Sermon Tone Analysis

If we divided up Romans

1-11 is what God has done for us (through Jesus)

12-16 is what God is doing in us (by the Spirit)

Paul is describing actions/attitudes that distinguish/mark the lives of believers....(tracks/bread crumbs).

We are genuine (we are not pious, elite)

We are generous (we serve w/ gifts, time, money)

We are hospitable (stranger —> friend)

We are peaceful (not seeking revenge, not stirring up a fight)

LAST TIME We are respectful (submissive to those God has placed over us in authority)

We pay taxes to who taxes are owed

We pay revenue to who revenue is owed

We give respect/honor to who it is owed

Paul is going to reiterate, that all of the actions and attitudes that mark the lives of believers are motivated by love.

In other words, let’s not make love a category alongside of being genuine, generous, hospitable, peaceful and respectful…but let everything we do; let all of our behavior be marked and seasoned by love.

This morning, I just want to look at a few things Paul says here about how our lives should be lives of love.

Love is something that cannot be paid in full.

Somethings can be paid in full, we owe nothing...

Taxes/Revenue - every year we take time(lots of time, paperwork, head scratching, fine print) to figure up what we owe based on formulas and forms and deductions, and we pay that to the state and federal government or we get fined or go to prison...

Respect/Honor - We acknowledge someone’s position and their authority/rule/laws based on that position…Teachers, Bosses, Police Officers, Judges, the President.

In School if you respect your teachers authority, then you are you behave a certain way in the halls…quiet, don’t run, single file..

Love is one thing we can never pay in full.

I can owe taxes in March, get them filed in April and now I don’t owe taxes again until next year…they are paid in full for the year.

I can borrow money from a bank to buy a house/car…I make payments 5-6 years for a car 15-30 years for a house, they are paid in full.

But Paul doesn’t say something similar about love, he implies that love is something that we will always owe, every day we wake up in this debt of love.

Paul is saying that no matter how many payments of love we make, that love is something we can’t check off as done/finished in the same way we could if we owed someone money.

We will never reach the place in our lives where we can confidently say, “I love everyone as much as I ought”

We will never reach that place in our lives where we wake up and say, “ Today, I don’t need to do anything for anyone to show them I love them”

Why do we have this ongoing debt of love?

Typical Debt - Usually when we are in debt, some one has done something for us, and we need to pay them back.

Banks - taking out a loan for a car, house, college tuition

Co-worker - maybe buying lunch b/c we forgot our wallet…so they pay today, we pick up the tab next time.

This isn’t what Paul is talking about...

He is not saying just love those who love you

He is not saying love those who do things for you

Jesus would say this in Matthew 5:46

It’s easy to love those who give us something, who benefit us,

but this is loving those who have done nothing to deserve our love…

Even includes loving those who have been deemed “unlovable”

Why do we have this kind of love debt?

Paul opened up his letter with the “why” Romans 1:14

Under obligation - I am indebted, I have a debt to the Greeks and Barbarians to preach the gospel

In Corinthians 9 He explains he became a servant to all, he associated and developed bonds with all..those under the law (Jews) and those outside of the law (Gentiles) he became all things to all people

Paul says I dove in, I got my hands dirty..this isn’t just talk, this isn’t loving from a distance…I served in love.

Why does Paul have this debt…had they done anything for him?

Why is he indebted to those who would reject him, who would harm him, who would place him in jail and beat him?

Because of Jesus Romans 1:5

Paul is not in debt because these people gave him anything; He is in debt to these people because Jesus has given him everything…freely!

Paul is saying I have recieved a love that I did not deserve, and so from this; there is a fountain of love within me for others who haven’t deserved love either.

The apostle John would say it this way… 1 John 4:11

Our love for others, is a fulfilling of the law

Paul is not saying that acts of love will get us into Heaven.

Remember, he has already spent 11 chapters on our need of a Savior, and how God sacrificed His own son so that we could be forgiven of our sin debt before God and be declared right (righteous)

Paul precedes all of this talk about love by saying in light of what Jesus has done on the cross, present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Paul is talking about our moral responsibilities before God.

Think back to the 10 commandments...

4 about our vertical / 6 about our horizontal

Jesus sums it up in these two parts Matthew 22:36-40

Paul is not doing away with the importance of the first, because this second part of his letter is speaking directly to believers…those who have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Paul is saying that our moral obligations are all fulfilled by simply living a life of love...

If our lives are motivated by; and lived in love, the commandments will not be broken....they are taken care of by this one thing…love

This list of do nots becomes a simplified list of do…do one thing, love others.

So many times we focus and emphasize the don’ts , as we judge and criticize and condemn…seeking to build our selves up at the expense of others…and we over look love.

This is why my prayer is that at First Light we become a people who are not caught up in talking about our church, what kind of service, music or clothes we have…but that we get caught up in talking about our God and how He is changing lives through His love and teaching us to love others…because the honest truth is we are all unlovable.

This is why Grace is so good.

This is why grace is so amazing.

Now is the time to walk in love

Paul moves on to say that there is an urgency for us to live with this kind of intentional love for others.

The hour has come for us to wake from sleep.

Paul is reminding them, and us that we live in the “already/not yet”

There is an urgency to wake up…to live life making payments of love!

We have salvation through Jesus, and one day He is coming to restore and right all things…but not yet.

There are those around us that are still sleeping

Those that are still imprisoned by sin, guilt, shame

Those who are battling addictions, slaves to sin w/o hope

So the time for action is now…we do not know when Christ will return

There is a story that says,

A Roman nobleman died, leaving enormous debts that he had successfully concealed during his lifetime.

When the estate was put up for auction, Caesar Augustus instructed his agent to buy the man’s pillow.

When some expressed surprise at the order, he explained, “That pillow must be particularly conducive to sleep, if its late owner, in spite of all his debts, could sleep on it.”

iv.