One Anothering – Week 3 (6-12-25)
One Anothering
Serve One Another
June 15, 2025
A New Kind of Freedom
Galatians 5:13–14
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.
Freedom becomes responsibility.
In Christ, the freest people are those who serve most humbly.
The War Inside: Flesh vs. Spirit
Galatians 5:15–21
If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The Mind of Christ
Philippians 2:3–4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
We all drift toward self-absorbed service: “I serve, I give, so people should serve me!”
When your pride is offended, do you fight to win—or fight to love?
The Spirit-Filled Life
Galatians 5:22–26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Fruit grows where the self has been crucified.
Stewards of Grace
1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you’ve received to serve others—as faithful stewards of God’s grace.
You can serve in big ways—and still do harm if your heart is self-serving.
Imperatives
- Crucify the self.
- Cultivate the Spirit.
- Commit to the towel.
“Lord, help me crucify ______ and cultivate ______ this week.”