Serving God in the flesh

 This week's verses are Colossians 3:18-25:

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not become bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not antagonize your children, so that they will not become discouraged.

Slaves, obey those who are your human masters in everything, not with eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

 These verses describe how we are to serve God through the relationships and responsibilities God has already placed in our lives. Most people just quote two pieces of these verses and skim over the rest: "Wives be subject to your husbands, blah blah, stuff, do your work heartily as for the Lord and not for people, etc and so on, amen." But the beauty of them, and the message Saint Paul has for the church, can only be seen when they are assembled together.

If you were to only read the verse about the wives obeying their husbands, for instance, you might think that Paul is only trying to reinforce the patriarchy. But if you even read one sentence further, you see that husbands are also given a difficult calling. And if we just read the thing about children obeying their parents, we might mistake Paul's message for one that only reinforces existing hierarchies. But the verse right after it also gives difficult chores to the parents.

There are two points we can take from that. The first is that we are all obligated to serve one another. There are no one-sided social contracts. Even if the details of our obligations may differ based on what part of the relationship we are participating in, the fact remains that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Each of us has a part to play.

The second point is that we don't have to go very far to find an opportunity to serve others and to love them as Christ loves us. You may be called to do missions work in a far corner of the earth, but you also have a calling in the relationships you have and the social position God has placed you into. It's easy to overthink ministry, and do nothing as we wait to be called somewhere glamorous, but Christ also calls us to love our neighbors, and our neighbors are everywhere.

But Paul doesn't stop at family. He also addresses slaves. Of all relationships, and of all positions in society, you would think that Paul would give them an exception. You might hope that he would say "slaves, it is never OK to own another human being, and you belong to Christ now, so run away with the legs God gave you." But he doesn't say that. 

Instead he says to do a good job being a slave. He tells them to be good and faithful servants, not just on a surface level, but in a genuine sense of wanting the best for the person to whom they are enslaved. What it tells us is that we have an obligation to serve others, even if it is not fair, and even if we will not get paid for it, or receive anything of extra value in return.

The same advice might apply to us in our careers. If you're in a position, as some of us increasingly find ourselves these days, where you are told that there is no promotion path for someone your age, or of your gender or ethnicity, or where there is no budget for raises, or no opportunities to move elsewhere, you might decide to just coast in your "dead end" job. But Paul would say to instead work as though you did have a chance at promotion, because you are actually working for God himself!

When we serve our neighbors, or our masters, we are caring for those people God loves. And if we are serving them, we are not trying to dominate them, or struggle against them, or dig our heels in and sabotage them, like we might if we were living the way the people in the world live.

When we are serving ourselves, serving our flesh, we have different priorities. We want to be the one who calls the shots in the marriage. We want to be the one who is admired and served. We want to be the one who bosses others around. We want to be the one who is spared harsh words and beatings. We want to determine our own path, and not have to answer to anyone. And because we can never have all of those things at once, it puts us at odds with those we are supposed to love.

But if we are serving God by caring for those placed in our care, we are no longer at odds with them. We no longer have conflicting masters, with our roles and responsibilities pulling us one way and our selfish flesh pulling us another. We play the role assigned to us, and we ask God for the strength to play it well.

If we abuse the position we have, we abuse those God loves, and that comes with a penalty. Paul says that those who do wrong will receive punishment without partiality. The woman who is antagonistic because she didn't marry well is punished the same as the man who takes his wife for granted and doesn't love her as Christ loves her. The child who rebels against his parents is punished the same as the parents who are too strict or who do not provide. The abusive employer is punished the same as the slave who just does the minimum possible. Our human hierarchies do not insulate us from the consequences of not loving one another, at least not in the eyes of God.

Unless you're independently wealthy and have robots providing and maintaining everything you need to live, you are obligated to others in some way. You may have family, or an employer, or employees, or neighbors, or even someone who serves you coffee. You are a citizen of a nation. You may be part of a club. You might even volunteer somewhere.

Ask God how you might better serve those people you are obligated to serve and how you might better care for those people who are obligated to serve you. Is your behavior compatible with what Jesus might have done in your position? Remember, if you neglect and abuse those people God loves, you will suffer the consequences regardless of your position in society. It's worth taking the time to ensure you are not out of line in how you are living.