We've all heard sermons on love before, but have you ever considered love to be a debt? Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl points to a startling command in Romans chapter 13. Paul said, owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.
Sounds like a riddle, doesn't it?
Well, here's the point. Just as we have an obligation to pay our financial debts, we have an even greater obligation to pay the debt of love through concrete acts of kindness, even to strangers. Teaching from Romans chapter 13, Chuck titled today's message, Legal Tender and Loving Care. Yeah. Paul writes to us in this context.
This is how to live the Christian life. That's the general context of this passage of Scripture. Here's how to live the Christian life. The specific context is This is how to be a good citizen.
So, the general context is in verses 9 through 21 of chapter 12. The specific context is in chapter 13. verses one through seven. 12, 9 to 21 is the general context, how to live the Christian life, and then 13, 1 to 7 is how to be a good citizen. While on that subject, he doesn't leave The matter of love.
He begins in a way that would surprise you, and some have been surprised and even led astray by taking only the first four words and teaching that there should never be debt. Owe no one anything. But the verse is filled with Many other words. First of all, the verb is in a present tense, meaning keep on owing.
So the idea is: don't keep on owing on the same debt, pay it off. In the Old Testament as well as in the New, the question of usury is taken up, also the question of paying interest on borrowed money, and they are not prohibited. A legal loan correctly arranged is all right. as long as you observe the terms of the agreement. It is wrong not to repay.
as soon as possible anything you have borrowed. That's the point of the first four words. But Now that you have listened to that explanation on loans, understand what he's really teaching. Keep reading. When you do serious study of the scriptures, guard against partial verses and forming convictions out of a few words.
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. That's the debt you stay permanently involved in paying off. Owe no one anything except to love. one another. Keep reading.
For he who loves His neighbor has fulfilled the law. This is the debt you never stop. Payer. Let me have a parallel here to give you an example. Hold your place and look at Romans chapter 1.
You'll remember when we were there. Several months ago, or was it Years ago when Romans 1, Verse 14. Notice what he says about being in debt. He says, I'm in debt. In fact, the same Greek word rendered o nothing, verse 8 of chapter 13, is the identical Greek word as translated under obligation in verse 14 of chapter 1.
Same term.
So it's the same meaning. I am in debt. Both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. Meaning what? I am in debt.
to give them the good news. That's why he says in the next verse, so for my part I am eager. to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Look at his I ams. I am in debt. Verse 14. I am eager to preach the gospel. Verse 15.
I am not ashamed. Verse 16, there's your devotional for next week. when you have to bring your talk. There it is. You can act like you found it on your own.
I am of Paul, right there. But the one that interests us today is I am under obligation. Many of you lived many years without Christ, and you knew what it was to go through sleepless nights and anxious moments and the misery of guilt and doing wrong and not being able to, quote, straighten up your life. And there was a sense of hopelessness and despair, and education didn't help, and travel didn't remove it, and you couldn't escape it.
Someone cared enough about you to to pay their debt. And they told you of the Savior, the name of the one who could change your life. And now you carry that name. Right in your heart. In that sense, verse 8 is saying in chapter 13.
Owe nothing to anyone except there is a debt you do owe, and you will owe it the rest of your life. And that is to love one another. He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. Interesting change in terms. I have to take the time to say this, even though it may sound a little pedantic.
See the word another in verse 8: love one another. And see the word neighbor a little later on. It doesn't really read in the original neighbor. It reads another. Except it's another of a different kind.
The first is another like you, and the other is someone very different from you. Different in beliefs and theology, different in personality, different in politics, different in mannerisms, different in taste and color and values and past history. All of that different. Makes no difference. The love is to be shown.
You're still in debt. Don't let any of the barriers that would normally hold you back from extending a life of love to that other individual hold you back from doing it. You're in debt to them. And it's a perpetual death that goes on and on. As a matter of fact, I love the way it continues.
When you do that, you actually fulfill the law. What's the purpose of the law? To make us like God. But it has no power to do it. Until Christ comes into the life.
And as Christ comes into the life and we live out the life of Christ, which is a life of love. It is amazing. It is amazing. The difference it makes. And as I said at the beginning, nothing is more attractive than being around someone who loves us.
Unconditionally. And yet, discerning enough to express that love in a way at times it's tough. Honest. Love seeks the highest good of the other person. You know what it does?
Well, I'll tell you what it doesn't do, verse 10, it does no wrong to a neighbor. Let's face it, folks, we live in a cold, heartless, uncaring world. It is a world that is going its own way and won't stop to help you as you struggle in your way. I said earlier the problem is universal, so it's everywhere. And by the way, it's timeless.
It happens in every generation. Let me show you an example in the Bible. Turn to Luke 10. Please? Just turn back.
Luke chapter 10. Love this story. I must have told it dozens of times in my ministry, and every time I do, something new sort of pops up. That happened this time as well. Verse 25 down through verse 37.
Contains the story of the Good Samaritan. Don't you love the story of the Good Samaritan? Just great, but you don't Understand is Samaritans were hated people. Hated people. There was no prejudice like the prejudice a Jew had for a Samaritan.
Samaria is right here in the middle. Judea is down here. Galilee is up here. In order for a Galilean to come to Judea, he would go around Samaria so as not even to get the dust of Samaritan soil on his sandals. That's like going from Kansas to Texas around Oklahoma.
I gave that illustration one time, and I had a couple of three big Oklahoma sooner. Farmer football players walk up and one of them spoke for the group saying, Hey, Chuck. We just want you to know there ain't no Samaritans in Oklahoma. Please. Bear with me.
But the story really, really doesn't begin with the Samaritan. It begins with an attorney. who is in a crowd. Getting Jesus' attention, verse 25. There's a lawyer.
Who stands up Apparently most were sitting down. And he put Jesus to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? I read about the law, I hear about righteousness, I've listened to your message. What do I have to do? To prove that I'm a part of the family of God.
What's involved in that? Jesus says, What is written in the law? How does it read to you? What you may not remember is that lawyers wore phylacteries on their wrists. Little leather pouches that were strapped to their wrists and often on their forehead.
And in these little pouches were handwritten in Hebrew, of course, the law of God. Various verses from the law of God. Perhaps while his hand is in the air, Jesus sees the phylacterians is what's written in the law.
So the attorney answers from memory. He knows what's in there. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And your neighbor is yourself. That's what it says.
And Jesus answered, You have answered correctly. Do this. You will live. Mm. Here in Texas, we would say, you got it?
Now get at it. Problem is, the ball is now served back into the lawyer's court. Lawyers don't like balls served into their court. They like serving them. And so he turns it into another question.
But this time, to put Jesus Well, actually, to justify himself. This is what we do when we don't want to face our own guilt. We rationalize, it's called here, wishing to justify himself, verse 29. He said to Jesus. Like who's my neighbor?
Yeah. Okay. Is that like a lawyer or what? I mean, we got a big picture issue, and he's now picking at terms. Like, well, I mean, next door?
What if he's three doors down? Is he still my neighbor? Yeah. I'm always amazed at Jesus' patience. Yeah.
I think he He was never tempted, so if I'd been there, which is a tragic thought, my being in Jesus' place. First thought was duh. But he doesn't he he gives him a story Now we're back to the Samaritan. Remember the question. Who is my neighbor?
Which, by the way, he never answers. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. By chance, a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, Yeah. He passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, Pass by on the other side.
Nothing wrong with their eyes. They both saw the same thing. Neither stopped. But a Samaritan. The S word.
Ears perk up? The attorney is now all ears. A Samaritan who was on a journey didn't even live there. He couldn't. It was between Jerusalem and Jericho.
A Samaritan who Who was on a journey came upon him.
So they're strangers. And when he saw him, he felt compassion. He saw the same thing the priest and Levite had seen, but he felt something different. It's called love. He felt compassion and he came to him and bandaged up his wounds and he poured in wine and oil and he put him on his own beast and he brought him to an inn and he took care of him.
And on the next day he took out two denarii, which is a pretty good amount of dough, and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of him, whatever more you spend, not if, but when I return, I will repay you. This is a magnificent story. When I come back, I'm going to come back and check. When I do, if there's more I owe on the hotel bill, let me know and I'll pay that too. End of story, but not end of lesson.
If you carry a red-letter Bible, you notice the red runs on to the next verse. Jesus still speaking. to the lawyer. Which of the three Do you think proved to be a neighbor. to the man who fell into the robbers' hands.
A genius, isn't it? He didn't answer, who is my neighbor? He answered, who is my neighbors? neighbor. Got it?
Which one proved to be a neighbor? And the attorney. Perhaps with a sigh. Answers the one who showed mercy toward him. Jesus said, you got it.
I get at it. I'll tell you something. Even though he may have been a Jew who had been attacked, assaulted, and left to die. When he woke up in that hotel room, With his wounds bandaged, with medication on them. With a bed to stay in and a roof over his head.
Perhaps not even remembering how he got there. His first question would be Who did this? And when the Samaritan shows up again, I can assure you. Perhaps the first time in his entire life that Jew is willing to listen to. That Samaritan.
Because He loved him in his hurt. Do you know what this is teaching? Listen very carefully. I'll put it in a few words. What you are determines what you see.
Yeah. and what you see determines what you do. Are you a Christian? If that's what you are. You will see A number of occasions in life none of which will occur at a convenient time.
or in a very secure setting. There will be risk, there will be threat. There will be uncertainty. There'll be chance. There will be the unknown.
But what you are will determine what you see. And what you see will determine what you do. The only continuing debt that honors the Lord. is loving. Others.
Which means finding ways to show it. I say one more time. When you do They will know you belong to someone. Else that they've never met. The Greyhound bus had slowed.
and then stopped. It was just a wayside stop with a garage and a small store A young Native American stepped aboard, and after he had paid his fare, He sat down behind me. It was February. We were traveling from Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The night was cold.
In the warm bust the tired youth was soon asleep. But after a while, he got up and walked to the front of the bus to ask if we were near his destination. We passed there a long time ago, the bus driver snapped. Acknowledging he had known the boy was riding beyond his stop, he asked angrily, Why didn't you get off? The quiet passenger's shoulders drooped.
He turned. Came back to his seat and barely had sat down when he rose up again and went back to the driver. Would you stop and let me off? he asked. I'll uh walk back.
No. It's too far and too cold. You'd freeze to death. You have to go to Albuquerque with the rest of us and then take a bus back. Disappointed.
He walked back to his seat. Were you asleep? I asked him. Yeah. And my sister's waiting for me back there.
I was returning to Wisconsin after serving a quarter term as a volunteer teacher in an Indian mission school. This experience had taught me the hard living conditions of Native Americans in the area. The small adobe houses With earth floors, the lack of privacy in those little one- and two-room places, the role played by teenagers. Was especially hard. There was no room for them at home, yet they were not really ready to go out on their own.
All the while, we're nearing Albuquerque, a large, strange city. I thought he must be wondering. what he would do after we got there. And I turned and asked him Are you afraid? In a I hate to admit it sort of way, he Shrug, yeah.
Stay with me. I said. I'll help you get back on the right bus. But they'll make me pay again when I come back on another bus and I don't. I'll talk to the driver.
I said to him later, Will you please check with the return driver so he need not pay the return fare? Reluctantly he agreed.
Okay. I came back and said, everything will be all right. You need not worry about anything. Just stay with me. His eyes said Thank you.
We wrote on possibly ten more minutes in silence. And then a finger Tap me on my shoulder. I turned to see my young friend leaning toward me. In a quiet and reverent voice he asked, Are you a Christian? What you are determines what you see.
What you see. determines what you do. Are you a Christian? Bow with me, please. I understand.
I really do. I live in the same world you live in. I read the same papers. I'm aware of the same risks. I know the same horrendous stories of Heartache and heartbreak and even others being hurt while trying to help someone.
But does that block Every act of kindness? Is there someone you know right now? Right now. Who could benefit from your helping them out. Why on earth?
Wouldn't you do that? Why on earth? If you find yourself one of those along the side of the road beaten up and forgotten, Sort of thrown aside. You made a mess of your life. You hear these things and you think, I would love.
I would love. to know more about this. But you have to admit, there's never really been a time in your life when Jesus. and you have met. What on earth are you waiting for?
Right where you're sitting right now. Just by a simple invitation. God, I acknowledge. I'm a sinner. You and I are distant from each other.
But I know Jesus has bridged that distance. by his death. and resurrection. I take him now. Do that.
You'll never regret it. Thank you, Father, for another occasion to search our souls. And to allow the Spirit of God to do surgery. down where no surgeon's scalpel could ever reach. We're reproved.
We're uh In reality, pretty stunned. with a realization of how we have lived our own lives. Pretty isolated. Protected.
So it'll take courage to pull us off, and we ask for that. We ask the scales to be removed so that we really do see. And we really do feel. and we're willing to risk. And for those who've never trusted you, Come to know your son.
I pray that you would bring them to yourself. yourself. Everybody said Amen. All of us who love and follow Jesus carry a name in our hearts. The name of the one who rescued us when we were broken and bleeding on the roadside of life.
someone who cared enough to pay our debt and show us mercy when we didn't deserve it. This is Insight for Living. Chuck Swindahl titled today's message Legal Tender and Loving Care. To borrow from today's application, paying down on our debt of love is a perpetual lifelong duty. As Chuck said, this debt of love is an obligation that never fully gets paid off.
As we step into the holiday season, it's the perfect time to focus on the coming King Jesus and find ways to reflect His love and generosity. Through his birth, life, and resurrection from the dead, we've been redeemed for a whole new purpose. In this spirit, Insight for Living offers a brand new book for you and your family. It's called Everlasting Light: A Journey from Promise to Presence. Written by Carlos Sasueta with Chuck Swindahl, this 25-day Advent devotional will elevate your holiday season as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.
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Join us when Chuck Swindahl continues our study in Paul's letter to the Romans, The Christian's Constitution. Tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Legal Tender and Loving Care, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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