Sermon Tone Analysis

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:

PRAY

BODY

POINT #1

The call to love others is:

Ongoing (vs.

8-10)

Urgent (vs.

11-12a)

Specific (vs.

12b-14)

“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:

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.