THIS WEEK'S SERMON
Guest Preacher: Twaambo Moyo
Law and Love
Romans 13:8-10
Sermon Reflection
One of the greatest topics in our society today is love. Everyone has something to say about love, and you hear it every day. Love is love. Just follow what your heart loves. If it feels loving, it must be right. And yet with all this talk and singing about love, we still live in a world that is marked by division, bitterness, loneliness, exploitation, outrage, and confusion about right and wrong. The problem is not that we talk too much about love or that we don't sing too well about it, but rather, the problem is we have separated love from God's truth, or most specifically, we have separated love from the law of God. That is why Paul tells us in Romans 13 that love is the fulfilling of the law.
Paul begins with this statement, owe no one anything except to love each other. There is a debt believers never finish paying, the debt of love. Paul can say this precisely because of what Jesus has done. Jesus in fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law and paying the price we deserve for disobeying God's law puts us in a position where we are eternally forgiven and receive righteousness through him. Because of Jesus, every day we live in a reality where God forgives us. God sustains us. God remains patient with us. And despite our failures and weaknesses, God continues to love us. You continually live under God's mercy and love. The debt of love never ends because the mercy of God towards us never ends.
Love is not some vague elevated spirituality, rather love is a way of living that is shaped and defined by someone, namely God himself. You do not commit adultery because love honors covenant faithfulness. Do not murder, because love values life. You do not steal because love respects others, and you do not covet because love rejoices for others rather than envy in them. Christians do not obey to become loved by God. Christians obey because they are already loved by God.
In Christ we see love and the law of God perfectly united. Through our union with Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, God is reshaping us into the likeness of Jesus himself. He loved God the father completely and he loved his neighbor sacrificially. What once felt restrictive in God's law becomes beautiful. It becomes our hearts delight because our hearts are being changed. And as we grow both in loving God's law and our neighbor, that love becomes visible evidence of the transforming power of the gospel at work in our life.
Meditations for This Week
1
The Debt That Never Ends
Owe no one anything except to love each other. Because the mercy of God towards us never ends, the debt of love never ends either. Unlike student loans, mortgages, taxes, or rent that can be paid in full, this debt remains unpaid throughout your whole life. So we can never say we have loved enough today, because every morning we wake into a reality where God still forgives, still sustains, and still loves us in Christ.
2
Love Shaped by the Law
Love without the truth of God becomes mere sentimentality shaped more by our preferences and our own emotions. But love shaped by the law of God is a reflection of God himself. The commandments teach us what love actually looks like in practice: covenant faithfulness, the value of life, respect for others, rejoicing rather than envying. To love our neighbor rightly, we do not imagine ways we can do that, we look at how the Scriptures call us to do so.
3
Evidence of a Transformed Heart
It is possible to possess a religious knowledge that fails to display a Christlike love for our neighbor. The gospel must move beyond our lips into heart transformed lives. When Christ reshapes us by his Spirit, what once felt restrictive in God's law becomes our hearts delight, and we begin to hate the gossip, bitterness, greed, dishonesty, idolatry, and exploitation that violate love. That changed life becomes visible evidence of the transforming power of the gospel at work in us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us in Christ with a love we could never earn. We confess that we have too often separated love from your truth, choosing our own preferences over your law. Forgive us. By your Spirit, shape our hearts this week so that what once felt restrictive in your law becomes our delight. May the love we owe our neighbor be visible evidence of the gospel at work in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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