Free to Serve

Mitch Marlowe

Galatians • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Introduction

One thing I love about God’s Word is how applicable is to us today. In this letter to the Galatians, we have seen this multiple times. The church today still struggles the same way the churches in Galatia did. People still find it difficult to accept salvation as a free gift. We are justified completely by our faith in Jesus. It is not the result of any religion or ritual, but rather through a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord. In this fifth chapter of Galatians, Paul is still making this argument. Yet, many of the nay-sayers are still giving him a hard time about it. Sometimes in our world today, many give others a hard time about being a follower of Christ. Let’s look at these verses and see how these words, written about AD 48, have meaning in our lives today in 2023.

Galatians 5:11–15 NIV84

11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

When I read verse 11, I kind of scratch my head. What is Paul talking about here? No where previously in this letter to the Galatians does Paul ever say that he has preached the law of circumcision. However, if you remember Paul’s life before his encounter with Christ, you will remember that he was in his words, that he was zealous in the pursuit of Jewish tradition.

Galatians 1:14 NIV84

14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

So, Paul would have preached circumcision prior to his conversion. The Judaizers would have remembered him from his past and not known about his present condition. Paul asks Judaizers, “Why am I still being persecuted if I am preaching what you believe?” Paul is agitated. He then it points to the cross.

“In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.” Paul makes it the point that the cross would be of no value if preaching the law was justified. So what can we learn first from this?

Leave the Past (vs. 11)

We can learn to leave the past in the past. All of us have a past before Christ came into our lives. All of us that have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior do not have to live in past at all. It is good for us to remember what life was like prior to Christ.

Remember

Ephesians 2:12 NIV84

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

It is good to remember who you were before Christ because it helps you realize what Christ has done for you.

Realize

Have you realized just what Christ has done for you? Paul tells a young Timothy about the change that had been made in his life. 1 Timothy 1:12-14

1 Timothy 1:12–14 NIV84

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

What has happened in your life when the grace of the Lord was poured out on you abundantly?

We have too many people playing church and being religious these days and we do not have enough people the share what God has done in their lives. When was the last time you told someone that you were lost and now have been found or that you were blind but now you can see?

When you realize what God has done for you, you will leave the past behind and recognize the new life that Christ has given you.

Recognize

Paul implies to the Galatians in this one verse that he is no longer the man that preached circumcision, but the man that preaches the blood of Jesus.

Ephesians 2:13 NIV84

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Do you recognize who you are in Christ? You are redeemed, valued, loved, favored and forgiven! But there will always be those protestors that try to steal your joy. So what do you do about that? Well, you lean away from them.

Lean Away from the Protestors (vs. 12)

If I could sit down with Paul, I was ask him, “Paul, what in the world were you thinking with you said what you said here in verse 12?” Paul said some very ugly things here about his agitators. You know an agitator is one that has turned upside down and made an uproar about something or someone. Paul’s humanity is showing here as these agitators are undermining the faith of the Galatians and causing problems. Let me pose a question here. When our protestors are attacking us, do we need to attack them back? Sometimes that just fuels the fire. By attacking them, we are getting on the same level as they are and we are becoming just like them. I think there are three things that we can do to move beyond the level of our protestors.

Name It

First, we name it. We call it what it is and in this case, it is an attack on the Galatians the revelation they have received from Paul about Christ. The protestors are evil workers in spite of their practice of good deeds. The Holy Spirit will help you discern what is right and what is wrong. This is an answer to prayer. Paul prayed for discernment.

Philippians 1:9–11 NIV84

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Once you name what the protestors are protesting, then you can simply nullify it.

Nullify It

If it is not from God, you do not need to dwell on it. So that means, you have to spend time in God’s Word to know what is from Him and what is not. When you see that something is not from God, leave it alone because it will do you no good. 1 Timothy 6:11

1 Timothy 6:11 NIV84

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

After we name and nullify it, we simply say next. We do not linger or argue with our protestors, we simply move on. That is exactly the model Jesus portrayed to us when He sent out His disciples.

Matthew 10:14 NIV84

14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.

I am so thankful we only have one verse here about Paul being upset with his protestors. He gets over his hateful words and moves right on to show the Galatians how to live purposefully.

Live Your Purpose (vs. 13)

Galatians 5:13 NIV84

13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

If you claim to be free in Christ, you are given your purpose statement in this verse.

Called

First, remember you are called. Romans 1:6

Romans 1:6 NIV84

6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Dear friend, don’t ever forget that you were called to belong to Jesus. What a wonderful opportunity that is for each one of us! When we belong to Jesus, we represent Jesus and we should live out our calling in the Name of Jesus! Colossians 3:17

Colossians 3:17 NIV84

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

You are called and that means you are also committed.

Committed

We are called to be free in Christ but we are committed to not use our freedom to indulge in the sinful nature. We will see later in our study that being committed to Christ means that we produce fruit. We will study this further later on but look closely at what committed Christians produce:

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV84

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This means that we become Christ-like.

Christ-Like

“Rather, serve one another in love.” There is no other way that demonstrates Christlikeness than to serve one another in love. The call to freedom is a call to being Christlike. It is a call to be in loving service within the believing community. It is a call to draw others into that believing community as well. Are you drawing others into your community by serving them in love? We sometimes get stuck back at the section we previously discussed about protestors. We sometimes find ourselves joining in with them. We may even have ill wishes like Paul did in verse 12. Notice again, that Paul quickly moved back into the mindset of Christ. As a pastor, he reveals his heart. It is found in verses 14 and 15.

Galatians 5:14–15 NIV84

14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Love People (vs. 14-15)

We are to love God and love people.

The Sum of All the Law

That is the sum of the law. In fact, the Leviticus law said we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Leviticus 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 NIV84

18 “ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

The whole law is fulfilled by loving one another.

Romans 13:8–10 NIV84

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Christian love is actually the practical carrying-out of the law as well.

Notice the strife that comes if you do anything else.

The Strife of Anything Less

Paul uses words like biting, devouring and destroying each other. Typically the word for which we have biting refers to that of snakes and animals. Here, however, it means “to wound the soul.” The Greek word for devouring means to the consumption of the strength of body and mind by strong emotions. When we are not all about love, inevitably we will wound the soul of those around us emotionally consuming their strength of body and mind. When we fail to love, we destroy. We must be reminded of the Savior’s answer.

The Savior’s Answer

John 13:34 NIV84

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

It boils down to this: How’s your love life? Do you love people enough to invite them to Sunday School and Worship where they can learn about the love the Lord has for us? Why you not doing it? Are you protesting? Are you ashamed? Do you not believe? Let’s change that right now. Pray with me:

Lord, I cannot imagine how frustrated you get with your people taking their eyes off of Your love and turning to things that cause us to bite and devour each other. Forgive us Lord, for being a people that has forgotten how to love. Remind us just now to love like we have been loved and to forgive as we have been forgiven. Help us to experience the freedom that Christ has given us to love and to love unashamedly. Lord, help us reach people for Your Glory!