“AN OWE NO –
LOVE”
ROMANS 13:8-14
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the
one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For 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.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is
the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come
for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let
us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies
and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision
for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
A
lot of people these days are experiencing a major credit crunch. Prices are up,
incomes are down which means more and more people are having a hard time making ends meet.
That’s why I think a lot of people could identify with the man who wrote an interesting letter to one of his
credit card companies. Maybe a few of us could identify with him as well. This is what the man wrote in his letter,
“In
reply to your request to send you a check I wish to inform you that the present state of my bank account makes it almost impossible. My shattered financial condition is due to federal laws, state laws, city laws, corporate
laws, in-laws and various outlaws. These laws require me to pay a business tax,
school tax, gas tax, sales tax, excise tax and other taxes to the point where my brain is now severely overtaxed. For my own
safety I am required to carry life insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, business insurance, health insurance
and unemployment insurance. My business is so regulated that it is no easy matter
for me to find out who owns it. I am inspected, expected, disrespected, rejected
dejected, examined, reexamined, summoned and commanded. I am expected to contribute
to every society and organization which the genius of man is capable of bringing to life and when I do not contribute I am
boycotted, talked about, lied about, held up for ridicule and held down in scorn until I am almost ruined. The only reason I am clinging to life at all is to see what is going to happen next. I can tell you honestly, that except for a recent miracle, I wouldn’t have been able to send you
the enclosed check. You see the wolf that comes to many doors these days just
had pups in my kitchen. I sold them and here is the money.”
Debt
is a big problem these days. Did you know that Americans currently owe
$2.5 trillion dollars on just their credit cards alone? If my math is correct that averages out to about $30,000 for each
and every family. I guess all those buy now pay later promotions are working.
The
other day I went back and read an article that I first read back in October 2003. It
was written by a CNN/Money editor by the name of Justin Lahart. The article asked
a simple question. It wondered how much longer it would be before the credit
bubble bursts? The article began by making this bold statement. “The
American consumer has become deeply addicted to spending, running up ever higher levels of debt in order to live in a fashion
that is beyond his means.” LaHart then went on to quote an economist who
said, “We’re a what’s-my-monthly-payment nation. The idea is
to have my monthly payments as high as I can take. If you cut interest rates,
I’ll get a bigger car.”
All
of this brings us to some words of wisdom that the Apostle Paul wrote in his Letter to the Romans. By the way, those words of wisdom make it clear that debt was also a problem for some people in the early
Christian community. It’s the reason why Paul said without any if’s,
and’s or but’s, “Owe no one anything.”
As
far as the Paul was concerned debt is a four letter word and the question is why? Why was he so against owing people money? The answer to that question can be found by looking at what comes next in his letter. This is what Paul wrote in its entirety. “Owe no one anything, except
to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
It
seems as though Paul understood something very important about love and money. Paul
understood that the more you owe the more it can interfere with your ability to love.
Let me say that again because I think it’s really crucial. The more
you owe the more it can interfere with your ability to love. It’s true.
I
see it all the time. When you’re deep in debt it gets in the way of your
ability to love your family and your friends and people you don’t even know. That’s
because when you’re deep in debt you have to work more hours to pay the credit cards, but the finance charges keep adding
up. So you have to work even more. Before
long the stress and strain and strife begin to get the best of you. You end up
spending less time with your husband or wife and when you are together you find yourself fighting about silly little things. Or you find yourself fighting because you can’t decide how you’re going
to make ends meet. All those long hours at work also makes it hard for you to
be there for your children and after a while that becomes a problem too. All
that debt also makes things won’t be warm and fuzzy at work. That’s
because you and everyone else will be jockeying for the promotion that will pay
your more money. Money that you need to pay off all those debt. The more debt
you have the more it can also interfere with your willingness to be generous to those who are less fortunate. Once again love
ends up taking a back seat to the need to pay off all that debt.
Jesus
was right. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
The
more you owe the more it interferes with your ability to love. It interferes
with you ability to love others and your ability to love and embrace life itself.
Now
I will be the first to admit that it is impossible these days to be 100% debt free.
After all very few people can afford to pay cash for a new house or a new car.
A lot of what our debt though can be avoided.
Take
the elderly man for example who went into a toy store a few days before Christmas. While
he was wandering around the toy store he saw a train set that really caught his eye.
As he stood there watching the train go around the track a salesman walked over and asked him if he wanted to buy one. “Oh yes,” the elderly man said very enthusiastically. The salesman smiled and said, “You’ve made a good choice sir.
Your grandson is going to love this train.” The elderly man nodded
his head as he took out his credit card. “You know,” he said, “you’re
right. You better give me two of them.”
So
much of what we owe is for things that we really don’t need.
If
you focus on the things that you really need instead of the things that you really want a lot of that debt will eventually
go away. You’ll also discover something else that will be truly liberating. A lot of the things that you really need won’t cost you anything at all. A hug, a beautiful sunset, a heart-to-heart talk with your son, a moment of laughter
with a good friend, a walk on the beach with your husband or wife. Those are
things that you really need and they won’t cost you a single cent.
Perhaps
the best example of a person who understood that the more you owe the more it can interfere with your ability to love was
St. Frances of Assisi. St. Frances came from a very wealthy family. His father was a wealthy merchant and money was very important to him.
So much so that he named his son Frances because he did most of his business in France.
Early on in his life Frances followed in his father’s footsteps. Eventually
though he felt called by God to help the poor. He did that by selling linens
from his father’s shop and giving the money to an elderly priest who worked with the poor. When his father found out what he was doing he was furious. He
accused Frances of stealing from him and actually took him to court. So, what did Frances do?
He met his father in the public square and returned the money to him. Then
he did something that was absolutely shocking. He took all of his clothes off in the middle of that public square and gave
them back to his father. Frances knew that as long as he was indebted to
his father and his family that it would interfere with his ability to love and help the poor.
The less you owe the more you’re able to love.
You
know God works in mysterious ways. Just as I was finishing this sermon my office
phone rang. When I answered it I heard a recorded voice announce with great enthusiasm
“Congratulations! You have been approved for an MSBA Small Business Platinum
VISA Card with an $8,000 line of credit. Blah, blah, blah, blah. To speak to a customer service representative and activate your MSBA Small Business Platinum VISA Card
with an $8,000 line of credit please press zero now.” I smiled to myself
and hung up. I think I’d rather owe less and be able to love more. Amen.
Rev.
Dr. Richard A. Hughes
September
7, 2008
