THE GOLD STANDARD

Sermon Summary (4/3017) “The Gold Standard” (Mt 7:12)

We’re beginning a new sermon series, “Finding Joy in Everyday Life: Five Essentials for Living Well,” today, “The Gold Standard,” the Golden Rule.  Every civilized culture has had a law of reciprocity. We are most familiar with “An Eye for an Eye..,” a great leap forward applying  proportionality in the treatment of one another.  Most rules of reciprocity were negative, “do not do to others,”  Paul says in Romans 13, “Love does no harm to a neighbor.”  But Jesus changed that.

Jesus changed everything!  He said, “Do...Do!”  “Therefore, in everything do to others as you would have others do to you; this is the law and the prophets.”  This is the sum of 1500 years of ethical teaching.  Pay attention. 

“Therefore,” in summary of all that that has gone before (The Sermon on the Mount, the highest ethical teachings of Jesus.); in summary of all the moral teachings of God, do…  Then, “in everything.”  What does he mean by everything?  He means in “Everything.”  From “first go be reconciled with your brother or sister” (Mt 5:24); to “Do not judge your brother or sister.” (Mt 7:1)  The whole of his highest ethical teaching,  In everything, in all relationships, “Do.” 

Yet in most of our relationship transactions, we don’t treat others as we wish to be treated do we?.  We want be winners and the expense of others.  We want them to be losers.  In contrast, Stephen Covey says, “Win-Win or no deal.”  Don’t you imagine that’s what Jesus meant?

Don’t we hate telemarketers? How would you like to have a job where 99 percent of the people said “No” and say it harshly.  I’ve decided to sincerely tell them I” hope your day goes well, I hope in your next call you make a sale, that things go well with you.”  Isn’t that how we would like to be treated?

What about business?  James Cash Penney named his first store “The Golden Rule Store.”  He was one of the first to call his employees “associates,” and profit share; and call his customers “partners.”  In his book he says, that the Golden Rule “carries us past the letter of the law to the spirit which gives life.  It makes us willing to sacrifice...for the welfare of others.” 

And in our social structure?  Branch Rickey did everything in his power to successfully break the major league color barrier because watched a negro player “brought low, crushed, just because of the color of his skin.” There came a time when he could no longer ignore it.  He had placed himself in the skin of another and decided he would not want to be treated that way.  But he did more, he took the Jesus’ version “Do to...”  And that changed everything.  So be it for us.  Amen.