Double Standards

(Dt. 10.17-11.2)

Having come back from holiday, we are in the processes of trying to catch up on the episodes of Eastenders which we recorded while away.

One of my great disappointments was that Dot Cotton has moved back to Albert Square, ...a had hoped that when she moved away 5 years ago we had seen the last of her.

For those of you who never watch Eastenders, Dot Cotton is a regular church-goer who knows her Bible backwards. Unfortunately she also interferes in everyone's affairs, and readily condemns anything she thinks is wrong, ...often quoting chapter and verse at them.

She would have made an excellent Witch-finder General!

But if that isn't bad enough, she's also the worst gossip on the Square, ...although everything she says is prefixed by the words, "You know me Pat, I'm not one to gossip, but did you know that..."

Dot Cotton's life is full of double standards, ...but there's nothing new in that. It was the same of many people in Jesus day.

It just occurred to me when I was preparing this sermon how much of Jesus' teaching was about double standards.

His main criticism of the Pharisees was for hypocrisy:

- Saying one thing but doing another.

- Behaving one way in public, but quite differently in private.

- Pretending to be one sort of person, while in reality being someone quite different.

The story is told of a minister who noticed a group of boys standing around a small stray dog.

"What are you doing lads?", the minister asked.

"We're telling lies", one of the boys replied.

"It's a competition. The one who tells the biggest lie gets to take the dog home."

"You're telling lies!", the minister replied in a shocked voice.

"Why, when I was your age I never even thought of telling a lie."

The boys looked at each other, a little subdued. Finally one of them shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess he wins the dog."

But hypocrisy is not the only way that we can have double standards. Jesus also talked about the double standards of asking God to treat us one way, and yet treating others in a different way.

Do you remember the parable of the unmerciful servant, ...He owed the king thousands of pounds and could not repay it. He begged for mercy, and the king cancelled the debt.

But on the way out he met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few hundred quid. He seized him by the throat and said "Pay me what you owe me", ...and then refused to listen to this fellow's plea for mercy, ...and had him thrown into prison.

The king heard of this, and summoned him.

"You wicked servant", he said, "Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you".

We're all very familiar with the words of the Lord's Prayer, which we say here week by week.

"Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us"

But it's easy to forget Jesus' warning which immediately follows in Matthew's gospel:

"If you do not forgive people their sins,

your Father will not forgive your sins."

We're to treat others in the same way that God treats us, ...for if we don't, if we live with double standards, ...we face the possibility that God will treat us in the same way that we treat others.

That's a thread that runs through the whole Bible, but one which most people fail to grasp.

And it's the main point of this sermon, so let me say it again:

We're to treat others in the same way that God treat us.

All to often people work by a principle that seams quite similar, but in fact is very different. They treat others in the same way that others have treated them.

When doing funeral visits, or meeting people in the parish, I sometimes come across family feuds. You know the sort, ...two people in the family who refuse to talk to each other.

And each party justifies their behaviour in this way, ..."If he won't talk to me, then I'm not going to talk to him."

In other words, they're treating this other person in the same way that they're being treated.

Or again in Eastenders, Carol Jackson knows that her husband is having an affair, and so feels justified in herself an affair herself with David Wickes.

I've chosen two rather extreme examples, ...but it's a response that we're all tempted to make. How often do you find yourself thinking, ..."Well if they're going to behave like that to me, ...I'll do the same to them, ...What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."

And in a sense, that sort of response seams perfectly fair.

My wife tells me that it's the sort of justice that appeals to children in the school playground. If John's been accused of hitting Peter, he will often reply with something like... "But Peter hit me first."

That sort of defense seems so fair!

But is that the way that God sees it?

Jesus advocated that we should turn the other cheek. Which can often seem very unfair.

But it goes back to the principle that we're not to treat others in the way that they treat us, ...but in the way that God treats us.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, those who crossed by on the other side might well have thought, "Poor chap, ...but he's never helped me, so why should I bother help him?"

But Jesus point was that we are to be generous to those who don't deserve it, because that's how God is with us. The word 'Grace' means God's undeserved mercy towards us.

And the same is true back in the Old Testament. I don't know if you've realised that the Ten Commandments are grouped into two sections.

The first four commandments are all about our relationship with God, and the last six are about our relationship with others.

...and that's important. Because it's our relationship with God which comes first, ...and that then affects the way we behave towards others.

And our Old Testament reading spells this out:

"God shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless, and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing." ...and we are to do the same.

We're to treat others as God treats us, ...even though they don't deserve it, ...because to act in any other way is act with double standards.

Jesus said,

"If you do not forgive people their sins,

your Father will not forgive your sins."

Amen.

I just want us to have a couple of minutes to reflect on this.

In the quiet I'd like you to ask God if there is anyone to whom your attitude is not right.

It might be someone you don't like very much, ...or someone who has badly wronged you.

It might be someone you know personally, or some public figure who you can't stand.

Then if someone comes to mind, ask God to show you what your attitude should be.

Intercessions

Our intercessions today are going to be a bit different from our normal pattern.

Instead of us each praying for many things, can I encourage you to focus on just one person or situation.

The first step is to decide who, or what, that might be. It may be a situation you've seen on the news, or someone you feel particularly concerned about, ...or someone on the prayer list which we read out each week.

(Pause)

OK. In the sermon Graeme mentioned how our relationship with God comes first, ...and how that affects our relationship with others. Well we are going to use this same principle as we pray.

We're going to play some quiet music, and can I invite you to close your eyes, and breath naturally. But as you breath in, think of breathing in God's love and peace to fill your whole being with his life.

And as you breath out, think of breathing out God's love and peace to the person or situation that you have chosen to pray for.

(Play music)

We finish by saying together the grace.