Golden Rule

Date: 9/18/22

Sermon Title: Golden Rule

Context: Matthew 7:12

(Matt 7:12) So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Preaching Note  

1. Today's Bible text is what we call the 'Golden Rule'. This verse emphasizes the ‘love in deed’. These are the words to build the kingdom of God here and now. Calling this saying the “golden rule” was coined by the Roman emperor Alexander Severus in the 3rd century. “Severus was not a Christian, but he was moved by the comprehensiveness of these maxims of Jesus and is famous for using them as guidelines for a good life and carving them in gold on the walls of his room”

   In his first sermon, Jesus emphasized the kingdom of God that is taking place here and now. “Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), and in Matthew chapters 5 to 7, Jesus spoke of the ‘sermon on the mount’. Jesus spoke about the identity of a Christian, a disciple of Jesus who lives in the kingdom of God through the Sermon. The main body of the Sermon on the Mount is 5:21(Chapter 5, verse 21) -7:12 (Chapter 7, verse 12). The Golden Rule is the summary and culmination of the Sermon on the Mount. The ‘therefore’ in 7:12 indicates the conclusion of the main body of the Sermon on the Mount that begins at 5:21.

Q.1 What is your most important principle?

2. “Whatever you do, do to others as you would like them to do to you” (verse 12). The Greek word translated “poieo” (ποιέω), in the Korean Bible is “to serve”. Poieo’ means ‘to do’. It's 'do' in English. The English Bible was translated as ‘do to others’ (NIV). The Korean joint translation Bible was also translated as ‘do’. “Do to others what you want them to do. This is the spirit of the Law and of the Prophets.” It's not just a meal treat.

Q.2 Have you ever wanted to be taken care of as much as you cared for others?

3. “This is the true meaning of the Law and the Prophets” (verse 12). When Jesus spoke of the Golden Rule, he said that this was the true meaning and summary of the entire Old Testament. Jesus said that if we keep this golden rule, it means that we have kept all the commandments of the Old Testament. Jesus valued the ethical commandments more important than the ceremonial laws. No matter how well you follow the many rituals in the Old Testament, if you do not follow this golden rule, it will be of no use. When reading the Old Testament, you must remember the words of Jesus.

    Lessons similar to the golden rule existed in antiquity. One day, a Greek trader, hearing the fame of Hillel, the great Jewish scholar of the first century B.C. visited him and asked what was the key message that permeated the entire Torah. Hillel replied: “Do not do to your neighbor what is harmful to you. This is the whole law, and the rest is a commentary on the law.” It is a negative form of prohibition. It is also in the form of a negative prohibition in the 2^nd-century text, Didachē, the teaching of the 12 apostles. “Whatever you do not want to happen to you, do not do to others.” It is also in the apocryphal form of negative prohibition. “Do not do to anyone what you do not like” (Tobit 4:15).

   Zigong (子貢), a Confucian scholar from the Wei Dynasty, asked Confucius. “Is there a single word that you can use as a guide to action for the rest of your life?” Confucius answered. “Perhaps it is the chinese word Seo (恕). I don’t do to others what I don’t want to do to others.”

    At the conclusion of the last chapter of the University(大學), one of the Four Books and Three Classics of Confucianism, there is an idiom, 'The way of righteousness'. The way of righteousness is a virtue a gentleman should possess. “Do not do to a subordinate in a way a superior did to me what I disliked, and do not do to a subordinate in a way a superior did to me what I disliked. What you dislike on the right should not be conveyed to the left, and what you disliked on the left should not be conveyed to the right. This is called the way of righteousness.”

Q.3 What commandments of the Lord are most important to me?