A Benchmark Question

I have recently had a cluster of conversations with other believers ranging from the image of God to healthy marriages to effective witnessing. In each conversation I found myself asking the same question (in different forms), “Just who do we belong to?” In some of these discussions the other person(s) did not see why I was asking the question.

If I have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, if He has purchased me with His blood, then I no longer belong to myself, I am not my own, I am the property of Jesus Christ (note 1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20).

This means, among other things, that I have no warrant (authority, basis, right) to make the Bible say something it does not say, or to disregard obedience to the Word of God – Jesus Christ is either my Lord or He isn’t, He has either purchased me and I am His property or we do not have that relationship.

I am either living my life in submission to Christ my Lord and His Word or I am not (yes, I’m still a work in process).

How many marriages are in trouble simply because the professing - Christian spouses are not submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in their disobedience to Christ they are justifying their ungodly attitudes and sins? They are not living holistic lives as bond-slaves of Jesus Christ. When I write “holistic” I mean that the totality of life is to be in Christ – work, family, church, marriage, civic life – all of life.

How much doctrinal confusion is there in the church because pastors, priests, teachers, and other leaders do not see themselves as bond-slaves of Jesus Christ – rather than submitting to Christ and His Word they attempt to force the Word to submit to them and they caricature Jesus Christ before their congregations and the watching world.

A bond-slave (Deuteronomy 15:12 – 17), an agent, an ambassador (they are not synonyms), has limits on what she or he can say or do – because he or she is not to represent his or her own thoughts or desires or agendas, but rather the entity or person who is being represented. A person living an accountable life has limits on what he can say and do. He may not always understand the thoughts and ways of the person he represents, but that does not give the agent warrant to go his own way. If this is true of an agent or ambassador, how much truer is it of a bond-slave?

Each of these people is called to know the “will” of the person or entity they represent. The will of the bond-slave, the agent, and the ambassador is not to deviate from the will of the person or entity they serve.

This is a foundational issue, a fundamental question that should be settled in the soul of every professing Christian. How can we preach or teach without this question being settled? How can we call ourselves disciples? How can we embrace the Cross of Christ? How can we possibly hold one another accountable?

How much doctrinal and practical chaos is in the professing – church because everyone looks at themselves as having the right to do what they want, when they want, how they want – without submission to Christ and His Word? We do not view ourselves and our congregations as belonging to Another. I recall once being in a meeting of pastors and leaders in which the doctrine of “soul liberty” was placed above obedience to the Bible – is there anything amiss with this? We sacrifice the Bible, revealing the will of God, on the altar of our extra-Biblical doctrines and practices and traditions. It is possible that we’ve all done this at one time or another.

I listen to professing – Christians question God’s words and actions in the Bible, submitting them to the judgment of man. It is one thing to seek to understand the ways of our Father, it is another to exalt ourselves above the Word of God. Have we forgotten that God’s ways are not our ways? (Isaiah 55:9; 1 Cor. Chapters 1 and 2). Do we refuse to recognize the noetic effect of sin? The truth of God’s Word does not depend on our understanding or approval. We are not the validators of God’s Word – His Word will stand forever, whether or not we approve of it.

So, just who do I belong to? Am I a slave to Jesus Christ? Has He purchased me with His blood? Am I living as the possession of Another?

What about you?