We Owe ... Others Series

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13; John 7:38-39; Luke 19:11-27

Title: We Owe Others

Proposition: There are three things that We Owe Others 1. An Encounter with the LORD 2. An Example 3. The Message of Good News*

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

N. T. Wright made this statement:

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”

Now, that does not diminish any ideas concerning the Second Coming. Scripture is clear about the fact that Jesus Christ is Coming Again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

“For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. Then we will be with the LORD forever.”

However, it is just as clear what we are to do in the meantime. We are not called to either navel gaze or sit on our hands. We are not called to isolate ourselves on high holy mountain tops nor be conformed to this world.

This morning we all owe a debt. We owe a debt to our fellow Christians. We owe a debt to those outside the faith. Now, this debt is not primarily a financial or materialistic debt.

This debt has to do with how I live my life here on this Good Earth. And it has to do with what I do with my life on this Good Earth. For, the truth is this morning there are those who are in our lives who may never understand their truth value and worth unless we are willing to do our part in the here and now.

Anita Canfield in 1985 shared the following quote in her book, A Woman & Her Self-Esteem. It is a quote that has been attributed to a great many people including Pastor Ernest T. Campbell, Dr. Rev. Thomas K. Tewell and even Mark Twain. Regardless of who actually wrote it the quote causes us to take a moment and do some thoughtful introspection:

Ask yourself a most profound question: “What are the two most important days in my life?” THE DAY YOU WERE BORN and THE DAY YOU REALIZE WHY YOU WERE BORN! And why were you born? You were born to bless the lives of others. You were born to make a contribution.

What an amazing and wonderful statement. Let’s take some time this morning to look at three debts that we owe to others; those who believe in Christ and those who as yet have not believed in Christ.

1. An Encounter with God

The greatest thing that we can do for ourselves, for our fellow Christians and for those outside of the faith is to have a Personal Encounter with the God of All Creation. There is no greater gift that we can give to ourselves, to our children, our grandchildren, our extended family, and our friends and to the world at large.

We can leave them money and in no time it may be spent and gone. We can leave them a great deal of material goods and in the end all of those things will rust, rot and find their place in some landfill. But if we can share with them experiences of when we have had encounters with the LORD, it will not only inspire them it can reveal the way for them to experience such encounters and even more.

One of the reasons such names as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Deborah, Ruth, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Esther, Simeon, Mary, Joseph, Peter and Paul possess such spiritual gravitas is due to their encounters that they experienced with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.

Three of Abraham’s encounters with God are recorded in Genesis chapters 12, 15 and 17.

+In chapter 12, Abraham encounters God as he is living in a pagan land and is called to go to the Promise Land.

+In chapter 15, Abraham encounters God in a vision as God reveals more about His future plans for blessing Abraham and his descendants.

+In chapter 17, Abraham is again encountered by the LORD as the LORD further reveals His plans concerning the birth of a Promise Child – Isaac.

In all of this, we see a progressive deepening with each encounter. Abraham faith grows, his experience with the LORD deepens and more and more God reveals His nature and His plans with Abraham. That is the way it is with God.

A little later we see Moses having this amazing encounter with the LORD. It is recorded in Exodus chapter 3. It is an encounter that turns Moses’ life around. Moses goes from being an insignificant shepherd on the backside of nowhere to becoming the leader of the People of Israel and God’s mighty Law Giver.