The Golden Rule

Matthew 7v12

2^nd May 2025

Matthew 7v12
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The crowd who had come to listen to Jesus preach what we know as the Sermon on the Mount, would have contained all sorts of characters. Some would have been successful business people, some would have been so poor they struggled to make enough to feed their families. Some would have been proud, confident, self-assured, some would have been humble, hesitant, shy. The first thing Jesus said to them was blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Some would have thought that ridiculous. Some would have found it intriguing. Some would have found it troubling. Some would have found it immensely encouraging.

After teaching us the Beatitudes, Jesus taught them - and us - us about God's ethical standards and about charitable giving, prayer and fasting. Then He told them - and us - to devote ourselves to God and His kingdom, and not to worry about earthly matters. Then he taught us not to judge other people but to be discriminating about what we tell people, because some people aren't ready to learn about the kingdom of heaven, even though they desperately need it.

None of us live up to the standard that Jesus set us in this sermon.

Anybody standing on the hillside that day, who'd listened to Jesus's gracious and very challenging words with an open mind, would, by this time, have become poor in spirit. They would have known they were not good people. They would have become aware that they judged other people who were no worse than themselves.They would have realised they needed God's help. Perhaps they remembered Jesus's opening words. blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

They then heard Jesus teach us If we will seek God, we will find Him. If we will ask God for what we need, he will provide it.

This is the fundamental message of the Sermon on the Mount:

WE ARE ALL FAILURES
WE ARE ALL SINNERS
WE ALL NEED FORGIVENESS AND HELP
GOD WAITS FOR US TO ASK FOR THE HELP WE NEED
GOD WILL GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THOSE WHO SEEK HIM

If we read these words today, and if we have open minds and open hearts, if we are honest with ourselves, then we, too, will become poor in spirit. If we believe Jesus's words, we will come to God in repentance and faith, and we will find the forgiveness, freedom, peace and joy that God offers.

If you and I are in that situation, if we acknowledge that we are sinners, saved by the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the cross, if we are poor in spirit, then we are truly blessed because ours is the kingdom of heaven! Praise God for His love and mercy!

In the light of all this, what should our attitude be towards other people? How should we treat them? Jesus says:

Matthew 7v12
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

We're poor in spirit. We're no longer so proud that we think we know best. We gratefully accept Jesus's teaching, as embodied in the Bible, Old Testament and New. We want to live upright, holy lives. We want to live in accordance with the Law and the Prophets. Jesus says we will, indeed, succeed in doing this if we will do to others what you would have them do to you. That is, if we will treat people the way we want people to treat us.

This is often called "THE GOLDEN RULE" and is considered by many to be the most fundamental principle of ethics. I would say it is the second most fundamental, after, OBEY GOD.

Consider the last six of the Ten Commandments:

If you want your children to respect you, respect your parents.
If you don't want somebody to murder you, don't murder someone else and remember that Jesus compared anger and insults to murder in Matthew 5v21-22.
If you don't want somebody to sleep with your wife, don't sleep with other people's wives and remember that Jesus taught us in Matthew 5v28 that "anybody who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart"
If you don't like people telling lies about you, don't tell lies about them.
If you don't want people yearning to take from you what is rightfully yours, don't allow yourself to yearn for what is rightfully theirs.

If we are truly poor in spirit, if ours is the kingdom of heaven, then we will love our neighbours as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19v18, Matthew 22v39). This is a test of whether our faith and our conversion are real. Although none of us is perfect, our hearts will want us to be the kind of people who truly love other people, whether we like them or not, whether they like us or not.

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

Hate the heresy, love the heretic.

Poverty of spirit is a gift from God.