"I arrived in the city of EVERYWHERE early one morning. It was cold, and there were flurries of snow on the ground. As I stepped from the train to the platform, I noticed that the Baggage man and the redcap were warmly attired in heavy coats and gloves, but oddly enough, they wore no shoes. Repressing my impulse to ask the reason for this odd practice, I went to the station and inquired the way to the Hotel. My curiosity, however, was increased by my discovery that no one in the station wore any shoes. Boarding the Streetcar, I saw that my fellow travelers were likewise barefoot; and upon arriving at the hotel I found that the bellhop, the desk clerk, and all the residents were void of shoes!
Unable to restrain myself any longer, I asked the manager what this strange practice meant. "What practice?" said he. "Why," said I, pointing to his bare feet, "Why don’t you wear shoes in this town?" "Ah, said he, "that is just it. Why don’t we?"
"But what is the matter? Don’t you believe in shoes?" "Believe in shoes, my friend! I should say we do! That is the first article of our creed - shoes. They are indispensable tot he well-being of humanity. Such frostbite, cuts, sores, and suffering those shoes prevent! It is wonderful!"
"Well, then, why don’t you wear them?" I asked, totally bewildered. "Ah" he said thoughtfully, "That is just it. Why don’t we?"
Though considerably nonplussed I checked in, secured my room, and went directly tot he coffee shop. There I deliberately sat down by an amiable looking but barefoot gentleman. Friendly enough, he suggested that we look around the city after our meal.
The first thing we noticed upon emerging from the hotel was a huge brick structure of impressive proportions. He pointed to this with pride.
"You see that?" said he "That is one of our outstanding shoe manufacturing establishments!" "A what?" I asked in amazement. "You mean you make shoes there?"
"Well, not exactly," said he, a bit abashed. "We talk about making shoes there, and believe me, we have one of the most brilliant fellows you have ever heard. He talks most thrillingly and convincingly every week on this great subject of shoes. Just yesterday he moved the people profoundly with his exposition of the necessity of shoe wearing. Many broke down and wept. It was really wonderful!"
"But why don’t they wear them?" said I insistently. "Ah, that is just it. Why don’t we?" Just then, as we turned down a side street, I saw through a cellar window a cobbler actually making a pair of shoes. Excusing myself from my friend, I burst into the little shop and asked the shoemaker how it happened that his shop w2as not over-run with customers. "Nobody wants my shoes," he said. "They just talk about them."
"Give me what pairs you have ready," I said eagerly, and paid him twice the amount he modestly asked. Hurriedly I returned to my friend and offered them to him, saying, "Here, my friend, one of these pairs will surely fit you. Take them, put them on. They will save untold suffering."
"Ah, thank you," he said, with embarrassment, "but you don’t understand. It just isn’t being done. The front families, well, that is just it. Why don’t we?"
And coming out of the city of Everywhere, over and over and over that question rang in my ears; "Why don’t we? Why don’t we? Why don’t we?"
The parable of the Barefoot Christians was written more than a hundred years ago by an English Preacher named Hugh Price Hughes. The city of Everywhere could be New York, London, St. Louis, Paris, or Baghdad!
It’s any place in the world where people know the most basic, obvious ways of living in right relationship with one another - yet they refuse to do it!
The shoes on our feet are to be the good news of peace (Ephesians 6:15), yet we go barefoot.
The most basic footwear of life is mutual love for one another. The law of mutual love - some have termed "the law of reciprocity," - but from the Bible we simply know it as "The Golden Rule." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." "Act toward your neighbor as you would want your neighbor to act toward you."
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This is the principle on which you should operate. "THEREFORE" is the most important word in the Golden Rule. It relates the Golden Rule to everything that precedes it. That is, it hinges on the rest of the sermon and on prayer. It all comes together in one package. Don’t lift out the Golden Rule and say that you live by it. Understand what the Lord is talking about. Only as we obey the rest of the command and prohibitions of the sermon, only as we "ask, seek, and knock" are we able to live in the light of the Golden Rule.
This is probably the most universally famous thing that Jesus ever said. With this commandment the Sermon on the Mount reaches its summit. This saying of Jesus has been called "the capstone of the whole discourse." It is the topmost peak of social ethics, and the Everest of all ethical teachings.
It sums up all the MORAL and ETHICAL requirements of men and women who live in society as KINGDOM CITIZENS. This law of Jesus DEMANDS a standard of conduct that far surpasses what the world normally expects. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which all believers possess, allows us to experience a FULLNESS of life that requires us to love one another as God through Jesus Christ has loved us!
Harry Stack Sullivan once said, "The goal of adult love is to arrive at a point, where another’s safety and security are as important as one’s own. The goal of Christian spirituality is to come to the place where our neighbor’s needs and welfare are as high a concern as our own wants and wishes. All these are contained in the words we call "The Golden Rule."
"Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them - this is the essence of all true religion." The newness, the uniqueness of this positive rule of life given by Christ lies in the exhortation (encouragement) to ACT LOVINGLY, to do the THOUGHTFUL, to be CONSIDERATE, to do the SYMPATHETIC thing.
The Golden Rule is NOT unique JUST because it requires a positive action. Many good actions have arisen from evil motives. Positive actions can be positively wrong.
Let’s think for a moment about all the ways the Golden Rule has been TWISTED by society.
In the BUSINESS world, the Golden Rule is changed to "Do it unto others, before they do it unto you."
In WARFARE, the rule is positive yet destructive. Dr. MacIver, professor of Political Science at Columbia University, said, In War, the principle must be - do to the enemy as he would do to you, but do it to them first."
What a vast difference between the human reaction of doing as we are done by, and Christ’s call to do as we would wish to be done by. Christ’s GOLDEN RULE provides a perfect model for deciding your actions and attitudes toward other people.
The Golden rule is balanced to protect both sides against the selfishness that always lurks beneath the surface of our lives. There are moral philosophers who point out that the rule should read "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." They insist that Christ’s wording, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is very self-centered, drawing the lines by what YOU want instead of what your NEIGHBOR wants.
Here’s the RUB. To always do what your neighbor wants or asks would not be LOVE - it would be indifference to the needs of the other. It would be tantamount to being a slave to the wishes of another.
The Doctor would give heroin to an addict just because he wants it. The teenage girl would surrender sexual favors to her boyfriend because he wants it. A woman gives booze to her alcoholic spouse because he wants it. A landowner gives half his property to his neighbor because he wants it. A parent gives a six year old child a loaded weapon because he wants it.
None of these examples are LOVE! Love is a genuine concern for the needs of the other. Agape love is putting the needs of the other ahead of your own needs. So if you love, give and do for another as you wish to be treated.
The benchmark for our actions - to do to others as we would wish for them to do to us - comes out again and again in Christ’s teaching. In fact, the Golden Rule is simply the practical application of the second greatest of all commandments - "To love your neighbor as yourself."
Did you know the Bible says you are to love yourself? It gives that command over a dozen times. Your self respect should be so high that you will never demean your character or do anything unworthy of yourself. Christ taught us to hold ourselves in high regard, but no higher than we hold our neighbor.
In God’s word, the Bible, love for yourself and love for your neighbor are not two separate loves. They are one and the same love, with two different aspects. The same basis by which I know myself to be precious is equally true for you. For me to love myself rightly is to love you equally.
Christ applied this rule to the most crucial areas of life. In love; love your neighbor as your love yourself (Mt. 22:39). In forgiveness; forgive your brother as you wish to be forgiven (Mt. 6:14-15). In service: do to others as you would have them do to you.
How do we live out the Golden Rule in our daily actions?
We listen to others as we want to be listened to. We offer help to others where we would expect help. We seek to understand others’ viewpoints as we would be like to be understood. We care more about dealing FAIRLY with our neighbor than we worry about being cheated by our neighbor.
We offer praise and appreciation to others, as we want to be appreciated. We treat employees, creditors, and debtors as we wish to be treated by them. We say nothing about another person that we would not want circulated about ourselves. We always give other people the shadow of the doubt in questionable circumstances, as we would expect them to do for us.
We give up all prejudices and biases because we realize that if we were a member of that race or group and suffered discrimination - we would resent it as unfair. We RESPECT, DEFEND, and ACCEPT a person of any race, culture, or class as we wish to be regarded by them. We will love our neighbor as we love ourselves - and so fulfill Christ’s second greatest commandment.
Loving your neighbor means that you have his best interests at heart whether you LIKE him or not. The Good Samaritan may not have liked the poor, beaten man in the ditch. But he still ACTED on his behalf. He DID something about the man’s tragedy. Jesus told his disciples - "This - is what LOVE is all about."
Christian LOVE - AGAPE LOVE - is about making the decision and taking the action that contributes to the good welfare of the other person.
Christian LOVE is NOT at ALL dependant upon the other person - not dependant upon their PERSONALITY, their NATURE, their RACE, COLOR, or CREED; it’s NOT dependent upon their BEAUTY or lack of it, not even dependant upon their NICE-ness or MEAN-ness! It depends COMPLETELY upon the one DOING the loving!
Christian LOVE can be - and WILL be - emotional, because there are natural affections that swell up in our hearts. But FAR more, Christian LOVE - AGAPE - is VOLITIONAL. It is an ACT of the WILL. It’s a DECISION to SEEK the other’s good.
Let me tell you something - Jesus NEVER tells us to LIKE our enemies with warm affection! You see, we cannot always command our emotions. But we CAN command our ACTIONS. We CAN ACT lovingly toward others whether we LIKE them or not!
This contradiction between feeling and choice, between emotion and volition, between liking and loving, has been resolved in four different ways by Christians throughout the centuries.
1. Christian AGAPE Love is defined as BENEVOLENCE.
Benevolence is shown by loving the unlovely and the unlovable through generous self-giving. Benevolence views LOVE as a willing generosity and forgiveness as an undeserved gift. But this view tends to belittle the beloved even in the act of loving. What Christ taught and demonstrated includes more than simple BENEVOLENCE.
2. The second solution was to define AGAPE as WILLING OBEDIENCE. It loves the other out of duty and obligation to the commandment to love. It gives LOVE a consistent vigor and stability. Unfortunately it evokes resistance in the one loving and resentment in the one being loved. NOBODY feels affirmed by love given out of DUTY. Jesus commanded MUCH more than OBEDIENCE.
3. The third solution was to LOVE SACRIFICIALLY. Agape is seen as WILLING self-sacrifice. In giving yourself, you express an UNCONDITIONAL love that ACCEPTS the other REGARDLESS of the COST. But self-sacrifice may be ultimately motivated by self-centeredness. "See how I never ask anything for myself; you always come first." This is a statement of Pride- "Look at me - I’m a Martyr!" The intent of Jesus is MUCH different.
4. The fourth solution is to LOVE OTHERS AS EQUALS. At this level of love, we PRIZE others as having EQUAL worth, as being loved by God to the extent that he or she is worth the cost of CALVARY - as being made WORTHY by the presence of God WITHIN us and AMONG us. The Biblical teaching that we should love our neighbor as ourself goes from the Pentateuch to the Gospels to the Epistles. We all stand in EQUAL STEAD before God whether we recognize it or not.
The bottom line is this - AGAPE love through the Golden Rule, includes ALL FOUR of these definitions. It is BENEVOLENT - generous and inclusive - but it does NOT seek superiority over the recipient. It is OBEDIENT, but NOT out of DUTY. It is SELF-SACRIFICIAL, but NOT out of righteous PIETY. The motivation for self-sacrifice is a recognition of the value and worth of all people. Because of the Golden Rule you refuse to violate yourself or the anyone else.
Listen to me - The GOLDEN RULE is the CULMINATION of the ENTIRE SEMON ON THE MOUNT. As I said earlier, "THEREFORE" is the key word - it means - BECAUSE of everything that I’ve already said here on the mount - you MUST do this! Because of the BEATITUDES-THE BLESSED BE’S - because YOU are the SALT OF THE EARTH and the LIGHT OF THE WORLD - because of the prohibitions against HATRED, MURDER, ADULTERY, LUST, AND OATHS - because of the SACRED and BINDING rules about MARRIAGE - because of the commands to GO THE SECOND MILE, TURN THE OTHER CHEEK, doing your CHARITABLE deeds in private - because of the EXAMPLES to LIVE by on PRAYER, FASTING, GOOD WORKS, GENEROSITY, and SPIRITUAL priorities - because of the commands not to WORRY or JUDGE others - and finally because of the CHALLENGE to "ASK, and it will be given to you; SEEK, and you will find; KNOCK and it will be opened to you. - BECAUSE of ALL those things in the sermon - Jesus says THEREFORE - "whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets."
QUESTION? Will you put on the shoes of Godly personal relationships and actively use the Golden Rule, or will you live your life as a BAREFOOT CHRISTIAN? The choice is yours. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Invitation
