day no. 17,492: the civil must war or civilization will be defeated

"He is a good citizen that does not do evil (so said a noble wise man) but he is better who does not allow others to hurt or do injustice to the innocent. For the blood of the innocent shall be demanded not only from those that shed blood, but also of those that make or consent to wicked laws, to condemn the innocent, or suffer their head to kill them contrary to just laws, or to spoil then of what they justly enjoy be the order of law." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

A good citizen does not do evil to his neighbor, but a better citizen is one who does not allow other to do evil to his neighbor. God is a God of order, not chaos. Good order is a by-product of following God's good laws and submitting to His good rule. Those who love the Law seek to keep it and to protect others from those who seek to break it.

"A civilization is not destroyed by wicked men; it is destroyed by weak men who cannot defend what is good.” — G. K. Chesterton

Civilization is not maintained by those who merely seek to avoid evil, it is sustained by those who seek to keep others from carrying out their wicked designs. 

“Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.” — G.K. Chesterton

When we become too content with staying out of trouble we allow troublers to corrupt our cousins. It is not enough to merely keep yourself from corrupting others, it is a matter of keeping the corrupted from carrying out their schemes and confronting them in the midst of their corruption.

“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.” — Thomas Sowell

Civilization requires confrontation. Evil does not forget its ancient enmity, even when good grows content to forget. Barbarism must be battled. Force must be applied because it lacks the self-control to stop itself. If good men will not step up to stop it, bad men will step all over them.

day no. 17,491: nuptial nations

"Instead of the old social distinction between those who are married and those who are unmarried, there will be a distinction between those who are married and those who are really married. Society might even become divided into two societies; which is perilously approximate to Disraeli’s famous exaggeration about England divided into two nations. But whether England be actually so divided or not, this note of the two nations is the real note of warning in the matter. It is in this connection, perhaps, that we have to consider most gravely and doubtfully the future of our own country. Anarchy cannot last, but anarchic communities cannot last either. Mere lawlessness cannot live, but it can destroy life. The nations of the earth always return to sanity and solidarity; but the nations which return to it first are the nations which survive." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

No fault divorce has produced no reason marriages, but not every marriage is for no reason and not every married couple would get divorced without a Biblical cause or fault. So, in this sense, we do have two tier marriage. We have those who are married according to vows made before God and men and we have those who are married according to the whims of the State and the state of their current mood. But this produces two societies. One in which men and women keep their promises and one in which they don't. The blessing of God to the faithful is the curse of God on the faithless. That which cannot go on forever, won't. Insanity is not a long term strategy. Anarchy is unsustainable. And so, the fruitless and faithless will cut themselves off from the future. The tragedy is the destruction they cause on their way down. Like a drowning victim, they are dangerous and likely to take some down with them, but they refuse to be saved by those with a foot on solid ground. That is intolerable. It is a lack of empathy and they refuse to receive a helping hand from those who claim to have the high ground.

day no. 17,490: no fault divorce and no reason marriage

"The obvious effect of frivolous divorce will be frivolous marriage. If people can be separated for no reason they will feel it all the easier to be united for no reason. A man might quite clearly foresee that a sensual infatuation would be fleeting, and console himself with the knowledge that the connection could be equally fleeting." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

No fault divorce leads to no reason marriage. If there isn't real money on the table, people will risk more than normal because there are no serious consequences attached to it. In other words, the risk is nearly eliminated. No one has any fun playing poker for pieces of candy they don't care about. It may be one way to gamble without "gambling," but it isn't really poker if there isn't anything real at stake.

The same can be said for marriage. If the vows aren't real, the breaking of them isn't a big deal. If everyone knows that no one means it, it means less if they get tired of playing along later. 

If covenants can be dissolved willy nilly they will be entered into willy nilly. If promises can be broken without consequence, they will be made with more regularity. Why not? What's the worst that could happen? Such is the mindset of those who approach covenants lightly and the lay of the land is the worst that could happen: evil is rewarded as good and good is derided as evil.

day no. 17,489: scary godmothers and the divorce cult

"With or without marriage, with or without divorce, with or without any arrangements that anybody can suggest or imagine, it remains a tragedy. The only difference is that by the doctrine of marriage it remains both a noble and a fruitful tragedy; like that of a man who falls fighting for his country, or dies testifying to the truth. But the truth is that the innovators have as much sham optimism about divorce as any romanticist can have had about marriage. They regard their story, when it ends in the divorce court, through as rosy a mist of sentimentalism as anybody ever regarded a story ending with wedding bells. Such a reformer is quite sure that when once the prince and princess are divorced by the fairy godmother, they will live happily ever after. I enjoy romance, but I like it to be rooted in reality; and any one with a touch of reality knows that nine couples out of ten, when they are divorced, are left in an exceedingly different state. It will be safe to say in most cases that one partner will fail to find happiness in an infatuation, and the other will from the first accept a tragedy. In the realm of reality and not of romance, it is commonly a case of breaking hearts as well as breaking promises; and even dishonour is not always a remedy for remorse." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

Those who believe divorce to be a better solution than marriage often accuse supporters of marriage of being unrealistic or hopelessly romantic, but Chesterton points out here that the divorce dealer are just as much, if not more, unrealistic and hopelessly romantic. Divorce afforded the credit for a happy ending. Everyone lives more happily ever after now that they are no longer bound to their spouse. But divorce does not lead to happier men, women, or children. It is not the roll credits love fest that it was marketed to be. Fairy godmothers do not grant divorces and if they do, they are fallen fairies. Just an demons are fallen angels, dark fairy tales are the flip side of scary godmothers. 

day no. 17,488: the more things change...

"What is respected, in short, is fidelity to the ancient flag of the family, and a readiness to fight for what I have noted as its unique type of freedom. I say readiness to fight, for fortunately the fight itself is the exception rather than the rule. The soldier is not respected because he is doomed to death, but because he is ready for death; and even ready for defeat. The married man or woman is not doomed to evil, sickness or poverty; but is respected for taking a certain step for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness or in health. But there is one result of this line of argument which should correct a danger in some arguments on the same side." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

No one gets married in order to become worse, but everyone who gets married is willing to be worse in order to be married. No one gets married in order to be poorer, but everyone who gets married is willing to be a bit poorer in order to be married. No one gets married to be sicker, but everyone who gets married is willing to be sicker in order to stay married.

A man must be willing to lay down his life for his bride, but he doesn't marry her hoping to be separated from her by martyrdom. Fidelity is a strong desire to keep things the same as they are combined with a strong willingness to endure change in order to keep the same thing.

day no. 17,487: homes and homelands

"Marriage makes a small state within the state, which resists all such regimentation. That bond breaks all other bonds; that law is found stronger than all later and lesser laws. They desire the democracy to be sexually fluid, because the making of small nuclei is like the making of small nations. Like small nations, they are a nuisance to the mind of imperial scope. In short, what they fear, in the most literal sense, is home rule." — G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

Atoms are like bb's in a bag: they can be conformed to any shape an external pressure desires. Molecules have more structural rigidity. They have a shape of their own. They cannot simply be maneuvered into whatever shape someone else wants. They exist on their own and can maintain themselves without outside interference or assistance. 

Democracy wants to isolate the atoms and treat people as individuals. This gives it the ability to move and shape said individuals into whatever shape they like. A bag of bb's does not put up much of a fight. Grease the bb's with the sins of the sexual revolution codified in our legal codes and refuse to enforce the moral law with equity and you get a bean bag incapable of any resistance whatsoever.

The home is a world unto itself. It is under the authority of the magistrate inasmuch as it is subject to the laws of God enforced by them, but other than that, they do not need the state. The home exists under God on its own authority of husband and wife to educate, care for, provide, and nourish its people as it sees fit. The state fears the home for it claims primary citizenship of its people. A man is a husband and a father before he is a citizen and those who have homes, wives, and children act like it. They take care of their own business which means they do not need anything from the state, which means the state does not have any levers on that men or the people for whom he provides.

day no. 17,485: labor days (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Call to Confession

September 6, 2026

"Labor Days"

THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Exodus 20:9-11, these are the words of God.

“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

INTRODUCTION

Tomorrow is the first Monday of September, which means that it is Labor Day weekend. According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Labor Day is quote “an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.” In other words, once a year we set aside a day to honor the irreplaceable and essential efforts of the American worker by proving that we all can go a day without them. During COVID some of us discovered that our contributions to the economy were not essential, but on Labor Day, everyone gets to join in on the fun.

All jokes aside, labor is a gift of God and something that ought to be honored. God provides us with life, breath, and everything else so that we might turn a profit on it in providing for ourselves and for our loved ones. So, the question is not “SHOULD we honor the labors of others?,” but “HOW should we honor them?” Is one day a year adequate? No. God sees our Labor Day and He raises us a Lord’s Day. If you think the government is good for giving us one day off per year, wait ‘til you hear about the goodness of God is giving us one day off per week.

We have been celebrating Labor Day as a nation since June 28, 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday of every September a federal holiday. That means that tomorrow will be the 122nd Labor Day in our nation’s history, which is nearly half of our existence. Labor Day is “a long standing tradition.” But you know what’s an even longer standing tradition? The Sabbath. God created it on the seventh day of existence. It is as old as time itself. There has never been a week in our world that did not have its Sabbath.

And why did He do that? Jesus tells us in Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Man was made before the Sabbath and the Sabbath was made for the benefit of man. God does not need a break, but men do, so He saw fit to give us a day off and reinforced its importance by taking the day off Himself. At that point, remember, everything was very good. So, if it is good for God to honor the Sabbath, how much more good is it for man to do so? Every day of every week  belongs to Christ – always has, always will. He is the Lord of them all and He is a good Master. Christ is King and He is kind. So, He gives us six days to work and one to rest. That is one of the many things we are doing here this morning. We are enjoying the fruit of our labors and we are glorifying the God who makes us fruitful. This, saints, is the chief end of man and it is a foretaste of things to come.

We have gathered to worship our God with our people and to offer back to Him the first and best of what we were able to produce over the course of the last six days. 1 Cor 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” Every week God gives us six days to prosper. Some weeks are more prosperous than others and some people are more prosperous than others, but however prosperous you are in general or this past week was in particular, we all set aside the first and best of it as a way of saying, “Thank You,” to God for all of it. We prosper according to His will. He does not bid you to bring what you do not have, He bids you to bring the first and the best of what He helped you produce.“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58). 

The command to rest one day is predicated upon the command to work for six. Honoring the Sabbath is not merely a matter of NOT working today, it is a matter of working hard the other days. We do not work five days for two days of rest. We work six days off of one day of rest. Note the difference. In the modern mind, work is what you do to earn some rest. In the mind of God, rest is what we do to get ready for work. Consider this: what day was Adam made? The sixth. So, when Adam saw the sunset for the first time it was on the night of the sixth day and the first sunrise he ever saw was on the morning of the seventh. In other words, Adam’s first full day was a Sabbath. So, what did he do that first full day? He rested. He entered into the joy of his Master. He filled his soul up with gratitude and when the sun rose on the eighth day of existence, he got to work. This is the pattern of God’s people: we work from rest, not for it. We do not join the rest of the world in working for the weekend, we join with the saints to huddle up before we break to get back to it.

Consider Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Just as we work out our salvation, not for it, so we work from rest, not for it. Faith and work go together, but faith always comes first and work always comes next. We live in a world where a Man has risen from the dead. This is His world. So, we rest on His Day and then we work for Him on the other six.

So, how does this all relate to Labor Day? Good question. If your employer only requires five days of work from you, great. Give to your employer that which belongs to your employer, but understand that you still owe God a sixth. The labor unions do not determine our work weeks, God does. Christ is the King of the calendar and the Lord of labor. So, corporate may not require anything of you tomorrow, but Christ does. Colossians 3:22-24, “Obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” So, enjoy the days away from your employer’s oversight, but remember, you do not ultimately work for them, you work for God, and He never looks away.

If that sounds like a threat, consider 2 Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, (why? to look for people who are slacking off so He can zap ‘em? or to look for people who look like they’re having too much fun so He can bust up their party? No!) he eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.” God offers His strong support to those who are blameless in their labor. So, are you blameless? We are all about to confess that we are not. So, where does that leave us? Flat on our faces and feeling bad? No. After kneeling to accept the blame for our sins, we will rise to hear the Good News that Jesus has taken away all of that blame. So much so, in fact, that in Him, we are blameless in the eyes of God. And that means He is looking to help us, not to punish us. He is looking to reward whatever He can, not looking to condemn whatever He can’t. Far from looking to catch you out, He is looking to bless you and to keep you and to make His face shine upon you and to give you peace.

So, tomorrow is a federal holiday, but is it a holy day? That depends on who your Head is. If Christ is your federal head, today is a holiday and tomorrow you get to work. If Christ isn’t your head, enjoy your day off; you have your reward – eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die. But we do not live by the days off of our employers alone, but by every Sabbath that comes from God. So, do not neglect to rest as is the habit of some. Come to His Table with His people every week and enjoy the meal He has worked hard to prepare for you. Six days a week the rule is, “Those who won’t work, don’t eat,” but on the Lord’s Day, the rule is, “Those who won’t rest, don’t eat.”

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are often more driven by the concerns of the corporate calendar than we are by the blessings of the Christian week and more anxious to work for those who watch down here than we are to work for the One who watches from above, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins. So, if you are able, please kneel with me to confess your sins, first privately, then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Most holy and merciful Father, we acknowledge before You our sinful nature and our many offenses. We are prone to do evil and slow to do good. You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from Your way, in wasting Your gifts, in forgetting Your love. Lord, we are ashamed and sorry for all the ways that we have displeased You. Father, teach us to hate our rebellious acts, cleanse us from our secret faults, and forgive our sins for the sake of Your Son. Help us to love You with all our heart and mind and strength. And give us the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may walk in Your ways and serve You all of our days.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from Galatians 2:16, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” We do not work for anything so small as a three day weekend, we work for the glory of God and the Christian calendar. Christ is Lord of our labors and in Him we hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So, today we rest because Christ is Lord and tomorrow we will work because Christ is Lord, because in Him our sins are forgiven…THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now, let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise!

day no. 17,484: principles govern princes

"For princes are ordained to do good, not to do evil: to take away evil, not to increase it: to give example of well doing, not to be the procurers of evil: to procure the wealth and benefit of their subjects, and not to work to their hurt or undoing." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Princes are commanded by Christ to prosecute evil and to promote good. So, if they refuse to prosecute evil or even worse, promote it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked promotions do so by obeying Christ. Furthermore, if the princes are indifferent to what is good or even worse, prosecute it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked restrictions do so by obeying Christ.

Romans 13:7

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Princes are people too. They owe tribute to God and are obligated to conform to His customs. They must fear Him before anything else, including the fear of losing power, and they must honor Him before they seek honor for themselves.

"Antiochus, the third king of Asia, considering that he was above the people, so the laws were above him, wrote general letters to all the cities of his country, that if they should perceive that any letters should require anything contrary to the laws, they should think that those letters were obtained without his consent, and therefore they should not obey them." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

The king is not above the law, but is bound to it as any other men. The order is lex rex, not rex lex. In other words, the king is not above the Law, the Law is above the king,

"It will be said that although kings and princes cannot make laws, but with the consent of the people, they may dispense with any positive law, by reason that a long time ago they used to, and prescribed so to do: for long custom makes a law. To this it may be answered that evil customs (be they never so old) are not to be suffered, but to be utterly abolished: and none may prescribe to do evil, whether king or subject." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Long customs do not make laws. Old societal habits ought to be considered just as any fence, as Chesterton once reminded us, was put up for a reason; and so, we must understand that reason before we make the decision to move it or take it down completely. If a country has a long and storied history of consenting to its king as the highest authority beyond which there is no appeal, that custom ought to come down. There is a King of kings and a Lord of lords and a nation with a track record of ignoring that needs to have its records expunged and a new foundation laid upon which to build a new history going forward.

"If princes and governors would show themselves to be half as wise as they would have men take them to be, and by the example of others learn what mischief might happen to themselves, they would not (if they might) claim, much less execute any such absolute authority. No, neither would their counselors (if they loved them) maintain them in it: nor would the subjects suffer their prince to do what he lusted for." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

If the elites were as elite as they try to convince us they are, they would be the first to acknowledge and aggressively confirm the limits of their authority. Only authors have ultimate authority and no one made himself anymore than any nation can claim to be its own maker. A child cannot be his own forefather, but he can walk in their footsteps.

Good laws derive from a good God. Any system that does not go over the king's head is doomed for his crown cannot bear the weight of the world even if he aspires to rule it.

day no. 17,483: the walking dead

"God's word, will and commandment is, that he that willfully kills a man, shall also be killed by man: that is, the magistrate. But this law has not been observed and all ways executed, but kings and princes upon affection have dispensed and broken it, granting life and liberty to traitors, robbers, murderers, and etc." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Letting the dead live is a surefire way to destroy a society. We live among the walking dead. We have mothers who have murdered their children walking among us. They work in the cubicle next to us. They teach our children. They cut you off in traffic. We have rapists living a few doors down from us. They hand you your order through the drive thru window and sit in the computer lab at your local public library. We have kidnappers and child molesters occupying officers or political power and playing parts in our movies and television shows. All of these, in a God-honoring, just society would be in the ground. Blood guilt struts around in broad daylight and we all suffer for it.

When the magistrates refuse to execute their office, the land it flooded with guilt and shame. They are responsible for the ruin of the world. Not all sins are crimes and not all crimes are sins, but some sins are crimes that render the life of the offender forfeit. The fact that they are walking around means our debts roam around unpaid and we are morally bankrupt.

"No, God and the commonwealth have had no greater enemies. They have added murder to murder, mischief to mischief, and of private malefactors, have become public, and of men killers, they have at length grown to be destroyers of their country, yes and many times those that have been saved from hanging and other just pains of the law." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Ecclesiastes 8:11 (ESV)

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

day no. 17,482: luciferian presumption

"That a man's servant may be wiser than his master, that he may be more just than his master, that he may see what is more profitable and necessary to be done than his master, as commonly happens: and therefor he may have some apparent cause to alter or break his masters commandment. But to say that any creature is, or that any creature would seem in word or deed, to be more wise than God, more just than God, more prudent and circumspect than God, or knows what is better for the creature than the Creator Himself (as it must be said, that He does, that takes upon himself to break or dispense with God's will and commandment) what a horrible blasphemy is it? What Luciferian presumption is it?" — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

No earthly authority is absolute. It is easy to imagine a command you cannot in good conscience obey or a prohibition you must in good conscience break. Anyone can see the caveats when saying things like, "Children, obey your father and mother," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands), "Wives, obey your husbands," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands), and "Servants, obey your masters," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands).

So, why is it hard for some to see the same logic when it comes to the magistrate? He can see the caveats when he surveys the landscape, but misses them when it comes to himself. He should not be obeyed without exception. He should only be obeyed inasmuch as he is commanding what God commands and forbidding what God forbids, but if he gets out of his lane, he should not be obeyed. He is not God and He is not a priest or a prophet. Kings are not owed unquestioned allegiance, and to Ponet's point, neither should they expect, or even worse, demand it. That is the kind of presupposing that rivals only Satan.

day no. 17,480: inventing division

“The most entertaining thing in the world is watching a man make up a theological reason for leaving a church that his wife had long ago determined to leave because of hurt feelings.” — Tilly Dillehay, My Dear Hemlock

The devils love artificial divisiveness. They despise the kind of divisions that are caused by genuine theological disputes, discipline, and matters of conscience (the kind that Scripture confirms as good and necessary, cf. 1 Cor 11:19), but they delight in those which stem from the love of sin or the cowardice that cannot confront it. 

When a man's wife does not like a particular church and that husband doesn't want to deal with the attitude of that particular wife, he will find a theological reason to leave so that he can look like a man of principle while being a cowardly cuck. His wife is upset by the men in leadership at this church, but she likes the men who servant lead at a different church, so the husband is circumvented and ends up at a church of men he doesn't respect, including the one now looking back at him in the restroom mirror before service starts.

day no. 17,476: Godforsaken rascals and representative government

"Where the people have forsaken God, and contend with His word, there has the devil by his ministers, occupied the whole country, and subverted the good orders, justice and equality, that was in the commonwealth... This is so manifest in most places, that it shall not need any particular example. Wherefore it shall be the part of all Christian men to take heed, that in forsaking God, they bring by injustice the devil and tyrants to reign over them." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Where men and women have reviled the Word of God, the Lord has allowed the vile to obtain power. Where men and women have forsaken the Law, the Lord has allowed lawlessness to run rampant.

“When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers." — John Calvin

Wicked men choose wicked men to represent them. God judges wicked people by giving them over to oppressive rulers and He also judges them by convincing them that wicked men are the best men to represent them.

“And ye, O peoples, to whom God gave the liberty to choose your own magistrates, see to it, that ye do not forfeit this favor, by electing to the positions of highest honor, rascals and enemies of God.” — Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism

Let us no longer forfeit the favor of God by favoring Godforsaken rascals to represent us, which is to say, let us no longer be Godforsaken rascals ourselves.

day no. 17,474: votes and bullets

"When you go into the voting booth, you should go into the booth looking like Aragorn at Helm’s Deep. All done fooling around." — Douglas Wilson, The Rise of the Islamo-Commies

Votes are like bullets. They do not always win the war, but they do help. And if you have enough of them, you can lay down suppressive fire for other, more effective means of securing victory.

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: 

but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

It is good to have plenty of them and it is good to avoid putting your trust in them, just like votes.

Psalm 146:3

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, 

in whom there is no help.

So, in summary, vote like your life depended on it, but make sure you remember that it doesn't.

day no. 17,473: the perverts and the prophet (but I repeat myself)

"A man who doggedly believes in something, no matter how wrong it is, will always prevail over the man who believes nothing at all." — Douglas Wilson, The Rise of the Islamo-Commies

Those who know what they believe and why they believe will always trample over those who do not know what they are about. The rise and fall of empires is often punctuated by an aggressively unapologetic people taking over a passive, self-effacing people. Over time, the conquerors become protectors and trade offense for defense and eventually trade all ambition for growth and gain for a fear of losing what it has... and that is why it ends up losing everything.

Matthew 16:25

Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 

"Secularism had been rotted out by the relativism of postmodern thinking, and their central core values had apparently become pot and porn. They were in no position to stand up to those who had a word from the Prophet." — Douglas Wilson, The Rise of the Islamo-Commies

Islam is wrong, but it is sure of itself. That kind of confidence can carry a movement a long way. It can cross the Atlantic and cold crusade an entire continent. People caught up in and indulging in the luxury of self-actualization paired with a lust for victimization will become actual victims. They imagined grievances will visited upon them incarnate.

"The problem was that the tradition of the Prophet, though far more bombastic and dogmatic than what we were hearing from the hollow men of the West, was a tradition that was bloody and twisted. They too had a yearning for underage girls, only made more grotesque, if that were possible, by means of wedding dresses."  — Douglas Wilson, The Rise of the Islamo-Commies

Our "elites" and the Islamic invaders both like little girls. The one kidnaps, abuses, marries, and consumes them in secret. The other does all of that out in the open. The wickedness of the West, being brewed in the pig sty east of Eden, still knows enough to hide its shame, lie about it, or pretend it isn't real or at least not as bad as they say it is. The wickedness of the East, being brewed up by sand demons, does not pretend. It is bold and brash and it stands firm. It does not blush. It boasts in its evil. And wicked men who don't feel sorry will always be able to outmaneuver wicked men who know that they should feel sorry, even if they don't.

day no. 17,472: more traffic

"Our liberal secular establishment, which had been a vain attempt to hold onto classical liberalism without Jesus, was in the process of discovering how vain an attempt that was. Under their watch, the marketplace of ideas had turned into the marketplace of underage girls." — Douglas Wilson, The Rise of the Islamo-Commies

The free markets of philosophy have degenerated into the underground markets of human trafficking. It is Christ and clear-headedness or chaos and confusion. There is His way and there is the "high way" that leads to more trafficking.

Colossians 2:8

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

You cannot ban Christ from the public square and expect private bedrooms to remain above board. You cannot cut down the tree and keep getting its fruit. Religious liberty and freedom of conscience are Christian ideals. Under Christ, these were introduced and sustained. But like the prodigal, once you leave your Father's house, you're living on borrowed capital and anything that can't go on forever... won't.

day no. 17,470: highway snobbery

1 Peter 4:9

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Matthew 25:35

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Matthew 6:3-4

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

Luke 3:11

And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

"The verses you cite are of course authoritative, and we should come to them with an eagerness to obey. But what you are doing is taking verses that command private generosity and hospitality, and making them apply to public policy, particularly policy on immigration rates. This has the effect, not of you giving your goods away in obedience to Christ, but rather of you making other people give their country away. They are not the same thing." — Douglas Wilson, Letters, High and Inside

It is one things to freely give what you have away and quite another to force your brother to give away what it his. But it goes even further when it insists that the recipients of said forced attrition should be ones who are actively invading one's homeland. It is as though one would argue that those with much ought to give to those who have less and so when anyone breaks into your home, you should not call the cops, rather you should call for some friends to come over to help your intruders carry as much as they would like away.

Thou shall not steal presupposes property rights. It is the thing that makes charity possible in the first place. To force people to give away what is rightfully theirs is to put an end to the possibility of charity and to put into law a regular expectation of plundering your neighbor without recourse to the marauder and no restitution for the robbed.

day no. 17,467: rest in peace and wake up to wage peace

"I dare say that when I get out of this bed I shall do some deed of an almost terrible virtue.” — G.K. Chesterton,  On Lying In Bed

We work from rest, not for it. The Sabbath is fuel and the other six days are flammable. 

Let us rest well and work with vigilance and violence, fighting the good fight of faith in whatever we do. 

We must rest in peace before we can wake up to wage peace.

day no. 17,466: early risers and earlier raiders

"Misers get up early in the morning; and burglars, I am informed, get up the night before." — G.K. Chesterton,  On Lying In Bed

Misers riser early, but raider rise earlier.

Skinflints get up early to count their coins to make sure they are all still accounted for from the night before, but thieves get up even earlier counting on the ones with coins needing to sleep at some point. 

Some men would rather stay up late in order to steal another man's money and some men get up early to earn an honest day's wages. Some men get up early to have more time with their treasure and some sleep in satisfied with what they have.

Money can move a bedtime up or back, honestly or dishonestly, greedily or contentedly. 

day no. 17,465: nineteen years of wedded bliss

Today marks 19 years of Team Van Voorst.

I love my wife. I like being married. I love my children. I like our home. I like my life. 

Christ is King and He is kind.

Here's to many more.

day no. 17,464: the golden rule of marriage (sermon outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Matthew 7:12

8/30/26

…

OT READING: Leviticus 19:35-37

NT READING: Matthew 7:1-14

The Golden Rule of Marriage

READING OF THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Matthew 7:12, these are the words of God

“Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

May God bless the reading of His Word, let’s pray.

PRAYER

Our Father and our God, we come before You this morning through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Help us to hold it in high and reverent esteem this morning, persuaded that by it we live and not by bread alone. We ask these things in Jesus’ Name, amen.

INTRODUCTION

One of the earliest lessons we all learned was some version of the Golden Rule. It may have been framed in the negative, as in, “How would you like it if someone did that to you?” or it may have been stated in the positive, as in, “Treat people the way you want to be treated.” But either way, you came into contact with this teaching which, like the ocean, is shallow enough in some places for a child to play in it, yet deep enough in other places for an adult to drown in it. So, let’s dive in.

Do you wish others were more patient with you? Then be more patient with them. Do you wish others would pay more attention to you? Then pay more attention to other people. Do you wish others thought more about your needs than their own? Then think about the needs of others more than you think about your own. This is the teaching of all the Law and the Prophets. Now, the Law and the Prophets say a lot of things about a lot of things, so this isn’t the only lesson you can learn from them, but it is the one thing every thing they say is aimed at – e.g., if you learn from the Law that marriage is between one man and one woman for one lifetime, that is good, but if you do not treat your spouse the way you would like to be treated, what good is it? All the rules are measured by the Golden Ruler. So, when Jesus says that the Golden Rule is the Law and the Prophets, He is not dismissing their details; rather, He is highlighting the principle behind every detail. 

PRINCIPALS BEFORE PRACTICALS

And this is not the only time He did that. In Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked which of the commandments was the greatest. Keep in mind that the Old Testament contained roughly 613 commandments, 248 of which were of the positive “do this” variety and 365 of which were of the negative “don’t do that” variety, which works out to about a don’t a day. That is a lot of do’s and don’t’s, so which is the greatest? This is how Jesus responded in :37-40, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Love God and love your neighbor is a perfect summary of the Old Testament. We know this because Jesus was perfect and that is how He summarized it. So, putting it all together, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is loving your neighbor as yourself and all of this ought to be born out of a love for God.

Please note the order: “love your neighbor as yourself,” follows “love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” It follows necessarily and chronologically. Just as works must follow faith, loving your neighbor must follow loving God. If your love for God is not followed by a love for your neighbor as yourself, it is not the love of God. That is not the golden rule, that is fool’s gold. It may look like it has some value, but it doesn’t. It looks good on a necklace, but it doesn’t spend in Heaven.

Consider 1 Jn 4:20 “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” So, the biggest problem with saying that you love God and not following that with a love is that it is a lie... you don’t actually love God. You might think that you do, but you don’t. You might know that you are lying or you might be lying to yourself. But loving your neighbor as yourself must follow a love of God: by necessity and in that order. You cannot truly love your neighbor without loving God first and you cannot truly love God without loving your neighbor next.

So, it is not just a matter of having them both, it is a matter of having them in the right order. You cannot order your affections whichever way you like. “Inordinate affection” is a sin, and we are commanded to put to death in Colossians 3:5. When our affections are out of order, even if they are all good, the result is sin. They do more harm than good when they are out of order. If you love your neighbor first, you will, as a consequence, hate God… and your neighbor as it turns out. You end up saying things like “love is love.” Now, that might sound like a nice thing to say, until you consider it from God’s point of view. God, who is Love, hates counterfeits. Flying trans flags outside your church, ordaining perverts as pastors inside them, and passing measures that approve of gender-affirming care for the sexually confused are all the result of putting a neighbor before God. But enough about the PCUSA. Love is not love. God is love. And when you do not begin with Him, you end in celebrating sin. But when you begin with Him, you know how to truly love your neighbor.. and then you end up actually doing it.

THE GOLDEN RULE’S NEIGHBORS

This is where our NT reading is instructive. The Golden Rule was not uttered in isolation. It was said in the context of the Sermon on the Mount which itself is a part of the greater ministry of Jesus, about which John says the number of books that could be written is inestimable. Furthermore, if the Golden Rule is a faithful summation of the entire Old Testament, as Jesus said it was, then it certainly can serve as a golden ruler to faithfully measure the verses that surround it.

So, let’s walk through Mt 7:1-14, beginning with :1-2. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” We should not judge others in a way that we would not like ourselves to be judged. This is the Golden Rule in its legal form: judge others the way you would like to be judged because the way you measure others will be the way you are measured. Elsewhere, Jesus goes on to say that even the way you forgive others is the way you will be forgiven. We reiterate this point every week when we sing the Lord’s Prayer. “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Think about what you are saying. “God, forgive me the way I forgive others.” So, what are you asking God to do if you are not forgiving others? That’s right. You are asking Him NOT to forgive you. The forgiveness you give is the forgiveness you receive. So, the stingy should expect to come up short and the generous should expect to get more than enough. The hard to impress should not expect God to be easily impressed by how hard they were to impress, but those who cover the sins of others should expect to have their own covered. For better or for worse, “the measure you use will be measured to you.”

EQUAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

This ties into our OT reading from Leviticus 19:35-36a “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord.” This idea is not a one verse wonder, it is all over the place – e.g. Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God.” Proverbs 11:1 “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” Proverbs 20:10 “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 20:23 “Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and false scales are not good.” Ezekiel 45:10 “You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.” Micah 6:11 “Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and a bag of deceitful weights?” God’s love of equal weights and measures is all over the Scriptures. That is why the Lord hates it when someone puts their thumb on the scale and that is why the measure you use will be used to measure you. Do not, like Belshazzar, be found wanting by your own balances.

This is why the phrase, “by what standard?” is such an important rejoinder to remember. It destroys the false idol of false balances. A false balance either treats a lie as the truth or it treats the truth as a lie. And so, you must always, at every turn and in every situation, resist the temptation to put your thumb on the scale. If the sheer number of warnings about it are any indication, this is a temptation that can happen to anyone at any time in any number of scenarios. So, start by being willing to concede the point as a possibility. Is it possible that you have been putting your thumb on the scale? Yes. OK, so how would you know if you have been doing that? Return to the standard. Study it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. And if you’re ready to get real, ask those around you. Ask them if they see any logs in your eye? Ask them to check for specks and then brace yourself for some honest feedback. As I said, concede the point in principle. Do not ask it rhetorically, like, “I don’t have any specks in my eyes, do I?” That begs a certain kind of answer. That is not the question of someone who really wants to know the answer. So, if you ask, then ask, and make sure you’re ready to listen …and then take notes.

BACK TO THE GOLDEN RULE’S NEIGHBORS

That gets us back to :3-5 of Mt 7, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” The liberal impulse is to say, “Just let bygones by bygones.” But that just leaves specks, logs, and bygones in everyone’s eyes which is more like blindness than enlightenment. Ignoring everyone’s sin leads to a world full of people who cannot see very well. So, we must resist this temptation while also being on guard against the legalistic impulse to look for specks and logs where there are none.

Would you rather look good because you can’t see very well or would like to see well enough to work on how bad you look? We all should want our neighbors to have bright, clear eyes. Even if that means they see our flaws more clearly. The problem is not that you notice other people’s specks, the problem is being more concerned with their specks than you are with your logs. If you don’t like people raising their voices at the dinner table, it hardly serves your purposes to shout that at everybody at the dinner table. If you don’t like it when people blow things out of proportion, it hardly makes your point to blow up about how EVERYONE is ALWAYS doing that. A little speck in your eye can seriously blur your vision and one of the most common specks we all have is that of trying to zoom in on the specks of others. A good way then to make sure everyone gets the specks out of their own eyes is to regularly ask others about yours. This creates an environment where the standard is wanting all the specks removed, not wanting to find more specks to point out.

If you had something in your teeth, would you want to know? Now, you might be embarrassed if someone had to tell you that and you may have preferred to discover that fact on your own, but even if you had, you would wonder how long it’s been there and who had all seen it in the meantime. You need to be the kind of person who thanks people for pointing out the food in your teeth. That is a good way to love your neighbor because it makes it easy for them to talk to you when they see something else that is off. They know that you are more committed to being corrected than you are to feeling like you are correct.

:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” You cannot treat a dog like a person. I know this is controversial for some reason in our day and age, but it bears repeating: you do not love a dog by treating it like a person. You love a dog by treating it according to its nature. Dogs do not by nature appreciate holy things. A dog does not value the waters of baptism anymore than the water in your toilet. It’s not a bad dog for not doing that, however, it’s just a dog. The same can be said for pigs. What do pigs want? Food. So, if you throw a pearl before a pig, don’t expect them to say, “Thank you!” It might sniff at it, but it probably won’t eat it. It might by accident if it lands in the pile of slop, but it won’t eat it on purpose. Why? Pigs don’t value pearls, they value food. Now, you could argue that a pearl could be traded for food and you’d be right, but you’d only say that because you’re not a pig. That is why you thought of that and the pig is off in the mud somewhere. So, what does any of this have to do with the Golden Rule? Good question. It has to do with recognizing the frame of the one with whom you are dealing. Ignoring someone’s frame is a great way to NOT love your neighbor.

THE GOLDEN RULE OF MARRIAGE

Here is where the rubber will begin to meet the road for most of us this morning. Let’s start with you, husbands. You do not love your wife as yourself by treating her like a dude. You cannot simply say, “Well, this is what I would want, so, I will do that for her.” Some things do not translate – e.g. guys often bond by calling each other names and making fun of each other… I would not recommend doing that with your wife. She is not a bro… and praise God for that, right? I am guessing some of your favorite things about her are things that make her different from you. That said, some of the times we are most frustrated with her are those times when she is not reacting the way we would or the way a man would. But you did not marry a man, you married a woman. So, you cannot criticize her for being different from you when the whole reason you married her is because she is different from you. Yes, that means sometimes you won’t understand what she meant, but that just means you need to pay better attention in class.

Look at 1 Peter 3:7 “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” Men, your wife may be difficult to understand sometimes, but you are the one responsible for doing the hard work of learning how to translate her into a language you can understand. The good news is that the Bible has much to say about women in general, so that is enough to help you get started, but the difficulty is that every woman is unique and speaks her own dialect, so you cannot simply copy and paste everything across the board. You will have to study your own wife by living with her in an understanding way. You do not want her to be easier to understand, like a guy. In your more frustrated moments, you might think that would make things easier, but in those moments, you aren’t thinking about how homosexual that is. You want your wife to be more like a guy? No, you don’t. And if you do, shame on you. Repent. Be a man and learn how to love a lady. Stop being lazy.

Your wife is the weaker vessel. Why are you trying to make her do all the heavy lifting? Pull your weight. Her being the weaker vessel is not a statement of value, it is a statement of fact. And if it were a statement of value, it would actually run the other direction. After all, which is weaker: plastic tupperware or fine china? But which of those is more valuable? So, being weaker does not mean being less valuable and in many cases, it actually means being more valuable. But in any case, it certainly means that you treat them differently. 

You can toss your tupperware in the sink, but you can’t do that with your china. Unless you want to be somebody who used to have nice plates. You might display your china on an open shelf, but you wouldn’t do that with your tupperware. Unless you want to be somebody who used to have friends. Here is where loving your neighbor as yourself requires more wisdom than the equality cult requires. They would have us set our dinner tables with tupperware and keep our leftovers on fine china in the fridge, but that is not what the Golden Rule requires. It does not mean that everyone should be treated the same, it means that everyone should be treated according to their frame. This is not just essential for her sake, it is for yours as well. Note what Peter points out here: “your wife is an heir with you of the grace of life,” and if you fail to treat her as such, “your prayers will be hindered.” If you ignore your wife, God will ignore you. D.L. Moody once said it this way, “If a man doesn’t treat his wife right, I don’t want to hear him talk about Christianity.” And neither does God. Get your house in order, men.

Ok, wives, your turn: 1 Peter 3:1-6 “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” Ladies, when something is off, I know you want to talk about it, but what is the first thing Peter says to do? Be quiet. That isn’t to say that you should never talk to your husband or express your concerns to him. On the contrary, it is to say that you should not so flood the market with your words, that you run down their value. What does Peter say? If you have a problem with your husband, what is the first and best way to win him over? With a strong argument? No, with a gentle spirit. Again, this is not God telling you that you cannot or should not express your concerns to your husband, it is Him saying that there is a better way of doing it. If God was trying to give you a cheat code for communicating with your husband, would you want it? Then stop arguing with the Word of God and listen to Him if you want your husband to listen to you. You want to start with words when you should begin with your demeanor. 

So, do you have something that you think he needs to hear? Do not think of him like one of your girlfriends or get frustrated with him when he doesn’t act like one. You did not marry a pair of ears, you married a man. He has ears, of course, and he should take the time to use them, but you can make it easier or harder for him to want to listen to you based on the way you behave. If you are not pleasant to be around, you are easier to ignore. If you need a hug, stop acting like a porcupine.

If you want to be looked at, you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror; but if you want to be listened to, you should spend more time in the Word. Don’t get me wrong, husbands like looking at their wives and we appreciate the effort you put in, don’t stop doing that. Peter is not saying that beauty is of no value, but he is saying that the packaging should match the product. Do not invest all of your energy into advertising, make sure you are investing in the substance. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the hidden beauty of the heart is imperishable. A gentle and quiet spirit is easier for a man to hear than an abrasive and loud one, even if it is all dolled up. Loud women are harder to hear. As Chesterton once noted, "When a woman puts up her fists to a man she is putting herself in the only posture in which he is not afraid of her." Raising your voice does not give you an advantage, it exposes your weakness. The St. Bernard is not afraid of the toy poodle, especially when it barks at him. But no good man wants to fight a woman. He wants to fight for her, not against her. So, if she harangues him with her temper or her tears, he might give in, but not because he heard her, but because he didn’t want to listen to her anymore.

So, ladies, do you want to get your way or do you want your concerns to be heard? If you want to love your neighbor, you will need to be like the holy women of old and dress like they did, not according to the latest fashions, but according to good ol’ fashioned submission. Sarah called Abraham, “Lord.” Not all caps LORD, as in God, but lowercase lord, as in, “master.” Men run on respect. Of course, they need to be loved, but if you try to treat them like a woman and love them into listening, they won’t hear you. If you want a man to listen to you, respect him with your conduct and respect him with your responses to his words and you will gain an audience with him. But if you plow forward doing unto him exactly as you would be done by, he will not hear you and you will feel like he’s not listening and both of you will be frustrated. He is not your girlfriend. He is your husband.

Now, ladies, if all of this sounds scary, it’s because it is. Peter points that out, but don’t be afraid of doing things God’s way. Do not treat your husband like a woman or resent him for not being more like a woman when it comes to listening. Resist the temptation to mother him or to manipulate him to where you think he should be. Winning him over without words is not Peter’s way of endorsing the use of the silent treatment. Winning him without a word is Peter’s way of saying, “Be so kind to him that he wants to rise to the challenge of deserving such a woman.” 

If you want others to take your frame into account, guess what? You’re going to have to take other people’s frames into account. After all, that is how God is with you. He remembers your frame. He knows, better than anybody, that you are nothing but dust, and yet He does not treat you like dirt. Thanks be to God! He also does not treat you like an off the rack person. No, He considers your frame and how it was hand-tailored for you. Now, go and do that for others. Consider their common frame as a fellow image-bearer and their unique frame as a child of God. They have sins that are common to all men (1 Cor 10:13) and they have besetting sins that are unique to their frame (Acts 17:26), just like you. Remember that. This is not a command to treat everyone the same. On the contrary, it is a command to treat everyone with equity, which is not the same at all.

ASK OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM ASK YOU

:7-8 “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.” If someone wanted something from you, what would you want them to do? Ask, right? You wouldn’t want them to steal it from you and you wouldn’t want them to be mad at you for not giving them something they never asked you for. If you love someone, you want to do nice things for them. Finding out what they like is not a burden, it is a blessing. When someone is special to you, you like finding out what is special to them. So, give that gift to others. Ask them for what you want. Do not make them guess. Those who ask, after all, get an answer. Those who seek find something out. Those who knock have found the door. So, answer others as you would like to be answered and be as easy to figure out as you would like others to be. You cannot withhold yourself and then be shocked that you feel like others are holding out on you.

:9-11 “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!” Some of you don’t want to ask for bread because you’re worried you might get a stone in return. But maybe that’s because you’ve been giving stones to others who have been asking you for bread. You know that if others treated you as you’ve been treating them, you would be in bad shape. So, if you’ve been giving serpents to those who have been asking for fish, knock it off. If others are trying to get you to understand them and instead of trying to understand, you have tried to make them feel bad for wanting to be understood, you have been giving stones and serpents to those who were simply asking for bread and fish. You have been multiplying the wrong things and the only miracle in it is that anyone is still willing to put up with you. Loving your neighbor as yourself is not simply doing the things you like, it is considering what they like and then doing those things, even when they aren’t your favorite things to do.

:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” In the Devil’s Dictionary, the ol’ reprobate, Ambrose Bierce, defined the “selfish” as follows: “selfish, adj. devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.” In other words, the selfish look only to their own interests and are not at all interested in the interests of others. Everyone is selfish to a certain degree, but those we call “selfish” ignore that. The Biblical solution to avoiding this is showing other people how to think of someone other than themselves. To break the cycle, someone has to go first and Christians are called to lead the way. Everyone wants to do the easy thing, but Christians are called to do hard things, not simply because they are hard, but because they lead to glory.

:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Are you sometimes hard to love? Sure. And in those moments, what do you want others to do? Remind you how hard it is to love you? Make you wonder if you are worth all the trouble? No! You want them to do the hard work of giving you the benefit of the doubt and the even harder work of believing the best about you even when you’re at your worst. So, go and do that for others. You can’t do the bare minimum for others and then expect them to go the extra mile for you.

As you contemplate how to put all of this into practice, remember Jesus. He forgave those who wronged Him and died for those who killed Him; He was loyal to those who betrayed Him, and loved those who despised Him. He is our neighbor, our brother, our Lord, and our Savior. He is our King and He is kind. So, go and be kind to one another, just as God in Christ has been kind to you.

The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of our God remains forever. And this word is the good news that has been preached to you.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Help us to love others as You have loved us. Give us grace as we give grace to others and build us up into the image of Your Son as we offer up the words of the prayer He taught us to pray singing…