God’s command in Galatians 5:13 is that we are to “by love serve one another.” The motive of our service must be love, especially when it comes to service within the church among brothers and sisters-in-Christ. This is the agape love which we as believers have. To “serve” (Grk: douleuo) means to be a slave to. Having been freed from the bondage of sin, we can by love serve as willing slaves. This means that God wants us to serve others as our masters. The arguments to sustain our motive of love to “serve one another” as slaves are as follows:

1)  Calling to Love (Gal 5:13)

With salvation, we “have been called unto liberty” (Gal 5:13), i.e. we have been freed from the bondage of sin. There will be much friction when we serve together with others. Thus, some may think that it is better to avoid people by not serving. This ought not to be so. Though we have the freedom, we must not let this liberty stumble others. We can do many things, but we must not come under the power of these things or be addicted to them. Remember that we are called into this liberty by God, thus we are accountable to God. Let us, by love, sacrifice ourselves and please our brethren (not our carnal, selfish desires). As slaves do not have rights, let us serve without asserting any rights of our own.

2)  Completion by Love (Gal 5:14)

All the law is “fulfilled in one word” (Gal 5:14) means the law is completed by that one thing that is described in the verse, i.e. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Thus, when we serve others without love for them, our service will not have “fulfilled” the law. When we serve God and people criticize us despite our best efforts, their criticisms will not matter to us when our service is constrained by the love of God. Our desire is to please God alone, and to serve others with love. As long as the Lord's name is praised, it is alright even if people do not thank us for our service. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matt 22:36-40) as we serve them. Once our love for the Lord is really burning hot, we will be able to serve our neighbours with love.

3)  Conviction to Love (Gal 5:15)

When the Apostle Paul was in prison, he beseeched the Christians to obey God even without him present. Without conviction, their (and our) obedience will not last. We must be convicted that we (as slaves) are to “by love serve one another.” Then we will not bite or hurt one another even when we disagree. The only way to protect ourselves and our work for the Lord is to have that conviction for a lifetime that we are to serve as slaves, with love, for Jesus' sake. May God help us!