Liberty to Serve in God’s Love

Liberty to Serve in God’s Love

     In our ministry there is a well-known saying that we are “born to live; born again to serve.” When we are born into the world, our first birth is physical. We are born with a body and a soul. When we become born again of God’s spirit, we become a complete person of body, soul, and spirit; and spiritually we receive the love of God. We can then manifest the love of God by our renewed mind in service toward others. Each one of us can carry the heart of service that we read about in the Book of Galatians.
Galatians 5:13 and 14:
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
     We have been called unto liberty. What an awesome reality—and with that liberty we can serve one another out of love. In the Grace Administration we have the privilege to live in the freedom that Christ made available to us and utilize it in service to one another. Rather than using our liberty in Christ as an “occasion to the flesh,” we can seek opportunities to manifest the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, doing good unto others. We can make lasting contributions as we strive together to have a great impact and reach out to others.
     Let’s first look at the liberty we have been called unto. One way to define liberty is “a state of being unrestricted, unfettered, free.” Our heavenly Father desires that we are unfettered, unrestricted, and free to live and serve one another in love. This freedom is a spiritual reality that God wants us to experience. To picture some aspects of this freedom, I thought of something I understand in the realm of sports: swimming.
     Have you ever noticed that people do not wear their normal, everyday clothes when they swim? I swam competitively for a number of years, and never once did I witness anyone wearing his street clothes while contending in a race! In fact, in every race that I competed in, I wore a competition swimsuit. I’ve watched numerous Olympic swimming competitions and have yet to see anyone wearing his clothes to swim in.
     In my youth I plainly discovered why not. One summer evening some friends and I jumped into a pond with all our clothes on. I quickly learned that all the garments I wore absorbed the water and weighed me down. My wet clothes were burdensome—they hampered my ability to move with ease. That was one of the most exhausting swims I have ever had! My friends and I were all good swimmers, but we had to expend a lot more energy because of the restriction, constraint, and weight of our wet clothes.
     People don’t wear street clothes to swim in; they wear swimsuits. If I had ever tried to swim competitively with my clothes on, my triumphs would have been few. A competition swimsuit offers unrestricted movement in the water with grace and efficiency.
     In our spiritual walks, God wants us to serve with unrestricted movement, with grace and efficiency. In Galatians 5:1, God exhorts us to stand fast in the liberty that Christ made available.
Galatians 5:1:
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

     What is the “yoke of bondage” that the Apostle Paul was referring to here? The yoke of bondage refers to the law that governed the Law Administration. The Scriptures tell us that as born-again sons of God, we are not under the law, or a “schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:24-26). The policies and spiritual truths that governed that administration applied to the men and women living under it. For us to try to live under a law or laws which no longer exist is like wearing everyday clothes when we go swimming. We are weighed down unnecessarily. The church in Galatia was being weighed down, trying to live by a set of policies that no longer applied to them. Paul reminded them of their justification in Christ, an entirely new standard for living.
Galatians 2:16 and 20:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

     Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, and by his accomplishments we have been made free—free to live in an unrestricted condition and free to give unreservedly. This is the liberty we have been called to….

This is an excerpt from the July/August 2006 issue of The Way Magazine.
Copyright© 2006 by The Way International. All rights reserved.
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