Kingdom: Rule

[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” Matthew 7:12
In the next verse from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus provides his ‘Cliff Notes’ summary guide of all the Laws and Prophets. He condenses it all down to one rule, that most commentators and scholars have named The Golden Rule. This is the Kingdom rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
This is a rule that if we really grasp it and live by it has the power to turn things upside down. It has the power to shake us out of our comfort zones and totally transform the world around us.
Because living with the Kingdom mind-set of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us is totally alien to the ways of society. Society says you are the most important. Your comfort is all that matters. Others are there to serve you. Trample over others on your way to the top. You deserve what is best. You deserve to have it all. You shouldn’t have to wait, your time is too important. People need to get out of your way and stop being an inconvenience to you. But Jesus says “whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them”.
That means having a servant heart.
That means putting others first, for we want them to put us first.
It means letting them go ahead, for we want them to let us go ahead of them.
It means caring about the comfort of those in need more than our own comfort.
It means serving those we want to serve us.
It means stepping aside so that others get the credit.
It means valuing people, even people society says have no value.
When we really take hold of Jesus’ Kingdom Rule and start living it out then things start getting shaken up. We live a life that is radically counter-cultural. We start to challenge society’s systems. And it will have an impact. Lives will be touched. People will wonder why we are living like we are. They will want to know what is different about us, what is compelling us to care so much about them, They will be curious, wondering why we have turned our backs on the world’s agenda and seem to be living to a different rulebook to the world around us. Which opens up all sorts of opportunities for us to tell them about Jesus, whose burden is light and whose yoke is easy. It opens up all sorts of opportunities for us to invite them into the Kingdom.
There are many Christians who are occupied by rules. They obsess over what is or isn’t allowed. They have become modern day Pharisees, making laws about the Law, adding in terms and conditions that God never said, interpreting His law for Him, declaring what is or isn’t forbidden. And yet they ignore what Jesus tells us is the Kingdom Rule. We need to have reverence for all God’s rules, for Jesus died not to abolish the law but to fulfil it. But if we miss the importance of living out the Kingdom Rule, if we don’t do unto others as we would have them do unto us then it is all a waste.
Focus Verse: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” Leviticus 19:18
To Ponder

• Do I do unto others as I would have them do unto me?
• What ways can I have more of a servant heart?
• How would lives be transformed by you being better at living out this rule?