Indebted To Love
Romans 13:8-10
INTRO: Read Text
The very first phrase of our passage today is some pretty good advise, but really how many of us have done the opposite? “Let no debt remain outstanding.” I would venture to say that most of the people we have here today have some sort of financial debt. I’m pretty sure that there are several who have no financial debt, but if I were a betting man, I would bet that over 75 percent of us have financial debt.
Even if you don’t have financial debt did you know that you are lumped into the debt statistics when comes to the average debt in each American household? While lumping all debt in America with all household whether a household has debt or not, the average household credit card debt is $7,281.00.
I checked out the debt statistics this week and this is what I came up with.
ILLUS: American Household Credit Card Debt Statistics: 2014, by Tim Chen
Based on an analysis of Federal Reserve statistics and other government data, the average household owes $7,281 on their cards; looking only at indebted households, the average outstanding balance rises to $15,608.
In considering the debt that most people have in this country, credit cards, mortgages, and student loans here is a break down.
Current as of December 2014
U.S. household consumer debt profile:
• Average credit card debt: $15,608
• Average mortgage debt: $154,847
• Average student loan debt: $32,397
In total, American consumers owe:
• $11.71 trillion in debt
◦ An increase of 3.8% from last year
• $881.8 billion in credit card debt
• $8.13 trillion in mortgages
• $1,126.0 billion in student loans
◦ An increase of 9.6% from last year
Yet our Bible passage this morning says “Let no debt remain outstanding.” We don’t always listen to what the Word of God tells us do we?
Personally I would love to be out of debt, but I’m not. I would venture to say that that there isn’t anyone who really wants to be in debt, but we are. The good news about all of this is that God willing everyone one us can overcome our financial debt. Today our Scripture tells us about a debt, the continuing debt of love and that is the only debt that Paul says is to remain outstanding.
As we look at our text today we have to back up just a bit to the previous text. Paul has just told us that we are to pay what we owe. If we owe taxes pay taxes, if revenue then revenue, if respect then respect, if honor then honor.
He has told the Christians at Rome to not only pay what you owe to your fellow Christians (chapter 12), but to non-Christians as well. And as we come to the text today he proceeds to discuss our duty to our fellow man and he says but there is one debt that you can never pay and that is to love one another.
While Christians do owe financially for our houses, cars, possibly credit cards, student loan, or maybe hospital bills and so on, those are debts we can pay, the debt we can never pay is the continuing debt to love one another.
The Christian should always feel “Indebted To Love.” But why? Why should we always feel indebted to love? Let’s consider a couple things this morning.
Why We Owe The Debt
How We Pay The Debt
1. Why We Owe The Debt
Verse 8 says, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
One thing we have to consider is to remember who Paul is talking to here. He is talking to many Jewish Christians and these Christian were slow to give up the Law. In Acts 21:20 and following we see that many of the Jews came to belief in Jesus Christ, but it continues and says that they are zealous for the Law. And as the passages continues Paul goes on the show these Jewish Christians that he himself is living in obedience to the Law so they will not harm him.
But Paul is telling the Christian at Rome to love one another and this is the fulfillment of the Law. And in hearing that it would give the Jewish Christians some comfort in knowing that keeping the command to love one another fulfills the Law.
And right after he brings up the Law, he also brings up the gospel,
The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Rom. 13:9
You see he takes his readers back to the Law of Moses, but he also takes them to what Jesus quotes in the gospels from Lev. 19:18 to “love your neighbor as yourself”
We remember what Jesus said, don’t we? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Mt. 22:37-40
And how true that statement is. If you look at the 10 commandments the first 4 have to do with loving God, the last six commandments have to do with loving others.
So the Jews that Paul was writing to would have been comforted by knowing that in loving others they were fulfilling the Law of Moses.
But is also fulfills the the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 15:12, My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
In the day that Paul was writing he essentially had to cover all of his basis. He knew he was writing to both Jews and Gentiles and in telling them to love one another he was comforting the Jews, but also giving them the continuing command of Christ to love one another and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Today, we don’t concern ourselves with the 10 commandments because we know the new command to love God and love other people covers the whole of the 10 commandments.
But Paul says to love our neighbor and that begs the question, who is our neighbor?
I know that some of you, if not most of you know who your neighbors are. Some I would venture say even love your neighbors. I was talking to a couple the other day who said that they knew all 11 of their neighbors. You know that is pretty unusually today, but it’s great that they do, some of those neighbors have been prayed for that they come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
ILLUS: In my lifetime I’ve know our neighbors for the most part. There are a couple neighbors that I knew better than others. My best friends when I was young were my neighbors Scott and Kenny Heimsoth. Another one my neighbors was Martha Neth, she was like another grandmother to me.
Other neighbors we had we were good enough friends that we had no problem asking to borrow some eggs, or milk or whatever we needed when we were out so we didn’t have to go to town to get them before we could fix supper or dinner.
(Tell about getting the eggs in the dark and falling)
But is loving our neighbors only loving those who live around us? If you know the story of the good Samaritan you know that it is more than that. But there is something to be said about loving those who geographically live next to us. In today’s world a lot of us don’t even know our neighbors, let only love them.
If we are going to follow the call and will of Christ to make disciples of all nations it might be pretty hard if we don’t even know those who live around us don’t you think?
So in loving our neighbors a good place to start might be to get to know your physical neighbors, but to also love those who are in need.
In the story of the good Samaritan who was the neighbor? It wasn’t priest or Levite who passed by and didn’t help the man in need, it was the Samaritan who stopped and helped the man, but wasn’t the man in need the neighbor as well?
You see those of us who are willing to help those in need are the neighbors of those in need and if we are going to fulfill the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have to help those who are in need. In need physically and in need spiritually.
The Scriptures reveal that God is love and love is of God.
1 John 4:7-11, Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Why do we owe the debt of love to one another? Because God first loved us and because of that we ought to love one another. If fact if we don’t love one another the Scripture says we do not know God or love God.
When we love God and love one another we are completing the Great Commandment of the Gospel.
2. How We Pay The Debt
Look at verse 10, Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
If you look at the life of Jesus you never find Him doing harm to another individual. He cared for others, He healed others, He feed others, He raised others from the dead, He preformed miracles so that others would believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He didn’t harm anyone. And in doing those things He fulfilled all the Law and Prophets.
He did talk harshly to the religious leaders saying woe to you Pharisees, you hypocrites. He spoke harshly of those who had no interest in the kingdom of God, which are the same people who should have known about the kingdom of God and the coming of Jesus because the Scriptures prophesied concerning Jesus and His coming kingdom. But Jesus didn’t speak these things are harm them, in fact Jesus would have loved to win them as He won Nicodemus who He talked to in John chapter 3 and later is seen as one of Jesus’ followers and helping with His body after He is crucified.
If we are to pay the continuing debt of love we must to the best of our ability imitate Jesus, we must do all we can to walk as Jesus walked, to love as Jesus loved.
That is what He has called every Christian to do, but He never intend that we do it alone. In the Great Commission Jesus tell us to make disciples, baptize, teach others to obey His commands. those are our marching orders, and that is how we pay the debt. But Jesus didn’t pat us on the back and say good luck go out and do what I told you. No He says, and I will be with you all the while you are doing this things. I will walk with you step by step.
Jesus also said in John 14:12, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
We pay the continuing debt of love when we do what Jesus did, but did you notice what Jesus said in John 14:12? He said we would do even greater things than He did! I’ve been wondering lately about that. That seems impossible to do even greater things than Jesus did, but He told us that we would so it must not be impossible because Jesus wouldn’t tell us something that we could not do. So I’ve been wondering how is this accomplished.
The only answer I have is because of the Holy Spirit sent to us. During the life of Jesus He had the Holy Spirit and the full measure of the Holy Spirit, we know what He did, the miracles He preformed, the authority of which He spoke. And you have to remember He was human like us.
Phil. 2:7, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. He gave up being God (He made Himself nothing) while here on earth so He could experience humanity.
So then, why did He have power? Why did He have authority? Why could He perform miracles? How could He live a perfect sinless life? Because He had the Holy Spirit, because He knew who His Father in heaven was and He knew He belonged to Him.
It was through the Holy Spirit that Jesus did what He did, but Jesus was just one man, the only man with the Holy Spirit living inside of Him. The only man who could give the power of the Holy Spirit to others as He did with his disciples. And He has given the Holy Spirit to us as well. And we are not just one man or one woman, but we are millions world wide. Millions of Christians with the Holy Spirit living inside of us, living all over the world and if we set our minds to it there could be Christians in every place in this world.
Do you begin to see how we could do even greater things than Jesus? Do you see what He started with His ministry of making 12 disciples who in turn made more disciples who make more disciples?
Jesus was God, but He gave that up to become man and yes He was 100% God and 100% man, but as a man He could only affect the people He could in contact with and as a man he couldn’t be everywhere all of the time. So because of His love for the Father and because of His love for all mankind He made 12 disciples who would make more disciples, who would make more disciples.
In addition to that He gave up His life so the world could be saved through His perfect sacrifice on the cross. And when He did that He gave us the complete Gospel to tell others so they could be saved through belief in Him.
If we are going to pay the continuing debt of love to one another we will walk as Jesus walked and we will love as Jesus loved. We will make our primary goal to see that the gospel is preached to all the nations, to all the people groups of the world and we will be a living sacrifice for God each and everyday. And we will make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples.
CONCLUSION:
The church in America has taken on the culture of America and not in a good way. We are a country of consumers and we’ve become consumers in our churches. We hire paid professional to do the work for us rather than getting in there and doing the work Christians ought to be doing their selves. And I’m trying to preach myself out of a job, because the Scripture clearly call for those who preach the gospel full-time to earn a living from the gospel, but it never calls for only those who earn a living from the gospel to be the only one who preach the gospel.
Under the current mode of operation in the church today, if it continues, it is very unlikely we will ever complete the mission of God to have the gospel preached to every nation and people group.
This passage today calls us to love one another as ourselves and if we do we will fulfill the Law. But not only will we fulfill the Law, but we will fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. And only then will we have paid the continuing debt of love that we owe.
Let’s Pray
