Mentoring Minutes

“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.”
“But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” Paul (Galatians 5:13, 15)

Love and Lordship in Focus…From last week’s “one another” we build on serving without favoritism to serving all others, especially believers, in love. This also implies that we can actually serve in our flesh without loving as there would be no need for this command if that were not the case…think about it.

So there are things that we must battle and deny… “not do” …to one another even after we become believers in Christ.

Right after Paul tells us to “serve one another in love” in Galatians 5:13, he shares something that he often does in his Spirit inspired words…he exhorts and admonishes us in the negative – what not to do or stop doing.

Look at Galatians 5:15 and he gives us a negative “one another” command, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other…you will be destroyed by each other.” But I thought Christians always serve, share with and give to one another in love. Obviously he needed to address the issues of pride, selfishness and anger that still reside in our flesh even after we come to know Christ.

 This usually begins when we fail to honor the freedom we have in Christ and use it for fleshly, sinful purposes to please ourselves and ultimately bite, devour and put down others.

Which “person” are you feeding? Are you following through with the serving and loving “one anothers” of The Spirit…or do you need to hear the disciplinary and corrective “one another” to stop back-stabbing, snipping at and destroying one another?

I suspect that we need both or The Holy Spirit would not have inspired Paul to share this with us as believers. I know I’ve had to learn to grow in both serving and loving as well as letting go of my own selfish desires and glory, not trying to drag others down to my level.

This is why forgiveness is so important (Matthew 6:14-15), both forgiving others when they have wronged us and seeking forgiveness when we have wronged others!

Verse 16 tells us how to follow through by choosing The Spirit rather than our flesh! Let’s be sure that we’re not allowing our petty, fleshly desires to drive us to pick at and try and bring down others but rather choose to lift them up in The Spirit…no matter who they are or what they’ve done!

Food for Thought…Something that is so often missed in our churches today is the teaching and discipling of dying to self and not gratifying our own desires…thinking that because we’re saved and free we can choose whatever we want. If that were the case Holy Spirit would never have to instruct us in what not to do!

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. What areas in your life create difficulty causing you to abuse the freedom you have in Christ?
4. What part of today’s message do you need to take action on to die to your flesh and walk in The Spirit so as not to wrong or put down others?

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, it’s quite clear that even as believers we must learn to avoid and deny those desires and urges in our flesh that cause us to abuse the freedom we have in Christ and Holy Spirit. Help me to do so by obeying these commands in Scripture as to what I’m to do in The Spirit and what I’m to avoid in my flesh by The Spirit. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“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.” Paul (Galatians 5:13)

Love and Lordship in Focus…From last week’s “one another” we build on serving without favoritism to serving all other, especially believers, in love. This also implies that we can actually serve in our flesh without loving as there would be no need for this command if that were not the case…think about it.

As Paul, in The Holy Spirit, continues to address the various early church plants we find more and more of these “one anothers” encouraging The Body of Christ in how we are to love each other and all others in Him, bringing us to a “one another” is both troubling and encouraging.

In Galatians 5:13, just before Paul describes the lusts of the flesh and the fruit of The Spirit, he tells the believers, then and now, to “serve one another in love.” Then comes that drastic contrast between flesh and Spirit (Galatians 5:16-24).

Just before this passage he has spent time admonishing believers regarding 2 key issues; 1) to know the freedom they have in Christ and; 2) not to abuse that freedom so that it becomes license (a false freedom of unbridled sin).

Back to the implication I stated in today’s Focus that allows us to see even more clearly that there can be service done in our flesh to satisfy ourselves rather than being done in The Spirit which is done only through the maturing fruit of The Spirit in our lives, of which the first and most important one is…LOVE!

How do we do this? By dying to our self and the flesh! Only then can we truly place others above self in love and serving our fellow man. Doing this as an overflow of our love for Christ, by Holy Spirit in us, and it keeps us from turning our freedom in Him into selfish satisfaction and seeking for our own fleshly desires.

This serving is not simply a duty on a checklist but as Paul states, it is done because of and in love. This is why it’s essential that we understand and continue to seek and grow in our love for God, know and love who we are so that we are “serving one another in love.”

Food for Thought…Have you ever thought about the reality that you can serve others out of your flesh which is ultimately selfish? Have you ever thought that without proper understanding of God’s Word and dying to our flesh that we have entire churches that do the same? Let’s be careful to learn what God’s Truth and Love are and then live it out in the authority of Christ as Lord and the power of Holy Spirit in us by His grace!

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Ask Holy Spirit to test your heart (motives) in all you do in order to recognize, and then die to, the natural flesh so that you are serving others in love.
4. How might it look differently when you serve from your flesh than when you serve in The Spirit?

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, Help me to better understand Your Love by prioritizing my time with You, in Your Word and prayer to know and love You with all my being. As I do so help me then to serve others in the Love of Your Spirit in Christ rather than in the self-focused motives of my flesh. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” Paul (1 Corinthians 12:25)

Love and Lordship in Focus…God is no respecter of persons because He’s The One who has given every person life and purpose…His purpose. That’s why followers of Jesus Christ should care for all others without discrimination (this does not mean we must agree with everyone but that we must love and serve others equally).

With that said we find the next “one another” as we continue in Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 and look where The Holy Spirit leads Paul to write just after reminding us to wait on others. He tells us that love is to “have equal concern for each other.” In a simple summary…don’t show favoritism!

The text here is where Paul is describing the various parts of the body, our literal body, as an example of how all the parts are absolutely needed and of great importance. No one part is greater than any other regardless of the function and recognition given to it. This is how the Body of Christ is to function and by giving equal concern and care for each other we avoid division and create unity.

He follows this teaching on the unity and importance of all the parts and gifts of the Body with what we know as The Love Chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. Here The Holy Spirit, through Paul, describes what happens when we place undue priority and importance on what we’re doing rather than why we’re doing it…in Love.

This is why we must not show partiality or favoritism in any way because it divides us and it diminishes His Love in and through us. We rejoice in their blessings and fruitfulness and we hurt when they hurt…this is love as we care for each and every “one another” in fellowship in His Church.

Love and Lordship…Food for Thought – How are you caring for all those in your sphere of influence, especially those in the Body of Christ? Do you prefer some people over others…and then act on that preference?

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. What motives or thoughts may tempt or cause you to show favoritism to others? Do you struggle with this issue with others in Christ?
4. If so, what needs to change and how can you change your heart to make it happen in your relationships with all others?

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, Forgive me when my fleshly pride and desires cause me to elevate some folks over others, especially in Christ’s Church. Help me to see and act toward all others as Christ has done with me. In His Name. Amen.