Saved to Serve

Sis Melinda Song

INTRODUCTION:

Galatians 5:1, 13-14, NIV

¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

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. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

1. We Are Called To Freedom

Braveheart, tells the story of Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace who led a war against England during the 13th century. One of the most memorable quote from the movie is: “…they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!”

Wallace was captured. Just before he was hung, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians, he indicated to the magistrate that he had something to say. With his last breath he cried, “Freedom!”

Freedom implies that there was a former captivity, oppression or bondage, e.g. Israel in slavery in Egypt or under the Roman rule. Wars have been fought and countless lives lost for freedom’s sake Freedom is the prevailing cry of the world today.

We are called to freedom, yet Christianity has often been perceived as repressive and an enemy of freedom with a lot of dos and don’ts.

As a young Christian, my sister and I always felt guilty and condemned whenever we went to the movies. I gave up dancing while others burn their records. Like the Galatians, we obsessed with rules and regulations. 

But true Christianity is a relationship based on love and grace. Those things we do or don’t do is out of our love and relationship with Jesus, not because we cannot do so.

Biblically, freedom is primarily relational. We were called to freedom when God called us into a relationship with himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Luke 4:18, NIV

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,

John 8:34-36, NIV

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

You are only as free as you are in right relationship with the living God. The more vibrant and intimate your relationship with the living God, the more freedom you will enjoy.

Now that you are free, what next? Paul offers two ways to manage our freedom – one negatively and the other positively.

2. Negatively - Freedom To NOT Indulge The Flesh

Notice it is God who calls. This is a reminder that God is our Master. Our freedom is won at a great price so it is not a license to sin.

Paul discusses the life of license thoroughly in Romans 6. After we are saved by the grace of God, can we go ahead and live in sin? And Paul’s answer to that question is “absolutely not. God forbid that we do.” You cannot live in sin and be a Christian on your way to heaven.

You may fall into sin, but you will quickly get out of it! You repent and ask God’s forgiveness. It is evident from the Lord's prayer (Matt. 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4) that confession of sin should be a regular part of the Christian life, and 1 John 1:9 advocates repentance that is an ongoing part of our sanctification (not for salvation but for restoration of fellowship).  You do not use God’s grace of deliverance to continue to live in sin. 

Biblical freedom is not, “Now I can do what I want.” Biblical freedom is, “Now I can do what God wants.”

It comes with responsibility and boundaries and we are accountable for the way we use this freedom.

In most of Paul’s writings, “flesh” is not our body, but our sinful nature which is selfish, self-centred and self-serving. Later in the chapter, Paul goes on to give a list of appetites and attitudes that characterises the deeds of the flesh in verses 19-20 of Galatians Chapter 5.

Even though the flesh is crucified with Christ, it is not altogether eliminated. We still live in these sinful, fallen bodies; we still inhabit this sinful, fallen world and we all still live in “this present evil age” (Gal. 1:4).

So what is the solution? Paul says, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (v. 16). We can resist the inclinations to indulge in the flesh when we are Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Spirit-controlled and bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Although Jesus said this in the context of money, it is true that no one can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). Humans may think they are autonomous beings but the reality is that all of us are slaves. It is a matter of who our master is. Therefore we are to submit and surrender to the Holy Spirit instead of to the flesh.

We should channel our freedom in the service of Jesus Christ, our King, our Lord and our Master.

3. Positively - Freedom To Serve

Luke 4:8, NIV
⁸ Jesus answered [the devil], “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

In response to God’s unfathomable love to us expressed in Jesus Christ, you and I are called to love and serve God. This is only possible because we have been set free from the bondage of sin by Jesus.

Note that God does not need our service.

Acts 17:24-25, NIV
²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

But He has chosen to use us in His service.

Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are not saved BY works but we are saved FOR works.

Why? Because serving is an important component of growth. Serving is listed as one of the six most important disciplines for Christian growth and maturity in the book “Six Habits of Highly Effective Christians.”

Ephesians 4:11-16, NIV

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Our church theme is to Grow in the Word, Serve with Love and Transform Lives.

·     Serving offers an opportunity or outlet for us to channel out what we have learnt or received.

·     Freely we have received so freely we ought to give.

·     Maturity is for ministry. We are saved to serve, healed to help, blessed to be a blessing.

·     Compare the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea in Israel. Both have water coming into them but only Galilee gives out water. It is a vibrant living sea. But the Dead Sea is just that. It doesn’t have any outlet; it does not give out. You and I risk dying, risk stagnation in our faith, if we don’t give out.

·     Service leads to transformed lives.

Most of us are well grounded in our faith, have a good grasp of the Gospel, know what God wants of us. We need to serve: to stretch our faith, to develop our spiritual muscles.

"Growth leads to service and serving leads to growth – it's deeply connected," says Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research.

Serving God is expected but here Paul says that our freedom is a…

3.1 Freedom To Serve One Another

Colossians 3:23-24, NIV

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

We grow and the church grows when we cease to look inwards and begin to serve one another. It’s all about body ministry.

At the Damascus Road encounter (Acts 9:4), have you ever wondered why Jesus said Paul was persecuting Him, when he was in fact persecuting the church? That’s because the church is the body of Christ on earth. Therefore, the visible evidence of service to God is seen in our service to one another.

Unfortunately the default setting for humans is to be selfish. We don’t have the time or energy to serve others because we’re preoccupied with our own agendas, dreams, and pleasures. Only a small minority of people use their lives to serve others, but Jesus said, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35, LB)

Very often the church is considered a commodity we consume and not a place where we should give of ourselves. Such self-centered, self-absorbed thinking hinders us from experiencing the fullness of God and the joy found in making a difference in the life of another person.

Too often when we are looking for a church to belong to, we look for a church that meets my needs, where I feel comfortable, which will be a blessing to me. Maturing Christ-followers don’t ask, ‘How will my needs be met?’; don’t say, ‘This church isn’t doing anything for me!’ Maturing disciples of Jesus ask, ‘Where can I serve, who needs my help, how can I be a blessing?’

In the early days of TOP we used to have revival meetings on Saturday evenings where new believers run the service. Everyone did something. Even the millionaire helped to arrange chairs and distributed the song-books.

It became a platform for us to discover our gifts and for the Pastor to identify budding leaders. Now we do it in the cells.

Serving is not natural in our modern, individualistic culture. But if we aren’t serving, we aren’t living life to the full; at least not the Jesus’ Way.

That is why Albert Schweitzer said, "The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve".

3.2 Freedom To Serve One Another Humbly

Paul uses a different form of the word for servant here. In fact in almost every place where the word servant is used in the New Testament it is the Greek word “doulos” which means a “slave, bondman, man of servile condition.” 

Philippians 2:3-8, NIV

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.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

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!

When we look into the life of Jesus we find Him living a life of servanthood.

·     He said emphatically that He came not “to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). Here, diakonéō is used for the word serve. The basic meaning of diakonéō is a servant who runs errands. It also is the root for the position of “Deacon,” in the local church (diákonos, i.e. Deacon).

·     Jesus says to His followers in Matthew 20:26, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”

·     Then, on the night of His arrest, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, leaving them with a final teaching to serve one another: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (see John 13:12–17).

·     A foot washing ceremony can be very meaningful, but far more important than any ceremony is putting into practice the principle of serving others. Let us not forget that our calling is to serve others not to expect others to serve us.

There is no place for pride in service/ministry because:

1.   Everything we have – talent, time, treasure, our very breath – comes from God.

2.   The gifts of the Spirit are special abilities provided by the Holy Spirit to Christians for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. They are simply God enabling believers to do what He has called us to do. The Greek word most frequently used for spiritual gifts is charismata, a word that relates to the grace (charis) of God. 

But that does not mean we don’t appreciate or encourage those who are serving.

A word of warning here. It is very easy for us to only serve God in one area of ministry. Do not limit God. Let Him stretch you. We should not miss out on other opportunities to serve God.

Do you see a need in your church? Do what you can to meet it. Is there a position in a ministry that is vacant? Pray as to whether God would have you fill it. If we seek God's will and obey His leading, He will always equip us with whatever gifts of the Spirit we need.

"Growth leads to service and serving leads to growth – it's deeply connected," says Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research.

To that I add, “Humility leads to service and serving leads to humility – it’s deeply connected.”

3.3 Freedom To Serve One Another Humbly In Love

We are a T.E.A.M. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church. Since they are gifts of grace, their use must be controlled by the rule of love - the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13).

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NIV

¹ 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. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ 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.

Ephesians 4:11-16, NIV

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

The emphasis on love is all-important because it is not law on the outside but love on the inside that makes the difference. Christianity works because it changes people from the inside out.

It was love that motivated God to send his Son to the earth. True love sees the need and then moves to meet the need even at great personal cost. Love of Christ and love for Christ will change our heart and bring obedience.

If duty, obligation or necessity is our attitude toward God and toward serving we will never have the heart for serving. We serve out of an overflow of love. Very often it starts as a duty, that grows into desire and finally becomes a delight.

Without love, you’ll end up serving for the wrong reasons: trying to earn the approval of others, trying to run away from your pain, trying to remedy your guilt, trying to impress God. Service motivated by these illegitimate reasons is bound to leave you burned out and ­bitter in the end.

A church that is not full of love and service will turn inwards like a cancer to destroy and consume itself – biting, devouring and destroying each other (Gal. 5:15). If we are serving one another because we love Jesus, then there will not be any cause for divisions and fighting.

"Growth leads to service and serving leads to growth – it's deeply connected," says Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research.

To that I have added, “Humility leads to service and serving leads to humility – it's deeply connected.”

And now I add on, “Love leads to service and serving leads to love – it's deeply connected.”

CONCLUSION

8 Blessings We Experience By Serving Others (Source: https://newspring.cc/articles/8-blessings-we-get-from-serving)

1. Serving allows us to discover and develop our spiritual gifts.

2. Serving allows us to experience miracles.

3. Serving allows us to experience the joy and peace that comes from obedience.

4. Serving helps us to be more like Jesus.

5. Serving surrounds us with other Christians who can help us follow Jesus.

6. Serving increases our faith.

7. Serving allows us to experience God’s presence in new ways.

8. Serving is good for your soul.

We make all sorts of rational explanations for not serving but the reality is the Lord doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called.

God wants to use you to make a difference in His kingdom.

May each and every one of us aspire to and encourage each other to Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered and Spirit-led service.

Hebrews 10:24, NIV

²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,

Serving one another is not the main goal, serving Jesus is. Jesus said in John 12:26, “My Father will honour the one who serves me.” Someday I want to stand before Jesus Christ and I want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” and it will be worth it all.

Will you dedicate yourselves to God’s service in this local assembly, taking practical opportunities to carry out your calling?

For some of us God's Spirit is showing you or reminding you that you are not free. You know you are in bondage this morning. You can feel the chains weighing you down.

Well, I am overjoyed to tell you this morning that God wants to, and God can, set you free. And He can do that when you believe in what Jesus already did on the cross.

Don't you want to be free this morning? If you do, reach out in faith. Put your trust in Christ.