The Debt That Never Gets Paid

The Debt that Never Gets Paid

Rom. 13.8-10

FBC Chester, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A After Confederate General Robert E. Lee retired he was named president of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA.

1 While he was president, a new student came into Lee’s office asked for a copy of the Student handbook of the school’s rules & regulations.

a Lee replied that the school didn’t have any written rules but we do have one rule, “Our only rule is kindness.”

b That’s a good rule!

aa Kindness is a rule that if we all lived by it we would not only live a better town, but we’d live in a better world!

bb Luke 6.31, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

2 In Rockville, Maryland, all the tickets issued are imprinted with these words, “Drive towards others as you would have drive towards you.”

a This is a very similar concept to Luke 6.31.

b Drive with courtesy to other drivers with the same courtesy to you want others to show towards you.

B Paul writes in Romans 13.8-10, about how the first century believer was to behave towards one another for their own good. (ETS)

1 Romans 13:8-10 (NASB) 8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

a Earlier in Romans Paul put out an urgent call for love

Romans12:9-10 (NASB) “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;”

and in chapter 13 he comes back “love” as a theme.

b He does so, I believe, because love is the secret ingredient of all service we do for Kingdom of God. (ESS)

2 Objective: I want us to know that “love” is what we owe one another as Christians.

a Let’s look at two debts that we assume after we receive God’s gift of salvation.

aa The first debt we assume is to love others.

bb The second debt we assume is to live by the spirit of the law.

b Pray

I The first debt we assume is to love others (v.8.)

A I remember in High School I got my first real job working for Wal-Mart and I thought I just had to have a checking account (against my mom’s advice I did just that.)

1 I bought gas for my 1982 S-10 truck at the Star station in Sandoval and I paid with a check.

a A few days later a got a letter in the mail from my bank saying “There was insufficient funds in my account to cover the check I wrote to ‘Star Station.’”

aa I remember going to my mom, “You were right about the checking account. The bank ran out of money.”

bb Little did I know it wasn’t the bank that ran out of money . . . it was me.

b Verse 8, is the verse many people use to prove that borrowing money is a sin. (Prof. Robertson, “The Bible doesn’t mean what it says, it means what it means.”)

aa Hudson Taylor (Father of the Modern Missionary Movement); Charles H. Spurgeon (Prince of the Pulpit) believed that this verse meant that being in debt was a sin.

bb If this is your belief, conviction, good for you.

2 The Bible does not forbid borrowing or lending. (Cf. Neh. 5.1-11)

a Ex. 22.25-27 (NASB), 25 "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. 26 "If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, 27 for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

aa It forbids charging a high interest, robbing the brethren, failing to pay an honest debt.

bb Matthew 25:27 (NASB) 27 'Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

Luke 19:23 (NASB) 23 ~'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?'