As You Would Serve Christ

Ephesians 6:1-24

Again, there’s so much packed into this little chapter. Parent-child relationships, strength and the armor of God, prayer, peace, and more…

But this morning, I’m most struck by something else, something that feels offensive and mysterious and incredible. Did you read verses 5-8? I often skip over the parts about slaves, because I’m not a slave, and we don’t use slaves anymore. So I read the words, but I don’t really think about them. But this morning, I can’t escape them.

I know that Roman slavery wasn’t exactly like the slavery in our American memory, but I doubt theirs was a lot more noble. Slaves were property, workers with no rights, no paychecks, nothing. Some, I’m sure, were cared for better than others, but the system was oppressive, breeding mistrust, animosity, and bitterness. I am not a slave, nor can I imagine what it was like. I’ve heard students describe their chores as slavery, and I perhaps did at times, too. Here, however, God, through Paul, addresses actual slaves, not just people who felt mistreated, people who were overworked, underappreciated, and robbed of human dignity.

And the words of God come to these slaves, saying, “obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.” What!?! Paul doesn’t even remind them of the spiritual promises in the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, much less say, “God desires for you to be free,” or “You’re more valuable to God than your earthly masters recognize.”

Here we see how incredible Jesus’ call really is on our lives. Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what it means. We are to love God so profoundly that we would love others so purely that, even as mistreated, undignified and beaten slaves, our goal would be to see our service to our masters as service to Christ. Although we were stripped of our identity, robbed of our God-given dignity, and barred from any right to have our complaints heard, we are to bless the people around us, that God would be glorified in our lives and in our work, and that the love of Christ might be seen in us.

No matter what our circumstances, no matter what our place in society, no matter the pain we feel or the privileges we enjoy, our sole purpose is to bring glory to God, that others might recognize in us the incredible love God has for them. Clearly the love of slaves for their masters described here is a supernatural love. Only God can cause a slave to love his earthly master like this. And it’s just as impossible for us, in our own strength, to live out the perfect family relationships described here, too. Every relationship we have reminds us of our brokenness and sin, and our need for Jesus to rescue us. And, in each relationship and every situation we face, God has the power to redeem our failed attempts at love and goodness, making His love shine through us, that others might see their need and His incredible offer of life and grace and transformation.