Romans 13:8-14
Notes
Transcript
Two weeks ago we covered verses 1-7, we are to subject ourselves to governing authorities, resisting them is the same as resisting God, God placed authorities as His servants, and we are to pay taxes, revenue, respect, honor.
Verses 8-10
Verses 8-10
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Owe no one anything - all debts must be repayed in full. Not that this speaks against borrowing money, but it does specifically point to the honesty and integrity . Why do we see many struggling financially today?They must try to outdo everyone else! They buy things they can’t afford on credit, since it is easy to obtain, but debts can rise quickly.
One debt cannot be fully paid though, loving others. Paul reminds us that this is basis for all other commands - not commit adultery (love your own spouse and respect the other person), not murder (love life itself), not steal (love and respect another’s property), do not covet (love what you have, not others). The last two can also be thought of as thought/action. All commandments can be summed up with love your neighbor as yourself.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus said all laws and Prophets depend on these two principles: Love God with all your heart and love neighbors as you love yourself.
Love IS the fulfilling of all God’s laws. Think back to all the love God has shown to us - made in His image, created all creation, placed us in dominion of all other living things, watches and cares for our every need, sent His son to die for our sins. How did Jesus show His love to us? He left the heavenly realm to come to earth, He left royalty to become a human, He showed us how a sinless life could be lived, He was beaten, scourged, nailed to a cross, and willingly died for us so that our sin debt would be paid in perpetuity. Jesus paid all our debts we will ever incur because of our sins.
How can we repay the debt of love shown to us? By living every day for Him. How do many of us act instead? In disobedience, defiance, rebellion, and a true distaste for all things good.
Verses 11-14
Verses 11-14
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Time has come to wake from sleep - time here refers to a specific event that will occur, the time has come that we wake from sleep - a deep spiritual sleep where we have grown apathetic to spiritual things. We are unresponsive to God. Paul tells us though, that the time has come that we are to wake up! We are to love our neighbors because the time is closely coming that time on earth will end. We must re-evaluate how we are living our lives, put aside our sins, and live a life pleasing to God - so that we can be a true witness for Christ.
Salvation nearer to us now - every day we live is one day closer to meeting the Lord. The same as each day we live is one day closer to the second coming of Christ! We should love our neighbors enough to know that the time of Christs return is drawing closer and we should desire to be the witness He has called us to be in a lost and sinful world.
Night far gone - Anyone not used to working a night shift knows the struggle of trying to remain awake until the shift is over. We know also the dangers that the darkness brings. We cannot see detail, we cannot see potential hazards, we stumble and can even fall. It is extremely difficult knowing there is work to be done when we can barely keep our eyes open. Spiritually, this refers back to Paul urging us to wake from our spiritual sleep. The longer is is until the Lord returns, the more lethargic we get - weary / sleepy waiting until He returns. Sin can place us in the same spot. We can get so drawn into sin that our vision grows dim, we are in the darkness, and we can’t see details, we can’t recognize hazards, and we too can stumble and fall. But when we see the first glimmer of daylight though, it’s almost like we get a second wind.
We are told that the day is at hand - It’s almost like when we see that first glimmer of light that darkness is pushed back and our vision improves tremendously. Church, as we see the Lord’s return getting closer, we should be living a holy life, appealing to God. As a result, we become the light in a dark and sinful world. And when Christ’s return does occur, we will be present for eternity is light, holiness, and God’s glory.
Cast off darkness and put on light - In verse 13, we are told of sinful actions - the things of darkness. Not that it is a complete list, but things that were on Paul’s mind. He urges us that we are to stay in the light, to constantly be on guard, to separate ourselves from the things of the world. We are to live a life pleasing to God, where our outward actions show the changed inward being we are in Christ. We are not to keep living in past sinful actions.
Instead we are to put on Christ. We are told that when we are saved we become new creatures.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Paul reminds us, as Christians we are changed, clothed in righteousness. If we keep on the dirty clothing of sin, we can’t put clean clothes on and expect them to not get dirty also. We must fully and completely turn ourselves over to God for His direction, leading, and most importantly his GLORY.