Exodus 20:18-21 Romans 13:8-14 Acts 2:42-47 John 15:12 Deut. 6:5
There’s a cartoon of Snoopy typing a letter on top of his doghouse. The letter begins this way: “Dear IRS.” Snoopy thinks for a moment and then finishes, “I am writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please take my name off your mailing list.” . . . If only it were that easy.
It seems like we always owe something to someone. Those we call bills are also called “debts”, and they come without fail. We pay them, but like weeds, they just keep coming back. There was a man who had a unique way of paying bills. He was overextended and couldn’t pay all of them every month. One month, one of his creditors called him and demanded payment. He said, “Look, the way I pay my bills is to put them all in a hat and pull five of them out. Now if you don’t quit bugging me, next month I won’t even put you in the hat!”
Our Scripture today also addresses something that each one of us owes. It’s one of what’s known as the four marks of the church. These are essentials to our faith and are characterized by “Grace-Full Living”.
If we wish to be in a place of grace, we need to live what are called “the four marks of the church”. They are: “The church is to be one, holy, apostolic and universal church.” Let’s look at these.
1. The church is to be One: Love one another
When we speak of the church as being one, we’re talking about God’s desire for its unity. This goes to our need to care for and love one another. This is our emphasis today.
2. The church is to be Holy: Worshipping God
It’s God’s desire to see the holiness of the church as observed in worship. Simply put, we are to worship God. The church is never to lose its perspective. We keep it by prayer, singing and hearing songs of praise, and by worshipping.
3. The church is to be Apostolic: Growing in Grace
This goes to the need for each of us to be a growing Christian – maturing and being transformed daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how we grow in grace. We are apostolic when we are growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, because we are following the teaching of the apostles.
4. The church is to be Universal: the Bible is a Universal Gospel or Truth
It is the mission of the church to reach all peoples, all over the world. The gospel is inclusive. All nations need to hear the message of God’s grace. A fundamental of grace is found in Romans 13:8: Love is our primary debt.
I doubt that many of us here ever really considered “love” to be something you OWE to anyone. Most of us have always thought of love as something “earned” or maybe as some vague but powerful emotion that just overwhelms us without warning. But Paul told the Romans that we “owe” it to others just as surely as owing money to a lender. It’s something that God expects us to give. The reason that Paul gives can be put this way…
“Jesus paid our sin debt when we were flat broke.” I like that statement.
“Jesus paid our sin debt when we were flat broke.” Think about it. We have been given so much that our lives are overflowing with God’s love. As a result, God expects that overflow to extend to others. In other words, we are to be known for our love. But to whom must we demonstrate that love?
We can find in God’s Word Three persons we are to love.
I. The first person we are to love is GOD.
God is our first priority of love. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Jesus said that is the first and greatest commandment. Loving God is our first priority. There are to be no other gods in our life. Now, the great thing about this is that…
• When we love God properly, then all other relationships will fall into place.
It seems that most people today have a very distorted and selfish view of love.
Too often it’s seen as “self-gratification”, and the media plays up to this. But when we love according to God’s standard, only then can we love each other properly. Only then do we have the right perspective about who God is, who we are, and how we are to love others – and ourselves. That’s when we clearly see that we owe the debt of love to every person.
We read in Exodus 20: “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God (respect for God’s righteousness) will be with you to keep you from sinning.’ (But) The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” The response of Moses in this verse forms one of the most significant concepts in the first five books of the Bible.
Look again at Exodus 20, and note the interchange between the words do not fear and the fear of God. Moses told the people to stop being afraid; God was not going to hurt them. Yet they were very afraid. God did not want His people to live in terror of Him, as though He were an irrational and violent force ready to be unleashed on innocent people without provocation. This was a common characteristic of the pagan gods and goddesses of that time. Rather,
God wanted His people to learn respect for the hurtful consequences of our sin. The appropriate fear of God, in this sense, should make us circumspect, reverent, obedient, and worshipful, so that we would not sin. Rather, God desires that we love and trust His instruction.
II. The second person we are to love is ONE ANOTHER. In John 15:12, Jesus said, My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Out of a rash and false confidence in the flesh, Peter had offered to lay down his life for Jesus. In actuality however, he was not ready to die for Jesus; he was not even ready to live for Him. The supreme example of love is the humility of Jesus in sacrificial service. He loved us all the way to the cross so that we would know how to love one another.
A kindergarten teacher called out to her class, "Circle up! It’s story time." Without delay, the children "circled up" around her on the rug. After finishing the story, entitled “Big,” the teacher asked this enthusiastic group, "What makes you feel big?"
"Bugs make me feel big," yelled one young student. "Ants," hollered another. “Worms” exclaimed a third. Trying to restore some order, the teacher started calling on children with their hands up. Pointing to one little girl, the teacher said, "Yes dear, what makes you feel big?"
"My mommy," said the girl. "How does your mommy make you feel big?" quizzed the teacher. "That’s easy," said the child. "When she hugs me and says I love you, Jessica!"
That’s a pretty powerful truth, isn’t it? When we love each other, we make each other bigger. We establish the dignity and the importance of the other. Now, why can’t we always do that in the church and in our communities?
You may recall that last week I spoke about being willing “to receive a rebuke from others.” I also added that we must guard against the temptation to rebuke someone as a way of putting them down. We all know that almost no one is willing to receive a rebuke from someone you don’t like or trust; but from a loved one, someone we respect, we might willingly receive a rebuke. So,
• The first requirement for a healthy rebuke is “love”.
We all need to be rebuked from time to time because we all make mistakes and occasionally get our priorities wrong. It’s the responsibility of our friends in Christ, to help us get back on the right path. If there’s no willingness to help, then there’s no real love present. But FIRST there must always be the love.
If we as a church are going to be a place of grace, and characterized by “Grace-Full Living,” we have to get this right. It’s God’s love shining through us that compels others to want to be among us. And then,
III. The third person we are to love is OUR NEIGHBOR.
Our neighbor may not be among us, but we know who they are. And we are to love “our neighbor” – “as ourselves”. Just as we’re reminded in Romans 13:8-10: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Such love acts like a magnet to others. Acts 2:42-47 tells us how love affected the early church. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. . . . They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily . . . .”
Some have tried to argue that this is a formula for Socialism, but it’s really not. It’s the expression of what happens when Christians aren’t competing with each other, but rather, they’re fully supporting one another with unselfish love.
While the early commands of the Ten Commandments spoke about loving God, the latter commands summed up easily into “love your neighbor as yourself.” There is an assumption here worth noting. We do love ourselves, but sometimes we distort it. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that God has given us value. He has given us dignity, and self-respect. We’re also called to give the same to others, even people that are not like us. Yes, we are called to love the butcher, the baker, and the Cadillac-maker.
In the Old Testament, there are 538 sins to commit and 613 laws to break. This means there’s a total of 1,151 ways to go wrong Biblically. In other words, there’s over 1,000 ways to go wrong every minute of every day. That’s a lot of potential to go wrong.
But Paul doesn’t want us hung up there. He says that our highest obligation toward others is our obligation to love them. This doesn’t mean that other commands and other obligations don’t apply – because they do. Instead, it means that when we love, when we are motivated by love, we are going to get the rest of them right. If we wish to be in a position of “grace with God”, then we must be grace-full with one another. If we’re motivated by Godly love, we’ll do just fine.
