An exposition of Romans 13:8-14. 
This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, May 2, 2010.
Introduction
What they accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary. In a relatively short period of time they went from an obscure religious offshoot to a major player. It was completely against the odds. The other astonishing thing was that it crossed racial, political, ethnic and social boundaries. What was it that propelled the church from obscurity to the limelight? Of course it was the hand of God but what did God use to so impact the world? It was the power of transformed lives. It was the wonder of new life in Christ. Specifically it was the wonder of a “new people” formed by the love of God. You have to understand the world in which the church was born was a very divided world. Language, religion, national animosities, differences of sex split the world up into alien fragments. You had the learned and the unlearned, the slave and the master, the barbarian and the Greek each stood on opposite sides of a great gulf connected only by hostility and animosity. It was into this world Christ issued a new commandment, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” The result? Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit barbarian and Scythian, bond and free, male and female, Jew and Greek, learned and ignorant clasped hands and sat at one table and considered themselves “one in Christ Jesus.” A people marked by love, driven by a sense of urgency and growing in holiness. This morning we consider the marks of a transformed life and our text is found in Romans chapter 13.
Text: Romans 13:8-14
It is a tall order – offer your bodies a living sacrifice…(daily, continuously).
When we come to faith we assume some obligations.
It is not a matter of “believing in Jesus” and then go to heaven when you die.
As the people of God there are things demanded of us.
We are called to live according the law of Christ.
We are to bear the family resemblance.
That is what this last section of Paul’s letter to the Romans is all about.
In light of Romans 1-11 live this way.
With that in mind I want to point out three marks of the transformed life from this passage.
- The life transformed by the touch of God’s grace is motivated by a profound sense of indebtedness. (13:8-10)
- The life transformed by the touch of God’s grace is driven by a sense of urgency. (13:11-12a)
- The life transformed by the touch of God’s grace is animated by a desire for holiness. (13:12b-14)
Thesis: The transformed life is a life motivated by love, driven by a sense of urgency and animated by a desire for holiness.