Message --- 9/22/08

Romans Lesson 25 (2008)

LOVE, FOR THE DAY IS NEAR

Romans 13:8-14
Key Verse: 13:8,11

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law... And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to walk up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

We live in a world where time is more important than money. Researchers are telling us that time is the new currency. In fact, all of us are slaves to time. Recently, I found an interesting and challenging website called "deathclock.com." You enter information about your birth date, your age, gender, mode (like normal, pessimistic, sadistic or optimistic), smoking status (smoking or non-smoking), and the BMI (body mass index) which is a way to measure your disease risk based on your height to weight ratio. Then it will calculate in some mathematical ways and tells you your personal day of death. I got curious and tried mine. At first, I put my mode as normal, then it came out that I will die in August 12th of 2028, only 20 years from now. So I quickly changed my mode from normal to optimistic, then it came out that I will live 30 years from now. I felt a little relieved. So I became curious again and tried one more time, "What if I am a pessimistic person?" Then it came out that I should've died last year. It's just a silly game, and I know that we cannot depend on this kind of information. However, it's good to have reality check about how short our life is? We must ask, "What should we be doing during our limited lifetime on earth?" Paul says that we are to love one another. Having said that we Christians have an obligation to pay taxes and honor our governing authorities (13:1-7), Paul now tells us what we owe everyone - that is love. (13:8-14)

FIRST, THE CONTINUING DEBT OF LOVE (8-10)

Look at verse 8. "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law." Debt is an obligation, which we cannot avoid. To average Americans, life is a constant struggle to pay off bills, student loans, car loans, house mortgage payments. And after we pay them off, we realize that the prime time of our life is gone. What a waste! Life is too precious to be wasted. Paul said, "Let no debt remain outstanding,..." I know many of us have debts to pay, especially credit card bills. This does not mean that we should never borrow money. It means that we should be financially accountable and responsible. Of course, we should not borrow more money or spend more than we can honestly repay. We should also do our best to pay our bills on time and get out of debt. Paul was a tent-making, self-supporting missionary. He probably also had some debts to pay. But he also knew that he was a great debtor to his fellow man due to the grace he received from God through Jesus Christ. He said in Romans 1:14 and 15a, "I am obligated (a debtor) both to the Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish."

In verse 8, Paul says, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." What he meant is that love is the one debt that we can never repay in full. When we look at our credit card statement, it says, "Your outstanding balance is $ 500.00." If you pay $ 500.00, you have a zero balance in your account. But you can never have a zero balance in your spiritual credit card. In other words, we Christians can never say to others, "I have loved you enough, so I am going to stop now." Why not? It's because we have an outstanding debt of love which we cannot pay off at all. In Romans chapter 12, we learned twelve ingredients of love. Romans 12:9 and 12 says, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." Also 12:13 says, "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." However, our love should not be limited to Christians. We should reach out to the entire human race. That's the command of God in the Scriptures.

Look at verses 9-10. "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 this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." "Love your neighbor as yourself." One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?" The man answered, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with and all your mind. And, love your neighbor as yourself." "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered him by telling a story, the parable of the Good Samaritan. There was a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he went across to the other side of the road. And a Levite did the same. But when a Samaritan also traveling saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill, I'll pay you on my way back." Jesus asked, "What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?" "The one who treated him kindly," the expert in the law responded. Jesus said, "Go and do the same." Love is not just a sentimental feeling for those who hurt. It is taking the time to involve ourselves in the lives of others.

Someone said, "It is much easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor." In other words, it's hard to love someone who is close to us, especially those who seem to be gifted in making us mad and getting on our nerves. Wherever you go, either in your work place or in school, there always seems to be someone who always makes you upset and frustrated. Sometimes, our spouse is the one who does this. What do you do? The Bible says that we can never stop loving them. Someone might say, "Well, love doesn't work. I've been patient enough." But true love never gives up hope. It always protects, always trusts, and always perseveres. Love is always the right thing to do. God is love. He loved us even when we were still sinners. So Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you." Yet, by loving others, we are not actually doing a favor to them. We are only paying our debt. Can any of us here say that you have loved others enough? No. We can never pay off the debt to love one another. When we love, we are truly God's children.

SECOND, "AND DO THIS, UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT TIME." (11-14)

Look at verse 11. "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to take up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." here, "our salvation" means the redemption of our body through the second coming of Jesus Christ. Down through the generations, some people have been so anxious about the exact time of Jesus' second coming that they tried to predict it and failed. On the other hand, some are too complacent, saying, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? We've been waiting for so long, and still Jesus didn't come." These days, it's so easy to fall into sin and temptation and be trapped by them. People are obsessed with themselves and become very self-centered. They would do anything to gratify their selfish pride and worldly ambition. Because of our selfishness and greed, we fail to love one another and live against God's will, breaking God's commandment. Jesus once said to his disciples that in the last days, because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

Paul said, "And do this, understanding the present time." What he meant is that we should love one anther all the more knowing that our time is limited. Life is uncertain. No one knows how long we have to live. Some may live long, and some may not. Last week, I attended a funeral for my friend's father. He told me that when he touched his father's dead body, it was like a piece of furniture, very cold and hardened. Of course, we as Christians do not have to be afraid of dying because we have such a wonderful hope of glorious redemption of our body. But death is still a sobering moment for all of us. What should we do in the face of death? Shall we indulge in our own selfish interest and live according to our sinful nature? No. We are to love one another, more and more. We can never love someone enough. Love covers many sins and shortcomings. Love is hard work. Love is the most beautiful, meaningful and right thing to do. We are to care for those who are in need. We are loved by God so that we can share our love with others.

As we see the world today, we cannot deny that Jesus' return is very near. The hour has come for us to wake up from spiritual sleep and be prepared for the Lord's second coming. How can we be best prepared? Nothing special. Nothing complicated. We should love our neighbor as ourselves in obedience to God's command. Our neighbor can be a person in Africa, Japan, China, one of Muslim countries or a student in the campus or a beggar on the street, or a nasty person who lives right next to your home, or your boss or coworker, your parents, siblings, children or spouse at home. The real question is not "Who is our neighbor" but "What kind of neighbor we are going to be?" We don't have enough time to love one another. Time is running out. One man was in the Twin Tower on September 11th. He knew that his life was in jeopardy and called his wife. But he could only leave a message. The last words he said to her were, "I love you." When is the last time you showed your love to your loved ones or gave them hug, saying "I love you." God wants us to love one another. We can overcome evil when we truly love one another.

Look at verses 12-14. "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the day time, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy: Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." What are the deeds of darkness? There are so many. But Paul mentions here only six of them; orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, dissension and jealousy. I think he mentioned only these because he didn't have enough space to record all the deeds of darkness. But the root of all these evils is self-indulgence, the obsession with oneself. We are to stop living a self-centered life. We should live a life to seek God, His kingdom and His righteousness in whatever we do.

Paul said that we should put on the armor of light (v.12) and clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (v.14). In Ephesians 6:10-17. This armor of light refers to the full of armor of God, such as the belt of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and constant prayer. Since the weather is getting cooler, everyone is starting to wear long sleeve shirts and pants. When we go out, my wife always says, "I will be out in two minutes." But it takes more than two minutes, sometimes twenty minutes. And I feel like it's forever. Everyone spends sometime to decide what to wear everyday. That's okay. In the old days, even rich people could not bathe everyday because of lack of clean water. So, they put perfume on their body to cover up the smell. We are really lucky because we can take a shower everyday and even as many times as we want. Using good soap and shampoo, we even smell good. But that's only body part. What about our soul, mind and heart? Paul says that we must make sure to dress with our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is Christian dress code? Should we wear Christian Dior? Paul said in Ephesians 4:22b-24, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Colossians 3:9-10 reads, "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." We can bathe in the grace of Jesus Christ and have wonderful fragrance in our inner person. By doing so, we put on God's righteousness, which is our basic clothing, along humility, purity, compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, joy, peace, especially love. This is the most beautiful clothing we can wear, much better than Calvin Klein. We will be changed in his glory someday.

The world encourages us to live naturally and gratify the desires of our fallen sinful nature. Many people are confused and misled by the worldly standards. We need a spiritual discernment and struggle to live a godly life. Most of all, as God's children, we should stop living a self-centered life. We should love God and love one another now. Some may say, "If I become successful and rich, then I will surely love and serve others. Then I can serve much better and more effectively." That sounds reasonable. But that does not happen easily. Most people change their mind. After all, nobody can be certain about their future. We don't know when we will die and when Jesus will come. We should obey God's command now in our present situation. But we must know that time is running out. Most of us are very busy everyday. It's hard enough even for us to struggle just to survive. We don't seem to have enough time even for ourselves. Time is money. So we are reluctant to spend our time for others. We neglect them to remain hurt and suffering. That's a great sin before God. Someone said, "The glory of God is the human being fully alive." Each soul is very precious in the sight of God. Even though we cannot love many people at the same time, we can love at least one person at a time. There is always someone who needs our love and care. We should do what we can do for them now. What God wants from us is not necessarily to achieve big things but to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's truly a great thing. Let's think about seriously who is our neighbor and what kind of neighbor we are. Most of all, let us love one another more and more especially when it is most difficult to do.