Would you please turn with me to Matthew 7 verse 12 as you stand with me in honor of God's Word. This morning we're just looking at one verse, a verse that brings to a close a larger section which began all the way back in Matthew 5 verse 17. For 78 verses now Jesus has been teaching us what Kingdom Living looks like, what it means to be a citizen in the Kingdom of God, what its ethics are, what its proper motivations are, how its citizens relate to God, and relate to their fellow man.
Verse 12 then is the sort of concluding statement, the last word in this section on Kingdom Living. And here's what Jesus says, Matthew 7 verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.
Let's pray. Lord, you value kindness, you value love, you model loving kindness to us. And it's your will that we in turn show that same loving kindness and grace to others. So once again you're calling us to obey something in your word. Would you give us please the grace to be willing and able to do that which you're calling us to do. And when we fail, please cover our failure with the perfections of Christ. Holy Spirit speak to your church now I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
You may be seated. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ has been describing the distinguishing traits of God's Kingdom and of the citizens of God's Kingdom. And in Matthew 7, 12 he tells us that one of the chief distinguishing marks of citizens of God's Kingdom is that they are a people who show kindness to others. If we were to analyze American culture, perhaps some of the distinguishing character traits of Americans would be our independent spirit or that can-do attitude that characterizes our approach to life.
Other cultures might point to their ingenuity or their propriety or their laid-back, easy-going take on life. But of all the character qualities Christ could have ended his sermon with, the one he chooses that seems to best sum up the ideal citizen of God's Kingdom is that of treating others the way you would want to be treated. Just another way of saying loving others as you love yourself.
And this makes sense, doesn't it? Loving kindness is a chief character trait of God's children because it's a chief character trait of God himself. Some have called this the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And most cultures around the world acknowledge the value and the virtue of this principle, although few actually practice it with any consistency. But this is to be a distinguishing mark of all those who claim to be followers of Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. If we are to be characterized by this Golden Rule, this principle of kingdom kindness, we might refer to it, then we need to understand what it is, we need to embrace it, and we need to apply it consistently to our lives as a governing principle of first importance.
So let's meditate on this essential character quality for a few moments this morning. And let's start by first trying to understand the principle of kingdom kindness. Some Christian doctrines are more difficult to understand than others. Some doctrines can be readily grasped by young children. Others require a lifetime of meditation and prayerful study of God's word to come into focus. This principle of kingdom kindness as we find it here in Matthew 7-12 is not a difficult one to understand.
It's a fairly simple concept. Now the formal principle is found here in verse 12. But earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, we're given several examples of this principle applied to real life. In fact, if we look back at Matthew 5 verses 38 through 42, let me read those verses for us. Matthew 5 beginning at verse 38, Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. So in these verses, Jesus begins with what is referred to in Latin as the lex talionis, the law of retaliation. The idea that one's punishment ought to match one's offense. If you steal from me, I'll steal from you.
If you lie to me, I'll lie to you. If you kill someone I love, I'll kill you. Law codes built on the lex talionis are committed to a rigid sense of fairness and equality and justice. What you do is what you get. But then Jesus makes a profound adjustment to this rigid rule.
He turns it into what we might call a Christian lex talionis. Instead of the law's measuring stick being that which others do to me, the measuring stick becomes that which I wish they would do to me. That which you wish others would do becomes the very thing you are to do to them. In other words, our treatment of other people is not to be contingent on their fair treatment of me. It's to be based on how I wish they would treat me.
It's not about fairness and equality. It's really about grace and kindness and even self-sacrifice. I'm not even supposed to expect others to live by this same standard of kingdom kindness or wait for them to begin practicing the golden rule before I begin to live by it. Now I want you to notice how people, even unbelievers, naturally have a sense that this principle is good and right. Early on in life, little kids are held to this standard.
How many first grade teachers have resolved conflicts in their classroom by asking, Johnny, is this how you want others to treat you? We inherently recognize that this is a virtuous principle. But the world's understanding of the golden rule is radically different from Christ's principle of kingdom kindness.
One commentator pointed out some of those differences. He said non-Christians believe that anyone is capable within himself of keeping the golden rule. Christians, on the other hand, believe that apart from the Holy Spirit and man, nobody can keep this principle. When the first grade teacher appeals to Johnny's sense of right and wrong, she's appealing to a biased conscience, a conscience that is fundamentally self-oriented. And if God's Spirit doesn't change Johnny's fundamental nature, he will forever be unwilling and incapable of practicing kingdom kindness. Secondly, for the non-Christian, it's the goodness of man that deserves loving treatment from all.
Johnny, I know that that schoolyard bully is being mean, but deep down, he's a good person. And if you just treat him kindly, it'll bring that goodness up to the surface. For the Christian, it's not the inherent goodness of man because there's no such thing, but rather the image of God in man that makes him worthy of being treated with respect and love. Finally, non-Christians see the golden rule primarily as a means to an end, and that end is personal benefit due to others so that they will do to you.
Christ's conclusion, on the other hand, is radically different. Due to others, he says, for this is the law and the prophets. And I'll talk some more in just a moment about what that statement means, but for now, recognize that our motive in practicing this principle of kingdom kindness is not personal benefit. It's not a means to a selfish end.
It's not some utilitarian standard of ethics in which virtue is determined by whatever achieves the greatest good for the greatest number of people. No, what Christ is calling for is nothing less than self-sacrificing love without restitution, without repayment. That's what kingdom kindness is. It's a radically selfless laying down of my life for the sake of others.
That sounds a whole lot like Jesus Christ, doesn't it? And this is what ought to be a chief distinguishing mark of the citizens of God's kingdom. Now, just because we understand something doesn't mean we like it or accept it or embrace it. There are plenty of things that I understand that I've not embraced.
I understand that a healthy diet and exercise will make my life better, and yet I'm out of shape and have candy at my house. So it's not enough for us to just sit in church this morning and think about words and their meanings if those words don't change the way we respond to each other in the car on the way home. These truths that we claim to be so foundational must permeate our life in thought, in attitude, in deed, or they're of little value.
It's not enough that we be hearers of the word. We must be doers of the word. One preacher said, The tragedy is that having praised this principle of kingdom kindness, we do not implement it.
And after all, the law was not meant to be praised. It was meant to be practiced. Christ's golden rule was not meant for us to merely discuss and affirm in our minds.
It was meant for us to live out in every sphere of life. And so having considered what it means, we secondly need to embrace the principle of kingdom kindness, to accept it wholeheartedly. We need some heart motive that drives us beyond talking about treating others with kindness to actually treating others with kindness. I believe that Jesus gives us two such motives, two reasons to wholeheartedly embrace this practice of self-sacrificial love as a life principle. The first motive is found right here in verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.
Why? Because this is the law and the prophets. We embrace this principle first of all because God said to. It's God's law.
God defines what is good and right, and if he says we're to do it, we're to do it. Every one of us has at some point or another questioned authority. We're told to do something and we ask why. Sometimes the answer we get from a parent or a teacher or an employer is simply because I said so. In other words, I'm in charge.
I can tell you what to do. Now in the case of the golden rule, we are to obey it simply because it's God's law. God isn't obligated to give us any other reason than the fact that he is the king and the king gets to make the rules. But I think there's more in this statement about the law and the prophets than just some sort of cold do it because I said so sort of motivation. This reference to the law and the prophets means that when we live by this principle of kingdom kindness, we are living up to everything God's law intends us to be doing. A few chapters later in Matthew, Jesus will make a similar statement.
Matthew 22 verse 40 says, On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. And of course there in Matthew 22, those two commandments he's referring to, is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. The point is that when you wholly love God and unselfishly love other people, you're living up to every purpose and intention of God's law. What Jesus is saying is that every command in the law with respect to relationships between people has as its object mutual love and justice. John Calvin said there is no need for long and involved debates about rules and regulations if this simplicity of love is preserved. When we love, the law is fulfilled. When we truly biblically love God and others, we are doing what the law demands of us.
Let me illustrate it this way. If I genuinely love my wife, I don't need a list of rules that say, don't belittle her in public, don't call her ugly, don't forget her birthday, tell her you love her every day, and so on and on. If I truly love her, I'll naturally do those things, not because of the rules, but because I want to do them. And I believe that's the sense in which the second commandment of the golden rule fulfill the law and the prophets. They are the ultimate expression of all that lies behind God's rules and regulations. The laws God gives are not ends in and of themselves.
They're means to an end, and that end is love, love for God and love for those who are made in the image of God. So the first motivation we're given to embrace this principle of kingdom kindness is the fact that by living according to this principle, we are abiding by the revealed will of God and fulfilling the highest purposes and intentions of God's law. But there's a second motivation for embracing the principle of kingdom kindness. We embrace it, secondly, because it is the way that God treats people. Notice that verse 12 begins with the word so, or therefore. This word logically connects the golden rule to the preceding verse. So let's take a look at verse 11. Matthew 7-11 says, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him? This verse calls for us to recognize that God gives good things to the likes of us, evil, sinful, rebellious, self-centered human beings. And in light of that reality, we in turn are to give good things to the people around us who are also evil, sinful, rebellious, self-centered human beings.
And I think this is where the gospel really shines the most clearly in our text. We are to show kindness to others, verse 12, because God has shown incredible kindness to us, verse 11. And the greatest act of divine loving kindness is and will forever be the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for the sin of undeserving, unkind sinners like us. We show kindness then not to earn favor with God in heaven. We show kindness as a response to the profound kindness that we have been shown by a gracious and loving God. We are to be so filled with gratitude for God's goodness to us that we become conduits of that goodness to others in order that, as one pastor said, that the stream of love toward the undeserving may flow on and on until it reaches even the most unworthy. We are to embrace kingdom kindness because it's the way God treats people. It's the way God treats us.
So God models the golden rule for us in verse 11 and then commands us to adhere to that rule in verse 12. Since God is the model, we need to keep in mind that God doesn't show kindness to us based on our merit, our deserving of it. He shows kindness based on His grace. And in the same way, we should love our neighbor not because our neighbor deserves our love or because it will bring some advantage to us.
We show love simply because we have been shown love. The golden rule doesn't start with our looking at our neighbor. It starts with our looking at God and seeing His goodness to us in spite of our misery, His love to us in spite of our evil hearts. By looking to God, we gain a right perspective of ourselves. And only after we've gotten this right perspective of ourselves can we see others rightly, not merely as hateful people trying to rob us, but as pitiable slaves to sin and Satan.
The character of God then is a crucial motivation for embracing the principle of kingdom kindness. When I was a teenager, my first paying job was a grueling manual labor job. Our church owned some property that we were going to use as a camp for handicapped children. And so a contractor in the church hired a bunch of us boys to clear the land all summer and get it ready for construction. It was hot, sweaty, difficult work.
And I remember one afternoon just being sick and tired of cutting down trees and dragging them to the burn pile. My friend and I decided to do a little goofing off. We started messing around, acting like we were working, but we were really just kind of wasting time. Well, our boss picked up on what we were doing.
He pulled us aside for a little chat. And I remember being sort of embarrassed that we were getting in trouble, but then my boss said something that struck terror in my heart. He said, Eugene, if you don't start pulling your weight, I'm going to have to tell your dad that you've not been working very hard.
Folks, he didn't have to say anything else the rest of the summer. I made sure I was the hardest working boy on the crew from that point forward. You see, I could hardly imagine anything more shameful than for my hardworking dad to find out that his son, his heir, the one who bore his name, was being lazy. My character, my behavior were inseparably attached to my father's reputation.
And that realization put a fire in me to work as if my dad were watching. Christians, our character and our behavior are inseparably attached to God's reputation in the world. And when the world sees a church that's more interested in serving itself than in giving itself away, that's more caught up in backbiting and arguing than deferring and yielding.
When the world sees a church that bears the name of Christ but doesn't bear the selflessness and the humility of Christ, we tarnish the reputation of our Heavenly Father. We ought to embrace this principle as a way of life because it's the way our Heavenly Father treats us. Well, we've considered what the principle of kingdom kindness is. We've motivated ourselves to embrace it as a regulating principle in life. But this verse is calling us not just to think and feel, but to do. We're being called to action. And so we need finally to apply the principle of kingdom kindness.
We're very skilled at getting ourselves off the hook, are we not? When it comes to loving our neighbor, we're good at rationalizing ourselves out of having to show kindness. We're good at hiding and disguising our unkindness towards others. We cover up our lack of love with statements like, Well, I'll be praying for you, and what the person really needs is help. Or we excuse our lack of compassion with statements like, This situation requires tough love.
Calvin said that perfect justice would undoubtedly prevail if we were as skillful at learning to love as we are at excusing our passivity. How do we apply the principle of kingdom kindness? Jesus gives us three steps. First, we need to deliberately, intentionally, consciously think about how we would want to be treated.
It's very easy just to skip over this step, just to jump right into the action itself, but Jesus doesn't skip over this. He begins the principle with the idea of giving thought, contemplation to how you want to be treated, whatever you wish, Jesus says, that others would do to you. This requires that we stop and ask ourselves, How would I want to be treated in this situation? Now, there's an error we can make at this stage. I can assume that everyone else is just like me, and therefore I'll treat them just the way I want to be treated, but I think there's an implication here that we treat others like we would want to be treated if we were them.
In other words, people have different preferences, personalities, needs, desires, and when we're contemplating how someone else wants to be treated, we need to take into consideration these differences. I knew a pastor once who had a very large personal library with hundreds of books in it. He had an office at his church where the shelves of the books wrapped all the way around the room. Well, one day the cleaning lady at the church had been cleaning his office, and she thought it would look nicer if all the books were ordered from tallest to shortest on the shelves. So she proceeded to do just that. Needless to say, that was not helpful to this pastor.
He couldn't find anything on the shelf after that. The cleaning lady thought she was doing something helpful when actually she was doing something very unhelpful. And sometimes we do the same thing, thinking that we're just treating others the way we want to be treated.
From the cleaning lady's perspective, she was arranging the books the way she would have wanted them arranged. But she failed to take into consideration how she would have wanted the books arranged if she were a pastor who needed quick access to the right book at the right time in his study. So often we apply the golden rule without giving sufficient thought to the needs and desires of the other person. Some people are introverts, and kindness to them might mean giving them space.
Just because you may be an extrovert doesn't mean everyone else wants or needs a lot of interaction and conversation all the time. So applying the principle of kingdom kindness begins with contemplating the needs and wishes of others as if you were them. You know, this probably means that we're going to be a lot better at practicing kingdom kindness towards people that are the most like us. And for this reason I would say it is especially crucial for us to consider the other person's perspective when we're radically different from them. We need to master the art of putting ourselves in the shoes of others. So applying the principle of kingdom kindness begins with deliberate, honest, humble reflection on the needs and desires of others. Once we've thought about how we would want to be treated if we were in the other person's shoes, we're to begin treating them accordingly. We're to treat others the way we would want to be treated.
This is the second step of application. This is where the rubber really meets the road. This is where we actually lay down our lives for the sake of others. It may take on the form of some act of service or some act of deference. It may be as simple as speaking a compliment or a word of encouragement to someone. On the other hand, there are times when kingdom kindness actually involves a rebuke, a warning, an admonition.
You know, if I'm headed down some path of destruction, I want someone to warn me. The most loving act in the world may sometimes mean getting in someone's face and saying, stop, don't do that, don't go there. Kindness without truth is just sentimental niceness. Being merely nice to someone who is running headlong towards hell is not kindness at all. It's actually cruelty with a smile.
And that sort of sweet hypocrisy has nothing to do with what Christ is requiring of his disciples in Matthew 7-12. True kingdom kindness never obscures the truth with flattery and niceties. It speaks the truth, but it speaks the truth in love. We need to remember that even with words of correction and warning, we are to speak as if we were the ones being corrected.
How do you like people to correct you? Well, gently, with respect, at the right time, giving the benefit of the doubt with the right motives. So when love requires that we say the hard things, even then, especially then, we need to do it as we would want it done to us. Well, the third and final step of application is found in that last statement, for this is the law and the prophets. We're to first think about how we should treat others.
Secondly, we're to start treating others that way. And finally, we're to do all of this knowing that it is pleasing to God. You see, part of the application of this principle is to remember the God-given motive that we've been given to obey it. We do it because it's pleasing to God.
And it's pleasing to God because it's imitative of God. When we obey God's law, we're living lives that are pleasing to Him. And our motivation to treat others with love has everything to do with our desire to please the one who has given us that which we don't deserve. If our motive is anything else, we'll quickly get tired and worn out by trying to keep the golden rule. If you treat others with loving kindness because it'll make them like you, you're going to be disappointed.
If you practice the golden rule because it'll make you feel better about yourself, you're going to get discouraged. We live by this principle of kindness because we belong to the king of kindness. We're his children.
We're citizens of his kingdom, and we bear the marks, the character traits of that kingdom. As I was studying for this sermon, it struck me that this life principle has a very naive ring to it. It comes off perhaps as a moralism you might hear in a children's Sunday school class. Now let's everybody be kind to one another. In fact, I hesitated to even use the word kind. I thought some other word, maybe a more sophisticated word, might better capture what Christ is calling us to here, but I kept coming back to the simple idea of kindness because I believe that is the central idea of Matthew 7-12. I'm afraid we've become so sophisticated in our evil that we no longer admire innocence and simple virtue and purity. I wish I were still naive enough toward wickedness to not even have the notion in my head that there's something maybe too elementary about the word kindness.
It's a good word. It's a virtuous trait. It's a profound character quality, not just for first graders but for adults, for baby Christians and for mature Christians. Jesus is calling us to be a people of kindness, and perhaps we need to start by just elevating our appreciation for that word, increasing our esteem for this godly virtue. So I want to close by just reading several verses of Scripture that highlight the profound significance of kindness in the Christian life, and hopefully these verses will help us overcome any pride or sophistication in us and implant in us an unquenchable desire to bear the marks of kingdom children. Each of these verses I'm going to read contain the Greek word for kindness. Sometimes it's translated in our English translations in various ways, but I'm going to use the word kindness as I read each of these verses to you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is kind and my burden is light. Love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins kind morals. Love is patient and kind. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is kind. Brothers and sisters, think of the kindness that God in Christ has shown to you, and then carry that same kindness with you into every relationship, every conversation, every action you engage in. If you want to honor your Heavenly Father by resembling your Heavenly Father, you must bear the mark of kingdom kindness.
Let's pray. Father, you are a kind King. You give good things to evil people, and by your goodness lead them to repentance and grace. You've called us to be a people who exercise loving kindness to others. I pray now that you would give us a taste, an appetite for this virtue, and Lord give us the grace to demonstrate this kingdom characteristic every day of our lives for the sake of your glory in us. I pray. Amen.
