Sermon, August 8, 1999

Matthew 7:12
"In everything do to others
as you would have them do to you;
for this is the law and the prophets."

A couple were looking at a new living room suite in the furniture store. The husband said to the salesman, "We really like it, but I don’t think we can afford it."

The salesman said, "You just make a small down payment...then you don’t make another payment for six months."

The wife wheeled around and said, "Who told you about us."

How often are you and I like this couple. Not necessarily with regards to making payments but in terms of following things through. It always seems much easier to start a program, to start a project than to see it through to the end.

Who here hasn’t started a diet, or purchased an exercise tape, or made a commitment to read the Bible daily or began a task AND did not stick with it? We all have. If every parent who has had their baby baptized in the six years that I have been here. If every person who has joined this church and still living in this area, followed through on the vows which they made. There would not be a single Sunday, when we would not have a need to have three Sunday worship services and two Sunday school.

The simple truth is that in every area of our life, including our spirituality, we fail to follow through. This is especially true with regards to our prayer life. This is the point Jesus is making when he said,

"Ask, and it will be given you, search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you."

Jesus is telling you and I to persist in our pursuit of God in prayer.

Honestly, don’t you at times fervently go to God with a prayer request, and other times make a half hearted effort, if you make an effort at all.

Knowing God takes faith, focus and follow through. For that matter anything takes faith, focus and follow through, whether it be parenting, learning a trade, building a relationship, you name it.

Don’t think for a single moment, that because we baptized Amanda Leigh today that she will know God, that she will have a personal relationship with her God. What we have done as parents and as a congregation is to make good faith promises. How focused we are on revealing God to her through our living. How focused we are in teaching her about God. How completely we follow through on those promises will make all the difference in the world. Our focus and our follow through will determine whether we just baptized Amanda this morning or made a commitment to Amanda. The same is true for you and me. What is required is the kind of commitment that God makes to us.

We see this commitment in the question which Jesus asked.

"Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake?"

Jesus used these examples because a limestone stone found on the shore was exactly the shape and color of a small loaf of bread; because a serpent which was an eel was forbidden to eat by Jewish law.

The point Jesus is making is what father would mock his son’s hunger. More importantly if you or I

"know how to give good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"

Our Father, certainly, would never refuse our prayers, or mock them.

I’m sure some of you right now are remembering a prayer which God didn’t answer. Let us remember, not every request a child makes of his parents is granted. So it is with God. God answers every prayer his way, with His perfect wisdom and perfect love. God grants only that which is good for you.

In our ignorance we often ask for gifts which would be our ruin. Sometimes there is a curse in our prayer request. I remember reading a story from Greek mythology. An immortal goddess fell in love with a mortal prince. Her love was great that she asked her god, if he would grant her one wish. The god asked what the one wish would be. She said, that this mortal prince could live with her forever. The god granted her the wish. It wasn't until time had passed that she realized the foolishness of her request. She never thought about asking her god, that the mortal prince would stay young forever. The curse of her wish, was realized many years later, when the mortal prince, who now was so very old and in the poorest of health could not die.

"Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you."

We must bring to God a persistent life of prayer. Two things happen when we do this. First God tests the righteousness of the things we ask for. Second God tests the sincerity of our asking.

Persistent prayer doesn’t guarantee you that God will grant you your every wish, that you will be guarded against the calamities of life. What you and I are guaranteed is an answer. God always answers our prayers in His way, His love and His wisdom.

To this teaching about persistent prayer Jesus links, perhaps the premier teaching from the sermon on the mount.

"In everything do to others as you would have them do to you."

Why does he link them? Because persistent prayer and consistent action go together.

No other religion in the world before Jesus, ever made such a bold statement It is not difficult to find many parallels to this saying in the negative. In Judaism, in Confucius, in Hindu you will find teachings which instruct the believer, "NOT to do to others what you don’t what done to you."

It may sound like they are saying the same thing, but Jesus’ statement is significantly different. They are saying, "refrain from harming others." You or I could refrain from doing harm to anyone and yet be useless to anyone. You and I can satisfy those laws by doing nothing.

Jesus’ version, requires you and I to take action. We must actively DO. I must go out of my way to be kind, As I wish others to be kind to me. It is much more difficult to take the initiative in doing something good then to do nothing.

The difference is in attitude. The negatively stated golden rule, conveys the attitude, I must do no harm. Jesus’ Golden Rule conveys the attitude, "I must do my best."

God wants to see in our lives not just persistence in prayer, but persistence in imitating Him by doing the things He has already done for us!

The Golden Rule is the foundation of active goodness and mercy. The kind God shows to us everyday.

The Golden Rule is telling you and me to love someone who doesn’t deserve our love. Isn’t that what the cross is? Undeserved love. Surely you are not bold enough to say that you are deserving of God’s love, I know I’m not.

Jesus is calling us, not to treat fellow people as the law allows, but as love demands. To obey one must become a new person, a person whose relationship with God is not based on what God will give me and do for me, but is based on what I can give or do for God.

If everyone lived the Golden Rule, could you imagine what a truly NEW millennium we would be entering.

"In everything do to others as you would have them do to you."

amen