Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church-Friedheim
Celebrating our 167th Year

A 21st Century Parish with a 1st Century Faith
Acts 2:42

Pentecost 16
September 4, 2005
Romans 13:1-11

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INTRODUCTION: We encounter sinners in today’s lessons. What shall we do with our fellow sinners and how shall we deal with them? In the Gospel lesson Jesus teaches what we should do to be reconciled to those who sin against us. Ezekiel in the Old Testament lesson reports that God expects us to warn the sinner, who, if he repents, will live. Now we come to our Epistle lesson of this day. Paul places an obligation upon us – the obligation to obey those who are over us. Paul urges us that obedience to the officials and law of government and teaches that love is the way to obey the law. This morning we will encounter the state of the Christian who is in bondage and yet free.

The Paradoxical State of the Christian

I.                    In bondage to everyone, including sin.

A.     Man is a fallen creature.

1.      He is designed to love and serve God and to love and serve his neighbor.

2.      Our obligations extend beyond the religious sphere to include the political.

a.       We have obligations to the state, established by God

b.      Therefore, we ought to be subject, for it is both God-pleasing and useful.

3.      Since the fall man is centripetal, self-centered and turned away from both God and neighbor alike.

B.     The Law of God is a mirror, which shows us our sin, holding up to our vision the loving service for which we were designed.

C.     A summary of the Law is useful: Love is the fulfilling of the “Law”

1.      It keeps us from getting caught up in “keeping the rules”

2.      It is factual: love does fulfill all obligations, because low dos no harm to anyone but seeks the other’s welfare.

II.                 Free from bondage, including sin.

A.     In God’s Son is full perfection and fulfillment of all the requirements of God.

1.      God’s Son loved perfectly for us.

2.      God’s Son lived perfectly for us.

3.      God’s Son fulfilled the will of God perfectly – for us.

B.     In Him we see the contours of how love fulfills the whole law.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +