Pursuing the Point of God's Story (Matthew 7:12)

Here’s my Sunday this past weekend from Matthew 7:12. You can catch the audio here.

Did you catch the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago? Well, you know I did, as I got to see my lifelong favorite team win their second title in the past four years. But did you pay attention to what happened in the game? If you were watching, and were following what was going on, you might have noticed a bizarre but critical play that took place at the end of the contest.

The game was tied, and the Chiefs were driving toward the end zone. Mahomes handed off the ball to running back Jerrick McKinnon, and he had a straight path to score. A touchdown in the Super Bowl was right in front of his face. But he made this strange but smart decision. He fell to the ground. He downed the ball inbounds. And the Chiefs ran out the clock. They kicked a game winning field goal as time expired.

Now if you didn’t understand the game, you might have watched what happened, and thought, “#1 in red has lost his mind! Isn’t the point to grab the ball and score?” And your friend next to you, who knows the game well, would have yelled back in response, “No, you fool! The goal of the game is to WIN!” And she would be right. That, my friends, is the point.

Now isn’t it so easy for us to miss that ourselves? The point? Not just in a game - but in the midst of life? Yes, of course. Here, right before us, in Matthew 7:12, Jesus tells us exactly what the point of everything is. And just as we saw, in that Super Bowl win, it’s to get down low. To think about the big picture. And to put others first. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Listen to that verse once again: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” We might see that word “so” there - and wonder what it refers to. “So?” What’s the connection? Now if you’ve been with us during this whole ride through the Sermon on the Mount - or you’ve maybe read lately through this gospel of Matthew - those words, especially the last part of the verse, may sound familiar to you. Where have we heard them before? Well, back near the beginning, in Matthew 5:17. Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Do you catch those words again? Jesus talking about the “law and the prophets?” Now, we’ll come back to them soon, and consider what they might mean. But D.A. Carson, along with other scholars, thinks that chapter 5, verse 17 and today’s verse, chapter 7, verse 12, function like a set of brackets. In between are words that form the body of the message. These words on each side present us with our theme. “So” in our verse today, points back to all of this Sermon on the Mount. The brackets help us to understand the Lord’s main point. And what we learn - and where we’ll focus today - is that the point of His sermon - what Jesus says here in verse 12 - is to put others first.

Love the Point of God’s Story

Now I know some of you just watch the big game for the commercials. And you might have caught these - or at least heard about them - the “He Gets Us” ads. And you might have seen people raging online - about a Christian non-profit spending $20 million bucks to run two of them during the Super Bowl game.

People were condemning, crying out, “Are we seriously spending that much on this? Couldn’t we have fed the hungry? And given unhoused people shelter?” Now, I’m not really one that joins in that kind of complaining. I tend to believe the best about those kinds of things. And figure I don’t need to tell people how to spend their own money.

But here’s one take I thought was interesting. The commercial in the second half displayed multiple images of Americans yelling and fighting. And at the end of the ad, with sirens going off in the background, these words dissolved onto the screen: “Jesus loved the people we hate. He gets us. All of us. Jesus.”

Now an article in USA Today raised a tough question. Why does Jesus need a PR guy anyway? And why do these ads need to be run at all? It might be that we, the church, haven’t done our job. We’ve not been the billboards we’re called to be in the world. We’ve not shown the world His love. So maybe those ads weren’t there just for the world - but maybe for the church - to put us on our knees. For not living out what Jesus calls us to here.

He says again, in verse 12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” We learn here that love is not just the point of the Sermon on the Mount. Love is the point of God’s story.

Here we see one of the best known passages in all of Scripture, what’s been called the “Golden Rule.” But why do we call it that? Because it’s been recognized as critically important, as really valuable, right? But legend even has it that the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, back in the 3rd century A.D., made it his kingdom’s theme, and had it written on his palace walls - in gold. Think at what might change if we took this saying of Jesus, truly believed it, and wrote it on our hearts? We might not be arguing about spending gold on commercials.

Well, what does this “rule” say? Now many have pointed out that Jesus goes beyond what others in history have said. Because rules like this have generally been expressed in the negative. Silver rules. Confucius is known to have said, “Do not to others what you would not wish done to yourself.” A famous Rabbi named Hillel - a contemporary of Christ’s - said this: “What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is commentary.”

But Jesus again takes things to another level. Right? It moves from the passive - not hurting anyone - and makes it active - doing good. Jesus doesn’t just rule out sins of commission - bad things we do - but also sins of omission - good things we leave undone.

The verse also starts out with those words, “so whatever.” Other translations, like the NIV put it like this: “in everything, do to others.” Again, Jesus takes things further. He’s not asking for selective good deeds done for those around us. He’s calling for something comprehensive. Jesus again demands all of our lives.

And again, here, as in all of this Sermon on the Mount, He’s going for our hearts. Right? It’s one thing to do acts of service - with our hands. It’s another thing to do what Jesus says here. To try hard to truly get in someone else’s shoes. To ask what we’d want if we were in their situation ourselves. And then seek to act  accordingly, based on that. It’s a golden rule perhaps also because it’s costly.

But it’s so valuable, because it will carry us so far. Through pretty much any situation in which we find ourselves. We don’t need thousands of rules, because this one applies so broadly. And it calls us to go beyond ourselves. To put the needs of others first. To love. It brings to mind what Jesus calls the second greatest commandment in Matthew 22:39 - “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The way you think about and try to care for yourself - do that for those around you. Author Paul Miller explains it this way:

“First ask yourself, ‘What would I like for someone to do for me in that situation?’ Then go and do that for the person. Think, then do. Using our natural tendency toward self-preoccupation, Jesus gently turns self-awareness on its head. The Golden Rule is a simple prescription for ‘unselfing.’ When Jesus saw the large crowd he stopped, thought about their needs, and then acted.” (Paul Miller)

Jesus goes on, in the second part of verse 12, “For this is the Law and the Prophets.” That’s why we should live this way. It’s the point of the Bible, of God’s story. Isn’t that what Christ means when He talks about that phrase? He means the Old Testament. The Bible his listeners knew and cherished. This “Golden Rule,” this rule of love - it summarizes the message of those Scriptures. It’s their very point!

James says something similar in his letter. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well” (James 2:8). Paul writes similarly over in Romans. He writes, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8).

Now we might win a lot of arguments, and put a lot of people into their place, but, as we do, we’re missing the point. And, in fact, we’re going against the grain of the story of God. Because the point of it all is to imagine ourselves in the situations of others and seek to love them as Christ has loved us. That’s where God’s story seeks to move us. It’s His story’s very message.

But here’s the problem. And it’s not just mine. It’s all of ours. We’re not real great at this. Are we? Because of the fall, we’re selfish. I want you to put yourself in my shoes. And do what I want and need. But I so often don’t want to do the hard work of giving that to you. If we try to live out Christ’s words, it’s often in a way that’s self-serving. It’s “golden” because it pays me back for doing it. It’s like the phrase “honesty pays.” Telling the truth will end up working well for me. So even when we’re kind to others, we so often have ourselves first and foremost in mind. And that’s why we need a Savior. For Jesus not to just give us rules. But for Him to rescue us from our terrible record at keeping them.

Jesus is the Point of God’s Story

Let’s go back to Matthew 5, verses 17 again. The Lord says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Now again, that phrase “the Law and the Prophets” is Christ’s way of talking about the whole Old Testament, the entire Jewish Bible. Jesus is the point of God’s story. Back when I preached that passage, at the beginning of last summer, I put it like this: “All of our Old Testament comes together as one big arrow that points toward heaven, toward Jesus.” He is its point. It’s meant to drive us to Him. To bow before Him as King. And to join Him in spreading His kingdom. Jesus says, “I’ve fulfilled all that.”

We see this also elsewhere in God’s word. In the book of Luke, in chapter 24, after His resurrection from the dead, the Lord says to His disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” It’s all about me, Jesus says. I’m the point.

Back in Romans again, in chapter 10, and verse 4, Paul says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” In Galatians 3, and verse 24, the apostle calls the law “our guardian until Christ came.” It all pointed to Him. He is the point, the point of God’s story.

It all points to His perfect life. He completely kept God’s commands, always honoring His Father. It points to His death. To bring forgiveness and healing to the world. And it reaches ahead to His resurrection - where He triumphs over sin, death, and Satan. He is the King the Bible longs for. Who will set up a Kingdom of perfect justice and peace. The prophecies, the types, even the allegories of the Old Testament - they all reach ahead to Jesus!

So we’ve read two verses that both state the point of God’s story. Matthew 7:12 and Matthew 5:17. And you might ask, “Which is it? So is the point love? Or is the point Jesus?” Yes. That’s the answer. Yes, there is a problem. How miserably we live this all out. But there’s also a solution. There’s a power. It’s Jesus.

He redeems. His life, His death, His resurrection - they become ours. By His grace. And He also gives us His Spirit so that, by His power in us, we can begin to live out that verse we call the “Golden Rule.” And we gradually get more in sync with the point. As we love. Through Jesus who is the point of everything.

What This Might Look Like

Now I want to think a few moments about what this could look like. Have you checked out Tom Hank’s new film? It’s so good. It’s called A Man Called Otto. It’s based on Frederik Backman’s great book A Man Called Ove. Hanks plays a grumpy, elderly widow who attempts suicide multiple times. He gets forced out of his long-time job. He can’t bear to live without his wife. That’s until he meets this young family who gives him purpose again, who brings him into their home. The movie displays - and the book’s even better - the power of love. And it leaves you thinking, “If I was elderly and lonely and without purpose, how would I want someone to treat me?” And the film pictures it so well.

Through Jesus, the point of all things, how can we live for the point ourselves, live in love, through this “golden rule” that He gives here? My wife remembers going shopping with young, fussy kids. And having older women look down their noses, offering words of highly judgmental advice. But there were also younger college students, who tried to distract the kids and make things easier. If you were a mom - or a dad - overwhelmed by your kids, while you’re shopping at Hy-Vee, what would you desire? What would show you love? Maybe a smile or a compliment? Or a word of encouragement? What would be your hope from others?

Race is such a hot button issue today. And it has been through most of our nation’s history. But couldn’t we make so much progress if we just stopped talking and actually started listening? What if we truly tried to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes? Don’t we want others to hear our hurts? To listen to our hearts? Isn’t that how we’d want to be treated ourselves? Wouldn’t it make the pain even harder if we were just easily dismissed? What progress could be made - in conversations on race - if we tried to apply this Golden Rule here?

We’re excited to share our building with two other churches, and one of them is a group of Burmese Christians. They’ll meet downstairs in our fellowship hall later this afternoon. I had lunch with their pastor this week. He and his family - and all of the families of that church - were once refugees. They literally fled through the jungle from a military regime that was killing Christians. Now if that was you - and your wife and kids - how would you want to be treated - as you were running for safety? With a big sign that said “closed?” Or the words “keep off my lawn?” Or with a warm meal and some hugs? With help to start to a new life?

Karis is also home to a growing group of youth. In fact, they’re meeting after the Gathering here today. Young men, young women, how could these words of Jesus impact how you serve other kids in school this coming week?

If you were sitting alone at the cafeteria table. If you were new to the school, and had yet to meet any friends. If your family didn’t have much money, and you were embarrassed with the way you had to dress. How would you want your classmates to treat you? What would you hope people would do? And how can you go make that happen at your school?

We have Karis members that work with CASA. And a number of CASA volunteers. It’s an organization that advocates for kids in the foster care system. This group of believers have asked, “If I was in that situation, passed from home to home, what would I want?” And they’ve sought to go and provide that.

Think about your place of work. Your co-worker is late for a deadline, and keeping late, late hours. And the Golden Rule comes to mind. “If that was me, and I was going on three hours of sleep, and was walking around scared of losing my job, I would hope one of my peers would pitch in and help.” Jesus says, “Think. Do.” Get to work unselfing. Loving.    

I could go on and on, as we all know. But this is what our Lord commands us to do. In everything, whatever we do, wherever we go, to have eyes to see those around us. And ears to hear what they’re truly going through. And then to offer our hearts and hands to help them carry burdens, so they no longer feel alone. To use our imaginations given to us by Him. And use them to love. This is what Christ’s Sermon on the Mount is about. This is what all of the Scriptures are about.  Love. Love through Jesus the King. This is the way of the kingdom.

Questions That This May Raise

But I realize as I take on this subject, that this could raise some tough questions in your minds. And I want to take on a couple of them before we finish today. First, what about all the ways that the church has failed? Yes, indeed. The church has perpetuated some pretty wicked things. The Inquisition, the Crusades, are just a couple of big examples. And God’s people have looked like idiots and meanies - for sure - over the past several years. We’ve needed some PR help, for sure.

But I do want you to hear that the church has also done a lot of really great things. Like build hospitals and schools. Christians lead the way in adoption and foster care. There’s no debate about that. And non-Christian journalists like Nicholas Kristof, with others, have admitted that, without Christian missions scattered across the world, an already dark globe would be much, much darker. It was the good deeds of the early church, that sprung from their love of Jesus, that led to the church exploding across the world. But there have been some dark moments, and that’s for sure.

But those periods of darkness were not because the church was being too Christian, but not nearly Christian enough. Those professing Christ were going against His teachings. They were bringing Him dishonor. And we all do that, if we’re honest, more often than we’d like to admit. All we can do is seek forgiveness - for the wrong we do - and the wrong our forefathers have done. And reaffirm our desire, in the power of the Spirit, to honor our Lord by living out this Golden Rule.

Second, aren’t we also called as His people to speak truth? Yes, indeed we are. That’s what Ephesians 4:15 so clearly says. Imagine that you were walking lost in the jungle, in the dark of the night, and you were completely lost. You came across a woman on your path. And you begged her for help. Wouldn’t you want her to show you home? Wouldn’t you want her to love? In the same way, Jesus wants us to love people through truth. And humbly show people the way.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to sit on a panel over at Hickman High and answer questions about our Christian faith. And I was pretty nervous. I got asked some pretty hard questions. Why do Christians go around trying to convert people? What do we think about people who are LGBTQ+?

Back in chapter 5, Jesus says that we’re the “light of the world.” That we’re the “salt of the earth.” And that means in big part that we’re to show and tell people what’s true. We’re to do it in love, and but we so often fail. But we still have to tell people the truth. If people are lost and confused, we have to show them the way home. If they’re headed toward danger, we have to point them to safety. Otherwise, that’s really not love. Isn’t that what we’d want ourselves?

Drew and Megumi Glosson just made it back to Japan, a place where less than 1% of the people there are followers of Jesus. Love means telling them about Him. It doesn’t mean just affirming whatever they believe and do. That’s not where the Golden Rule leads - even if that’s what the world says.

I was talking to a brother this week who was sharing some challenges at work. He talked about a co-worker who is trans, who’s getting bullied by their peers.

And he shared this irony. He disagrees with this person’s choices. And clings with us to Bible’s picture of gender and sex. But at the same time, he’s the one employee there showing that person love. That’s the tension we’ll certainly feel, as we try to live out the words of our Lord. It won’t be easy. We can’t control how people will respond. But we can be faithful. And love. Knowing that He’s with us, by our side.   

Now these words I’m about to read often get consigned to weddings. Or they’re relegated to cross-stitch hangings on our grandma’s wall. But they’re so rich.

1Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1Corinthians 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

What’s the point? The thing that’s greatest of all? Love. And if we lose that thing, we’ve missed the point.

If you’ve been here more than a week, you’ve heard me quote Tim Keller. I admire him as a writer and teacher so much. God has used him so much in my life - and in so many others. He has pancreatic cancer, and it’s not going too well at all. And here, where it seems like death is imminent for him, out of the woodwork are coming all of these critics. And they’re saying this. Times have changed. And his “winsome” approach to evangelism won’t work. The world is now hostile to God’s gospel. And therefore, we have to be tougher. We have to yell louder. And I can’t express just how much I disagree with that approach. And it seems so clearly to go against what our Lord Jesus says here. In this Sermon on the Mount. And here in the Golden Rule. Love is the path, church. It always has been. Love is the point.   

Moved to Love by His Love

Now remember the “so” at the beginning of this verse? It could be that it’s pointing back to the whole Sermon on the Mount. But here’s another way to think about it, that I think is also helpful. Do you remember the passage we looked at last week? Let’s hear what Jesus says once again:

Matt. 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matt. 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Matt. 7:9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Matt. 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

Matt. 7:11 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!

We talked about how we should call out to our God - who is our Father - who’s both great and good - and ask Him for good gifts, trusting that He’ll answer. Now the logic here also could be this. Jesus says, “My little children, citizens of this kingdom, you have this Father, who’s so gracious and kind. ‘So,' because of that, out of that, do to others what you’d have them do to you. In other words, love. Because God so richly loves you, love others.”

Back to Matthew 22 - where the Lord talks about the greatest commandment in the law. We’re to love our neighbors as ourselves. But that’s what He labels as the second greatest command. Right? What’s the first? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” You see, we have to get the order right. Don’t we? It’s only by loving God first that we can truly love our neighbor. It’s only through experiencing His love, that we’ll be moved to put those around us first. Moved by His grace, His amazing karis, we’ll extend that lovingkindness to others.

We won’t do it perfectly. That’s for sure. Not on this side of the new heavens and new earth. But we’ll seek to love. Otherwise, it’s doubtful that we’ve ever experienced His.

As I look around at the Christian world today - and I know this often shows up in us - it seems so often that we’ve completely missed the point. Surrounded by a world that stands against Christ, we can get confused and think the goal is simply to win. No matter what it takes. The ends justify the means. Just win, baby. That becomes our motto. But maybe that’s not the point of all. Maybe it’s to lose. To pour ourselves out.

Just like Jesus did in His life on earth, and especially through His death on the cross. To love. Not to run people over. But to lay down our lives for them.

Now Christ proclaims that His Church will never be defeated. The gates of hell will not prevail over us. His kingdom will triumph. Yes, Jesus won. That’s for sure. And we will certainly win through Him. But in His kingdom, that’s upside-down from the ways of this world, that winning comes through losing, through dying, through lifting others up, by putting their needs above our own. Maybe if we lived more like that, as Jesus calls us here, the world would see His glory, and long to hear us more. Karis, let’s give ourselves to love, through Jesus our King, and through that, be about the point of everything. Let’s pray.