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This past Tuesday, I spoke in the chapel service of the Assemblies of God national office about “How to Deal with Jerks.” I based my remarks on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:38-48, illustrating the points with episodes from my own experience.

This past weekend, I spoke at SeaCoast Grace Church as part of their What You Need to Know series. My topic? “Dealing with Jerks.” Here’s the video. Key takeway: Opt out of the vicious cycle of jerkitude!

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In a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush dated April 23, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wrote, “To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.” Attached to the letter was a brief “syllabus” comparing Jesus to Greek and Roman philosophers and to the Jews.

According to Jefferson, Jesus’ “doctrines” included the following: (1) monotheism, (2) “universal philanthropy,” (3) an emphasis on attitude and not just action, and (4) “the doctrines of a future state,” which Jefferson believed to be an “important incentive, supplementary to the other motives to moral conduct.”

Notice what doctrine Jefferson conspicuously leaves out: Christ’s divinity.

For Jefferson, one should separate what Jesus said from what was said about Jesus. What Jesus said was morality. What was said about Jesus was theology. The former is historically authentic, but the latter is not.

Jefferson’s view is a common one. The notion that we can separate the morality Jesus taught from the theology others taught about him appeals to many who want a Christ-less Christianity. Proponents of this separation usually point to the Sermon on the Mount as Exhibit A in their case. Here, Jesus taught about morality, but said nothing about himself.

But that’s not quite right, is it? Notice Matthew’s description of the crowd’s response to Jesus: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7.28–29). What impressed the crowds was not the sublimity of Jesus’ moral teaching, but his indisputable authority. Throughout the sermon, Jesus keeps calling attention to himself. Consider:

• Jesus blesses those who are persecuted “because of me” (Matthew 5.11).
• He teaches that he is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets (5.17).
• When he says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago…. But I tell you…,” he both defines the true meaning of the Law against Pharisaic misinterpretation, and he deepens the application of the Law beyond what the letter of the Law requires (5.21–22, 27–28, 31–32, 38–39, 43–44).
• The phrase, “I tell you the truth” hints at Jesus’ authority to reveal truth about God and his will (6.5, 16, 25).
• And the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of the wisdom of the person who “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice” (7.24).
  

Admittedly, none of these clues is an outright statement of Christ’s divinity. And yet, they assume a far greater authority of blessing, interpretation, and revelation than a simple teacher of morality would ever make, lest he overstep the bounds of humility. Jesus was humble, but that humility included the recognition, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28.18).

At the end of the day, as we read the Sermon on the Mount, we have not understood it correctly if we simply admire the beauty of its moral message. We must go further and make up our minds about who Jesus is and why he has the authority to tell us how to live. And that, I would suggest, pushes us closer to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity, which Jefferson tried so hard to avoid.

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A few years ago, after months of rain had softened the ground beneath them, houses on Blue Bird Canyon in Laguna Beach began to slip their foundations and slide down the hills. For the homeowners, whose dreams and fortunes slid with those houses, it was an agonizing experience. For us, it is a vivid picture of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7.24–27).

Life is difficult. It is filled with any number of “storms.” Marital arguments, problems with children, conflict at work, ill health, financial difficulties, and spiritual doubt all challenge our faith. Consequently, the question we must ask ourselves is whether our faith has a strong enough foundation to withstand the storms.

There’s another storm on the horizon, and it is the “perfect storm” to test our faith. I’m talking about death. Each one of us will die, and when we die, we will stand before God in order to give an account of our life. Using the image of a refiner’s fire, Paul writes: a man’s “work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work” (1 Corinthians 3.10–15). Who will be able to endure the storm of death and judgment?

Interestingly, Paul answers the question using the same image as Jesus did: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” According to Jesus, the strongest foundation of life is his “words,” that is, his teaching. According to Paul, the strongest foundation is Jesus himself. In the end, there is little difference between the two, for there is a perfect integrity between what Jesus says and who he is.

So, as I wrote yesterday, we are faced with a choice. We can choose to follow Jesus Christ and obey his teachings, or we can choose not to. But now we see that our choices have consequences, both in this life and in the life to come. We can choose to have a faith that withstands life’s storms and that carries us through death itself. Or we can choose to face life and eternity, having built our houses on some other foundation. The difference between a wise and a foolish builder lies solely in this choice. So choose wisely.

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Whenever you read the word therefore in Scripture, you should ask what it’s there for. Consider the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, which concludes the Sermon on the Mount:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

What’s therefore there for? It is there to remind us that we have a choice with regard to following Jesus and that there are consequences to our choice. Today we’ll look at the choice; tomorrow, the consequences.

First, we have a choice whether or not to listen to Jesus. We live in an age in which a myriad of voices shout out spiritual advice to us. Some of the advice is good and much of it is bad, but the cacophony of voices can be very confusing. To whom should we listen? Who is telling us the truth? Whose words illuminate the path to heaven?

When I was young, my mother would take me to the shopping mall with her. Inevitably, as she looked at clothes and I played among the racks, I would become separated from her. It’s a scary thing to be six years old and lost. And there were so many adult voices talking and laughing in the store. But if I listened carefully, I could always hear my mother’s voice saying, “Have you seen my little boy?” To this day, I can pick out my mom’s cough, sneeze, laugh, or voice in a crowded auditorium. I have developed the ability to hear her (and her alone) among the crowd.

Similarly, as we hear a myriad of voices competing for our souls, we must choose to listen to Jesus.

Second, we have a choice whether or not to do what Jesus teaches. There are many lovely words in the Sermon on the Mount, as well as many hard ones. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5.1) has a nice ring to it. But “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5.44) is not easy to do. But if we are to experience the blessings of heaven, we must love our enemies. The two are flip sides of the same coin. The first describes what God gives, and the second what God expects. You cannot have one without the other, any more than you can have a coin with heads but no tails.

Therefore, what do you choose to do with Jesus?

Much of our behavior toward others is reactive. If someone sends us a gift for our birthday, we feel obliged to send them one for theirs. If someone speaks about us behind our back, we find opportunities to return the favor. And if someone slaps us in the face, our hand is already halfway toward that person’s right cheek before we even begin to wonder whether retaliation is such a good idea.

In Matthew 7.12, Jesus articulates a proactive ethic in what has come to be known as the Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Notice three things about this rule:

First, its scope: “everything.” All actions fall within the purview of this commandment. How we talk, how we express our emotions, and how we behave in joy and sorrow and success and crisis are all governed by the Golden Rule. There is never a time and no kind of circumstance when the Golden Rule does not apply.

Second, its positive character. The idea underlying the Golden Rule was not unknown before Jesus. In fact, the Rabbis taught a negative form of it: “Whatever you don’t want others to do to you, don’t do to them.” Jesus takes a positive, proactive stance. Here’s how the difference between Jesus and the Rabbis played out in terms of cursing and praise. According to the Rabbis, we should not curse others because we do not want to be cursed by them. But according to Jesus, we should praise others because that’s the way we want them to speak about us. Following the Rabbis might decrease the level of negative action in the world, but following Jesus increases the level of positive action.

Finally, its biblical basis. According to Jesus, the Golden Rule is simply a summary of “the Law and the Prophets.” All the “Thou shalt nots” of the Ten Commandments find their positive expression in this little rule. Interestingly, in Matthew 22.34–40, Jesus said that “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” namely, to “Love God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Golden Rule, you see, is simply the law of love.

What would it look like in your life if you followed the Golden Rule? What if you began speaking to your spouse the way you wanted to be spoken to? What if you treated your children with the same respect you wanted them to give you? What if talked about and to your fellow employees with kind words? How might our society change if we began to inject the Golden Rule into public discourse and community relations? If, for example, instead of shouting slogans at one another, we began to speak the truth in love—how might society improve?

We do not have to wait to find out the answers. We can implement the Golden Rule in our own lives today. So be proactive, not reactive.