Rev. Avedis Boynerian graciously forwards to me the synopsis of his Sunday service, enabling me to better follow his Sunday sermon from the pulpit of the Armenian Church of the Martyrs, in Worcester, MA. With permission, I reproduced the body of his July 6, 2025 service. July 1 is the founding day of the Armenian Evangelical community. July 4 is the American Independence Day. Vaհe H Apelian
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13).
The First Arm. Evan. Church was founded on July 1, 1846 in Turkey…
This morning, we will briefly speak about one of the distinctive affirmations and cherished values of the First Arm. Evang. Church, which is: “The Liberty of the Christian Man.”
{This principle affirms the conviction that a Christian has the right
- to think his own thoughts,
- to make his own decisions,
- to be his own person, and
- to live his own life.}
That is, the Christian’s faith in Christ frees us from being slave to the Law.
{This principle does not mean - freedom to do “anything under the sun,” but
- freedom to follow the command, “serve one another in love”.}
- This kind of freedom means to live a life of outgoing concern for others: “serve one another in love”.
- This kind of freedom recognizes the importance of each individual, regardless of who they are.
- This kind of freedom cherishes freedom of conscience.
Arm. Evangelicals have always believed in the right to disagree. They have always cherished the concept that the church, being fallible - imperfect - is not the final authority; the final authority is based on biblical values.
This means that religious institutions and church organizations have
- meaning/purpose and
- value only as they serve the needs and enrich the lives of each other.}
We are prone to go to extremes:
+ One believer interprets liberty as license and thinks he can do whatever he wants to do.
+ Another believer, seeing this error, goes to an opposite extreme and imposes law on everybody.
The apostle Paul issues a caution. He says, “Do not allow your liberty to degenerate into license!”
Paul’s caution is valid: {Christian liberty is not a license to sin, but an opportunity to serve, “serve one another in love”.}
Elisabeth Elliot, a Christian author, in her article “All That Was Ever Ours” says: “Freedom is not free, with freedom comes responsibility.
Therefore,
- we have to decide what we will do with our freedom in Christ …
- we have forgotten that with freedom comes responsibility.”
Basically, what Elisabeth Elliot is saying is this: Our call, as Christians, challenges us to use our freedom responsibly.
That is, we, as Christians, have responsibilities that come with our freedom.
We have to decide if we are going to use our freedom or abuse it.
We, as Christians, are called to liberty. Therefore, we are free from sin, because we have experienced God’s forgiveness.
We are free from sin, because Christ died for us on the cross.
Sometimes we build a box of what we think a Christian is.
If people do not fit into our box, we reject them.
Unfortunately, we do this quit often!
The irony of true freedom is that it is found in serving others.
What God would really see us do is run from opportunity to opportunity, always to serve others and NOT ourselves.
The key that makes a servant lies in the phrase “in love”.
What is love and what it does.
Love introduces us into a new community, where we are free to love each other and - we are free to serve each other’s needs “in love”.
The command “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” solves every problem in human relations (Rom. 13:8-14).
Love builds bridges to new places of service.
If we love people, because we love Christ, will
- not steal from them,
- not give false reports about them,
- not envy them, or
- try to hurt them.
Listen:
Love in our hearts is God’s substitute for laws and threats.
{The apostle Paul says: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.}
The commandments,
- “Do not commit adultery,
- Do not murder,
- Do not steal,
- Do not covet,” and
- whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
{Love does no harm to its neighbor.
Therefore love, says the Bible, is the fulfillment of the law”} (Rom. 13:8-10).
The key word here, of course, is love.
The formula looks something like this:
Liberty plus love means serving others.}
True love means
- be in bondage to one another,
- be a slave to one another, that is, - do the acts of a servant.
Remember Jesus, who stood down and washed the feet
of His disciples.
Let’s just think what we would have, if we were willing to serve each other in love?
Too many people look for a church with the idea of what the church can do for them. But maybe they should ask, “What can I do for the church and the members who are a part of it”.
Let me tell you: This is one of the reasons for coming to church, so that we can “serve each other in love.”
We grow closer
- as we worship God together and then
- we learn how we “serve each other in love,” and
- be a welcoming church.
God has given us a great gift called freedom. We have to decide what we will do with it;
- will we use it or
- will we abuse it?
{The way each one of us uses our freedom in Christ will determine what kind of church community we will be.}
{If we use our freedom, as Jesus would want us, we will be a loving and welcoming church.}
The apostle Paul suggests that we “serve one another in love”.
The word that he uses for love is “agape”.
So he tells us, “because of God’s unmerited and unconditional love shown in our life, make ourselves
{a love slave toJ esus.”}
If we seek to serve other Christians, love other Christians and
uplift other Christians, then how would the world react?
Let’s look around us and ask ourselves:
- “How can I make the life of someone in Christ easier today?
- How can I serve someone in love today?”
Simply put, God wants us to be motivated by His unmerited and unconditional love.
That’s what He has created us for!
And when we do unconditionally love each other, it gives evidence of our real faith and liberty in Jesus.
So, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
This is a hard command.
+ It means that I want to feed the hungry, as much as I want to feed myself when I get hungry.
+ This means that I want to find my neighbor a job, as much as I am glad that I have a job.
+ This means that I want to help my neighbor get, as much as I want to get.
+ This means that I want to share Christ with my neighbor, as much as I am glad that I know Christ myself.
+ This means that I care about what happens to my neighbor, as much as I care about what happens to me.
Can we imagine what our church would be like, if we were all like that: To look at the person to the right and to the left and feel the same longing for their happiness that we feel for our own?
Not only would the law be fulfilled, but our church would be filled with new members, because we are willing to serve one another in love.
A prominent Christian leader was known for his willingness to help needy individuals with their social and financial challenges.
When asked why he took time out of his busy schedule to do this, he replied, “When I was a boy, I worked in our family grocery store. I was taught that I should {never ask a customer,
‘is that all?’ Instead, I was told to ask, ‘is there anything else?’”}
I wish we would ask the same question today: “Is there anything else that I can do for you today?”
That is, if someone asks me to go with them one mile, let’s go with hem two miles.
There was a speaker who was in the Washington, D.C. area on business at the Pentagon.
He had gotten caught in an endless traffic. Spotting a runner along the road, he called out, “Which side is the Pentagon on?”
Keeping his pace, the runner answered, “I think they are on our side.”
A church member was coming out of church one day, and the pastor was standing at the door to shake hands.
The Pastor grabbed the member by the hand, pulled him aside and said to him, “You need to join the Army of the Lord!”
The church member replied, “I am already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.”
The pastor questioned, “How come I do not see you except at Christmas and Easter?”
+ Serving others is not always easy, when we would rather say “my way or the highway”; but serving others pleases God;
+ Serving others is the way of following the example of Jesus, who stooped down and washed the feet of His disciples.
Let’s pray.
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