Serve One Another in Love

From God’s perspective, the gospel is a work of love, and through Jesus’ work of salvation for us demonstrates that this is truly a work of love. God’s plan for us is that we, who were “hateful and hating one another” and who by nature are from a “crooked and perverse generation,” might come to a new life where we can truly love one another, interact with one another, and serve one another in love.

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” . This is God’s will, and it must serve as a guide for our lives, something we strive for and partake of, so that we may serve others in love.

A servant is not a master. A master is to be served, and he expects it to be that way. A servant’s task is to serve others, and they find their calling and joy precisely in serving others. “An opportunity for the flesh” is to find an occasion for my flesh to control my actions. That is what comes naturally to us, what we are so easily tempted by, and what naturally comes up first in our interactions with one another. This gives rise to demands, unthankfulness, envy and jealousy, which escalate into offense and bitterness, enmity and hatred, in addition to slightly “more refined forms” such as antipathy, sympathy, and partiality. These are destructive forces that have destroyed people and the bonds between them generation after generation, right from the time of the Fall.

Jesus broke this law of sin and death when He rose from the dead, and brought life and immortality through the gospel, so that we may now, through the laws of the Spirit of life, enter into a completely new life. Then, as a fallen human being, I can become a servant of this new covenant, so that I always serve in love in all circumstances of life.

The effect of the Fall is the same for all people, even though its effects and tendencies may vary slightly. That is why salvation in Jesus Christ is the same for all people. This means that what Jesus said applies to us all: “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” . It is in our interactions with one another that we also encounter other people’s differences and their tendencies. This stirs up a counter-reaction in my own flesh, and then it can be easy to blame and accuse others and fail to see myself. It takes time to see yourself and the consequences of your own sin. The others usually notice it long before I do. It is the sin in my own flesh that makes it difficult for me to accept the way my brother is. Here I need the Spirit’s guidance and help, and through obedience and the use of the cross, I can remain in love and keep a pure heart. I can take up my cross every day, and I must take it up each day if I want to follow Jesus. Not the others’ cross, never the others’ cross, but my own cross.

God has placed us together just as we are and just as we were created—in marriage, in our homes, at work, and in the church. It comes naturally to us to choose to spend time with people we like, who are more like us, and who we don’t clash with, etc. But when it comes to people I don’t connect with or sympathize with, I tend to avoid them or steer clear of them. God placed the members together as He saw fit, and He will carry out His work of salvation in each and every member—in those who believe and who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior in their lives. It is God’s wisdom and love for us that works in this way, bringing people and circumstances our way, with this very purpose in mind—that we may be kept in love and grow in goodness. This is how God works—so quietly and discreetly, with His wisdom and care—and it takes humility and acknowledgement to find the way. The way has been made, and it is open to those of us who want to be saved. .

It was as a servant that Jesus carried out His work. He took on the role of servant, went this way downward and humbled Himself. Only in this way can I bear others and serve them in love. This provides stability and endurance in all the circumstances of life. Only in this way can I better understand what the others have had to bear—and must continue to bear—because of me. This will increase my thankfulness for the others, and toward Jesus and His work of salvation specifically for me. The mind of Christ is not to demand anything from others, but to give—even to give our life for others, to give love, thankfulness, and so on.

Let us never blame or accuse one another for our differences and the imperfections we see in one another, but let us be thankful for one another and bear with one another in love and continue to serve one another in love. God’s wisdom lies precisely in the fact that we, who are so different, can come together in love and thankfulness for one another, and grow in what is good. This is God’s work of salvation and the manifold wisdom of God which is revealed in the church.

That doesn’t mean we should all become “copies” of each other in the way we are or do things, because God is diverse and wants each of us to develop into the person He wants us to become. What we have in common is that we are on the same way of humbling ourselves, and we share in the same hope and life, the same genuine, pure love. This melts us and binds us together with the kind of eternal, good bonds that only God can supply. Bonds that will never be broken, neither in this life nor in eternity, when we are preserved and remain in humility, acknowledge the truth about ourselves, and lay hold of the eternal life to which we have been called.

Ole L. Olsen