Together?

Romans 13.8-14

Theme: Christ calls us to leave Jerusalem and walk together into the countryside of life. The road is paved with joy, grief and conflict, but the good news is that we can travel together.

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹ And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

A Brief summary of the passage might read like this:

Love each other in such a way as to keep the commandments because time is running out and we need each other deeply.

That’s where we left off last week and this week, we’ll continue down that thought and see where it leads.

And now an exercise

Write down three things that are important to you

This can be people, things or conditions related to school, work or health; anything or anyone whose important to you.

Pass the paper to the person sitting in front of you.

Person with the paper, cross out item #   and now give it back to the person who wrote the list.

Now look at what’s just been taken away from you, how does it feel? In a moment, with the stroke of a pen, something that means so much is gone forever.

Some of you have gone through this experience recently with the loss of a parent, or miscarriage or marriage. I’m not being cruel to have fun at anyone’s expense.

This is an exercise in reality and it has a purpose. Let me ask, now that we’ve been reminded that life is fragile and things can happen suddenly.

What will you do knowing that loss can strike at any moment?

What will you do with the rest of your life?

With whatever amount of time that is?

           

What would you do if you only had a day left? A week, a month?

Why would that be any different than 10 or 20 or 50 years?

Why or why not?

Will any of this make a difference in how the rest of life is lived?

A couple weeks ago I shared a story about a professor and his decision to make less money by following his calling. One of his students objected because he misunderstood. Making money is all well and good, but where in the list does it belong? At the top? In the top three, five, ten?

The professor I spoke about found where it fit and lived his calling as a disciple of Jesus. When his wife became ill, he was in a situation that allowed him to take time to be with her, see her through and provide financially.

How would it be for any of us if our spouse became ill? Would the concerns of farm or business make it possible to step away and care for him or her easily?

If not, then we’ve missed the point.

The point – every moment counts and people matter far more than anything else. In almost every study ever done: Income level has little to do with happiness. Those who have meaningful relationships are happier than those who do not.

Let’s explore how this appears in our passage

Here, Paul chooses a Biblical illustration that appears over and over:. In the beginning the first act is to separate light from dark. Isaiah speaks of a light dawning in the darkness; John says the light has come and the dark does not understand it.

Paul continues on that line. The old world in darkness of thinking is passing away. Or just as the rising sun eliminates shadows so that the truth is seen clearly, so too the Spirit of God is bringing light and life to his people.

No wonder then that Paul suggests certain activities that people keep hidden or pursue at night are no longer a part of grateful living.

Verse 12, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

There are three pairs of deeds.

The first has to do with distorted eating and drinking. Food and drink, including alcohol are fine, but overeating or getting drunk or high are of the darkness. They place the stuff of life above the meaning of life. Stuff is then more important than people. These two destroy personal health and healthy relationships.

The second with distorted sexuality. Sex in marriage is a great gift; sex outside of or instead of marriage either physically – watching or touching - or over a phone or internet are also of darkness. Indulging in these things drives a wedge between spouses and betrays trust at the deepest level.

The third pair describes distorted ways of thinking and might be the most damaging. Dissensions and jealousy – allow me to quickly define those two words. Dissensions are arguments, quarrels and conflicts that don’t get solved. They involve mean language and hard hearts. Jealousy here means passion or envy. Put them together and what do we get? Division, brokenness and loneliness.

When people insist on their own way and are unwilling to listen, consider or respect each other anymore there can only be separation, which is to try undoing the very thing Jesus died for. Jesus died and rose for reconciliation between God and humanity; between individuals and between a person and his or her self. Dissensions and jealousy are dark activities that drive people apart and defy the love of God.

Instead, the Spirit invites God’s people to come into the light. A new day has dawned. It is the day of Jesus. Now and continuing until his return.

So while we live, we in the tension between darkness and light between the present mess and future glory. Between using people to get what we want and loving people for the great gifts they are.

Today the question is: what will any of us do with the time we have left? Knowing that we do have to make a living, get on with school and whatever else. But also realizing that no one knows how much time is left.

What will we do?

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. “

The second part is good news: He or she who loves his neighbour has accepted God’s gracious gift of salvation and is living rightly.

But what about the first part of that verse?

. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”

Using the language of business, the Spirit is clear: people owe one another something. And that should strike us as odd. At least at first.

In our world we expect to owe someone, or to have a debt to someone if we’ve signed a contract or have already received something from them already. Some work done or goods received, right.

But here it’s like saying pay up before the work is done or goods received and by the way there is no guarantee you’ll get the goods or work done because you owed the money to the other person anyway! Confused? Good! This is God’s economy; it does not work like human business dealings.

In God’s economy I owe everyone I meet something. No exceptions; the verse applies to believers and non-believers alike. I owe love to my fellow human beings. That is, respect because all are made in God’s image and an attitude of forgiveness and humility because that is what Jesus has given me.

The debt to love one another is to be patient, kind, eager to listen and encourage, polite, calm and

“it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Love, that kind of love, true love, never fails.

That kind of love starts with the individual loving him or herself because God loves first and gives that kind of love as a reserve in hearts that begins to pour out into the world. Do you love yourself? Do you believe God loves you? They are connected. Last week I asked someone those questions and in response his whole body changed. Shoulders up, eyes bright, smile forming, yes! And we talked about what that meant. Life and love possible for others!

There are probably some here who don’t love themselves. Why? Have you never felt God’s touch? Some of us refuse to forgive ourselves.  Crazy right? That’s like saying God made a mistake. If God forgives so too should we dare to forgive ourselves. And that will give us love to forgive others.

Last week there was a painful letter written and published in the local paper. What is our response. We have a debt of love to our accuser. To respond with love, rather than hate; to offer forgiveness and refuse to let division remain.

That’s hard. But acknowledging our debt of love is to let the Spirit kill the very normal urge to have one’s own way, to be self-willed with a readiness to quarrel. That’s what Paul means by “Clothe yourself in Jesus.” Only in Jesus, by the power of the Spirit can anyone agree that the debt exists and that love is the better way. The way of love is very different from the way of the world.

And so we come back to the beginning. There is only so much time and there is a debt of love that takes time to ‘pay off.’ Bearing in mind, of course, that we never will.

A man named Origen once said, “The debt of love is permanent, and we are never done with it; for we must pay it daily and yet always owe it.”

As I said, it’s a call to a new way of being.

A calling into a life where no matter what is done – earning a living, school work, chores, hanging out at the mall – is all done in daylight – in love. I think one word sums it up well: protect.

Protect yourself from the lust money, possessions and self-centered experiences.

Protect your marriage from anyone or anything that may come between you and your spouse.

Protect your friends from gossip, harm and loneliness.

Protect your fellow believers from needless dissensions and divisions.

Protect the stranger, the unbeliever anyone God puts in your path by remembering that they like you are made in God’s image; that time is short for all; that the love of God is for all. For God so loved the world – all of it.

Protect the gospel so that people who need to hear it see how it works to make life better rather than seeing how it’s too often used to divide and make people fearful, arrogant or proud.

And where does the strength, the will for all this come from? God himself from whom all things good come. Protect yourself and those you love with mind – choices – and heart choosing to listen to the Spirit.

Protect us oh Lord, from missing the point and come Holy Spirit, enter and renew our hearts so that we embrace the day, today, every day we may have and that in all we do give you Glory.