Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White:
4. How Should We Live? The Ethics of Jesus
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
September 18, 2011
Luke 10:30-36
The question that I want us to consider this morning is, “How do you determine what is right and wrong?”
I learned the ethical values that I hold today mostly from my parents and my church. I wonder where children today are learning right from wrong.
From TV?
From Video Games?
From Movies?
From the Internet?
If they do not learn them at church where do children learn ethical values today?
I wonder?
This is the fourth in a series of sermons that I have titled, “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.” In this message I want us to look at the Ethics of Jesus.
Let us begin by recognizing that there are three primary ways of thinking about ethics.
1. Rules-based Ethics
This involves deciding what is right and wrong based upon a set of rules that some authority has given us. As people of faith, we say this authority is God.
So, we determine what is right and wrong according to what God has told us is right and wrong.
A problem that arises with rules-based ethics is that there are never quite enough rules for every life situation.
In the Gospels we see that Jesus was regularly confronted by the rules-based folks of his day. Although he did not dismiss the idea of rules, he clearly did not follow the letter of the law in every situation.
He continually got into trouble with the Pharisees because he often broke their rules.
Jesus did not throw out the rules, but he chose to be reasonable about them.
2. Outcomes-based Ethics
On the other end of the spectrum is outcomes-based ethics. We also might call this consequence-based ethics.
According to this way of doing ethics, no activity is moral or immoral in and of itself. It is the outcome that determines whether something is moral or immoral so if I do something that hurts someone else, the act is immoral in that given situation because it hurts someone.
If I do the same thing in another situation and it helps someone, then the act is moral in that situation.
Outcomes-based ethics is a very popular way of doing ethics, but it has its problems, too. I lived through the 1960s when the outcomes-based mantra was “If it feels good, do it.”
We know that there are many things we shouldn’t do even though they feel good.
When taken to the extreme this view says that the end justifies the means.
Jesus actually took a stand somewhere between the two extremes—between rules-based ethics and outcomes-based ethics. He did not give up rules, but he also intentionally considered the outcome. By his example, he showed us that there is a balance between the two—a gray area or middle ground.
3. Virtues-based Ethics
Virtues-based ethics involves making decisions based on a set of virtues or values. In every situation, you try to do what those virtues call you to do. As followers of Jesus Christ, we look to the virtues of Jesus when making decisions.
Jesus was compassionate and taught us to be compassionate. So, whenever we see someone who is hungry or thirsty or in need, we do something about it. That’s a virtues-based ethic.
Jesus also told us to serve one another and love one another and forgive one another. Serving and loving and forgiving or showing mercy are all virtues. As followers of Jesus, we choose to do the things that allow us to live into these virtues. That’s a virtues-based way of doing ethics.
It is only when this method of doing ethics is tied to the person and life of Jesus Christ, who is Truth, that it becomes fully trustworthy and true.
As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to do those things that Jesus wants us to do.
As followers of Jesus we are to give our lives to him each day.
Gandhi commented on this once. He was intrigued by Jesus and liked the things that Jesus said, but when he looked at Christians, he did not see much evidence that they lived out their faith. He said that everyone seemed to know what Jesus said except Christians.
So, what did Jesus say?
Jesus gave three simple rules in the Sermon on the Mount.
Rule 1: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Question: Will this honor God?
Jesus said that this is the greatest and first commandment.
This means that we are to honor God in everything we do. Our lives—all that we say and all that we do—are to express the love of God and our love for God. It means that before every decision we make and every action we take, we must ask ourselves his question: “Will this honor God?”
Rule 2: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Question: What is the loving thing to do?
The second great commandment that Jesus gave us is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This was the central ethical principle of Jesus’ teachings. He said that not only are we to love our neighbor; we also are to love our enemy and pray for those who hate us.
Love was the organizing principle of Jesus’ ethics.
So in every situation we ask: What is the loving thing to do?
In every conversation, what is the loving thing to do?
In every business transaction, what is the loving thing to do?
In every situation involving coworkers or employees or family members, what is the loving thing to do?
In every national issue or concern, what is the loving policy that we might pursue?
Rule 3: Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Questions: How would I feel if I were in the other person’s shoes? What would Jesus have me to do in this situation?
We call this the Golden Rule.
Walking in the other person’s shoes was an important organizing principle of ethics for Jesus. The question to ask is, “How would I feel if I were in the other person’s shoes?” Or, “What would Jesus do if he were walking in my shoes?”
We can be certain that the right, moral choice will never contradict the central ethic of love.
No story captures the ethic of love more beautifully than the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Basically the lawyer coming to Jesus was asking, “Whom do I not have to love?”
The last sermon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ever preached was on this passage. The conclusion of the sermon King preached that night is often quoted. King said that it wouldn’t matter if he died, because he had been to the mountaintop and had seen the other side. He said that his eyes had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Earlier in the sermon he said that the first question the Levite and the priest asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what’s going to happen to me?” Then the Good Samaritan came by and reversed the question. He asked, “If I don’t stop to help this man, what’s going to happen to him?”
King told his listeners that this was the question before them that night—not, “If I stop to help, what will happen to me? But “if I do not stop to help, what will happen to them?”
As followers of Jesus Christ, this is the question we must ask ourselves on a daily basis: “If I don’t do anything, what’s going to happen to them?”
Prayer
Lord, open for me, Open for me — courage for my fear. Open for me — light for my darkness.
Open for me — peace for my turmoil; hope for my despair, peace for my soul, joy for my sorrow, health for my illness, strength for my weakness, wisdom for my confusion, forgiveness for my sin, love for my hate, praise for my doubt, insight for my troubles. Lord, open for me, your cross for my life! Amen.
