We want to be those disciples known by our love for one another (John 13:35).
In Galatians 5:1, we read: It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. Galatians 5:13–15.
Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourselves, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1–2. In verse 10 Paul wrote: So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
The idea in Galatians has to be understood. A message runs through it, telling about Gentiles who came into the Church to serve Jesus Christ and then were misled by Jewish believers who were trying to impose upon them certain restrictions of the laws of Moses. They were keeping certain holy days, the Sabbath, and various laws, such as circumcision. Paul wrote to them that God had set them free, and that as they walked in the Spirit they were not under the Law. If they were led by the Spirit they would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16, 18). They had been liberated. Christ had taken out of the way those legalistic restrictions from them, and that is very good for us to see also.
The gospel was to set them free. For what purpose were they set free? Certainly not to go back into some kind of bondage again—nor were they set free so they could use their liberty for an occasion of the flesh. In I Corinthians 8:9, Paul said they were not to allow their liberty to become an occasion of stumbling to the weak. In Galatians 5:13, he said they were not to use their freedom, or their liberty, as an opportunity for the flesh.
The point, emphasized again and again, is that you are set free, but although you are set free, there is another very important idea. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:16–18.
Freedom from the bondage of sin comes so you can come into another kind of slavery, if you want to call it that. We were set free so we can become the bond servants of the Lord and serve one another. We were set free so that by love we can serve one another (Galatians 5:13). His love liberates us, and it is His love in us that makes us serve again. In I Corinthians 9:19 Paul said, “Though I have been freed from all men, yet I have become the servant of all.” It was his privilege.
In the walk that God is bringing to the earth today, there is a great liberation from legalism. You are set free, but you are not to use that freedom as an occasion for the flesh. You may feel that since you are no longer under the old religious system with all the do’s and don’ts and regulations, you now have a great deal of liberty and are very determined not to let anyone put you under condemnation about anything. That is fine. Do not let anyone take your freedom from you. However, you are not set free for that freedom to be an end in itself. Your liberty is an opportunity. You are receiving a right to choose what you are going to serve, to pick your own master, because you are going to serve something. No man walks completely free. To whatever he submits he becomes a servant. If he submits to sin, he becomes a servant of sin (Romans 6:16). But if he submits himself to righteousness, he is a servant of righteousness (Romans 6:18). You are a bond servant of whatever you submit yourself to.
Philippians 2:7 says that the Lord, in His humiliation, took upon Himself the form of a servant. Notice that He was free to take any form He wanted. He did not count equality with the Father a thing to be grasped, but He laid aside everything and deliberately became obedient unto death (Philippians 2:6–8). He chose to submit Himself as a bond servant. He took the form of a slave. Therefore, you are set free and can make your choice about what you are going to do. If the love of God really prevails in your heart, you welcome this liberation from everything, because it enables you to present yourself as a bond servant to the Lord and to become a servant of others.
Some people preach against legalism, saying, “We don’t want any rules against motion pictures, drinking wine, and going to the places of the world. We’re not under the old Law. We’re under grace.” They should go back and read another passage, because this freedom can be twisted. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom (“Aw, you don’t want to be under that old religious bondage, you’re going to be set free!”), while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. II Peter 2:18–19.
Someone who still smokes pot will tell you about all the freedom and liberty he has in Christ. According to II Peter, that fellow is really a slave of corruption. He cannot set anyone free—promising freedom, he is a slave of corruption himself. When someone talks to me about freedom, the first thing I ask is, “What are you a slave of? You talk about freedom, but what are you serving?”
“Well, I don’t see any harm in smoking pot.” That has nothing to do with it; it is illegal.
“But it’s a bad law!” There are thousands of bad laws, but the Word commands you to obey them. I try to help people straighten out the messes they have made in their lives, thinking about the days when they might be pastoring a church and the reproach there would be if certain offenses were found on their records. I counsel them to go back: “What do you owe? What are your debts? Pay them. If there are outstanding warrants against you, get them settled. Whatever you have messed up along the way, straighten it out. If you stole something, repent. Get your life lined up.”
“But God forgave me!” Sure—nevertheless, someone might come and put the finger on you. You cannot be a servant of corruption.
Simply by living in this world, you are going to serve something. So freedom means the privilege to choose what you are going to serve. What is the purpose of all this grace? It is to do the will of God and be His servant.
“I want to be the Lord’s servant, but I’m in bondage.” That is why the message of deliverance comes, to set you free so you can have the right bondage. With all the liberty we have, we never want to go back to legalism. We are going on to the full discipleship that means absolute service to the Lord.
“I’m free. Nobody’s going to regulate me.” There is one thing that will regulate you. If you love God, you will not use your liberty for an occasion of stumbling to your brother. (I Corinthians 8:9).
“But I’m free!” Yes, you are free. But you are not going to use that freedom for a wrong purpose. Isn’t that the law of love?
What an amazing quality love is. Human love tries to possess and dominate. That is why it is jealous and very exclusive. It is restrictive in its nature. I am believing for God to elevate the Christian marriages to divine love, or none of the teaching will work. Down on the level of human love, this Scripture in Ephesians 5, Husbands, love your wives, and, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, will not work. It will not work unless you include the rest of the passage: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Ephesians 5:25. In that level of love, it will work.
If women are forced to be subject to their husbands, and the husbands move on the level of human love, in their selfishness and possessiveness, there will have to be some kind of divine women’s liberation movement to set them free from the worst kind of human bondage. For a woman to serve a man on a human level, to serve his lusts, to serve him hand and foot as a galley slave, and have nothing of divine, tender, love in return, is not right. That is not what Ephesians 5:25 is talking about: …as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. It ties in the husband’s love with Christ’s love, and the Church’s love with the bride’s love for her husband. The two are devoted. They are on a spiritual level, and if they are not spiritual, they will begin to come into possessiveness and suppression instead of submission.
Christ loved me, and He turned me loose. He made me creative. The more I begin to serve Him and bow myself to Him, the more His love flows within me and makes me fruitful. It ought to be the same way in homes. A man cannot be doing the will of God if, in the first six months of their marriage, he has broken his wife’s spirit. Women should have the love of God moving through them freely. Yet many of the young women, after getting married, stop prophesying and singing in the spirit. A husband should search his heart. He may be doing something wrong. He ought to pray, “God, put Your love in my heart for my wife.”
It works the other way around also. Some of the young men stop moving in God after marriage. They are dragging a weight down the road instead of having a helpmate to love and serve them, and become an extension of them like the Church is to Jesus Christ, His very Body. Some wives with their human pettiness are killing men of God, and they will answer to God for that.
Homes may have all the form of submission and divine order, but they need to take one more step: the families need to start loving each other in that divine love. If families love each other enough, they will not suppress one another. Human love is possessive and it suppresses. It is jealous, very exclusive and restrictive. It is often vengeful. What does it mean to move up into God’s love? Does it mean that husbands and wives are no longer possessive of each other and no longer jealous? No, it means the unique and distinctive characteristic of that love relationship is honored absolutely. When a husband loves his wife as he has vowed, she is the woman he sleeps with, and she bears his children. She is the woman he is faithful to in thought and in deed (and vice versa). It is something unique and distinctive that can be accepted without jealousy, because the husband is not eyeing other girls while his wife burns. He recognizes the unique and distinctive relationship that exists between him and his wife which is exclusively hers. She is not jealous of his ministry or his authority, and neither is he abusive of that to try to inject human love and human personality, instead of ministering by the Holy Spirit.
It is easy for people to think it does not make any difference whether they have the divine love or not. They think they can go out and do certain things, and God honors it. As an illustration, Paul talked about those who preached against him. They actually wanted to add to his bonds. But he said, “Anyway, I rejoice that the Lord is being preached” (Philippians 1:18). He had a right motivation. Even if they intended to make his lot harder, at least they were preaching the gospel. The motivation may be there and still produce certain results. As I understand, rape is not a legal term where a husband and wife are concerned. At least the law does not recognize it. But the law does define many of the things that enter into rape, apart from a husband and a wife in their relationship. She may claim cruel and inhuman treatment and sue for divorce. But she would never get a divorce by saying her husband raped her because that is not actually recognized by law. Nevertheless, such a thing can exist as far as the spiritual definition of it is concerned. A man and wife can live together in lust. A man can rape his wife, and nine months later they can come to dedicate a beautiful little child to the Lord. Their relationship can be fruitful. A result comes about whether it is human love or divine love. But there will be a difference in what happens in that baby, because the motivation behind that man should be spiritual, not lustful. There will be a difference in the spirit of that child.
There will be results in what you do, whether you are selfish or not: “If I give all my goods to the poor and give my body to be burned” (I Corinthians 13:3). It does not mean that the poor are not blessed. They are. It does not make any difference whether you love that beggar when you give him a hamburger or not. He still eats the hamburger. It still helps his hunger. But how much will he get spiritually? If I do not have love, it profits me nothing (I Corinthians 13:3). Let everything be done in love (I Corinthians 16:14).
We can go through the motions, but that which we do will be more blessed if we are doing it with a deep spiritual love. We can go through many different motivations in whatever we do, just as human love can motivate on so many different levels. Sometimes it is only ambition. But when we come into the divine love, only one thing prevails: by love we serve one another (Galatians 5:13). This is the bond servant principle: “He is the Lord, and I am His bond servant. I am His slave to do His bidding, to do anything He wants me to do, even to give my very life. It is not mine to live selfishly or for selfish gratification.”
Can we do it? We are coming very close to it, and most of the ministries are moving into this level of love very rapidly. It is not something far off in its attainment. This is the deep love that drives people on, never even receiving a thank you, only desiring to see the blessing of the Word going forth, to be a part of what God is doing in the earth, only to be His servant. They feel, “I must move into His love more. His love must fill me and be the very force that motivates everything I do.”
Many husbands have heard their wives say, “You don’t love me.” Many times it has happened the other way around. The phrase, “Love, honor, and obey,” in the marriage ceremony, ought to be changed to, “love, honor, and serve,” for both the bride and the groom. A man works to make a living, to love, honor, and serve his wife and family. She takes the same attitude. There ought to be an amendment to their marriage ceremony every few years, and whoever is in that family should say it too: father, mother, and any offspring. In our family we are to love, honor, and serve. We can come into that holy love for each other.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (there again, it is serving). John 14:15.
“He who has My commandments, and keeps them” (serving the Lord), “he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21.
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (it is that serving); “just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10.
“This is My commandment” (do you obey and serve Him?), “that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you.” John 15:12–14.
“This I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:17.
Christ loved the Father, and this is what He said: “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.” John 17:4. These are some of the greatest words that the Lord spoke: “I have glorified Thee on earth.” I would like to be able to say that when the ministry is finished and I stand before the Lord. Paul said something like that: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. II Timothy 4:7. Still there is nothing I would like more than to say, “I have glorified Thee on earth. Lord, I served You. I did the thing You wanted me to do above everything else.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” John 21:16.
Do you love Him? Then serve Him, and by His love serve one another. We should not possess or suppress; we should serve. We should serve creatively, not smothering another in our distorted human concept of our need for love. Do not say, “I need somebody to love me.” The person who says that is confused. A person really needs the love of God in him so he can love someone else. Jesus loved many, and in the hour of His need they all forsook Him and fled. But He still loved them. There is a need to love, whether it is reciprocated or not.
Your attitude is distorted if you think you are not going to love anyone, because you have loved before and have been hurt. It is selfish and immature. A true believer knows the dangers of love. The Son of God knew the perils of love when He came, and the Father knew what was going to happen. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.… John 3:16. It was for a cross. God loved us knowing that we would be His enemies and crucify His Son. Yet He put no walls up to us. He said, …him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37.
How arrogant it is to say we love Jesus, but we refuse to love anyone else because they might hurt us. God loved you and has been hurt a thousand times more than anyone has ever hurt you. Jesus has loved you, and you have offended Him and wounded Him deeply. Time and time again you have grieved the Son of God. Do you think He has ever looked upon you without yearning after you? Of course He has loved you, and you have hurt Him. Now, love someone else. It is better to love and to be hurt than not to love. It is better to take your walls down to one another and be one Body, loving each other, no matter what anyone says or does to you.
There is an old saying: “If thy neighbor cheat thee once, shame on him. And if he cheat thee twice, shame on thee.” But we are not going to be like that. “If thy neighbor cheat thee once, how sad for him.” We will let him cheat us again, because we will not shut the door on any man. “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” Matthew 18:21b. Let us rephrase that: “How often shall my brother sin against me and I still love him and open the door for him to do it again—till seven times?” What answer did the Lord give? “Seventy times seven.” In Luke 17:4 we get the idea that all this forgiving might take place in one day. Four hundred and ninety times in one day he sins against you and says, “I’m sorry. Forgive me.” And you forgive him.
Love serves. We want to be love’s free slaves. His love liberated us so we can become His bond servants and serve the brethren. There must be a determination in our hearts that this love is going to flow through us. No matter what anyone else does, we are going to love. Let there be no walls up to anyone. Let this love prevail. Above everything else, our dedication to serve in God must be absolutely a total love to serve. If we start to look for something on the human plane our motivation to walk with God will be gone.