The story is told of a man having dinner with his parents at a stylish London restaurant. The food was superb; the setting was elegant. Everything seemed exquisite. When his mother’s main course arrived, she wanted some salt. Trying the three silver shakers that were on the table, she discovered each contained pepper. She called the waiter over only to be told that she must be mistaken. Each table always contained two dispensers of pepper and one of salt. A second attempt, however, showed that their table did, indeed, have three pepper shakers. Embarrassed, the waiter immediately brought her a salt shaker. When it was time for dessert, the waiter appeared, insisting that because of the oversight they choose something “on the house.”
The woman protested, “It’s not that important.”
“But, Madame,” he replied in all seriousness, “what if you had been the queen?”
What if the church were to be characterized by service of that kind? What would stop us from being characterized that way? In this sermon we explore one of the many “one another” passages in the New Testament. Our “one another” passage today is found in Galatians 5. Galatians is all about freedom in Christ! So, as we read today’s passage, remember that that message of freedom in Christ is its background. Our question today is: in the context of community, what does it mean to be free?
Read Galatians 5:13–15. What does it mean to be free? First Paul says, “I don’t want you to use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature.” In the original Greek, that’s an interesting word, the word “indulge.” It basically means, “a starting point or base of operations for an expedition.” In other words, it’s a place where an enemy can get a foothold in your life. So what Paul is saying is, “Don’t let the sinful nature get a foothold in your life, because where things begin is not where they will end. It will always get worse than what it was when it started.” Now, if you want to know what Paul is talking about when he speaks of the sinful nature, just skip down a few verses and read what he calls “the acts of the sinful nature.” Notice as we read it that each of the realities he includes in this list is guaranteed to fracture true human community.
Read Galatians 5:19–21. These verses outline what Paul doesn’t want Christ followers to do with their freedom. But then he gives us something that he does want us to do with our freedom. Remember that back in verse 13 he said, “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Gal 5:13, TNIV). Serve one another humbly in love. That’s what we will do if we walk by the Spirit. And if we walk by the Spirit, we will grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. We read his list of the acts of the sinful nature, so let’s now read his list of the fruit of the Spirit. And as we read this list, please take notice that each of these qualities is guaranteed to help build true community.
Read Galatians 5:22–23. These two lists contain realities that will either form true community or fracture true community. The acts of the sinful nature will fracture it, while the fruit of the Spirit will form it. In fact, one of the key differences between the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit is the fact that the first are such that tend to fracture community by using others, while the second are such that tend to build community by serving others. The acts of the sinful nature objectify—that is, they make objects of—other people. And we human beings intuitively know that it is okay to use an object. On the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit are such that they tend to humanize other people. And we human beings rather intuitively respond with grace towards those who are humanized in our eyes.
And the reason Paul is discussing these two alternatives is because people are asking questions about how they are to handle their freedom in Christ. “Don’t use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature,” says Paul, “but use it to serve one another humbly in love.” Serve one another humbly in love. Do you know what I think Paul is saying here? Maybe the best way to put this would be to say that when Jesus sets my heart free, He makes my hands willing. If my heart is free in Him, my service will be freely given to others. After all, that’s what Jesus came to do. He made statements like, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (see Matt 20:28, NIV). And He repeatedly made such a mission clear in His life.
The sociologist Rodney Stark says that one of the key ways in which Christianity rose from being a small group to being a dominant force in the Roman Empire—and one of the key reasons it did so in such a short time—was that Christians took care of their own. He speaks of the fact that there were two great epidemics during those first few centuries. If those who were affected were cared for, there was a good chance they would survive. But often when a member of the family contracted the disease, the other family members left that person uncared for and left their homes for places not affected by the disease.
“The Christians, however, did not do this. . . . The Christians [cared for their own family members and] also cared for those who were left behind by [their] family members. Stark points out that the willingness to suffer in order to care for the sick had a part to play in large numbers of people in the Roman Empire turning to Christ.”1
It’s almost as though they were saying to themselves, “What if it had been the Queen?”
This service we’re talking about in this passage is so much more than a program; it’s a mindset, an attitude, a lifestyle. It comes into connection with others in the body of Christ not with an attitude that says, “What can you do for me?” but rather, “What can I do for you?”
With that in mind, let me ask a question I’ve been asking myself this week: how often do you speak the words, “May I help you?” I’m not asking how often you have used those words at work where you are paid to use them! I’m asking how often you have used them at home, in the classroom, in your neighborhood, here at church. May I help you? May I serve you? Do you need a seat? Here! I’ll scoot over. May I serve you at our foot washing service? How can I help with the funeral service? It’s an attitude that, well . . . How was it that Paul put it? Serve one another humbly in love. How might we put it? When Jesus sets my heart free, He makes my hands willing.
Some time ago, I read of a soldier watching a nurse clean and dress the gangrenous wounds of those fallen in battle. After watching this unappealing spectacle for a while, he finally said to her, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.”
And the nurse replied, “And neither would I.”
After all, what if it’s the queen? Or . . . what if there’s someone even more important than the queen? After all, I remember that verse in Matthew 25, that verse about service, where Jesus says that one day the King will say to those who served, “You did it for me.”
And they will say, “What?! For you?!”
And the King will say, “Yes, you did it for me!”
And they will say, “Wow. We thought we were just doing it for the queen!”
1 Ajith Fernando, The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry (Nottingham: InterVarsity, 2008), 91
Randy Roberts, DMin, LMFT, is the senior pastor of the Loma Linda University Church and vice president of Spiritual Life and Mission, Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
