January 16th, 2024 Issue

Learning To Put On Your Golden Rule Glasses

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Heartfelt Exhortations Index

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Learning To Put On Your Golden Rule Glasses

Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them…

Most of my life, I have had excellent eye sight. In the last decade though I have had to use glasses, just when I read. I am sure there are many of you that can relate. What a difference, a good set of glasses can make, in our ability to see things more clearly. That is why I have chosen to use Golden Rule reading glasses as an illustration for this lesson. The more I learn to understand the heart of God, behind the things He asks of those that are His children, the more I see how the Golden Rule makes everything clear. I’m going to share a personal story with you, so you can understand why the Golden Rule has been so important in my discipleship.

Having The Golden Rule Written Deeply On My Heart

Back around the year 2001, we had a big snow storm. We got about three feet of snow in one day, and everything had come to a standstill. I stayed home from work, and just spent the day with my family.

My wife was cooking something in the kitchen, that smelled great. My three little children were playing around me. I was reflecting on the fact, that I had enough good seasoned firewood, to get me through a hard winter. The freezer and canning shelves, were bursting with all the bounty and hard work from the summer. I was really grateful to the Lord, for all He had provided to meet our needs.

I began to think of a newsletter I had read, that had shared how Christian families in Romania, lacked fuel to heat their homes, and their children would eat the one meal of the day just before going to bed, to help generate heat. They would also sleep in their jackets, if they had one.

As I was contemplating the Romanian’s situation, Moriah, my youngest child at that time, must have fallen while she was playing, and began to cry. I picked her up to comfort her, and the moment she hit my lap, a sensation came over me, I felt like she was crying because she was starving. Tears came to my eyes and my wife ask me what was wrong. It was so real to me.

In that moment the Lord very clearly ask me the question, “What would you hope someone would do for you?” There was no condemnation in the question. Just a sincerity and love. The kind of Love that is willing to ask a hard question. In fact if a person gives a truly honest answer to that question, they will get a glimpse of the kind of sacrificial Love, the Lord desires amongst His children. (Read that last sentence again, and again if you need too.)

The Golden Rule has been deeply real to me ever since. In fact I find I can understand many things, others don’t grasp, because of having experienced this so deeply.

Just after this experience I had with Moriah, I began to look very seriously at what Jesus and the apostles taught about meeting the needs of the poor. As I began to search the scriptures, this was one of the first places the Lord took me:

2Co 8:13-14  For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14  But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

These verses just jumped off the page at me. They seem to speak directly to the situation that I had been considering about the needs of those in Romania. In fact something that was Interesting to me about Romania, is that it is on the 44th parallel, exactly where I live. They also have the same climate, gardening zones 5 and 6, for the most part. That felt significant to me, because I understood the living conditions, and needs of someone living in a place like that. Which was very sobering, because I couldn’t imagine trying to make it through the winter without heat, and only one meal a day. That would be enough to break a father’s heart.

If you are serious about understanding this topic, you will need to read all of 2nd Corinthians chapters 8 & 9. Those two chapters set the full context. One of the things you will need to keep in mind is that Corinth is one of the wealthiest churches at that time. They had made a suggestion to the apostles, to send a gift to the believers at Jerusalem, that had great needs at that point. Their suggestion had stirred up many churches, especially Macedonia, which happened to be one of the poorest churches. It says the Macedonians had to basically beg the apostles to take their gift. So Paul is writing too Corinth to remind them, about what they had said that stirred everyone up. But wanted to make sure that they are ready, so they are not embarrassed when the brethren that were carrying the gifts from the other churches, show up and they are not prepared.

There are some really important gems in these two chapters though.

2Co 8:7  Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

Paul is referring to their sharing of their extra resources, as another grace.

2Co 9:12-13  For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; 13  Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

“they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ” What Paul is saying, is that them allowing this grace to abound in them, is proof that they had subjected their lives to the gospel of Christ. Well if that is the case, then you would think we would see something like this occurring on the day of Pentecost.

Act 2:42-45  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Many people want to present the passage in Acts as communal living, one purse for everyone. That was never taught, by Jesus or the Apostles. If you look at it that way, then as soon as the person gave everything away, they then needed to go stand in line to get what they needed. That is not what was happening. Let’s look at some other places where this idea was being taught.

John the Baptist was given the responsibility to prepare the way for the Lord. In other words, prepare peoples hearts to receive the Lord’s message. What did John teach concerning this topic?

Luk 3:8-11  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 10  And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 11  He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Any child can understand this. There are two men living in a cold region, that necessitates owning a coat. The one has no coat, and no chance of purchasing one. The other has two coats, an abundance of them, you might say he is rich in coats. John’s example of what true repentance is, is the obvious solution. Unless… it would be hard to give up each of those coats, that were purchased to go with certain outfits. I am not saying that to be funny, nor to be offensive. But go before the Lord and give an honest answer of what kind of sacrifice you would hope someone would do for you, if you were the one that lacked basic needs. Whatever that answer is, is what you need to be willing to do.

John is not teaching that the man with two coats give both of them away and then go stand in line so they could have a coat given to them. That is how some people have tried to present what happened in the early part of Acts.

Something else I want to mention. Does this talk about equality bring anything to your mind? Maybe Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren? Whenever I hear them going on about income inequality it makes me want to throw up. As Elisabeth Warren resides in her multimillion dollar mansion, and Bernie receives a third home. Typical Communists. Talking about the need for equality among the people, yet not for the hot shots in leadership.

I had a chance to visit Romania, and spend sometime helping them in some agricultural projects. While I was there, they took me to stand on the street where the long bread lines were during communism. You could turn and look up the street, to the palace where their communist leader had lived. The Romanians shared with me, that the people became so angry, because of their suffering everyday, waiting for stale bread, yet having to look at the plush palace their leader got to dwell in. When the revolt occurred, the army sided with the people. The army captured the leader and after a quick trial, him and his wife were executed by a firing squad. I am certainly not advocating for this in any way. I share it because I want you to consider the kind of outcomes, that have happened with man’s fleshly attempts at equality.

Just remember, Satan always seeks to counterfeit that which is most important to God. People counterfeit one hundred dollar bills, not pennies. Satan does it with the spiritual gifts, and many other areas. By counterfeiting them, he causes people to fear them, and want to avoid them. Satan desperately wants the church to avoid this topic. If the kind of equality and sacrificial sharing of abundance, became a Spirit led, anointed reality in the church today, it would have massive implications to the sharing and receiving of the gospel. (Keep reading that last sentence until it really sinks in deep)

Yet with all the history we have, of the failings of communism, with their rich elite and struggling masses. The young people of today follow someone like Bernie Sanders in mass. Even though any thinking individual can see he doesn’t practice what he preaches. He is just like all the other affluent communist leaders.

But the true mark, of the real thing, is that the leaders will be an example to the flock. Anyone looking at the life, that Christ was willing to live, was not going to accuse Him of hypocrisy as He taught these things. That is why He had His disciples live such simple lives of sacrifice. They had important things that needed to be taught, but they had to be living examples of it as well, to qualify them.

Teaching this series has been really good for me, because I have had to take a hard look at my own life again, to make sure that I am living the things that I am sharing here. I have found things that I had been previously convicted of, that I let slide, because of the tremendous pull away from the truth that there is in this country . It is extremely rare, that you will ever meet someone that would actually encourage you in these things. We need to exhort and encourage one another to faithfulness.

Hebrews 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

So let’s look at these two verses again, but this time let us put on our Golden Rule glasses, and see if it will help us understand the heart of the Father in writing this to us.

2Co 8:13-14  For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14  But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

The only way you are going to be able to see it from the Lord’s perspective, is if you put yourself in the place of the poor person that is lacking basic necessities. If you were a parent, that was working hard to provide for your family, but was still falling short of being able to meet your families basic needs. What kind of sacrifice would you hope someone would be willing to make, so your children could be warm and not hungry? That is a hard question isn’t it? How we answer it, makes us accountable. That is why most Christians here in America will not be willing to be brought face to face with these kinds of questions. That is why in this time of apostasy, the average itchy ears Christian, has gathered teachers that will not even think of touching this kind of topic.

I can tell you the answer that I was able to give, to the Lord’s question. First of all I would hope that someone would be compassionate enough to help with the immediate needs, of helping to warm my home, and help feed my children. But more importantly, I would hope someone would be willing come along side me, to invest in my life, by helping me to learn a skill or start a business, that if I was diligent, it would provide everything my family needed, and maybe was able to produce extra so that I would have something to share with those in need as well.

So these verses exhort us to equality. Who decides what standard of living is appropriate? Paul uses the words “For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened” Are we supposed to try to bring the poor, in places like Romania, up to a typical American lifestyle? Or are we to lower our standard of living closer to what they experience? These are hard questions. Not something that will be answered with a written church standard that everyone will have to follow. Remember the core focus of everything I have tried to teach you. This all has to be relationship based with the Lord.

But the Lord is suggesting, through Paul’s pen, that there is a sweet spot somewhere between being burdened and eased. He says it is an equality. So put yourself in the poor persons place again. What standard of living could someone maintain while you lacked basic necessities, and you could honestly say in your heart that they are at a place where they don’t have a way that they could further sacrifice to help you, and you would be fine with it, because you wouldn’t want to see them further burdened?

I will never forget the time, the carpentry crew I was on, was doing some remodel work on an old farm house out in the country. I was in an upstairs bedroom and opened the closet door. I was struck by how tiny the closet was. It was tiny, about as wide as the door. I made a comment to one of the older men on our crew, and he said something that has always stuck with me. “Back in the day, you would only have a few changes of clothing. Two pairs of work cloths, so you would have a clean pair while the dirty ones were being laundered, and a Sunday go to meet’n outfit”. I went home that evening and walked into our huge, walk in closet, full of cloths. I was around 26 at the time, and newly married. We also had three dressers full of clothing as well. I was remembering the times, I had stood in that closet wondering what I was going to wear, or more accurately, what I felt like putting on, and I just shook my head. One hundred years ago the average person felt blessed to have had those three changes of clothing. Why shouldn’t they, it met every practical need they had. Is my point in writing this to convince you that you shouldn’t own more than three outfits? No each of us has to go honestly before the Lord and do what we would hope someone else would be willing to do, if we were lacking basic needs. How would you feel, if you saw a rich person, just continue to buy more and more clothing, that they didn’t truly need, yet you were not able to even keep your children warm and fed. I am certain that would make a deep impression on you.

Once again I will share with you the conclusion my wife and I came to, for us. We bought two of those clothing hangers, that hang on the back of a door, that hold about six hangers. Each of us used one and I mounted them to our bedroom wall. We gave away a huge amount of really nice clothing, to people that needed it. Afterwards I felt so free. I had someone, that is really into being fashionable, tell me that I was in bondage, I kept my mouth shut, but understood the irony of what they were saying.

So what is the heart of the issue? We either find our security in Christ, or our possessions. Those that are secure in a loving heavenly Father’s provision, will allow excess too readily flow through their hands. Realizing that if they ever need it again, the Lord can very easily provide it. To someone that is trusting and has their security in their possessions, they could never just let it go, and would have the majority of worldly wisdom to console them, that they are making the right choice. I will tell you, most of the radical things Jesus teaches about money, are to get you to look squarely at whether you will trust and serve Him, or if you will cling to your security in earthly things. For some of you this will be very exciting, for others it may prove to be quite painful.

Let us not forget the main focus, throughout our previous lessons. All this has to drive us, to developing an intimate relationship with Christ. 1st Corinthians 13 tells us, we could give all we posses to the poor, and if we don’t have Love, we are nothing. God desires to manifest His Love through us, as we do the will of the Father. It is clear that the Father’s will, is to use us at times to meet the needs of those that are lacking. Let us walk in the Spirit, and be willing vessels, to allow a sacrificial love and provision to flow through us. God bless you all!