The One Who Owes Nothing and Is Owed Everything Romans 11:33-36; Isaiah 51:1-6; Matthew 16:13-20
Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we owe everything.
We’re going to talk about the One who owes nothing to anyone, but is owed everything by everyone… taken from today’s Epistle, which is one of three doxologies included in the book of Romans.
Dox means glory… ology means words. So doxology, words of glory or praise to God.
Verses of praise exalt God, but they also uplift us.
As we lift up our praises to God, He lifts up, our spirits.
As in the preface of the communion liturgy: Lift up your hearts, the pastor says… We lift them to the Lord, the congregation responds.
There’s what we call the Common Doxology, which we know so well, and sing so often:
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
One of the distinguishing marks of Paul’s doxologies is that he ends them with “Amen”, let it be so.
God is praised and our hearts are lifted up, as we shout and sing our doxologies to Him.
The first of Paul’s three doxologies in Romans is chapter 1, verse 25: … they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than… (and this is the doxology), the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Blessed in the sense of praised and glorified, as we say in Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, (or praise the Lord), O my soul, bless His holy name.
The Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Our Father, who miraculously created the heavens and the earth, be praised forever for making all that exists.
To attribute creation to anything other than God, denies and dishonors Him, and brings us down and away from God, rather than lifting us up, closer to Him, as happens when we praise Him for His amazing creation, and acknowledge that its’ all His doing… all His handiwork!
The second doxology in Romans is in chapter 9, verse 5, 5 To them (the Jewish people) belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ… and now the doxology… who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
This doxology is to God, the Son, our Redeemer… Paul makes it very clear that Jesus is true God over all.
The last doxology in Romans is today’s Epistle, these words so rich in meaning, and so deep in beauty and wonder:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Beyond fully understanding or comprehending, as we say about His peace, that passes understanding.
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
We all need teachers and advisors and mentors, but who could possibly teach God, who knows all things…
… or mentor Him, who has complete wisdom…
… or advise Him, who has perfect judgment.
35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
We talk about giving our gifts and offerings to God, but we really can’t, because it all belongs to Him in the first place. All we can do is return what’s His.
I was watching American Pickers on History channel the other night, and the person they were buying from had rooms full of antiques and collectibles, and he said, “I’m a Christian, and the way I see it is that all these things belong to God.”
If you find something, a wallet, or a credit or debit card, you return it to the owner, because it’s his or hers, not yours…
… that’s what we do with our offerings to God, we return them to where they belong…
… and God has us put our offerings to good use, for the ministry of His Word, and to help others.
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things (He made them all)… and now the doxology in our text, to him be glory forever. Amen.
We glorify the One who owns everything, owes nothing, and gave everything, even His life, to bless us.
As Paul says in Romans 8,32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
He gave us everything we have… starting with creation of the universe, the miracle of matter and energy and life.
That we live, and breathe and think and exist, we owe to Him, who gave us life unique from all other life, holy life in His personal image, with an immortal soul.
And He gave us life again, redeeming us, purchasing us from something we couldn’t buy or work or manage our way out of.
In the history of the world, sometimes wealthy people have bought their way out of things, even bribed their way out.
For example, in the early years of the Civil War, if you were conscripted you could pay someone to serve as your substitute to go to war and fight in your place.
Even when that became illegal, some were still able to bribe their way out of going to war.
And many other things people have bought their way out of in years past, and in the present.
But the one thing no one can buy their way out of is… death, the universal consequence of sin.
Sin and death are the great equalizers… but even greater is our Creator and Savior.
We sinners owe Him a great debt.
We were made only to love, and to do and be good to each other… and to love and serve God.
When we sinned, then, according to God’s perfect, eternal justice, we lost our reason and our right to live.
Our sin is an eternal debt that brings eternal punishment and death.
To escape it, all we have to do is pay that debt, and then we live; it’s a simple thing.
But an impossible thing, because daily we sin, and we keep adding to that spiritual debt, we keep falling deeper in debt, and the ledger grows.
We don’t have what it takes to pay off our moral debt… but our God and Creator does.
He has the perfect love and righteousness to do so, and so He became a creature like us… to pay our debt, and buy back our reason and right to live.
Having no debt of His own… God paid for our debt with His greatest currency, if you will, what He valued most, the life of His Son.
This highest price possible, was paid to release us from our debt, from judgment for our multitude of sins… and so there’s no doubt that they’re all covered by faith in Christ… because He paid the highest price possible.
We owe everything to Him, who made everything, including our lives… and then bought everything back for us, after we squandered it all away by our sin.
Now, for the sake of His Son, by the power of His Spirit, He pours blessing upon blessing upon us. He made and redeemed us that He might bless us today and forever.
We owe Him everything, because everything is from Him.
He borrowed from no one, but from His own riches, the riches of His righteous love, by the sacrifice of His righteous life, He gave us our life back, and with it, all the blessings that make our lives worth living.
Now, it’s our glory to glorify Him, to honor, serve and praise Him in all things and in every relationship…
… to be more like Him in the way we relate to others, to everyone…
… in every deed, all we do, to do it for Him…
… every task at work and at home and at school and at play and at church, to dedicate it all to the One to whom we owe everything.
And so with our words, and with our deeds, we ascribe all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor to Him.
As our Epistle says, 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things… to him be glory forever. Amen.
And finally, to Him be glory and praise for giving us His peace, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who owes us nothing, but gives us everything. Thanks be to God! Amen.