“We Are a People Who Place Others Before Ourselves”

“…but through love, serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

We are a “peculiar” people. At least that what the Apostle Peter declares. In his first letter (2:9) he states among other things that true believers are purchased for God’s own possession. It’s literally a peculiar purchase, a peculiar possession. Followers of Christ have been purchased out of sin, rebellion, wickedness by His redemptive work on the cross, the power of His blood spilled out that all who believe in Him would have real life. Then furthermore, as a result of this peculiar purchase, each one belongs to God, uniquely so, and is designated for specific (and truly peculiar) purposes. Is It any wonder that the world thinks genuine Christ-followers are a strange lot?

Additionally, So Guiness, theologian, author, and Christian apologist asserts that true believers are an “impossible” people. In his book by the same title he writes that “impossible” people are those who have “hearts that can melt with compassion, but with faces like flint and backbones of steel who are unmanipulable, unbribable, undeterrable and unclubbable, without ever losing the gentleness, the mercy, the grace and the compassion of our Lord.” The world is incapable of minimizing and marginalizing such a person, though they certainly try in unrelenting fashion to silence “impossible” ones. I’m sure it’s infuriating to the kingdom of darkness.

This leads me to my main point: because we are a peculiar people and an impossible people, we become a people who align our lives with God’s authoritative and instructive Word. One such area is understanding that we are a people who “place others before” ourselves. In Galatians 5:13-6:2 Paul instructs this early congregation on matters pertaining to authentic Christian community. A genuine spiritual community chooses, through love, to serve one another. Some may balk at this, but the term serve is literally “slave.” Some slaves in the old Roman Empire were slaves without a choice, involuntarily so. That is, they were forced into indentured service. Others, however, were slaves by choice, By an act of their will, they determined to live their lives under the authority of others. Paul places these early Christians squarely in the second category, those who are slaves by choice (5:13). Consider:

 

The verb “serve” is written as an imperative, meaning that the constative attitude and activity of every believer is to one of serving other believers. It is not an option for the believer to live other than s a slave.

The basis on such a determination is Christ Himself. In Philippians we discover that Jesus set aside all the privileges and rights of His glory in order to come to earth the “serve” (same word). Jesus modeled the very service He expected of those who would follow Him. It is seriously “what would Jesus do?” If we are following Christ with a whole heart, then we will abandon personal rights and privileges for the sake of others in spiritual community.

The resulting action is what believers were saved for (see “peculiar” above). Our position in Christ before God is one of “saved to serve” (see Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13; Rom 7:6; 1 Th 1:9). Whole-hearted followers first serve the God who now owns them, and then those who are participants in His great Kingdom. Our determination must be flint-like!

Going forward int his Galatians passage, Paul next lists a series of negatives, describing what this company of the committed was NOT to do (5:15-21). They are not to “bite, devour, consume, boast, challenge, or envy” each other. These qualities place believers in antagonistic positions relative to one another. We make other followers of Christ our enemy (though it must be stated in fairness that even here the believer is love their enemy as Jesus did).

Paul now draws this teaching to a close with another imperative—bear one another’s burdens 6:2). It is ludicrous to stand idly by as someone in your purview struggles with a heavy load. Someone may need help carrying groceries up the stairs, just as someone who is undergoing a heavy emotional burden needs someone to come along side and shoulder the load. We assist other Christ-followers who are struggling because we are a people who place others before ourselves.

This is who we are, This is our identity. I’m OK being peculiar and impossible, if it means that we are accomplishing Christ’s Kingdom purposes right here in this portion of the world. Let’s make it real.

 

Blessings on the Journey,

Pastor Dewayne