Prayer, Promises and the Golden Rule

Now like I said earlier in our scripture reading, we are not going to focus on mothers or mothers day. I'll be honest with you, I had a lot of angst in my heart and my mind and my spirit this week. You know, you have these expectations whether they're real or not. And I do desire to teach on women and mothers and motherhood. But I really did feel compelled to complete this portion of scripture verses 1 to 12. And I want us to move on through the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. And I want us to have some time to look at the family, to look at mothers, motherhood, to look at men and husbands and children.

And this will be a good break between our long series through the Sermon on the Mount and then also where we will be going in the fall. So I appreciate your patience in letting me throw you a curveball here this morning. Some of you might have anticipated this anyway. Well, let's take our Bible. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 7, which is where we were earlier in our scripture reading. Now we are going to turn to another portion of scripture over the end of Matthew. Matthew chapter 22. I want us to look at verse 39. So just mark that and we'll turn there later. Primarily we'll be right here in verses 7 to 12.

I think most of you know that last week we started a series of individual lessons here that are very, very important for us in the life of our church. It's important for us to see that all of these lessons from verses 1 to 12 do pertain to relationships and not just any relationships. These are relationships within the family of God, in the local church, brothers and sisters in the faith. Now these lessons do start right here in verse 1. They go all the way down to verse 12. And I think most of you know that verse 12 is what's commonly called the golden rule. And it really is the high watermark of this section of the Sermon on the Mount.

Now I want you to be prepared, folks. I mean, this is a lot of information. We're going to really put the plow deep. I want you to follow me. And I believe that if you'll follow and you'll get what the Lord would have for us, you will see the golden rule in a completely different light this morning. You could be one that maybe you've never studied verse 12. You really don't know much about what it says, but some of you here do. And I think that this will really speak to us and prepare us for what the Lord wants to do, not just this morning, but in the days and weeks and years to come.

Now last week we studied verses 1 to 6 and what I call judgment and judgmentalism. That was the title of the message, judgment and judgmentalism. And I tried to emphasize that second word judgmentalism. We saw that within the family of God, we are never, ever to be judgmental. We are never to be condemning. We are never to be uncharitable. We're never to be unloving in our attitudes and in our words and in our deeds towards who? Towards brothers and sisters in the faith, in the life of the local church. Actually, we learned that when we judge our brothers and sisters, we are truly playing God. Remember that? We are truly playing God.

You could say it like this. When we're judging brothers and sisters, we're assuming this God complex because we are playing God. But we learned that within the family of God, we are to make good judgments. There are good judgments. We are to be discerning. We are to be discriminating people so as to make sound biblical judgments in so many areas of life, but also in church life. But within these verses, we saw that this all revolves around sin. Sin in our lives, sin in the lives of our brothers and sisters within the family of God. So this is all about wood specks and logs. Remember, this is all about splinters and beams.

You can say it like this. This is about hypocrites, hogs, and dogs. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that means you need to go back and you just listen to that message. If you didn't get what we looked at last week, you need to get it because this all goes together. Now, I'm going to give you a challenge here. I'm going to draw a line in the sand for us, folks. We're not going to have a God complex. We're not going to allow judgmentalism to be in our hearts and in our minds and how we treat people. It's very dangerous and it's very destructive to the unity and the love that God wants us to show to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And really, it is a danger to so much more and we're going to see so much more this morning. And remember, we've got to be burden bearers. Remember, we went back to Galatians 6, verses 1 and 2. See, when we have brothers and sisters struggling, we don't judge them. No, we come alongside and we help them carry that load. And again, you make sure you get what we looked at last week. Now, I want to take a step back here and I want us to glance at verses 1 to 12. I want you to see these observations, this breakdown. In verses 1 to 6, we see this big lesson on judgments, judgmentalism.

But here in verse 6, we see a big lesson on being discerning, discriminating. Remember I said, some of these lessons are seen in some of the bigger portions and some are seen in these small verses. Well, this morning, we're going to look at a big lesson from verses 7 to 12. But verse 12 can be a lesson in and of itself. And just like with verses 1 to 6, this all centers around relationships. Have I told you that this centers around relationships yet? This is all within the family of God. And remember our earthly family example. We've got to know how we're supposed to live in the life of our family. Isn't that right?

If we don't have rules, if we don't have regulations, if we don't have standards and expectations with our children in the home, we have dysfunction, we have sin, we have chaos. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So this is about Jesus teaching his people how to act within the family of God. And it's so relevant for us today. Now, before we get into these verses, I want us to see how Jesus is making a change here. First of all, we see a shift from the negative to the positive. Jesus has a negative tone in verses 1 to 6. He said, "Do not," two times, and he called those listening hypocrites.

He looked right at them and called them hypocrites. He also gave them this exaggerated picture of one brother trying to correct another brother while having a gross sin in their life. Now, that sounds like a recipe for a fight. It's negative. But in verses 7 to 12, it's very positive. There are no do's and don'ts. Jesus does ask two questions, but he really enforces some very positive truths with these lessons, these questions. And in verse 12, Jesus caps things off with some of the most positive instruction found in the scripture. And again, I believe that some of you are going to see the golden rule in a much different light this morning.

But we will see that this teaching, verses 7 to 12, is very relational as well. Jesus is dealing with how we are to relate to brothers and sisters. And then he adds another layer by showing us how we are to relate to God. So this morning, we're going to look at verses 7 to 12 in three ways. I want to divide these verses in three ways. Now, what's the title of the theme of the message? Sometimes I give it to you before we jump into the message. And sometimes at the end, it just depends how it works out for me during my study. But we're going to look at prayer and we're going to look at promises.

And then we're going to look at the golden rule that comes right out of the verses. And just like last week, I'm going to try to make some good, solid application for us at the conclusion of the message. So let's look at this first major division, this first major truth. This is what I'm calling encouragement concerning prayer. Remember, this is positive, folks. Encouragement concerning prayer. Let's look back at verses 7 to 8. Jesus says, "Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find.

Knock and it shall be open to you." And then verse 8, "For everyone who seeks or asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, it shall be opened." Now right away, right away, we have to make sure that we do not make a mistake here. This is not some type of blank check in prayer for the believer. So get that out of your mind. We must keep these verses within the context of this immediate teaching. But this teaching here also can be applied within the scriptures in other places. And it's very important for us to see this. This teaching on prayer is not some blank check.

It specifically applies to this immediate teaching, but it also can be applied to so many other places. Now I'll repeat that on purpose. I want you to hold on to that because we're going to come back and revisit that. But Jesus is giving this very encouraging lesson on prayer. And I want to examine this encouragement in three ways. First, there is progression in prayer. Jesus shows us that there is progression in prayer. That's obvious. "Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you." This is right there in the language of verse 7 and in verse 8. Now to ask is to inquire of God.

That's pretty obvious to see. To ask is to bring your wants and even your burdens to God with great sincerity, with great honesty, and with great seriousness. But to seek. To seek is to seek after something that is of great value. Maybe this is something of great value to the one who is praying. And as one seeks after treasure, the one in prayer here, he seeks after God, seeks after an answer from God, and it is of great value. And then the next step, to knock. To knock is to take things even further. It is to knock so that the Lord will open the door. Is it that the picture? To open the door and answer that prayer.

So this speaks of one coming to God. They are sincere. They are serious. They are honestly motivated. It's not about selfishness, no. They are eager. They are diligent. And they persevere in prayer. There is this progression in prayer. They start off by asking, but then they don't stay there. They progress to seeking, and they don't stay there. No, they go on to knocking. Now we don't have time to look at this example, but you need to be a good student here. One of the greatest examples can be found in the book of 1 Samuel. The story of Hannah. She was barren and so desired to have a child. And you can see this illustrated in her life.

Her asking and her seeking and her knocking. And I'm not going to tell you how the story ends with Hannah. You need to go see because you can see this prayer in her life. So first, there is a progression in this prayer. Then second, I want us to see there is persistence in the prayer. There is persistence in this prayer. Now the persistence is not seen on the surface. It really is seen in the construction of the language. And it may be noted in some of your translations, your English translations. It might even be noted in one of your study Bibles. But here, this can actually read, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

Now let me help you see this more clearly. In the original language, there is a command that says, close the door when you go outside. Do we ever do that with our children? I mean, close the door when you go outside. But there is another command in the original language that says always close the door when you go outside. See the difference? Well, that is what Jesus is saying here. He is actually saying, when you pray, keep on asking. When you pray, keep on seeking. And when you pray, always keep on knocking. See, this is called the present imperative. This is a present imperative command. And this speaks to persistence in prayer.

Not forgetting, not quitting, all with submission and sincerity, this serious spirit before God. Oh, one of the greatest examples for me is in my early years, in my Christian walk, I came to faith in Christ when I was 20 years old. And most of you know, I started going to what I call my home churches, my wife's home church, Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi. And there was a man there in the life of our church named Robert Bryant. Now, Robert was special. Robert was special because his mother had some difficulty during childbirth. Robert's dad had already passed away and his mother was very old.

But I'm going to tell you, Robert faithfully loved the Lord. I mean, he worked there at the local Jitney jungle. And I'm telling you, he lived for God. At work, he lived for God. At church, he lived for the Lord. Robert just recently passed away. Now, this is part of the illustration, but I'll tell you a good one on Robert. When his mother passed away, he had to move to Hattiesburg to an assisted living facility. And when he moved to Hattiesburg to that assisted living facility, one of the ministers from Highland came down to Hattiesburg to visit him. He said, "Don't come see me. I'm doing fine. I got a ministry here.

You just minister to the folks at that church. I got a church down here." But what about Robert in prayer? Robert was the kind that if you mentioned a prayer request, much later, he would still be praying. Long after you had forgotten about that prayer, he would bring it back up. Because he continued to ask, he continued to seek an answer for that prayer. And I prayed with him a many a day and he didn't just ask, oh, he could seek and he could knock on the door of heaven. You see? And for me, anytime I see these verses, I think about Robert Bryant in those early years of walking with the Lord. So we see there's a progression in this prayer.

There is a persistence in the prayer. But then third, there is a promise attached to the prayer. I want to go back and I want us to read the verses. Starting in verse seven. "Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it shall be open." Now this promise is more certain than we see at first glance here. Here Jesus states and restates his promise so his people won't miss it. Have you ever noticed how often Jesus states and restates, repeats himself to his disciples? That should be a clue for us.

But notice the prayer life Jesus calls his people to, it has three parts. Asking, seeking and knocking, right? Asking, seeking and knocking. It's repeated there. But the promise Jesus gives associated with answering their prayer has six parts. Look at verses seven and eight again. I will emphasize it so you can see. "Ask and it shall be given to you." See it? "Seek and you shall find." See the promise? "Knock and it shall be open to you." There's three. "For everyone who asks receives." See it again? "And who seeks finds." You see it again? The promise?

"And then he who knocks, it shall be open to you." So Jesus doesn't say he will answer their prayers six times. In similar ways, he promises to answer their prayer. If you keep on asking, it will be given. You will receive it. If you keep on seeking, you will find it. You will find it. If you keep on knocking, it will be open to you. It shall be open. Do you see how certain the promise is? How many times does Jesus have to say it for it to be certain? Once is enough, but he doesn't stop it once. One promise from Jesus is sufficient, but he repeats himself over and over so as to communicate the certainty of this promise.

So we have this great encouragement. Now you know why I call it an encouragement? This great encouragement in prayer. This is so much more than a call to prayer or a command to prayer. He gives them a picture of true progression and persistence in prayer. And he gives them this promise to answer their prayer. And what a great promise. What great promises because he says it over and over. And what great encouragement there for his people. Now, how does this apply to us? Earlier, I said the context matters. It isn't a blank check. It really is connected to the context here. Well, first, the immediate context.

This teaching is connected with what we studied concerning what? Judgment and judgmentalism here. Now follow me. You need to get this back in our study. Also of worry going on back in chapter six, our study of worry and anxious living from verses 25 to 34. We saw that worry is a sin and worry used to be removed from our lives. Isn't that right? But that worry is to be replaced by what is to be replaced by trust. We must trust God to meet our needs. We are more important than the birds of the air. Didn't we learn that? So why would we worry? Our worry, our anxious living should be replaced by trust in God. Isn't that right?

See how relational it is? Well, in verses one to six, we saw that judgmentalism is a sin. We can't have a God complex here with our brothers and sisters. Isn't that right? So what do we replace judgmentalism with? We replace judgmentalism, judgmental attitudes, words, and deeds with what? Prayer for our brother. We see sin in their life across the sanctuary. We see sin in their life. It immediately must be replaced by what? Prayer, not judgmentalism. And listen, folks, when we get to verse 12, we're going to see this more clearly. Okay. But what about other biblical contexts? Can these verses, this lesson on prayer be applied to other places?

I think about evangelism. This can be applied to evangelism. We have a son or a daughter who's lost and need Christ, a coworker, a neighbor. And how do we pray for them? We ask, we seek, and we knock. Now, we don't know fully how God's going to answer, but he always answers prayer. I mean, in the context of evangelism, evangelism is biblical. This applies. I think about discipleship. A great part of our discipleship here is our small group ministry and wanting to see accountability develop there, connections, relationships, and that's beginning to happen. It's a part of discipleship.

And we can pray this prayer as we want to see our brothers and sisters discipled and grow into the Lord. And we want to as well. But what about something a little bigger, a little broader? Christ building his church. Jesus has said, "I will build my church." And Jesus desires that lost people come to Christ, and they be formed in the image of Christ, they be discipled. See, God desires that our church grow, not just in numbers, not just money in the offering plate. No, that souls would come to Christ, that they would grow in their discipleship and loving the Lord. And this could be applied to the growth of our church.

We could continue to go on here. So we have this great encouragement in prayer. We have a great lesson in prayer. We have prayer and a great promise that is attached to this prayer. So let's continue. I want us to see, number two, questions concerning the Father. This is what I call questions concerning the Father. Let's look back at verses 9, 10, and 11. "Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf," that would be bread, "will he give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake." Or some translations might say a serpent, will he?

And then verse 11, "If you then, being evil or sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him?" See, there's a reference to prayer. Now, at first glance here, we could think that Jesus is changing the subject with the questions. But Jesus is actually building on what he is taught in verses 7 to 8. Notice how this is all connected. In verses 7 to 8, we have man's side of prayer. Isn't that right? Asking, seeking, and knocking. But in verses 7 to 8 and in verses 9 to 11, we have the Father's side of prayer. We've already looked at the promise.

He's giving answer to that prayer, and he's promised to do that. But we have more. In verses 9 to 11, we also have Jesus showing us who the Father is, and how we should relate to him. Now, I want to get at this by examining these two rhetorical questions, and then the statement at verse 11. See how similar the structure is to verses 1 to 6? The first question. I call this bread and stones. The first question, bread and stones. Verse 9, "Or what man or father is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone?" Now, right away, we see that this question is aimed at fathers there in the crowd.

Remember the crowd? And right away, we see that this question involves food. It involves feeding our children. But notice that Jesus is talking about bread and stones. Now, scholars tell us here that the bread that they baked looked a lot like stones, these little stones that were very common. Scholars go on to say that you could mistake one for the other. So in my words, this is what Jesus is saying here with the question. Notice, "What loving father here would trick their own son and give him a stone instead of bread when he asks for bread?" Of course, this demands a no answer.

No doubt those fathers were screaming no in their mind and in their hearts when Jesus asked this question. And the idea here that Jesus is communicating is that no loving father would trick their son and give him something to eat that would be destructive. But then the second question, I call this fish and serpents. You could call it fish and snakes. Fish and serpents. Look back at verse 10. "Or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him, not give him a snake or a serpent, will he." Now, right away, we see that this question is aimed at the fathers and the question involves food and feeding their children as well. That's obvious for us to see.

But notice that Jesus is talking about fish here and snakes or serpents. Some translations do translate this serpents. That's because scholars tell us that this word, it can refer to a snake or a serpent. And even some scholars say that this refers to an ill. So let me put this in my words here. What Jesus is saying. What loving father here would trick their own son and give them a serpent instead of a fish when he asks for fish to eat? Of course, the answer is no. The idea Jesus is communicating here is that no loving father would trick their own son and give them something to eat that would defile them.

See, snakes and eels were considered unclean according to the Mosaic law. So the two questions. Jesus is looking straight at those in the crowd. He's looking at his disciples and even the Jews there. And he's looking specifically at fathers and he's asking what loving son would trick their own son when they are hungry? When their own sons ask for bread or fish, what loving father would trick their son and give them something that's destructive or defile? The answer is no. No loving father would ever do that. I think we can identify with that. I didn't understand that. But then third, moving away from the questions.

This argument out of verse 11. I call verse 11 an argument. Look back at it with me. If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? Now, this is not just any argument. Here, Jesus is giving an argument so as to reveal the heart and the character of God. Now notice, Jesus makes an argument from the lesser to the greater. You can see that. He says, if fathers, if parents, this could be applied to mothers.

If fathers, if mothers, if parents who were human or sinful, know how to give good gifts to their children when they ask how much more shall your father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? See how it builds? And notice what Jesus is doing here. He is shedding light on who God is. But there's more. We need to see that Jesus unfolds some much needed insights here. First, the sinfulness of man. There's an insight here to the sinfulness of man. Jesus seems to casually state the universal sinfulness of man. He assumes it and he assumes that those listening would agree. Does he not allude to the fact that man is sinful?

And then second, he shines light on the fatherhood of God. Jesus is using relational language. He is applying the fatherhood of God to those of his people, his disciples, true believers. Don't we see that? Then third, the blessings of the father and kingdom living are reserved for his people. He is shedding light on the fact that the blessings from the father and kingdom living are reserved for his people. These blessings here are not for unbelievers, only true believers, sons. And then fourth, and this is probably the most important, Jesus is shedding light here. He is revealing what should be the believers understanding of God.

God is not some far off distant power. He is not some mean policeman in the sky. He's not some ogre. God is not some lofty, soft, cuddly grandfather. No, he is God. He is the sovereign king of the universe. Yes, to all true believers, he is the heavenly father. You see? So this argument is for the person in the heart of God, who he is. Jesus says, if you are sinful, yet you give good gifts to your children when they ask, how much more will your father who is in heaven, give the good gifts to his children when they ask? And in this, he is revealing how his children should relate to him.

So we have this great encouragement in prayer in verses seven to eight. Yes. And here in verses nine to 11, we have this great presentation of God as our heavenly father through these questions, through the illustrations here, even through the comparisons, Jesus unfolds before them the fatherhood of God. And through this teaching, he is showing his people how they should relate to God, God their father. Now, an application, there's much that really applies for us today. I'm sure I'm leaving some out. There's just only so much ground we can cover, but an application first, we must see how we relate to our own children. We meet their needs.

We even give them some of their wants. Isn't that right? Now, why do we do that? Why do you meet your sons and daughters needs? Why do you even give your sons and daughters some of the things they want? It is because we love our children. Isn't that right? Now, I want to pause here and say, there are examples of such sinfulness where mothers and fathers will not even meet the needs of sons and daughters. We've ministered to people like that. Isn't that right? They are so sinful. They won't even meet the needs of their sons and daughters. You know, animals are better parents than those kind, but not us. We do this because we love our children.

We provide for our children out of love. But look, it is an imperfect love. Why? Because we are sinful, but not God. God is not sinful. So first, we need to see how we relate to our children and why we do the things that we do. But second, we need to see who God is. He is the sovereign God of the universe. Yet he is this loving heavenly father to those who believe, not to all mankind, only to the redeemed. Lost people can't relate to God this way, folks. This is only for the redeemed.

And if we, though we are evil, give good gifts to our children, how much more will our, our, our perfect heavenly father meet our needs and even some of our wants? And then third, we need to see how we should relate to our heavenly father. See, we need to see who God is, but we need to see how we relate. We should look to him. This is relational, folks. He loves us enough to redeem us. He sent his son to die for us. And he desires to answer the prayers in our life. He desires to work in our life. He desires to come and meet with us in these matters and in these things and even more. So how should we relate to God in this prayer? How?

He's our heavenly father, folks. And if we want to meet the needs and we will meet the needs of our children, how much more will he do for us? So we have these questions concerning the father, these questions and this argument that reveals that God is our heavenly father. So let's move on. I want us to see number three. I want us to see the truth and I emphasize the word truth. Truth concerning the golden rule. This is truth concerning the golden rule. Let's go back to verse 12. And we see a transition with that word therefore, but it connects back to all that he's taught. Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them.

For this is the law and the prophets. Now this may surprise you, but the golden rule has been around for a long time. As a matter of fact, the golden rule had been around long before Jesus expressed it here in verse 12. Well, I should say it like this, a form of it. The Jews and numerous Jewish teachers and rabbis had expressed forms of the golden rule, even a hundred years before Christ. You know, even the Greeks and the Romans taught a form of the golden rule. Now we could get into all of that.

We could get into who said what and what that looked like, but that would take a lot of time and really that would be more like a great history lesson. But there is really one important thing that we need to get out of these other versions. It was always expressed in a negative form. All of these other versions were always expressed in some type of a negative form. Now this will give you an idea of how it was expressed negatively. One famous Jewish rabbi said it like this. What is hateful to yourself do to no other. See the negative. He said what is hateful to yourself do to no other. And the other versions were pretty much the same negative.

Now, why is this important? Why? Just a brief history lesson. Listen, folks, that was the universal understanding here among these people. That was in their heart for all of those listening to Jesus here, for all of those that were there listening to what he taught. A negative version of the golden rule was a part of their thinking and understanding. Go back to that rabbi's golden rule. What is hateful or wrong or sinful to you don't do it to the others. And that was in their thinking and Jesus is correcting that. Now within the verse, Jesus does two things and we must see this. First, he gives the standard. Look at the beginning of verse 12.

Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them. I call this the standard because he was correcting the faults, the negative understanding of this expectation of God. And we need to get this, folks. Listen, follow me. Follow me close. See to refrain from doing to others what we don't want done to us. It's really nothing spiritual at all. Let me say that again. For us to refrain from doing to others what we don't want done to us, it's really not spiritual at all. It's just refraining from certain behavior. It's really easy. If you think about it, it just needs self-control. A man can do this by doing nothing.

A man can even do this by inaction. Let me give you an example. If I don't want people to steal from me, well, I won't steal. All I have to do is just not steal. That is mostly inaction. It's refraining from a particular behavior. Isn't that right? And that is what Jesus was aiming at to correct. Now follow me. But when this is taught and when this is understood in the positive, we see that man must be active. A person must and should actively and purposefully do for others what they would have them do for them. And when this happens, a new spiritual principle springs to life within the man.

Man has a completely different attitude and behavior towards others. Let me give you an example. If I want to be forgiven when I sin, if I want to be forgiven when I hurt someone, then I do not hold grudges. Isn't that right? That's the negative. And that's simple. But that just takes self-control. I don't hold grudges. But if I want to be forgiven when I hurt someone, then I actively, purposely forgive others no matter what. And that's what Jesus is teaching here. And look, when that takes place, a new spiritual principle springs to work within a man. It springs to life and it is of God and from God. You see?

Let me give you another example to try to help you see it. Murder. Hating. Hating in the heart. Even if a man works hard at not murdering, even if a man works hard at not hating someone, and even if that man does not verbally abuse and assault someone, he is still not obeyed the standard laid out by Jesus. Because to obey what Jesus is saying here is to purposefully, actively seek the spiritual well-being for others. And again, that takes God working within a man to produce this new spiritual principle. So we see that Jesus is given a new standard.

The golden rule is to actively, purposely seek to do for others what one would want done for themselves. And this is spiritual. And then second, I want us to see he gives us summation. We've seen that he gives the standard. And then at the end of the verse, he gives us summation. Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them. For this is the law and the prophets. Now, Jesus has just said, you do for others what you want them to do for you. And here he says, this is the summary of the law and the prophets. Isn't that right? Here's where we need to turn over to Matthew. Let's look at a few verses here.

Matthew chapter 22, specifically verse 39. I'm going to read starting in verse 34 for a little context. Matthew chapter 22. Some of you know right where I'm going. But when the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer. I asked him a question testing him, teacher, rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Now they were trying to treat Jesus. I think you know that. And he said to them, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second verse 39 is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments depend or hinge the whole law and the prophets. So this is what's happening. Jesus is saying that this golden rule is a summation of the second greatest commandment, which is to love your neighbor, what? As yourself. And the golden rule shows us what this looks like. It shows us this second greatest commandment flashed out. The golden rule tells us how the true believer is to relate to others. So we see the truth concerning the golden rule. It is not simply refraining from the negative. It is a great and godly spiritual principle active in the life.

When one actively, purposely seeks to do for others what they would want done for them. It is the second great commandment fleshed out in life. Jesus is showing his people what the second greatest commandment should look like. And everyday living. Now an application for me, we need to see how the golden rule applies in two ways. This is just how it came to the surface for me. First, simply among brothers and sisters within the family of God, the golden rule should be lived out among brothers and sisters within the family of God. Let me give you an example. Listen, folks, brothers and sisters struggle. Brothers and sisters have great trials.

Brothers and sisters have their legs knocked out from under them. And there's a whole host of reasons why. And brothers and sisters can be as low as low can be. They can be depressed. They can have no spiritual energy. Why? Because of great trials. Because of great needs in their life. Now, how do we react to them? Do we judge them? No. We do for them what we would want God to do for us. See, folks, many times you don't understand trials is because you've never been through any. But, oh, folks, when you go through trials, when you go through hurt, when you go through great difficulties, all of a sudden there's something within you.

You have great compassion for that brother or sister who's struggling. You have great patience with that brother and sister. And look, you know the Lord has done a work in your life. So you want God to do the same thing for them. And then you will actively work to be an agent for God. Leaving life in the local church. You look up and you see brothers and sisters struggling with sin. Look, folks, when we come to faith in Christ, we're forgiven of our sin, but we're still sinners. And the longer we live life in the local church, we're going to see sin. Remember, we learned this last week. You see a speck in someone else's eye.

How should we react? Are we judgmental? Are we harsh? Are we unloving? No. We see that sin in their life. We first deal with our own sin. And then what do we do? We want what we would want. See, we want the Lord to work in our life and our sin. We want forgiveness. We want to deal with our sin. And then we look across the sanctuary and we have great compassion. We have great love. And we want to be an agent. We want to be used of God to help that brother or that sister deal with their sin. So we must see that this rule must be a spiritual principle which governs the way we live. This should determine how we relate to brothers and sisters.

It's a work of God in us and a work of God through us. And then second, I've touched on this some, this immediate context here. What is Jesus taught? The sin of judgmentalism within the family of God. It is sin. Jesus has taught us not to do that. That's the negative. Don't do it. Well, here Jesus is teaching us what to do. The positive side. And just like worry and anxiety should be replaced by trusting God. Judgmentalism should be replaced by the golden rule. Actively, purposely doing for our brothers and sisters what we would want done for us. God's spiritual best for us. We should want that for others.

So we must see that this rule of living should replace any and all judgmentalism, judgmental attitudes, desires. It should be replaced and look folks, this should permeate. This should govern. This should permeate how we relate to brothers and sisters. This should govern how we behave in the life of the church. You know, sometimes you just run across something that somebody else says, and you just wish you could say it like them. So what we do as preachers is when we run across something that somebody else says, and we wish we could say it like them, we just read what they say.

I couldn't get away from what the Bible scholar William Barclay says here. And I want you to follow me here. This is just going to help us. Listen to what he says. It is perfectly possible for a man in the world to observe the negative form of the golden rule. I think you see that. He could, and I'm quoting, without very serious difficulty, so disciplined his life that he would not do to others what he did not wish them to do to him. But the only man who can even begin to satisfy the positive form of the rule is the man who has the love of Christ within his heart.

And he goes on to say, it will be a principle which will dominate his life at home and his illustrations are a little old. It will be a principle which will dominate his life at home in the factory, in the bus, in the office, in the street, in the train, at his games, everywhere. He will never do it until self withers and dies within his heart. To obey this command, a man must become a new man with a new center in his life or to his life. And if the world was composed of people who sought to obey this world, it would be a new world. So we see the truth concerning the golden rule.

And it's so much more from just refraining from negative behavior. Now as I close, I want to use this word must. Musts. You know, in family life we have musts. We must do this. You must not do that. Again, I keep going back to our earthly families. We train our sons and our daughters how to live. You must not do that. You must make good grades. You must be at home on time. You must have the right friends. You must not talk like that. You must behave a certain way with your brothers and your sister. You must relate to your mother a certain way, to your dad a certain way. See, this is all about family life.

Our children are home or why it's about family life. You see? And we must see this prayer. We must relate to God our father this way. And this is all connected, folks. We must see our God as our heavenly father. So we will and can, will we be motivated to come humbly, submissive, and great sincerity. Doing what? Asking, seeking, knocking. He's not some big policeman in the sky. He's not some distant, far away God. No, he is this loving heavenly father. And for what? For what? For life needs. This connects back to worry and so much more. Just specifically for life needs. This applies. And then also for the sin of our brothers and sisters.

We intercede for them. Then also for the work of the church and so much. But oh specifically, folks, we can't have judgmentalism. I keep bringing that up because it's a sin that can be so detrimental. Do we want this? Look, folks, do you want a brother or sister across this sanctuary to judge you? Or do you want them to live by the golden rule as they relate to you? And you see, we got to have this spirit, this behavior, this attitude. And look, it's not just about the negative side. It's about the positive as well. I want to read the verse. And then I will touch on the title of the lesson and we'll close.

Hopefully with the way I've explained it, the verse just looks different and sounds different. Therefore, however, you want people to treat you, so treat them. For this is the law and the prophets. Now I'm going to be honest with you, folks. This isn't one of those things we can hear in one sermon. Lord, I got it. And move on. No, this takes a lot of death to self. This takes the spirit of God reorienting us, changing us, shedding light on this. This is one we've got to take to our prayer closet. We got to take it to our study desk and we've got to have the Holy Spirit of God to form us and change us and mold us.

So this is about prayer, but more promises, but more prayer promises. And what the golden rule. Let's pray.