Owe No Man Anything

The end of the year is approaching, and most of us are very busy. The New Year is rapidly approaching. A lot of us look forward to the new year as a time to make changes, new starts, and for many, a time to think about budgets. In fact, we will be working on the congregational budget soon.

But this morning, I want to look at some verses in the book of Romans, and see what Paul had to say about budgeting and finances. Open to Romans 13. Let’s start in v1.

13 Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. 2 So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.

This first set of verses probably get less popular every day, especially in this country. We have this idea that we are free to talk bad about everyone, especially if “their” ideas or beliefs don’t match up with ours. Remember who was the ruler when Paul was writing this? Nero – Granted this is before he started persecuting the Christians so aggressively, but they were still living in a country where they didn’t have nearly any of the rights or privileges we enjoy.

4 For government is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5 Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience.

Paul says the government is a servant for good. Sometimes we find this concept laughable, but this is the word of God. Notice Paul’s conclusion in the next verse.

6 And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s public servants, continually attending to these tasks.

Pay your taxes! This is also an unpopular idea these days. I know a lot of people who work really hard at getting out of this obligation. We are supposed to pay our taxes, not be like Henry David Thoreau, going to jail to get out of it.

These next few verses are where I want to focus this morning.

7 Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

“Pay your obligations to everyone.” First of all, notice that Paul says we have obligations to everyone! What is an obligation? An obligation is defined as, “an act or a course of action to which a person in morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.” As followers of Christ, we are morally bound, we have a duty, we have an obligation to E V E R Y O N E! That mean’s all the people on the planet.

And, we don’t get to pick and choose what obligations we honor. As God-fearing, God-honoring people, we need to pay all our obligations to Everyone! Not just the other Christians. Not just the people we like. Look at how Paul breaks this down.

Pay taxes to the tax collectors. Tolls to Toll collectors, which always makes me think of the Troll under the bridge in the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. But we are supposed to pay tolls to Toll collectors, not to Trolls.

We understand these concepts because they are logical. But look at the next phrase there, "Respect to those you owe respect." Again, we don’t get to pick who we owe respect to. If the position a person occupies is a position that deserves respect, then we owe them our respect. And the same with honor. We call Judges, “Your Honor,” because that is the title and respect they deserve. We are supposed to Honor our Elders. Honor our Parents.

And then we come to the next verse, which is possibly one of the most challenging verses in the entire Bible, at least for me.

8 Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Don’t owe anything to anyone! Easy, right? If we don’t borrow money, we won’t owe, right? Let’s approach this from a different angle. Remember the servant who owed a bunch of money and had his debt forgiven? Go over to Matthew 18, let’s pick up in verse 21.

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven. 23 For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him.