9/4/22 Romans 13:8-14 “Wake Up!”

02 Sep 9/4/22 Romans 13:8-14 “Wake Up!”

9/4/22    Romans 13:8-14        “Wake Up!”

I probably shouldn’t spend a lot of time thinking because when I do, I sometimes think of all the things in the world that are wrong.  You all know the list.  Everywhere you look there are things that could be fixed if we were a Christian nation.  There are hurts that we could heal.  There are many public policies that would be changed for the better.  Lives would be changed for the better every time.  I can’t help but wonder why people won’t change if it has been proven for centuries that Jesus will help us to have better lives.  He helps us and helps us and helps us and still people turn away.  Then I remember what the Scripture says.  The word of God will be confrontational to the non-believer.  They are telling us all the time, “How dare you try to spread the Word of God!”  After all, all religions should get the same air time.  Well, we all know this is false as are all other religions.  We know that we are commanded to spread the Good News.  We also know that many people hate us because of this.  It makes me sad because all these people we know could have much better lives if they would just accept Jesus Christ.  In today’s reading we have Paul talking once again about love, the love that everyone can have.  Let’s make sure that all the people we know hear about this before it is too late.

Steve Shepherd tells the story of a young college co-ed who came running in tears to her father saying, “Dad, you gave me some terrible financial advice!”  “I did?” replied the father.  “What did I tell you?”  She said, “You told me to put my money in that big bank and now that big bank is in trouble.”

“What are you talking about?” he replied.  “That’s one of the largest banks in the state.  There must be some mistake.”

“I don’t think so,” sobbed the girl.  “They just returned one of my checks with a note saying, ‘Insufficient Funds’.”  This is kind of a silly story but it may help us understand some of our reading.  I don’t know if you have ever received a bank note like this or not, but I would like to say that we probably all owe money.  It might be a monthly car payment or house payment.  It might be the electric bill or the phone bill.  Sometimes, and I have been there, it seems like the next bill comes before we can pay the ones we already have.

Paul begins by telling us that we are to have no debt to remain outstanding.  In these olden days they had quite a system.  They could loan things and money to each other but you could only charge interest on the loan if it was from a Jew to a non-Jew.  A loan between Jews was supposed to be interest free.  Then every 50 years they had the year of jubilee where all debts were erased.  Can you imagine modern banks having to erase loans every 50 years?  They would go crazy.  Incidentally, we don’t know for sure how often these laws were enforced if they ever were.

Another interesting fact is that Islam picked up on this.  Even today, Muslims are not supposed to charge each other interest but they can sure charge infidels, like us, interest.  I have read about some problems in this area.   Also, the Koran tells them that they are not supposed to lie to each other but it is ok to lie to the infidels.  I could go on here but we just have to realize that we are dealing with a false religion that has some roots in Judaism and Christianity so that it sounds authentic, but it is false!

What I would like us to do today is to think about what it would be like if we didn’t have debt or paid it off soon after we got it.  Satan has been working overtime in our lives to try to get us to be in debt.  We have huge house mortgages.  We buy overpriced cars that we cannot afford.  We are always trying to keep up with our neighbors by just taking out one more loan.  We have gotten to the point where our country is on the verge of default and collapse because we have some people who feel that we can just print more money and all will be solved.  Where in the world are we getting the billions and billions of dollars that the government is spending?  The simple fact of the matter is that we aren’t supposed to spend money we don’t have.

God is telling us through Paul that we were not made to be in debt.  He gave us ways to stay out of debt.  If you find yourself in serious debt today, I suggest that you get a financial counselor.  There are many Christian counselors like this and they can be a big help.  We would have a much better world if we were not so in debt.

The only debt that we have is the debt to keep loving each other.  Paul is talking to a crowd that knows the 10 Commandments so he uses them.  Do not murder.  Do not steal.  Do not covet.  Do not commit adultery.  These plus whatever other similar commandments there may be can be summed up like this.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  In the past weeks we have talked about the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Now we are talking about the last part of this.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Then Paul tells them that love is the fulfillment of the law.  This is important to these people.  They still wanted to live under the law.  But now Jesus has come and He is the fulfillment of the law.  Jesus is the author of love.  He is love.  Therefore, He fulfills the law.

In today’s world I think that this country is a real leader in loving our neighbors.  What I mean by this is how much we give to other countries that are in trouble.  But as we have slipped farther and farther away from God, we are finding that more and more of our so-called charities are frauds.  And even with all the money that is stolen from these poor people through these frauds, I think we still do a better job than anyone else in the world.  We just have to clean up our act a bit.

And I’m not talking about what our government gives to other governments.  These funds are pretty much a smoke screen.  Far too often none of this aid gets to the people.  I really have my doubts if much of our money to the Ukraine ever gets to the people.  Their government is just too corrupt.  But I’m talking about organizations like UMCOR, Samaritan’s Purse and the Salvation Army who go directly to the people with the aid.  Even with our economy in the tank, Americans are still giving to these groups who actually are helping the people.

Another thing we can do for our neighbors is pray.  Sharon and I have been praying for the missionaries and people of Chad Africa for years.  This country has been darkened by all kinds of problems including their religion.  Now they are fighting again.  They are making headway there but they have a long way to go.  Closer to home I see little churches going into the community to help those who have been hurt in whatever way.  We have been loving our neighbors.  Let’s keep on doing this, beginning with prayer.

Then Paul tells us that in order to do this we have to understand our present time and wake up from our slumber.  I think that Paul is talking on at least two levels here.  He is referring to the time when Jesus returns.  This is a time of judgment and all kinds of other things.  It will be the time when every knee shall bow to Jesus.  This doesn’t mean just Christians; it means everyone.  We have to understand that this can happen at any time.

He is also referring to a more personal time when each one of us will die and go to Jesus.  The Bible talks on these two levels quite often.  So, we have to be ready for the end of times as we know it and we have to be ready for the end of our own personal time here on earth.

Paul is trying to get these people to wake up.  They have been taking part in orgies, drunkenness, immorality, debauchery, dissension and jealousy.  I would guess that Paul is just using an abbreviated list here.  The point is that there is a tremendous amount of sin going on all over Rome.  There are not many people ready to die and there are not many people ready for the end times.

I would guess that if we went around the room today, we would find that most of us are ready to go to Jesus.  I’m not saying that we want to go quite yet but rather that if it is our time we could go and we would know where we are going.  If you don’t know where you will spend eternity, I would suggest that you go to Jesus and ask Him to live in your heart.

Many of us know where we will be.  However, many more of our friends, neighbors and family members don’t know this.  They might tell us that they think they will be in heaven.  All you have to do is tell them that there is a way to know for sure and that way is with a personal relationship with Jesus.

The answer that really gets me is when people say it doesn’t matter if they go to hell because all their friends will be there.  Well, maybe all your friends will be there but you will never see them.  Never!  There is no light in hell.  Anyway, you will never care if you see them or not because you will be preoccupied with agony.  This is part of our description of hell.  I don’t want any part of it and I don’t want anyone else to be a part of it either.

As we wake up, we are to address the immorality of our world.  It is everywhere we look.  I was serious when I mentioned (one time) last week that we should have a committee to confront evil.  We are to stand up to this dirty rascal.  We need to be telling the world that we will not put up with pornographic advertising anymore.  We have had enough beer commercials pointed at our children.  The list goes on and on and on.  And when someone asks us how we dare to say these things we have our answer.  Jesus Christ commands us to stand up to evil.  Debauchery is debauchery in any age.  It is probably a lot more prevalent now than in the times of the Romans.  Have you ever thought about that?  Our country has become pure debauchery!

One of our problems is that we are so used to these types of things happening all around us that we think this is normal.  But that is no excuse for immorality.  It is not excuse for drunkenness.  It is time for us to wake up!

I think we can see what will happen as we watch our country.  It is in a downward spiral.  We are on the ropes in many areas.  But I want to tell you right now that this is not God punishing us.  This is not how God operates.  However, God may be withdrawing His blessings.  If you think you are so smart that you can do it without God, then God will let you try.  As we look back in history, we see that every time we thought that we were are smarter than God, we failed miserably.  And then we have the audacity to point at the ancient Jews when they fell away from God and say, “How could they do these things?”  We are doing the same things.  Wake up, everyone!!  Wake up!!  I’ve always wanted to say that during a sermon.

Now that we have heard the bad part, let’s take a look at the Good News.  We are commanded to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ.  So how do we do this?  This book is full of ways to clothe ourselves in Christ.  I’m going to just name a few and they are the fruits of the Spirit.  These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Now it is pretty easy for me to rattle off these wonderful traits.  It is also easy for you to remember or know how you feel when you do or show these traits to others.  But it is a little harder for us to exhibit these all the time.  We are human and prone to error and any time you don’t show these traits, you are in error.

But I just want you to think about this for a minute.  How do you feel when you show kindness to someone who has never known kindness?  How do you feel when you show peace in situations that have anything but peace?  How do you feel when you are joyous about something?  I could mention something about all of these traits and the answer would be the same.  You feel good when you do these things because these traits come from God.

Now you all know that I am not one of those feel-good preachers who only preach things to make you feel good.  We have already talked of some of the bad things of the world.  We have talked of God’s judgment.  But I want to stress, and I cannot stress this enough, that the only way that you will truly feel good about yourself is through Jesus Christ and following the things He tells you to do like the fruits of the Spirit.

So basically, what Paul is trying to say is that to love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, you begin by loving our neighbors as ourself.  You are to do this even though you live in the broken, broken world where it seems like everything is wrong.  It may be wrong but you have Jesus Christ who is always right.  You are to clothe ourselves in Jesus Christ by the fruits of the Spirit or many other ways like praying.  God loves you in ways that you will never understand in this life.  He loves you and He wants to bless you.  When He blesses you, you feel good.  No, let me rephrase that.  When He blesses you, you feel great.

I would like to leave you with this.  Someone once said, “Dying men have said, ‘I’m sorry I have been an atheist, or an infidel, or an agnostic, or a skeptic, or a sinner’.”  But no man has ever said on his deathbed, “I’m sorry I have lived a Christian life.”  Jesus loves you and He wants you to wear Him at all times.  Go to Him and stay.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.