Freedom to Serve

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)

fit for service in the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62)



The British have contributed a host of remarkable writers to the world, and there have been significant preachers, missionaries and theologians that came from the United Kingdom. One writer, not particularly well known, qualifies as both. He has become a favorite of mine. His name is Charles Williams and was a friend and companion of writers like CS Lewis, JRR Tolkein, Owen Barfield and Dorothy Sayers. Williams has a style that blends theology and fantasy with a grounding in classical literature and mythology that is theologically provocative and always intriguing story-telling.



One such book has a character, a young woman named Pauline, who is haunted by a ghost-like figure that seems to follow her everywhere. It also happens to look exactly like her! It is so persistent, she becomes afraid to leave her house for fear this ghost/woman will meet her around the next corner. One day she meets a man, Professor Stanhope, who takes seriously her increasing fear and tells her “The next time you see that apparition, tell yourself you need not be afraid because I will be feeling the fear for you.” She thinks this is an odd solution to a problem that has grown so great she is almost paralyzed by it. Yet when she takes a chance and leaves her house, she reminds herself of that promise. Meanwhile, Stanhope keeps it by trying to imagine just what such a fear must feel like. As luck would have it, the figure does appear, but Pauline, remembering what Stanhope said, tells herself, “I do not need to be afraid, for he is feeling that fear for me.” The strategy works. She meets the apparition and finds there is no harm in it. When she later tells Stanhope how the fear had been lifted and she is free, he tells her, “now it is your turn to bear someone else’s fear. “ Williams suggests that what has happened here is a living example of the doctrine of substituted love. When Jesus died on the cross, we were relieved of the burden of our sin. Now, with that freedom, our shoulders are ready to assume the burden of other peoples’ sin, if you will.



Our two readings seem to support Williams’ fictional account. Freedom is a big issue for Paul. At first glance, it seems to be freedom from the Law of Moses. That’s what the Galatians are succumbing to. It’s an odd notion, when you think about it. Why should obeying a law be slavery? To answer that question, you must remember Paul’s story. Remember, he is a faithful Pharisee and a zealous adherent of the law of Moses. He followed this path believing that this was necessary for him to find peace of mind and a sense of goodness in the world. However, the harder he tried to obey those laws, the more complex they became to him, and impossible to obey.



(There is an interesting book written a year or two ago, by a Jewish writer who set out to obey the Mosaic Law down to the jot and tittle. He did it, not to achieve holiness, but to discover for himself just what it would be like actually living by those rules. As the weeks and months pass, it became increasingly obvious that living by the rules would be a major disruption in his life and his marriage. And this just to write a book. It was not to save his immortal soul!)



But Paul’s problem went deeper. Even if he had succeeded in obeying the rules, he discovered a new kind of tyranny of sin - an obnoxious self-righteousness that relied more on the rigorous efforts of obeying the law than on faith in a loving God who does for us what we cannot do ourselves. Works-righteousness is the name we usually give it and what makes it so intolerable is how it takes our eyes off God and puts them on ourselves. This is “operation bootstraps”. This is “self-help” to the max. This is living as if there was no God, and in fact, need not be any.



Paul’s emphasis is on the saving acts of God. His eyes are on the gracious work of God revealed in Jesus. Here is where the freedom is really felt. When Paul rejoices in freedom, it is similar to the exhilaration the woman in Charles Williams’ fantasy felt when she relied on a promise made to her by the new friend she’d met. I am free from trying so hard and always failing. I am living by God’s grace, not by exhausted efforts.



However, our modern parable looks beyond the freedom won for us by Christ to the challenge such freedom brings. Our shoulders are empty, now we can carry the load of others. It is intriguing to me how twelve steps programs - and there are a host of them - all include this emphasis. Salvation is not a possession we keep, it is activated, if you will, when we give it away.



Our passage from St. Luke gives us a glimpse of the nature of discipleship. It is rigorous; it is alienating; it is a whole new world; it demands total commitment. For what? Not the salvation of our souls - which is what we are most often warned. No, it is for service. The Christian life is not how to keep our souls safe for heaven, it is an invitation and a challenge to open our souls and give them completely away.



Through the years, I have noticed how we approach people to serve on Sessions, or session committees, or in community service. How many times have we hastened to reassure them “This won’t take much of your time!” We are quick to minimize the work that must be done. This was not Jesus’ approach!



I worked with the Red Cross one summer and I remember a remark the chairman of volunteer services made. “When someone comes to me and says ‘I don’t have anything to do. I think I need to do some volunteer work.’ I thank them for the offer, but I never call on them. No, I choose someone who tells me they are so busy with their many commitments they wonder how they’ll squeeze yet another task into their already busy lives. That’s the person I know will actually do the work.” It’s counter-intuitive, isn’t it? And yet, you have seen this yourselves. Those who have been freed of their own personal burdens are the ones who understand the importance of helping others. Oscar Hammerstein, no Christian theologian, still understood the importance of this truth, and expressed it in the last lyric he ever wrote. It was added to the musical “The Sound of Music.” Maria sings it to Liesel who is pondering the confusing emotions of love:

A bell is no bell ‘til you ring it,

A song is no song ‘til you sing it,

And love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay;

Love isn’t love, ‘til you give it away.



Jesus did not rely on poetic lyrics to say the same thing. We are saved to serve. When he performed miracles of healing, he never asked for a “thank you”, nor did he seek recognition from the crowds. When he asked the lame man at the pool of Siloam “Do you want to be healed?” he didn’t stop with that brief question. He told the beggar to take up his mat and walk. He could have simply said, “I heal you”, but he didn’t. The beggar was healed so he could walk. That was Jesus’ way.



Paul lived out the same example. He could have stayed in the desert of Arabia, grateful for his salvation and content to enjoy his freedom from the slavery of sin. That was not enough. He wrote the Philippians “To me, to live is Christ”, and to that end, he must give himself to a life of service to Christ - a service Jesus told the disciples has no end. Once we have put our hand to the plow of service, there is no looking back.



I have found a curious truth about this saying. I once thought this remark put the emphasis on moral responsibility. If we look back, we cease to be fit for service in the Kingdom of God. In other words, we look back at ourselves and wonder about being good enough. On the contrary, that problem has already been addressed by Christ. The issue is whether we are now equipped for service. Are we in fit condition to serve.



What I’ve discovered is that once beginning to serve, one really can’t go back. The opportunities for service are too great. Jesus once put it, the fields are ripe - who will go out to harvest? (Luke 10:2) You see, our freedom to serve comes with a startling awareness that we are most fully alive when we are serving. The healthy ones are those who seek out ways to give back, not the ones who scramble to acquire more.



It comes down to this: we are not saved in order to get into heaven. We are saved to serve. We are freed from our old life to bring good news to others. We are given new meaning by our commission to be God’s people at work in God’s world.