The one another commands

Serve One Another

A command of Christ for his church · Galatians 5:13

Serve one another is the call to use our freedom in Christ not for ourselves but in love for each other. Paul says we have been called to liberty, but the point of that freedom is to serve, not to indulge. In the kingdom of God the way up is down, and greatness is measured by how low we will stoop to help.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.Galatians 5:13 (KJV)

What this command means

Paul writes, by love serve one another, and the word he uses means to serve as a slave serves. This is startling from an apostle who prized the freedom Christ won. Yet that is his point: we are set free from sin and law precisely so we can freely bind ourselves to each other in love. Freedom used for self is a misuse; freedom used to serve is its fulfillment.

To serve one another is to make our lives useful to others, to look for their good, to do the humble work that needs doing. It is not servitude forced on us but service freely chosen, the glad giving of ourselves for the sake of a brother or sister.

Why it matters for the church

A church is built by servants. Nearly everything good in the family of God is done by someone who served without being seen: the chairs set up, the meal cooked, the child taught, the widow visited, the mess cleaned. Where people compete to serve, the body flourishes; where people compete to be served, it withers.

Service also guards the church from the pride and division that come when everyone seeks their own. Paul's warning is sharp: use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. The alternative to serving one another is biting and devouring one another. A serving church is a peaceful, fruitful church.

Service is also how our gifts find their purpose. Peter says that as every man hath received the gift, so let him minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whatever God has given us, ability, resources, time, was given not to hoard but to serve. A gift turned inward stagnates; a gift spent in service becomes a channel of God's grace to the whole body.

How we fail at it

We fail by serving ourselves first. We come to the church asking what it offers us rather than what we can give. We serve when it is convenient, visible, or rewarded, and hold back when it is costly or hidden. We want the honor of great service without the humility of small service.

We also fail by serving with resentment, keeping a tally, waiting to be thanked, and growing bitter when we are not. Service done for credit is really service to self. The heart of true service is love, and love does not keep score.

How Christ enables it

Jesus turned the world's idea of greatness upside down and then showed it with his own hands. On the last night he took a towel and washed his disciples' feet, the work of the lowest slave, and said he had given us an example. The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

When we know ourselves served by such a King, served all the way to the cross, we are freed to serve without needing recognition. We have already received everything from him. Out of that fullness we can stoop low, because he stooped lower still for us, and his Spirit gives us a servant's heart.

How to live it

Look for the need no one else wants to meet and quietly meet it. Choose at least one act of hidden service, something no one will thank you for. Offer your particular gifts, your skill, time, or resources, to the good of the body.

Serve without keeping score. When you catch yourself waiting for thanks, hand that to God and serve for him instead. Ask not what the church can do for you but what you can do in it, and let your freedom in Christ spend itself in love for others.

Look for the task no one wants and quietly take it, especially the work that no one will see or thank you for. Offer your particular gifts, whatever they are, to the good of the body rather than burying them. When you catch yourself keeping score or waiting to be noticed, hand that to God and serve for his eyes instead of others'. Ask not what the church can do for you but what you can do in it, and then do the small, hidden, humble things faithfully. Serve your family and your neighbor as truly as you serve at the gathering, for a servant's heart is not a role you play on Sunday but a life you live all week, freed by the King who served you first.

Related commands: Bear one another's burdens · Honor one another · Be hospitable to one another · All the one another commands