ANOTHER SERIOUS ERROR MADE BY SOME IN APPLYING THE GOLDEN RULE TO LIFE.

Undoubtedly the Golden Rule has, to a considerable extent, exercised an influence over even worldly people (nominal Christians), where such have come more in contact with the true saints who endeavor with more or less zeal to recognize and to use the Golden Rule in the measurement of their daily conduct, without their being keepers of it as a rule, or even professing so to do. And even amongst Christians who have given themselves to the Lord, and who fully desire that his will in every particular shall be done in them, and who recognize this Golden Rule as a grand expression of the divine will, we believe there are serious misapprehensions respecting the proper manner of its use. For instance, among the noblest of the Lord’s people are some who say, we will turn our backs on society and worldly enjoyments, and devote what time we have at our disposal to the improvement of the fallen – to moral reforms, social reforms, financial reforms, the reforming of alcoholics and those afflicted by drugs, etc. And still others, imbued with the same spirit, and with the same desire to fulfil this Golden Rule, say, we will leave home and friends, and go into far-off lands as missionaries, to preach Christ to the heathen.

We are bound to appreciate such noble sentiments, whether we can agree with the conclusions as to methods of work, etc., or not. We love the noble principle which, if not in every instance, at least in many cases, lies at the foundation of such sacrifices of time, influence, convenience, etc.: it is an outworking of the Golden Rule in these dear friends, saying to themselves and to others, If we were in the slums or in heathen degradation, we should wish that some of God’s children would come to us, to lift us up and enlighten us, and hence we should do so to others, even as we would, if our conditions were altered, that they should do to us.

This is sound reasoning and a proper application of the Golden Rule, and yet also, we believe, a mistaken or wrong one. One of the first lessons that the Christian is called upon to learn in the School of Christ is, that his judgment is defective; that not only our physical powers have degenerated through the fall, but that likewise our mental powers have suffered; so that the whole world today is not only unsound of body, but also unsound of mind, unsound of judgment. The primary lessons of God’s children in the school of Christ are to the effect that we all lack wisdom, and that for this very reason he has provided his Book, the Bible, – “that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished.” (2 Tim 3:16,17)

We are taught in the Book that the work of salvation is one too great for humanity itself, and that therefore God has undertaken the work; we are taught that he has not left the matter to operate itself at random, neither has he left it to our imperfect judgments and puny efforts: we are taught that the great Savior of the world planned his work “from the foundation of the world,” and yet that it was four thousand years and more before he took the first great step for its accomplishment, namely, the giving of his Son to be the redemption price of Adam and his race (1 Pet 1:20); we are taught that having begun this work of salvation God has not abandoned it, and does not intend to abandon it, but that eventually “he shall bring forth judgment [trial] unto victory;” – and that eventually our Lord Jesus shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul on man’s behalf, and shall be satisfied; – that eventually the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth, and all shall know him from the least to the greatest; that eventually he shall bring in everlasting righteousness, so that the time shall ultimately come when all the families of the earth shall be blessed with the knowledge of God’s goodness and grace, and with an opportunity to benefit thereby; that eventually whosoever will not obey the great Prophet-King shall be cut off from amongst the people in the Second Death; that eventually there shall be no more dying, no more sighing, no more crying, no more pain there, because the former things of Adamic sin and its penalty and blight shall have been done away. –Isa 14:24,27;55:11; Matt 12:20; Isa 53:11;11:9; Jer 31:34; Acts 3:19-24; Rev 21:3,4.

But many of God’s dear people overlook these gracious provisions and promises of his Word, and partaking to a considerable extent of the spirit of love they forget that God’s love is still greater than their own, even as God’s wisdom is greater than theirs; hence they lose sight of the fact that the entire plan of salvation is of God, and that he has not abandoned it to others, but will carry it out himself in his own due time.

It is because they forget this that they become burdened with the weight of responsibility, and feel as though the salvation of the world rested upon themselves, – and, impressed with this feeling of self-importance and forgetfulness of God’s Word, they go into the mission work, slum work, and to the heathen. They forget, and are greatly disadvantaged by so doing, that God has already declared, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my plans higher than your plans, and my ways higher than your ways.” –Isa 55:8,9

As a consequence of this oversight and misdirection of effort, these dear friends are doing works now which God intends shall be done in a future age, and which can and will be done then to very much better advantage every way. God has appointed the Millennial age for this work of lifting up the weak, opening the blind eyes of the heathen (non-believers), and unstopping their dull ears to hear the message of divine grace. God has appointed that when his time for this great work, in which he is more interested than any of his creatures possibly could be, will come, the conditions will be favorable to the success of his plan, which he guarantees us will succeed, and will bring blessing to all the families of the earth, and will enlighten every man born into the world. –Gal 3:16,29; John 1:9; Acts 3:19-21.

God’s Word informs those who seek his counsel, that at that time Satan shall be bound so that he may deceive the nations no more, as he is now doing (Rev 20:1-3): that during that period of Satan’s restraint those whom he now blinds (2 Cor 4:4) with various false doctrines, sophistries, superstitions, etc., will be freed from these, and have the eyes and ears of their understanding opened. It informs us also, that at that time he will establish as the King over all the earth his honored agent, who gave his life as a ransom for mankind; and that our Lord Jesus will establish the Kingdom of God amongst men, a Kingdom not merely in name, but also in power and in fact; one which shall rule the world, forcibly putting down sin, oppression, ignorance, superstition, darkness; and raising up righteousness, truth, and every good principle and influence for the blessing and uplifting of those whom he purchased with his precious blood. It informs us that under his beneficent reign all evil shall be subdued, that even death shall be conquered: and that all mankind, freed from the Adamic sentence of death, may, if they will, then attain unto eternal life and full human perfection, and that only the willful sinners against light and opportunity will be utterly destroyed in the Second Death. –1 Cor 15:24-28; 2 Thess 1:8,9; Acts 3:23

The same Word instructs us that the Lord’s plan for the present age does not purpose the conversion of the world; nor its salvation in any sense of the word; nor its uplifting; but that his plan, on the contrary, is simply the development of the Church, the foreordained and predestinated number, a “little flock,” who must all be selected from amongst men, and every one of them be copies of God’s dear Son. (Rom 8:29).)

It also informs us that this work of God in this age is the work in which we are invited to be co-workers together with God. It points out to us that this is the work of the Bride – to make herself ready for the marriage (Rev 19:7); that the special work in this present time consists not only in the “calling” of the Church, but also in the building up of one another, among the called ones, in the most holy faith; – helping one another to perfect holiness in the reverence of the Lord, – showing us that a large part of our work is in our own hearts, cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, helping one another to make our calling and our election sure, by perfecting in our hearts the Golden Rule. –2 Cor 7:1; Jude 20.

Continued with next post.