The Outstanding Debt ~ Romans 13:8-14 ~ Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

If you know my absolute love for coffee, it may surprise you to hear that I don’t like Starbucks.

My opinion was permanently sealed over ten years ago, when I visited with a friend.  I went in there with absolutely no idea of what I was going to order.

The drink of the month was the Double Chocolate Chip Blended Crème Frappucino.  I asked the talkative and charming barista what it was, and she explained that it was a milk-based drink blended with chocolate syrup and chocolate chips.  As I pondered for a moment over whether or not to partake of this indulgence, she says, “get it.  You deserve it!!”  So I did.  She even talked me into ordering a large (or “venti,” as they would say).

But from my first sip, I was in for a wallop: think instant sugar high plus brain freeze.  About halfway through it, I’d met my match.  I wasn’t sure that I could get up and walk straight.  Hours later, when I finally got home, I wondered if the barista was telling me that I deserved sugar shock and indigestion.

We all get to a point when we owe it to ourselves to take a break; do something we enjoy; to indulge and relax.  This isn’t unusual.  There’s no way around the fact that we need Sabbath—and God wants us to have it.  Not just on Sundays—but Sabbath moments throughout the day.  Most of the time, we can’t claim all of our time and resources for ourselves.  Others have claims upon us—our jobs, our families, the bill collectors, and even the IRS.  We crave that freedom of being in no one else’s debt, and rightfully so.

But then the Apostle Paul writes, “let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love 

one another.”

It’s kind of unusual to think of love as a debt—because we’re accustomed to treating love as a choice.  Yet even as a command, it’s really not all that difficult to be nice and do no harm.  But we must bear in mind the kind of love that Paul is writing about here.  The Bible actually speaks about three kinds of love.  There’s eros love—which is romantic love; there’s philia love, which is love between friends, and there is agape love—which is self-giving, sacrificial love.  This is, of course, the kind of love that Jesus poured out for us upon the cross.  This love is our outstanding debt—and suffice it to say, it is the hardest debt to fulfill.

First of all, how can we be indebted to love persons we don’t know, or those who have no love for anyone but themselves?

We all get to a point that we have so many debts and obligations that there simply isn’t anything left of us to be had.  We become like credit cards—we’re maxed out.  Our cup dries up.  We’re empty vessels. 

Yet God knows that.  God also knows that we’re sinners—and as such, we’ve run up a debt to our Holy and almighty God that we can never repay.  We deserve to die for our sin—regardless of whether we’re a hardened criminal or truly feel that we’re “practically perfect in every way.”  But this is where God’s agape love is poured out for us, in response to our terrible debt and most tremendous need.  The offering of his precious body and blood has wiped out our debt.  All of the sudden, the empty cup is overflowing with saving grace.  Our sins are forgiven; and we’re God’s children forever, bound to God’s eternal reign.  It is then this cup of grace that becomes the source of life and strength, even as everyone and everything makes claims against us.  It is this cup of grace that frees to become servants of our neighbors. 

Agape love is so much more than just being nice.  You are pouring out something beautiful and precious to you to build someone else up.  We saw so much of this happening thirteen years ago on 9/11 and afterward—firefighters running into the flaming towers to rescue innocent people; people waiting hours in line to give blood, but for no other reason than people needed them. 

Our days are full of opportunities to love in this way—and if you need any proof of that, just look around you.  There’s hurting and pain everywhere.  The world is becoming a scarier place to live by the day.  But God-given, agape love can change everything for the better.   It can drive out the fear and hopelessness imprisoning so many of us, as we become living witness to the unchanging reality that Christ is with us.  The power of God’s love will become more real to you as you pour out your precious self—because when you pour out anything in Jesus’ name, he will refill your cup with something even greater.  You will be transformed as you give transformation.

So today, if you’re feeling empty, and you’re love and energy are all dried up, know that the Holy Spirit has brought you here today to fill you up with again.  This is what Sabbath is for—laying aside everything and everyone else making claims upon us, so that Christ can reclaim us and refill us again.  Come eat and drink of the body and blood of Christ, given for you.  Then challenge yourself to be more than nice…  Give something valuable away to the one who needs it; lose your life into the arms of Christ.  God’s not demanding the impossible from you; just what you have and what you can do.  Don’t let anything stop you—because there will always be something pulling you back from this kind of love.  Open up your heart so that God’s grace can flow through.   Even when the debt is great, the love of God will be even greater.