Recently, we’ve been in a series on the Pillars of Lighthouse Teaching. Two weeks ago, we discussed crucifying and denying our flesh, and why it is so crucial to our walks as Christians. Last week was all about walking in step with the Spirit and why we need to do it. Today, we’ll be discussing the next pillar, which is to serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13).

If you haven’t had the chance to check out our other posts on the Pillars of Lighthouse Teaching, you can check them out here, and here!

Serving

In order to fully understand this whole “serving through love” thing, we must first look at the two things separately. I believe that to really be able to serve through love, we have to be able to serve first. Serve first, then love, though I only believe this from my own experience practicing this.

Serving has become increasingly rare these days. We have entered into a time where selfishness and self-centeredness are more common than selflessness and serving. We are living in a me-world, not you-world, and definitely not an us-world.

As believers, it can be difficult to discern which is right, the Bible, or the world. When everyone is telling you one thing, but your God is telling you another, it’s hard. This is the reason why I believe God gave us this scripture.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

It’s easy to forget that even though we are in the world, we cannot be of the world. Which is why serving may be very difficult for us to do, or even understand, especially when it comes to doing it in a manner of love.

So, what does it look like to serve? How can we do it? We know that it means to do things for people, but how?

Serve with your Gifts

There are obvious areas where we can serve in our lives. We can serve our peers at work or school. Churches always need volunteers, and communities need servant-hearted people like you and me as well. But there are specific areas designated for us where we can all serve and show love to others.

You have probably heard of the Body of Christ if you’ve been in church for any amount of time, but if not, the Body of Christ is the church. All believers make up the Body and we are told to do the work of Jesus here on this Earth. Like the 12 apostles, we are here to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons (Matthew 10:8). We have a job to do, and we all have our different areas where we can help. In other words, the legs don’t do what the arms do, and likewise, I won’t do what you can do.

Romans 12 gives us great insight on this.

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:4-6).

We are all given different gifts and those different gifts help us to serve the world in a bunch of different ways. For instance, if you have the gift of teaching, you can teach many people and are able to teach them about Christ, in ways that many of us couldn’t. If you have the gift of exhortation, you are able to encourage people in ways that I couldn’t.

Find your gifts, and serve using those gifts.

Serve Wholeheartedly

Have you ever had a server at a restaurant that didn’t do a very good job? They didn’t do this, didn’t do that, and in the end, you didn’t think they deserved a tip? I’ve had a couple servers like that, and don’t get me wrong, serving is a tough job, but regardless, it’s clear that there is not a heart for serving in those servers.

That is how it is when we serve without love. Or even, without energy or purpose. The world can quickly see that there is no heart for people, and they won’t receive the blessings that we hope to bring.

Serving can be difficult, and time consuming, and sometimes, it can appear to have no value to this fallen world. However, we must keep in mind that when we serve others, we serve God. Ephesians 6 gives us such a powerful quote.

“Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man” (Ephesians 6:5-7).

This scripture sounds very intense, but what it is beckoning us to do is to serve with our whole hearts, as if we were serving God, not man. I don’t know about you, but I think if I was serving God directly, face to face, I would have much more enthusiasm. In order to do this, we must keep in mind that when we serve man, we are really serving God. I believe that by doing this, there is no way we can lack energy, enthusiasm, or inspiration.

What is Love?

Love seems to be a very complicated thing these days. Some think that they love, when they really don’t. Others believe that love is dead, when it’s not something that can really “die” in the first place. There are even some that believe that love doesn’t really exist. However, I, and scripture, would disagree with all of those statements, and would go as far as to redefine love entirely.

From my perspective, love is something we won’t truly understand until we’re in Heaven one day, able to ask the Lord anything. It is so powerful, that we can understand and see some of what it is, but not the full picture. There is a great passage of scripture that I believe reveals a ton to us about what love really is.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

This passage is very popular and is even quoted in the vows of Christian marriages. It’s verses like these, that often get overlooked for how powerful, convicting, and helpful they truly are.

I won’t go into each one of these attributes of love, but I find it vital to look at just a couple.

Love is Selfless

Now I know that selfless is technically not listed as one of the attributes of love, but that does not mean that it isn’t one of them.

Love is not envious, nor is it boastful, and it doesn’t insist on its own way. I would say that those are all very selfless things. To be self-less, is to exhibit one of the most prominent and most important qualities of love.

Oftentimes, when we think we love someone, we are thinking about how happy they make us, or how they treat us. Those things may be important, but what is most important, when we love someone, is they are feeling, and how they are treated. To love someone truly, is to exhibit those traits.

Love Rejoices with Truth

There is a mighty big difference between the wrongdoing of this world, and the truth of God. Real, true, authentic love is going to be bent towards truth. Not evil, not wrongdoing, not lies, but the truth.

We all have someone in our lives that is constantly lying, constantly gossiping, and constantly portraying wrongdoing. They often fail to reflect selflessness, kindness, and the other qualities of love.

I would dare to say that those who act that way are not acting in love but are actually acting in hate. Or at least their flesh.

Love is Consistent

When I first read that love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things, I was very confused. I wasn’t sure what it meant, until I read another translation. The same verse in the NIV translates to this.

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

This verse then reflects one major thing. Love is always consistent.

We can protect our loved ones sometimes. We can trust our loved ones sometimes. It’s even possible that we can sometimes hope and sometimes persevere, but I don’t think anyone can always act in these ways. Except for one man.

Jesus was a consistent man. He always acted in such a way, that he always portrayed love to his people. He never treated his people with hatred, whether our eyes were capable of seeing it that way or not.

We can surely all understand that we can’t be as consistent at acting in love as Jesus, so what must we do? We can let Jesus live through us. That is the only way to truly act in love.

Serving through Love

Now, we’ve recognized that serving takes sacrifice, but when we do it as unto the Lord and using our gifts, it is very effective. We can also surely see that we cannot truly love on our own, but we must portray the attributes of love through allowing Jesus to live through us.

The next reasonable step would be to combine the two things: to allow the act of serving to truly change lives by doing in through love.

I believe that the way to do this step is by starting to serve. We can’t serve through love without first serving. The action of serving will eventually be followed by love, and love will come out of our serving.

To serve through love means to serve others with selflessness, truth, and consistency. This is the way we should act with the world. When we do this, we plant seeds that produce a mighty harvest in our communities, churches, and schools.

Why is this a Pillar?

I believe that this is the single most important thing we can do in our life with other people. In all things, Jesus was a servant. In fact, Jesus said that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). Servanthood is vital to our lives as believers.

Crucifying our flesh is crucial to putting down ourselves and losing ourselves for Jesus.

Walking in step with the Spirit is important to how we relate to Jesus and how our walks with him are.

Serving through love is the most important thing we can do with other people. We must serve the world, to truly become like Jesus. This quote from a Matthew Henry Commentary captures a powerful truth about serving others.

“That man who labors most diligently, and suffers most patiently, seeking to do good to his brethren, and to promote the salvation of souls, most resembles Christ, and will be most honored by him to all eternity.”(Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)

Serving is so crucial, and to do it through love makes it all the more effective.

Final Thoughts

With this, I leave one application to apply to ones’ life. To find some way to serve.

We all have some way to serve. Whether it be through our schools, churches, communities, or even our jobs, we can serve and do it in a loving way.

Sacrifice is one of the biggest ways that we can show both love and service. It is pivotal and it’s one of the things that Jesus portrayed more than anything. If you can even sacrifice time, energy, or money for others, you can serve someone.

The most important thing to remember is that we should all desire and learn to portray Jesus in our lives to the world. He shook everything, and definitely stood out. To serve through love, is a great way to do that ourselves. But we can’t do it alone. We need Jesus working in us and through us. Luckily for us, we have that already.

Come back next week to learn about our next pillar, to restore in a spirit of gentleness.