We’ve been talking about how to POWER UP when our spiritual batteries are low. One thing that can de-energize our batteries is a spirit of judgmentalism in our relationships. It’s likely we all struggle with being judgmental. The problem is that it drains our relationships with others and God.
D. L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon were great preachers of the 19th century. Moody admired Spurgeon from a distance and looked forward to the opportunity of meeting him in London. On that historic day, Spurgeon answered the door with a cigar in his mouth. Moody was aghast. "How could you, a man of God, smoke that?" Spurgeon took the cigar from his mouth, put his finger on Moody's rather inflated stomach, smiled, and said, "The same way you, a man of God, could be that fat."
Today we will focus for a few minutes on one of the best-known sayings in the Bible:
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. -Matthew 7:12
The Golden Rule gives us insight and instruction to every area of our lives, especially the relationships we have with God, other people, our families, friends, and the world around us in general. It is a powerful principle that summarizes the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
We can POWER UP in our relationships by following Jesus’ teaching here.
1. The Golden Rule Guides our Judgments (7:1-5)
*Don’t have a judgmental, critical spirit.
Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Swindoll lists 3 reasons by it’s wrong to judge others:
We can never know all the facts about a person or see into their hearts to know their motives.
In our fallen, frail, and finite condition, we are never able to be completely objective.
We’re not qualified to be the judge - God is the all-knowing, just Judge.
*Don’t be surprised when it comes back at you! The Judgment Boomerang - “or you too will be judged”. Nearly everyone has been guilty of misjudging others, and nearly everyone has suffered from someone else’s misjudgment. It’s possible that this means a judgment from God.
*Don’t perform eye surgery with a log in your eye!
Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
You are a plank-eye! This prevents your eye surgery! Don’t be a hypocrite - tend to your own business (7:5). For every speck you see, there’s a log in your own eye - and that makes us hypocrites. Bruner says that the unnoticed log is often the critical spirit itself. Matthew uses the word hypocrite 14 times; seven of those times he is speaking directly to the Pharisees. We become Hypocrites when we hold people up to a standard we can’t live up to. This is what happens often when we judge others.
*Don’t ignore what is in front of you.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
When Jesus says “judge not”, he doesn’t mean that we should be naive and lack discernment. Bruner: “Some people have harmless specks in their eyes; others have harmful clubs in their hands.” Not everyone appreciates or wants to know about our commitment to Jesus. That requires some judgment - some discernment - is this a relationship that needs to continue?
Here’s a test, a question asked in a devotional by Paul David Tripp: Whose sin bugs you more: your own or that of someone near you? Who are you desperate to see change: you or someone else in your life?
The Golden Rule Guides our Judgments.
2. The Golden Rule Guides our Prayers
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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!
Pray for strength to follow Jesus’ teachings! The sermon on the mount has made some incredible demands on us - some seem to be greater than we can accomplish. Ask God to help you live up to the Jesus calling! That’s why we pray and ask God to help us live up to these truths.
The struggle here is that it seems so open-ended. Swindoll: …shouldn’t be taken to mean that God is our heavenly vending machine, dispensing the things we want just because we want them. It should be seen, however, that we can come to God at any time with anything and bring it before him.
As always, the answer is up to him, not us. We should let God be God, and we the human beings. The Golden Rule guides our judgments and prayers…
3. The Golden Rule Guides our Treatment of People
Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Barclay: This is probably the most universally famous thing that Jesus ever said. With this commandment, the Sermon on the Mount reaches its summit…It is the topmost peak of social ethics, and the Everest of all ethical teaching.” (Via Swindoll)
Treating people the way we want to be treated. Not judging others unjustly. Not dumping our declaration of the message on those who do not wish to hear it. Modeling for others the rich, loving benevolence God the Father has poured out on us.
“In other words, because of the inexpressible, unconditional grace God bestows upon us, we ought to show the same kind of unconditional grace toward others.” - Charles Swindoll
Conclusion
The Golden Rule Guides our judgments, prayers, and treatment of people. It is a reflection of how we would like to be treated by others. At the end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus concludes with a familiar story - two men who built their houses.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
One was on the sand - but the winds and waves tore it down.
One was on the rock - he represented the one who heard and obeyed what Jesus had to say. Are we listening and are we doing what we hear?
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.” - Matthew 7:12 MSG
When it comes to living by the Golden Rule, we aren’t just waiting to see how people treat us - we are loving and blessing the people around us instead of judging them. This is the life to which Jesus calls us that will power up our relationships!
___________________
Resources
Bruner, Frederick Dale. Matthew: A Commentary, The Christbook Matthew 1-12. Eerdmans, 2004.
Hare, Douglas R. A. Interpretation Commentary: Matthew. John Knox, 1993.
Swindoll, Charles R. Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-15. Tyndale, 2020.
Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies. Crossway, 2014.
We’ve been talking about how to POWER UP when our spiritual batteries are low. One thing that can de-energize our batteries is a spirit of judgmentalism in our relationships. It’s likely we all struggle with being judgmental. The problem is that it drains our relationships with others and God.
D. L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon were great preachers of the 19th century. Moody admired Spurgeon from a distance and looked forward to the opportunity of meeting him in London. On that historic day, Spurgeon answered the door with a cigar in his mouth. Moody was aghast. "How could you, a man of God, smoke that?" Spurgeon took the cigar from his mouth, put his finger on Moody's rather inflated stomach, smiled, and said, "The same way you, a man of God, could be that fat."
Today we will focus for a few minutes on one of the best-known sayings in the Bible:
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. -Matthew 7:12
The Golden Rule gives us insight and instruction to every area of our lives, especially the relationships we have with God, other people, our families, friends, and the world around us in general. It is a powerful principle that summarizes the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
We can POWER UP in our relationships by following Jesus’ teaching here.
The Golden Rule Guides our Judgments (7:1-5)
*Don’t have a judgmental, critical spirit.
Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Swindoll lists 3 reasons by it’s wrong to judge others:
We can never know all the facts about a person or see into their hearts to know their motives.
In our fallen, frail, and finite condition, we are never able to be completely objective.
We’re not qualified to be the judge - God is the all-knowing, just Judge.
*Don’t be surprised when it comes back at you! The Judgment Boomerang - “or you too will be judged”. Nearly everyone has been guilty of misjudging others, and nearly everyone has suffered from someone else’s misjudgment. It’s possible that this means a judgment from God.
*Don’t perform eye surgery with a log in your eye!
Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
You are a plank-eye! This prevents your eye surgery! Don’t be a hypocrite - tend to your own business (7:5). For every speck you see, there’s a log in your own eye - and that makes us hypocrites. Bruner says that the unnoticed log is often the critical spirit itself. Matthew uses the word hypocrite 14 times; seven of those times he is speaking directly to the Pharisees. We become Hypocrites when we hold people up to a standard we can’t live up to. This is what happens often when we judge others.
*Don’t ignore what is in front of you.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
When Jesus says “judge not”, he doesn’t mean that we should be naive and lack discernment. Bruner: “Some people have harmless specks in their eyes; others have harmful clubs in their hands.” Not everyone appreciates or wants to know about our commitment to Jesus. That requires some judgment - some discernment - is this a relationship that needs to continue?
Here’s a test, a question asked in a devotional by Paul David Tripp: Whose sin bugs you more: your own or that of someone near you? Who are you desperate to see change: you or someone else in your life?
The Golden Rule Guides our Judgments.
The Golden Rule Guides our Prayers
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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!
Pray for strength to follow Jesus’ teachings! The sermon on the mount has made some incredible demands on us - some seem to be greater than we can accomplish. Ask God to help you live up to the Jesus calling! That’s why we pray and ask God to help us live up to these truths.
The struggle here is that it seems so open-ended. Swindoll: …shouldn’t be taken to mean that God is our heavenly vending machine, dispensing the things we want just because we want them. It should be seen, however, that we can come to God at any time with anything and bring it before him.
As always, the answer is up to him, not us. We should let God be God, and we the human beings. The Golden Rule guides our judgments and prayers…
The Golden Rule Guides our Treatment of People
Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Barclay: This is probably the most universally famous thing that Jesus ever said. With this commandment, the Sermon on the Mount reaches its summit…It is the topmost peak of social ethics, and the Everest of all ethical teaching.” (Via Swindoll)
Treating people the way we want to be treated. Not judging others unjustly. Not dumping our declaration of the message on those who do not wish to hear it. Modeling for others the rich, loving benevolence God the Father has poured out on us.
“In other words, because of the inexpressible, unconditional grace God bestows upon us, we ought to show the same kind of unconditional grace toward others.” - Charles Swindoll
Conclusion
The Golden Rule Guides our judgments, prayers, treatment of people. It is a reflection of how we would like to be treated by others. At the end of the sermon on the mount Jesus concludes with a familiar story - two men who built their houses.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
One was on the sand - but the winds and waves tore it down.
One was on the rock - he represented the one who heard and obeyed what Jesus had to say. Are we listening and are we doing what we hear?
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.” - Matthew 7:12 MSG
When it comes to living by the Golden Rule, we aren’t just waiting to see how people treat us - we are loving and blessing the people around us instead of judging them. This is the life to which Jesus calls us that will power up our relationships!
_________________________
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_________________________
Resources
Bruner, Frederick Dale. Matthew: A Commentary, The Christbook Matthew 1-12. Eerdmans, 2004.
Hare, Douglas R. A. Interpretation Commentary: Matthew. John Knox, 1993.
Swindoll, Charles R. Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-15. Tyndale, 2020.
Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies. Crossway, 2014.
__________________________
