Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Lord says, "This still matters to Me right now"- how we treat each other. In fact, this is Jesus making the statement that, however you want people to treat you treat them, sowing to others what you want out of others, sow into other people, the kind of things that you want from them, and He said, "This is the law and the prophet. It's all contained, if you would just treat people like you want people to treat you. This still matters to Me, how you guys treat one another."
How the Lord showed me, this was the spirit of the law. The Bible goes on to talk about how the letter kills but the spirit gives life. This was the spirit of the law behind the letter, and there are some people who believe that they keep the law, but they're trying to pursue the essence of God through the letter. But the letter gets you killed. It's the spirit that brings life. The spirit of the law remains, which Jesus summed up this way, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." This can be a tough word for some people who don't love God, who have every excuse, every reason not to do what He says. But for those who love the Lord... This is a cord that strikes tenderly on the heart of God.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Matthew 25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
There is something very significant in this process as well, because the Lord takes personal what we do to one another. Which means, whatever we are doing to who we perceive to be the least of us, whatever we are doing and sowing to somebody else's life, we're actually doing it unto the Lord. It's how He perceives it. Sometimes we can think, "No, I'm just doing it to them. This ain't nothing to do with Jesus." But the whole time, Jesus was like, "They're made in My image, I see that as a direct offense or a front to you doing it to Me."
Remember, 'THEREFORE' is a word that connects two thoughts, the previous thought with the one that will follow.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
On face value, these statements don't seem that they connect to one another. 'Therefore' seems like an inappropriate word to connect verse 11 and 12.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
In this dynamic, when we are walking after the Spirit of the Lord, and we are treating each other the same way that God says for us to treat one another, then what happened is this, everything that comes before verse 12, you have the access to.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
You bring yourself to a place where you open up the freeway of heaven into your life, you change the very dynamics to where you could ask God something, and it will be done unto you. You can knock on the door and it will be opened. What the Lord is saying here, this is emphatic. This is not subjective, like, "Maybe it will happen." He says, "Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it will be opened." And sometimes we find ourselves saying this, "I've asked, I've knocked. I've sought." But the question, how have you been treating your brother? Because this is a tender matter to God.
At some point, we have to stop allowing what our relationship with God to be dictated by men. The same way we didn't deserve what Jesus did for us, is the same way sometimes people won't deserve what you do for them. But you don't want people to allow you to be out of place with God. When I go to my Father and I can ask, when our relationship is established and strong based upon our unity and intimacy, based upon who He is to me, and me reciprocating all that back to Him, it's not by works, this is about relationship and this is about my submission to Him. This is about my faithfulness to God in return, "Will you do what I ask you to do?" And what happens is, we allow so many people to trip us up, but this has nothing to do with you, but this has to do with who I am to God, it has everything to do with the Lord. Why? Because that's the One I love. Jesus said this, "You call Me Lord, Lord. But you don't do what I ask you to do." And oftentimes we think we have legitimate reasons to not do what the Lord says.
When Jesus was talking about the brethren, the least of men, He was talking about all those who are in the family, all believers. We should do this to all men, because we wanna reflect Christ, and the only way to reflect Christ is to reflect light, is to reflect who Christ is. And sometimes we have to take it out of merit system, whether people deserve it or not, let's just be led by the Holy Spirit. This is not about you putting yourself in a position that is unfavorable. But, I'm gonna treat you like I wanna be treated, because this is me saying who I am, the way you treat me, speaks of who you are. You've announced yourself by your character, and your conduct, you declare who you are. As believers, you make sure that we don't allow them to replicate themselves in us, we don't allow them to make us who they are, but it's more important for us to be who Christ is. So it's whether or not people are going to love you, it's not those things that demands a response, because you don't need a response for them, you only need a response for somebody when you're doing it for somebody. But if you're doing it for the Person of Jesus Christ, then His response is "Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you will find." How many of you want to ask and receive and seek and find? The Lord says this, "I have good things to give you." But when we sow discord, nastiness, these things become hindrances to us spiritually. It doesn't mean that God doesn't send, God doesn't give, but they affect our ability to receive.
Who are you? People will know you by your fruit, by what you're sowing into them, and we should be sowing into them who we are in Christ, not by what they deserve. Because I wanna go to God at any moment and ask, and have my asking be unhindered by the yuck that I'm sowing into other people's lives. We say, "Lord give me all these good things." But I'm sowing all these bad things into the lives of people around me, it's uneven. It doesn't mirror heaven. It's not on earth as it is in heaven. It's not in alignment, not reflective. I want You to give me good things while I sow all of these bad things, and you wonder why your blessings can't find you and you wonder why it's hit and miss, and now you're bringing God into question of whether or not He is good but the question is, "Have you sown any good?" But then you turn around and say, "Well Lord, they don't deserve it." But once you say Lord, they don't deserve it, how can you go to God and tell Him to do it to you even you don't deserve it. You see the disruption you're bringing into your own life. At a certain point, we gotta put our relationship with God above everything, and above everyone.
And it's not just who we say abide to, but our relationship is predicated on us doing what God said for us to do. You're not putting your relationship with God first, until you can do what God says.
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Most people look at the law, and they see the commandments, "Touch not, taste not. Don't do this. You do this, you're gonna die. You do this, you're gonna live." They see the letter. But behind the letter is the spirit of the law. "Don't go stealing from nobody, if you don't want nobody stealing from you. Don't go hurting nobody, if you don't want nobody to hurt you." The spirit of the law is revealed. Jesus said, if you do this, you have successfully fulfilled the law and the prophet. You've just come out of the letter of the law. You're keeping the Sabbath, not eating pork, not eating shellfish, keeping the newmoons, keeping the feasts, but nasty to everyone else, and you think you are keeping the law- it's dead works, you are in full-blown deception. And you think you got God on your side, but you are stuck in Mount Sinai and have not transitioned into Mount Zion.
These things that are important to Him, when you allow them to be important to you, it puts you in a space of clarity, spiritually. Because it doesn't change God's love for you, it's not like God's gonna love you anymore, but it puts you in a space of clarity, it removes the clutter out of your life, that allows you to ask and then receive, that allows you to seek and find, that allows you to knock, and watch that door swing open to you, because you are not sowing contrary to what you are petitioning God for. Which is I'm not relying on my good works to get God to bless me, but what I'm doing is I'm cluttering the highways, the exchange between heaven and earth, so everytime if I'm sowing nastiness into the lives of my brothers and sisters, I'm sowing no good but then I go to God and petitioning the Father for all these good things, and He says, your highway is clogged.
I know this is a difficult message. Most people won't be able to grab how much of a blessing this message is, because they'll immediately look around and say, "They don't deserve it." But we want to always be able to go to God, not bringing that conflict of whether or not we deserve it, because if we establish that parameter, "Well, I'll do it if they deserve it." It's not who deserves what. It's about the same grace You poured out on me, it's the same grace I'm gonna pour out on somebody else. What You have freely given me, Lord, I'm willing to freely give. It's about being reflective. I don't want to put nobody on the merit system if God don't put me on the merit system.
This is not a mandate for relationship. It's a mandate to reflect who Christ is. So we don't have to be in a relationship, but I'll still love you. It's a mandate to release bitterness, to pour out forgiveness, and mercy. I'll treat you like how I wanna be treated. But does that mean I'll trust you? No. If you have proven yourself unfaithful, unworthy, then guess what? I would be unwise to enter into any kind of relationship with you because we're not equally yoked, when you have proven yourself unfaithful and untrustworthy. But don't ask if I can treat you right or with respect, or be kind to you. But I'll just have more "No's". But I won't hold any bitterness against you. You can love somebody from a distance. I can love you in truth and in spirit without being obligated in a relationship with you, but I will be kind to you, and treat you with respect and give you food when you're hungry, but we can't partner together.
Anytime you make your life about God, God reveals how He's made His life life about you. You never come up on the losing end.
That's when we're talking of walking into the blessings, the goodness, the faithfulness of God, the open doors of God. The quick exchange and before you can even ask the Lord, and He's already answering you "Here I am"
Value your blessings, value God answering you speedily, because that's life. Me being able to ask and receive, seek and find my answers everytime I go to God , and knock and the door is open, that's life. Me being hung up on you, no life at all. And you can tell by how many blessings have been hindered by what you've been sowing into the lives of other people.
There is a blessing in this word for you. The aforementioned word that goes from Matthew 7:7-11. Because with this word the Lord has brought clarity and He's giving the opportunity to remove those hindrances that affect our exchange from heaven. The Lord wants to bless us.
Your walk in this life is about you and God first. Your responsibility is that, we can't continue to allow people to affect our blessings. So we have to make sure that we are structured spiritually, that we're structuring our house right, and Christ is the foundation, "What's on Your heart, what do you want me to do, what's in Your mind?" Not about people, people are sand. Don't hang your blessings on people, hang it on the Rock. And you can build your relationship with people based upon God.
Oftentimes, because we focus on doing, we fail to see the real key to success in Christ. It's not about doing, it's about being. Because it's hard to walk out something that you're not. So it's about being. As Christ is, so am I in this world. This is about getting it in your heart, when you can see it as this is who God made me to be, because the reality of it is, anything we do outside of the spirit of God, we do it in our own strength. The reality of it is, God made you a brand new person, so it's already true, it's already something your spirit man is already loving, desiring to do, it's already who you are, it's already a spiritual instinct. But oftentimes we try to do it for God in a way to try to do it, as opposed to this is just who I am- this is who I am in Christ, this is who that new man is. And we take away the struggle when we can integrate our mindset- having a renewed mind with who we are truthfully already spiritually. It's not something that God is gonna do for you, it's something that God has already done for you, you've got to walk it out. And the only way to walk it out is to realize that you are who God says you are, and it becomes less of a struggle in the work of the flesh to always try to do, but it becomes just a process of being. This is just who I am in God, I am a son, I am a daughter, I am blessed, I am loved, I am a king, I am a priest, all that He says that I am, I am these things and it just becomes a process of walking it out. A bee would never make honey if it wasn't instinctually, he would never know because there's no books to read, he would never make honey if he wasn't doing what he was. The ant would be trying to strain to make that honey, you'll never see a jar of honey again in your life.
We all wanna do for God. But it's not what we do for God. It's about who we are to God. From the reality of who we are, perceives all of the actions, the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace...) and the resemblance of God just come forward. Amen.
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