New Identity, New Path: The Golden Rule — Everybody knows it, but why is it so difficult to treat others how we want to be treated? Why is this simple concept so difficult to put into practice? What about prayer? What about all the rest of the Christian life? The key is to realize that faith in Jesus results in a brand new identity as a child of God. Out of this new identity flows a whole new way of life, empowered and sustained by our good Father in heaven. Recorded on Oct 2, 2022, on Matthew 7:7-14, by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our sermon series “The Unexpected Way,” from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7 in the Bible. The way of Jesus is totally unique; it’s different from every other way of life, philosophy, or religion. Why? Because the teaching of Jesus — emphasizing holiness, humility, justice, faith, and sacrificial love — leads to a whole new gospel-centered ethic. This ancient ethic, if actually practiced, has the power to bring abundant love and joy, and peace to anyone, anywhere today. This is the way.
Sermon Transcript:
All year, we’re focusing on Learning the way of Jesus, which means that all year, we’ll basically be answering the question, “If the gospel is true, how then should we live?” And we’ve been working through a very famous teaching of Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount in a sermon series called, The Unexpected Way. Last week, we considered Jesus’ teaching about being judgmental of others and his calling to first work on your issues/struggles before trying to fix other people. We had a great discussion about this at Youth Group, and hopefully, it was helpful for those of you in a community group, as well. If you missed any of the messages in this series, you can always go back and watch on the church app or on YouTube or listen to the audio podcast. Today, we’re reminded that we have a radically new identity by faith in Jesus. And this new identity leads us to a new path in life. We’ve been talking about this path; that’s what the way of Jesus is all about. But it’s critical to see how our new identity (who we are) leads to this new path (what we do). Our activity flows out of our identity. Some of us really struggle with following the way of Jesus in one area or another, and it’s tempting to focus on the behavior, to try and control it or correct it somehow. But it’s far more effective to focus on who we are and whose we are in Christ. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Mt 7:7.
Matthew 7:7-14 (NIV), “7 “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! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
So in the Sermon on the Mount, let’s remember the context: Jesus is teaching his disciples/followers what it looks like to follow his way. And with all this focus on our behavior, it can start to feel like being a Christian is largely defined by what we say/do, in other words, by external behavior. But this is not the case. Of first importance is who God is and what the nature of our relationship is in Christ. And really, no one else in all of history has envisioned God and the relationship that human beings can have with him like Jesus does. You won’t find anything like this in Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam. There’s nothing like this in ancient Greek or Roman religion. This is totally unique. Let’s start back at v. 7, and I hope you’ll see what I mean.
Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV), ““Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Let’s pause here. What is Jesus talking about here? I used to work in sales and we talked about making “the ask” or the importance of asking for the sale or asking for something in a negotiation. So, is Jesus giving us sales advice? Well, maybe, but most people understand this saying as referring to prayer because down in v.11, Jesus talks about God giving good gifts to those who ask him. So our asking, seeking, and knocking are three different ways of talking about prayer. So why does Jesus use this language to talk about prayer? He has already taught us about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6. There, he gave us a model prayer, praying to our Father in heaven. There, he stressed not praying in such a way as to draw attention to yourself, and he also stressed our need for forgiveness. But there is much more to be said about prayer. I believe Jesus uses the language/analogies of ask, seek, and knock for prayer for many reasons, but I’ll just give you one. Asking, seeking, and knocking all require action from us. We must not be passive in our prayers or our relationship with God, thinking that God will automatically give us what we need without any effort on our part. Jesus says we are to ask for what we need, we are to seek what is lost or hidden from us, and we are to knock at the doors that are closed before us. I think this is very similar to the parable Jesus told his disciples in Luke 18, “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” In the parable, a widow kept going to a corrupt judge to seek justice from her adversary. In the end, the corrupt judge gave in to her because of her persistence. Jesus said, if that’s how a corrupt judge might act, “will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” So ask, seek, and knock. Don’t give up; be persistent in prayer. If you need something, you should ask God for it. If you are seeking something, you should ask God to reveal it to you. If you are standing before a closed door, you should ask God to open it for you. Why? Because, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Now, this is such a hopeful promise of Jesus. But is this just wishful thinking? Surely, God isn’t some cosmic vending machine that just spits out whatever we ask of him, right? Of course, the answer is no, but the reality is so much better. Look at v. 9.
Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV), “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!” The reality of who God is should be shocking to us. It should cause us to laugh in surprise like Sarah laughed at the promise of God for a son in her old age. It should cause us to fall at his feet like Isaiah fell when he stepped into the presence of God. It should cause us to worship like disciples worshipped when they saw the risen Jesus. But what’s the surprise? What should be shocking to us? That the Lord God Almighty, the creator, the maker of the heavens and the earth, wants to relate to us as our Father who delights to give good gifts to us, his children. So why isn’t it wishful thinking to believe that we can ask, seek, and knock and that God will listen and respond to our prayers? Because of who God is: our Father in heaven. Even the best earthly fathers are only a shadow of the Fatherly grace and goodness, power and provision, and unconditional love of God. So our Father wants us to be active in prayer, not passive, to ask, seek, and knock. But in the end, the effectiveness of our prayers does not depend on us, but on who we are praying to, on who God is, and on his identity. And who is he? He is our Father. And he is infinitely good and wise and loving. For the believer, God always answers our prayers with grace or mercy. God gives us grace by giving us what we ask for in prayer when our prayers are aligned with his will, which is what would always be what is best for us. Or God will give us mercy by not giving us what we ask for that is not aligned with his will, which, of course, would not be for our best. God promises to work all things for the good of those who love him, including, surely, our foolish or shortsighted prayers. As Pastor Tim Keller has said in several places, (see his Twitter post on 11/10/14) “God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows.” Let’s continue with v. 12.
Matthew 7:12 (NIV), “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Now, this is called the Golden Rule, which is, basically, treat others how you would want to be treated. Do you want people to deceive you? No? Then tell the truth. Do you want your spouse to cheat on you? No? Then be faithful to them. Do you want others to treat you with respect and dignity? Yes? Then treat them with respect and dignity. Now, it is often pointed out that the Golden Rule is found in one form or another in many times/places in human history. It is one of those pieces of general wisdom that seems to be hardwired into us. However, before Jesus, the Golden Rule was only recorded as a negative statement. Essentially, “Don’t do to others what you don’t want to be done to you.” As far as we know, Jesus was the first to flip the Golden Rule into a positive statement. His law isn’t only a list of things to avoid but also positive/good/just things we are supposed to do for each other. And in case we might miss the importance of this, he says, “for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Literally, he says, the Golden Rule is the Law and the Prophets, meaning that the whole Old Testament can be summed up by this one rule. Treat others how you would want to be treated. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal 5:14).
Now, this is not complicated; this is actually pretty simple. A child can easily understand this. In fact, Holly and I used this teaching a lot when our kids were young. Why shouldn’t you hit your brother? Well, you wouldn’t want to be hit, right? Plus, hitting them isn’t loving them. Love your neighbor as yourself, young one. So the Golden Rule isn’t that hard to understand, but let me ask you this: is it easy to do? Is it easy for us to treat others how we would want to be treated? Is it easy to love our neighbor as ourselves? The answer is absolutely not! In fact, it seems close to impossible at times. Why? If this is part of the Greatest Commandment, as Jesus says later in Matthew’s gospel, if this is part of our highest calling in life, why is it so hard to do?? Because of the main problem of the world. And this problem isn’t a problem with our economy or with a lack of education or because we have the wrong president or political party in charge. If it was any of these things, then Jesus would’ve come with good news regarding our finances or our education, or our politics. But was this Jesus’ message? Were these the things Jesus came to deal with? No. Jesus came to finally deal with the main problem of the world, which is the problem of sin, and the consequence of sin, which is death. This is why Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead in order to break the power of sin and death. The reason we have such a hard time loving one another, obeying the commandments of our God, and very simply, treating others how we would want to be treated is because of a fatal flaw we are first born into, and then, as soon as we’re able, we take up for ourselves, that is, our self-centered and self-destructive struggle with sin. That is a disordered love of anything or anyone apart from God and a failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. So the way of Jesus is hard. Why? Because of our sin. But the way of Jesus is possible. Why? Because of the gospel, because of the great love of our Father in heaven, because of the person and redemptive work of Jesus, because of the power of God the Holy Spirit in us, changing us and transforming us in every way as we take one hesitant step after another in following Jesus. What is impossible for people is possible for God. But it is following his path/way that is the Christian life. Maybe today, you’re wondering how to start this life. If you want to follow the way of Jesus, where do you start? Look again at v. 13.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV), “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” In John’s gospel, Jesus is clear that he himself is the gate. In this sermon, Jesus offers us two different gates which lead to two different roads or paths, one leading to destruction and the other leading to life. One way is popular and is followed by many, the other way is only found by a few. How do we enter the narrow gate? The whole of the New Testament is clear: you become a Christian by hearing and believing the gospel. It is by faith alone in Christ alone. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Ro 10:9). This is why our mission as a church is sharing good news. We want everyone, everywhere, to hear about and believe in Jesus. But then what? Once you enter through the narrow gate of faith in Christ, the Christian life is all about learning to follow his way. Is it easy? No. But it is good. And it’s the only way that actually leads to life, and isn’t finally destructive.
Now, very often, I close my sermons focusing on how to apply what we learn in God’s word. Instead, I’d like to close by drawing your attention to the one common thread that runs through this part of the Sermon on the Mount. I don’t believe we covered three unrelated teachings this morning, one on prayer, another on how to treat others, and finally, on the nature of Christianity as a new way of life. The underlying principle that ties all these sayings together is that for those who are disciples of Jesus, then his Father becomes our Father. This means that the most important part of our identity is the shocking reality that we are now children of God by faith in Jesus, sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. This is who we are. We, of course, are forgiven and freed from the main problem of sin and death. We are also called into a new way of life of following the way of Jesus. But our identity in Christ is not primarily defined by the sins of our past or the obedience of our future. It is first defined by who we are in relation to God. So the reason we can ask, seek, and knock in prayer, the reason we can obey the golden rule, and the reason we can follow the way of Jesus is because of our new identity in Christ. That new identity, a new creation of God, slowly but surely changes us from the inside out. So our identity leads us to new behavior, new activities, new desires, and new spiritual fruit in our lives. Who we are leads to what we do. And it is only by learning and being continually reminded of this new identity that we can discover the fullness of who God created us to be.
Now, some of us really struggle with following the way of Jesus in one area or another (ok, all of us struggle if we’re honest). Maybe it’s a struggle with pride/pornography/insecurity/anger/honesty, or something else. And I know that it’s tempting to focus on the behavior, on the attitudes/words/actions that are offensive/inappropriate/wrong. We focus on these things because they are the presenting problem, and it makes sense to try and control them or correct them somehow. But again, it’s far more effective to focus on who we are and whose we are in Christ because everything flows out from there. So whether it’s in our struggles, when it feels like we’ve stumbled off the way of Jesus; or when we really don’t want to treat others how we would want to be treated; or we’re really having trouble believing that God will answer our prayers, may we remember that we have a new identity in Christ. And this makes all the difference. Slowly but surely, one obedient step after another, one persistent prayer after another, you will find that you are being sustained/empowered/encouraged on in the way that not only leads to life, but leads us all the way to our Father and to our true home with him. A new identity leads to a new path. Praise the Lord. Let us pray.