All of us regularly participate in hierarchical relationships, that is to say, relationships that involve one person being above another person. The most obvious example of this is the work relationship of boss and employee. Other examples include the professor/student relationship or the coach/athlete relationship. These hierarchical relationships play a big role in how we are defined within our society. We almost always ask people what they do shortly after meeting them. We are constantly aware of where we fall on the social scale compared to those we interact with.
The ancient world was also governed by hierarchies, and certainly one of the most severe hierarchical relationships back then was the master/slave relationship. Slavery in the ancient world was a complicated situation. It was different for instance from the system of slavery practiced in America in that it was not tied to race or ethnicity. In addition, people did not always become slaves through being captured. Sometimes a person might voluntarily sell themselves into slavery in order to pay off debts. Some slaves also had the option to buy themselves out of the slavery. On the other hand, however, ancient slavery was fundamentally similar to American slavery in that at its heart it involved treating people as property.
Scripture does not come out in direct rejection of slavery (and I must personally admit, I've often wished it did). What we do get from Scripture, however, is immensely powerful, and it was powerful enough to lay the foundation for the eventual dismantling of the slavery system all around the world. For what happens in Scripture is that the gospel gets applied to this social system. For the truths of the gospel demand that we apply them to every social system we find ourselves and always be asking, "What does it mean to follow the Lord Jesus in this situation?" When Christians began to consistently do this with slavery, it became clear that such a system could not remain in place. And so, with Christians leading the way, slavery became eliminated as a mainstream social system.
This however is what eventually happened with slavery. Back when the letter to the Colossians was written, slavery was still very much a part of life and widely accepted. So then, how does a Christian rightly act within a hierarchical relationship, which back then for many in the church involved being in a literal master/slave relationship and today for many involves being in a more symbolic master/slave relationship in a workplace or a school setting? How do we handle it when we are not treated so well in the work we are doing or when we don't like the work that we might have to do? How do we handle it when we are in situations that become demeaning and dehumanizing? While today many of us may not be legally considered living tools like you would have been in the slavery system, for many people they might just as well be a tool based on how they're treated by the "master" that's over them.
Paul's counsel on this begins in Colossians 3:22 by telling us that slaves are to fully obey and sincerely obey their masters. They should not obey selfishly, only obeying in order to promote themselves. They should not obey in order to get attention, or obey superficially, doing just enough to get by. They should instead do their work with passion and full hearted dedication.
How can a slave do this? The key is to do all work "fearing the Lord."All work that we do should be done as an act of reverence and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.
These concepts get explored some more in Colossians 3:23-24. Full and sincere obedience to masters can happen when you realize that everything you do in your work is for and to the Lord ultimately, and NOT to the ones for whom you directly work. It is Jesus that all Christian workers ultimately serve. You must think and work as if you were doing a job for Jesus himself.
This does at least three things for us. First, it serves as a warning to us, because it reminds us that ultimately we are responsible to God for how we work (Col 3:25). We are ultimately responsible to the Lord for what we do or don't do. Laziness, procrastination, poor sloppy work, fake sick days - all of these things may not be noticed by the master who's directly over you, but it is noticed by the Lord. It's the Lord that we are actually cheating and wronging when we work poorly. The warning here then is that the Lord will not show favoritism. He will not play favorities in how he rewards or punishes based on how we work.
But secondly, the command to serve the Lord Jesus is freeing to us, because it means that our motivation to work well is not tied to getting approval or an award or a paycheck. Our motivation comes from serving Jesus and knowing that when we serve Jesus well by working well, he will recognize it, even if it might not be recognized right now by other people. We can serve with freedom and confidence, knowing for sure that we will receive the eternal inheritance from the Lord as our reward for how we served.
This has within it a bit of a paradox. We may be in hierarchical relationships where we feel degraded, dehumanized, or humiliated. We may be in hierarchical relationships where we feel we are doing pointless and meaning tasks. But we need not be defined by those relationships! In Christ, we become new men and new women. We now have eternal value and do work with eternal value with the promise of an eternal reward (Col 3:24).
Thirdly, the command to serve the Lord Jesus is an equalizer for us. We can better appreciate this point in light of Colossians 4:1. Paul tells masters that they have duty to treat those under them with justice and fairness. Indeed, their primary identity is not in relation to their slaves but in relation to the Lord. Thus, they should take heed to how they treat their slaves, for they will answer to him for how they treat them.
All of us then, no matter where we are on the hierarchical social scale, are really at the same level. We all are responsible to the same Lord. In every relationship we are in, no matter the position, we must remember that there really is only one Lord and Master, and it's Jesus.
Work is not primarily about us. Work is about him. We serve the Lord! Our work then can never be mundane or ordinary. Our work, no matter what it is, no matter who it is for, has heavenly significance.
So then, it very much matters how we work! We should treat all our work as worship to the Lord. The Lord uses it as part of his work in building his kingdom in our world. So, will we work in such a way that builds a kingdom based on committment and integrity, or a kingdom based on laziness, complaining, and hypocrisy? Christians should be the best employees and the best bosses, the best students and the best professors, the best coaches and the best athletes.
Knowing that the Lord Jesus is over all that we do and that it's to the Lord Jesus that we direct all of our efforts in all our relationships is what will bring us the hope and confidence we need to live and work well in our society. For we have a Lord who will never shut down his offices, never declare bankruptcy, never oppress us, never betray us, never overlook us, never take advantage of us. Instead we have a Lord who will establish his kingdom of righteousness and justice and peace and who even now is using every of part of the lives of his peoples to help establish this kingdom. So let us serve the Lord - knowing that our labor will never be in vain.
Are you involved in any relationships that are comparable to the master/slave relationship? What are some things you think you should consider if you are in the slave part of the relationship? What are some things you think you should consider if you are in the master part of the relationship? How does the fact that we all ultimately have the same Lord and Master influence how you view yourself and the work you do?
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