The Story of the Golden Rule

27 Jul 2017 · 2 min

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1:38

In this sermon, the speaker reflects on what it means to be a child of God and asks what follows salvation. He recounts a recent Vespers discussion that concluded the purpose of life is rooted in connection to others, embodied in the Golden Rule—"do unto others as you would have them do unto you." He traces the historical development of the Golden Rule, noting that while earlier teachings focused on alleviating suffering, Jesus reframed it to proactive benevolence: imagine the best thing that could happen to you and do that for another. The speaker emphasizes that Jesus offered hope for a future Kingdom and that believers are called to share this hope, linking it to the Gospel commission and the Three Angels' Message. This hope in the soon return of Christ is presented as the central mission of the church on earth.

Chapters

And so in exploring this idea of now that I am a child of God, who am I to be? Is there more, or am I just— is it just about me? I'm a child of God, I've been saved, what's next? Last night at Vespers, we looked at the purpose of life, and the conclusion we came to was that the purpose of life is about connection to others. It's about the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And we looked at the journey that the Golden Rule has taken over the years and how Jesus is the one who twisted it and said it best. Everyone before him had said, whatever is suffering in your life, fix that. Whatever is suffering in someone else's life, fix that. Jesus said, imagine the best thing that could happen to you. And go and do that for someone else. Whatever you wish, do unto others what you wish would happen to you. And Jesus had hope for, for a future, and he was leading his people, his disciples, towards presenting that hope to the world around them. So the greatest thing we can offer to the world today is to give them hope in the Kingdom of God,— and the soon return of Jesus. We know that. That is our Gospel commission. That is the Three Angels' Message. That is why we are here on earth and why we are preparing for the soon coming of Christ. It's, it's our mission.