Do Unto Others…
By Pastor Josh Wamble
One of Jesus’s most well-known statements is the Golden Rule found in Matthew 7:12: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Most of you probably first learned this rule in a children’s Sunday School class if you grew up in church. I remember being in Sunday School as a kid and learning this from Ms. Betty Lou Powell. As a craft project, we took 12-inch rulers, covered them in gold paper, and wrote this verse out on them—making golden rulers.
If we are not careful, it is easy to take short concise statements like this out of context. We can tend to look at this one command as if it stands on its own and not in relation to what Jesus has been saying leading up to this point in Matthew’s gospel. We can understand Him just to be saying “Be nice to people.” If we take a minute to consider the surrounding verses and chapters, we will see something much more substantive and complex.
Starting in chapter 5, Matthew has been recording a sermon that Jesus is preaching—the Sermon on the Mount. It includes the Beatitudes, teaching about living as disciples in the fallen world, expansions and explanations about aspects of the law, hypocrisy in giving, prayer, and fasting, trusting God, and judging other people. Now in 7:12, Jesus is beginning the conclusion of this sermon. This whole sermon has been about how Jesus’s followers are to live in the world as citizens of the Kingdom of God. This verse, treat others the way you want to be treated, is a summary of what this kind of life means.
I had a really good pastor growing up. When I was in high school and our youth group would be leaving for a retreat or camp, Mr. Walter would usually be there to send us off (if he wasn’t going with us). He would give us a speech about having lots of fun but also taking the serious things seriously. He would usually end his speech by saying, “Remember who you are, and remember where you come from.” This is essentially what Jesus is saying here as he sums up the Sermon on the Mount. As you live in this fallen world, remember that you are citizens of another kingdom—the Kingdom of God! What does it mean to live as Kingdom citizens in a fallen world? It means that the way we think, the way we act, the things we say, the way we treat other people, everything about us should be different.
With all this in mind, then, what does it mean to treat people the way we would want to be treated? It means not letting anger well up inside of you but being quick to reconcile with those who have done you wrong (Matt. 5:21-26). It means letting your speech be honest and straightforward (Matt. 5:33-37). It means not retaliating when someone treats you wrongly but seeking to serve them (Matt. 5:38-42). It means not only loving your neighbors and those who are good to you but loving and praying for your enemies—and actually treating them as if you love them (Matt. 5:43-48). It means being poor in spirit, mourning over sin and the fallenness around us, being gentle, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful and pure in heart, being peacemakers, and seeing harm and difficulties and persecution for the sake of Christ in the light of eternity and what those things are doing in your soul (Matt. 5:3-12)
It means being gracious and patient toward the cashier who is overworked and taking too long with the customer in front of you or with the waiter who has messed up your order or forgotten to check your drink for a refill. It means treating the homeless person who asks for help with respect and honor. It means being quick to forgive those in the church who have wronged you and quick to seek forgiveness when you wrong someone else. It even means being understanding and patient with the person who stops in front of you at the round about because they are not familiar with how it works!
Treating people this way is a tall order. It is difficult to do at times. But, we are to live this way because we have been made citizens of a new Kingdom—a Kingdom founded on love and grace and mercy. The One who has made us citizens is also making us into the kind of citizens that He would have us to be—citizens who reflect the truths of the Kingdom and live like the King—people who remember who we are and remember where we come from!
