Owe Love at the Dawn of the Morning

I. Pay your Debts

This means to pay your bills promptly

This mean avoiding unnecessary debt

Proverbs 3:27–28 NKJV

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,” When you have it with you.

Leviticus 19:13 NKJV

‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.

Proverbs 22:7 NKJV

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

3. Kinds of debt - Avoid credit card debt where-ever possible. If you can’t afford it, do without. If you can’t do without it, get a cheaper one that you can afford.

Mortgages - these are often thought of as “good debt.” that’s partially true. Since you must live somewhere, if you are not in a position to buy, then you obviously must either get a loan or rent. But rent is also an obligation, and one that is even less flexible than a mortgage. On the other hand, it is still debt. Get out of it when you can.

Car loans - it is better to plan ahead when you can, and save the money to buy. If you are faced with the need for a car, then buy used if you must get a loan. Then pay it off as soon as you can, then keep paying the payments to yourself for a new car.

School debt - very few people have the capacity to go to school full time and also pay for the entire bill themselves while doing it. Yet since the degree opens opportunities, it might still be worth it. Solution is to get the minimal loan needed to finish the degree, by working as much as you can and still be able to graduate.

Cosigning a loan - never cosign a loan unless you anticipate being able to pay the entire thing yourself. Prov 6:1-5

II. Owe Love

A. Because Love is an unpaid debt

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 John 3:14 NKJV

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.

B. Because Love fulfills the Law

Matthew 22:35–40 NKJV

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

C. Because Love does not harm

III. Wake up

A.What time is it?

1 Thessalonians 5:4–9 NKJV

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

B. How do we wake up?

Parable of the Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:13 NKJV

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Recognize that our salvation is drawing near

Recognize that Morning is Nigh

C. What should we put off?

Revelry/Drunkennes -

Lewdness/lust

Strife/envy

D. What should we wear?

Walk properly εὐσχημόνως means to behave decently, i.e. in a socially acceptable way. Here “decently” must be defined by Christian values in light of the “day” that is, to live in light of the fact that the Day of Judgment is coming.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Dionysus of Hallicarnassus used the phrase “put on [person]” to mean “play the part of” Therefore to put on Christ means to do what Jesus would do

Do not make provision for the flesh - to satisfy bodily desires in unrestrained ways, and therefore to engage in sin.