SERVE: The Purpose of Freedom in Christ

What is the purpose of the freedom Christ has given us?

In this powerful message from Galatians 5:13, we’re reminded that Christian freedom is never meant to be self-centered—it is a calling to serve one another in love. Using the acronym SERVE, this sermon explores five biblical principles that help every believer live out God’s purpose:
Sacrifice, Empowered by the Holy Spirit, Responsibility, Vision, and Encouraging Others.
Purpose of Freedom in Christ

Last time when I came I spoke on miracles and I know that I it was a blessing to many and when we talk about miracles it’s always it kind of soothes our heart. Because we all have we all are in need for a miracle.
But today I have a different angle towards what we what I want to say. God has a call on each one of our lives. And before I forget, I want to thank dear sister Shaba for the hard work that she puts in. Can we all give her an applause, please? And I thank you dear sister. As you can see here on on the screen you see the word big word freedom. Yesterday the United States celebrated their 250th year independence day. Freedom. It means something to everybody. For some of you, it might be all about seeing the fireworks. Fireworks. My nephews were all so excited to see the fireworks last night. And then after they want to do it all by themselves. Maybe you got some sparkles too. But the scripture talks about freedom and I heard that your church has been going through Bible study from the book of Galatians. So I want to focus on the book of Galatians or the Paul’s letter to Galatians chapter 5 for for the next few minutes for which I would like to turn your attention to Galatians chapter 5 and verse 13. For you were called to be free, brothers. Only do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom. Do not use it to indulge your flesh. But serve one another humbly in love.
I want to focus on the word serve. God has given us freedom. But what is the purpose of that freedom in our lives? In verse 13, we read, “Serve one another in love. So you might wonder how can I serve better? Because all of us are free. Christ saved us and has given us the freedom. But now the question is what do we do with the freedom? As I said, serve one another.
So, as you have now seen me, I would love for you to remember me with whatever I speak. So, I want to focus on the word sir. Let’s think about the first letter S um which stands for sacrifice. sacrifice. We if you want to serve effectively, we need to have an attitude of sacrifice because sacrifice means you’re sacrificing your time, your energy, your resources. We all know about Jesus what he did. Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice so that we can have freedom. We are experiencing freedom because Jesus became a sacrifice. So now the question is what do we do with our freedom? We have to sacrifice our egos. We have to sacrifice if we want to serve better. Let me talk about my life for a for a few minutes. Some of you are familiar but I am part you know we God enabled us to launch a church in Virginia about four months ago. And just like you, we do not have our own place. So what we do is we meet at a school, school auditorium. So the school auditorium, we have the permission to meet there from 7 to 12. So that means people have to come in as early as 7:00 to put the chairs down and to get all the sound system and everything. You are blessed that you know you don’t have to worry about any of that. So people have to come in, they have to set up everything and then be ready with everything so that the service can start at 10. But now think about it. What we typically do on a Sunday morning typically do is we love to sleep in because from Monday to Friday we have a busy life which means our alarm goes off at 5 maybe at 6:00 and we are out of the house by 6:30 or 7 depending upon our life. But on Sunday, what we want to do is use that extra few minutes to sleep. But with our church, what our people have to do is they have to be there exactly at 7, which means they probably have to wake up at 5 and get out of the house. And they travel some of them they even travel more than an hour to be there on time to get test the setup started. Why do they do that? Because they want to serve one another. Sacrifice means sacrificing your comfort. sacrificing our time to encourage other people. If God wants to make you a blessing, that means you have to sacrifice your time, your priorities for the sake of the kingdom. When we have multiple cultures in a in a in a same church, sometimes we have to sacrifice our priorities. Because we all have a way of life and we think that whatever I think is right but the gospel or the kingdom advances when we move beyond our self-interest. So how do I serve effectively? By sacrificing. Number two, the letter E. E. Empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you want to serve effectively, you have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because we do not serve on our own. Because Jesus said, “You will receive power. You will become witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and then Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Because it is not about your ability but your availability. Because when you are available, the Lord empowers you with the Holy Spirit to become to serve better because God’s mission always has been about ordinary people who were empowered by the Holy Spirit. When the power of God came upon ordinary people, God used them to do mighty things. So all you need to do or to serve better is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. First I said sacrifice E for empowered by the Holy Spirit. The third one, the letter R for responsibility. As you all know, my brother Rajie got his citizenship last week. But when you receive the citizenship, the country says certain things to you. Hey listen, you are free but you have certain responsibilities that comes with the citizenship. You if needed you have to come and protect our country. In some countries like Singapore, by the when you reach the age of 18, if you are a male, you have to go and serve the country for two years. That is mandatory. No other option
because responsibility because you became free. There is a responsibility that you have as I started with Galatians chapter 5 and verse 13. But I want you to look at Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1. Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. Do not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
We are free but I want you to know there are many others who are still in bondage. From statistics they say there are about 17,000 people groups in the world people groups but now what they have tried to identify is if you just go back there is some group what is called as an unreached people groups.
Unreached people groups. What that means is it groups with just two or fewer Christians for everyund individuals believers unreached and now we have another group. So from the statistics I think you know the population of the world which is about 8 billion out of the 8 billion about about 4 billion people belong to this category called unreached. That is if you take about 100 people in that group there are only two or less believers in in that group. Now let me talk about the another group called unengaged people group.
As you can see in that in the slide there they have no missionaries and no known believers among them. That is comes to about 203 million people. group.
If you can move on to that slide with the different groups in the in the background, you will see that is about 2,87 people groups with no missionaries or not even a known believers in the group. Why am I talking about this? We are enjoying the freedom that Christ has given us. But there are millions of people who are without or who do not know Jesus yet. They are still bound in slavery. Maybe if you were paying attention, you will see some of the groups that are familiar to you. Let me take it a bit further. There are about 697 people groups who are Hindus right now. Hindu groups and among the Muslims there are about 632 of them. Muslim groups. We were so happy about the freedom of America last night. We are happy about the freedom that Christ has given us. But we have a responsibility. What is that responsibility? People who are still abound in slavery. Some people tend to ask these question. Do I really have to serve? In this day of technology and internet, people will know about Jesus no matter what. Or if those people they wanted to know, they will figure it out. But what I want you to let you know as the truth is there are still places in the world where Jesus is not known where there is no church, no church, no believers and no one who is there to share the love of Christ to those people. We have a responsibility. We have a responsibility. God has given us freedom to serve one another in love. Let’s move on to the next letter, the letter V, which says vision. We have if you want to serve effectively, we have to serve with God’s purpose in mind. Because what happens is without God’s vision, our service, it just becomes routine. Without God’s vision, we our life just becomes mundane and just routine. But God’s vision is much bigger than what we can think. Because Jesus said, “Go therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” Make disciples of all nations. For some that means going overseas, but for many others it means reaching the communities that are around us. I know that many of you go out to give tracks and have mission activities as part of this church. I I’m familiar with that. I’m I praise God for that. But my task today is to give you a burden that is higher than what you have been doing so far. To have a burden within you about the people who are still lost. Many of us moved to United States to think about or thinking about the American dream. American dream. But God invites us to think about something even bigger. The kingdom dream. I think it was John F. Kennedy who said do not ask what America can do for you but think about what you can do for the country. You need to have a vision from the Lord. Maybe God brought you here to strengthen his church. Maybe God brought you here to reach the Indian groups. Maybe it is to introduce Christ to our neighbors. Or maybe it is about to raise your children to become kingdom leaders. get a vision from the Lord because people are still struggling are and are bound in slavery. Today we read from Psalm chapter 2 and verse 8 says, “Ask of me and I will give you nations as your inheritance. the ends of the earth as your possession. Having a vision from the Lord about what God wants to do through your life, especially the young children. I watch every week without fail the memory verses that you uh say here at church. memory partially. It is because of Josiah and Noah. Yes, that is true. I’m partial. Yes. But I get to see each one of you when you say the memory verse as well. What I want to encourage you is to understand and to see the heart of God into your life as well. I’m happy that you’re learning the memory verse. But remember, God has a higher call upon each one of your life. Remember the people who are still struggling. Maybe around the world, God wants to take you and make you a missionary. Keep on praying. You never know what your assignment is. But one thing I can assure you, God has great plans for you, the plans to prosper you, plans to make you a blessing. have a vision from the Lord.
If you do not have a vision from the Lord yet, be with someone who has that vision. Maybe be with the pastor. God has given him a vision to reach out to the people who are here in Phoenix. Support him. When you do that, when you are found faithful, God starts to give your own assignment. Until you are faithful with what God has given you, God will not make you a master of more. We all want to have a global ministry and a global mission. But start small. Having a vision, it matters. I heard something the other day. I’m sure all of us have been to a restaurant and I’m sure you have all seen someone who we call as the waiter. What the waiter does is serve. This is what the person said. If you think you are in a waiting period, do what the waiters do. Serve. If you if you are in a waiting period, do what the waiters do. Serve. serve one another. We talked about sacrifice. We talked about empowered by the Holy Spirit. We talked about the responsibility. And we talked about having a vision. And last but not least, encourage others to serve. Sometimes we want to have all the limelight.
There is a definition for team which says together everyone achieves more. Tea M together everyone achieves more. Serving is never a solo activity. One person serving is a blessing. But when the church serves together, it becomes a movement. Do you know why the early church multiplied? Because the believers they encouraged one another. Can you read from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 11? Encourage one another and build each other up. Do you know that saying a good word to your fellow believer is the method of serving? favorites. I of course I said earlier about Josiah and Noah that is true but there are others they need encouragement as well. We also have sometimes we have our own biases. If my favorite preacher preaches then I have praise the Lord and amen. And if the preacher is not my favorite, then my, you know, I’m quiet. What did the early church do? They encouraged each other and built each one up. Maybe you God has given you a talent with regard to one particular area but build others up in the same area because many of times we think if I train him then I will lose my spot. No, it is not how the kingdom works. We have to encourage young believers We have to encourage our youth and our children. We have to encourage the new immigrants. We have to encourage the families that are facing difficulties. We have to encourage one another to discover so that they discover their spiritual gifts. Every servant needs encouragement. Encouragement because I grew up as a pastor’s son because because of that I know the the the group that never gets any form of encouragement are the pastors. People are easy to say, “Oh, you know, you didn’t do this right. You didn’t do that right.” But they never come and thank you for the times, the hours that they spend with you. Encourage one another.
I’m not just talking about the pastor, the leaders, the deacons, the elders, everybody. Even the kids who are leading worship, they need encouragement. Maybe the key is off by a bit. But encourage them so that they get better. One auntie told me yesterday, “One of the worst things in life is to go being all by yourself.” Loneliness is the worst thing that you can face in your life. If you can encourage your fellow believers, think about what can what God can do through that. God has not just brought all of us from India to America so that to fulfill the American dream. He has brought us to this country from so that you can call people out of darkness into the spiritual light. He has given each one of us an assignment. Today, of course, I talked about the unengaged people groups. You might be wondering, “Oh, pastor, what can I do?” Number one, you can pray. Lord, please send people so that they will know the gospel. Now do you know what happens when you continue to pray fervently or regularly? You want to become part of that responsibility and when suddenly then you ask oh what can I do? Of course they that requires resources but more than that what it requires is people like you and I to become available to identify the people around us who do not know Jesus. I want to leave with a challenge and an encouragement. I know especially there are a lot of young people in this church. Sometimes it might even be helpful for you to think about doing a shortterm missions. Maybe on a short-term trip maybe you can go to another state or another country wherever it is. Think about it. Maybe you have to start saving for it. But let me tell you when you start to pray God will open doors. Maybe it is a neighborhood in our city itself who do not have any form of freedom but are bound in slavery. It was Francis of Aizi who said Preach the gospel at all times but if necessary use words. Do you know the best way to preach the gospel is with your life. It is not by having a bumper sticker saying that you know Jesus loves you. I’m not against it. But your life at your workplace, your life at school, your life at college means the lot more than anybody going and preaching to them. It becomes important because your life can bring the light of God to others. As I conclude, let me ask you this. How are you serving? Are you serving effectively? Are you able to serve effectively? It might require from you some form of sacrifice. Maybe it requires another level of sacrifice from what you’ve been doing right now. Maybe it is to cut down on your time of sleep to start praying for more. Maybe it is about being empowered by the Holy Spirit so to take on the new assignment. Or maybe to have an understanding of the responsibility that you have or maybe it is about getting a new vision from the Lord about what God wants to do through you next. Maybe finally it is about encouraging the people who sitting next to you. God has better plans for you. You are doing great. Keep on doing. You are good. God will help you to do it better. Encourage one another. build one another up and remember there are people who are still bound in slavery. Shall we pray?
Father, we just ask you for your grace upon our lives and we ask, oh Lord, help us to serve one another even better. We cannot do it all on our own, but with you we can do better. So Lord, empower us with your Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray that the burden of the unreached souls will become more and more real to us in the days ahead. I pray for this church Lord with continue to give them a heart for the missions. May they understand the people who are right around them so that they can reach out to them and become even become a greater blessing. I bless this church oh Lord. I bless the pastors, the pastoral team, the staff, the elders, the deacons, everyone. Lord, father, I pray may your grace abound in each one of them. And I pray, oh Lord, that miracles be will become a norm in each one of their lives. Whatever their needs are, more than their needs, Father, you are sufficient. And I pray, oh Lord, that you will grant to them your grace to serve one another even better. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen