Transcript: Practicing Golden Rule Love with Jesus' Teachings

The Golden Rule is one of the most famous teachings of Jesus. It has received this special name because it is so incredibly simple, and yet so all-embracing in terms of solving the problems of the whole world. Kind of a cure for everything. It's surprising how many people have heard the term, Golden Rule, but they still don't know what the rule is. And unfortunately, those who do know what the rule says, rarely practice it, as a guiding principle for our whole life. So, what is the rule? I won't drag out the suspense this time, because really, the interesting part comes later. The most common translation of the Golden Rule is this. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It appears in the famous Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7, verse 12. But the wording is somewhat more stilted. Still, the essence is the same. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. In other words, if you would like others to be kind to you, then be kind to them. If you'd like others to help you when you're in difficulty, then help other people when you see that they are in difficulty. By sowing goodness in this way, we can fill the whole world with goodness. When we do this, we're actually building an invisible kingdom, which Jesus called the Kingdom of Heaven. This is God's alternative to the evils of the world. Francis Chan, in one of his sermons, talks about seeing poverty in other countries. He imagined his daughters being trapped in the human trafficking that is happening in so many parts of Asia at the moment. And he says, I had to act. In other places, he imagines his kids fishing through rubbish at a rat-infested garbage dump in India. And he says, I had to act. Anyone who has truly and fully embraced the concept of treating others the way that we would like to be treated ourselves will just naturally be forced into action when we see others suffering. We will feel empathy with them. We will put ourselves in their shoes and will act in accordance with the Golden Rule. This ability to imagine ourselves experiencing what others are experiencing is something that supposedly sets human beings apart from animals Yet it is our ability to know how much others are suffering and still close our hearts and hands to them. It makes so many human beings much worse than even the wildest animals. Imagining yourself in another person's shoes works in other ways besides imagining their suffering. For example, when you're in an argument, you will try not to exaggerate what the other person has said, because you know it's not a nice feeling when that happens to you. When a plate of cake is being passed around, you'll let someone else have the biggest piece. Why? Because you know that's what you would have liked someone else to do for you. for you. Doing this test with everything that we do and say can make our lives so much more enlightening, so much more fruitful, so much more meaningful. What I've said so far should be enough. I could end this sermon right here. The Golden Rule is such an incredibly simple and universal concept that I don't need fancy words to make it any more powerful than it already is. But I want to offer viewers of this video a chance to actually practice it in a way that I have seen change lives forever. Very practical, reasonably easy, at least by comparison to the good that it can achieve, and it can literally save a life. if when you know the facts, you make the most simple application of the Golden Rule to what I'm going to tell you. I'm doing this because it seems like the sort of people who've been subscribed to this channel are people who want to do more than just talk. They want to make a difference. They want to show the kind of love that Jesus showed. Not all of you, of course, because there have been a few million downloads, But of those millions, I think there could at least be a few dozen of you who would be blown away by how easy it would be for you to literally and personally save someone's life. So, I'm going to use this video as an introduction to a playlist that provides some practical information on how you can do this, literally save a life, and how you can probably do it within the next year. I myself was well into my 50s before I discovered through a movie I saw on an airplane flying from the US to Australia A movie called A Gift of Life I learned that it is possible for most of us to save the life of someone suffering from end-stage kidney disease. Just by donating one of our kidneys. Now, while we're still alive. Many of you probably know that you can donate organs after you die, assuming that you will die very close to a life support machine, which can keep your organs pumping even after your brain is switched off. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening, that is you dying near a life support machine, are fairly remote. But, providing your health, both physically and mentally, is sound, you could probably save a life just by notifying your local hospital that you would like to anonymously donate one of your kidneys to someone on the hospital's waiting list for a kidney transplant. I don't have statistics for the whole world, but just in America alone, more than a dozen people die every day while waiting for a kidney transplant. The number of live kidney donations has actually been dropping every year, while the need for kidneys continues to increase. There are more than 100,000 people in the United States who are waiting for kidneys at this moment, and the average waiting time The time to get one is about five years. As I just said, about 4,000 of them will die this year while waiting. Now, a slight bonus in donating is that kidneys from live donors last on average longer than once from a deceased donor. I think that's because the hospital has the time to ensure that all the precautions are in place before they proceed with the transplant. making sure that the best possible recipient is matched with you, the donor. Such kidneys last on average roughly 14 years. There are of course some risks involved, more or less on a par with having a baby. You should find out what those risks are, and take them into consideration before you make a final decision. There's another video in this playlist that deals with that and with other factual information about such a donation. You should also understand that a decision to donate a kidney can be reversed right up until anesthetic is given before the operation and no one will be able to blame you for anything There no need for you to feel obligated but at the same time, I think it is well worth looking into the possibility of you donating to someone in need. In most cases, the recipient's health insurance will pay for all of your tests, for hospital care, and sometimes even for travel expenses related to the tests as well as travel expenses for the surgery itself. It can take up to a year to get through all the tests and the paperwork and you could be off work for up to six weeks after the operation, depending on how heavy the work is that you do. In most cases, the one remaining kidney functions quite well after you have donated. you'll probably not even notice the difference in your health and lifestyle. Like I said, more of the practical information is available in other videos in this series. All I'm really doing here is throwing out this concept in the light of Christians being people who try to treat others the way that we would want to be treated if we were slowly dying while all around us are thousands of people who could save our life just by donating a kidney that really is more or less a spare for such emergencies as that anyway. I hope a few of you will check into the other videos for more background information and that you will consider the possibility that you could help to build the kingdom of heaven just by showing a little bit of golden rule love in this very practical way. If you had end-stage renal failure, If you were forced to spend several hours in hospital several times a week to have your blood filtered through a machine because of kidney failure. If you were forced to stay on a waiting list for five years or more to get a new kidney, would you appreciate someone offering to donate one of their kidneys in order to save your life? or at least to add to the quality of your life for the next 10 or 15 years? Just think about that. In the light of what Jesus taught, it doesn't take rocket science to come up with an answer. Thank you for listening, and please encourage others to check out this video as well. You can do that by posting links to it all over the internet. God bless you. .