Go in Debt this Christmas
The Word is Anticipation
ADVENT I - November 27, 1988
Romans 13:8-14 "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another ... salvation is nearer to us than when we believed"
Introduction:
Up in the small bedroom of the parsonage, on the dresser is a pile of beautifully wrapped, odd-shaped packages. When the grandchildren come they always somehow make their way to that room. And the ones that can read look for names. The ones who can't read think that all the packages are probably for them.
Helen has been preparing for family Christmas. Nothing wrong with that. There has been some foresight involved. And not a little expense. I'm thankful for Helen!
[Transition: But what does that have to do with this text at hand? How is this an "Advent Text?" It is an Advent Text, and a beautiful one! The key word is "anticipation!" (and not "debt.") There are several 'Advent Facts' we need to face in this passage:]
I. IT IS NIGHT NOW, BUT DAY IS CERTAINLY COMING (11, 12)
- One of the recurring figures describing 'spiritual reality' is this concept of day/night, light/darkness. Do we need to be reminded that until Jesus comes, we are people of LIGHT, but we are living in a world of darkness: [ v 12 "The night is almost gone" (but it is still night!) ]
- In case you haven't noticed, the world in which we live is sick. The war for men's hearts has never been more keen. DARKNESS!
Where? Everywhere! On every front! No truth stands unchallenged! Drugs are just one example of the pandemic proportions of some of our major social problems.
In Florida (principally in the Miami area) in 1987 calendar year, 2,000 babies were born already addicted to cocaine. That is horrible. But I heard a government drug officer say that if the current figures for 1988 hold through the end of the year, that figure will be 10,000 babies born in south Florida already addicted to cocaine. (From seminar held at Georgetown University on the drug problem, November 1988.)
- The text states: There will be a dawning!
II. CHRISTIANS ARE TO BE PEOPLE OF LIGHT, ANTICIPATING THE DAWN (11, 12)
- A. It IS an act of faith to believe this; it is something like Simeon and Anna.
- B. Anticipating the dawn means living by faith. It is believing that we can make a difference. God's people do not need to live in darkness! They can have God's light now! But what does this mean to you/me?
- 'Can I save my marriage?
- 'Can we save our families?
- 'Can we reach into the darkness?
Faith says: We can! WITH LOVE WE CAN!
[But if we think of love as a 'warm fuzzy'- it may do some good- but that isn't what the world needs. And it isn't what our families need, either. How may we truly be 'people of light?']
III. HOW TO BE AGENTS OF THE DAWNING: "IN DEBT, IN TIME, IN CHRIST!"
(8 "owe nothing except love"; 11 "it is already the hour"; 12,14 "put on the armor of light; put on the Lord Jesus Christ.")
- IN DEBT "Owe no one anything ... except to love!"
- Acknowledging a debt of love. Paul began this letter to the Romans with a theme of obligation: (1:14) am debtor to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish; thus, as much as in me is, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome!"
Our church (Nazarene) was begun with a vision of debt: ("I am debtor to every man, to give the gospel in the same measure as I have received it." -Bresee)
We are in debt for God's great grace, a debt we can never really repay. But we need to start paying; paying on the installment plan; and doing it in the "now."
- To help us catch this idea of 'debt', here is a quote from Bertha Munro, originally published in the Herald of Holiness, with the title "I.O.U.":
- "I owe you respect for your personality. You too are that climax of God's creation, made in His likeness. I owe you a right to your opinion. You may differ with me without fear that I shall raise a barrier between us if we do not see eye to eye. We can disagree and still be friends.
- "I owe you belief in your integrity. Since I do, I shall put the best possible construction on your actions. I shall trust your words and deeds, even those I am unable to understand.
- "I owe you honest treatment; I shall not steal people's good opinion of you. I shall voice the sort of comment on you and your actions that I should wish made on me.
- "I owe you a "taking off place." Though I value your friendship, I shall not enslave your spirit nor bind you so closely to me that you will lose the wealth of other friendships, or even fail to develop your own best potentialities.
- "I owe you thoughtful consideration. I will not steal your time when you are evidently busy, just because I have free time to "kill."
- "I owe you honest wages if I chance to be employer, honest work if I chance to be employed, honest measure and just weight in any case.
- "I owe you special help in time of special need: my hand, my ear, my voice. I owe you patience with what seems to me your stupidity or slowness. I owe you the identification of Golden Rule imagination. I owe you "love unfeigned."
- "I owe it to you not to push you down in order to lift myself. Rather, I owe it to you to see you forge ahead of me without any reaction of envy or jealousy- even to give you a push.
- "I owe you a good example, a Christian testimony. I owe you the gospel of Christ to the limit I possess it. I owe it to you to prove its power to the full, that God may challenge and encourage you by the sight of what He has done for someone else.
- "All this I owe you, and much more. I owe it to you not to fall behind with my payments. I shall always owe the abounding love that will meet those unforeseen and unexpected demands of the emergency and will save me from "Thou shalt" and "I must."
"Owe no man any thing, but to love."
- Acknowledging a debt of love. Paul began this letter to the Romans with a theme of obligation: (1:14) am debtor to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish; thus, as much as in me is, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome!"
- IN TIME (11) "It is already the hour for you to awaken!"
- It is the nature of Christians to think in terms of a great sacrifice; an heroic gift of self— off somewhere in the safety of tomorrow.
But as wonderful as that will be, we need to begin now, with the small, kind giving of ourselves in little packages of Christ-likeness. We cannot despise the importance of a smile when we don't feel like smiling. Of a deliberate word of encouragement. Of a helping hand when it isn't to be expected.
- The key is DON'T WAIT BEGIN TODAY! It is human to put off important things to a deadline. But to delay here can be fatal. Just about every Christian has a horror story, if they only knew it! [of someone who they felt they should tell about Christ's love— who died before they obeyed their inner urging] But the biggest horror stories are those of unspoken love among family members and friends.
- It is the nature of Christians to think in terms of a great sacrifice; an heroic gift of self— off somewhere in the safety of tomorrow.
- IN CHRIST " ... put on the armor of light; put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."
- "In Christ" means that Jesus Himself is interested in the things that matter. He will be involved in helping us pay our debt of love!
- "In Christ" means a surrender to His will; a conscious seeking after Christ-likeness.
[ How can we be realistic about this? Just what does "In debt, in time, in Christ" come out to practically?:]
- WE MUST GO IN DEBT FOR OUR MOST PRECIOUS RELATIONSHIPS.
- If we want to save a marriage we must be willing to go in debt for it! (Not in money— but in SELF-GIVING!)
- If we want to "bring up a child in the way he/she should go" it doesn't come easily or cheaply!:
- The best gift any father can give his children; any mother can give her children— is a consistent, supportive, sincere love of their mother/father. Our relationships will survive ONLY as we acknowledge this debt, and begin paying on it!
- WE MUST PAY A DEBT OF LOVE TO OUR COMMUNITY.
- This is much, much more than "program" and "check-lists." (These can/will be useful at some point.) But do we even like people? Can we come to see them as Jesus sees them? Do we want them to be part of our lives?
- It seems something of a contradiction when we earnestly seek out better and more efficient ways to welcome new people into our church and fellowship, when at the same time there are people already in our fellowship, already converted, that in their own minds are invisible; they feel shut out, isolated, not really a part.
I am not laying blame or finding fault— simply stating the way some people perceive our church (from within!)
- Part of the "debt of love" is to ask God for a heart to like people; for a willingness to reach out to others who may not have the same interests we have.
- WHAT GOOD CAN IT DO? Perhaps results aren't our direct responsibility. A debt is a debt.
But all the same it will make a difference! THE ONLY HOPE FOR OUR SICK SOCIETY IS A DRAMATIC CHANGE OF CHARACTER! And this change must start somewhere! Let it begin with anticipation of the dawning! Let it begin within YOUR HEART!! "Owe no man anything except love ..."
Conclusion:
People will be spending money, time, great effort to be "ready" for family Christmas. Within limits, that is good.
But in case you have forgotten, IT ISN'T SANTA THAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT! And I'm afraid that not too many people will be concerned about getting ready for the dawning of the great Day!
THE ONE WE ARE WATCHING FOR IS THE KING OF KINGS! The morning we await is an eternal day! And (v 12) "The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.") Our dream-world is passing away.
Are YOU going into debt to be ready ? [Text: Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves ... has fulfilled the law. ]
Prayer: O Lord, Help us to awaken and put on the armor of light! Live through us and help us to truly be children of the dawning light. Amen.
EH #75 Jesus, My Strength, My Hope, or, EH #78 When He Shall Come
