Freedom to Serve: Living Love Out Loud

We're thankful we have a God of truth, amen? We serve a God of truth.

And I'll tell you what, I wanna give y'all a quick update. We're doing a little

fundraiser on Pave the Way.

And y'all, we only are $661 away from completing our first base as far as kind of reimbursing that.

And we're excited about it. I just wanted to give you that quick update.

And we're gonna dive right in. We've been talking about a one another series, okay?

And today we're talking about, you see it up here, serve one another.

And the big idea, I guess you could say, is in Christ, freedom isn't an excuse

to live self-focused lives.

It's an invitation, Eastwood, for us to love others through humble service.

And the Spirit forms us into people who gladly use our time,

our gifts, our energy, and our resources to build up the family of God. Amen?

So let's open up in prayer today again. Father, open our hearts this morning to your word.

Teach us to see service the way Jesus sees it and shape us into people who love

one another in practical, humble, and faithful ways.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Amen.

Well, our scripture today, and we'll read this a little bit later in just a

moment, is going to be found in Galatians 5 verses 13 through 15.

Galatians 5:13–15

Most of us like the idea of being helpful, don't we?

We like to think of ourselves as the kind of people who would show up if somebody needs us.

If a friend called in crisis, we'd answer, right?

If a neighbor had an emergency, we're gonna try to help. If somebody at church

is going through a hard season, we wanna be the kind of person who cared.

And yet, if we're honest, serving people can get complicated when it costs us something, can't it?

It's easier to serve when it fits neatly into the calendar, right?

I mean, it's easier when we still have energy left. It's easier when the person

is grateful, when the need is obvious, when the task is meaningful, when somebody notices.

But when service actually interrupts our plans, stretches our patience,

or pulls us away possibly from our own preferences, something inside of us starts

to what? Push back a little bit.

We may believe deeply that Christians are called to love and serve.

And at the same time, what can we do? We can quietly build lives where our own

comfort takes up most of the space.

That's why we need this conversation today. Over the last two weeks,

well, skip last week, Dr. Henry was here.

But the last two weeks prior, we've been walking through this series called One Another.

And in week one, we heard Jesus say in John 13 that the defining mark of his

disciples would be what? Love for one another.

The world would recognize his people by the way they loved like he did.

Then last week, we looked at Hebrews 10 or the week before last and talked about

encouraging one another, about speaking life, about showing up and helping each

other keep moving toward love and good deeds.

And today we're taking that next step. Are you ready? Love becomes visible when it serves.

Encouragement becomes embodied when it actually carries a burden,

meets a need, makes a meal, gives a ride, prays with somebody,

teaches a child, visits the lonely,

cleans up when nobody's watching,

and uses whatever God has placed in our hands for the good of others.

So we're going to step in to Galatians chapter 5, where the Apostle Paul speaks

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

to a church learning what freedom in Christ is really for.

So listen to this passage as we read Galatians 5, verses 13 through 15.

Galatians 5:13–15

For you were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh,

but through love serve one another.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.

What a passage today. And that really brings us to point number one today.

Freedom is an invitation, church, to serve.

Paul writes here, look at it. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be what?

Free, right? That's a beautiful sentence, by the way.

The Christian life begins with the grace of God. We're saved by Jesus,

right? We're forgiven by Jesus. We're welcomed by Jesus, and we're set free by Jesus.

We are no longer slaves to sin. Somebody say amen.

You're no longer a slave to sin in Christ. We are no longer trying to earn God's

love through religious performance.

We're no longer held hostage by guilt, by shame, or fear that we haven't done

enough to be accepted by God.

In Galatians, Paul is writing to believers who were being pressured to add religious

requirements to the gospel.

Some were teaching that faith in Jesus wasn't enough. Can you believe it?

They also needed to follow certain Old Testament boundary markers in order to truly belong.

And Paul pushes back strongly because the gospel is not Jesus plus human effort. Come on.

The gospel is not Jesus plus human effort. Salvation is a gift of grace received through faith.

So when Paul says you were called to be free, he means real freedom,

deep freedom, gospel freedom, I like to call it.

But then he immediately says this, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.

Rather, serve one another humbly in love.

In other words, freedom in Christ is never meant to collapse and to self-absorption.

Paul knows the human heart. If

we hear you're free, part of us may start asking, well, so what can I do?

What can I get away with, right? How much of my life can I still have revolve around me?

And y'all, that's why Paul gives such clear direction. Christian freedom is

not permission to let every desire, preference, impulse, and appetite take the lead.

It's the power to live a new kind of life. A new kind of life,

that new life looks like serving one another humbly in love.

That phrase is so practical, isn't it? Serve one another.

Paul doesn't keep it vague, does he? He doesn't say have warm feelings towards one another, does he?

He doesn't merely say think positive thoughts about one another.

He says what? Serve. Use your freedom, your strength, your schedule,

your gifts, your words, your money, your home, your hands, your presence.

And your attention for the good of another person. Come on.

Then he adds how. What does he add? What's that word? Starts with an H.

Humbly. That matters because we can serve in a way that still keeps us at the

center. Did you know that?

We can serve by wanting applause.

We can help while secretly keeping score.

We can give while hoping somebody recognizes how generous we are.

Humble service asks a different question. Do you know what it asks?

How can I love this person in a way that honors Christ?

Freedom in Christ, Eastwood, is not a smaller life where I protect myself from inconvenience.

It's a larger life where love teaches me to make room for other people. Come on.

That speaks right into everyday life, does it not? It speaks to how we treat

our spouse when we're tired. It speaks to how we respond when our kids need

attention at the worst possible moment.

It speaks to how we engage in church when it would be easier to stay anonymous.

It speaks about how we notice the people who can't offer anything back.

A lot of us are busy. How many of you are busy? That's real, isn't it?

Some of you are carrying full schedules, heavy responsibilities,

private burdens people don't even know about possibly.

This message is not meant to shame and exhausted people into doing more religious

activity. That's not what we're talking about.

But it's meant to invite all of us to examine whether our lives have space for

love to become practical.

Because if our version of freedom always protects our preferences,

we might be missing the freedom that Jesus actually gives us,

which leads us to point number two.

Love turns service into worship.

Paul continues, look at it, verse 14, for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping

this one command. What is it?

Love your neighbor as yourself. That command, y'all, comes from Leviticus 19.18.

And Jesus himself identified it as one of the greatest commandments. Did you know that?

Love God and love your neighbor.

Paul now says that the entire law is fulfilled in this kind of love.

That's a massive statement.

Paul's not saying that love is a vague replacement for obedience.

No, he's saying that when the Spirit of God forms genuine love in you and me,

we begin to live out what God desired all along.

The commandments were never meant to produce cold religious people who could

check boxes while ignoring the people right in front of them and beside them.

God's heart, Eastwood, has always been that his people would reflect his character.

And his character is full of what? It's full of mercy, patience,

kindness, justice, compassion, and faithfulness.

So when Paul says, serve one another humbly in love, he's showing us what love does.

Let's see what it does here. Love bends down. Love pays attention. Love takes initiative.

Love doesn't only ask, what do I want?

It learns to ask, here's that question.

What does love require here? That one question can reshape ordinary moments.

When you walk into church and see somebody standing alone, love may require

you to start a conversation.

When a young family may be overwhelmed, love may require you to offer help instead

of assuming they're fine, right?

When somebody is grieving months after the funeral, love may require that you.

Remember that grief doesn't follow a clean timeline.

When a ministry needs volunteers, love may require you to stop seeing the church

as a place where services are provided and start seeing it as a family where

everybody contributes.

That's important because many of us have been shaped by consumer culture. Do you know that, right?

More deeply I think than we realize at times think about it we evaluate restaurants and.

By the service we receive. We evaluate subscriptions by the value we get.

We evaluate stores by convenience, speed, customer experience,

and without noticing it, we can actually bring that same mindset to God's church.

We ask if the music fits our style, if the sermon held our attention,

if the programs meet our needs, if the people were friendly enough to us, right?

Those things do matter in their own way of course, but a church should care about people well.

But the New Testament, don't forget this, the New Testament never describes

the church as an audience gathered around a product.

The church is a body. It's a family. It's a spirit-formed people where each

person has something to receive and something to give.

And maybe that's where this becomes practical for us.

Some of us may have been waiting to feel needed before we serve.

Others have been waiting to feel qualified.

Some have been waiting until life calms down a little bit, right?

Until the kids are older for some, until work slows down for others,

until we know more people, until somebody personally asks us.

There are reasons, y'all, where wisdom says we need rest at times.

There are seasons, I should say.

There are times when receiving care is the faithful thing because we're wounded.

We're grieving, we're recovering, or we're stretched thin.

The body of Christ, y'all, should be a place where people can be carried when

they can't carry themselves. Amen?

At the same time, many of us are more than ready or more ready than we think.

You might not be able to do everything, but you can do something.

You might not have hours and hours and hours to give, but you can make a phone call.

You may not feel like a Bible expert, but you can sit with a student or pray

with a friend or welcome a guest or serve coffee or whatever God calls you to

do. Hold a baby when it's appropriate.

Write a note. Give someone a ride.

Help set up a room or notice the need, a need that others maybe have walked

past that you see. God's opened your eyes to see.

When service, here's the point, when service becomes rooted in love,

even small acts become worship.

A cup of water given in Jesus' name matters.

A quiet act of faithfulness matters. A hidden sacrifice matters.

The kingdom of God, y'all, is often built through ordinary people doing ordinary

things with extraordinary love.

And as we serve, something happens in us too. God uses service to loosen our

grip on ourselves. Did you know that?

He grows compassion in places where we become numb even. He teaches patience

when we easily irritate it.

He gives us joy that doesn't come from being the center of attention.

But from becoming part of what he's doing in somebody else's life.

Leads us to point number three. Self-focus destroys community.

Paul gives us a warning. Look at it, verse 15. What is it?

If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you'll be destroyed by each other.

That's strong language, isn't it? He moves from the beauty of humble service,

to the ugliness of a community that turns on itself.

Bite and devour. That paints a picture of people injuring each other with words,

attitudes, suspicion, criticism, selfishness, and conflict.

Paul is saying that when love no longer leads, people begin consuming each other.

And sadly, churches can't experience this.

Families can experience it too.

Friends or a group of friends can. Marriages can. Teams can.

Any community can slowly become unhealthy,

when people stop asking how to serve and start asking how to win,

how to be noticed, how to get their way, how to protect their preferences,

or how to make sure somebody else knows they're wrong.

It rarely starts with something huge. Often it begins with small things that

go unsubmitted to Jesus.

Think about it. A critical moment here or a critical comment,

a little resentment there, a decision to withdraw instead of have an honest conversation,

a habit of assuming the worst about somebody's motives, a growing frustration

that nobody is meeting our needs exactly the way we expected.

Before long, people who are called to be brothers and sisters begin treating

each other like obstacles.

And Paul says, what? What's his words? What's his warning? Watch out.

Pay attention. In other words, be alert. Don't treat this lightly.

A community, Eastwood, cannot be healthy when everybody's guarding their own territory.

A church can't flourish when people use their freedom to indulge the flesh.

Love will require us to bring our preferences, our reactions,

our frustrations under the leadership of who? Jesus.

That's where service becomes more than volunteering. I'm telling you.

Serving one another is one of the ways God protects the health of his people.

When I serve you, I'm reminded that you're not an interruption to my spiritual life. You're part of it.

When you serve me, you reflect the care of Christ in a way I can experience.

As we serve together, our hearts are knit together in ways that sitting near

each other once a week can't fully accomplish on its own. Are you hearing what I'm saying?

That doesn't mean that service is always easy or clean, does it?

Sometimes serving people's messy, Brother Ronnie.

Needs are complicated. Personalities are different.

Communication gets clumsy. People may not say thank you. You might give more than you planned.

You might discover impatience in your own heart that you didn't even know was there.

Even then, listen up, God is working.

Because the goal is not merely to get tasks done around the church, is it?

The goal is to become more like who? Jesus.

Look at this main takeaway slide here.

Freedom shaped by love. Freedom invites us to serve. Love turns service into

worship. Self-focus always damages community.

And Jesus shows us the shape of service.

Jesus actually said in Mark 10, 45, are you ready? For even the son of man did

not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That's our savior.

He moved toward need, Eastwood. He touched the unclean.

He welcomed children. He washed feet. He fed the hungry. He carried our sin to the cross.

His service wasn't occasional, was it? Wasn't occasional charity,

even. It was the shape of his life.

Eastwood, if we're following Jesus, then service will become the shape of our lives too, won't it?

So the question today is very simple, and I'd encourage you not to answer it too quickly.

Where is God asking me to serve?

Maybe he's asking you to serve in your home with a softer heart.

Maybe he's asking you to stop waiting for somebody else to meet the need you keep noticing.

Maybe he's inviting you to join a ministry team, open your home,

mentor somebody younger, care for somebody older, or use a gift you've kept on the sidelines.

I want y'all to get this today. Right?

The call is not to frantic busyness. The call is spirit-led love expressed through humble action.

And if every person in this church begins or continues asking that question

honestly, our community will change and grow.

Needs will be met. Lonely people will be seen. Children will be disciplined.

New believers will be encouraged. The hurting will be cared for.

Guests will always be welcomed. Burdens will be shared, etc.

That's what Paul's inviting us into.

Where has God asked me to serve today? I want to, this morning,

I want you to think about this.

And he's inviting us to serve humbly in love. So in conclusion,

as we think about it, we started with this honest reality that serving sounds

beautiful until it becomes inconvenient, right?

Most of us want to be loving people, don't you? But real love,

You know what real love does?

It asks for our time, our attention, our energy, and our willingness to be interrupted.

Galatians 5 has brought us to a clear and gracious invitation here.

In Christ, we are what? Free.

That freedom is not meant to turn us inward. It's meant to release us into a

life of humble, practical love.

Paul tells us to serve one another humbly in love because love fulfills what

God desires for his people.

And self-focused living slowly damages the community that God is building. So here's the call.

Don't leave this message as a general agreement.

Ask God for one specific step today. Who needs your attention this week?

Where can you serve in your home? What needs have you been noticing in the church?

What gifts has God placed in your hands that somebody else needs?

What would it look like to stop waiting for the perfect timing and simply just

take the next faithful step?

And if you're tired, wounded, or in a season where you need to be carried,

let the body of Christ serve you with grace.

Receiving care, y'all can be an act of humility too.

But if you know the Lord has been stirring you, if you've been sitting back,

if you've been consuming more than contributing, if you've been waiting for

somebody else to step in, today is a good day to say yes to Jesus.

A church that serves one another humbly in love becomes a living picture of

the Savior who became to serve us.

Let's pray together as we stand.

Father God, even now, Lord, we come before you. We ask you to open our hearts to your word today.

Teach us to serve the way you serve, Lord. Shape us into people who love one

another in practical, humble, and faithful ways.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen.