Paying Our Debts
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Debt is a crippeling fact.
A survey last month showed that on average south africans spend 70% of their take home money on paying off theiur debts.
Debt is the modern day slavery.
7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
I am reminded of a carpet: “Welcome to my door, the rest of the house belongs to the bank”.
Funny, but also true.
Not only can debt make you a sklave, but debt can also make you a sinner.
It is a sin NOT to repay your debts.
21 The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives.
We have a responcibility to pay our debts.
This is true both fiscally AND spiritually.
As a member of God’s family, you have a debt that needs to be payed.
Now let us make sure of this:
Salvation is not one of our debts.
Salvation is a free gift to us from God.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We do not “pay God back” for our salvation. We recieved it freely.
So our spiritual debt is not a debt to “pay back”, rather it is a debt to rejoice in light of the free gift.
This morning I want to show you 3 spiritual debts that we are obligated to be faithful towards.
1. Our Debt to a Lost World .
1. Our Debt to a Lost World .
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also just as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith.”
A Jewish man asked his rabbi, “Why is it, whenever I ask you a question, you always answer with a question?” The rabbi replied, “So why shouldn’t I?”
Cain tried that approach with God.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” was his evasive reply to God’s question, “Where is Abel thy brother?” (Gen. 4:9).
Of course, the answer to Cain’s question is, “Yes! You are your brother’s keeper, so long as it is in your power to help your brother” To see others in need and do nothing to help them is to sin.
In the first three chapters of the Roman epistle, Paul argued persuasively that everybody is a lost sinner and stands condemned before a holy God.
This wholesale judgment includes the pagan Gentile (1:18–32) as well as the religious Jew (2:1–3:8).
In fact, the whole world is guilty before God (3:9–20). Behind the veneer of modern so-called “civilization” beats a sinful heart that is in deliberate rebellion against God.
The good news is that God has provided salvation for a sinful world, and this glorious message ought to be motivation enough to encourage the church to get the Word out.
The world and all its people are heading to Hell. God has given to you the ministry of reconciliation to tell the world about Jesus.
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.
We must present ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1–2), available to him for whatever work he wants us to do, starting at home.
Yes, going to the utmost parts to preach the gospel is part of our call, but i am always reminded of the words of Oswald Smith: “The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home.”
“Are people in today’s world lost?” is not an academic question for theologians to debate in some ivory tower. The question is at the heart of the church’s ministry, and the answer to the question is,
“Yes, all men without Christ are lost.” And what are you doing about it?
Are you paying your debt by sharing the gospel with others?
2. Our Debt to the Holy Spirit of God
2. Our Debt to the Holy Spirit of God
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
The Christian owes nothing to “the flesh,” that is, the old nature.
What good thing has the flesh ever done for us?
18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Our debt is to the Holy Spirit who lives in us and makes our bodies his temple. (1 Cor. 6:19–20).
Just think of what the Holy Spirit has done for every child of God!
He brought the Son of God into the world through the virgin womb of Mary, empowered him in his life and ministry and strengthened him when he died for sinners on the cross.
The Spirit inspired the Word of God and then used that Word to convict us of sin and reveal the Savior.
When we believed on Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit entered our very being and gave us the assurance that we are the children of God.
He teaches us the Word of God and enables us to obey it.
He gives us guidance as we pray, and he empowers us to witness for Christ.
What an obligation we have to the Holy Spirit of God!
But how do we go about paying this great debt?
By devoting ourselves to the things that are important to the Holy Spirit.
For one thing, we must seek to glorify Christ, because that is the main ministry of the Holy Spirit.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you.
Since the Spirit lives in us, we pay our spiritual debt to him by taking good care of our bodies, which are his temples.
The Spirit wrote the Word, and the central theme of that Word is Jesus Christ. Therefore, when we spend time reading the Bible and meditating on its truths, we are pleasing the Spirit and paying our debt to him.
We can never fully repay the Holy Spirit for all the blessings he has brought to our lives and to the church, but we can at least acknowledge our indebtedness and start pleasing him.
4. Our Debt to Our Neighbors.
4. Our Debt to Our Neighbors.
8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.
9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another” does not forbid the lending of money as a part of normal business, nor does it prohibit the honest use of credit.
Paul was saying, “Your greatest debt is love—don’t fall short of paying this debt!”
If we would be as faithful to pay our “love debt” as we are in paying our other debts, the world would be a better place, the church would have a stronger testimony, and God would receive more glory.
The law is necessary, and government is essential to enforce the law; but Christians ought not to obey the law simply because they fear punishment.
We should obey the law because we love others.
In that sense, love is the fulfillment of the law.
When you love people, you have no desire to lie about them, steal from them, or kill them.
Your only desire is to do them good.
The first commandment is that you love God; the second is that you love your neighbor as yourself .
28 One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘hear, israel! the lord is our God, the lord is one;
30 and you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And the third is that you keep the two together.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Where does this kind of sacrificial love come from?
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Christian love is practical; it doesn’t just say words, it does what needs to be done.
14 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Are you paying your spiritual debts or are you avoiding them?
Are you telling the world about Jesus?
Are you honering the Holy Spirit?
Are you paying the debt to love one another?
You know, when a person has monetry debts and tries to dodge paying them, that person does not ever experience peace.
They toss and turn on their beds.
They feel isolated and alone.
They loose all joy.
I ask you: Is it possible that you feel like this pricisly because you are not fulfilling your obligations?
Are you prepared to go before the Lord and repent for not paying?
