Graces Needed to Maintain Unity of The Spirit (2)

Introduction: The 25th Anniversary Manifesto and Grieving the Holy Spirit

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, March 29, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, as we have done for several Lord's Day mornings, let us begin our meditation by hearing again those opening words from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 3. I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond.

1:11 This present calendar year of 1992 marks the 25th year of the existence of Trinity Baptist Church as a duly constituted church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are a part of this fellowship know that we have had no elaborate celebrations of this milestone in our corporate life, nor are there any plans for celebration. There are no such celebrations as legitimate and as edifying as they might be. However, in conjunction with this milestone of our 25th anniversary, we have been engaged in a rather lengthy spiritual exercise of far greater importance than any such innocent, ordinary, and even edifying celebrations of another kind. And what is that spiritual exercise?

2:18 Well, it has been one in which we have been examining from the Scriptures those major biblical convictions, perspectives, and practices which have been the dominant factors in our life and ministry throughout these 25 years. And I've entitled this lengthy spiritual exercise, A Manifestation. A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. Using that term because a manifesto is, by definition, a public declaration of the major motives and principles of a group, movement, or organization, a proclamation considered to be of some significance and importance. And each tenet or point in the manifesto has been, stated in the form of an affirmation of spiritual determination and conviction.

3:24 And we're presently engaged in explaining, amplifying, and applying the eighth point in this manifesto, which I have expressed in this way. We are determined to maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit, in the totality of our life and ministry. We began by examining the two major texts which deal with this subject of an ungrieved Holy Spirit, those texts being Ephesians 4.30 and Isaiah 63 and verse 10.

4:06 We then considered the major ways in which the Holy Spirit can be grieved in the life of the individual believer, but we quickly moved on to concentrate on that which is more relevant to our life as a church, and that is to consider the major ways in which the Holy Spirit can be grieved in the corporate life of the congregation of God's people. Our studies have made it clear that the Holy Spirit is indeed grieved in the corporate life of any church in the following ways. When Jesus Christ is displaced from His rightful place of unrivaled preeminence, there the Holy Spirit is grieved. When the church refuses to maintain corporate holiness by the administration of corrective discipline when necessary, there the Holy Spirit will indeed be grieved. Thirdly, He is grieved in the corporate life of any congregation when there is any replacing of the rightful supremacy of the Scriptures regulating the whole of the life and ministry of that congregation. And fourthly,

5:30 He is grieved when His person, His presence and power are not esteemed as indispensable to the being, life, and ministry of the church. We are now examining the fifth way the Holy Spirit can be and is grieved in the congregational life of any church, namely, when the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is not consciously and diligently maintained. We used as our pivotal text to demonstrate this truth the very passage read in your hearing, Ephesians 3, verse 1, and 2. Ephesians 4, verses 1 to 3, in which we as God's people are charged to give diligence, conscious, deliberate, constant effort to keep, to guard, to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And having considered that text, we have now been wrestling with the question, How can we be ungrieved in the bond of peace? how can we fail in this diligent pursuit of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and thereby grieve the spirit? And we've answered by showing from the scriptures

Recap: Graces of Lowliness, Meekness, and Forbearing Love

6:58 that this can be done by indulging the sins which will rupture the unity of the Spirit, and now secondly, by failure to cultivate the graces which are essential to the maintenance and preservation of that unity. In our study last Lord's Day, after seeking to prove from the Scriptures that the concept of cultivating graces is indeed a biblical concept and not some kind of pagan self-help scheme, we had time only to focus upon two graces that are associated repeatedly in the Scriptures with the unity of the people of God, graces which, if we fail consciously and deliberately to cultivate, remaining sin will rise up and with it will bring manifestations of carnality that can only grieve the Holy Spirit. The first of those graces was the grace of lowliness and meekness, found right here in the Ephesians 4 text. Whatever, whatever we do to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit,

8:18 it must be done with the graces of lowliness and meekness continually active within our hearts. And then secondly, if we fail to cultivate the grace of forbearing, long-suffering, and forgiving love. Here again in our fundamental text, forbearing, loving one another in love. In the previous paragraph at the end of this very chapter, chapter 4, and on into the first paragraph of chapter 5, love is there highlighted as essential to our unity in terms of its capacity to forgive. And I use the imagery of our standing together in one unbroken circle and love will be our...

The Grace of a Peacemaking Disposition and Skill

9:13 as we say in History, love will be our use of our right hand, our left and our right hand. Love on the one hand, that by the grace of God, forbears and forgives. Love that will enable us to bear with one another in our foibles and in our weaknesses and in our manifold irritants, one to another, and it is only and that forgiving love that is quick to forgive, that love that covers a multitude of sins, only in that way will the bond of our unity be maintained. Now this morning, time permitting, I want to focus upon three other graces that are associated again and again in the Scriptures with this matter of maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Not only must we cultivate the grace of lowliness and meekness, the grace of forbearing and forgiving love, but we must cultivate the grace of a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions. We must cultivate...

10:36 We must cultivate the grace of a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions. Since the unity of the Spirit is set before us in our pivotal passage as a unity which has as its very bond the grace of peace, it is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Surely I do not...

11:07 I do not need to bring forward any other Scriptures to demonstrate how crucial this matter of peace is to the unity of the Spirit. For the Apostle, under the inspiration of the Spirit, sets that unity before us as a unity, the bond of which, as its dominant grace, is peace. The absence of ill will and disruption and warfare and malice, and all of those ugly associated sins. And therefore, if we are actively to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit, a unity the bond of which is peace, then we must cultivate the grace of a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions. That being so, it should not surprise us that being a peacemaker, a seeker of peace, is given a central place as a New Testament grace and skill. And I set before you only four texts and only touch on them briefly. Number one, in the Beatitudes.

Biblical Basis for Peacemaking

12:27 There in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount where our Lord is not teaching us the way into the kingdom, the Beatitudes are not a road, roadmap into life, but they are a composite of those graces which mark those who have entered into life by the grace of God. They are not a roadmap to tell us how to get to heaven. They are a picture of the sojourners who are on their way to heaven. And one of the characteristics of every true son and daughter of the kingdom is set forth in verse 9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. So critical is this disposition of peacemaking and the skill of a peacemaker's actions that Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. For they and only they shall be called sons of God, because they and only they are reflecting likeness to God at this very critical point. A likeness which is an inevitable accompaniment of a saving work of grace in the heart of a sinner.

13:55 Then we turn to the book of Romans, and in this chapter where the Apostle is setting out the details of what a life consecrated unto God will be like in relationship to other members of the body of Christ, in relationship to enemies and to friends alike.

14:19 Notice his sweeping exhortation in Romans 12 and verse 18. If it be possible. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth.

14:43 Now you see the Apostle was a realist, and he recognized that there are limitations on the extent to which a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions can actually bring peace. He said, I know there are limitations. However, make sure that you do not stop one centimeter short of the limitations imposed either by the sovereignty of God or the perverseness of the hearts of others. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth. If it be possible, as much as in you lieth. To the degree to which by grace and pains and prayer you can have both the disposition and the skill of the peacemaker exercise that skill, suffused with that disposition, and be at peace with all men. The third text is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

15:54 And the context of this injunction is, The Apostle has called upon the Thessalonian believers to have a proper relationship to their spiritual overseers, to their pastors. He says in verse 12, We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. And then his next exhortation is, Be at peace. Among yourselves.

16:32 Now he didn't stick that there arbitrarily. Because he then goes on to give further exhortation, And we exhort you, brethren. He's now going to give another set of exhortations. So it is right that we should consider this word in some way attaching itself like a caboose to the major cars in this train of exhortation.

16:56 To know them that labor among you. And to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. And if you would be properly related to them. And if you have accurate knowledge of them.

17:12 And if you do appreciate their labors on your behalf. Then you will know that you make their labors all the more delightful if you labor at being at peace among yourselves. For they will then have the joy of laboring in the context where there is the manifest unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And then the final text, a very familiar one.

17:46 And often, and rightly so, we place the great emphasis on the latter part of it. Hebrews 12 and verse 14.

17:56 But in terms of the grammar, and in terms of the emphasis of the text, we can give just as much weight to the first part of it. Hebrews 12 and verse 14. You have a major verb in the imperative. The same word used for persecute.

18:17 Follow after. Track down. Commit yourself to pursuing with diligence. Two things.

18:27 Follow after peace with all men. And. The. Sanctification or holiness.

18:36 Without which. Excuse me. No man shall see the Lord. What are we to pursue?

18:43 Well, as we were reminded several weeks ago in our Sunday school class. One of the indispensable marks of real conversion is a commitment to a holy life. Not a theoretical commitment. But a commitment that brings within its orbit all of our faculties and powers in pursuing.

19:03 A life of holiness. But we are also to have the same concern to pursue peace with all men. It will not just happen any more than you will simply grow in holiness without consciously pursuing a life of holiness. You will not grow in peace with all men without deliberately consciously pursuing that peace.

19:34 While others will continue to pursue it. And yet it's not quite as we are commanded in this text. Well, I trust. These four texts but to sing the very statement of Ephesians four three with reference to the uniqueness of the bond of peace where the unity of the spirit exists.

19:56 Convinces your conscience that you and I. Must cultivate the grace. and the skill of a peacemaker's actions. Having sought to establish that from the Scriptures, now we ask the question, how will this disposition and this skill find practical expression?

Practical Expression: Speech Which Promotes Peace

20:19 And I want to give you just two ways as I try to take this from the theory and put it into the concrete realities of congregational life. How will this disposition and this skill find practical expression? Well, first of all, by speech which promotes peace and quiets strife. There is no way that we can judge ourselves to be peacemakers and thereby blessed unless we are conscious of seeking with our speech to promote peace and to quiet, strife.

21:01 Several texts in the book of Proverbs are helpful in illustrating this principle. Proverbs 17 and verse 14. Proverbs 17 and verse 14.

21:20 The beginning of strife is as one letteth out water, and the precise imagery there is debated by the commentators, but this much is clear. If you've got a dad, and once it begins to break and the water begins to make its way out, you're in big bad trouble. It's much easier to buttress and strengthen the dam before the water begins to flow than to stop it once it does start flowing. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water, therefore leave off contention before there is quarreling.

22:01 When you're in a situation where you're, you're conscious that the sparks and the embers of remaining sin that can be inflamed into that which will produce strife and contention, when you sense that those sparks are being fanned, those embers are being blown upon, or fuel is about to be dropped upon them, the peacemaker does what he can with his words to back off from anything that would, add to that growing possibility of the outbreak of a raging fire of ill-will and enmity and the separation of brethren. Proverbs 20 and verse 3 is another text which addresses the issue. Proverbs 20 and verse 3. It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreled.

23:04 It's honorable when a man senses that the words between himself and his wife, between two brethren or a group of brethren, are moving in a direction that is going to produce strife. It is an honor for him by his words to change the direction of the conversation, to change the climate of the congregation. And it's only the fool who delights to pursue it into open verbal warfare. Chapter 26, the imagery there is very graphic and very clear and understandable even to the children.

23:42 Proverbs 26, 20 and 21. For lack of wood, the fire goeth out. You kids, you know if you have a fireplace, you have a wood-burning stove, and the log doesn't burn forever and forever. If you don't put another log on, the fire will eventually die out.

24:03 When that log dies, the fire will die out. When the log is consumed and the combustion leaves nothing but ashes, no more fire. Obvious for lack of wood, the fire goeth out. And where there is no whisperer, where a person's words are not throwing more logs on the fire of contention and strife and the absence of unity and peace, where there is no whisperer, contention ceases.

24:31 As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. You see what he's saying? Here you have a little handful of hot embers. They can't cook much, can't give out much heat, can't hurt anyone.

24:55 But if you pour on those hot embers a whole bucket of coal, you can have a raging fire that will heat the house. If uncontrolled, burn the house down. So likewise, he says, as wood to fire, there is the remains or there are the remains of the previous log, just a dull glow in the back of the fireplace, barely emitting enough heat to one standing right in front of the fireplace to know that it's there. But let a man throw on two or three well-cured hardwood logs and inside of ten minutes, it'll drive you to the other side of the room.

25:38 So writes Solomon, a contentious man, the man who lacks an abundance of the grace of a peacemaker's disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions will always find in the hearts of God's people glowing embers and glowing coals. And if he doesn't, if he doesn't have a peacemaking disposition, he will always have a bucket of coal in one hand and an armload of logs in the other. Now, he hasn't created the situation that produces the strife. Oh, no. The embers and the wood were already there. That's the point of this passage.

26:33 They were already there. Remaining sin is such that every one of us, every one of us could call his heart a fireplace with embers and glowing coals of ill will, potential strife, suspicion, all of the things that mar the unity of the Spirit. And all we need is that person to come along with his armload of logs and with his bucket full of coals. I want to ask you, do you carry about that very real but invisible to the human eye?

27:16 Do you carry around that bucket of coal? Are you one of those that just loves to be able to dump some coals on some glowing embers?

27:26 Do you go around with a bunch of logs stuck in your arm? When you open your mouth, is it dispensing coal and logs or water and foam?

27:42 You say, what in the world are you talking about, Pastor? I told the elders that I'm going to use a grotesque illustration today.

27:49 If you want to put out that little glowing ember, what do you do? Just take a little pan full of water and throw it on it and it's gone. Well, what they do at the airport when they think a plane is going to come in and for some reason the landing gear can't be put down, it's going to have to land on its belly and sparks will fly by the thousands. They'll lay down a blanket of foam and pour it on the plane.

28:17 Or five feet thick so that any spark that is struck from the metal on the concrete or on the macadam has nothing to consume. There can be no combustion. It's immediately smothered by the foam. Are you one dispensing water and foam or coals and logs?

28:41 Which are you? Which are you? When you come into a discussion among your brethren and you open your mouth, is it water? And foam to extinguish the embers and the coals?

28:59 Or is it coal and logs to inflame strife? Dear people, in this place we could have 15 to 20 raging fires any given week given the reality of our remaining sin. Given the realities of our remaining sin, our diversity of backgrounds and cultures and races and economic and social standings. We have all of the materials to have one constant raging fire of strife in this place.

29:39 And all we need is a few people who think their calling in life is to go around with a bucket of coal and an arm load of logs. And we've had it. That's all we need. That's all we need.

29:55 And that's why I say, That's all we need. That's all we need. And that's why I say, That's all we need. And that's why I say, if we are committed to maintaining the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that we do not grieve him away, then we must be committed to cultivating the grace of a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions.

Practical Expression: Actions Which Promote Peace (Abram and Abigail)

30:17 And how will that skill find expression? I focused on one way, by speech which promotes peace and quiet strife but then secondly by actions which promote peace and quiet strife. And one picture's worth a thousand words and I want you to turn with me and this underscores what we were reminded of in the previous hour. We need our whole Bible as Christians to know the will of God.

30:48 And there are two wonderful examples of peacemakers in action, skillful peacemakers. One in Genesis chapter 13, many examples, but these are the two that came to mind in my preparation. Most of you will remember the setting, Abram goes up out of the land of Egypt with all of his possessions, he's a wealthy man and he takes with him his nephew whose name is Lot. Verse 5 of Genesis 13, and Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.

31:24 Verse 6, the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance. Substance was great, so they could not dwell together. They were both so blessed with material possessions, there wasn't enough room, not enough hills for the cattle to graze on, not enough feed for their cattle, not enough room for their extended families. And what happened?

31:46 Verse 7, there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. And here was strife between what we might call members of the extended family.

32:06 Herdsmen of Abram and of Lot are fussing and striving over this problem of the inadequacy of the land in which they were seeking to dwell together. And what does Abram do? All right, Lot, let's you and I have this out. I deserve some respect.

32:25 I'm the older man. God has called me. I'm to be the father. I'm the father of many nations.

32:31 He could have pulled out his spiritual pedigree, could have pulled out age, rank, and station, and all the rest, but he didn't do that. He had cultivated the skill of a peacemaker. So what did he do? Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren.

32:52 Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me, and if thou wilt take the left hand, then I'll go. And if thou wilt take the right hand, then I will go to the left. And we don't concentrate on what Lot did and why he did it, but it's this beautiful picture of a peacemaker at work.

33:14 You see the skill of Abram as a peacemaker? Aware of the strife, he didn't simply go into his tent and pray, O God, bring this strife to an end. No doubt he cried to God for wisdom as a man of faith. O Lord, help me to know what to do.

33:30 This strife is not right. We are brethren. This is inconsistent with what we are. Now, O God, give me wisdom.

33:38 And then with consummate skill he goes to the younger man, who should have deferred to the older one. And he doesn't stand upon his rank. He doesn't stand upon his privilege. He doesn't even stand upon his greater degrees of grace.

33:54 But he takes the posture of humility and says, Here, you go this way. I'll go that way. Here, you go that way. I'll go that way.

34:01 I'll go that way. I'll go that way. I'll go that way. I'll go that way.

34:01 You'll go that way. I'll go this way. There was the skill of a peacemaker. You have another example in a situation entirely different in 1 Samuel 25.

34:13 1 Samuel 25. When I say we must not only cultivate the grace of a peacemaking disposition, but the skill of a peacemaker's action. Where do we get examples in order to imitate and thereby learn that skill? We learn it from Abram, the father of the, the faithful.

34:33 But we also learn it from a noble, godly, and, by the way, very attractive woman. Godliness and beauty are not always antithetical. Many times they are, but in the case of this particular woman, they weren't. In 1 Samuel chapter 25.

34:50 Some of you are guessing now, and you know who we're talking about. Verse 2. There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. Very great.

35:00 3,000 sheep, 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And the woman was of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance.

35:17 She had a good and a wise heart and a fair face and form. But her husband, he was churlish and evil in his doings. Even though he had a good pedigree, he was of the house of Caleb. Grace doesn't care.

35:33 He had flowing bloodlines. Caleb, one of the two who had followed the Lord wholly. He had marvelous bloodlines, but he was a churlish, graceless, godless, narrow-spirited, wretched, rotten, stinking Simon Legree of a character. And what happened?

35:55 Well, David and his men had been in that area and while there had protected his servants, never taken advantage of them, never had taken any of his possessions. But now, they were hungry. And David has a peacemaking spirit. Look at verse 5.

36:10 And David sent ten young men. And David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus shall you say to him that lives in prosperity, Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou hast. When he pronounced the shalom of God upon him, he could not use an expression that, more fully expressed the full spectrum of goodwill for both spiritual and material blessings.

36:44 All of that was comprehended under the shalom that he pronounced three times upon this man in his household. Well, you know what happened, don't you? This guy said, in essence, I don't know this character, David, anything. He's not going to get a piece of mutton from one of my sheep.

37:00 He's not going to get a thing from me. Well, David was so incensed, that after pronouncing blessing, look at verse 13. David said unto his men, Gird ye every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword.

37:18 And David girded on his sword. And there went up after David four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the baggage. And what is he determined to do? He is absolutely determined that he's going to blot out Nabal, and his entire family, and his entire household.

37:37 He is determined that within twenty-four hours, they're all going to be blotted out. And he takes an oath to that effect. Well, what happens? Well, Abigail hears about this, and then she shows the consummate skill of a peacemaker.

37:56 Here, she's lived with this churlish man named Nabal, and yet she's learned how to dwell with him, how she did it, I don't know, but God gave her grace. And here, she did a number of things, and it's fascinating to look at all of the details, but at the end of the day, what she did was display the skill of a peacemaker in action. And she draws near to David with these materials, these foodstuffs that she has gathered with her servants, and notice how she approaches him. Verse 23, And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and alighted, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.

38:40 Here's a beautiful woman taking the place of a servant and prostrating herself before David. And she fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my Lord, upon me be the iniquity, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. Let not my Lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.

39:08 But I, thy handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my Lord, as Jehovah liveth, as thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah hath withheld thee from blood-guiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore, let thine enemies and them that seek evil to my Lord be as Nabal. You see what she does? She weaves together a tapestry of words that appeals to everything noble, everything spiritual, everything that she can marshal to quell this spirit in David of determination.

39:46 I'll blot out this worthless fellow and his entire household. And David recognizes the voice of God in this beautiful, peacemaking woman. And he recognizes that God has withheld him from what would have been murder, taking things into his own hand. And she goes on to say that she's confident that God will yet bring David to the throne.

40:13 You read it through and you see this interweaving of her awareness of the promises of God and the purposes of God, the law of God, and with consummate skill, I say, she weaves together this tapestry of words. And what does it do to David? Verse 32, And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel who sent thee this day to meet me. Blessed be thy discretion.

40:43 Blessed be thou that thou hast kept me this day from blood guiltiness and from avenging myself with my own hand. For in very deed, as Jehovah the God of Israel lives, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hast hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. And how does David send her back? Go up in peace to thy house.

41:15 See, I have hearkened to thy voice and have accepted thy person. Isn't that a beautiful example of a peacemaker in action? Now do you think she just went out and talked off the cuff? No.

41:33 It's evident that this woman lifted up her heart to God for wisdom and then brought together all of these various strands that under the blessing of God would indeed be out of her mouth a tremendous stream of holy foam that would not merely quench a few sparks. David's heart was a raging forest fire of vengeance. But by the time she was done with him, every last spark was out. And he says, Go in peace.

The Grace of Living by the Golden Rule

42:08 Now, dear brethren, that's what I'm talking about when I say you and I must feel the responsibility to cultivate the grace of a peacemaking disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's action. That will mean in practical terms seeking to cultivate patterns of speech which promote peace and quiet the strife. And by promoting and engaging in actions which promote peace and quiet. But then there is a fourth grace essential to this matter of the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit. Not only must we seek to cultivate the graces of lowliness and meekness, forbearing and forgiving love, the grace of a peacemaker's disposition and the skill of a peacemaker's actions, but we must seek to cultivate the grace of living by the golden rule. I'm going to skip over the fourth, which is the grace of other-centeredness. In the interest of time, I do want to address this matter of the grace of living by the grace of the golden rule.

43:36 Now, there was a time when anyone who was reasonably intelligent had come to 20 years of age in our country, could give you the Ten Commandments, say the Lord's Prayer, and knew what you meant by the golden rule. But alas, those days have long since passed. The golden rule is not that perverse rule of the young lad that I quoted the other day who said, it is written somewhere in the Psalms, do unto others as they have done unto you. No, that's not the golden rule.

44:09 That rule is far from golden. But the golden rule is what is referred to when people are thinking of Matthew 7 and verse 12. Here, toward the end of the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7 and verse 12, All things, therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. For this is the law and the prophets.

44:49 Here our Lord is giving us what has been called the golden rule. And He says in this rule, in this principle, in this universal spiritual axiom, is to be found embodied all of the moral demands at the horizontal level of the entire revelatory data of the Old Testament. If you want to sum up all that the Old Testament teaches about our duty one to another, here it is. It's summed up in this word.

45:27 All things, therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. For this is the law and the prophets. Nothing is revealed of moral and ethical duty that cannot be subsumed under God's comments on this. Our Lord lays down a general principle for our guidance in all doubtful questions between man and his fellow man.

46:03 We are to do to others as we would have others do to us. We are not to deal with others as others deal with us. This is mere selfishness. This is mere selfishness and heathenism.

46:18 We are to deal with others as we would like others to deal with us. This is real Christianity. This is a golden rule indeed. It does not merely forbid all petty malice and revenge, all cheating and overreaching.

46:34 It does much more. It settles a hundred difficult points which in a world like this are continually arising between man and man. It prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases. It sweeps the whole debatable ground with one mighty principle.

46:56 It shows us a balance and measure by which everyone may see at once what is his duty. Is there a thing we would not like our neighbor to do to us? Then let us always remember that this is the thing we ought not to do unto him. Is there a thing we would like him to do to us?

47:14 Then this is the very thing we ought to do to him. How many intricate questions would be decided at once if this rule were honestly used? And I say, brethren, we will not maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace unless there is a more high of this grace of living by the golden rule. It is assumed that it is a renewed and a sanctified nature of God.

47:57 Not a pebble against God has all kinds of things that He would that others would do to Him that in their very essence are sin. Our Lord is assuming that these are the people described in the Beatitudes who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, who are pure in heart, who know poverty of spirit, who mourn over their sins. And what He is saying is that in the actings of your renewed nature, in the outworking of that, morals should do to you the things that you would that others do as an expression, tangible and discernible of their consideration, of their love, of their care, of their sensitivity to you, unto them, whether they ever do it to you or not. If you would that they do it, then you do it to them whether they do it to you or not. And brethren, without the cultivation of the grace of living by this rule, we cannot.

Applying the Golden Rule in Congregational Life

49:23 Those irritated will grieve and quench the Holy Spirit. Specifically, alright, let me give you some examples. When you walk through the front doors and you see a brother or sister, do you like that brother or sister to greet you? Do you like them to just give you a passing glance with their eyes as though they hardly recognized you?

50:02 While they go on to do whatever they are doing? Or would you that they take the time at least to lift their eyes, look you straight in the eyeballs, and if they can't get over and shake your hand, at least have them wink at you and show some recognition like they're glad to see you? Is that the way you would that your brothers and sisters greet you? Is it?

50:25 Then you do that to them. I'm amazed at how many of you, how many of you, if I did not have proofs of your love in other ways, I'd wonder if you really loved one another as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. If you're a distraught young mother, your husband's parking the car out in the parking lot, you've come in and you've got one kid in your arm, you've got one hanging off your coat and another one somewhere stuck between your legs or fallen over your feet, and you're trying to get your own coat off and while you're holding onto the diaper bag and there are three men standing around you talking, what do you wish they would do unto you? You would that they would for just a moment say, Oh, my sister, may I help you? Isn't that what you would? Well then, even as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.

51:37 If you had sought unto God, though it was your quote, business, and you were paid for it, you weren't doing it because it was your business and you were paid for it, and you had poured yourself into arduous labors to prepare and structure and set forth and deliver with all of your soul and mind and strength the Word of God, what would you that the people should do to whom you're delivering your soul? And you say, Well, I would that they would at least give me the discipline of careful attention, and if they feel a bit naughty and dopey, bite the inside of their cheek or pinch their cheek or do whatever they must do, I would not like it if they got glassy-eyed and fell asleep on me. Then don't do that to those who minister to you. As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. When you speak to someone out of good will, you have no ill will in your heart.

52:41 Your only motive is to share some information or to make small talk. Do you want your brothers and sisters to put the best possible construction on what you say and why you said it? Or do you want them to find some little word that might possibly remotely indicate that you were trying to dig at them, you were trying to get at them? Do you like it when people put the worst construction on your words, do you?

53:07 As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. As you and I want others to put the best construction upon our words, we are under moral obligation to do the same. When you've owned your sin and you've seen it before God and it's been a sin against your wife or your children or a brother or sister and you've gone before God and sought His forgiveness, you go to that brother. What do you want when you go with a broken and penitent spirit and ask forgiveness?

53:44 Don't you want your brother or sister to say, my dear brother or sister, of course I freely, fully, unreservedly forgive you. I live under the forgiving canopy of the cross of Christ. What else can I do? Well, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets.

54:04 Suppose you had the responsibility of setting the policy for the nursery. Now I'm really going to get to meddling. And you've wrestled with all of the problems of all of the factors of all of the families and all of the kids. And under the guidance and the counsel of the deacons you've established some policy.

54:25 And you know that in any group of any size, policy is always a compromise. It's trying to find the middle ground. People will be most fully ill, some inconvenienced, some whose needs are not met. That's just the reality of group.

54:45 What do you do with that policy? You say, well, I would like to think that they would accept it, believing that we were not me's, we were not out to pick on anybody, that we had desperately tried to do the wisest and the best for the most. Well, it's about time some of you started doing to others as you would that they should do unto you. And stop this carnal childlike pouting, this self-centered, that's why it's so bound up with other centeredness, always affects me, as though the whole should revolve around you. My friend, this place is bigger than you. And it's composed of more people than you. And there's something more important than your own little tailor-made needs.

55:43 And we'll never, never, never face the coming years if the Lord has them in store for us in the bond of irritance over nursery policy, irritance over other policies set, not by means, not by mean-spirited people, people who gladly give up that job, not getting paid for it, not getting any medals for it. I think we ought to get some. Not quite a purple heart, but some kind of medal. But do you see, dear people of God, if we do not practice living by the golden rule, we cannot, we will not grow in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond. How many irritants would be avoided and removed if we would just think, what would I that others do to me? You know, when you start living by this, it can really at times, it can really at times be inconvenient.

57:05 I can remember how inconvenient it used to be when I'd be out running on the streets. They don't do that anymore because the doctor said to stop it. And there'd be a jagged piece of a broken beer bottle right where somebody could drive a car. And I'd run by it and say, I'm not a street peeper.

57:22 I don't need to. Then this text would come, as you would that others do unto you. Suppose you were driving your car this afternoon right by that piece of glass and you had a blowout and jumped a curb and hit someone and killed them. And you found out some runner had gone by two hours before and left it there.

57:39 What would you think of him? And I had to turn around and go back and pick up the glass and throw it in the next storm sewer. You say, Pastor Martin, you're crazy. No, I'm not crazy.

57:48 God is witness. I've done it hundreds of times. And it just happened? So do.

58:07 This is the law in the Bible. You're determined by the grace of God that the golden rule will start to become a pressuring, not a bondage rule, a liberating rule. What a wonderful thing it is to end a run with a good conscience. It's a wonderful thing to leave the church building with a good conscience that I did not knowingly, simply because I was determined to go here, do this or that, didn't knowingly walk by anyone and deliberately give the impression of indifference and unconcern.

Cultivating These Graces: Conversion, Conviction, Commitment

58:45 Well, I've set before you these graces. My time is gone. I wanted to give you a prescription for the actual cultivation of them, but you can work out the prescription. I've just got three simple words.

59:00 You've got to be converted, convicted and committed. These graces don't grow on unblessed Adamic soil. You've got to be a converted man or woman. You've got to be convicted that they are attainable by the grace of God.

59:15 And then you've got to be committed to use the means ordained of God that they might be cultivated in your heart. May God grant that in the days to come as we have known in the past what it is in our life together to enjoy the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit, so we may continue to enjoy His presence in ever increasing measures because we take seriously this principle that if we would know His presence we must not fail to cultivate the graces essential to the promotion of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess to You that there is so much yet within our hearts that is like that burning coal, so much that is like the embers that so quickly can be inflamed into attitudes and dispositions and words which fracture, which rupture the unity of the Spirit, which sever the bond of peace. And we pray that You'd forgive us where we have allowed those elements of our remaining sin to be fed by the words of others

60:39 and the deeds of others, and where we have fed them with the fuel of our own thoughts. O Lord, wash us, cleanse us, purge us, and we pray that You would so fill us with the Holy Spirit that the graces of lowliness and meekness, forbearance and forgiveness in love, the grace, O God, of determination to be peacemakers in disposition and in deed, and the commitment to live by the golden rule will indeed be the portion of this assembly of Your people. We thank You for the measure to which it has been, but, O God, we are not content, and we believe You can give yet much more. And therefore we plead for the aid of Your Spirit for those who are strangers to Your grace, whose hearts are full of bitterness and rancor and ill will, because they are strangers to the saving mercy of the Lord Jesus, O God, use even the study this morning to cause them to see what a horrible sink of iniquity is their unblessed, unchanged heart. And may they be given no rest until they seek from You pardon for all of their sins and a renewed nature by the Holy Spirit.

62:09 Hear us and seal Your word to our prophet, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.