Mountain View Baptist Church

[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter.  You may access previous messages from this chapter, which are referenced in this message by clicking here.]

Last week we considered bread and stones. We looked at fish and serpents. We thought about eggs and scorpions. The conclusion we came to was that our heavenly Father will provide us good things to give to others that need them. He will give us these good things because we ask for them. In turn, we are to give these same good things to others who ask us for them.

We probably should mention something here that I am not confident we covered at all last week. Although in dealing with individuals and their problems we may truly desire to help, we tend to often look at them in comparison to ourselves, and our success or failures. We tend to see things only through our own eyes, our own perspective. What we should understand is that a consistent theme in all of the passages from Matthew 7:1 through 11 and even (especially) in today’s verse is to look at things from a biblical perspective, not a personal one. Many times we are encouraged to see things from another person’s perspective. In this case, we are encouraged to consider our personal perspective first as compared to scripture. We need to be careful that this is not a haughty legalism, but a loving compassion. This personal consideration, though, is not a filter, but more of a sensor that opens and shuts two valves. It should not be something we run things through to purify them. There should be a valve that releases the good things and re-routes all the bad stuff. We are given this sensor when we are saved. The sensor is the Holy Spirit who lives within us. If we seek His face, look for His guidance, and ask Him how we can best testify of Christ in us He will tell us.

Matthew 7 and verse 12 is a very commonsensical summation of Jesus teachings in this section. This is that “golden rule”: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. We have applied the scriptures in this chapter very specifically in context as we studied through them. We will endeavor to apply this scripture in the same fashion.

This is a small tidbit of history that I thought you would appreciate. A gentleman named James Cash Penney (1875-1971) was a preacher’s kid born in Hamilton, Missouri. His father was a Baptist pastor of a small church in his hometown. Failing in health, Penney moved to Colorado, where for a short time he established a butcher store. Though this venture failed, his next business did not. After the butcher shop failed, he bought a partnership in a store in Wyoming. Soon, the store was doing well and he decided to expand establishing other stores in the state. He based his philosophy off of our verse today, Matthew 7:12, and called them the “Golden Rule Stores.” This store chain was so popular that it was one of the world’s largest merchants of its time, having over 1,700 stores. J. C. Penney was a humble servant who poured his heart out upon those around him, always seeking to do unto the customer as he would have done unto him.

We often look at people’s motives for the things they do and run them through a filter. This filter can be any number of things. Christians run them through the filter of the scriptures, and prayer hopefully. The world runs things through the filter of their own experiences, attitudes and desires. The world’s filter is very subjective. Depending upon the wants of any individual, this filter can be black with wickedness and deception. Either way, people look at others, decide about others motives, and ascribe motive and treat others in a fashion that is normally consistent with one of these two filters.

Some Christians become overly critical in their filter. They know Christ was perfect and they are called to perfection as they become more like Christ. They begin to expect things of unbelievers, (behaviors, aptitudes, attitudes and expectations) that are only given to believers. Some Christians also make the mistake of assigning blame to the sinful heart that may not necessarily be there. A verse I often quote – Jeremiah 17:9 - makes the point that deception goes both ways. Not only is the heart deceitful toward fellow man, it is deceitful within ourselves. This is where the Christian must be wary. Just because we know how wicked the world can be does not give us license to immediately ascribe wickedness to every endeavor in the world. We cannot immediately judge others as deceitful, wicked, unfaithful, dishonest and hateful just because we know they are worldly. Yes, all those things are a natural propensity in the unbelieving heart; but how many of us desire to be stereotyped? We must be wary of the world, but wary of our own heart too.

Let’s take a few wonderful historical examples of stereotypical responses based upon observation. These are not exact quotes.

• “The white man’s only desire is to keep the black man under his thumb.” This comment was actually made to me many years ago. This is racist in character and essentially says all people with white skin scheme to suppress the success of any black person. Nonsense.
• “The negro is a savage and only good for hard labor.” This racist comment was made many years ago by slave traders and echoed throughout our horrid period of slavery in this nation. It was repeated throughout history until the middle of the last century when man finally matured to see other men as equals. It basically states that black people have no intellectual capacity and therefore are only good for manual labor. Again, complete nonsense.
• “Christians who believe in the six-day creation account ignore the body of scientific evidence against it.” This comment is equally judgmental and attempts, as the racist comment above does, to say Christians lack intellectuality, are brain washed or gullible. This too is nonsense.

How many believers are appalled that many in the world attribute our faith in Christ as the basis for the Crusades? How many are equally appalled that an individual would claim their motive for murdering a person was based in their Christian faith? True Christians are also spiritually hurt and know their testimony is tainted by organizations that display hate in their public rhetoric and demonstrations against certain national activities. Christians know that un-Christlike or un-Christian behavior does nothing but hurt real Christians who daily strive to show others that Christ lives in them. We’ve all had questions such as, “Wasn’t Hitler a Christian? He claimed Christianity.” We also cringe when we hear, “Germany was a Christian nation and in the name of Christianity they persecuted the Jews and perpetrated the Holocaust.”

One last nonsensical judgment that we see in the world is to say that, because we know all lost souls are sinners, they are all dishonest. The truth is that the world without Christ has the possibility of being just plain evil in all things, but it does not mean that every unbeliever is dishonest, or a cheat in business. Treat others as scripture directs and you treat them as Christ does. We are to love one another. We are commanded to love our enemies. These two commands have great and glorious application for the believer. The main thing is that we are, as Christians, supposed to treat others and think of others far and away differently than the world does. First and foremost, we treat others as we would like to be treated – without stereotypical judgmentalism ascribing motive where none is clearly indicated. We should remember that the saint is still a sinner too.

I. What you Prefer (Verse 12a)

We must endeavor to wrap up our discussion on judgmentalism, arrogance and the call to be priests one to another, to love one another, to bear one another’s burdens (1 Pet 2:5; Jn 13:34; Gal 6:2). We do this by not being judgmental (Matt 7:1-2). We are not supposed to inappropriately concentrate on other people’s problems and ignore the instruction in our own issues (Matt 7:3-5). In Matthew 7:6, we assess appropriate times of witness and testimony based upon real evidence, not subjective conjecture. In verses 7 and 8, we seek God for guidance and approach gently when trying to help. Verses 9 through 11 just point out the commonsense of all that which was before – everyone knows to do what is good even if they do not practice goodness. It follows then that we want to be treated a certain way, which is intrinsically considered good, right, just or civilized. We want people to look at us and not make snap decisions about us based on some arbitrary thoughts, tainted information or misapplied historical facts. We want people to regard us based upon our own merits. We want the benefit of the doubt.

We want others to see us as respectable, honest, caring, concerned, normal people. Here is a news flash folks – even the most heinous individual on the planet wants this basic recognition – that they are respectable, honest, caring, concerned and normal. Serial killers have to be caught and it has to be proven that they in fact, did kill. Most of them function well in society. Contrary to some silver screen theatrics, serial killers do not want to be caught, they are not all dysfunctional loners and they are not all white males. They make mistakes over time which leads to their capture. Some have a family with children and full time jobs. They come from all types of backgrounds.[i] Truthfully, just like “normal” people, even serial murderers want others to see them as they desire to be seen. No sensibly “civilized” person wants everyone to know their worst side. Honestly, any negative aspect of our personal life is judged by the world, whether Christian or not.

I know people who put up a front at work that makes them look hospitable, congenial and even understanding; but when they get home, they treat their family and everyone they supposedly love like garbage. These people think less of their families than they do those with whom they work. We act certain ways because we prefer others to think of us in certain ways. We hide certain behaviors from others because we know they are unacceptable. When we exhibit those behaviors around others who we know will forgive us, we actually abuse the privilege of forgiveness. We do not want to be treated with wickedness and judgmentalism.

Folks, what you say, how you act, how you want to be treated is how you will be seen and what you are telling others you expect from them. This is why we act civilly in public. Many times our challenge is in the home, around people we expect to understand us. Practice treating people the way you prefer to be treated at home as well as at work. Just as we prefer others to obey verses 1-11, we should be willing to do so as well.

If we are not supposed to engage in these activities, what are we supposed to do? What activities do we engage in to remove the negative ones such as anger, hate, conjecture and elitism (mote and beam issues)?

II. What you Do (Verse 12b)

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to be the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Eph 4:29). We are not just supposed to live a life before others with a testimony of love and caring; we are supposed to communicate that in all ways. Ephesians 4:31 tells us that we are to take all bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor as well as evil speaking away from ourselves along with any malice we may hold for others. Christians are not supposed to live a life of love and caring, they are supposed to be loving and caring so their lives will reflect who they are. To take the negative qualities away takes effort. It means you act to remove them. Once again folks, Christians are supposed to be the most understanding, loving, caring and ultimately forgiving individuals on the face of the planet. We are supposed to push away all the natural bents of our heart that would unjustly accuse another person, or inappropriately assign guilt to another. It is directly behind these verses in Ephesians that we have Ephesians 4:32 which commands us to be kind, tender hearted, and forgiving to one another. We discussed in a Wednesday night service how these are attributes of the Christian, not activities in which they participate. The words “kind,” “tenderhearted” and “forgiving” are all nouns not verbs. They are substantive words. They are characteristics that produce actions, not actions that allude to characteristics. Christians are kind, tenderhearted and forgiving, or they are supposed to be anyway. We are to be like Christ who is like the Father so much so that if you see Christ, you see the Father (Jn 14:9). God was kind enough to plan for our salvation before the foundations of the world. God was tenderhearted enough to give His Son as an atonement for our sins. God was forgiving enough to accept His Son’s atonement. His Son loved us so much that He gave himself as atonement for our sins. If we are Christlike then, we exhibit forgiveness as the Father exhibits it for Christ’s sake, in that He died for us and gave Himself for us as an atonement for our sins.

What we do then is…we choose not to accuse. We go to people, talk to them, discuss issues with them and open ourselves to others for a different point of view. Christians do not treat others rudely. We are not crass. We do not use foul or crude language because Christ did not. We do not lay blame because, unlike Christ, we do not know. Think about this – we forgive others not knowing the truth of their wickedness, because Christ forgave everyone knowing the truth of our wickedness. What we do is strive to be like Christ who depicted the Father (Jn 14:9). The Father forgave us, was kind to us, exhibited a tender heart to us even in our depravity. We Christians are supposed to do these very things too, and for others as well. We should never accuse another person especially when we do not have first hand and specific proof or knowledge. That goes for believer as well as unbeliever. We must bite our tongues, especially when we really do not know. We do not gossip because it leads us to speculate upon someone’s guilt or innocence (saying someone “could be innocent” when gossiping is a positive way of saying they could be guilty and lays that skeptical foundation). Gossip only poisons others and leads you to judgmentalism (2 Cor 12:20).

III. What Scripture Says (Verse 12c)

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (Jn 5:44) First, by seeking the truth from God’s Word (the Law and the Prophets) we eliminate many of the sins we could and probably would commit against others. We should not first seek the opinion of people.

We are to wash one another’s feet (Jn 13:14). We should be helping one another be clean for the feast of the lamb of God. We should not encourage sin or have a poor opinion of anyone or anything even when they do sin. We should especially not act to encourage a poor opinion of Christ or Christianity.

Ultimately, we are to love one another (Jn 13:34; 15:12, 17…). This is a unique love we should have for one another, such that Christ is seen within us. We love one another so that we are known as disciples of Christ (Jn 13:35). The love we have one for another should mark us as loving Christians. If we backbite one another, gossip or “discuss” people’s problems behind their back, how can we garner love one for another and in the body of Christ? The person we are talking to certainly is not going to want you to gossip about them. Are they next on the list? We often wonder what keeps people away from Christianity.  It is this very issue – talking of people’s sins or what we perceive as their sin behind their back. Is that how we want to be treated?

In our love one for another, we are to give preference to one another in honor (Rom 12:10-11). We are to default to an honorable status even when we see a brother or sister doing wrong. We must approach things and consider first that a brother or sister in Christ is not dishonorable, but we are to give them the benefit of the doubt and ascribe honorability to them first, not deplorability.

We are to live in harmony with one another (Rom 12:16). We should seek as glorious and loving results to conflicts as we can. This can only take place when we appropriately seek the very person with whom we have a conflict. Talking to Bob about a conflicting issue you have with Jane is not going to help. We must go to Jane first. This verse also states we are not to be haughty, but have associations with the lowly. We are not supposed to be conceited. Though the inference here is to lower social classes, it more indicates an individual who lacks hope – is emotionally low. These negative emotions can result in challenging relationships, but we are supposed to cultivate them in the Lord.

We must grant that most of these “one another” scriptures are directly applicable to believers’ relationships between one another. The challenge is, are you treating other Christians with these attitudes?

• Are you seeking the word of God for answers on how you should deal with others and in your relationships with others?
• Are you treating people the loving way you want to be treated?
• Men, are you treating your wives the loving way you expect them to treat you?
• Are you taking for granted their forgiving heart and abusing their hospitality and tender spirits?
• Are you encouraging them through love to be more Christlike in their testimony?
• Ladies, are you challenging your husband in a loving way to be more Christlike in his testimony? Yes, men, I asked your wives to challenge your testimony when it needs a little correction. You married a helpmeet – not just to help you get things done in the house. You were supposed to be put together because you can better glorify God together than you can apart.
• Ladies, equally, the scripture expects you to make these challenges in a loving caring fashion just as you desire your husband to treat you. Do you address your husband’s rough edges with loving and gentle encouragement?
• Believers, do you treat every believer with the honorability due a soul quickened by the Spirit of God?
• Believers, do you avoid conversations with others that may bring another person’s testimony into question?

It matters what you desire. It matters what you do. It matters what the scripture says concerning both your desires and your testimony. Your communication, attitude and actions all make up your testimony. Do all the things that you do speak of pure dedication to Him? Do your actions make people see Christ in you? Christ treated people the same way He would want to be treated because it says to do that in the Law and the Prophets, and we know Christ was obedient because God was well pleased in Him. Will God say, “well done thou good and faithful servant” to you?