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Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.
“Serve One Another”
One-Another Message Series
October 8, 2023
So today we are going to be looking at Galatians 5:13, and this will be the last message in our One Another sermon series. As we said in the beginning, there are 59 of these one-another passages in the New Testament of our Bibles, and there is some overlap in their use. There are not 59 different one-anothers…For example, 15 of the 59 one-another passages deal with loving one another.
And as I said in the beginning, our goal wasn’t to cover all of the one-another passages but simply to highlight some of them so that we can begin to see from a biblical perspective how we are called and wired to relate to one another as new creations in Christ.
And it’s been a really good series for us to go through together. I mean, I often get some feedback on messages, but I’ve got to say that there have been a lot of you who have reached out to tell me how God has been working in your life in relation to these one-anothers.
I remember the week we talked about FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER AS CHRIST HAS FORGIVEN US, and I heard from someone who said that the Lord really impressed upon her the need to not just forgiven someone who hurt her deeply but to pursue reconciliation. And she immediately followed through with that in the power of the Spirit and they are taking steps in that direction, praise God!
Then the week that we talked about ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER, I had someone reach out to say that during the following week, the Lord led her to reach out to a friend who has been walking through a very difficult time and has been running from the Lord and from her friends. And she texted her and said, “I am the friend who is not going to give up on you, so I’m going to keep calling until you answer; therefore, it would be easiest if you would go ahead and answer it the next time I call!” And she did. And they talked for over an hour and cried together and prayed together and she just tried to encourage her as the Lord led her to do so.
And finally, last week after we looked at how Paul tells us to ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS CHRIST HAS ACCEPTED US, there were so many of you who reached out to me to say that Jesus really spoke to your heart that day…how you felt moved to begin taking steps of accepting those you maybe would have had a difficult time truly accepting if they had walked into our church…and yet others of you who just said that it was your prayer that we would continue to be a church who accepts others where they are at in life and loves them well.
SO, thank you for being here or for watching or listening to the messages when you haven’t been able to be here, and thank you for opening your hearts and minds and following through with what the Lord has been saying to you throughout our time together. And thank you for taking the time to share with me how the Lord has been working in your life throughout this series.
I think it’s maybe been so impactful because we are relational beings. We are designed to be in community and relationships with others, but in a lot of ways our relationships with others have changed over the last several years since the pandemic and with social media…
More and more people continue to feel isolated and lonely even though we are connected in some ways more than we ever have been.
And so, learning how to love one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, and accept one another really stirs something up in us because we feel those things…
And today as we finish up our series, we are going to talk about one of the most powerful and impactful ways we can relate to one another…
SERVING ONE ANOTHER
This one-another (allelon) command is found in Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. It’s near the end of his letter, and he says this in 5:13…
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
So, here we see that one of the ways we are to relate to one another is by serving each other. But I think the most interesting thing is the context in which Paul says it here. It’s in the context of talking about Christian freedom.
Paul says here that you and I were called to be free! Free from what?
Well, a lot of what Paul is talking about in Galatians is the law. We are set free from the Old Testament law and having to measure up to a certain standard. Jesus fulfilled the law for us and we are justified through grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone and now live by the Spirit, not the law
But it’s more than just the law that we are set free from.
Paul mentions our flesh in this verse. And our flesh is a reference to self…doing things in our own power and strength apart from God.
Living by our flesh means…SERVING OURSELF (not serving one another)
And at one time we were slaves to serving ourselves. We were in bondage to our flesh.
See, we are all born with sin in our lives, and that sin separates us from God whom we were meant to be in a union with…drawing from His power, His guidance, His wisdom, and His Life.
But because we were separated from Him, all we had was our flesh. And our flesh is selfish because we have to meet our own needs…
And so we served ourselves through entertainment, through drugs/alcohol…we served ourselves by using others in relationships, chasing after success, money, fame, material possessions, and on and on.
We were slaves to selfishness because we had to meet our own needs, find our own satisfaction, meaning, and purpose.
But this is what Jesus came to set us free from! Paul shows us what happens to us when we put our faith in Jesus for salvation in Romans 6…
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life…6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Paul says our old self was crucified…that we’ve been rescued from our slavery to sin…that we now have new life in Christ.
You and I have been rescued from our slavery to selfishness! Rescued from the bondage of having to try and meet our own needs. Rescued from the bondage of having to use others to find satisfaction and fulfillment.
So let’s go back to Galatians 5:13…
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Paul says, “Now that you’ve been set free from your flesh and from your bondage to selfishness, don’t continue to indulge your flesh…you’ve been set free from it!”
YOU ARE NOW FREE TO SERVE OTHERS. YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO USE THEM TO GET YOUR NEEDS MET. JESUS IS MEETING ALL OF YOUR NEEDS SO YOU ARE FREE TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER.
But here’s the other thing…You aren’t just free to serve other people, in Christ, you have a new heart that wants to serve others.
See, that new life that we talked about and that Paul references in Romans 6 is a new life that comes from being IN CHRIST, from being united to Him by the Holy Spirit.
And here is what we know about Jesus: He is a servant.
One of the places we see that is in Philippians 2. Paul is writing to the church there and encouraging them to love and serve one another. Look at what he says…
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Looking to the interests of others means to serve others. But watch this, to drive home what he is saying here, he points them next to Jesus!
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
And then he goes on to explain the mindset of Jesus and more about who He was and what He did…
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
In other words, the mindset of Jesus was not to be served but to serve (and we are even told that by Jesus Himself in Matthew 20:28).
Jesus spent His entire earthly ministry serving others…teaching them, befriending them, loving them, healing them, investing in them, and ministering to them in a number of ways.
One of the places we see even see this so clearly is in John 13 when Jesus washes the disciples feet.
The God of the universe was washing dirty, sweaty, cracked, calloused, bloodied, fungused feet.
The Son of Man didn’t come to be served but to serve…and then the rest of that verse says and to be a ransom for many.
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The next day (after washing feet) the God of the Universe served all of us by subjecting Himself to death in one of the most horrific and humiliating ways someone could die…and doing so out of His love for us. To serve us by taking our place on the cross and dying for our sins so that we could be forgiven and be with Him forever, the way we were always meant to be.
Okay, so back to my point. If this is who the Son of God is (a servant), and you are united in a spiritual union with Him and have been given a new heart and new life in Him, then guess what that makes you?
A SERVANT!
It’s who you had always been created to be, but you weren’t because of your sin nature and bondage to your flesh.
But again, Jesus rescued you from that…He freed you from your selfishness and put you back in union with Him and rewired your heart to the type of heart it was always meant to be in Him – A SERVANT’S HEART.
And I’ve seen that heart on display here many times at CHBC…
When we first moved here, I don’t know if you know this but the Pastor Search Team went over to our house the day before we were supposed to move in and swept, mopped, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned showers, toilets, sinks, mirrors, installed a new microwave, and what a blessing it was.
I’ve heard Steve Alberts tell a story a number of times about a time when his son, Wes was in competitive gymnastics and they didn’t have the money to pay for him to continue and a number of men who had already invested in Wes came together and paid for like an entire year of gymnastics!
On Christmas Eve, 70-80 of you showed up to help with the flood and Christmas Eve service…
Each Saturday for the past 10 months, people show up to set up chairs in the gym…
John and Nancy O’Sullivan have shown up to help with Upward Sports from 7am-7pm
Many of you are Sunday School Teachers (adults/kids), serve on Wednesday nights, are on our 1st impressions team and serve one another in a number of ways.
You could just take it easy…you could just come and listen to a sermon and leave…you could stay home and watch TV on a Wednesday night…you could go throughout a week without having to prepare something to teach…
BUT you are not using your freedom to indulge your flesh but rather you are serving one another humbly in love!
So, thank you for that. What a blessing…what a testimony. And we give God all the glory, honor, and praise for how He’s led us and empowered us in this ways…
But now as we close out this series, we ask, “Lord, who are you leading me to serve this week or in this season of life?”
Maybe it’s through a ministry here at CHBC…
We are looking for more people to be on our First Impressions Team…
Kid’s Ministry
Student Ministry
Audio/Video Ministry
And so maybe the Lord is leading you to step into using your gifts and abilities to serve.
OR maybe the Lord is laying it on your heart to serve a friend, a family member, a church member, a neighbor, someone who isn’t a believer or hasn’t been to church in a long time.
Whoever it is, trust that it is the Spirit laying them on your heart and allow Him to use you to serve them this week.
And may it not just be this week, but may it be the way we relate to each other all the time: not looking out for our own interests, but looking to the interests of others!