Colossians 3:18-4:1- One and different

Colossians 3:18-4:1

Ephesians 5:22-6:9

One and different!

In the movie the Matrix, there is a character called Mr. Smith

Now for those who have never seen the matrix, just bear with me for a few minutes.

And for those who have seen the movie and are fanatics, again bear with me, because some of my detail may be a little hazy.

Mr. Smith- I think, is an agent within the matrix world, in fact he is like a virus in the matrix world and his job as the agent is to stop humans from infiltrating into this computer/ type, matrix world- I think.

Yes, just bear with me:

Anyway, Mr. Smith would “recruit” members to his agency, by placing his hand in their chest and making them become an exact replica of himself. He would forcefully change people into exact replicas of himself, so they too would become Mr. Smith agents.The army of smith was an army that was made up of lots and lots and lots of Mr. Smiths’ who all looked the same, thought the same and did the same things. There was no way you could distinguish between one Mr. Smith and the next.

What a nightmare- imagine 10 exact replicas of me or you?

Now, one of the dangers of reading a bible verse out of context, is that can come up with a solution that simply is not true. You can pull out any verse in the bible and make it mean whatever you want it to.

For example, last week, we looked at Colossians chapter 3, verse 11 which says this:

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised  and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

We could look at that verse and combine it with another verse from Galatians 3:28 which says this:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And we could look at those two verses in isolation and out of context of the rest of the letter, of the rest of the bible, and come up with the conclusion, that followers of Jesus, the church is made up of people who look exactly the same. We could come up with the conclusion that we have no longer have any differences between us, like an army of Mr. Smith’s – there are no distinctions between us- and wrongly assume that those distinctions don’t matter anymore.

But then we read passages like we have just read today, where Paul doesn’t address a group of Mr. Smith’s but he addresses, husbands, wives, children, masters, and slaves.

He does this in Ephesians and 1, 2 Timothy as well, where he addressed women, and he addressed men. Paul never assumes that these distinctions don’t matter anymore, he never assumes that we have all morphed into Mr. Smiths’ but he assumes that these distinctions still exist and in fact they are good. Paul assumes that, yes we are one in Christ, and yet we have different roles in the body of Christ and those differences are good.

It is clear when we read the bible in its full context that when Paul teaches us that we as a church are one in Christ, with Christ as the head and the church as the body, it doesn’t mean that we eradicate all the differences that God designed within that glorious body. 

In fact I would argue that one of the beauties of the truth of our oneness in Christ, is the reality that in Christ, we can come and worship God together, with all of our differences on display.

The most powerful witness in the first century church, was the fact that for the first time in history, both Jews and gentiles were worshipping God together. Both groups of people were vastly different and yet they came together in Christ. As a circumcised Jew came to worship God, their circumcision was still a physical marker of who they were, they were still circumcised, they were still different from the person who was un circumcised, but instead of letting those physical differences separate them from worshipping God together, they didn’t.

When a male came to worship God, they were still male, they didn’t morph into a female, they were still distinctly male and female, just how God created them, but they came together in Christ.

And so when the bible teaches us about being one in Christ, primarily it is talking about our standing before God. We are all sinners, male, female, slave, free, jew, gentile- all sinners and yet we are all saved by the grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus- full stop. Jews are not saved by obeying the law or being born in the line of Abraham or by circumcision- no Jews are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and we gentiles are saved in exactly the same way.

This is what it means to be one in Christ.

That oneness we have in Christ, doesn’t eradicate the different roles that people have in the church family, the body of Christ, and it doesn’t eradicate the roles we have with in the biological family either.

Yes, we are one in Christ and yet we are still different within the family, we still have distinct roles to fulfill- we are not an army of Mr. Smiths.

This is why Paul starts this short passage by addressing wives and husbands.

Look at verse 18-19 with me:

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

And so let me start by addressing blokes, men, husbands.

The bible, God instructs us men, us husbands to love our wives. Seems a fairly obvious point, but interestingly the Greek word for love that is used here, is agape. This agape love is a love that is a sacrificial love.

And so men, God instructs us to love our wives sacrificially, following the example that Jesus gave us. That means we put the needs of our wife before our own. That is we die to our selfish needs for the sake of our wife.

Paul instructs husbands not to be harsh with their wives.

Again this seems a fairly obvious point, and I don’t know why Paul instructs men not to be harsh, but perhaps, this a man trait. Perhaps men are more prone to be harsh, perhaps men are more prone to being a little less sensitive, - or may be that is just me.

The apostle Paul then addresses women and he instructs wives to submit to their husbands.

Now, let me be clear, Paul wasn’t instructing some blind submission, he wasn’t advocating for some sort of child-like obedience as he instructs children to do with their parents, but he was encouraging women to trust the leadership of their husbands.

And let us be honest, if husbands were loving their wives sacrificially as Christ loved the church, I am sure more wives would have no problems submitting to the leadership of their husbands.

Now, I will stop and pause there, because I know some people may find this a little jarring.

In fact some would argue at this point, that Paul only set these instructions for the family because he needed to appease that particular culture at that time- and so we don’t need to follow these instructions today in our culture. And as we can read in history, the Greco-Roman world had a similar set of household rules. Rules that had the father and husband as the head of the house.

However, Paul’s household rules were actually vastly different from the Greco-Roman world, since Paul addressed all members of the house, not just the head. The Greco- Roman house rules were very much one side of authority, whereas the household rules that Paul gives here, are very much a mutual agreement.

And perhaps the most prominent reason for why these household rules still apply to us today, is the reason Paul gives for the rules.

Look at verse 18 again with me:

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord

Wives when you trust your husband’s leadership, you are not ultimately doing it to please your husband, although it is good for both husband and wife to please their spouse, but you are doing it to please the Lord- it is fitting in the Lord.

In fact, this is the same reason Children are to obey their parents, it is the same reason Fathers’ don’t provoke their children, it is the same reason husbands love their wives, it is the same reason why slaves obey their masters, it is because it pleases the Lord.

There may be other reasons why you may do these things, or not do these things, like it helps marriages to grow and flourish, it helps families to grow and flourish, it helps workplaces to grow and flourish but ultimately you would want to follow these instructions because it pleases the Lord, and as Paul reminds us in verse 25, it is God’s opinion of you that counts the most, it is God who is your ultimate judge.

Look at verses  23-25 with me:

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Now before we wrap this up, it is worth addressing the elephant in the room.

What is this about slaves?

Does the bible endorse slavery?

The emphatic answer is NO- the bible does not endorse slavery, in fact it was God who moved heaven and earth to save his people from the slavery of the Egyptians.

Unlike marriage and family, which God ordained and are to endure as long as this world lasts, slavery was never ordained by God, and it is never assumed it should continue. Hence why the Christian, William Wilberforce was one of the driving forces behind the abolition of the American slave trade industry.

Although sadly today, slavery and sex trafficking is more alive than ever.

With all that said, why didn’t Paul just instruct the slave owners to release their slaves?

If he did, perhaps this would have avoided a civil war in America as some were using the bible to justify their positions for both keeping and releasing slaves.

One way we can explain the reason why Paul never condemned slavery is because perhaps he considered slaves as part of the extended family.  Often a slave depended on their masters for a livelihood- and so being “free” would leave them with nothing. It would have drove them to poverty and starvation.

And so there is some reasonable logic to apply what Paul said about slaves and masters in the first century to employers and employees today, although an employer does not own an employee as a master owned a slave- although some would argue it would come close today.

If we are to apply this principle to the job situation today, the same truth would hold.

Employees, work for your boss with sincerity, not to curry favour with them, don’t just work hard when they are watching but work hard because it pleases the Lord that you are working hard and obeying your boss.

Likewise bosses are to treat their workers fairly, not because they are afraid of being sued, but because it pleases the Lord.  Don’t threaten your workers, don’t show favouritism. Treat them well.

This parallel of slave/ masters and employer/ employee is not watertight and it raises questions we must work through. 

We know that in the letter that Paul wrote to Philemon, he asked Philemon, the master to release, Onesimus, his slave, and instead to live with him as a brother.  And so Paul clearly believed that the slave/ master situation was better coming to an end, so why didn’t Paul just say so here in Colossians?

I think he was making this point: and this point, this truth applies to all of us:

Whatever situation you are in, whatever family you are in, whatever work situation you are in, whatever relationship you are in, remember that you are ultimately serving the Lord in those relationships.

Your happiness, your contentment does not depend on those relationships, but it does depend on how you are serving the Lord within those relationships.

Even when your boss is treating you badly, do good- serve Jesus.

Even if your husband is being harsh with his words- do good- serve Jesus.

Even if your parents can be overbearing- do good serve Jesus.

If your children are rebellious- do good, serve Jesus.

If your employees are lazy- do good- serve Jesus.

Remember that we are serving the Lord, serving the Lord at our work place, serving the Lord in our marriages, serving the Lord in our families.

And as we do good in bad situations, we pray that God will do good, the slave may become free, the husband may love his wife sacrificially, the children may joyfully obey their parents.

Friends, let me encourage you again with the words of the apostle Paul….

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”

Let us pray.