Title: BELONGING TO JESUS
Focus: Having been called and saved by Jesus Christ, we belong to Jesus in life and in death.
Function: To encourage the people to live with a clear sense of identity rooted in Jesus, so that we maintain a steady course throughout life.
Text: Romans 14:1-23
Confession: Lord’s Day 1
Question: What role or function do the following items play in our lives? Our family tree. Our last name. Our favorite football team. And our wedding ring or college ring? Answer: They give us identity. They provide us with a sense of belonging.
All people have a need to belong. Very few people are able to live a satisfactory or happy life in total isolation from any other human being or place. Even a hermit, living in the desert, will develop a sense of belonging, arguing that he (or she) belongs in the desert, living in a cave.
Kids want to belong to certain groups at school; parents want to belong to certain clubs or organizations. Sports fans demonstrate their identification with their favorite team in many different ways. The other day I saw some pictures of some Viking fans. I tell you, the text book pictures of Attilla the Hun, which I saw as a kid, looked less fearsome (in my mind) than some of these Viking fans: fierce-looking, painted faces and horned helmets on their heads. I would not want to meet them at night in our backyard. Surely, the need to belong is a very basic human need. So let me say it as forcefully and clearly as I can:
Having been called and saved by Jesus Christ, Christians belong to Jesus in life and in death. In fact, it’s that sense of belonging, which gives us comfort, stability and direction in life.
I say that in light of the passage found in Romans 14. There we notice that the apostle Paul addresses a particular problem in the early Christian church at Rome. Christians were pronouncing judgments on each other on the basis of their beliefs about certain things. Some new Christians (primarily Jews) believed that eating certain foods was a ‘no-no.” Other new Christians (primarily those without a Jewish background) had no problem eating all kinds of foods, including pork. Others believed that fasting was absolutely essential. Again, others did not feel the need for fasting at all.
The arguments about these things caused hard feelings and division in the church. The apostle Paul felt a need to address the problem and he did so basically on the basis of “things indifferent.” Some things just are not worth dividing the church over. Eating certain foods is a “thing indifferent.” Observing certain days as more sacred than others is a “thing indifferent.” You and I have no business sitting as judge over each other, condemning each other.
The apostle Paul felt that in Christ Jesus the ceremonial laws and regulations are fulfilled. Christians are free from these legal prescriptions, even though they are found in the sacred writings of the Old Testament. Therefore, Paul refers to those who cherish their freedom in Christ as “strong” in faith. And those who find it hard to forego the practices they learned in childhood are referred to as those who are “weak” in faith. The weak in faith may not judge the strong; nor may the strong in faith sit in judgment over the weak. In fact, the strong have a special obligation to the weak.
Listen: (vs. 1) “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.” Paul develops this call for acceptance by saying: (John Stott) “Do not despise or condemn the weak person.” Rather, welcome him because God has welcomed him (2-3); welcome her, because Christ died and rose again to be the Lord of both the living and the dead (4-9). Welcome him because he is your brother (vs. 10a). Welcome him or her because we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. And each of us will give an account of ourselves to God (vs. 10b-12)
Such then is the argument in Romans 14.
The linch pin or the key on which Paul hinges his argument is found in vs. 7 and 8: “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” In other words, since Christians belong to the Lord, we have no business sitting in judgment over each other when it comes to “matters indifferent.” Such judgmental approaches only undermine our unity in Christ. What’s more, they minimize Christ’s appointed position as the Judge over all at the end of time.
Christians belong to Christ. This is fundamental to the core of our being: My last name may connect with a certain family; my passport connects me with a certain country; my voter registration card points to a certain political party; my vehicle license plate tells the world that I live in Minnesota. All of these are identification markers. But the fundamental, core identification for all Christians lies with Jesus Christ: we belong to him—in life and in death.
Our baptism symbolizes that belonging. God has written on our foreheads his claim and his promise to us in Jesus Christ. Every morning when we get up and look into the mirror and see that face of ours, we ought to take note of that invisible sign on our forehead: “you’re mine,” says the Lord through the powerful voice of our baptism.
God’s claim and promises to us symbolized and represented to us in baptism, is realized through the accomplished work of Jesus. He died for sinners, so that the wages of sin are paid for; he arose from the dead, so that those who are dead in sins and trespasses, may live and live eternally. He shook the gates of hell with his resurrection from the dead, so that all who believe in Him may now enter the gates of heaven. As Paul says in this passage: (vs. 9) “For this reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” In Jesus Christ, then, Christians have life; and we belong to Him who is the Lord of all life.
APPLICATIONS/LORD’S DAY ONE
Now think of the Catechism as your bible teacher or mentor. She is eager to help us gain biblical insight—that is, knowledge that will help us to be joyful, faithful, and grateful followers of Jesus. Our mentor comes to us with a very pointed question (as we noted earlier in the service). Now let’s consider the Catechism’s answer and note what insights our mentor wants us to have in light of Paul’s key observation in Romans 14: (What is your only comfort in life and in death?). (I will make this very personal):
This is true, not only for my soul or spirit, but also for my body. And this is true not only in life, but also when I enter the great cloud of witnesses which surrounds us today: “…I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” God made us from the dust; the human body consists of more than a trillion cells. Every dust particle or every cell that constitutes my body, belongs to Jesus Christ. This is why it matters what I do to my body—whether I smoke or drink or pierce my ears or nose or tongue, whether I tattoo my body, or whether I practice abortion—all of these things matter to Christ, because Christians belong to Him—body and soul.
That
assurance comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit—a work that we cannot
accomplish in our own soul. He does that work by creating, stirring, and
nurturing faith and trust within us. No, what we can do, and are called to do
is this: seek and walk and keep in step with the Holy Spirit each day. And when
we do so, we’ll discover that the Holy Spirit plies the waters of our hearts: “he
makes me whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
Folks, nothing, and I mean nothing can beat belonging to Jesus. It’s our only comfort, our only security both in life and in death.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.