation, even though they’re hostile to me. For that is what I would want them to do toward me. International problems would be helped if we would just follow that principle. Worker and employer problems. Here’s an old problem. It seems like in every business situation you’re in. there’s always tension between the workers and the employers, the owners. We’ve already mentioned J.C. Penny and he is an attempt to apply the Golden Rule years ago in his business realm. But as a business owner, you could apply and follow the Golden Rule by paying your workers a fair wage. And if you were in their place, what would you want? but not being overbearing and harsh in your dealings with your employees. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you want a boss like that? Think of this. Would you like Laban to be your boss or Boaz to be your boss? Remember Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times. You know, kept changing his wages all the time. I’ll pay you this, and then when he got down to paying, I’ll not, I’ll pay you this. Then I’ll pay you this. Then I’ll pay you this. Laban, you know, he’s pronouncing God’s blessing on his laborers as he goes out there to the fields and visits them as see what’s going on, make sure they have supplies, and even the person Ruth, who is gleaning in his fields, he takes care of her, make sure she has food to eat and can drink the water that the men have drawn for the other laborers in their work. Developing good relations with your people. taking a personal interest in their welfare. That’s what you want in a boss. Keeping your word and your promises. You wouldn’t want to work for somebody who would have lied to you and didn’t keep their promises to you. As an employee, you could follow the gold in the rule by being on time for work, putting in a full day’s labor, doing a quality job, and being obedient. Now think about this. would you want Joseph as an employee or would you rather have the unfaithful steward that’s mentioned in the book of Luke chapter 16 who was stealing from his master? Again, if you were the boss, what kind of workers would you like to have be that kind of worker? So the work and employer problems, worker and employer problems. Husband and wife problems. Again, here’s another relationship area. Husbands can apply the golden rule with regard to their wives, frequently telling her that you love her, by helping her around the house, by talking with her about your plans and your problems, by discussing your plans ahead of time with her, by thanking her for all that she does, sharing spiritual insights with her. As a wife, you can employ the golden rule. By appreciating all that he does for the family, for frequently fulfilling his desires and his wishes, by supporting his decisions with regard to the family, by maintaining his discipline rules when he’s absent, by being respectful and submissive, by adding spiritual insights, when discussing spiritual things, especially a woman sometimes can add some practical insight to things at times. So the golden rule. Treat your neighbor as if he were you. And here’s some areas that we could apply it to. Second, your employment of the golden rule carries out the character and intent of God’s law. Not if you would, go with me to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 7 and verse 12. Jesus says something similar to what he says here in Luke. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men do to you, do ye even so to them. And then he adds this phrase, for this is the law and the prophets. You and I often forget the same. spirit of the law. People tend to think of God’s law on them. Let’s just take the Ten Commandments, for example, as just a number of rules and regulations to keep as if they could do it mechanically, as something you could do almost detached, almost impersonally. Now, if you buy a copying machine and you read all the instructions and you get all the ink and all that set up, and you push the, the right buttons. You get a nice, crisp copy, all as well. There’s nothing about it that’s personal. It’s all mechanical. It’s all impersonal. You put the sheet of the one in their copy, you lower the lid, push the button, and out it comes. Now, there’s a danger of doing that with regard to God’s law, because God’s law is spiritual in nature. It’s more than just the bare letter of the law. There’s a spiritual aspect to it. He says, this way we’re to treat our neighbor is what the law and the prophets are all about. The law doesn’t simply give you a list of dues and don’ts. That was the fallacy of the Pharisees. They missed the spiritual content of the law. Jesus points this out. That, you know, sinful anger, anger without a just cause towards your neighbor is the same as murder. It’s because it’s the spirit of murder. So you don’t have to actually go out and, you know, shoot somebody to be guilty of thou shalt not kill. The law can be summarized in two ways. The first part of the first table of the law, love God with all your heart, and the second table of the law, is love your neighbor as yourself, which we’ve been talking about. So you must think of the spiritual principle behind each commandment. Now, God’s law explains in more detail the principle of the golden rule. As a result of the fall, and Adam, everyone is sinful. So it’s not enough for God to say in a way, well, love your neighbor as yourself. Because the law defines what he means by loving your neighbor as yourself. Provides a concrete example of it. For instance, as you value your life, remember, your neighbor values his life, don’t kill him. Thou shall not kill. As you don’t want to be deceived by others, don’t lie to your neighbor and deceive him. Thou shalt not bear false witness. As you do not want your neighbor to commit adultery with your spouse, don’t commit adultery with his spouse. Thou shalt not commit adultery. So the vital principle is this. You should desire to do good to your neighbor, just as you desire your neighbor to do good unto you. you. This is the teaching of the law of the prophets, summarized in the capsule form. Now let’s look at an instance of this. Look at Exodus 2221 in the Old Testament. God tells the Israelites here. 2221 of Exodus. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, foreigner, nor oppress him, for you. Ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. The Jews were the look back, and they were to remember how they were treated by the Egyptians long ago. The harsh conditions they suffered under as slaves in Egypt. They knew what it meant to be ruled by hard taskmasters, which treated them cruel. we read in Exodus 114 the taskmasters made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field and scripture said God heard their groanings it was miserable state that they were in here they were foreigners living in Egypt remember they had gone down with jose when joseph brought the whole family down there doing the famine, they stayed down there. And here they were in the middle of Egypt, and eventually the Egyptians put them into slavery. And that’s how they were treated. As strangers, as foreigners, living in Egypt, they were enslaved, cruelly treated. Therefore, God says, don’t treat the stranger, the foreigner who comes into your country like that. Remember how you were treated? You didn’t like that. don’t treat them like that. So you must treat strangers as you would like to have been treated by the Egyptians. The second example, we’ll look at chapter 23, just a page over here. Verse 4. If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass, going astray, thou shalt surely, bring it back to him again. Well, something goes wrong on your neighbor’s farm. Somehow the ox gets loose. He’s one over onto your field. Now, you must not say rats. I’ve got to take the timeout of my day, my busy day, and take this ox over to my neighbor. And maybe you dread the thought that it might be the ox of your grumpy old neighbor, Ben Hawsey. I don’t want to go to Ben Ozzy’s house. I don’t get along well or well with him, and I don’t want to go over there. I don’t want to take this over there. You would prefer to avoid all contact with Ben Hossie, but you know what? The loss is you’re supposed to return to ox. So you say, I’ve got to do it because God’s laws requires it, even though I hate every aspect of it. Now, that would be the wrong spirit. That’s not the way we should handle it. Instead, you’re required to think differently. Boy, this man is like myself. If I lost an ox, I’d be concerned, because ox is not a cheap item. And it would be a grievous loss. If I lost my ox, I’d surely appreciate if somebody brought my ox back. So therefore, I will bring my neighbor’s ox back to him. So your heart becomes moved by your neighbor’s plight. And even though he may be your enemy in some sort, he’s going to be very thankful when you bring the ox back to him. And maybe that will thaw the relationship. Maybe it will improve the relationship you have with your neighbor. and so there’s a sense in which it’s not just a mechanical process, but a way in which you become more bonded and have a better relationship with your neighbor. So your employment of the gold rule really carries out the character really of the law and the profits. Let me close. The modern defense is a defense that you can be use against any opening that White has when playing chess. Doesn’t matter what he plays, you can always play this. And it simplifies matters for you. The golden rule, which our text indicates to us, simplifies the decision-making you have in life so that you can have a general rule to guide you in how you behave. Just as your neighbor, just treat your neighbor as if he were you. and you will fulfill the spirit of God’s law. Now this sounds easy. And yet it’s hard for people to do this. There’s two reasons why it’s hard. One, you may be unconverted. To obey this rule rightly, you have to have a spiritually renewed heart. But the Bible tells it is God who works within you, both the will and the due of his good pleasure in Philippians, 13. The way that Christian is God’s spirit should work within him, motivating him, to act in this manner. If we don’t have the spirit of God, then of course we can’t act in this manner as we should. We know what we should do, but we don’t want to. Many times people don’t. The second reason may be that you’re selfish. All you think about is yourself and your personal concerns and not your neighbor’s place. light. But the scripture has an answer for that, too, in Philippians 2.4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Don’t just be concerned about yourself. Look at your neighbor and his situation as well. Well, let us close with the word.