Called To Love Others
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Romans 13:8-14
Romans 13:8-14
LORD’S SUPPER
- Intro the Lord’s Supper
time to reflect…time to examine ourselves… time to consider any sin in our lives that might keep us from participating in this very special act that we do together as a church family
- so as the team comes forward to begin passing out the bread and the drink… a song will be played… and I encourage you to spend that time in prayer… preparing your hearts.... and when the song is over..... we will take of the Lord’s Supper together...
***** song will be played ******
As our passage today will focus on our love for others… right now we take time to remember God’s love for us. Specifically, the sending of His only Son to be a sacrifice, in our place, in order that we might
- have our sins forgiven
- be adopted by God the Father
- and be able to look forward to eternal life with Him in Heaven
on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples… we find Luke’s telling of the events in chapter 22 of his gospel… starting in vs. 14....
Luke 22:14–20 (ESV)
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.... (do this in remembrance of me).
PRAYER
******DISMISS THE KIDS TO GO WITH ALLISON*******
SERMON
INTRO:
Sermon Series: Romans
Main Passage: Romans 13:8-14
Sermon title today is “Called to love others”
one of the most famous lyrics ever written about love is of course the Beatle’s song, “All You Need Is Love”
In a statement to Melody Maker magazine, Brian Epstein, the band's manager, said of the song… "All You Need Is Love":
"It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message. The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything."
a clear message to the world… from John, Paul, George and Ringo… love is everything
church family, God’s Word has a clear message for us… love is everything
Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke one of the most memorable passages in the bible about love and it can be found in John 13:34-35
John 13:34–35 (ESV)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus’ words are so challenging. I mean, who, even among those in the Early Church, fully lived up to the commandment? Probably very few.
Who today? Perhaps even fewer.
But the command isn’t only challenging, ,it is also so promising, IF the Church would just put it to work.
The promise is, “All people will know that you are my disciples . . .”—will know that we are truly his—if we obey the command to love one another.
The implication is that many will turn to Christ as a result....
because of our love for others!
so turn with me to our passage today and let’s read it together....
READ THE PASSAGE:
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.
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.
PRAY
BODY
POINT #1
The call to love others is:
Ongoing (vs. 8-10)
Urgent (vs. 11-12a)
Specific (vs. 12b-14)
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...”
We should never be in debt.... pay our taxes, pay whatever we owe to people, but this passage isn’t really about that, it’s about love…
and Paul says there is one debt which will always remain outstanding, because we can never pay it fully, and that is our job to love others. We can never stop loving somebody and say, “I have loved enough.”
one of the church fathers, Origen, wrote in the second century, “So Paul desires that our debt of love should remain and never cease to be owed, for it is expedient that we should both pay this debt and always owe it.”
The Christian is always a love-debtor, no matter how much love he or she gives.
Paul continues in verse 8 with, “for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
which brings us to the question.... “How does loving one’s neighbor fulfill the Law?”
The Ten Commandments contain two divisions, sometimes called the two tablets. The first division gives us vertical, Godward commands such as, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).
The second division contains horizontal commands that pertain to human relationships. Each of the divisions can be summed up with a single comprehensive commandment, just as Christ explained in Matthew 22:37-40 when he was asked which is the great commandment:
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.”
or we could say that these 2 commands summarize all the Law.
So.. if you keep both the vertical and the horizontal commandments and you will keep the whole Law! Here in his letter to the Romans, Paul is assuming that his readers have a vertical love for God, but do they have a horizontal love for others? If so, they are fulfilling God’s Law.
When we love our neighbors we will refrain from breaking the horizontal-relational commands.
Paul gives some examples in verses 9, 10:
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.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
When you love your neighbor you will refrain from adultery.
When you love your neighbor you will regard his life as sacred.
When you love your neighbor you will respect his ownership of property.
There is a sense in which love for our neighbor is a more obvious measure of where we stand with God than our love for God himself.
We can easily convince others that we love God, but it is far more difficult to fake love for our neighbors. They are not fooled as easily when it comes to that, and neither are we.
So our love for others provides a helpful measure of our own spiritual state.
The call to love others is ongoing…
secondly.... the call to love others is URGENT
POINT #2
The call to love others is:
Ongoing (vs. 8-10)
Urgent (vs. 11-12a)
Specific (vs. 12b-14)
Romans 13:11–12 a (ESV)
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....
Paul does not view this call to horizontal love as a casual matter. He sees it as having utmost urgency.
Look at all the ways that Paul is focused on the time here in these verses:
you know the time
the hour has come
salvation is nearer now than before
the night is gone and the day is at hand
the bible divides time into “this age” and “the age to come”
the New Testament writers are clear that “the age to come” was ushered in with the coming of Jesus.
but the culmination of “the age to come” will happen with the 2nd coming of Jesus. So in the meantime, there is an overlapping period of the two ages.
but Paul was telling his hearers, and us, that we are living in “the last days.”
we don’t know when Jesus will return… and so we should live as those who are always prepared for THAT day!
And let me say this… even if Jesus does not return in our lifetime… every gray hair.... or lost hair.... every wrinkle.... every sore muscle… every funeral you attend is a reminder that time is not on our side…
This brings an urgency to this matter of loving others. Believers are to wake up from spiritual laziness and love their neighbors while they have opportunity to do so.
Paul taught the Corinthians the message that “Love is everything” in his first letter in chapter 13....
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
If I try to live for the Lord by attending the most bible studies, or never missing a Sunday service… or posting spiritual things to my social media… or even serving him in some sort of ministry or missionary position… but do not love....
I’m just an annoying, clanging cymbal that no one wants to listen to… and I probably have no influence at all on those around me for the sake of the Kingdom.
love is everything… and the call to love others is urgent!
finally, the call to love others is specific...
POINT #3
The call to love others is:
Ongoing (vs. 8-10)
Urgent (vs. 11-12a)
Specific (vs. 12b-14)
Paul next tells us there is something we must put off and something we must put on if we are going to succeed at loving others:
“So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (v. 12b).
Paul is specific about “the works of darkness” we are to discard:
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. (v. 13)
---expand on these----
However, there is a gloriously positive side to this, given in verse 14:
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
It is true that if we are Christians we have already put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
But our text here in Romans has reference to a practical day-to-day, repeated putting on of Christ. We are to embrace him again and again and again.
Ray Stedman gives this illustration:
When I get up in the morning I put on my clothes, intending them to be part of me all day, to go where I go and do what I do. They cover me and make me presentable to others. That is the purpose of clothes.
In the same way, the apostle is saying to us, “Put on Jesus Christ when you get up in the morning. Make him a part of your life that day. Intend that he go with you everywhere you go, and that he act through you in everything you do. Call upon his resources. Live your life IN CHRIST.”
Church family, how much more would you love those around you, if you began each day by putting on Jesus Christ?
CONCLUSION
One last thing I want you to see.... in vs. 14.... put on the LORD Jesus Christ
Paul emphasizes that it is “the Lord Jesus Christ” that we put on.
We bow to his Lordship.
Dictionary: Lord - someone or something having power, authority, or influence;
a master, ruler… KING
Is Jesus Lord in your life?
When it comes to Jesus being Lord of your life....
“He is King of all or he is not King at all.”
And our King has given us the command to love others.
Let’s pray.