The Golden Rule – Collide

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Welcome to Founded in Truth

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love. A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family. So welcome home. Guys, this week we're jumping in to a familiar topic and we're continuing the Collide series. It's a series on the Sermon on the Mount as we creep through Matthew chapter 5 through 7. This sermon that this rabbi from Nazareth preaches is about what it truly means to live out God's law from the heart.

It's about what a Jeremiah 31 people looks like and lives like and breathes and how they make an impact. It's a sermon about how, when you live as his follower, you will collide with the world around you. And you will collide with the people around you. And the hope is that when you hit the world and when you make an impact, the mark that you leave is the mark of God and his love, grace, and mercy. And so we're continuing through this series, and guess what we're going to be talking about today? The golden rule. And when I came across it, I was like, man, this is so profound when Yeshua talks about the golden rule, which we'll quote here in a second.

The Golden Rule in Matthew

Well, let's jump in. Matthew 7, verse 12. And if you pull out your scriptures, follow along with me—because we're going to be here for a little bit anyway. And I'm going to go through word by word, just skim through this verse real quick before we expound on it.

So Matthew chapter 7, verse 12. Now how many of us have heard this many, many times in our life? How many of you look at this and are kind of like me, thinking, "That's kind of boring because we've talked about this before"? Everyone knows it: do to others what you want them to do to you. It's the golden rule. It's pretty popular. It's well known throughout the world in every single culture and religion in some variation. But when we take time to actually meditate on what Yeshua says here, remember: this rabbi is speaking on this mount, this hillside, with all different kinds of people there. He's speaking with such authority, as if he's re-giving the Torah.

The way that it was supposed to be lived out from the beginning. Here we have the prophet like an animosis standing on the mount, giving the heart of the Torah. And he says this profound statement: "For this sums up the law and the prophets." Oh, you can sum up the entire Torah? Not just the Torah—this is the Prophets too. So Yeshua asserts that he just summed up the Bible of the first century. This is the whole Bible of the first century. He summed up the Bible in a way that would teach Israel about who their God really was, how to copy him, how to trust him, and how to love and obey him, and what engaging him really looks like.

And it's so easy to just run over this verse without taking it to heart. But imagine the weight that comes with that section of Scripture.

Understanding the "So" So in the Greek, it doesn't say "this sums up." It says "is." "This is the Torah and the Prophets." The boldness of this rabbi in Galilee. All that stuff you've been studying since a young age. That Hebrew, the blessings, everything that's pointed to. Obeying God. All of the mitzvah, all of the commandments. How you treat others. What you do in this situation. What happens if someone moves your boundary stones. What happens in this court case. What happens here with the unclean and clean. What happens with the temple structure here. What happens with what sacrifice applies in this situation.

All of that scope. Yeah, so in everything you do, just do unto others what you would have them do to you. Profound. So if we can dive in like the Bible nerds that we like to be, what's the first word in the translation of this phrase? I already have it bolded for you. Right? The word is "so." It's going to be that kind of message. The word so here in Greek is "oun," and it can be translated as so, therefore, or wherefore—even but, wouldn't he? And in Greek, the word oun functions similarly to English, but it doesn't start a fresh idea when you see it in Greek. It's not moving forward in thought. It's a big stop sign that's supposed to tell you to look behind you.

So stop for a second and look behind you. And everything that's behind this "so" is about to be in the scope of this concluding statement. So, oun—this is how this phrase starts. And I know I kind of oversimplified that. But what are we studying right now? What's this series about? The Sermon on the Mount. Right answer. We're studying the Sermon on the Mount, and these aren't just a bunch of random sayings and verses by this rabbi—this is bits and pieces of a singular event and speech according to Matthew. This is a sermon. Sermon on the Mount. And so we have to be careful not to break apart the context. Sometimes we go to verse 12 and we pull out the golden rule without attaching it to everything else in the Sermon on the Mount, just as we could do throughout Matthew chapters 5 and 6.

Rooted in God's Generosity

So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Big stop right there. The so is telling us where we've been. Where did we leave off last week? The section right before this. What did we talk about? Prayer, right? But what about prayer did we talk about? That engaging in prayer with our God is God's revelation of his goodness to us and his generosity and fellowship with us. This is where we just came from right before this verse. Right? You remember: ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives.

God's generosity. Everyone who seeks will find. Everyone who knocks, it will be open to them. For even if you are evil and you know how to give good gifts to your kids, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? How much more will God give good things to you? And everything else prior to that in the Sermon on the Mount. In everything. In everything. So the foundation of this verse is being drawn from God's goodness, love, generosity, mercy, justice, and goodwill towards us. Not only that, but from the very fellowship with God.

Everything and Everyone

When Yeshua says, "Do unto others what you would have done to you," where's the scope for that? Where's Yeshua drawing that from? Because sometimes some of us might not want the best things in our life for ourselves. You ever think of that? Anyone ever think about stuff like that? Anyone ever think, when we think about what we want other people to do for us— depending on our emotional state, those things could change, and not all of them are always edifying, right? Yeshua's setting the stage here with this so. Everything we've just spoken about —about God's fellowship with you, about good relationships with other people, about God's goodness and love and forgiveness, about God's justice to the world, about God's blessing to the world.

He's already set the stage and foundation. He already knows what we're going to ask for. What good things is he speaking about? It is these good things. And the next word we have here is "everything." In the Greek it means everything—so it's kind of boring. So take everything we just discussed about God's generosity and goodness, and in everything you find yourself in, do. Do. At home, do. At work, do. At church, do. At the grocery store, do. Go out and do. Do to others. Do. Pretty neat word here: Anthropoi in the Greek. It means all people, as opposed to Adephoi, which means my brother or my tribe or my sister or my family. Yeshua's command here is not only to apply everything we've discussed—do to others in everything that you do—but to everyone.

No Filters, No Boundaries

I find it fascinating that everything Yeshua does broadens the borders. Any type of borders that we put on people, any walls that we build up against other people, he always pushes them back. When he says "everything and everyone," he means in every situation and with every person— regardless of their background, regardless of where they find themselves currently, regardless of where they've been or where they're going—everyone deserves some form of God's attention in their life. They don't deserve it. God is willingly giving it to them. And we are not the ones to build up a wall against God's goodness to others.

And this is an important charge that Yeshua is making here—backed by God's simple goodness and generosity, revealed through his love. The circumstances are broad, and the participants are everyone. In every situation with that believer, in every situation with that non-believer, that man, that woman, that light-skinned person, that dark-skinned person, that poor person, that rich person, that Democrat, that Republican, that person you don't like so much, and that person that you always get along with. So, in everything, do to others. There is no filter there. For this sums up the law and the prophets.

Did you hear all the people on the mountain gasp right there? Who does this rabbi think he is? Remember, he's not preaching in a synagogue or a coliseum right now. He's in a public park on the little pavilion that no one's rented on the mountain.

The Law and the Prophets

And people have come up and gathered around him. Guys, this is the law and the prophets. This rabbi came and is doing a teaching on the Torah, and this is how he sees it. See, back in chapter 5, Yeshua opens his sermon with a poem, the Beatitudes—blessed are the poor in spirit, and so on and so forth. And then Yeshua gives the charge of his sermon. He speaks to the people: "You are the light of the world. You're sitting on a hill, right?" He's establishing what your status position is. And then Yeshua starts the teaching aspect of his sermon. You may remember this. He starts with: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, to bring them to reality. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not one of the smallest letters or least stroke of a pen will by enemies disappear from the law until everything is accomplished." So Yeshua here proceeds to give his teaching on the Old Testament on the Sermon on the Mount. This is Yeshua's Old Testament teaching. And he proceeds to give this new interpretation of the Torah and the Prophets, this entire biblical story, to these people sitting on this hillside. Professor Scott McKnight, who wrote The King Jesus Gospel—it's a great book—has a commentary, and he points out that this section, where he says, "Do not think that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets," and this section in chapter 7, verse 12, he says these are like the bookends to the core teaching section of the Sermon on the Mount.

And I really like that. This is where the meat is found. And to sum up everything the Bible says and to sum up everything Yeshua just said, he says this: "Do to others what you would like to be done to you." Does this sound like Yeshua cares about relationships a little bit? Does it sound like God cares about relationships? Yeah. God wants everybody to be in good human relationships with everyone else in the way that he sees fit. That's the story of the Bible.

Do unto Others

Notice that the Sermon on the Mount mostly has to do with relationships and how to treat one another, or how not to treat one another. This is Yeshua's teaching of his identity and mission for you, and what you're supposed to take up and be when you walk this world as his follower. To do the work of the kingdom—do to others. To do the expansion and assault of his domain across the world. To do the vocation of an image bearer of God—do unto others. Yeshua also said something interesting. A similar phrase in summing up the entire Bible in a short phrase later in Matthew, and that's Matthew chapter 22, verse 37. Do I have that here?

Let's see. Yeah, here we go. And Jesus responded. This is later in the Gospel account of Matthew. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." A little bit of the biblical narrative. Not just the Torah—the Bible. A little bit of it, just parts of it, all of it. So here much later in Matthew's retelling, Yeshua expands the detail of his former statement on the mount. What is the do? When he says, "Do unto others," that's what I'm trying to get you to think about.

What is he saying when he says do? Because some of our dos can be different from others at times. What is the action that he's hoping that we're going to identify here? Well, in Matthew 22, I think he expounds on it. What is it? Love. In Mark's account, he tells it like this. In Mark , he says: "There is no commandment greater than these: to love. No commandment greater." This is it. This is the big one. And then you have James preaching in the spirit of Yeshua on how to keep the Torah. What he calls the royal law in James 2:8. He says: "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture—'Love your neighbor as yourself'—you're doing all right.

You're doing okay." James is saying, you're a pretty good Jewish follower. You're doing all right if you're doing that. Yeshua's followers here.

The Radical Claim

And these writings are making a bold and shocking claim. This claim is that the entire Torah, all of these commandments, all of those precepts, all of the rules, is summarized in God's golden rule. Now some of you are like, "Well Matt, you already said that," and I get that. That's deep, like philosophical. That's deep. And some of you are like, "Yeah, but not really. Just like..." So some of you are cool with it, and others of you are probably struggling with wrapping your mind around this because it's such a huge concept. And if you're in the Word daily, and if you're in the Torah daily, then that's a huge statement to say.

You can't just sum it up. He did. Multiple times. And we can either resist that or embrace it. Embrace it with the overwhelming weight and conviction that it comes with. Yeshua's followers were radical when it came to living out the Sermon on the Mount, and it got many of them killed in the first century. There's something about this as being a foundation for every step that we take when we walk outside, and the calling that God has in our life. And you know, some of you may be struggling with this as I have in the past, and you might be thinking, "Matt, why? Why? Why do we do all these rules that God says if we're only supposed to just love one another?"

Anyone ever pondered that? Why do we do all these rules? All this stuff that we do in the Torah, in the Bible, all that other stuff?

Love beyond the Rules

Well, first off, one does not simply love everybody. That's not just, "Yeah, I just love everybody." If it is for you, I am envious and I would love for you to mentor me in life. Ha ha. Second, the Torah was given to Israel in order to connect them with the character of their God as well as the rest of the world. "Love thy neighbor as yourself" is not a replacement for the Torah. It is an indicator for which you are recognized as living out your vocation as an image bearer. That's the indicator. What good is Sabbath without love? What good is it? I'm checking off the commandment from the checklist, Matt.

I'm that much more righteous today. Yeah, but you don't have any lead in your pencil to make the checkbox. It doesn't work. What good is celebrating the redemptive story of Passover and the greater Passover of Yeshua with no love? We get to sing some songs and eat some really good beef brisket. Okay. Who cares if you have a legitimate kosher diet and you don't love? If you do not have the spirit of love, the spirit of Messiah inside of you, living out within you, conforming you to his image, empowering you, you could be out eating some really good barbecue right now. What's the purpose if not with love?

And Yeshua is teaching that standard of living out Torah from the heart in this sermon. He's teaching what a Jeremiah 31 person looks like when they keep Torah. And he's teaching what it looks like when you commit to following him as your rabbi: how to take care of yourself, how to love yourself and everything that you are, you are to show sacrificially to others and give selfsacrificial love. That's what the Sermon on the Mount is about. Matthew is making the reader aware of something. Yeshua gave all he had, not only for you, but also as an example for you to follow. "Not my will, but Father, forgive them.

Father, I trust you and I give it all." That's what we're supposed to live out.

Following Him Completely

You guys ever notice the two witnesses in Revelation? They go around preaching this gospel, and then they end up going to Jerusalem, and then they're killed in Jerusalem, and they're dead for about three days, and then they're resurrected. Does that sound familiar? Someone else did that. They're doing exactly what the followers of Christ are supposed to be doing, and that is following him in every way, shape, or form. They didn't do anything unique to all the other followers of Yeshua, or at least they shouldn't be, because that's our calling as well: to resemble him to the world. Powerful point in John's vision.

The Apostle Paul was radically changed by these words about Yeshua. He speaks of them throughout Romans and Galatians. And we're going to jump into what Paul says here and do the do—the action that he claims Yeshua founded for all followers of God. And we're going to read 1 Corinthians 13. So if you could turn there, this is a great chapter. And this is a section of Scripture that we all know or at least we're all familiar with because we read it at all of our weddings. We did. And we never gave it another thought after that, right? Because it's such a romantic, almost poetic way of putting the concept of love.

And what a better occasion to monopolize this section of Scripture than on our wedding day, right? And so turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13. It's a short chapter. And I want to invite you to place yourself today as Paul's audience. Okay? Everybody listening? This is important. I want to invite you to place yourself as Paul's audience. I would like to invite you to imagine right now: imagine Yeshua's breath on the mountainside as it comes out, forming the words of this statement. I want you to imagine being there and what it's like to sit in the grass. Is it kind of cold and wet? Maybe it's dry.

The Sermon at the Mount

You can hear the water in the background. People next to you are kind of chuckling after the log in the eye joke. You kind of smile, but then you feel the impact of it. And then he says, everything that I've just spoken about and everything in the law and the prophets are summed up in this: loving others like you would want to be loved. And I want you to hold on to that intimacy of being in that moment, and I want you to kind of go forward in time about two decades where you're sitting on a cold stone bench in someone's house as they're doing the Lord's Prayer together. This is a home church in the middle of Corinth.

And I want you to think, as you've gotten done praying with all of your other brothers and sisters who are followers of this rabbi that said these words on the mount 20 years before, I want you to imagine that one of the elders comes in and he has a scroll and everyone's quiet. You can hear a pin drop. And he breaks the seal and he opens it and he says, "God, Paul has written us a letter." And everybody gets real quiet and they scoot to the edge of their seat. And here is what Paul has to say. And I don't want you to build a wall up against the words of Paul as we speak them. I don't want you to get defensive.

I want you to make yourself vulnerable to what Paul is about to say. Can everyone do that? Because Paul is defining the love of Messiah that is within us, and he is challenging us to audit it in the face of our own religious pursuits, our own intellectual views, and carrying out the doing of the work and the doing attitude of the kingdom of God.

Love Never Fails

And so as we sit there in his home church in Corinth, this is what the elder speaks when he reads this letter to Paul directly written to you. He says, "And if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It doesn't boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It always perseveres. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror. Then we will see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain. Faith, Hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love is the only valid fuel that makes your actions an investment on earth. Paul then proceeds to define what love tangibly looks like. Then he tells you to grow up. And then he explains something pretty profound in verse 12: "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

The Kingdom Now and Not Yet

So Paul is commenting here on the current status of the kingdom of God through the love and action, the example that Yeshua birthed onto creation. And this is the kingdom of God being made known and manifest by the followers of Yeshua as they are charged to go to the four corners of the earth and teach them all that Yeshua has said. And it's here among us now. It's here among you now, the kingdom of God. That's what Yeshua said. But it's still not fully yet. It is progressing towards a goal. Just as Hebrews 11 says, "Now faith is a substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not yet seen." Evidence. Evidence is a mere reflection of what is not yet seen.

When we step out and we do, when we seek out the needs of others, when we seek to love and protect, when we seek to do justice and show kindness, we are living out a reflection of the fullness of God's kingdom on earth. This is a reflection of what will be. This is a reflection of what Isaiah says is coming. This is a reflection of what Revelation says is coming. And we're a part of being that little glimpse of light to others by showing them the evidence of what we know is coming, what we're hoping for, but is not yet seen. And this has been Yeshua's message all along. This is how you live like a Jeremiah 31 person.

The people redeemed from exile, the people who were forgiven and given new life, a new type of relationship with God. This is what a people of God looks like when they establish God's kingdom after being freed from Babylon, if you want to carry the Jeremiah motif. That's the mission, that we collectively would show the world what fuels our love, which is the power of the life and the death of Yeshua. And we do that by being like him, by doing like him, by reflecting him. God has a mission for you. He has a mission for all of us, and he's called us to take part in it. And Paul is speaking right here now, asking, did you accept the mission or not?

Because here's what accepting the mission looks like. Here's what you're progressing towards if you've accepted the mission.

Before Yeshua

This statement of Yeshua—doing to others—has become known as the golden rule. And as many of you already know, this is not really a new idea. This idea of reciprocating things to other people. Before Yeshua, there was a Chinese philosopher by the name of Confucius, or is what he became known as. Anyone heard of this guy? Pretty ahead of his time in philosophy in China. And he said something along the same lines about 500 years earlier. He said, "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." Is that a good saying? It's a pretty good saying, When Yeshua spoke, this wasn't even the first time it was used in the Jewish setting when describing the Bible and the Torah and how to act.

The Babylonian Talmud records a story that took place sometime right before Yeshua was born between two famous rabbis, Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel—a conservative and liberal, in a sense, rabbis that had two schools. In Tractate Shabbat, section 31a, the story goes that there was a Gentile convert who came before Rabbi Shammai and he said, "Hey, like, I want you to convert me, but on one condition. You have to teach me the entire Torah while I bounce on one foot." This cocky, no good—I mean, who does this guy think he is? So Shammai, he was a builder, basically had a ruler, and he started to swing, like, "Get out of here, push him away, go on.

I don't have time for you." And when he approached Rabbi Hillel, the story goes that he converted the guy, and as the guy bounced, he said this: "Great. That which is hateful to you, do not do to another. That's the entire Torah, and the rest, everything else in the Bible, is just commentary on that. So go and study." How do you feel about this? All commentary. All of that is just commentary on that. Go and study.

Why It's Called the Golden Rule

Throughout this era and after, variations of the golden rule have been found in almost every single world religion and culture all the way back to ancient Egypt. It's not a new thing. You ever hear why it's called the golden rule? Great! So two theories—one has more weight than the other. One is that it became called the golden rule sometime in the 1600s, for who knows why. Okay. So the other theory that I liked is from the second century. There was a Roman Emperor by the name of Severus, right? And Severus was very liberal in how he treated Jews and Christians, I believe. But he had heard of this saying from this Jewish rabbi: "Do unto others as you would have done to you." So he was like, "That would make a great bumper sticker, but I don't drive a car, so I'm going to throw this sucker up on a couple of my favorite temples in town, on the mantle, and my private prayer chapel is going to have this engraved in gold over the mantle." So he did it. He engraved it in gold. Gold and gold!

A Proactive Ethic

From the time Yeshua said this, this saying exploded across the Mediterranean and into the world. And if you notice, Yeshua's saying was in a whole other realm than Confucius or even Hillel. It was like Yeshua was not simply saying, don't do something to someone. Don't wrong someone. Don't bully someone. Don't be a jerk. No, Yeshua's statement was proactive and positive instead of negative. Yeshua said, do something for someone—make right for someone, be good to someone, give sacrificially to someone. This is the type of ethic that challenges you to take the first step in conflict resolution. Do something. Be proactive. This is the kind of ethic that calls you to do more than simply refrain from punching your enemy back in the face. This is the kind of ethic that causes you to love your enemy. Do something. Do it. That's funny. Okay.

This is how we as ambassadors of the kingdom set the tone here on earth for which the shockwaves of God's kingdom are felt, by doing.

Setting the Tone for Shalom

And we're charged by Yeshua to set the tone for the shalom of God in the world around us. Be the thing to the world that you expect of the world. It's another way of saying it. Be the thing to the world that you expect to get from the world. And this statement reaches far into the deep philosophical views of God's love and God's spirit. And it also rises right to the top of the most tangible level of experience in your day-to-day life. Be the thing. So let's say you feel left out. This is a common occurrence even for me. This is an experience. Let's say you feel left out of a group at work or with friends. Anyone ever felt left out? Those jerks didn't include me. How about at fellowship? Church. It never happens in a church or fellowship setting, right? Never, right? So let's just say sometimes we have bad experiences at church or fellowship. Not a one amen, proud of you. Sometimes we have bad experiences at church. Sometimes we get jaded. Sometimes we leave.

Entering Into a New Beginning

And then when we leave, where do we go? A new church, right? Because that's always the thing to do. So we go to a new church, and sometimes we walk in and are so hurt by where we've come from that we, in part, begin to project that same accusation on the new church. Does that make sense? You enter into a new beginning while carrying the same status of being a victim from an old offense. And we walk in, and maybe you're a bit nervous. You've never met anybody. This is a new building, new church, new everything. You don't know anybody, and let's say that no one really engages you as you had expected.

So you think to yourself, they don't like me. This church is cliquish. They got the group over there and a group over there and a group over there, and here's my group, and I'm alone in it, so this church is cliquish, and there's so much division here and fill in the blank. And you hold on to this hurt that someone should have never caused you in your past. But Yeshua is talking to you here today in this situation. And he's saying you should have never been hurt, but he's saying I called you to do and be the person that you want everyone else to be. In some things, in everything, it may just start with you in this church. Change may just start with you.

So you go into that group and you say hi. And you engage that greeter and you ask that greeter for more information about events that you can attend and say hi at. And you reach out in the way you want others to reach back to you, because you have no idea who is sitting in the pew next to you waiting for someone to engage them. The change can start with you.

The Sum of the Law and the Prophets

God is charging his followers to do and be his hands and feet by loving others like him, like him. This is the sum of the law and the prophets. Love others like you want to be loved. Show others that they're needed like you want to be needed. Show others that there is kindness in the world like you want to feel the kindness. And maybe this concept finds its fertile ground in your life, perhaps at home. Or maybe you have expectations of your spouse that they should be treating me this way, that they should be loving me in this way, that they should be living out their vows that they made this way. The kindness, the patience, the long-suffering, the love.

And I would dare challenge you today, if that's you, if you find yourself in this situation, to be bold, to be bold and audacious and treat your spouse, show your spouse the way you want to be loved in everything, in every dimension of your life. At work, the situation you have with that co-worker or boss even. At school, at fellowship. At the barbershop, at the grocery store, at the stoplight, at the restaurant, in everything, to everybody. Show forth the same love, mercy, grace, kindness, and justice that you want from others. This, this is God working through you to show the world what the Torah looks like made tangible, made reality.

You are meant to be in fellowship with everyone through the love of Christ. This sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This Week: A Challenge

We can go ahead and conclude services. Worship team, you can come up. So I don't know who this message was for or how it impacted you today. These bold words of this amazing rabbi that we pledge allegiance to. But I hope that you take his words today, and I hope the Holy Spirit shows you the opportunities in your life to implement them. This week, I want to challenge you to practice faith. And I want you to pray every morning that the Holy Spirit would help slow down the circumstances in your life and show you the circumstances where you can implement this. Because sometimes we have opportunities to implement it, but they just kind of fly past us and we don't even realize it until later.

I want you to pray every morning this week. I challenge you. God, may your spirit within me show me, give me the opportunities to implement the words of my king in this world, to show people the kingdom ethic, to show people what your word looks like manifest. I challenge you to do that. I challenge you to slow down when you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry at someone. Slow down. Do unto others. How can I show God's love in this instance? Mercy and grace and patience. Slow down. When you're at home and all the kids are running around, it's not about you, especially when you have kids. It's not.

It's not about you when you pledge your allegiance to King Yeshua because you're called to follow him in giving sacrificially. And so when you get frustrated, when you have times of chaos, slow down and say, you know what? This isn't about me. What can I do to help this situation? What can I do to inject God's love and patience into this situation? Do. Do. Everyone, everything, go out and do the will of the Father. And show the world the amazing spirit of the love of Yeshua that has been imparted to us. Amen? Shalom, I'm Matthew Vandrells and I hope you enjoyed this message. Founded in Truth exists to cultivate a fellowship of image bearers that live the redeemed life only Yeshua can give.

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