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THE GOLDEN RULE
THE GOLDEN RULE
• A significant event occurred in our history in the west in
1848. James Wilson Marshall made a discovery at
Sutter’s Mill in California that would make a profound
effect on the people in our country and in California
itself. As a result of his find, San Francisco grew from a
small town to a city of 25,000 in one year’s time. Prices
for food and lodging soared. Men and women across the
country suffered hardship, disease, hunger, and even
death making the trek to California. However, some of
those who were able to survive made as much as $5,000
in three days. As a result of the massive flood of people
to this area, California was admitted to the Union as a
state in 1850. The discovery was gold and the event was
the California Gold Rush of 1849.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• The news of gold and the possibility of
making it rich was just too tempting for
people. Ever since gold was discovered,
humans have indulged in it, treasured it,
hoarded it, fought for it, and even died for
it. The Egyptians went so far as to identify
gold with the “gods,” because it reminded
them of the sun. So, to merely say that
humans are fascinated by gold is an
understatement.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• I wish everyone would desire the Word of
God as much as they do gold and other
priceless treasures. Think about how our
world would be if everyone one was
willing to, indulge in, fight for, and even
die for the Word of God. After all, is not
the Word of God a “golden treasure”? To
be more specific, there is a teaching of
Christ that we have linked the word
“gold”
Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you
want men to do to you, do also to them, for
this is the Law and the Prophets.
• This saying of Jesus has been
appropriately labeled “The Golden
Rule” But why is it called this? First of
all, consider its beauty. This message
is so brilliant that surpasses the
brilliance of gold. This principle of this
message is easy for everyone to
understand and apply to their lives.
This simply saying demands: fairness,
justice, equality, and empathy.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• The simple teaching even had influence
and power over the Roman Emperor
Alexander Severus. History teaches us
that he greatly admired this rule and
had it written on the walls of his closet.
He quoted it when he giving judgment,
and honored Christ and favored
Christians for the sake of it.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• Not only was the Golden Rule taught by
Christianity, its principle has been
found in just about every corrupt
religion. For instance:
Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires
for his brother that which he desires for himself.
• Taoism: (Collection of Chinese philosophy and
tradition) Regard your neighbor’s gain as your
own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own
loss.
• Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your
fellow man. That is the entire Law; all the rest is
commentary.
• Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you
yourself would find hurtful
THE GOLDEN RULE
•
I want you to think about this, if everyone in the world
decided to follow the Golden Rule it would completely
change our world. There would be no more crime, no
more prison cells, no gas chambers, and no electric
chairs. Discrimination, prejudice, and all other forms of
racial hatred and bigotry would cease. The nightly
news would not be able to report on terrorist attacks,
the hijacking of planes, kidnappings, bombings, or
other forms of violence. Instead, all of these things
would simply be reminders of our past and we could
see how we had overcome our wickedness by
following the golden rule.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• The Golden rule is great summary of
how we should treat our fellow man.
Now I want take a closer look at the
Golden rule. The first point I want to
make is that,
The conduct of the world is in contrast to
Christ’s teaching.
• It has been said that there are four
rules by which we live:
• (1) the iron rule,
• (2) the brass rule,
• (3) the silver rule, and
• (4) the golden rule. Although we are
primarily concerned about the golden
rule I want to briefly discuss these
other rules.
1 John 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life abiding in him.
THE IRON RULE
• This rule is based on the brutal and satanic
principle of “might makes it right.” Cain was the
first to practice the iron rule when he stained his
hands with the innocent blood of his brother
Abel. Every murder from then until now and
every war that has ever been fought have been a
direct result of the iron rule principle. Adolf
Hitler loved this philosophy. He attempted to
build a superior human race and he wanted to
weed out those he considered to be weak. So,
he enforced the iron rule and started murdering
all those who did not fit his concept.
THE IRON RULE
• The iron rule also states, “What is yours is
mine if I can take it by force.”
• The Old Testament kings Ahab and David
are two prime examples of iron-rule
followers:
• Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard and
obtained it by force (1 Kings 21) and
• David took another man’s wife in much the
same way (2 Sam. 11).
THE IRON RULE
FBI statistic from 1998 reveals there were
1,370,978 violent crimes. Of that number,
12,008 were murders, 65,574 were rapes,
318,994 were robberies, and 974,402 were
aggravated assaults
1 John 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him.
• So, if you hate your brothers or sister
in Christ you live by the iron rule.
• Also if a person has the Diotrephes
complex of 3 Jn. 1:9- 10 and you try to
be the supreme ruler again the ironrule is what you are living by.
• Now let look at the,
The brass rule is the “get even” philosophy.
It says, “Do unto others as they do unto you. I
will treat you as you treat me—good for good, evil
for evil.”
This idea is both defended and practiced by many
in the world, as well as by some in the church.
The Scriptures clearly denounce such an attitude:
THE BRASS RULE
Bless them which persecute you; bless, and
curse not…Recompense to no man evil for
evil…Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath: for it is
written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the Lord (Rom. 12:14; Rom. 12:17;
Rom. 12:19).
• And then we have -
• The silver rule is the rule of Confucius,
which says, “Do nothing unto others that
you would not have them do unto you.”
• Hillel, a noted Jewish rabbi, is reported to
have taught the same concept.
• This is a negative rule that requires no good
acts of mankind.
• This law forbids a person from murdering
his neighbor, but it does not require them to
help their neighbor.
THE SILVER RULE
• There are many who call themselves Christians
that follow the silver-rule.
They stay out of mischief, but they don’t do any
good. Some are like the rich young ruler of
Matthew 19: they do not murder, commit adultery,
steal, bear false witness, etc., but, on the other
hand, they do not do any good acts to help others.
They lift no load; they bear no burden. They are
like the priest and Levite in the story of the good
Samaritan they will simply pass by on the other
side instead helping those who are in need of their
help
THE SILVER RULE
• There is obviously no place in the life
of Christian for the iron, silver, or brass
rules.
• As Christians, we should lives our lives
by the golden rule and consistently
practice it.
• So we must learn to deal with others as
we would like others to deal with us.
• Now let’s consider,
The context in which the golden rule is
found
• When Jesus was baptized by John and he began his
ministry, He enlisted men who would become His
apostles.
• For the apostles’ work to be effective, they would have to
be instructed by Jesus so they would know how to live
their lives and be able to teach others how to live
according to God’s Word.
• One the greatest lessons they received was when Jesus
gave the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapters 5 –
7. This is was not a long sermon. In fact, it only takes
about 15 minutes to read it out loud. But the message
was and is more powerful than anyone would ever
imagine.
On November 19, 1863, two men came to
Pennsylvania to dedicate a Union cemetery: one
was Edward Everett and the other was Abraham
Lincoln.
Everett spoke first, and spoke for one hour and
fifteen minutes.
However, Lincoln only spoke for a grand total of
only two minutes!
History does not remember much of Everett’s
speech, but it will never forget Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address.
The same can be said for the Sermon on the
Mount. There have certainly been longer sermons
given, but the world will never forget the Sermon
on the Mount.
Neither should we! It’s short, simple, sincere, and
to the point. The lessons it teaches us are superb.
It is filled with beauty, imagery, and has a
powerful conclusion.
THE GOLDEN RULE
This sermon tells us what it means to be
truly righteous.
It teaches that one cannot substitute
hypocrisy with the truth as the scribes and
Pharisees had done.
The key to this grand sermon is found in
Matthew 6:8, which basically says, “Do not
be like them!” Of course the sermon on the
mount includes our Golden text in,
Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want
men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the
Law and the Prophets
While others say “Don’t,” Jesus says “Do.”
Jesus gave us this positive command so that we
would do our best to have a positive and
meaningful influence on other people.
Ask yourself this - If I were them, how would I
like to be treated?
When we examine the golden rule, we must keep
this verse in context. Notice our verse starts out
using “Therefore.”
Jesus is summing up what He has taught in
previous 11 verses.
In these previous verses, Jesus taught about not
rendering unjust judgment and the proper
attitude that we should have in giving to others.
This is why it’s so important that we let the
Golden Rule be our guide in our daily lives.
Some questions to consider-
Are you willing to make the commitment?
Will you be considerate of others?
Will you treat others as you would like to be
treated?
Would I like to be treated the way that I am
treating other individual?
Do we offer others the same amount of patience?
Will you be consistent in your lifestyle?
“Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you” is very difficult for the selfcentered, conceited and proud egotist.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• In order for you to reap the benefits
from the Golden rule you have to be
willing to commit yourself to live by it.
•
• The question becomes, are you willing
to make the commitment? Will you be
considerate of others? Will you treat
others as you would like to be treated?
•
THE GOLDEN RULE
• We need to think how others are affected by our
speech and actions. We should ask ourselves:
“Would I like to be treated the way that I am
treating this individual?”
• Far too many are like the little girl who was
guilty of tattling on her brothers and sisters.
When asked if she would like others to tattle on
her, she replied, “No, that would be no fun.”
When asked why she constantly tattled, she
answered, “Because that is fun!”
THE GOLDEN RULE
• Although most can see the immaturity
of this little girl, sometimes as
Christians we fail to see the immaturity
and inconsideration in our own lives.
We always want to be given the benefit
of the doubt and to be considered
innocent until proven guilty, but
sometimes we are the very ones who
jump to conclusions when it comes to
the actions and attitudes of others.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• We want others to be patient with us as we try to
overcome faults in our own lives, but do we offer
others the same amount of patience?
• It is our desire that others come and speak to us
directly if we have wronged them or sinned in
some way, rather than spreading it throughout
the community, but do we act accordingly
toward them?
• Yes, we often expect the best out of everyone
else, but do we expect that of ourselves –Do we
do that ouselves regarding others?
THE GOLDEN RULE
• Living by the Golden rule and showing
consideration toward others would put
an end to suspicions, evil speaking,
gossip, backbiting, abuse, harsh and
unjust criticism, and so on.
• We may also discover that the more
considerate we are of others, the more
considerate they are of us.
THE GOLDEN RULE
• In Conclusion
• Make no mistake, Gold is a valuable ore! It
is currently worth several hundred dollars
per ounce.
• However, the Golden Rule is a principle
that you can’t begin to put a price tag on.
• The 21 words found in the Golden rule
teach a principle that no amount of money
can every buy:
How pure is the Golden Rule in your life?
Is it solid gold?
18 karat gold?
10 karat gold?
Is it simply gold overlaid?
Or is it just “fool’s gold”?
THE GOLDEN RULE
Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want
men to do to you, do also to them, for this is
the Law and the Prophets.
What Must You Do to be Saved
• HEAR the Message of Christ
BELIEVE that Message REPENT of your Sins CONFESS Christ as Lord
Be Baptized
ROMANS 10:17
MARK 16:16
JOHN 8:24
LUKE 13:3
ACTS 2:38
ROMANS 10:10
ACTS 8:37-38
ACTS 2:38, 22:16
GALATIANS 3:27