Liberty to Serve One Another

J.J. Stark

February 2016

Week 7

IGNITE Class 10

Inductive Bible Study (IBS)

Liberty to Serve One Another

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” – Galatians 5:13 (NKJV)

Jesus Christ came to this earth to seek and save the lost.  So many are lost because they don’t realize their ignorance.  By ignorance I mean that most people today do not realize that they are in bondage, bondage to their sinful flesh.  Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, we are now separated from God because we are no longer holy, and because God is holy, and sin cannot be in His presence we now suffer the consequences of the law that the Lord operates by.  For centuries, God enforced a sacrificial law system, where people had to present a blood offering in order to pay for the sins they committed.  However, God has the ultimate love for us as His people.  John 3:16-17 says, “¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  Jesus, the Son of God, who also is God, loved every person in this world (myself included) so much that He willingly came down to this earth to live a perfect life so that I could once again have perfection and be united with Him.  I am free from my selfish bondage!  However, this is what the apostle Paul is saying in Galatians 5:13, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” I am no longer under the law, but am free from my fleshly desires and now have the freedom to serve others in the love of Christ.  No longer is it a matter of “I have to serve,” but rather it is now, “I get to serve.”  Christ served those around Him with prayer, and both spiritual and physical nourishment.  It is now for me to do the same.

Application:  Tonight I will pray for one of my fellow brothers, whose family is struggling spiritually.