Living in a Paved World -- FPC sermon excerpt

The world is paved.

I know that sounds strange, especially since I just drove my daughter across the country to San Diego. We crossed vast stretches of our country that are rugged, beautiful, and certainly not paved.

What I should have said is that most of the places that people prefer to live are paved. According to Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and there is a steady stream of people moving from the countryside to the city. In fact, 5 million people in the developing world make the move every month.

So why is this good news? In his new book Triumph of the City, Glaeser calls cities “our species’ greatest invention.” When people live near each other, they become more inventive — good thinkers inspire each other. People also tend to be more productive and specialized when they are close to each other.

What makes cities successful is their ability to attract people and enable them to collaborate. But every city does this differently. According to The Economist magazine (February 12, 2011), Tokyo is a center of political and financial power, while Singapore has its own distinctive mix of free market activity and state-led industrialization. The cities of Boston, Milan, Minneapolis and New York have always had well-educated populations, and their success has come from finding new sources of prosperity when the old ones disappeared.

If a city is not flexible, it will die.

Back in the first century, the greatest paving projects in the world were being performed by the engineering geniuses of the Roman Empire. The saying was that all roads led to Rome. This city was the Big Apple of its day, every bit as powerful as modern Tokyo, Singapore, Boston or New York City. So when the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, he was reaching out to the Christians of a thoroughly paved metropolitan area.

Paul knew that there were problems in the city — reveling, drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness (Romans 13:13). But he didn’t jump to the conclusion that city-life always leads to sinfulness. Feeling a hunch that urban life could make people more inventive and productive, he wrote a letter that was a masterpiece of inspiring theology and ethical instruction. He offered the Romans a set of guidelines that could help them to collaborate, innovate, and practice enough flexibility to make their city work.

Paul taught them — and us — about living in a paved world. We certainly need this instruction, as we attempt to practice our Christian faith here in Fairfax, Virginia.

“Owe no one anything,” Paul says in verse 8. He knows that this line will grab the attention of the Romans, residents of a political and financial center. Money was constantly changing hands in Rome, and its people understood all about credits and debits as they collaborated with one another. The Romans knew exactly what they owed each other as they did business together.

But Paul takes this collaboration in a surprising direction — he says, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (v. 8).

Take a look at a dollar bill today, and you see that it says, “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” Paul seems to be saying the same about love, which can cover all debts, public and private. He reminds us of the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and then insists that all of them are summed up in the phrase, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 9).

Paul has quickly moved from collaboration to innovation, suggesting that love is nothing less than “the fulfilling of the law” (v. 10).