Rom 13-Owe Nothing to Anyone-1

| Owe Nothing to Anyone Part 1 – The Money Trap! Romans 13:8a

July 13, 2008(NLT) Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. (NIV) Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another. (ESV)  Owe no one anything, except to love each other.(The Message)  Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. PRAY Scripture Memory: Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. – Romans 13:8(NLT) Intro:God has promised to provide for all of our needs. I know people who have relatively low income who are living very comfortably and I know people with substantial incomes who never seem to be able to make ends meet. It is not at all uncommon for young men who become professional athletes and earn mega-bucks for several years, only to live their latter years in virtual poverty. Why is this?This week: (The Money Trap)1. The Problem of Debt2. The Issue of our Spiritual DebtNext week: (Financial Freedom)3. Practical Steps to Getting (and staying) out of Debt4. Practical Benefits to Being (and staying) out of Debt Money is a good servant, but a dangerous master. Dominique Bouhours  1. The Problem of DebtBumper Sticker: “I Owe, I Owe, its off to work I go”A man called the police and reported that all of his wife’s credit cards had been stolen. Then he added, "But don’t look too hard for the thief. He’s charging less than my wife ever did."The National Debt as of July, 2008 is $9½ trillion.With the estimated population of the United States at just over 300 million, each citizen's share of this debt is $31,215.25.The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.74 billion per day since September 28, 2007!MSN Money:·    About 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.·    Average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt.·    Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.American consumer credit debt in May rose $7.8 billion to $2.57 trillion, according to the latest statistics on consumer credit from the Federal Reserve. That’s about $24,000 per household, a figure that doesn’t include mortgage debt.Five years ago, that figure was $2.078 trillion, or about $19,000 per household. That’s an increase of more than 25%. If we continue in this pattern, within five years that figure will be almost $3.5 trillion or about $35,000 per household"Revolving" credit, which most typically involves credit cards, is an increasingly significant part of the equation. Revolving debt, at that point, totaled $962 billion; that's also about 25% higher than it was only five years earlier.The most unsettling aspect of all these credit card transactions is that many Americans don’t see their income as a spending cap. Almost half of U.S. families spend more than they earn, according to a Federal Reserve study. On average, Americans spend $1.22 for every dollar they earn, according to Myvesta.org.More than 1 million homeowners now have three or more mortgages on their property. Meantime, over 1.8 million owners have outstanding loans that equal 100% or more the value of their homes.Our consumer-oriented culture has deceived many people into living beyond their means on the assumption that they will have more money in the future so they can buy on credit now, enjoy their possessions and pay later. BoiceRon Blue, [Christian financial planning expert, and author of Master Your Money], was told by a banking friend that in the banking industry a person who pays his bills right away is known as a deadbeat because the company is unable to make much money from him. It used to be that deadbeat was someone who failed to pay his bills, now he is someone who pays his bills promptly.“The problem for many Americans, including our government, is that debt financing has become a way of life, and those who borrow are frequently enticed, misled, or trapped into borrowing more than they are able to repay. Then they default on their payments and often escape the weight of their financial obligations by declaring personal bankruptcy. Bankruptcy means cheating the person or company that has lent the money, and it an unjust and impermissible course of action for a Christian.” BoiceThe late Larry Burkett, [Christian financial counselor & founder of Crown Ministries], gave these statistics. 40% borrow more than they can make monthly payments on. The average American family is always only 3 weeks away from bankruptcy. According to Burkett and social security statistics, 85 out of 100 Americans have less than $250 in cash saved up by age 65. Why do we have such problems? Is it because we’re over generous? The statistics would deny that as they tell us that the average American gives only 2% of their income to charitable institutions We have more resources at our disposable than any people in history but somehow financial matters are a source of constant difficulty and stress.A Test: How can you tell if you are a slave to money? (from One Year with Jesus) (1) Do you think and worry about it frequently? (2) Do you give up doing what you should do or would like to do in order to make more money?(3) Do you spend a great deal of time caring for your possessions? (4) Is it difficult for you to give money away? (5) Are you in debt? The point is not that Christians should never borrow, but that they should never leave their debts unpaid. BoiceOur text, this morning, is a condemnation of the practice of some who are ever ready to borrow but very slow to repay. It also expresses the debt we owe to our fellowmen. Debt is a symptom, not the root problem. Materialism is the root problem. (1 Tim. 6:9-10, Luke 12:15) Materialism is seeking happiness through the accumulation of material things.1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NIV) – 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. We think we’re going to be happy if we just get the next thing on our list – but instead of receiving happiness, we pierce ourselves with many griefs.Luke 12:15 (NCV) – Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns.”Materialism is not a rich man’s disease only. Even those who don’t have much fall into the trap of believing they will be happy if they had a little bit more – their materialistic urges are simply fulfilled at Walmart rather than Sacks Fifth Avenue. Too often we spend money we don’t have, to buy things we don’t need to seek satisfaction we won’t find. |   | Q: What would happen today if you went in to work tomorrow and found out that your company is closing? What would you do if you had an accident that did not able you to continue in your present job? What if a disaster struck that was not covered by insurance, like flood?Debt is a problem for most of us. For many of us is a trap that we don’t even know how to begin getting out of. Next week we will look at some very practical suggestions to move in that direction.However, this morning, we want to look, briefly, at a more fundamental, core issue, that of Spiritual Debt… 2. The Issue of our Spiritual DebtMoney (and debt) are first & foremost spiritual issues.“Instead of being spiritual, you have become secular in your thinking. You have listened to the siren song of the secular culture surrounding you, and you have adopted a consumptive lifestyle on the world’s recommendation and urging.” Boice Ron Blue, [Christian author and financial counselor], makes the following observation:“The more television a person watches, the higher lifestyle the person is apt to desire. Television advertising is extremely sophisticated and effective. In a similar way, the more time you spend in shopping malls, the higher lifestyle you are apt to want because you are surrounding yourself with temptation. It is much like going to the grocery store just before mealtime to do your weekly shopping. Chances are you will spend substantially more than if you went after a meal and with a specific list in mind.”Those who want freedom from consumer debt must replace materialism with Godly contentment. Mat 6:24 (NLT) “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.A penny will hide the biggest star in the universe if you hold it close enough to your eye. Samuel GraftonEccl. 5:10 (NIV) – Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. The first, and most important step in dealing with The Money Trap is to repent.☞    We need to repent of our idolatry.An idol is anything we add to God as a condition of happiness or contentment. ☞    We need to acknowledge our stewardship.All that we have is on loan to us. It belongs to God and we will, one day, have to give an account to Him for how we have invested it. ☞    We need to remember & believe the gospel.We all have a spiritual debt. It is called "sin."God loves us so much that He paid that debt Himself by sending His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place. When He died, He shouted, "It is finished," literally, "it has been paid."And this same Jesus arose from the dead, later ascending into heaven.He paid our debt, but we have to receive that payment. We have to believe the gospel."A pastor told a true story of one of his church members, an attorney, who after meditating on several scriptures, decided to cancel the debts of all his clients that had owed him money for more than 6 months.He drafted a letter explaining his decision and its biblical basis and sent 17 debt canceling letters via certified mail.One by one, the letters began to return, unsigned and undelivered.Perhaps a couple people had moved away though not likely. 16 of the 17 letters came back to him because the clients refused to sign for and open the envelopes fearing that this attorney was suing them for their debts.How profound! We owe a debt for our sin and God is willing to cancel it but too many people will not even open the letter that explains that." Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) – Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Summary / Review:Our country is struggling with debt on in epidemic proportions. Our commitment to keep up with the Jones’ and our willingness to ignore the issue of repayment in order to fulfill a present craving has led many of us to the brink of financial ruin.& even those of us who are not on the brink of financial ruin are constantly bombarded with the temptations to spend more than we are earning. We are constantly being told, both directly & indirectly that we NEED to have MORE.The real problem is a spiritual one. We need to remember the REAL debt we have accrued, which cost our Lord His life. We need to remember and believe the promises of God that He will provide for all of our needs and commit ourselves to be content with how HE defines that.Before we can even BEGIN to address next weeks topics of how to get out of debt and the benefits of being out of debt, we need to address the deeper issues of contentment and trust, of idolatry and stewardship.Ask for a show of hands of any who would like prayer in this area and are willing to commit to:1. Acknowledging the debt that Jesus paid for you and trusting HIM, and Him only, to make you right with God, how many of you are ready to say to Him: I acknowledge that I have a debt to You, God, called sin which I can never repay. I believe that you died to pay that debt and I now trust YOU to make me what you want me to be?2. Acknowledging that all your money and other resources belong to God and that you will, one day, have to give an account to Him for them, how many of you are ready to commit to striving to HONOR God in all that you purchase, consciously and intentionally evaluating your spending by this standard?3. How many of you, are not yet ready to make that commitment, but really want/need prayer to get control of your finances?A Truth to Remember: God has paid our greatest debt, our debt to Him, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A Challenge to Consider:Do we believe the gospel enough to trust God to provide for our needs and to be content with whatever He does provide? One thing I heard this morning was…     |