27 Nov 12/1/2024 Romans 13:8-14 “Jesus Will Take Care of the Rest!”
12/1/2024 Romans 13:8-14 “Jesus Will Take Care of the Rest!”
Well, I hope that you all had a very Happy New Year and a Happy Thanksgiving as we are now once again starting the season of Advent. If you remember, I say Happy New Year because we are starting on a new church year. We sort of did the New Year’s thing last week so I will spare you this week. This week we are starting Advent so I will try to have this sermon focused on looking ahead. This should not be too hard because I think we live in a world where we are always looking ahead. We are always hearing “What are you doing this weekend?” or “What are you doing for the holidays?” or “What are you doing this summer?” and these come from perfect strangers. Now I think this is ok if the person really means the question. However, I have found that many use these types of questions so that they can sell you something. Then I don’t like it so much. We are always looking forward to next week or next year. I think that we are just a forward-looking people, except in one area. I don’t know that enough people look forward to what happens to them after they die. This is all simply laid out for us in the Bible, if we would only read it. There are many ways for you to read the Bible in a year so please use one of them. I know that there are many people who consider themselves to be Christian but have never read the Bible. Today, we are going to look at just that. The end for us is nearer today than it was yesterday. Let’s see if we can find Good News for everyone as we look at the end.
C.S. Lewis wrote a wonderful series for adults and young people called The Chronicles of Narnia. Near the end of one of the books called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he has Edmund and Lucy as they find that they have to go back to their world and will not be coming into Narnia anymore.
Lucy sobs, “It isn’t Narnia, you know, it’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?” “But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan, who was represents God. “Are – are you there too, Sir?” Asked Edmund. “I am,” said Aslan, “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason you were brought into Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” And that is why we study the Scriptures every week so that we can get to know Jesus better. I know that the Chronicles of Narnia are almost considered children’s books but they are great for adults also.
Paul begins our reading today by saying a mouthful. He tells us to have no debt that is outstanding. I have done some reading on this and I think that debt in the Bible was basically the same as it is today. The Bible tells us that any debt is bad except for the debt of love. We should always owe each other and God love. In the Bible, if you were in debt, you were basically enslaved to the person who held the debt. There were no banks or credit card companies but just individuals who had money. They expected that you would repay them. If you didn’t, then you could go to work for them to pay it off. Basically, you became a slave to whoever you owed the money.
However, they were a little more civilized than people were in later times. In the Bible, you generally could not be imprisoned for your debt. This makes sense in the how in the world would you be able to pay off the debt if you are in jail. Of course, there were exceptions like when you had no intention of repaying and kept right on borrowing. Then it would be considered to be stealing.
In the Bible, you usually could not be imprisoned or be kept from making an existence living. They had medical emergencies and other things just like today. Innocent people would get caught in bad situations and would have to borrow. Then they would be all but slaves to their creditor. Now, these were economic slaves and not to be confused with slaves from their warfare or battles. There were usually no rules on how to use battle slaves and they were given the lowest of low jobs. They were given no breaks. The Jewish slaves like this were given much more leeway than any of the surrounding pagan countries would have given. So, what they had was a two-tiered system of slavery. One was for the Jewish slaves who would have been on top of the slave hierarchy and the other was for all other slaves.
So, that is a little about how the Bible dealt with debt. The question becomes ‘how are we doing today with debt?’ To put this in a nutshell, we are doing terrible. We are in more debt in this supposed Christian country than anyone has ever been in history. As I was writing this, the news came on and they said that credit card debt in this country is over $1.1 trillion dollars. That is just under $3,000 in debt to credit card companies for every man, woman and child in this country. Then add another almost $12,000 in debt to banks and similar institutes. All I can say is “WoW!”
So personally, we do terrible with debt. But how can we do otherwise when our government if far worse. Our government is trillions of dollars in debt. There is no way we can ever repay the debt to other countries. Even if we take severe measures, I don’t think we can do it. If we did, it just might ruin the country.
In the Bible they really tried not to have debt to the point that they would forgive all personal debt after seven years. That is one way to get rid of debt. Maybe we should try it today! In many ages of history, we would throw debtors into debtors’ prison. They would go out an earn money by the day time and have to come back to prison every night until the debt was paid. Governments that were in debt would often go to war with their debtors. Hopefully, we can see that no matter how you look at debt, it was a very bad thing.
Today, if you are in debt, try to remember who you are. You are a child of Christ and will try to do what He tells us to do. Try to quit your spending or cut it down drastically. If you are too far in debt, then go to a professional for help getting out of debt. You should also quit spending this money that you don’t have. For example, for years we have had no debt. We worked hard to pay off our house and cars. I will not use my credit cards if I cannot afford to pay it off in the month I use it. I would say that we have more money than many who are drowning in debt. Don’t be one of those people who spend wads of money on a house and then they cannot afford to put furniture in it. Please, try to control your debt.
Anyway, these are some of the reasons why God does not want you to be in debt. The only exception to be in debt to love. Please understand that we all have a debt of love. God has given and given and given to you. Everything you have comes from the love of God. As a matter of fact, God is love. Your job is to take the love He has for you and spread it to all you meet. This means everyone. Sometimes you have to counteract spiteful behavior with a little kindness. But love soothes so many things.
Now here are some of the ways that you can give love and try to reduce your love debt a little. You give love when you are patient and kind. Please read 1 Cor. 13 and follow it, especially verse 4-8. None of these ways of love are that hard. The biggest thing to remember is to put yourself in second place and everyone else in first place in your life. Some of the hardest things to do in life are to be patient and have self-control. But they can be the most rewarding if you just learn to do it. I think we all know how to do it. We just need a lot of practice in actually doing it.
Another show of love is when you are forgiving people around you. For the most part, it doesn’t matter if you are right about most things. Just swallow your pride and forgive the next person for talking so much, for thinking they are always right, or that they are so much smarter than you. Forgive everyone you come across. Forgive! Forgive! Forgive!
And while you are trying to love others, try to serve others. No matter what is happening, you are to be a servant like our Lord Jesus Christ. Always try to serve others in the name of Jesus. We have talked about this before. Then you are to be giving encouragement and speaking words of love. “You are doing a great job!” means so much to a young person. But did you know that it also means so much to grown people, too? You will have more friends than you thought possible if you just love them with words, kindness and give them all the encouragement possible. You will find if you just develop these habits, it will be easy to be a Christian and follow Jesus.
But we are not quite done yet. We have talked about this many times. You need to be praying. You know that you are to always be praying for others. But did you know that you are also to be praying for yourself. More specifically, be praying that you have a loving heart. I think that many of us need to start here. Then many other things will just come naturally. Pray for a loving heart in yourself.
Of course, anytime you are dealing with other people, you need to be actively listening. Being a pastor, I have to be actively listening all the time. What this means is that you need to give the speaker your full attention when they are talking. You should be doing this anyway no matter who is talking. When you are giving them the attention that both of you need, then you are showing this person love. Ask questions about the topic. Show that you are interested even when you are not. Every person deserves to have someone listen to them. Find out what happens when you make yourself that person who listens. Love comes in many forms and this includes listening.
The last one I’m going to talk about today is how love involves the reflecting of God’s love to the world. Everything that you do should begin with “What would Jesus do in this situation?”
Many people think in error when they try to tell us that Jesus came to abolish the Law. He did not such thing. He came to fulfill the Law. There is a huge difference. This lie is told by people who don’t want to look at the Old Testament because it is too harsh. And yes, the Old Testament is harsh but so is the New Testament. In the New Testament we hear that many people will not get to heaven. There are many reasons for this including that we want to define who Jesus is. We cannot do this either. Use the Bible to define Jesus and then take all the good things you have learned in the Bible and apply them to all you meet. Show everyone your gentleness, kindness and faith that you get from Jesus. If you start to follow these few suggestions that I just gave you, then you will be off to a much better life.
I would guess that to most people this is just another sermon, and maybe it is. We just had an election where the people of this country pretty much said ‘no’ to woke politics. I think this is probably a good thing in the long run. But what I want you to do is to just wake up. This has nothing to do with being woke. Most people in this country, in the world are spiritually sleeping. Most people are not even aware that Jesus could be coming back at any time. It could be today or tomorrow. Let’s try to be awake!
Now this does not mean sleeping when you should be working. If you do this then you have to come up with an excuse like “They told me at the blood bank that this might happen.” Or “Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won’t wear off.” Or “Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot.” These are just excuses for falling asleep on the job and no one really cares about your excuses. It’s the same way when you use excuses to stay away from God. Excuses like “I’m too big a sinner for God.” Or “I will come to Jesus when I have more time.” Or “I really had a bad experience in church.” These are also just excuses that no one cares about. God knows every one of your excuses and He keeps asking for you to come to Him anyway. He just won’t give up. What a great God we have!
One time a few years ago, one of the famous traveling evangelists was putting on an event in Mexico. Every thing went fine and he gave the altar call. Two young girls had come together and one of the girls wanted to go forward. The other one wanted to wait until the next night. Well, the one went forward and the other one left. One came to know Jesus as her personal Savior while the other one went to cross the street outside the auditorium and was hit and killed by a passing car. My question to you is “which one are you?” If you are not saved by the blood of Jesus today then do this. Confess you sins to Jesus and ask Him to live in your life as your Lord and Savior. If you need help with this, then get in touch with a real pastor in your area or get a hold of me. I don’t want any of you to go out and get hit by a car without knowing Jesus.
It is time for people to wake up and take this seriously. Jesus tells us over and over that if you don’t, you will end up in a place where you definitely do not want to be. However, by doing the things that we talked about today, you will not have to worry or even think about it anymore. You will be spending eternity in a place that is far too good to even describe. This life you can have as being a Christian is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Just be nice and love each other. Jesus will take care of the rest. And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray
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