Sermon – September 20, 2020 – Pentecost 16
Printable PDF: 9-20-2020 Pentecost 16 Sermon
Pastor Clark ~ Romans 13:1-10 ~ September 20, 2020 ~ Pentecost 16
When in Rome, don’t do as the Romans do…PAY WHAT YOU OWE
1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
We are so blessed as a nation. I did some research. Americans are worth about 17 trillion dollars, a total greater than any citizenry in the world. Unfortunately, we also have staggering debt. Our citizenry owes 13.86 trillion dollars. I realize those are numbers way too large to comprehend, so let’s break it down a little. The average American household owes about $137k. The average student debt is about $30K. And the average credit card debt for Americans is about $16k.
In other words, we have a lot, but we also owe a lot. If you have heard of Dave Ramsey, he offers what he calls “7 baby steps,” to take control of your money. The second of the baby steps is “pay off all of your debt” (except maybe your mortgage).
This may be a hard time to do that. The 3.6% unemployment in January is now 14.7%.
People in Rome owed money, too. God wanted them to take responsibility for their debts just he wants us to be responsible for ours. But God wanted them to know they had other debts they might not always recognize or appreciate. Nothing has changed between then and now. So that’s why we say, “Don’t do as the Romans do,” PAY WHAT YOU OWE.
- We owe a debt of respect. (verses 1-7)
What is this other debt? 1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Have you seen what people say about people in authority, especially politicians? I have seen the commercials, too. The word the Bible uses for such people is, “God’s servant.” The word means someone who “works for the people.” It is the same exact word we use to describe our worship service, “liturgy.” We don’t sit passively in church. You actively participate. It’s a work of the people
Serving people is what government does. You can argue how well they are doing that. You can talk about whether you like what they are doing. But we don’t speak about it the way others do. Why? Because God says we owe them. We pay what we owe them through submission. We show that submission by paying taxes or revenue, respecting them, and honoring them as his servants.
We owe them because we owe God, not that we can ever adequately pay him back. Over and over again we commit the sin of Adam and Eve. When someone says something we don’t like, it is easy to think that we don’t have to listen to them, and we do what we want, not what the authority wants. We justify that by pointing out that those authorities are just as fallible and as human as we are. Which although true, is not the point at all. Just like Moms and Dads, they have been placed in their positions by God. Moms and Dads are also fallible, but we still owe them a debt of respect.
The greatest example of this is Jesus. He was the perfect son, and yet, he respected his father and mother. One of the seven words Jesus uttered on the cross was taking care of his mother. He also showed us what that obedience and submission to earthly authorities looks like. Despite being the God of all creation and perfect, when he stood before earthly authorities like Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, & Herod, he always showed respect for them in every way. When asked to pay taxes, he proclaimed about the coins with Caesar’s image imprinted on them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.”
This same Lord submitted himself as a servant for you and me. Brothers and sisters, don’t do as the Romans do. Pay your debt of respect.
- We owe a debt of love. (verses 8-10)
Another difference between what the Romans do and what we do is the reason we respect. The Romans respected, but they did it because a sword was held over their heads. That is not why or how we pay our debts. St. Paul says, 8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The point of Paul’s words was to make clear that their motivation for paying what they owe was not fear. It was love; love for God and love for others. That same love was the fulfillment of all the commandments. Sometimes people in our culture mistake this love as a deeper level of the word, “like.” And certainly love can be an emotion, but that’s not what Paul means at all. The word for love is primarily an action. It’s not how you feel towards your spouse and children, it’s how you act towards them. You may not always like your spouse or your children, but you still love them. It shows in your actions.
Our God in heaven didn’t just have a warm fuzzy feeling in his heart toward us. He didn’t send an angel to be our Savior because it was not a strong enough or effective enough action. He sent his Son because only his Son could accomplish what needed to be accomplished, the payment for every act of rebellion and willfulness that all the people of the world commit. That is love.
That is also far different than anything this world knows or understands. Don’t do as the Romans do. Pay your debt of love. Amen.