WE WILL REAP WHAT WE SOW

PROCLAMATION

“Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah.  He attacked him in front of the people, assassinated him and succeeded him as king.”  2 Kings 15:10 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After King Jehoash died, his son Jeroboam succeeded him as king of Israel in Samaria.  Jeroboam did evil in the eyes of The Lord. (2 Kings 14:23-24)  When Jeroboam died, his son Zechariah succeeded him as king and he also did evil in the eyes of The Lord. (2 Kings 15:8-9)  Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah.  He attacked him in front of the people, assassinated him and succeeded him as king.  This began a series of kings that did evil in the eyes of The Lord and were killed by their successor.  Menahem son of Gadi attacked Shallum, assassinated him and became king. (2 Kings 15:14)  When Menahem died, his son Pekahiah succeeded him as king. (2 Kings 15:22)  Pekah, one of the chief officers of Pekahiah, conspired against him, assassinated him and became king. (2 Kings 15:25)  Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah, attacked and assassinated him and became king. (2 Kings 15:30)

APPLICATION

These kings killed the king, in order to become king, and they were themselves killed by someone else who wanted to be king.  It is not good to put down others in order to get ahead.  As we sow, so shall we also reap. (Job 4:8 and Galatians 6:7)  That which we do to others, sooner or later it will be done to us.  But if we sow righteousness, we will reap blessings from The Lord. (Hosea 10:12)  Remember, the golden rule says that we should do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. (Matthew 7:12)

WE SHOULD BE AND LIVE AS HOLY AS WE CAN

Proclamation:

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see The Lord.”  Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by an unknown human author under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this chapter of The Bible Book of Hebrews, the author begins by telling them to throw off sin and everything which hinders them as the run their Christian race and to focus on Christ. (Hebrews 12:1-2)  Then he tells them that in their struggle against sin that they have not yet experienced the worst of things. (Hebrews 12:4)  He reminds them, as he quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 to them that no matter what they are going through or what is to come, that God disciplines His children because He disciplines those that He loves. (Hebrews 12:5-6)  The author then goes on to encourage them to live as holy as they can. (Hebrews 12:14)

Application:

Some people will not let you live in peace with them because they are not at peace with themselves.  It is better for us to avoid those people. (Proverbs 21:9 and 21:19)  While none of us is perfect, we should strive to be as Christ-like and as holy as we can.  We should all strive to be holy because The Christ which is within us is holy. (1 Peter 1:16)  We should treat people as we would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12) and not as they treat us. (Romans 12:17)  When we know better, we should do better. (2 Peter 2:21)  Striving for peaceful living is a good thing, however striving to live holy is even better and much more important.

LIVE BY THE GOLDEN RULE

Proclamation:

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, which He spoke to His disciples and to the crowd near the end of His Sermon on The Mountain as recorded by the Apostle Matthew.  These words are also recorded in the gospel according to Luke, the physician and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. (Luke 6:31)  According to noted Bible scholar John MacArthur, the negatively stated version of the golden rule existed before Christ in the rabbinic writings, in Hinduism, and in Buddhism.  They stated it as a negative command which was "what is hateful to yourself, do not to someone else."  Jesus stated this as a positive command, enriched its meaning, and underscored that this one imperative aptly summarizes the whole gist of ethical principles contained in the Law and the Prophets.  The Law refers to the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and the Prophets refers to the remaining books of the Old Testament which were written by the prophets.

Application:

This is "the golden rule": do unto others as you would have them to do unto you. Stated another way it is: “Treat people as you would like to be treated.”  Many people can recite "the golden rule", even if they do not always practice it.  However, rarely, if ever, do the people that say it, tell you that it is a paraphrased Bible verse quotation.  According to The Bible we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31)  We are to treat others as we would like to be treated.  This is contrary to the worldly way of thinking which is to treat others as they treat you.  Christian behavior is beyond and a step or two above worldly behavior.  So, let us live by this higher Biblical standard.

DO GOOD TO ALL OTHERS

Proclamation:

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

Explanation:

As part of His Sermon on The Mount, Jesus, The Christ, said that men should always treat others as they would have others to treat them.  He said that this is the essence of the Law and the teachings of the Prophets.

Application:

This verse is often referred to by the worldly phrase, "the golden rule", which states "do unto others as you would have them to do unto you."  This quote is usually followed by the phrase "author unknown".  All too often the world will not give Jesus, The Christ, the credit and respect which He is due.  The golden rule is a paraphrase of a Bible verse which quotes Christ.  Sometimes people will even give man credit for something that Christ said or did rather than recognize Christ.  The real problem with this is that not enough believers are sufficiently knowledgeable about the Bible to refute the worldly individuals with the chapter and verse from The Word of God.  Christ said that we should always behave, speak to, and act towards other individuals as we would like for them to behave, speak to, and act towards us.  We are not to do unto them as they do unto us.  We are not to repay evil with evil, but with love. (Romans 12:17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:15)  We are even to do good to those that hate us. (Matthew 5:44)  We are to do good to, and to love, our enemies. (Luke 6:27 and 6:35)  We are to love others, even when we are not loved in return.  If we only do good to and love those that do good to and love us, then we are no better than the lost sinners in the world. (Luke 6:33)  By our being Christ-like to those who treat us poorly, we are "heaping burning coals upon their heads."  The Lord will deal with them for their bad treatment of us. (Proverbs 25:21-22 and Romans 12:19)  Therefore, let us do good to all men, and treat all men as we would like to be treated.   (Galatians 6:10)  For knowing the right thing to do and not doing it is a sin. (James 4:17)

Do Good Unto All Others

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

As part of His Sermon on The Mount, Jesus said that men should always treat others as they would have others to treat them.  He said that this is the essence of the Law and the teachings of the Prophets.

This verse is often referred to by the worldly phrase, "the golden rule", which states "do unto others as you would have them to do unto you."  This quote is usually followed by the phrase "author unknown".  All too often the world will not give Jesus, The Christ, the credit and respect which He is due.  The golden rule is a paraphrase of a Bible verse which quotes Christ.  Sometimes people will even give man credit for something that Christ said or did rather than recognize Christ.  The real problem with this is that not enough believers are sufficiently knowledgeable about the Bible to refute the worldly individuals with the chapter and verse from The Word of God.  Christ said that we should always behave, speak to, and act towards other individuals as we would like for them to behave, speak to, and act towards us.  We are not to do unto them as they do unto us.  We are not to repay evil with evil, but with love. (Romans 12:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, and 1 Peter 2:9)  We are even to do good the those that hate us. (Matthew 5:44)  We are to do good to, and love, our enemies. (Luke 6:27 and 6:35)  We are to love others, even when we are not loved in return.  If we only do good to and love those that do good to and love us, then we are no better than the lost sinners in the world. (Luke 6:33)  By our being Christ-like to those who treat us poorly, we are "heaping burning coals upon their heads."
The Lord will deal with them for their bad treatment of us. (Proverbs 25:21-22 and Romans 12:19)  Therefore, let us do good to all men, and treat all men as we would like to be treated.   (Galatians 6:10)  For knowing the right thing to do and not doing it is a sin. (James 4:17)

As You Have Done It Will Be Done To You

"You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people ...   in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble ... nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster ... 'The day of The Lord is near for all nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.' "  Obadiah 1:12-15 (NIV)

A message for the people was given to the prophet Obadiah in a vision.  Because of their pride, and the fact that they stood aloof and did not go the the aid of their brother when he was in trouble, being taken advantage of, and suffering a misfortune, they would be punished and a great disaster awaits them.

The message to us today is that God is not pleased when we look down on people, and when we refuse to help them when they are in need.  We are not to rejoice or boast when misfortune befalls others.  If we do this to people, then the day will come when others will do it to us.  The Golden Rule says that we should do unto others as we would have them to do unto us.  The Bible says "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you ..." (Matthew 7:12 NIV)  The Bible also says "A man reaps what he sows." (Galatians 6:7 NIV)  We should be very careful how we treat people, especially how we treat God's people.

Repeat The Golden Rule To Ourselves

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  Matthew 7:12 (NIV)

Near the end of His now well known sermon on the mount, Jesus taught the people this lesson, which we now refer to as the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you."

The golden rule may be stated a number of different ways, but simply stated it means for us to treat people like we would like to be treated.  This simple Christian principal is easy to do if we have the love of Christ within us.  If we would repeat this principal to ourselves before we speak or do something for or to someone, we would probably demonstrate a Christ-like behavior.