The old proverb, ‘Manners maketh man’ has an interesting history and meaning. It may well have been the personal motto of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester in the 14th century. It is the motto of New College Oxford and Winchester (School) that Wykeham founded.
We also find it amongst the many proverbs included in William Horman’s Latin textbook, Vulgaria. Horman was headmaster successively of Winchester and Eton in early Tudor times. In his approach to teaching Latin, he drew from English ‘everyday sayings’ (Vulgaria) which he translated into Latin. The ‘sayings’ included a range of subjects – religion, manners, life and nature.
I introduce this proverb, not simply as a (northern) summer curiosity, but to introduce Jesus’ concluding words to his Sermon on the Plain: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?…”(Luke 6:46).
The title Lord (6:46) was often used as a term of respect for a rabbi or teacher; the twofold, Lord, Lord, is simply a Semitic emphasis. In the context of his developing narrative, Luke wants us to feel the impact of Jesus’ question. Jesus was well known and highly respected as an authoritative teacher. Lip-service is a totally inappropriate response to him.
MANNERS MAKETH MAN
Which brings me back to the proverb, Manners maketh man.
Commenting on the words as the motto of New College, Oxford, Mark Griffith (a Fellow of New College) makes the interesting distinction between the motto as a reference simply to outward behavior, good manners, and as a reference to a deep-seated inner moral change, arising from God’s grace, evidenced in Godly behavior.
Griffith makes the nice point that the founder of New College, ‘a bishop and, by all early accounts, a pious Christian, is unlikely to have selected a motto without strong moral import, still less would he have given such a one to an institution for the education of clerics.’
Certainly, Jesus, in his concluding words to his sermon, has every expectation that his followers will not only be hearers of his teaching but also doers.
He uses two dramatic metaphors to illustrate his point.
Anyone who comes to him and truly hears and obeys his words is like the person who built their house on a foundation of rock. Just as a house constructed on a rock is able to withstand the power of floodwaters lashing it, so too Jesus’ followers will remain firm, living as he has taught and withstanding the difficulties and challenges of life (Luke 6:48).
By contrast, anyone who hears and does not act on Jesus’ teaching islike the person who built a house on the ground without a foundation (6:49). In contrast to the first builder, the second is built on soft soils. As parts of coastal Sydney recently experienced, with powerful winds and seas, houses without a secure foundation get washed away.
FIRM FOUNDATION FOR LIFE
Jesus’ reference here is not primarily to the Day of Judgment, though the idea is present. Rather, he is talking about life now. How we handle challenges and difficulties in relationships, at work and even at church, the opposition and injustices we face, is dependent on the foundation on which we build our life – on Jesus as our Lord and Savior, or on an outward form of a Churchianity that has no substance.
The true follower of Jesus is someone who comes to him as Lord and whose life is transformed, who has a changed inward nature, through obedience to his word. As James puts it in his Letter, Faith without works is dead(James 2:17).
Throughout his Sermon on the Plain Jesus has insisted that anyone who follows him must not simply be a hearer of his teaching merely giving lip-service to their profession of faith. He calls us to be hearersanddoers of his word.
Manners (morals)makethman / woman. Rightly understood and applied this is not salvation by works, but about a life transformed from within by the grace a God – a life which reveals in attitudes and priorities, behavior and relationships what it means to know and love, trust and serve Jesus Christ as Lord of our life.
How different our world would be if everyone who professed to follow Jesus (including leaders) heeded his words. The starting point of course, is with you and me.
Daily we need to pray that by God’s grace we will grow to love the Lord Jesus Christ more and more, growing in his likeness so that we might be found his faithful and loyal servants in the midst of a troubled world.
How often do we ask at the beginning of each day, ‘Lord, what good things have you prepared for me to do today?’
Articles by thoughtful opinion writers continue to focus on the critical times in which we live. In the United Kingdom articles pose questions about the future of the country in the aftermath of the ‘Brexit’ vote, the incoming Prime Minister and the leadership divisions in the Labour Party. In the United States questions persist concerning the character of the presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle. In Australia the governing party has been returned to power by the slimmest of majorities. Everywhere we look we see evidence of deep divisions fanned by animosities in a changing climate of cultural, racial and nationalistic attitudes.
BLIND GUIDES
‘Do we have a future we can look forward to?’ is one of the questions that is being asked.
Last Wednesday I referred to a recent comment by the actor, Kevin Sorbo who said in relation to the new film, Joseph and Mary: ‘The problems in America would be avoided if people had “any moral principles — any biblical principles in their [lives].”’ He added that ‘fans ask him every day to continue making faith-based, family-friendly films’.
His words remind me of the task of every professing Christian – namely, to play our part in making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us, one way or another, are called upon to live under the ‘Great Commission’ to ‘make disciples,… teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded…’ (Matthew 28:19, 20). Whenever and wherever God’s people take up this challenge, under God and in the context of prayer, we hear of lives being changed for good.
In Luke 6:39f we discover how we can learn to do this. Towards the end of Luke’s record of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain we read: He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?”
Jesus’ first point is a call to his followers to be careful in their choice of a teacher. Sound doctrine is essential for the work of the gospel and for the unity of God’s church. Jesus himself said it: “Those who worship him (God) must worship in Spirit and in truth”’ (John 4:24).
How critical it is that we sit under faithful and effective teaching of God’s Word so that we then are able to make disciples for Christ. As Jesus put it: “A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher” (Luke 6:40).
SPIRITUAL FRUIT
And there is something else in Luke 6:43f: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush…” Jesus said.
The metaphor is clear. A tree will always produce the kind of fruit that is consistent with its nature, either good or bad. The kind of person a teacher is, judgmental, condemning, or unforgiving, will become obvious to all. Jesus’ is asking how teachers can teach others if they themselves have not listened to him or been transformed by him.
The theme we find in these words of Jesus has its parallel in Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven…”
‘Everything you are, everything you do,’ Jesus says, ‘must reflect all I have taught. That is how others will come to see the mind and the will of God. That is how lives can be changed. It won’t happen otherwise.’
Whether we like it or not, people look at us once they know we profess to be Christian. They want to know whether we are genuine and whether what we profess is true. As opinion writers are saying, ‘we live in a time of crisis’. People are crying out for help.
We often forget a significant line in the Book of Ecclesiastes: God has put eternityinto the mind of men and women, yet they cannot find out what he has done from the beginning to the end (Eccles. 3:11).
God has given all men and women a sense that life doesn’t end at the grave. And one of the ways he has chosen to reveal himself to the world is through his people.
Through the light of our lives others will be drawn to find out about Jesus. Through the words of our lips people will hear the good news, and come to glorify God on the final day.
In February 2012, David Brooks in an article in The New York Times, ‘How to Fight the Man’, related the story of Jefferson Bethke, a 22-year-old man. Bethke had ‘produced a video called “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus”. Brooks noted that Bethke argued: ‘Jesus preaches healing, surrender and love,… but religion is rigid, phony and stale. “Jesus came to abolish religion”…’
‘The video went viral…,’ Brooks commented. ‘It speaks for many young believers who feel close to God but not to the church. It represents the passionate voice of those who think their institutions lack integrity — not just the religious ones,…’
According to the article, Kevin DeYoung, one of the many who replied, ‘pointed out,… it is biblically inaccurate to say that Jesus hated religion…. In fact, Jesus preached a religious doctrine, prescribed rituals and worshiped in a temple.’
Brooks noted that ‘Bethke responded in a way that was humble, earnest and gracious,…’ Apparently Bethke responded to DeYoung: “…I’ll even be honest and say I agree 100 percent.”
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES
I refer to this article of David Brooks because we are seeing in the current electoral processes in Britain, Australia and the United States the way the integrity of institutions is being questioned – and not just amongst the young.
It was interesting to read an interview with the actor Kevin Sorbo on Fox News (July 1, 2016) about the new film, Joseph and Mary. Sorbo commented: ‘the problems in America would be avoided if people had “any moral principles — any biblical principles in their [lives].”’ He further remarked that ‘fans ask him every day to continue making faith-based, family-friendly films’.
With these thoughts in mind we might ask how we relate with one another and how others in the wider community see us. Do we come across to others in the wider community as people who live out our faith, people of integrity, or judgmental and unforgiving?
In Luke 6:37ff we read Jesus’ further words in his Sermon on the Plain: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.
JUDGING
Judging others indicates a critical, condemning attitude that ignores the reality that we all fail God. It is important that we distinguish judging from discerning.
Closely linked to Jesus’ command not to judge is the one not to condemn. Whereas judging suggests an attitude of mind, condemning reflects an emotion of the heart and the will.
Judgmental and condemning attitudes spring from a patronizing self-righteousness that forgets we all stand condemned by God (Romans 14:10-12). Jesus graphically condemns this in his parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:11-14).
Judgment and condemnation have the same outcome – a breakdown in relationships. Forgive, and you will be forgiven challenges us to forgive from the heart everyone who has wronged us personally.
This does not remove the right of the courts to uphold justice for the good order of society – as we read in Romans 13:1-4 and 1 Peter 2:13-14.
MESSAGE OF LOVE
Furthermore, the command to forgive doesn’t mean that sin is to be overlooked or brushed aside. However, we need to keep in mind that God chose to forgive us through a costly means that perfectly satisfied his righteousness. We in turn are called on to resolve broken relationships with one another.
If we expect God to forgive us, we should be prepared to show mercy and forgive those who wrong us. In Colossians 3:13 we read: Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Our failure to show mercy to one another reveals an unrepentant spirit, and an unrepentant spirit is hardly honest and humble enough to receive God’s pardon and deliverance.
How then do we relate to one another? Does the world around us today say, as Tertullian wrote in the 2nd century: ‘See how those Christians love one another’? Are we as God’s people known for our integrity – known as a forgiven people who hold out a message of love and forgiveness?
Last Friday we all awoke to the news that a majority in the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union. It was totally unexpected. The news has been received with joy, shock, anger, and anxiety. It has caused concern at almost every level, political, financial and social.
It is not my purpose to comment on the merits or demerits of the decision, but rather to ask the question: ‘How does God work in our world of uncertainty?’
There are many things in life that trouble us. If we are to understand and deal with the unexpected, we need more than human wisdom and understanding. Abraham Lincoln once commented: I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day (Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks).
DIVINE WISDOM
We need divine wisdom found in divine revelation. Let me make two observations – the first from Isaiah 43, the second, from Romans 10.
In advance of the fall of Jerusalem and the conquest of God’s people, the prophet Isaiah spoke for God when he said: When you pass through the waters I will be with you; … (Isaiah 43:2).
Isaiah was saying that God does not promise his people immunity from the unexpected or tough times. He says, when, not if. Isaiah also speaks about God’s people passing through the waters, not over the waters.
Our world is troubled and distorted because we have all turned away from God. And because God takes seriously the gift of choice he has given us, we often struggle with outcomes. As someone commented, it is mischievous to say that God’s people will not experience the unexpected or difficulty in their lives. God doesn’t promise that – not even in this era since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOD’S PRESENCE
What God promises us is not immunity from pain in our lives, but his constant presence with us. While, thank the Lord, our troubles in the West are not the extreme suffering of the time of which Isaiah wrote, there are principles from which we can learn.
We learn from Isaiah, and even more from the events of the life and death of Jesus Christ, that Christianity is not about a God who sits in heaven says, ‘I’ll get you out of your trouble’, or, ‘I’ll put you on a spiritual trip that will ease your pain’.
Rather, Christianity is about a God who comes to us in our pain, and who shares it. This is the meaning of the manger in Bethlehem and the cross on Calvary’s hill. This is not a God who emails us sympathy notes. This is the God who bore our grief and who carried our sorrow – a God who descends to the depths of the earth. Emmanuel: God with us!
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity is about the supporting presence of the Lord as we pass through the challenges and trials of life. I have summoned you by name, when you pass through the waters I will be with you, says the Lord.
No other religion even dreams of this. All around us are philosophers and opinion-makers. Turn on the news, open the paper and we find countless commentators who hold themselves out as wise. But not one of them has scars on their hands. Not one of them can say, ‘When you pass through the waters I’ll be with you’. This is how our almighty, awesome, and all-wise God acts.
This is also the God who calls on us to be involved in introducing others to him. William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury once commented, ‘The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members’.For too long we have allowed our witness to be silenced. When did you last conclude a serious conversation with even the words, ‘May God bless you’ or ‘Can I pray for you?’ as potential conversation starters about the Lord Jesus?
In Romans 10: 14f we read: But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?… As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’
Being confident that God is with us, surely now is the time for us to ask the Lord for the wisdom and grace to bring God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, back into our conversations.
How often we encounter the words, The most important person is You!
Early last century the Scottish theologian, James Denney commented: In himself every man and woman is in a sense the most important person in the world and it always needs much grace to see what other people are, and to keep a sense of moral proportion.
What Denney regarded as a problem for men and women is now promoted as a virtue. But that very ‘virtue’ has given rise to a hyper-individualism that has little regard for others. Born out of a narcissism that serves self, it does not augur well for the future of western society.
In both Greek and Roman society reciprocity was an underlying ethic. For example, in his advice to Philocraten (before 70BC), Aristeas wrote, As you wish that no evil should befall you, but to be a partaker of all good things, so you should act on the same principle towards your subjects and offenders.
The motivation in this is negative reciprocity: ‘I will not do to you what I do not want you to do to me.’
But in his Sermon on the Plain Jesus’ words are positive and pro-active: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). This is often called the golden rule. ‘Treat others as you want them to treat you’.
IN PRACTICE
Jesus gives us examples of what his command to love looks like in practice. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” he asked (6:32). “Even sinners love those who love them.” Even people who have no fear of God have a sense of duty to those around them.
Jesus’ followers however, are to surpass this. Three times he speaks of the application of the principle of love – doing good, lending and giving. Each time he asks, ‘What credit is it to you?’ Credit here is the word normally translated grace (charis). Earlier in his Gospel Luke speaks of God’s favor to sinful men and women (1:30; 2:40; 2:52). Sinners is a reference to those who are ‘outside’ the community of God’s people. His triple repetition sharply defines his three points.
The standard the world sets for love is not sufficient. Doing good requires pro-active practical behavior that serves the real needs of even outsiders – not just the needs of those who might reciprocate or repay in kind.
Jesus raises the standard for anyone who would follow him. ‘There is nothing particularly meritorious in looking after people from whom you would normally expect a return,’ he was saying. ‘You are merely doing what the world does.’
And he goes even further: “Do good, lend (or give), expecting nothing in return” (6:35–36). He expects us to do good, lend or give, ‘despairing of no-one’, without expecting anything in return.
WITHOUT EXPECTING ANYTHING IN RETURN?
This does not mean that God doesn’t reward us. It’s important to know this, for rewards are part of life. Without them we can be tempted to become self-focused rather than God-focused and conduct our own self-review, chastising or rewarding ourselves accordingly. Jesus encourages us with his promises of reward. When we live out his expectations He will reward us with the special honour of our being called sons, and daughters, of the Most High.
Jesus uses a metaphor of beneficence that his hearers would have understood. Roman society and the economy were dependent on benefactors who often financed food (corn) for the city, and provided roads and public buildings. Public honors were bestowed for such generosity.
For his provision of cheaper corn, for example, Agathocles of Rhodes was honored: “It is hereby ‘resolved’ by the Council and the People to grant citizenship to Agathocles of Rhodes, upon equal and similar terms, to himself and to his descendants…to the end that all may know that the People understand how to repay with its favours those who are benefactors to it.” (BW Winter, Seek the Welfare of the City: 1994).
In saying that God, the Most High, would bestow honors on all who turn and follow him, Jesus accords his people with the highest honors. He is also saying that those who truly follow him live out qualities of God’s own character – for God is kind to the ungrateful and selfish (6:35). Character, not just a profession of faith, is essential.
With his words, Jesus laid the foundation for a new social order that over time has provided a framework for justice, tempered by mercy and forgiveness in constitutions and laws, protecting the rights of citizens and reversing many evils in society.
‘How much do we really care for and serve the needs of others?’ is the question.
