Day 27: The Church Belongs to Jesus

Posted on: April 4, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Romans 14:7-9

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

1 Peter 2:9-12

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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.

Picking Up the Thread

Written five centuries ago, the Heidelberg Catechism opens with a very contemporary question, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” In other words, “How do we make our way in hope through toil, suffering and mortality?” We all seek some consolation along life’s weary way. The first sentence of the radical answer speaks to our deepest yearning, “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” The highest claim on my life does not come from within myself. “You are mine,” says the LORD in Isaiah 43:1 (See Day 4). “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price,” writes Paul in today’s readings.

Christ Jesus has staked his life for me. He claims me now. The way parents nurture, guide, protect and lead their own children. The way a Marine never leaves behind a brother. The way a true friend stays close to us, not just privately but publicly, even when we have failed, been shamed or disgraced ourselves. He speaks to us, “I am for you, and you are for me. I am not my own. You are not your own. Our relationship is a fundamental part of

our existence.”

This contradicts the myriad of messages we receive that affirm my right to choose my identity and express it through living out my dreams and my desires. Those who market this message seldom tell us how much pressure that puts upon us. My need to constantly create my own meaning in life may make me an ideal consumer of products and experiences, but it also makes me chronically anxious. Nor do we reckon with the loneliness such pretensions of independence create. The “me-on-my-own” approach to life moves us from bravery to sadness to despair.

However, in calling us to himself, Christ Jesus incorporates us into his very body. The people of God individually and together are members of the body of which Jesus is the head. We are his church, and we belong to each other even as we belong to our savior and Lord.

The Heidelberg Catechism’s answer continues boldly: “He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

Being the “possession” of someone else sounds so constraining. Moreover, we rightly fear being controlled by a dominator who uses us. We resist tyrants. We rebel against being discardable pawns in the games of the powerful. The idea of belonging not to ourselves but to someone else can trigger memories of the most heinous abuses.

But the triune God does not seek to consume us. The LORD I AM is not a tyrant whose ownership of us sucks away all life and hope. Our God is the creator and recreator of our lives. He is the Father who adopts orphans and gives them an honored seat at his bountiful table. He is the Son who joined himself to our humanity as our brother forever. Being first bound and beaten, he laid down his life, so that we could be set free from the power of sin and death. He is the Spirit who takes residence within us, not to steal our wills but to restore our capacity to choose the good, the true and the beautiful. Being the triune God’s prized possession, the people to whom he gives his name and inheritance, brings us alive as never before.

Stitching It In

The realization that we belong to Jesus creates peace deep within us. Accepting that we are not our own frees our energy to live for a higher purpose than ourselves. Being part of Christ’s own people makes us part of his mission to the world. It engages us in the fight against the old life, the sinful self that wants to remain its own. Therefore, Peter tells us to “abstain from the passions of the flesh,” these impulses that always put us back on the throne of life. Sometimes it’s a struggle. We labor to resist going backward. This is not only for ourselves but for the sake of those still lost in the darkness. By our loving conduct in the world, others can see what it means to belong to the triune God. They will be drawn to listen to us as we “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

We realize that the church of Jesus, his redeemed people, takes up the original creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth. We take up Israel’s original vocation to be a kingdom of priests. We have the news that connects lost people to a home in Christ. We have the map that leads to new creation and anchors us in the hope of all God has promised, a vision we will consider tomorrow.

Praying Along the Pattern

How much better to belong to you!

I have spent too many years running

A course that I designed to bring me fullness,

But always led to barren waste places.

I have picked up dead things

And coaxed them to give me life.

They made me sick and distorted.

I have made myself the center

And always ended up lonely.

How much better to belong to you!

In your service is indeed perfect freedom,