In my previous post, we looked at Galatians 4:6-7 and those found in Christ are no longer slaves. Paul returns to this thought about being freed from slavery to provide a caution. Apparently, some people had decided that because they were saved from the penalty of their sin, they could do whatever they wanted. The reasoning behind this is "God has already forgiven me, so I will do whatever I want know that I'm forgiven."
In Galatians 5:13-14, he addresses this issue. The warning is not to use freedom found in Christ to give in to the desires of the flesh. If your thoughts turn in this direction, it is certainly not the leading of the Holy Spirit. Accepting Jesus as Savior means that we are accepting Him as Lord as well. Lordship means He gets to set the agenda for what we do.
Jesus expects us to do what He did while He was here: love and serve people. Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Philippians 2:7 tells us that Jesus came as a bond-servant to walk among us. We reflect the character and nature of Jesus when we serve others in love.
For those who mistakenly believe that the God of the Old Testament is somehow different than the God revealed in the New Testament, not verse 14. Paul pulls a quote to remind his readers that we are to love our neighbors. Jesus said this in Matthew 19:19, but Jesus was quoting Leviticus 19:18. Loving people has always been God's expectations of His people.
The great thing is that what God expects us to do (love our neighbors) is also the same way we are going to influence our world. Living out the Gospel is not one more thing to do, it is THE thing to do. This is accomplished by letting the Holy Spirit work in and through us to serve and love others. Like I mentioned last time, it is not about working or trying harder but surrendering more of our life to the Holy Spirit so He can do in us what we can't do ourselves.
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