Belonging to The Lord - Part One

The Significance Of Being A Christian
Belonging To The Lord - Part One

In our previous lesson, we began this series by asking what is the significance of being a Christian. Starting with the idea that a Christian is "A Person Reborn" we noted that a Christian is a person reborn because in Christ; (1) they are a new creation - 2 Co 5:17; (2) They have been born again - 1 Pe 1:22-23; (3) they now have a new loyalty: to serve Jesus Christ - Ga 2:20. We begin this lesson by noting Paul’s comments to the Corinthians as recorded in 1 Co 6:19-20 "You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God."Paul challenged their thinking by asking "You surely know" The Christian needs to understand that he has been "bought at a price" and consequently is a person "Belonging To The Lord"

"Belonging to the Lord" has many connotations attached to it. One is that a Christian is God’s special person. Christians are now God’s own special people. Note how Peter describes them in 1 Pe 2:9-10 "But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, "Once you were nobody. Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness."
Note: "a chosen generation", "a royal priesthood", "a holy nation", "His own special people"
These are terms that were once reserved for the physical nation of Israel. The Lord had chosen them - Deu 10:15 "Yet the LORD loved your ancestors and wanted them to belong to him. So he chose them and their descendants rather than any other nation, and today you are still his people." He made them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation - Exo 19:5 "Now if you will faithfully obey me, you will be my very own people. The whole world is mine, but you will be my holy nation and serve me as priests." Thus they had become a special people above all other nations - Deu 7:6 "Israel, you are the chosen people of the LORD your God. There are many nations on this earth, but he chose only Israel to be his very own."
What had once been limited to physical Israel, is now possible to all people who are in Christ, as promised to Abraham - Ga 3:8-9 "Long ago the Scriptures said that God would accept the Gentiles because of their faith. That's why God told Abraham the good news that all nations would be blessed because of him. This means that everyone who has faith will share in the blessings that were given to Abraham because of his faith.", 28-29 "Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham's family, and you will be given what God has promised."

Christians are special people with responsibilities to proclaim the praises of God - 1 Pe 2:9-10 "But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, "Once you were nobody. Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness."
Because He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Because He showed mercy, and made us the people of God. To grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ - 2 Pe 1:8-11 "If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. But if you don't grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven. My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall. Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever.". To make our calling and election (as God’s people) sure. To have an abundance entrance into the everlasting kingdom.
From the example of physical Israel, let us beware of becoming hardened and not lose faith, or we may not enter the heavenly rest that awaits us! - He 3:12-4:2 "My friends, watch out! Don't let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God. You must encourage one another each day. And you must keep on while there is still a time that can be called "today." If you don't, then sin may fool some of you and make you stubborn. We were sure about Christ when we first became his people. So let's hold tightly to our faith until the end. The Scriptures say, "If you hear his voice today, don't be stubborn like those who rebelled." Who were those people that heard God's voice and rebelled? Weren't they the same ones that came out of Egypt with Moses? Who were the people that made God angry for forty years? Weren't they the ones that sinned and died in the desert? And who did God say would never enter his place of rest? Weren't they the ones that disobeyed him? We see that those people did not enter the place of rest because they did not have faith. The promise to enter the place of rest is still good, and we must take care that none of you miss out. We have heard the message, just as they did. But they failed to believe what they heard, and the message did not do them any good.", 11 "We should do our best to enter that place of rest, so that none of us will disobey and miss going there, as they did." A Christian is truly "a special person" because he belongs to the Lord. He can rejoice in knowing that he is one of God’s "beloved" (Ro 1:7).

God’s love for the Christian is made even more evident when we note that he is also God’s Child. Christians are blessed to be children of God. In one sense, all people are God’s children - Ac 17:26-29 "From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be. God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn't far from any of us, and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. "We are his children," just as some of your poets have said. Since we are God's children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn't like anything that humans have thought up and made." In another sense, many do not have God as their Father - Jn 8:42-44 "Jesus answered: If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and only from him. He sent me. I did not come on my own. Why can't you understand what I am talking about? Can't you stand to hear what I am saying? Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies." Yet Christians are the children of God in a very special way. Because of their faith, and having put on Christ in baptism - Ga 3:26-27 "All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes." Redeemed and adopted by God, they have received His Spirit into their hearts - Ga 4:4-6 "But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God's children. Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father." Because we do the Father’s will, Jesus considers us His family - Mt 12:48-50 "Jesus answered, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "These are my mother and my brothers! Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother or sister or mother."’

Christians should be touched by this expression of God’s love - 1 Jn 3:1-2 "Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don't know who we are. My dear friends, we are already God's children, though what we will be hasn't yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is."

In this lesson we have looked at the principal of "Belonging to the Lord"; which has many connotations attached to it. One is that a Christian is God’s special person. Christians are now God’s own special people. In Part Two we will turn our attention to the blessings and responsibilities we have in "Belonging to the Lord"