Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 13. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ;
- Our text talks about balances – credits and debits, what is owed and what we owe. This is a huge issue for human beings, especially those who live in places where there is a good deal of bounty. How much of it do you deserve? Do you really deserve any of it? Do you deserve more of it than others? What do you base your calculations upon? Is your logic and accounting reasonable and in keeping with reality?
- Of course the real factor in all of this is generally ignored when human beings do their “cosmic accounting” – and that is what God has given to us, what He has supplied, and what kind of obligations and debts we have to God. This is really at the very heart of our relationship with God – and a good many people have succumbed to the temptation which is common to all of us, and that is to discount God’s claims, to minimize and ignore what He gives to us, and to consider what we need and desire to be “nature’s obligation” to us, what nature owes us, or perhaps what “society” owes to us.
- Such a view of things obviously “frees” a person from any sense of personal obligation to others and to God. And this is a grave difficulty today, that there are many people who live in this delusion. Why work if everyone else already “owes” me a living? Why work hard when I am already deserving of a much greater portion of “good things” than others are? And how much anger does it generate when I see that others do in fact have more than me, but they certainly don’t deserve it?
- All of us struggle with this accounting at times – especially when it comes to calculating what we owe God and others. Paul helps us to gain a clearer picture and more accurate approximation. In the chapters and verses preceding our text he has spoken much about God’s love, His redemption, His free gift of salvation, and His commitment to our good and welfare. Then he begins to explain what we owe, writing about our “OBLIGATIONS OF LOVE.” First, he reminds us that:
I. We Owe Respect To All Authorities
A. That Even Secular Governing Authorities Are God’s Servants For Our Good
Text: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.”
B. For Secular Authority Is Provided To Punish And Deter Evil
Text: “But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
C. So We Are Respect Secular Authority – To Avoid God’s Wrath And Also For Conscience’ Sake
Text: “Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.” [So that our conscience does not struggle with the evil things we have done]
D. And In Respect For Authority We Pay – Taxes, Revenue, Respect, And Honor
Text: “For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”
Statement: Now often we resent those who have authority and power to tell us what to do – but we are reminded that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” For those who are ignorant of God’s love for us and His goodness, this might not make a difference. However, for those of us who know and believe God’s love for us, and that God is love, we understand that whatever He has instituted is in keeping with and in conformity to His nature and character – which is love. And this is the context within which Paul gives these instructions.
Application: We should note that when we are reluctant to cooperate with those in authority – including also secular authority, that we are not only “resisting what God has appointed,” but we are also opposing what is good and seeking to aid and abet what is evil. Of course, government doesn’t always promote what is good, and does not always punish what is evil – and we should always do our utmost to encourage and support authorities to fulfill God’s will for their office. And if government requires we do something that violates God’s will, the Scripture is clear that “we must obey God rather than men.” [Acts 5:29] However, for the most part government does punish evil and encourage good – and for this we should be thankful, respectful, and obedient.
And we should be able to recognize government as another of the good gifts in life which obligate us to God – and we pay our obligation by our respect and obedience to government, also in the matter of paying them our taxes. Let us also give them our respect, and even honor – for the good they do for us and for all people as God’s representatives!
Transition: But we have even greater and deeper “OBLIGATIONS OF LOVE,” as Paul makes clear, for:
II. Christians Also Understand Our Obligation To Love Others As God Has Loved Us – To Keep Our Behavior Within His Law
A. Keeping His Commandments Which Fulfill Love
Text: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
B. We Are Obligated To The “No Harm Rule” – And To Love Our Neighbor As We Love Ourselves
Text: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
C. And We Are Especially Obligated To Remember That God Wills None To Perish, But All To Be Found [OT Lesson, warning the wicked to turn from his way; Gosp. Lesson – searching for the lost]
Statement: Again, we often balk when considering our obligations, but when we consider how we would like others to behave toward us, we find it much more reasonable to obligate ourselves to the same behavior! And especially when we consider God’s goodness and love for us, we find it much more reasonable to obligate ourselves to love of others. And all of our obligations are given shape and form in the Ten Commandments – which are a description of the way of love, and show us how to do no wrong to our neighbors, how to fulfill the law of God!
Application: And again, as we consider God’s love for us, and that God is love, it is perfectly reasonable to us to want to love and to live in love for others. It is true that we balk at seeing ourselves as obligated to others when we only consider their behavior toward us; they may have done little good for us that we owe them for. But we will not balk if we know how much good we owe to God, and His will that we love, that we repay our obligations to Him in our behavior toward one another. If we do this, we will never run out of obligation to love God, for His love toward us simply cannot be outdone!
Conclusion: And it is in that obligation to God’s love that we are put under obligation to also respect, honor, and obey those in authority, including even secular authorities, to keep the law and pay taxes.
We do these things not to gain God’s approval, but because of what He has already done for us and for our salvation in Christ Jesus. We know that we are “beholden” to God, that we do indeed have “OBLIGATIONS TO LOVE.” May He grant us understanding and joy in being subject to one another, subject to authority, under the law of love! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.