Please join me at Romans 13:8.  We are going on roaming through Romans.  Today we are looking at getting along with the neighbors.

Long ago in a city far far away I was living in an apartment and I knew when the lady upstairs came home.  Because every day she’d throw her shoes across the living room.  She’d walk through the door.  Clump.  Clump.  Then a long pause…  wait for it…. wait…. then ker clump.

Karen and I had neighbors - different apartment house - nice people - elderly - hard of hearing.  A lot of interesting conversations we tried not to listen to.

Here in Merced, we live on a cul-de-sac - on a pie shaped property.  Which means we have 6 properties bordering ours.  5 of which are rentals.  Neighbors come and go.  Sound loud.  Some very loud.  Some obnoxious.  Some perverted.  Some have been messy - collectors of junk and clutter.  We’ve even had Armenian neighbors.  Which is a stretch for Merced.  Some of them have been really really nice people.  

Are we tracking together?  All of us probably have neighbor stories.  I know our neighbors do.

Someone said once that neighbors are like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re gonna get.

Check this (photo):  “Look Bob, I’ve painted my fence.”  

Or this (photo):  “Good fences make good neighbors.  Bad neighbors make good fertilizer.”

Maybe not the best attitude.  But, once in a while we might feel that way.

This morning we’re looking Romans 13:8-14.  Paul teaching about getting along with the neighbors.  We’re going to take these verses in two sections.  Section one - verses 8 to 10.  Let’s read these together and then we’ll come back to unpack.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Paul’s point:  Owe Only Love.

“To owe” means being in debt.  Which we understand.  Yes?  We live in a culture of debt.  “I owe.  I owe.  So off to work I go.” 

There was a judge who’d awarded child support to Fran.  The judge said to Ole, “I’ve decided to give your wife $400 a month for support.”

“Vell, dat’s fine, Judge,” said Ole.  “An vunce in a while I’ll try to chip in a few bucks myself.”

“To owe” means having an obligation - a duty - being bound by what we ourselves owe to someone else.

Two Sundays ago we looked at getting along with the government - Romans 13:1-7.  Paul teaching about our obligation before God to pay our taxes - to honor those serving in the government who are to be honored - to respect those to whom respect is due.  Those are obligations.  What we owe others in authority over us. 

We could say it this way, “Pay up on your taxes.  Give honor, and respect to those to whom it’s due.  Don’t owe anyone anything that’s due them.  We can fulfill that obligation and we must.”

Verse 8 continues that teaching.  “But love is an obligation - a never satisfied debt - that we can never completely fulfill.”

There is no way to zero out love.  To ever fulfill our obligation to love others.  Love is an insatiable debt.  We need to understand what Paul means by that.

Paul writes when we love “another” we fulfill the law.  Some translations translate the Greek word for “another” as “neighbor.”  Which is good.  But “neighbor” doesn’t go far enough in helping us understand Paul’s point.

“Another” translates the Greek word “heteros” which has the idea of something being alike but completely different.  We’re all human.  But none of us are the same.  Some of us are more different that others.  Some of us will vote for the other candidate.  Some have different beliefs.  Different values.  Different mannerisms and habits and tastes and personality.  A different race and background.  Different perspective and economics and education…

We get the idea?  Different.  Meaning hard for us to choose to love.

Do you remember the theologian who asked Jesus, “Who’s my neighbor?”  Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37)

In the parable, who did Jesus say are our neighbors?  Everyone.  Different though they may be.  Including other ethnic groups - people we wouldn’t normally associate with - those who oppress us - those who oppose us - those who play their music too loud and fix cars 24/7 on their driveway.  Everyone.

As Paul is writing to the Church of Rome he’s writing to a church that was oppressed - living under the heel of the Roman military - pressured by living at the seeming whim of a cruel, depraved Emperor.  Paul is writing from Corinth - a city of renowned immorality and sexual depravity.

Hard to feel the love in all that.

Drive around Merced and it is hard to process how diverse this city is.  Here in the farmland of the central valley the world has come to take up residence in Merced.  There are huge and growing differences here.  Those who live south of 99 and those out towards the hills.  Differences in ethnicity - economics - social skills - education...  Some live inside.  Some live outside. 

People are searching - just like they were in Paul’s day - just like people always searched.  People are desperate for love.  Contemporary music almost without exception focuses on love and yet is devoid of true love.  How many marriages could be saved - wars avoided - murders would never have been committed - prostitutes and pimps and drug dealers and gangs would be put out of business - how many places in this city would be safe to be at night - if people knew God’s love?

In today’s world there is an insatiable desperation for love.  The greatest need of the world today is know God’s love.  We owe -  we’re obligated - to love to our neighbors.  As different at they may think we are.

Paul writes that when we love others - our neighbors - even different others - we fulfill the law.  We fulfill what the law requires - we do what the law requires - when we love others.

We need to slow down and make sure we understand that.

In verse 9 Paul gives us an example of what he means by loving and fulfilling the law.  Verse 9:  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

These commandments are examples from the… Ten Commandments.  What is the core of God’s law.  The Top Ten of Commandments. 

Looking at this list of commandments from the Ten Commandments - it would be so easy to feel that we’ve fulfilled our obligation to love - that we’re doing what God wants - because we haven’t broken any of these commandments - at least not too badly - or at least not all of them.  It would be so easy to get by with doing the minimum and convince ourselves that we’re loving our neighbor.

Which is what the Pharisees did.  They took ten laws and in order to make sure they were fulfilling - keeping - obeying - those ten laws - they took ten laws and created a religious system of do’s and don’ts of 613 laws - 248 do’s and 365 don’ts - and then went on from there ranking and sub-dividing and commentating and working so hard at doing the law.  Fulfilling the law.

They split hairs over keeping the fine details of the law and the totally missed the point.  The Old Testament context of the Ten Commandments is about covenant.  What it means to live in relationship with the living God.

The God of the Bible is the covenant God not a contract God.   God’s message to us is not, “Do this for Me.  Then I’ll love you.” - a do this and you’ll get paid - contract.  Which is where the world’s version of love is.  Focused on self.  “Do this for me and I’ll love you until you don’t do this for me.”

But instead God says, “I’ve done this for you as your Creator and as your Redeemer.  Therefore this is the kind of relationship that I invite you to be a part of.”

We were created to live in a covenant relationship with God.  These commandments express the concern of God for His people.  The desire of God that His people know how to live rightly with Him in the loving relationship that God has created us for. 

God loves you.  That’s what the Ten Commandments are all about.  Not about rules and regulations.  But about God who wants to pour out His love on us - to take the burdens off our shoulders - to bring peace to our hearts - to establish us and bless us and watch out for us and heal us and care for us and guide and lead us through life into eternity with Him.

Don’t commit adultery.  Don’t murder.  Don’t steal.  Don’t covet.  Those speak to the focus and direction of our hearts.  What exposes the inner struggles of our hearts - our attitudes - our inner instincts as we’re wrestling with our debt of loving really different peoples.

If we’re honest with ourselves, when it comes to loving others we start to put qualifications on that and sometimes get ourselves into the kind of legal hair splitting that the Pharisees were so good at.  I haven’t done that so then I must have fulfilled what God expects of me.  The law.

But let’s grab some backfill.  Paul - since chapter one - has been writing about God loving us - God being merciful to us - God being gracious to us.  What God chooses to do for us through Jesus’ work on the cross.  Not contract.  But covenant.

Paul writes - 12:1,2 - Paul writes that the only logical response to what God has chosen to do for us - miserable bound sin sinners that we are - the only logical response to all of what God has chosen to do for us is to lay our lives out on the altar of total surrender to God for Him to do with us whatever He chooses to do whenever and to whomever He chooses to do it.

That’s not hair splitting commandments.  That’s understanding that God loves us and so we are obligated - indebted with at debt we can never totally repay - indebted to love others.  We really need to get off our pedestals of pride and our trying to control our lives and how we think we’re doing at loving others and get a grip on who we are before God and what God really requires of us.

1 John 4 - starting at verse 7:  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest - revealed - among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation - the means - for our sins - to be forgiven.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  (1 John 4:7-11)

If we get that - then we begin to process the starting point of how loving others fulfills the law - because loving others is a total surrender response to God’s love - an opening of ourselves for Him to love others through us.  Which is the only way the law gets fulfilled.  Not by what we do or could ever hope to do.  But by what God has done and does - even through us. 

We’re kind of together on that?  Processing that practically.

Going on in verse 9, Paul writes:  these commandments… and any other commandment, are summed up in this word:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The laws - the four of the 10 commandments - that Paul quotes here focus on our relationship with others.  Notice the commands are in the negative “You shall not do this.”  But the summary commandment is positive, “You shall love…”

When Jesus summarized all the commandments - the “Thou shalt nots” of the Old Testament - He summarized them with two commandments - both stated in the positive.  The greatest commandment is...  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  And the second - what Paul quotes here dealing with our relationships - “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

It’s not a hair splitting boundary.  It’s an opportunity.  Love our neighbors and we’re not going to wrong them.  We’re going to right them by doing what the law requires.

Ray Stedman - preaching on this passage - shares a prayer that says out loud what’s often really going on in our hearts.  Let me read you part of this prayer.  As I’m reading think about our obligation to love.

We miserable owners of increasingly luxurious cars, and ever-expanding television screens, do most humbly pray for that two-thirds of the world’s population which is undernourished;

You can do all things, O God.

We pray that our statesmen may do everything they can to promote peace, so long as our own national history and honor and pride and prosperity and superiority and sovereignty are maintained;

You can do all things, O God.

That the sick may be visited, the prisoner cared for, the refugee rehabilitated, the naked clothed, the orphan housed, and that we may be allowed to enjoy our own firesides evening by evening, in peace;

You can do all things, O God.

O Son of God, we beg, we beseech, we supplicate, we petition, we implore You to hear us.

Lord, be good to us.

Christ, make things easy for us.

Lord, deliver us from the necessity of doing anything. (1)

Our obligation before God - the love of God - goes way beyond that kind of thinking.

Jesus - and Paul - are not talking about what we haven’t done to people - fulfilling the minimum standard of expectation so we can get right with God.  He’s talking about what we’re obligated - compelled to do as Christians - to do for people - to love them.  That’s a radical - from our hearts poured out for others in response to God’s love poured out in Jesus - proactive - get outside the church walls - put down the remote - get off of our “barko-lounger” - life changing - world changing - radical approach to love.

When we proactively seek to love our neighbors we begin to fulfill - to live out - what God has in His heart - to get along with our neighbors as God desires for us to get along with our neighbors.

Section two of Paul’s teaching comes in verses 11 to 14.  Let’s read these together and then we’ll come back to unpack.

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Paul’s Point:  Time Is Short.

Have you ever had your alarm clock go off and then next thing you know it’s like a half an hour later and you’ve way over slept.  Been there?  Or like some here are physically here but they’re still fighting sleep.  Dozing and dreaming about worshiping at the church of the inner spring.

The word Paul uses here for “to wake from sleep” has the idea of waking the dead.  Deep sleep to wide away.  Massive amounts of caffenation.  The urgency of getting up and getting moving.

Paul writes, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”

“We believed” - meaning when we’re born spiritually - salvation in the immediate - being made right before God - sense.  One day - a day one day nearer than it was yesterday - Jesus is coming back.  On that day those who have believed will experience salvation in the ultimate sense - eternity with God.

On the day Jesus returns there will be judgment.  Those who are trusting in Jesus as their Savior will spend eternity with Him.  Those who do not know Him as their personal Savior will be sent to hell for eternal punishment. (Revelation 20:11-15)

Paul writes - “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.”

It is way past the twilight of the early morning hours.  It’s daylight out there.  It is long past time for us to get up and get going.  Sleeping in is not an option.  We need to wake up to the reality of what’s a stake for our neighbors.

We don’t know how much time we have left to share the Gospel with our neighbors.  But we do that it’s even more urgent today that it was yesterday.  There is a crucial urgency to our lives - to use our time wisely.   If we love our neighbors we will make wise use of our time by sharing the Gospel with them.

“So then - because time is short - the need is urgent - let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”  

Darkness is symbolic of evil and sin.  Light is symbolic of what is righteous and holy. 

“To cast off” - in Greek - means to renounce it - to give it up.  Been there.  Done that.  No more.  No way.

“To put on” - in Greek - has the idea of putting on clothes.  What we wrap up ourselves up in.

Armor is an interesting choice of words.  We’re at war.  To walk through this world as children of light - the Light of the world - meaning Jesus - to live in this world as followers of Jesus Christ we’re at war with the powers of darkness. (Ephesians 6:10-20)

We can’t be complacent about this - trying to live in some grey twilight between following what fits our comfort zone and following Jesus.  Too much is at stake.   A good soldier doesn’t lie down on the job but exerts himself to the full.  Has a definite objective in mind.  Uses effective armor - effectively.  Obeys orders.

The clothes make the man.  What do your clothes say about you?  If we’re awake - engaged in life - we’ve got to make a deliberate intentional conscious choice of how we’re going to live.

Verse 13:  Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 

Paul - who’s writing from Corinth - lists 6 sins - in 3 pairs of sins  - that focus on what was going on in Corinth - what was going on in Rome - what was relevant then - what is relevant today.

Orgies and drunkenness meaning partay.  In Paul’s day it was festivals at night that were dedicated to Bacchus - the Greek god of wine.  Festivals that were all about parading drunk through the streets and ending up in immoral sexual behavior.  Recreational drinking and sex.  What constitutes a lot of behavior today.

Sexual immorality and sensuality is about going beyond the moral norms of husband - wife marital relations to the kind of sexual saturation and infatuation and excessive that controls our culture.

Quarreling and jealousy is about conflict and envy.  What we want and how we can run over people to get it.

Paul’s list isn’t an exhaustive list.  But it does communicate his point.  These examples are about self-focused - self-gratifying - behavior that is the total opposite of what God’s love - of what loving others - is all about.

Paul tells us.  Wake up to the urgency of the hour.  And, cast off - put off - renounce and reject - get rid of the kind of self-serving “life is about me” behavior that saturates our culture - that can easily infect our own thinking and behavior even as followers of Jesus.

Wake up.  Cast off.  Then verse 14 - But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. 

“To put on” is the same word as in verse 12 - like putting on clothing.

The verb is in the imperative - meaning this isn’t an option.  We must make the choice.  We are at war.  For our neighbors eternity is at stake.  It is essential.  Crucial.  Imperative.

It’s in the middle voice.  Remember this?  Three voices in Greek.  Active meaning we do it to ourselves.   Passive meaning it gets done to us.  Middle is in the… middle.  Meaning cooperation.  We’re engaged in doing it as it gets done to us.

Meaning that “to put on” is a deliberate, intentional, conscious choice that we must make to yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives.

As we choose to live life in yielded dependence on Jesus.  To give control of our life to Him.  To let His words and character shape our character.  He will change our hearts - transform us - lead us away from darkness -  and teach us and lead us in loving others as He loves us.

Do you think the people around us notice how we live our lives?  What we fill our lives with?  How we talk?  What we joke about?  If our love and concern for others is genuine?

Paul isn’t advocating hypocrisy.  Trying to put up a good Christian image for the neighbors.  Or “I’m only trying to be nice to you ‘cause I’m trying to convince you to become a Christian.”

What Paul is advocating is allowing Jesus to change our hearts and shape our character - allowing the genuine heart changing light of Jesus to shine through us so that as those around notice a difference in us - in this church - they will see Him in us and come to know Him as their own personal Savior.

Our lives are too valuable.  The time is too short.  Each of us has maybe plus or minus 80 years here on earth.  The whole frame work of the world we live in is passing away.  Jesus is coming.  Eternity is coming.  People need to know that Jesus loves them.  The needs of our neighbors are too great - to waste on anything less than our lives being lived in 100% sold out dependence on Jesus. 

Processing what Paul writes here…

Everything we looked at today - if we take it to heart - should rearrange our priorities and attitude towards our neighbors.

Less than 1% of those who come to Jesus do so as a result of an evangelistic crusade.  No more than 4% say they’re influenced by local church programs or worship services.  Fully 80% come to faith “because a friend or family member cared for me until I accepted Christ.” (2)  

We need to make the days we have left count for something - something that goes way beyond the temporal stuff we usually waste time with.  Want to love your neighbor proactively?  Want to help someone avoid the fires of hell?

Three suggestions:

First:  PRAY PROACTIVELY for our neighbors - across the street - behind us - next to us.  Drive through town in prayer for the people we see.  While you’re shopping pray for the people around you.  While you’re working pray for your co-workers.  Pray for God to work in their hearts.  Pray that they’ll respond to His love and trust in Jesus as their Savior.  Pray for God to open our eyes to see the physical and spiritual needs around us.  For God to open our hearts and move us with compassion and love for those around us.

Second:  CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS with those who need to know Jesus.  Not because we’re more holy than them.  Not because were suppose to be so much more righteous and we need to straighten out their lives.  Not to preach at them.  But - as fellow sinners - to share our lives with them - to come along side them as they go through the stuff of life like we do - for the sake of sharing the love of Jesus with them.

A few Sundays back I shared about how for about a year now a few of us have been going out most Saturday mornings door to door around the neighborhood here around Creekside and taking a survey of where people are at spiritually.  Just asking questions like:  On a scale of 1 to 5 - 5 being very interested - how interested are you in spiritual things?

8 questions.  Takes about 2 minutes to go through.  Our goal is understand where people are at spiritually and to minister accordingly.  We’ve met some neat people.  Gotten to know Merced better.  Been able to share the gospel with some folks.  Taken time to pray for the people we talk with - the neighborhood around here.  It’s been good to serve together.  Really fun.

Not too long ago we went up and down the street of someone who’s a part of Creekside.  What stuck in my mind - challenged me - was how that Creeksider had been interacting with his neighbors.  Knew their needs.  Had helped them when they needed help.  They knew him.  He knew them.  They know he’s a follower of Jesus.  Love in action.  Huge.

Third:  LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES to share Jesus.

With all that praying and cultivating we need to be looking for the opportunities that God gives us.  God space.  God moments.  Becuase He will.  Doors of opportunity will open.  When we have opportunities to share what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  What that relationship can mean for today and forever.

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1. Ray Steadman, from the sermon “The Demand of The Hour” - quoting from “He Sent Leanness - Book of Prayers for the Natural Man” - Discovery Publishing

2. www.thejesusplan.com

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.