Embodying God's Love: The True Golden Rule

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Prior to the time of Jesus, this rule had been pronounced but only in a negative form. When you read it in the Old Testament, for example, in the book of Leviticus, it is essentially something along these lines: what you do not want others to do to you, do not do to them. [00:01:20]

Jesus takes it and states it positively, and that actually is the first thing that I want you to notice, that when we consider this rule, we need to understand it as it has been given to us in this positive fashion. Jesus is making it clear that it is not simply enough for us to be passive or to be refraining from recrimination. [00:02:12]

The idea that when we read the Old Testament, we have all of these negative commands, and when we come to the New Testament, Jesus sets aside all that negative stuff, as we hear people say, and he replaces it with a positive statement that is far more palatable and doable apparently. [00:03:12]

Jesus himself makes clear that these negative prohibitions of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in the working out of this positive statement. For example, you take them as they come to mind: you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. [00:04:03]

The Golden Rule says treat others as they treat you, and you may be tempted to say, you know, I think that's exactly right because that's what I hear people saying in the market, that's what I hear people saying in my office. They say, you know, somebody does this to you, you do that to them. [00:06:27]

Let me tell you, you cannot do it. You can make an attempt at it, but you cannot achieve it because what Jesus calls for here is not the natural response of natural men and women; it is the supernatural response of ordinary men and women. How then can I, who by nature and merely natural, respond in a supernatural way? [00:08:23]

It will only be as God works it in that we can work it out. That's Philippians 2:12 and 13: work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works within you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [00:11:17]

The commandment to love God is never separated from the commandment to love our fellow man. Well, I spent more than enough time on that, I think. The rule then is to be understood positively, and it needs to be understood precisely; otherwise, we will fall foul of a lot of these clichés which are so easily baptized into orthodoxy. [00:15:05]

The test of real love is that it should be unselfish, that it is a love which is not focused upon reward, a love that is not driven by the anticipation of being paid back. If you just read what he's saying there, I think if you're honest, you will agree that is exactly what he's saying. [00:16:06]

If we love only in return for love received, why would that ever be worthy of recognition? It sounds very loving to us, and we love them back. What's your word? You want to walk around with a bumper sticker on the back, drive around with a bumper sticker on the back of your minivan on the strength of that. [00:16:49]

Jesus is calling for a radical lifestyle that is dramatically different from the framework of the surrounding culture, both in his day and in our day. What credit is that to you, he says. I mean, do you really think that you can put your head on the pillow at night and say to myself, you know, I'm so glad that I'm a member of the family of God? [00:17:44]

To listen to the words of Jesus without corresponding action is to simply show ourselves that we're in the same class as the others. Do you realize how crucial this is? I hope you do. [00:22:48]

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