Calling, Contentment and Slavery

"You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God" (1 Corinthians 7:17-24).

There is a contemporary saying that reflects the sense of this idea: bloom where you are planted. Becoming a Christian means being an agent and instrument of God in your current circumstance, whatever that circumstance may be. If you are married, be content to remain married unless the other person walks away. If you are not married, be content to remain unmarried unless the Lord leads you into marriage with a believer. If you work in a factory, be content to work in a factory. If you are the president of a bank, be content to be the president of a bank. Wherever you are, whatever you do, whatever your station in life, be content in it, and use your situation to forward the cause of Christ where you are. The first responsibility of believers is to be content to remain where they are and as they are.

Obviously, Christians should not be content to remain in sin. Obviously, we are not to be content to remain biblically ignorant or undisciplined. Rather, Paul is saying that we should remain in our social circumstance, and at the same time begin to avoid sin and to grow in biblical knowledge and discipline. What we are not to do is to use Christianity or other Christians as a means to get something that we want -- power, position, wealth, happiness, etc. Christianity is not a matter of us using God to achieve our own purposes. It is a matter of God using us to achieve His purposes.

By remaining in our social situation when converted our Christianity will be infused throughout the culture -- and that is God's purpose. God doesn't want all faithful Christians to become accountants or politicians or pastors, or to all join the same church. Leaven does its work by spreading throughout the entire loaf. That's the model.

Slavery provided a particular difficulty, and is defined as a function of debt in Scripture (Proverbs 22:7). So, Paul says that slaves who become Christian should similarly be content to remain as slaves. That is a heart concern. But at the same time, they are to work off (pay back) the debt that they owe, to repay the dept and through debt retirement regain their freedom. They should not run away from their lawful circumstance as slaves, not run away from their indebtedness, but should work diligently to repay their debts, and then live as free men and women, as people without debt.

By implication, Paul tells Christians to remain in whatever employment circumstance they find themselves. From an employment perspective, Paul does not believe that the ideal Christian life involves some church related job. You don't have to become a pastor to serve the Lord. Rather, the ideal is to bring Christian values and principles into whatever job or social position a person already has. The ideal is not to concentrate Christian values and principles in the church, but to disburse them into society as leaven.

This is the rule that Paul has for all churches everywhere. Become a Christian, and then because your are a Christian be content to be in whatever circumstance you find yourself. It is out of that sense of contentment and peace that the Holy Spirit reaches out with the Word of God spoken by you, by ordinary Christians in ordinary circumstances, to evangelize, convert and reform the whole of society in the likeness of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not brought in by revolutionaries, but by people in ordinary circumstances who are content to remain in ordinary circumstances, and to speak the truth in love in the midst of their ordinary relationships. May the Lord so bless and empower us to be used by God in our current situation.