Owed By All - Paid By Few

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” (Ro 13:8 AV)

 

This verse is often used to teach the saint should carry no debt.  However, there are two points to be made regarding debt.  First, the Old Testament has several laws regarding the procuring of and discharge of debt.  At least in the manner in which we define debt.  Second, anytime we are billed for something, we owe a debt.  The only way to carry no debt is to prepay for every good and service one might receive.  This would be impossible, for your employer would have to pay you for work not yet rendered.  So, our definition of debt and the Bible’s definition of debt is not the same.  Debt is past due accounts.  If I have a car loan and I pay it when it is due, then Biblically, I do not have debt.  However, if I cannot or will not pay that payment as agreed to, then it is considered a debt – in the Biblical sense.  All of the above is not what we shall consider this morning.  The context is the honor due to another.  Especially a secular leader or government.  So, the Apostle is not referring to a loan here.  He is referring to tribute.  In short, he is speaking of respect due to one another based solely on our common existence.  In today’s world, this debt almost always goes unpaid.

When our kids are young, we teach them mutual respect for one another.  I have three sons.  They are about eighteen months apart.  As it goes, there were rivalries, arguments, and fights.  However, there was one rule I stated over and again.  If I said it once, I said it ten thousand times.  “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  Whenever I saw these young men face-off, they would hear the same instruction.  “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would enter into an altercation over a toy. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would argue about who gets the window seat. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would try to get in front of one another while lining up for something special. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would rush out of bed on Christmas morning. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would play outside and if things got out of hand, “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  They would start an argument at the dinner table. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  Sometimes they would sit and play a board or card game. “No hitting, kicking, punching, or pushing.”  This rule was expanded to include their manner of speech.  Once the boundaries of physical space were understood and respected, we could then advance to emotional space and intellectual space.  What were we teaching them?  Respect is the first level of love owed to all.  What we were trying to teach our children, and I think we were successful, is to teach them to love one another to a deep level, they would have to start with the basic level of love we call respect.  This is the debt we owe to all.

In today’s world, respect is in short supply.  We have become more and more polarized.  Variety of belief is quickly boiling down to two opposing forces.  Those that love God and those that do not.  Secularism is a large tent that had gathered into itself, sides that at one time were opposed.  Now, with the common goal of resisting God, they can put their differences aside for the greater objective.  On the other side, those who are; more than not (for I use this phrase liberally); have a conservative or biblical world view, are learning in order for us to survive, we also have to look at a greater good.  What this has done is we have more clearly defined a battlefield of ideas that are constantly in conflict.  This is natural and necessary.  But the thing is, we are called to reach those who opposed us with the love of Christ.  We can disagree and argue the merits of truth, but we still owe them a debt.  We can disagree over masks, taxes, or marriage, but that does not erase this universal debt.  We can debate the election results, cultural differences, or music styles, but the debt still stands.  There is a picture in my mind which I cannot erase.  It was the surrender of the south to the north at the conclusion of the American civil war.  As a show of surrender, the southern troops paraded before the northern troops in a single line, stacking their guns as they marched by.  However, what followed next is moving, to say the least.  There was a salute and a return salute.  It didn’t stop there.  There were handshakes and hugs.  These two sides were at odds and many souls died.  Yet then never lost mutual love one for another.  The debt still stood.  This debt we all owe one another.  I fear this debt goes unpaid more times than not.