William Webb, a butcher in Canada put up this notice in his window: "This business has been compelled to close owing to bad debts. A list of the names and amounts owing will shortly be shown." Money rolled in; the shop is open again, and business is flourishing.

About the time you struggled up even with the Joneses, they refinance.

A little girl had saved up enough money to buy her father a present for Father's Day, but was concerned about one thing. "I can't go downtown every month to make payments." She told her mom. "Is there a store where they'll let you pay the whole thing at once?"

Debts, personal debts, business debts, church debts, the National debt - we hear about debts a lot. Well, my focus for a few minutes this morning is related to, but no limited to our finances. I have a far greater debt to address this morning, the debt of love written about by Paul in his letter to the Romans. I want us to think about the nitty gritty of real love, the tremendous debt of love each of us owe.

I. How Was the Debt Incurred

If a person is going into a great debt there should be a very good reason for it. Well, the debt of love was incurred because of love, God's great love for men, women, and children who are by human nature sinners.

The verses of our text do not directly answer this question directly, but in the previous chapters of this letter to the church at Rome Paul dealt with this question. Early in the letter he wrote about the terrible sinfulness of humankind. A little later he wrote that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (3:21) Then we read, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

This is the wondrous love of God that is foundational to our Christian faith whatever season it may be. We sing about it. We talk about it. Do we really comprehend this love? As Jesus walked the face of the earth His life was a daily demonstration of love to many people, including people who were not always easy to love. Some were the social outcasts of society and some were His dear friends who turned their backs on Him. Jesus ate with common folks, including sinners. Of the ten lepers Jesus healed on one occasion only one thanked Him. Because of His teaching and healing the Pharisees plotted to kill Him. Jesus loved His disciples when they lacked faith. Jesus fed thousands of hungry people. He blessed the children. Jesus loved Peter who denied Him again and again. Jesus loved you and me enough to take the punishment for our sin and to provide forgiveness to all who repent and follow Him.

What a great debt we owe to our Savior!

II. How Was and Is the Debt to Be Repaid

Was and Is, I use both the past and present tense because the term of repaying this great debt of love were determined by our Lord years ago, but also these terms are for us to use now.

The Apostle John said, "We love because He first loved us." Our response to God's love should be for us to love God. In Romans 12 Paul wrote "I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." While the scriptures clearly teach us that we are to love God with our whole being, the thrust Paul is making is an outgrowth of this.

Yes, the great debt of love we owe is to be repaid by loving God. However, what Paul is stressing here is our demonstrating our love for God by loving one another. If we truly love God we will love each other and we repay our debt of love to God by loving one another. Read verse 8. 8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Jesus summed up the law with the commandment of love. Matthew 22:37-40. " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The first Great Commandment is to love God, which refers to the first four of the Ten Commandments. The Second Great Commandment is to love others, referring to the second six Commandments, some of which Paul mentions in our text.

We should also make note of the fact that love within the fellowship is not merely to be mere words. It is to be genuine love.

III. How Long - What Are the Term of Debt Retirement?

How long will I be in debt? I do not like to be in debt and because of that I have seldom borrowed money. I realize that some of you need to borrow money as a normal business practice, but you still need to repay the debt.

Last week I mentioned my hesitation to borrow money and a loan I took out many years ago. I do not like to be in debt. Paul tells us to let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt of love. When we are in debt we should have a plan for the retirement of the debt. How long will it be before the debt is repaid? It makes sense for people to try to pay off the debt of their home mortgage early by making extra payments. Our congregation is trying to do that in retiring the capital campaign. It will save us money to do so.

My friends, for the huge debt of love we owe to our Lord we are to be making continuous payments of love to God and to one another. However, because this debt is so large we are to keep paying this debt of love every day for our entire lives. We pay on this debt of love by our commitment of our lives to Christ, worshipping and serving God in our local church and community, and by showing love to those outside of the church. We also pay on this great debt of love by giving our time, talent, and resources to our church.

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