Tomorrow is an exciting and extremely important Scripture on the Christian life: Galatians 6:1-2. We will discuss what is perhaps the most importantly fundamental occupation of what Christians are called to actually do through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our lives are depicted as lives dedicated to love, but the Word of the Lord will not permit us to turn this (love) into an ethereal, abstract emotion…this love extends itself in service to the neighbor…and this service to the neighbor is willing to bear up under the load of your neighbor’s burdens. It is a costly love, it is a sacrificial love…and it is one which emulates the Lord’s love for YOU! You are saved from sin, death and the power of the evil one on account of the fact that Jesus bore your burdens — willingly, lovingly — and now you have eternal life. Our response in true faith is to live in Galatians 6:1-2. This is the life of the Spirit.

There is no huffing and puffing about claimed “spirituality”…the faith is one which is one of action and that action serves the neighbor period. Here, actions really do speak more loudly than words. The one who sits around to “feel right” before they move themselves to act might very well be sitting until Jesus comes again in glory. Crucify that which holds you back and live your faith: love, serve, and bear as Christ did for you!

I hope that you will not miss this important sermon tomorrow, but for now I will share an important quotation from Luther:

“Therefore [the Christian] should be guided in all his works by this thought and contemplate this one thing alone, that he may serve and benefit others in all that he does, considering nothing except the need and the advantage of his neighbor…This is what makes caring for the body a Christian work, to acquire, and lay by funds with which to aid those who are in need, that in this way the strong member may serve the weaker, and we may be sons of God, each caring for and working for the other, bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ [Gal. 6:2]. This is a truly Christian life. Here faith is truly active through love [Gal. 5:6]…[when] a man willingly serves another without hope of reward; and for himself he is satisfied with the fullness and wealth of his faith (Luther’s Works, Vol. 31, 365).”

 

Just remember dear Christian that Christ’s service — His enabling and empowering service to you — has not ended. He continues to serve you in order to fortify you with His life, His love, and His Spirit. This comes through your faithful reception of Christ’s body and blood, because to receive Christ and the forgiveness of sins is to once again be recipient of all His kingdom gifts, most especially the filling of the Holy Spirit which is known when Christ Himself fills you. Where the King dwells, there the Kingdom is in your midst (Luke 17:21).

 

Come and receive His Word and Sacrament and be blessed!

 

Remember, this Divine Service is only for sinners and only sinners will benefit.

 

Here is another excerpt from the sermon:

 

if your flesh, the sinful distractions in this world and the attacks upon you by the devil are anything, then they are aimed to take you out of the present. What is in the present? What is in the present is your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Anyone: friend or enemy. Your child, your spouse, your co-worker, the person ahead of you in line at the grocery store, the guys you play softball with, the gals you meet at lunch, the homeless person on the corner in front of you, the woman who took your ticket stub at the movie theatre, even the salesperson whose phone call just interrupted what you were doing, the Jehovah’s Witness who comes knocking at your door [imagine: God brought them to you so that they would meet a true disciple of the Lord Jesus and perhaps for the first time hear the pure Gospel!] and most certainly your neighbors are the people sitting around you right now.

To live in the present, and to live for the neighbor – and remember: nothing is random; the Lord controls all things – is to be called to serve that person and to love that person. But be warned, because in that split second of opportunity to live in faith and love, your flesh will complain and resist, the world will try so hard to rip your attention away and the devil will try his best to disrupt any expression of faith and love.

 

Your flesh will do what it always does and will say to you: “You don’t have time. Just think about how busy you are. If you take the time to give this person attention, you are going to miss your deadlines. You can only do so much. You can’t be all things to all men. And furthermore, you have your own problems; you have your own projects; and you have your own needs. What about your resources? They are limited. There is only so much you can do. If you’re not careful, you will run yourself down and if you do that, you won’t be of any use to anyone. You can’t serve this person.”

 

How often has this tape run through your head? I am not saying that what I just described doesn’t contain elements of truth (even in our Galatians’ text today God says at Galatians 6:1: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you to be tempted.”). But consider this: this is the way the devil works…he loves to mix the truth with his deception. That is what He does. When he tempted the Lord in the wilderness, the devil was quoting Scripture for heaven’s sake (Luke 4:9-11)!

 

My point is this: at the end of the day, the goal of your flesh, the world, and the devil is to keep you from loving and serving others. That way, you will always have a “good excuse” to keep you from being your brother’s keeper, because it’s just so darn inconvenient! We don’t want to be our brother’s keeper. We want to be like Cain who rejected the notion (Genesis 3:9) and who murdered his brother instead. We would rather in our flesh use our neighbor for what we want, instead of serving our neighbor according to what they need.

 

To confront us, however, God is good. He doesn’t mince anything: we either serve God with faith acting in love which serves the neighbor; or we serve ourselves (which is to serve the devil…he’s all about self…he wants you to be about “me, myself, I,”…the devil doesn’t so much care about tendonitis or colitis or bronchitis, than he does about you having a lethal case of “I”-itis [thanks to Rev. Matthew Richardt, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Escondido for this descriptor of sin]. That way, because you’re so wrapped up in yourself, you will never have time or love or service for anyone else, because you’ll always be busy taking care of yourself. But God makes it clear that we are not here for ourselves. He makes it clear – as clear as day – in Galatians 6:1-2.

 

In Your Service and To Christ’s Glory,

 

Pastor Espinosa