AfterThoughts: June 30, 2019

The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:7-12

This week, Pastor David continued the Sermon On The Mount series with a message about the “golden rule”. Re-read those verses as you consider these questions.

• Pastor David shared “The problem isn’t that we don’t know the Golden Rule; the problem is that we don’t live it.” Do you agree with that? Why or why not?
• Think about your daily routine/schedule. When and where are you more focused on yourself than on others? What is one thing you can do this week to shift your focus more toward others?
• What “good gifts” have you received from God? Describe how those gifts help you follow the golden rule. If you have never received God’s gift of salvation, we invite you to visit www.dawsonchurch.org/becoming-a-christian to learn more.
• Are there parts of your life (work, community activities, etc.) where you have NOT focused on observing the golden rule? What are they? This week, ask God to show you how to shift your focus toward changing your actions in those areas.

ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 

-Matthew 7:7-12

“What has become of the Golden Rule? It exists, it continues to sparkle, and is well taken care of. It is Exhibit A in the Church’s assets, and we pull it out every Sunday and give it an airing…it is strictly religious furniture…or a contribution plate, or any of those things. It is never intruded into business…”

-Mark Twain

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

“One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.”  -Plato

"Do to no one what you yourself dislike."  - Tobit 4:15 Hillel (a rabbi and contemporary of Jesus)