Serving the Lord by Serving One Another

Introduction: 
Along with serving God by praying and by preaching the gospel, we also serve God by loving and caring for the saints.
Gal.5:13 says “for, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another”
Legalism is an enemy of grace and licentiousness is equally an enemy of grace.
The way we use the freedom we have in Christ is very important. Instead of indulging the flesh, by love, we are to serve one another.
As we serve one another, we are serving the Lord.

1Cor.16:15 says “I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)”
The addiction that this people had was serving the people of God. That is a very good addiction to have.
Now, why is this important? It is important because when you are serving the saints, you are serving Christ. The evidence of your service to Christ, is your serving His people; because as far as God is concerned, Christ and His people are one.
Saul was persecuting the church but in Acts 9:4, Jesus said “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?”


How I treat you is how I treat Jesus.
Matt.25:40 Jesus said “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
If I treat you wrongly and I come to church and lift my hands to worship God I am a pretender and a hypocrite.
In the Message Bible, 2 Cor. 5:16 says “because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore.”
Don’t evaluate believers by whether they are young, old, rich, poor, men or woman. Treat people as you will treat Jesus.
We treat the man in Christ as Christ. Just as I honour Christ, I honour the man in Christ. If I disrespect the man in Christ because of any social divide, I am not just disrespecting him, I am disrespecting Christ.


Some people are practicing their culture not Christianity.
Gal.3:28 says “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
One of the first quarrels that arose in the early church, was because of tribal sentiments. The Grecian believers felt the Hebrews were being treated better than them in the sharing of the food, Acts 6:1.
When the Apostles decided to address the issue by appointing men to oversee the sharing of the food, the first qualification that was listed for such men was men of honest report, Acts 6:3. The first qualification for leadership is having an honest report.
When we become believers in Christ, all our tribal sentiments are over.


Paul told Philemon, ‘Onesimus was your slave, but now treat him as a brother in Christ’, Philemon 1:15-16.
The fact that someone is a driver for example, does not reduce his Christness. Don't see believers based on their status or gender.
Don't disrespect people based on their gender. When you do that, it means you don't even understand Christ. The container has no business with the content. Christ in a man is the same as Christ in a woman. If you don't treat them with respect, you are practicing hypocrisy.
I honour you because of Christ in you.

We are the Glory of Christ
In 2Cor.8:16-24, Paul was commending some brothers who were very helpful to the churches and he didn’t even mention their names.
They were just brothers, but Paul called them the glory of Christ.
We are the glory of Christ. We carry His presence. When we show up He shows up. The believer is the glory of Christ, when you see the believer you have seen Christ. We are the weight of His presence. We are his glory.
Many times, we are tempted to honour people only when they have titles. Many young people are now under pressure to have titles, like Prophet, Evangelist, Apostle etc.
When I see you, I treat you with respect; not because of your title but because you are the glory of Christ.
When I honour you it doesn't reduce who I am. I don't honour you because of your status; but because you are the glory of Christ.


Rom.12:9-10 says “let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another”
I prefer you not because you are better, but because I understand that when I honour you, I honour Christ.
In John 17:22, Jesus said “and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one”
Jesus has given the same glory that He has, to each and every believer so that we can treat each and every believer the same way we treat Him and so that we would be one.

 
In Matt.25:40 Jesus specifically mentioned ‘the least of His brethren’ because there is the temptation to only honour and give good treatment to those who seem great.
Some years ago, God told me if I honour the Archbishop Margaret Benson Idahosa and I don't honour those she has put over me, I am practicing hypocrisy.
If we say we honour Christ and we don’t honour those Christ has placed above us in leadership we are practicing hypocrisy.
Treating everyone as Christ must also be in your house.
Treat your wife or husband as you treat every believer; as the glory of Christ.
Treat your children as nice as your treat other children in Church.
Charity begins at home.


Rev. Wale Ajayi