10/5/25 Romans 13:8-10 “Be a Loving Apple Tree”

02 Oct 10/5/25 Romans 13:8-10 “Be a Loving Apple Tree”

10/5/25    Romans 13:8-10         “Be a Loving Apple Tree”

I have been watching the news this past week with a somewhat heavy heart.  There was a time early on in my life when I didn’t read newspapers and only saw the TV news once in a while.  I thought and I still do think this way somewhat that a person can live without knowing most of the news because there is absolutely nothing I could do about it.  You see, I can’t shape policy in the Middle East.  I can’t make jobs for people.  I can’t make our government to actually represent us instead of special interests.  You know what I mean.  I felt pretty much like a pawn in a game that was much too big for me.  I guess there are good things and bad things about this view but that isn’t the point today.  I am saddened by all the murders and crime we have in our own area.  It never used to be like this.  I am saddened by what I hear on political ads.  As far as I can tell, they are all lies.  I am saddened by different groups that absolutely hate each other.  Hate is running rampant in this country.  From what I can see, our whole world lacks love.  I might even go so far as to say that love might be a foreign concept to most people even in this country, even in this area.  We need revival.  We need Jesus to come back and take things over like He has promised.  Today, Paul continues on his talk of love.  Let’s see if we can ‘get it’ and then pass it on to others.

I want to begin by talking a little about actors and actresses.  We have all seen movies and different people playing different characters.  Have you ever noticed how some actors play different roles but they always come across the same way?  I’m thinking of Nicholas Cage who has played many roles in his career and he has done a fine job but most of them seem to be Nicholas Cage.  He kind of plays certain parts.  John Wayne was another one.  I don’t think this is either good or bad but it is just the way it is so it seems to me.  There is another kind of acting like what Dustin Hoffman has done over the years.  I mean here is an actor who played a woman in “Tootsie.”  He was mentally challenged in “Rain Man.”  He played different ages in another movie.  There have been some movies where you didn’t even know it was Dustin Hoffman.  He would study and put himself into the role to the point that he lost his own self.  He became the character.  All through this series from Romans, Paul is telling us the exact same thing.  We are to empty ourselves to Christ so that we can become whole persons.  Often times, and this is a problem, we don’t empty ourselves because we are afraid that we will lose something of our own lives.  This is not true.  If you completely empty yourself before Christ, He will in turn fill you up with wonder and awe that you have never known before.  In addition to that, He will leave in place the things that already make you a good person.  Asking Jesus into your life completely is a win-win situation and I praise the Lord for it.  If you have only given Him part of your life, then give Him the whole you today.

Now let’s get back to our reading and ‘let no debt remain outstanding.’  I think that many times we think that just because a society is primitive by our standards, means that they really didn’t have things like we do today.  That may be true for some things but not for debt.  The merchants and rich of ancient Rome used debt just like we do today.  They would buy things on credit and they would transfer credit from this person to the next.  It is like when we buy a house and the bank sells the mortgage to another bank.  We didn’t invent this wheel.  It has been around forever.

The difference came when the poorer people accumulated debt.  They didn’t have credit cards or banks that might extend them some credit.  They only had themselves.  Therefore, when the working class needed credit, they would sell themselves to be slaves until the debt had been paid.  If the person died before it was paid, then the heirs would become slaves until the debt had been paid.  Much of the slavery of the time was debt slavery.  This type of slavery wasn’t nearly as severe as the slaves who entered slavery because they had been conquered.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as the terrible system we had in this country before the Civil War.  Good or bad, it was just part of their culture.

So Paul tells them not to owe anyone.  The best way to live life is free of debt.  This applies to us also because, according to some historians, we are on the same path as Rome was.  They say that our debt is so big that it could collapse the economy as it did in ancient Rome.  You may think that maybe we don’t have slavery debt like they did then.  But let’s think about this for a minute.  Does anyone here owe anything today?  That is probably a foolish question.  So let’s ask, what happens if you don’t pay your debt or fall behind on payments?  Then the loan company comes after you in some fashion to pay.  You may even be brought to court and forced to pay.  They may put a lien on your earnings and withhold what you owe.  I think that no matter how we look at it, we are all slaves to debt in our modern world but we have much nicer words for it than slave.  Paul is telling you that you will be much happier if you can get yourself out of debt.  I know that Sharon and I try to live without debt as much as possible.  I have tried to teach our children that if you can’t afford to pay for it now, then don’t buy it.  They don’t need the worry and hassle of debt.

Paul goes a step further and says that it is an act of love to pay your debts.  I’m pretty sure that the bank owners don’t go along with this.  I think that what Paul is trying to say is not to get in over your head.  Many people today just go out and buy things without thinking about how they are going to pay for them.  Anyway, Paul tells us to pay our debts.

He goes on to say that the only debt we should have is the debt to continue loving each other.  What he is trying to say is that they were to love each other without any expectation of a pay back.  They were to love each other without any reserve.  They were to love each other unconditionally.  In other words they were to love each other with agape love or absolute, unconditional love.  This is the kind of love that God has shown to all of us as we look around and see all that He has given us.  This is the love that Jesus Christ had when He went to the cross to die for your sins.  This is the love that the Holy Spirit has when He is present in you all the time no matter what happens.  This is the love that we are to show to each other and to anyone who comes across our path.  This is the love that we are to give all the time.  This results in a love debt that is ok and good.

I think that this is how a love debt works and I’m going to speak in human terms.  God loves us beyond our capacity to understand.  In other words we owe God a huge amount of love because of this.  The only way we can begin to pay Him back is to pass this love on to other people.  We live in a world where everything has to be paid back or paid ahead or repaid.  You shouldn’t worry about what you owe others as far as love goes.  We should be concerned about what we owe Jesus for all He did.  This is the debt we owe God and we repay it by giving to others.

This in turn fulfills the law.  I bet you never thought much about you being able to fulfill the law especially after what Jesus has done for you.  But you see we are still under the law to some extent as you are to love God with all your heart, your soul and your mind.  Then you are to love your neighbors as yourself.  This is the law!

Paul goes on to talk about parts of the 10 Commandments.  He talks about the ones that pertain to how we treat each other.  Honor your parents, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie and don’t covet are the commandments where we are to treat our neighbor as ourselves.  I don’t think that these things are too hard to do or maybe they are practically impossible to follow.  It all depends on how much you love your neighbor.  And that depends on how much you love God, which is covered in the 1^st four commandments.

I think that it is with these 1^st four commandments that we have the most trouble.  I think that we have at least one or maybe many gods that we put before our Lord and God.  We have talked about money, power, etc.  We might even have some graven images that we bow down to like our government, our possessions, etc.  Some of us are very good at not taking the Lord’s name in vain but others are terrible.  This includes swearing which some people think is a badge of honor instead of just being very foul.  But it also includes professing to be a Christian while at the same time not honoring the Commandments.  And the last one is to keep the Sabbath holy.  Once again, some are good at this and others don’t seem to care thinking that it doesn’t matter anyway.

I’m here to tell you today that all of this matters.  I know that we all slip up once in a while but that doesn’t take into account the deliberate, demeaning way that we try to destroy God’s very Commandments as we treat our neighbors like we wouldn’t want to be treated.  People, you have to get serious about following Jesus.  We don’t do too bad a job here but we sure can do better.  There isn’t a person listening who can’t do better and that includes me.  This is serious stuff because our very eternity will be determined by our relationship with Jesus.  Satan is telling you that this doesn’t apply to you but I will tell you differently.  When you are reaching out to the poor and needy, you are reaching out to Jesus himself.  Remember that as you go into the world.  Remember to treat everyone you meet as you would want to be treated.

When you learn to love in the fashion that Jesus has taught us, then you will not harm your neighbor.  Loves does no harm to its neighbor.  Joel Pankow tells about an apple tree and a thorn bush that lived in the same back yard.  Everyone loved the apple tree.  Kids climbed it.  Neighbors picked the wonderful apples.  Worms ate what fell on the ground.  Birds would get the apples way up on top.  The owner took really good care of it so that everyone in the neighborhood could have apples.  In the back corner of the yard was the thorn bush.  Nobody messed with it.  One of the neighbor kids accidently ran his bike into it and he suffered minor cuts and scrapes from the thorns.  After that everyone stayed clear of it.

At first the apple tree loved all the attention.  But after about 10 years of this, it started to become envious of the thorn bush.  Finally the apple tree said to the thorn bush, “You know, I’m sick of everyone climbing on me and picking my fruit.  The Master is always trimming me, putting smelly fertilizer at my roots and making a fuss over me.  I wish they would go someplace else.  Better yet, I wish I was a thorn bush and everyone would leave me alone.”  The thorn bush stormed back, “Don’t be a fool!  Bite your bark!  Look at me!  I don’t do anyone any good.  I feed nobody.  I’m ugly.  All I do is harm.  I’m just a wild weed that fills up a little space in the yard.  I would trade all the thorns in the world to have one child climb on me or to have the Master care for me or produce some good fruit.”

As Christians we are the same as the apple tree.  People use us and abuse us.  They take advantage of us.  They climb on us.  They strip us of our fruit.  They expect us to take all of this and more without complaining.  But that is what God put us here to do.  We are like the apple tree that has many uses.  We are to take these commandments, these instructions from God and spread the fruit however we can, where ever we go.  This is the love that God is giving us that we will get nowhere else.  Yes, sometimes it gets tiring.  Sometimes you feel taken advantage of.  But just remember who is in charge.

All God has ever wanted from us is to trust Him.  When you get beat up a little, trust Him and His instructions.  Remember all the good that He has brought into your life.  Remember the love He gave you when no one else would.  Jesus Christ is the real deal.  He fed thousands with next to nothing and He will feed you when it is necessary.  He is hard to understand because He is so vast, so big, so kind, so loving.  I implore you to trust Jesus.  He knows what He is doing and it will all turn out for the good.  He is not capable of anything that is not good.

Jesus Christ loves you.  That is the bottom line.  The least you can do is trust Him.  Trust in the things we read in Scripture.  He has never been wrong and He isn’t wrong today.  Go to Him and put your arms around Him and let Him hold you tight in return.  Jesus Christ is always there for you.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.