As we pointed out last week when we considered the New Testament missionary mandate, so it is with standing fast in loving service: We don’t serve others because Jesus commands us to, but because we live in the love of God. We have been served, we have been blessed so much by the God of heaven – it is the blessings from God that motivate us to share those blessings with others.
Let’s look at Galatians in that light. “Standing Fast in Loving Service.” To “stand” means to “be in a specified state or condition” while “fast” in this context means “firmly fixed or attached.” So, this morning, we are being challenged to “remain firmly fixed or attached in the state of being loving servants.”
SERVICE IS MOTIVATED FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST – Chapter 1:
Paul begins this letter by setting everything he says in the context of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Notice where he begins in 1:3-4: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”
That sacrifice of Jesus for Paul strongly motivated everything else he did. In other words, what Paul did – everything Paul did – he did for Jesus Christ. That’s how Paul viewed it. Notice Paul’s reference in verses 15-24 as he talks about what the sacrifice of Christ compelled Paul to do.
LOVING SERVICE MEANS REMEMBERING THE POOR – Chapter 2:
If you will notice first in 2:9, Paul refers to the “grace” of Jesus Christ that had been given to him – this is the grace that called him to salvation in Jesus Christ and to be an apostle that Paul had mentioned back in chapter 1. But then Paul goes on to say that these men in the church in Jerusalem, Peter, James, and John, “They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do” (2:10). Because Paul had received the grace of Christ, he was compelled to share that grace with others, by providing for their physical needs.
LOVING SERVICE MEANS NURTURING YOUNG CHRISTIANS – Chapter 4:
Paul writes in Galatians 4:19: “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—.” Clearly, the text here refers to loving service in teaching the Galatian Christians the Gospel message but especially helping to nurture them in their faith. “Nurturing” young Christians is just as important as teaching them in the first place.
Take a step back in the text here and see where these young Christians had been – 4:8-11.
LOVING SERVICE IS DONE THROUGH THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – Chapter 5:
Loving service is done through the fruit of the Spirit. That fruit is listed in verses 22-23. So, let’s apply this fruit of the Spirit to the idea of “service”:
We serve in love.
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We serve peacefully.
We serve in kindness.
We serve through goodness.
We serve faithfully.
We serve with gentleness.
We serve under self-control.
LOVING SERVICE HAS ITS REWARDS – Chapter 6:
Here in 6:6-10, Paul reminds us Christians that we will be blessed for our loving service. Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. If we sow a life of “loving service” to others, then we will reap the same loving service from others. But not only that, Jesus will meet our needs, if we have been working to fulfill others’ needs.
Helen Steiner Rice, who served as the chairperson of publicity and advertising for her local Red Cross branch, knew something about service. She writes this little poem: “When someone does a kindness, It always seems to me; That’s the way God up in heaven Would like us all to be. For when we bring some pleasure To another human heart, We have followed in His footsteps And we’ve had a little part In serving God who loves us – For I’m very sure it’s true That in serving those around us, We serve and please God, too.”
Helen Steiner Rice is exactly right. When we serve those around us, we’re serving and pleasing God too.
Let us stand fast in loving service, being known individually and as a congregation as loving servants.
–Paul Holland
