Adding Value To the Local Church Through Serving One Another

One way to put value into the local church is by striving to fulfill the one another commands of Scripture.

Galatians 5:13 gives us yet another of these. It says, “For you were called to freedom only do not turn your freedom to an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Paul writes in Galatians 6:10, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith.”   Our service should be extended first and foremost to other believers within our local churches.  These good works can come in many ways as we minister to all types of needs within the body.

Al Broom from Multiplication Ministries said this, “In "serving one another in love” we find true freedom in Christ.  Our deepest needs are met in legitimate ways.  We are not being used by one another.  We are not put on the performance standard.  Our relationships with others can be truly satisfying.  This is true freedom!” (One to One Discipling, pg. 60)

When we trust Christ as Savior we are no longer “prisoners to sin” (Gal. 3:22) but God has set us free we therefore are not slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. (Rom. 6:18)  As slaves to righteousness we must take time to evaluate how we are “serving one another in love”.  

What becomes obvious to me is that if we are not spending time with other believers we cannot truly get to know their needs and therefore cannot serve them in love as much as if we truly knew them.  If we are not willing to open up and let others know us we cannot expect them to be able to serve us.  Once again, the Christian who believes that he can obey and please God as he meets alone with God in the woods is greatly mistaken.  He in no way can truly fulfill these commands of Scripture.

A second one another command that will help us in our “serving one another in love” is found in I Peter 4:9.  “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”  The term “be hospitable” means to love strangers.  To show compassion to those you don’t know very well.  In Heb. 13:2 and Acts 10:23 the idea is to bring people in to entertain.  As there are individuals that we don’t know very well in our church and we invite them into our homes for a meal or some other function.  This will allow us to get to know them better and give us the opportunity to serve them as we see needs in their lives. 

The end of I Peter 4:9 said, “without grumbling”.  I am amazed how many times I have heard individuals refer to having people over in a negative light.  I John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.”  We show our love for God even as we serve others through hospitality and other ways as God leads.  Doing this service with a happy face and not grumbling!

To see the video version of this you can visit www.youtube.com/churchoflittleton    FW # 34