◆As a Servant I 1 Peter 2:18-25

July 14, 2024

The theme of today’s Bible verses is “to obey” or “to serve.” Servants and wives are told to “obey.” The word is not used for husbands, but what they are told to do is essentially the same. The word “obey” is the word “hupotasso” in Greek. Originally a military term, its literal translation is to put down. It is written in the neuter voice, not the active or passive, so it means to put down of one’s own volition. Therefore, I think it can be translated as “to serve.” That seems to be easier for me to understand. It is a word that is not very popular. In this day and age, the mainstream message may be to move from a position of obedience and service to one of learning the work quickly, and to take on power and become something to be obeyed or served. However, the main theme of the Christian life is to obey and serve. The source of that teaching is the example of Jesus Christ. Beginning in verse 21, it says “For Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his footsteps.” And the suffering is described in verse 24. “He suffered on the cross and took our sins upon Himself. He died for our sin so that we might live through His righteousness.” Philippians 2:6 begins, “Christ, though He was God’s own Son, did not desire to be equal with God, but rather, He humbled Himself and took on the status of a servant, becoming equal with human beings.” And “He was obedient even unto death on the cross.” He left His throne, bore our infirmities, our sicknesses, and our sins, and died on the cross. In doing so, He brought about reconciliation between God and us. This is one of the major themes of Barth’s Church Dogmatics. “The Theory of Reconciliation,” is a 770-page treatise in the Japanese translation. Herein lies the motivation, the reason, for our obedience and service, in the example of Jesus Christ. And the work of Jesus was also the work of evangelism. It was indeed the work of the cross that preached the gospel and made it real. Therefore, his obedience had a purpose, and he was not forced to do so, but rather, he put himself down, hupotasso. If we don’t hold this point in check, we will end up arguing that obeying or serving is a sign of weakness, or that it is trivial, or that it is a condition that should be removed someday, or that the relationship with the servant from verse 18 means that he should endure power harassment and that it is therefore feudalistic. So let’s keep this in mind. Now, if we read from verse 18 onward, here we are told about servants and masters. The servant here is not a slave, but rather a household servant, a person who is entrusted with the management of a house. In today’s context, it is the relationship between a superior and a subordinate in the workplace. Subordinates are told to obey and serve their superiors with sincere awe and respect. That can happen if you have a kind and good boss. But we are told to do so even with a ruthless boss. Isn’t that absurd? You may think. But let us consider the purpose. Jesus Christ came for the fulfillment of the gospel. He served men, but at the bottom of it all, He served God the Father. The “people” are not good people, but people who are unintelligent and rebellious. Therefore, it was absurd to serve them. Therefore, Jesus often prayed to God the Father, appealed to Him, was encouraged by Him, and served Him according to His will. We, too, serve our bosses, whether they are good and generous or merciless, but we can read that we are actually serving God the Father through serving them, and serving them to share the gospel with them. The purpose is not to endure the pain of serving a terrible boss, but to show Christ by submitting oneself to God’s work. We see this in the relationship between wives and husbands as well, and it becomes clear when we read verses 14 and 15 of chapter 3: “But blessed are those who suffer for the sake of righteousness. Do not be afraid of people, nor let your hearts be troubled. Praise Christ as Lord in your hearts. And be ready at all times to give an account to anyone who demands an explanation for the hope you hold.” And we can go back to chapter 2 to know that the tonsured boss is not acquitted, as God Himself deals with him as written in verse 23: “He cursed and did not curse back, he was tormented and did not threaten people, but left it to the One who judges righteously.” As the Lord says in Romans 13:19, “Vengeance is mine to take, and I will repay.”

When I was preparing this message, I thought I would go all the way to chapter 3:7, but it seems that I am halfway through in time. Therefore, I would like to end with my testimony. I was 26 years old when I believed in Christ and became a Christian. The relationships in a workplace, including those between bosses and subordinates, were quite dense that time. The workday did not end at 5:00 p.m., and after that, we would have a drink and renew friendships, at the same time, it was important to talk about work and exchange information and opinions. But it was not only about work, there was always talk of what would now be called sexual harassment, or bad-mouthing the boss if the boss was not there, or bad-mouthing the subordinate if the subordinate was not there, and so on. There were people who could not leave because they were afraid that if they left first, they would be bad-mouthed. Although exchanging information was fine, I became disgusted after becoming a Christian with other topics that we used to talk about together, so I stopped attending drinking occasions. They started wondering “What’s going on?” They invite me and I would decline, so some people began to take offense to that. Kind people advised me to attend saying that half of my job was to socialize over drinks, and if I didn’t, it would affect my career. But many people viewed it negatively. No one told me not to attend drinking parties, but I felt that it would grieve God to be in the same room with them, even if I didn’t swear and gossip together, so I didn’t go. Instead, I worked harder than ever before. I tried to go above and beyond what the manager required. As a result, not only did the negative evaluations of me gradually stop, but I also began to receive positive evaluations, such as “Ishii is a guy who accomplishes when he decides to do them.” I don’t know if it was directly related to this, but when I retired, I gave away 150 paperback copies of the New Testament to people in my company and those who had helped me at work, and they all accepted them with open arms, including those from the Soka Gakkai. Then something amazing happened four years later. When I returned to Japan after retiring and completing my seminary studies, I received a phone call from someone. It was a colleague of mine. He said that he thought, “Ishii seems to be different from before, but I wonder what happened.” He wondered if it had something to do with the Bible he had received, so he read the Bible I had given him, but he didn’t understand what was written, so he went to church. He told me that he and his wife had come to know Jesus Christ and were now living a life of faith as members of the church. I’m glad I didn’t compromise then. The temptation was there. I was certainly glad that I didn’t change my mind and go back to socializing after 5:00 a.m. as part of my job as a businessman. This is in my case. Some people don’t have to worry about such things, and if you can stand firm as a Christian when bad gossip is spoken, that’s fine. I don’t think it has to be this way, but looking back, I think it was my way of serving the Lord, and serving my boss, my colleagues, and my juniors.

Translation based on DeepL (www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)) with modifications.

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