First Sunday in Advent, 2002
Romans 13:8-14

What causes us to put up with interest payments on loans? Surely a big factor is the immediate gratification. People don't seem capable of controlling that powerful materialistic impulse to possess something now. Those who can control themselves are richly blessed. One church recently built their new facility for 1.2 million dollars. They didn't borrow a penny. They figured out that they had saved 2.5 million dollars in interest (based on the going interest rate for that year).

Does the rule, "Owe no one anything" prohibit all borrowing? Probably not. Christ's parable of the minas seems to encourage a banking system of lending and borrowing on interest (Luke 19:23; Deut. 15:6). Hence, the apostle Paul is not launching an anti-borrowing crusade. He simply demands that you repay what you borrow. For example, many families take out a loan to purchase a house and a car. The Bible would permit such borrowing as long as you and I pay our bills on time and give back everything we owe. Catastrophe and unexpected death may be the rare exception.

Bankruptcy laws prevent creditors from grabbing the family estate. Again, in extreme emergencies declaring bankruptcy may be the only alternative. "Owe no one anything" means that the Christian will somehow and at some point try his best to repay everybody he owes. "Owe no one anything" is a caution on borrowing; a warning to avoid getting overextended. Taking on staggering debt leads to financial bondage. All too often churches borrow far too many millions and then cannot pay the monthly interest on their loan. What a bad example!

Ultimately, "owe no one anything" is a condition of freedom we should aim for. How can we attain it? Debt-free, non-borrowing living can be achieved through delayed gratification, trust in God, hard work, and contentment. Delayed gratification is the opposite of immediate gratification. When you see that real cool hot tub on sale, don't immediately pull out a credit card. Of course buying something nice can be euphoric. But the short-term emotional euphoria can turn into long-term spiritual misery. You would do better to save up the money first and then pay for it in cash. Uncontrolled buying indicates a lack of contentment, too. Hebrews says, "be content with such things as you have. For God Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

So far we have only examined the first part of the verse. Ideally we maintain a debt-free existence. According to the text, getting behind in payments is a violation of duty; and failing to love is also a violation of duty. Loving our neighbor is a daily obligation. Reading Romans 13:8-10. [Read them.]

It is pretty clear from this passage that God requires from us much more than mere outward conformity to commandments. He wants "sincere love": an honest, consistent concern for other people that spills over into actions of all kinds. When we love rightly, with the love that the Spirit inspires in us, we cannot help but obey whatever commandments God has given us. What he requires is what his Spirit inspires. Does this mean we can discard the Decalogue altogether? St. Paul states emphatically, "love is the fulfillment of the law." It sounds like Paul is abolishing the law. But that cannot be his meaning. Earlier the apostle has asked the question, "Do we then make void the law through faith?" And he answers, "Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31). He adds, "I agree with the law that it is good" (Romans 7:16). Somehow St. Paul harmonizes love and law and we need to harmonize them too. Why are both love and the law necessary?

Our minds are not perfectly renewed. If the mind of a believer were totally sanctified, then he could trust his heart and let love lead him every time to do what is right. Do you think that your heart will always lead you to do the loving thing? No. Such a notion naively underestimates the power of sin. Our hearts and minds are still partially blinded so we don't always see what love requires. Some pretty terrible things can be done in the name of love. The commandments keep us on "the straight and narrow." [I am indebted to Douglas J. Moo's Romans: The NIV Application Commentary .]

On the other hand, a wooden obedience to law fails too. "Love is the fulfillment of the law," suggests that on rare occasions breaking the law will be needful. Sometimes the situation dictates that love trump law. One writer gives this example: "We are commanded, for instance, not to lie. But suppose a friend of mine asks if another friend really said something nasty about that person. By answering truthfully I may damage the relationship between these two. So love for them demands that I tell a falsehood. But I am perfectly ethical in doing so since I am following the dictates of love."

The Hebrew midwives told some holy fibs as well. While Israel was enslaved in Egypt, Pharaoh commanded the Israelite midwives to kill all the baby boys as soon as they were born. The midwives didn't comply. When asked why, they answered, "the Jewish babies are too fast. Before we even arrive they are already out of the womb and in their mothers' arms." It was a righteous response, and it was a total lie.

A World War II story comes to mind. A while back Dennis Prager interviewed this woman on his radio program. I may be forgetting some of the details. Here's the gist of it. A Nazi official owned a villa in the country with several servants working on it. Unbeknownst to the captain, the servants were hiding about a dozen Jewish fugitives. Among the servants was a young Christian, an attractive Polish girl. The Nazi official was often away doing military business. While he was living at the villa the Jews lay concealed and quiet; when he was away they would come out of hiding. One day the officer arrived unannounced. He walked into his kitchen and saw the Jews. It took him one minute to realize what was going on. He walked to the phone and started to dial the secret police. The Polish girl ran and grabbed him by the sleeve, begging him to show mercy on the escapees. The Nazi officer looked at her and put down the receiver. He would relent on one condition: he would feign ignorance of the Jews at his villa if she would be his lover. What happened? The young woman had an affair with the Nazi man until the war ended. The liaison sickened her to repulsion. But she saved the lives of over a dozen Jews. We know that God's law prohibits adultery and fornication, and yet this is a clear example of a sexual affair outside of marriage being pleasing to God. Her conduct was truly heroic in rescuing the innocent. Every once in a while situations arise when the Ten Commandments need to be temporarily set aside. The words of the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture takes precedence: "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

Moving on to the next verses. The apostle says in Romans 13:11: "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." It is time to wake up. What is that about? Getting up in the morning was a straightforward matter during New Testament times. Most people spent little or no time on washing. Since they did not undress for bed, they had only to lay aside their blankets and begin the new day. St. Paul is exhorting us to lay aside our sinful practices and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to advance in sanctification.

To this Paul adds, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy."

Traveling on a moonless night was dangerous. What a difference electrical lighting makes! During antiquity, as dusk fell, the city shut down. I remember having to contend with pitch blackness in rural Paraguay. Tripping headlong and bumping into things was almost normal. Returning from a wedding party one night I got completely lost and ended up in a swamp. Groping my way home that night was an exhausting and frightening experience. On another occasion I was riding my bicycle at night. An inebriated man lay asleep on the dirt path. When I hit his leg he yelled out. It startled me out of my wits.

The danger Romans faced from murderers and housebreakers and muggers was real and pervasive. At night the city's narrow streets were plunged into impenetrable darkness. Little or no attempt was made at lighting them. When night fell over the city most people fled to their homes, shut themselves in, and barricaded their doors. But some welcomed the night because it concealed their raunchy behavior. The darkness of night hid their vices. The apostle lists "revelry and drunkenness, lewdness and lust." This means orgies, sexual indulgence and debauchery accompanied by excessive drinking.

St. Paul's words are a bugle call. Wake up! Throw off the coverings of the night! Cast off the works of darkness and get up! What are the works of darkness? The sins that belonged to their past. For some Christians drunken orgies were typical of their pre-baptism lifestyle. Lesser sins marked the lives of others. But everybody wrestles with sin. Wake up and cast away the works of darkness is a word for all.

Dmitri Karamazov said it well. In a room full of people he announced: "Gentlemen, we're all cruel, we're all monsters, we all make men weep, and mothers, and babes at the breast, but of all, let it be settled here, now, of all I am the lowest reptile! I've sworn to amend, and every day I've done the same filthy things." [pp. 617-8.]

The purpose of Christ's coming is to roll back the night and bring in the day. The advent message is, "wake, awake, the night is flying." In a redemptive sense Christ is the Sun of Righteousness who rises out of the East. We bow to and reverence His coming. The rays of Christ's sunshine are overcoming the works of darkness. The new age of God's kingdom has already dawned. It is slowly but surely moving to the full light of day. God loves the world and sent His Son to save it. Total victory is coming, the day when Christ will come a second time.

This being the case, what is our response? We must look to our conduct. We can't live as though it is still the night. We must put on the armor of light and dress ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. This putting on the clothes of Christ can be understood in two senses. On the one hand God the Father has already dressed us with the robes of Christ's perfect righteousness (Romans 4:4-8; 8:3-4; 10:3,4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:27). This gift of faith in Christ is given by pure grace. On the other hand, putting on Christ's garments is something you and I work on daily. It takes strenuous effort. Every morning you strive to recall anew that you are in Christ. Every day and all the time you struggle to wear Christ like a suit of clothes.

This text from Romans 13 found a tender place in the heart of St. Augustine. Augustine writes about it in his autobiography Confessions . It was the end of the summer, A.D. 386. Augustine sat on a garden bench. Next to him lay the New Testament writings of St. Paul. However, he was not interested in the Bible. He was experiencing an intense spiritual struggle, a violent agitation of heart and mind. In anguish he flung himself down on the grass beneath a fig tree.

As he was lying there he heard the voice of a little boy or girl, he couldn't tell which. The voice repeated over and again, "Tolle et lege; tolle et lege" ("Take up and read; take up and read"). He got up, returned to the bench, and picking up the parchment, he opened it at random. His eye happened to fall on these words. "Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."

The words hit him like a lighting bolt. His life had been marked by sexual excesses and drinking bouts. He was miserable. A combination of this passage along with the constant prayers of his mother Monica led him to convert. Augustine became one of the greatest leaders of the Church.

On this first day of the Church calendar, commit to wear the robes of Christ. The Lord has come. This is advent. The day is dawning. As the hymn poetically puts it, "wake, awake, for night is flying." Wake up and cast off the works of darkness. The epistle text also calls you to financial maturity as you practice delayed gratification and contentment. It tells you to guide your conduct with both love and law. It calls you to be more and more spiritually united to Christ. All this is possible with the help of the Holy Spirit.

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