One Another Week 3: Serve One Another

If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Galatians chapter five,

Galatians chapter five. Oh, and I, I got one more announcement,

Michael, go ahead and stand up and show everyone your, your medal.

Michael participated in a bowling tournament yesterday and got fourth place.

So can we give him a hand? Good job, buddy.

He's so proud. He's so proud. He got fourth place and we're just excited for him.

You did fantastic. I'm sure he would beat me because I would probably throw

mostly gutter balls, but good job, bud.

Galatians 5, 13 through 15. When you hear the word freedom, what comes to mind?

Maybe you think about the men and women that fought for our great country to

give us freedom. Maybe you think about the day you got your permit or your driver's

license. How many of you remember that, even though it's a minute?

We were so excited. I who counted down the days until I had my driver's license

so that I could just have freedom.

I just wanted freedom to go where I wanted to go and do what I wanted to do,

without my parents knowing.

There's something about freedom, isn't there, that always moves us.

We want it. We value it. And when we see a group of people or someone fighting

for freedom, we find ourselves cheering them on.

In my opinion, some of the greatest movies that have ever been made are stories

of people fighting to gain their freedom.

Some tell of people that have been wrongly imprisoned or.

Prisoners of war, trying to escape, trying to get their freedom back.

And those stories connect with each one of us for this longing for freedom that's deep inside of us.

One of my favorite films of all time, and I think probably my wife's favorite,

might be Braveheart. You remember Braveheart?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, rewind. How many of you have seen Braveheart?

Raise your hands up high.

If you have not seen Braveheart, your assignment this week is to see Braveheart

because it is like one of the most incredible movies about freedom.

It's Mel Gibson when he was cool. And William Wallace is standing before a group

of men who have to decide whether they're willing to fight for their freedom.

Take a look at this clip. Watch this.

I am William Wallace.

And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny.

You've come to fight as free men,

and free men you are.

What will you do without freedom?

Will you fight?

Fight against that? No! We will run! And we will live.

Aye. Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live.

At least a while.

And dying in your beds many years from now.

Would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance,

just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives?

I love that line. They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom.

It's incredible. Lights, please.

Thank you. They'll never take our freedom. Did you notice, I want you to catch

this because this is what Paul is going to be saying to us in Galatians 5.

He says, but what will you do with your freedom?

And then he's going to give us an assignment today. This is how we're supposed

to live in freedom. Once you have your freedom, what are you going to do with it?

Most of us hear freedom and we think, now I get to do what I want, right?

The car. I get to drive where I want. I get to do what I want.

I get to make my own decisions now. Nobody is going to tell me how to live.

And sadly, that thinking often finds its way into our walks as Christ followers.

Many of us, we've come and we've trusted Christ. We're going to follow him wholeheartedly,

right? That's our desire.

We're grateful for his forgiveness.

We're grateful that he's given freedom to us.

But we can become so focused on the freedom and what it means that we overlook

what freedom means for the people around us.

And so as we look at Galatians 5 this morning, Paul's going to bring those things

together. And he's going to first remind believers that, number one,

you are free. You've been called to freedom.

But then he tells us what we're supposed to do with it and how we're supposed to live in freedom.

And what we're going to see, what we're going to notice is that he directs their

attention and our attention today through the word of God towards loving one another,

towards loving the person who needs help, towards the person that we find it

difficult to be around, to maybe to serve with, or to be in a group with, or to be in a church with.

Loving people that need our patience, loving people that need a little extra

love, loving people when it's going to cost us something.

And so as we continue our one another series today, here's the big idea,

and it's there in your notes.

The big idea is that Jesus has set us free so we can serve one another through love.

We are to serve one another through love. If you've been with us over the past

few weeks, you should have picked

up this common thread that's run through all of these one another's.

Week one, we talked about loving one another. Week two, last week,

we talked about encouraging one another. And today we're talking about serving one another.

What is the bedrock of every single one of these one another's?

Anyone with me yet? It's love. It's love.

Everything that we do in the Christian life and in the Christian walk is to

be done on the foundation of the love of Jesus Christ.

We looked at 1 Corinthians 13 last week because everything that we do is supposed to be done in love.

The way we speak to our kids, the way we speak to our spouse,

the way we speak to one another, the way we serve one another,

the way we encourage one another.

Everything we do is to be done in love. And so if that's the playbook of how

we get along with one another and how we do this thing called the church.

Then it's probably a good thing

for us to be working and be reminding ourselves exactly what love is.

So I want to do something. We're going to stand to our feet.

Some of you got your football jerseys on. I know you like to yell and shout.

We're going to just read this together out loud from 1 Corinthians 13.

Go ahead, stand to your feet. I know it's Sunday.

I'm supposed to do all the work for you, right? But let's read this together.

1 Corinthians 13, 1 through 8.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,

I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Verse 2.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge,

and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I

may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud.

It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

Good job. Go ahead and have a seat.

Did you see what we just read about if we don't have that? What are we? We are nothing.

If we are treating one another without love, we have nothing.

We are nothing. We have nothing of value.

And I want to invite you to open your Bibles back to Galatians 5,

and we're going to read from verse 13 through 15 together.

And this is where we're going to be this morning for the next few minutes.

Verse 13, for you were called to be free.

My brothers, my sisters, he's saying this out of love.

Only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

But say this together with me. Serve one another through love.

Let's say that again. Serve one another through love.

For the whole loss fulfilled in one statement, love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

It's the call for us to live free.

But there's an incredible strong warning that we're never to use our freedom

in Christ as an opportunity for our flesh.

We're always to use it to serve one another with all the characteristics of

1 Corinthians 13, which we just read.

And so before we walk through these verses in Galatians, we need to understand

what Paul means by freedom, right? Freedom.

The freedom in this passage is different from the political freedom in that

movie scene that we just watched.

Paul's addressing our relationship with God and how that changes the way we live.

And let me just say that if you confess that you're a believer,

but it hasn't changed the way you live, then you might want to do some soul-seeking,

because you can't come to Christ and not be changed.

It's going to change you. It's going to change the way you treat people,

the way you talk, the way you give, the way you serve. It's going to change everything about you.

And so all throughout Galatians, Paul is defending this incredibly great news,

the gospel, the good news that we're made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

And that we cannot earn that standing through any efforts by doing good.

There's nothing, no amount of good that we could ever do to make ourselves right

in the sight of God. And that should put you at ease in one sense, because guess what?

You don't have to try to earn your salvation. It's already been done for you.

You don't have to try harder. Maybe if I can get everything in my life straightened

out, then God might finally accept me.

That's not the case. He's already accepted you. He's already loved you.

He's already sent Jesus to die for you, that free gift.

But the gospel does direct us to what Jesus has already done.

And so as Christians, our hope rests in him, in his death for our sins, in his resurrection.

And now that we've received salvation by faith, we don't earn it through our service.

But then Paul addresses a question that follows. How should people who've received

this salvation, who've received this incredible free gift, this grace, how should we now live?

It's that same question William Wallace asked in the movie.

What will you do with your freedom?

This morning, these verses are going to give us three things that I want to

challenge you and three things to consider. And the first one is this.

Number one, use your freedom to serve one another, to serve one another.

Paul begins by reminding these believers that they've been called to freedom,

but at the same time, he warns them about how they might use that freedom.

And because we can take something good God has given us, and we can honestly

turn it towards ourselves, can't we?

We can think, well, if I'm forgiven, then it doesn't really matter how I live.

Paul doesn't want us to go there. That's why he already addressed it in Romans

6. He said in Romans 6, 1 and 2, what should we say then? Should we continue

in sin so that grace may multiply?

Absolutely not. How can we who died to sin, still live in it.

Of course, we're going to still battle sin.

We're still going to battle our flesh. But he's saying, now that you're free,

it's not just a free-for-all that you get to go and sin because your sins are covered.

The freedom we have in Christ does not give us permission to let our sinful desires run our lives.

Paul says, you were called to be free.

And that's really important. See, Christian service does not begin with guilt.

It begins with grace.

Service and serving and volunteering, it's not about guilt.

It's actually about grace. It's a response to the grace that we receive.

We're not trying to earn anything from God. That's not why we serve.

We don't serve so that we can earn. We already have received it.

And that changes the why behind our serving.

Because when we know that we're forgiven, when we know that we receive grace,

when we know everything that Christ has poured out on us, that our salvation

is secure, that we've been accepted, guess what?

Now serving is not a chore.

Serving is a joy.

I get to serve the body of Christ. I get to do this.

I get to do that. What an incredible honor it is that I get to do this because

you've given so freely to me such great salvation.

If you're failing to serve or if you're not serving with joy, guess what?

It's probably because your eyes are on the sins of others instead of the greatness of our salvation.

You want joy restored in the way you serve? Man, serve out of the grace and

this incredible freedom that we've been given in salvation.

You're not serving to prove anything. You're serving because you're already loved.

Verse 13, Paul said, For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters.

Only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,

but serve one another through love.

That word flesh here in this context means our fallen, our self-centered human nature.

It's that part of us that wants to live for ourselves.

Hey we're not born centered on everyone else we're born centered on me.

Hannah's got a new baby you think that baby you think she's just wanting to

love and serve everyone no it's give me food give me sleep give me hugs give

me this give me clean diaper give me this no,

and in a couple years it'll be, give me bluey, give me Mr. Rogers.

Is he? Nah. It's all selfishness. We're selfish, selfish people.

And Paul says, whatever you do, make sure that you're trying to please God.

He says, serve one another through love.

Real Christian freedom is the power to put others first.

Real Christian freedom is the power to put others first. A simple way to say

this is this, don't use your freedom to love yourself or to serve yourself.

Use it to love and serve others.

I think one of the biggest struggles in unity of the body is selfishness, isn't it?

Selfishness can be quiet. It can show up when we insist on having our own way.

It happens when we refuse to make room for somebody else to serve alongside

us or when we expect that everyone's going to serve the same way that we want to serve.

So Paul turns our attention toward loving service,

and he calls us to consider how we can use our time and our abilities and our

opportunities and our talents and our spiritual giftedness, not for our own good.

God didn't give you gifts to build yourself up. No, he gave it to build up the

body of Christ, to strengthen those around you.

Serving within the body is never about our own preferences.

Being part of a church family brings us into relationship with people whose

needs deserve our attention.

We begin to notice when someone's struggling.

We care that someone else is carrying a burden.

Instead of ignoring needs, we're now willing to help.

And love is what is driving us to that person. Love is what is driving us to

say, hey, I'm sorry, what's your name? I see you every week.

I'd love to know your name. Why don't you come sit with me?

How you doing? Can I pray? You look like you're struggling this morning.

Can I pray with you? Is there anything I can do for you?

It's love that drives serving, guys.

You know, we can say yes with our mouths while our attitudes communicate that

we wished we had never been asked to serve.

When Paul tells us to serve one another, he's calling us to willingly serve.

It doesn't mean you're going to have the right words to say to those people

around you. It doesn't mean that it's always going to be easy.

It doesn't mean that you're not going to struggle with other sinful people.

But it does mean that we bring a willing heart to the Lord and we ask,

how would you have me serve with love?

How can I serve with this person in a loving way?

Maybe someone tells you they've had a difficult week. You could say,

instead of just saying, I'll pray for you, and I mentioned this last week,

why don't you just go up to him and pray for him?

Do you want to tell me what's going on? Can I pray for you?

Serving one another becomes real in the ordinary moments when love puts the

needs of others above ourselves.

So here's a question for us, and I really want each one of us to think about this this morning.

Where is God allowing you to serve that you might have treated as an interruption?

I'm not good with that.

I don't want to serve with that person.

I haven't played drums in years. I don't want to do that. That would be an inconvenience.

You know, serving, God is giving us opportunities.

It's an opportunity to serve because of the great gift that he's given to us.

We often imagine serving as something we do when we will have more time or when

we get our schedules all settled out or when work gets easier or when our kids are older.

How about this one? Maybe you've been wanting to serve, but then you found out

the people you're serving with are human and they have flaws imagine.

And you might rub each other the wrong way. And so you step away from serving

instead of loving, instead of us overlooking their wrongs, instead of us giving grace to one another.

I told Kenny this morning in the hallway, I'm going to be stepping on some toes

this morning. It's not me, guys. This is just the word of God.

I'm just bringing you how we're supposed to respond to the freedom that we've been given.

Let me say it again, and I know it sounds harsh, but serving is not about you.

Get over yourself. Love ya. Serving's not about you.

Paul doesn't leave us with a command here and give no explanation.

So let's get to the explanation. Verse 14, he tells us why love begins at the

center of the way we treat one another.

He says, for the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, love your neighbor

as yourself. Number two, We've got to use our freedom to meet our neighbor's needs.

We've been given this incredible freedom, and we've got to meet our neighbor's needs.

Think about how practical that is. And he says in that verse,

he puts it back on us, like, love your neighbor as yourself.

We generally notice our own needs, don't we?

We're hungry. I'm hungry, mom. I'm hungry, honey.

When I'm hungry, I think about food. When I'm hurting, I want pain from that relief.

When I'm misunderstood, I want to tell someone.

I want justice, or I want someone to be on my side. When I'm wronged, I want that justice.

We want people to be considered of what each one of us are going through.

If we make a mistake, we hope someone will give us grace, that they'll give

us a little bit of leeway, right, with us.

And if we're struggling, we hope that someone will ask us how we're doing,

that someone will care enough to love on us.

And that makes love something that we can practice.

Paul tells us to bring that same concern that we have for ourselves.

Man, we're consumed with meeting our own needs.

And Paul says, take that, that being consumed with meeting your needs,

be consumed with meeting other people's needs.

Before we dismiss someone's concern, slow down long enough to listen, to try to understand.

Before we insist on having things our own way.

Ask and see how this action is going to affect someone else.

How will this affect my spouse? How will this affect someone else?

And here's a question we should begin to put into practice. We need to be asking,

am I giving this person's needs the attention I would hope someone would give mine?

We all want our needs met, right? So let's start asking, am I giving this person's

needs the attention, I would hope someone would give mine.

That's how love becomes practical.

Sometimes people just need someone who will be present, who they can talk to.

And this has been a hard thing for me to learn over the years.

Just shut up. Just listen.

Let someone tell you. You don't have to have all the answers.

Guys, how many years has it taken us to learn that our wives sometimes just

need to yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy?

No disrespect, wives, but I just heard sure, but we have to listen.

How much does that minister to my wife when I, pardon the yappy,

yappy, yappy, when I actually listen, when I hear, when I don't just try to fix.

Sometimes we've got to stop trying to fix everyone's problems,

and we just got to be present, and we can just listen.

That's what movie on the lawn's about. We're not going to give sermons to people.

We're just going to say, hey, how you doing? Anything I can pray for you about?

And they may say, no, I'm good, thanks. Or they might unload on you.

Yeah, my wife just died, or my, this just happened, or this...

Being present is a tangible way to be Jesus in their lives.

At Generations Church, we want people to experience that kind of care, that kind of love.

We want to be a church where people know each other's names,

where we notice each other's burdens, and where we make room for others in our

lives outside of Sunday.

It takes more than just being friendly on a few minutes on Sunday.

It takes attention. It takes time. It takes love expressed through service.

See, God uses serving with others in the body, much like he does with our spouses or other people.

God uses serving with others in the body of Christ to make us more like him.

There's a great marriage book out there. And if you want to be challenged,

I forget the complete title, but the subtitle, it's something like marriage.

Designed for your holiness, not for your happiness.

God uses those relationships in the body of Christ and everywhere to rub us.

And you're like, God, I want to get away from that person rubbing on me,

so I'm going to step out of serving.

And what God is trying to say is, hey, I wanted to use that person to rub off that rough part of you.

Don't try to escape those relationships that God wants to use to make you more like Him.

Remember, we're not serving to earn acceptance personally.

We're serving because of the great gift of salvation that God has set us free.

And so, so far, Paul has shown us that what loving service looks like,

but now in verse 15, he's going to give us a warning because when we stop seeking

one another's good, we begin by doing real damage.

And Paul says this verse 15, but if you bite and devour one another,

those are some really strong words, right?

Biting one another, devouring one another. Watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

Incredibly strong language here. Paul uses the picture of attacking and actually

consuming someone to get us to feel the seriousness of what our words and our

actions can do to each other.

Listen to what one Bible commentary said about this verse. This is incredibly

powerful, and I had to include it this morning.

He said this, the church is meant to be a family. We talk about that all the time, right?

Hey, church at Generations Church, church is family.

But fleshly living makes it act like a battlefield.

The context matters in Galatians 5.

Paul's just said that freedom is not an opportunity for the flesh,

but a call to serve one another through love.

And then he warns that if love is replaced by self-interest,

the result is not neutral independence, it's mutual destruction.

He goes on to say, biting is the sharp, cutting word of criticism,

of sarcasm, of gossip, of personal attacks, of verbal wounds.

Devouring is the escalation, not merely hurting, but consuming,

taking everything from the other person until nothing is left.

One person lashes out, the other retaliates, and before long,

the whole fellowship is poisoned.

He goes on, Paul's warning is sobering. Listen, because a church can destroy

itself from the inside out.

This is what happens when people insist on winning every argument,

when they insist on protecting every preference and nursing every offense.

The issue is no longer truth.

The issue is pride.

It's no longer holiness. It's self-assertion. It's no longer unity in Christ.

It's the flesh seeking dominance over one another.

He said, a church can look alive on the outside and be dying on the inside because of this.

People will sing. People still attend. People still talk Christian language.

But beneath the surface, there is resentment, there's competition,

there's factional spirit, and hidden hostilities.

But wait, there's more. There is biting and there is devouring.

It is why Paul says, watch out or you will be consumed by one another.

In other words, the enemy does not always have to destroy a church from the

outside or from the flesh, because the flesh will do it from within. in.

Let's be honest. This is where our church is.

This is happening right now. The last three weeks, all I've done,

not all I've done, 90% of what I've done, bickering, infighting,

flesh versus flesh, relationship problems.

I'm leaving the church because of that person.

I don't like how they serve with me. I don't like the way they tell me what

to do. I don't like this. I don't like that. Get over it. It's not about you.

Let's take it one step further. Two years ago, we had two services going on.

We were pushing 100 people.

We were growing. And guess what?

Infighting. Infighting and more infighting and more infighting.

Suddenly, we're averaging 40 people two years later. We don't know how we're going to pay bills.

It's cold in here. How many of you are cold. Yep. We're not turning boiler on.

Can't bring your parka, bring your Vikings blanket.

Maybe that's a way we could just supply blankets.

Vikings are undefeated, so please keep your yap shut. Note to self,

edit that out of Sermon Podcast.

People have left feeling unimportant in a small body.

People have left feeling unseen. People have left feeling resentment because

of the biting and the devouring that's been happening because we're not filled with love.

The enemy has been destroying the church, not from the outside.

It's been destroying it from the inside.

But there's hope and it starts today because we have to begin to use our freedom,

number three, to build others up, not to tear them down.

You see, it's not the end of the story for Generations Church.

We're growing deeper in faith we're growing deeper in the knowledge of Christ,

we're learning what it means to do life together with one another and surprise

surprise we're not perfect,

It's not the end. It's a pivot. It's a time to pivot,

to begin with everyone you see, building them up to their face and to other people.

Don't backbite to people, but don't backbite behind their backs.

We are the body of Christ. We won't always agree.

We won't always find it easy to get along, but guess what?

We belong together.

Amen? Somebody like, are you sure?

We belong together.

It's all about love, guys. Love must always govern how we address these things.

We should be seeking truth in love. We should be seeking accountability with love.

We should be seeking restoration with love.

And before you speak, ask yourself these questions. Am I trying to help this

person? Am I truly trying to help them?

Or am I trying to embarrass them? Should be a slide for that, son. Next slide.

Am I speaking to someone who can help address the problem?

If not, guess what? We might be gossiping or just airing out our grievances.

We've got to ask ourselves, have I contributed to the hurt?

And then finally, what would a faithful next step look like?

And each one of those questions require humility. Each one of those questions.

Never happen without a spirit of love,

and kindness.

Maybe your next step is an apology. I was frustrated. I spoke harshly.

That was wrong. Will you please forgive me?

Maybe your next step is refusing to repeat the story of something that happened

somewhere else with someone that doesn't involve you.

Maybe the situation is difficult enough that we need to bring in a leader or an overseer,

and handle things in love. Whatever

the next step is, Paul's warning today needs to be taken seriously.

See, we can't control another person's response, but we can take responsibility

for our own words and our own attitudes and our own conduct.

Around for just a moment. Just look around. It's okay. This is the one time

it's okay to look at that person and be like, what are you wearing?

The people beside you are people who have been you have been called to love.

I want to challenge you today and I want to ask you, I want to beg you.

I'm not going anywhere. Not yet.

This is just the beginning we've got to pivot and we've got to love like we've never loved before,

we don't love out of what we have in our hearts we love out of the love and

the freedom that god has bestowed upon us by this great incredible free gift of salvation,

we love because he first loved us.

And I want to ask you to get behind that. I want to ask you to make church a priority.

To make loving the people in this room a priority.

To come help us next Saturday, 10 a.m. My family and I will be here.

I don't want to do this alone.

Lonely.

But we're going to have these invite cards, and we're going to just invite people,

hey, grab some popcorn on your way out.

We just want to remind, we just let you know we're here when it's cold and rainy,

and you're not enjoying your trip with your child. Stop in and just grab some

coffee on the sidewalk or some hot chocolate or apple cider.

That's it. We can do that.

You don't have to have a theology degree. You just got to have a little love. Let's pray.

Father, we come to you and we ask that you would fill us with the desire to

love people better, to love one another better, to serve one another.

You've challenged us today. You've told us that we're free and you're asking

us, Generations Church, what will you do with this freedom?

Will you keep it to yourselves?

Will you take the love of the Savior to everybody?

Will you be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in the seats next to you and

to the house across the street from you and to those in this neighborhood?

There is too much at stake and time is winding down.

May we love one another with the love that you have given through Jesus.

Change us and make us like you.

May this be the day that we look back to and say, that was the day.

That's the day I started loving. That's the day I started serving.

That's the day I decided I was going to get over myself and be all in.

There's one thing that matters, and it's the kingdom of God.

May we be about the kingdom. In your name we pray. Amen.