Freed to Serve
Galatians 5:13-6:5
14/06/09
Introduction
Alexander Solzhenitsyn studied mathematics, philosophy, literature and history during the early days of the
Today he is known as a Nobel-winning author, philosopher and historian, but it was his training in mathematics which saw him become a decorated captain in the
In 1945 he was arrested after writing letters to a friend which contained derogatory comments about Josef Stalin. He spent 8 years in various prisons and labour camps, and was afterward sent into internal exile in
In 1978, during his period of exile, he made some very controversial statements during a speech he gave at
In the West, you have the right to express opinions without ending up in the Gulag Archipelago. You have the right to practice your faith. You have the right to make choices about where you live and what sort of work you do and so on.
But Solzhenitsyn pointed out that we also give people the right to make movies full of violence and pornography. I would add things like we let gambling institutions steal billions of dollars from gullible people. We allow magazines to promote unrealistic body images to vulnerable children. The list could go on and on. We defend the freedom of the individual above the good of society, and we all suffer the consequences.
“It is time, in the West, to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.”
When I was in school, “Classroom Rules” were replaced with a “Statement of Rights”. It included things like “You have the right to an education”, “You have the right to be respected”, “You have the right to be safe” and so on.
There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but it took the emphasis from what I should and shouldn’t do, and put it on what I should expect from others. This sort of thinking has for decades been drilled into us – we focus much more on what we deserve from others than on what is expected from us – our obligations.
Even look at the way we buy things: “You deserve this new TV – take it now and you won’t have to pay anything for 12 months!” We want the product without the obligation to pay for it!
I want you to keep these things in mind as we read today’s passage:
Galatians 5:13-6:5
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.
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the
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. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
6 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load. [1]
You, my brothers, were called to be free…
Freedom is dangerous. We can use it to indulge ourselves. Paul tells us to instead serve others in love, which summarises the whole law. We have not been set free in order to sin, we have been freed in order to serve.
I want you to understand how much freedom you and I enjoy. We choose what we do every day. We choose what time we get up, how much time we spend in God’s Word, praying, working, eating, serving, watching TV, talking on the phone or whatever. We choose the attitude that we take with us in all those activities. We choose to either be communing with God moment by moment or ignoring Him.
I’m sure all of us would say that we want to see revival in our church and in our region, but are the choices we make showing that? God has said that He is with us, that He is at work in us and through us, but are we choosing to play our part? Are we doing the things that the Bible tells us to do as part and parcel of loving God and loving one another? Are we choosing to keep in step with the Holy Spirit?
1 John 5:2-4
2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
If you are a Christian you are not a victim of your own sinfulness any more. You are not a victim of this world system. You are not a victim of other people’s choices and behaviours. You have been set free. Free to serve. Choose it. Love others the way God has commanded you to.
Let’s turn our attention to the first 5 verses of chapter Galatians 6:
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
What is normal human nature when it comes to spotting sin? We’re all experts at spotting it in others! Listen to this story from Jesus, recorded in…
Luke 18:9-14
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We all get stirred up by what we see or don’t see in others. We are quick to blame in others what we excuse in ourselves. Whenever we notice sin in others we need to first check for the plank in our own eye!
Matthew 7:1-5
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Remember this when you catch yourself judging others! We are to be humble and honest, looking first at our own lives and the motive of our hearts to see whether there is purity and love in evidence.
Verse 3 says “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Spiritually immature people have a tendency to exalt themselves and condemn others. Paul is very direct when he turns the tables on such people and says “you have it all backwards”, just as Jesus did with the Pharisee and the tax collector in His story.
Even now, probably some people are sitting here thinking of times that they have been judged by others, thinking “I hope that person’s listening to this”, or, “I wish they were here to listen to this” and feeling very vindicated. No, you’re just joining in the same sin!
The spiritual person says “Lord, have I done this? Am I doing this? I know what it feels like to be judged, I don’t want to do that to others. Help me Lord.”
What often happens is that churches, like any other group, get caught in round after round of retaliation as people hold grudges and keep score on things. We remember what the others have done but we don’t acknowledge what we have also done. This is the reason that repentance always precedes and accompanies revival. Spiritually alive people care about their own sin most.
These are the people who are qualified to then gently restore a fallen brother or sister.
Do you see the responsibility there? If you are spiritually mature and you see someone caught in sin, you have an obligation not to discuss it or disapprove of it like unspiritual people do, but to carefully and lovingly do something about it!
Jesus didn’t just say “remove the plank from your own eye”, He also said “then, you’ll be able to see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”. That’s all of our responsibility. Verse 2 says:
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
What is the law that Paul is referring to? The one he mentioned in verse 15 of chapter 5, to love our neighbour as ourselves. We all need help sometimes. Sometimes it’s because of a struggle that we know we have. Sometimes it’s because of a sin that we are caught in that we might not even realise. Whatever it is, we need help. It’s what the Church is for.
4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load.
We must not get caught up in thinking in terms of a spiritual hierarchy. I’m more mature than so-and-so who’s always struggling with problems or caught in sin. When we think that way, we prove that we are unwise and unspiritual. Rather, we should take pride in ourselves without needing to compare ourselves to others.
Notice in verse 5 that we should each carry our own load. Does that mean that we should look after ourselves and help others, but never need help ourselves? Is that what separates the spiritually strong from the spiritually weak? No way, that sort of thinking leads us back into spiritual pride, which is deception.
Let me describe for you the meaning of the greek words being used here:
In verse 2 when talking about carrying each other’s burdens, Paul uses the word “baros”. It means literally a weight, something that holds you down, causes you to struggle, makes progress difficult. However in verse 5, talking about our own load, he uses the word “phortion” (for·tee·on). This just means something you need to carry. It could be heavy or it could be light, it’s weight isn’t an issue, it’s just that it’s yours to bear.
Remember the words of Jesus in…
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
This is in contrast to the religious leaders of the day, who were burdening people down with heavy loads, and not lifting a finger to help them (Matt. 23:4).
It’s not God’s will for us to be struggling under heavy burdens. The load that He has designed for us to carry is not too heavy for us, in fact we find rest even as we carry it.
In those times when we are weary and heavy laden what should we do? Go to Him, submit to Him, learn from Him. Then we find rest.
How does He give us this rest? In all sorts of ways. He gives us peace that passes understanding. He gives us wisdom to make good choices. He gives us strength to carry them out. He can change our circumstances. He uses His servants to lend us a hand, just as Galatians 6:2 describes.
The trap for us is that we can get into the habit of looking at ourselves and seeing the “baros” (the heavy burdens) and looking at others and seeing their “phortion” (their obligation to fulfil the law of Christ by loving others). We excuse ourselves from the obligation to serve others in love, because our burdens are too heavy. We are too busy. We have too many problems. We have been hurt too much.
1 John 3:18
18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
It’s easy to say we love one another, but are we actually doing it or are we making excuses for ourselves? Are we delegating it to someone else – that’s “the minister’s” job!
We opened the sermon today with the observation that in our society we are conditioned to focus on what we deserve from others, rather than on our obligations toward others.
May each of us use the freedom we have been given to turn that around, and serve others in love.
I have observed that focusing on what we deserve from others only ever produces discontentment, disappointment and bitterness. Is that really what you want for yourself?
Turn to Jesus and live in step with His Spirit. Deal with yourself first so you can help others. That’s the secret to a satisfied life and a healthy church.
[1]All Scriptures take from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984.
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