Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

As Christians we are  called to be citizens of two Kingdoms. While we feel like strangers in the one, we long to establish a permanent home in the other. We have been offered citizenship in the coming City of God but currently find ourselves subject to the laws of the City of Man. You don’t have to be a Christian to be a law-abiding citizen in this world but you do if you want to be a citizen of the One to come. Sadly, we get so fixated on placating the man that we neglect to fear the Lord. Jesus spoke a great deal about the Kingdom of God and then commissioned us to recruit citizens. He calls us to staff the New Jerusalem’s chamber of commerce and help visitors fill out  the immigration paperwork. However, in order to get them to look to the heavens we must first show them that we take the earth seriously. We must keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that they won’t dismiss us as cultural anarchists but view us as greeters for God’s Kingdom.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.. (Philippians 3:20)

While being a citizen of the City of Man doesn’t differentiate us from our friends and neighbors, being a citizen of the City of God does. As it turns out there is no equality in heaven because everyone is a servant. You may bristle at the thought that your good actions will go unrequited but if everyone was a servant to everyone else then there would be no conflict because every action and thought would be offered with no expectation of return.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if our elected politicians were actually public servants attending to the needs of their constituents on both sides of the aisle rather than servicing their own needs with the quid pro quo of special interest groups? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we greeted each other on the streets by saying, “Thank you for your service,” rather than, “What have you done for me lately?”

In this world we are rightly concerned about equality because we don’t want to marginalize anyone. Unfortunately, equality is never satisfied. Equality always measures and remeasures to assure us that the world is 50:50. The problem is that despite our best intentions someone will always feel like they are the 49% to the rest of the worlds 51%. Equality then becomes a battle to be more equal and we end up with a barnyard mentality where, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” 

It’s interesting that a culture so interested in the marginalized is also so enamored with the self. Life becomes all about self-love which in the end leaves us incessantly admiring our reflections while our souls rot away and become compost for a garden of self-adulation. Attending to our personal needs only ends up marginalizing everybody else’s. Albert Schweitzer, a physician and theologian, who spent much of his life as a missionary in Africa serving the underprivileged made a profound statement.

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be totally happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

When you look around at all the anxiety and depression running rampant through our self-aggrandizing culture you have to ask yourself if maybe Albert wasn’t onto something. Rather than feeling angst for not receiving equal treatment maybe we would be happier if we gave away what we had. Maybe true happiness can only be found in a Kingdom of servants.

True service is a gift and not a contract. So if we expect something in return then all we have done is attach strings to our actions and our “acts of service” become nothing but marionettes manipulated by our pride. A servant can never achieve parity. As Christians, we need to be careful when we feel that our “generosity” has not been adequately appreciated because when we take our grievances to the complaint department we will find that it is staffed by One who came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Our hurt feelings will be a hard sell to One who humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Interestingly, Christianity grew in an environment of persecution. It appealed to people not through displays of power but through lifestyles of suffering service. The Romans had a difficult time justifying their persecution of the early church because the Christians were such good citizens. A letter written sometime between 111 and 113 AD by Pliny to the Emperor Trajan reflected this conundrum. Pliny was unaccustomed to dealing with Christians and asked the emperor for assistance:

They (Christians) asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so.

In other words, Christians were good citizens. The world couldn’t criticize their earthly behavior because they kept their conduct among the Gentiles honorable.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

However, in addition to being good Roman citizens, these early Christians also behaved in unexpected ways. Athenagoras, an early apologist, described their otherworldly behavior in a letter written between 176-177AD to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius .

“But among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth: They do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works; when struck they do not strike again: when robbed they do not go to the law; they give to those that ask of them, and love their neighbors as themselves.”

In other words, they followed the rules of another Kingdom. A Kingdom characterized by service. Interestingly, their acts of service were not confined to their own but also extended to the rest of the pagan community. In fact, this presented a problem for the emperors because the pagan religions of the Roman Empire didn’t offer aid to their own worshippers let alone the worshippers of other gods. To address this situation, the Emperor Julian the Apostate wrote an Epistle to Pagan High Priests which explained the situation and called them to be public servants. Ironically, Julian unwittingly recognized the necessity of adopting the laws of a Kingdom he despised and wanted eliminated.

These impious Galileans (Christians) not only feed their own, but ours also; welcoming them with their agape, they attract them, as children are attracted with cakes… Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity, and by a display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. Such practice is common among them, and causes contempt for our gods 

[I]t is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans [Christians] support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort, and the Hellenic villages to offer their first fruits to the gods; and accustom those who love the Hellenic religion to these good works by teaching them that this was our practice of old.

The importance of service in God’s Kingdom was nicely illustrated by Jesus when He was asked by the mother of the Zebedee boys if He would consider giving her sons places of honor in the Kingdom to come. She wanted Jesus to play by the rules of the earthly Kingdom. Jesus, however, made it clear that glory in His Kingdom was not measured by the location of your throne but by the amount of dirt on your bent knee. Service was the rule of law in His Kingdom not because of royal edict but because of divine example.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”(Mathew 20:20-28)

The real problem with us humans is that we believe the lie and behave like gods instead of servants. God then embarrasses us by saving us from our divine power grab through the ultimate act of suffering service.  The world will tell you that power and authority get you in the front door, but Jesus makes it clear that we enter Gods Kingdom through the servant’s entrance.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:5-7)

Photo by Hamish Duncan on Unsplash