There are few Christians, probably, who have not found joy and refreshment from the words of the Lord Jesus recorded in Mark 9:4141For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. (Mark 9:41): “Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” The promise of blessing is held out to the one who gives even a cup of water to anyone in Christ’s name because he belongs to Christ. The warning of judgment is sounded to anyone who causes to offend one of the little ones that believe in Him.
“Ye belong to Christ.” Sweet morsel indeed to our taste. He owns us, He values us, He protects us, He appreciates all done to us for His sake because we are dear to His heart of love.
There are various ways in which we belong to Christ, and it will profit us to consider some of them a little.
First, we are His
By Creation.
Colossians 1 shows us this not to find rest in this world of the Son of God which the Spirit of God presents before us there, is that He is the Creator of all things (verse 16). “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” This glory of the Lord Jesus is often overlooked or forgotten. But the Holy Spirit calls our attention to it in John 1:33All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3), “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made,” and Hebrews 1:22Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2), “By whom also He made the worlds,” and in other passages as well as in Colossians 1: already referred to.
Everything was formed by His hand. He has made us, and made us for His glory. For His own pleasure He created us. As His creatures we should be for His delight. Alas! when our first father sinned in Eden, we find him seeking to hide from his Maker behind the trees of the garden. And we too have sinned, and we too have sought to hide from Him. The pleasure He sought in His creature has been hindered by His creature’s sin. Nevertheless it abides true—we are Christ’s by creation, we belong to Him.
But sin having come in, God has manifested the grace of His heart. He has declared Himself to be a Saviour-God. He has given His Son to meet us in our deep need, and He has been into death in order that we might be brought to God. In Him we who believe “have redemption through His blood,” and know that “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” But the precious blood of Christ which has thus procured redemption and cleansing for us has purchased us. Thus the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians could say: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which we have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2019What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19‑20). We belong to
Christ by Purchase.
He has acquired a new right to us, and we who are thus “His own” may rejoice and say in the words of the hymn—
“Lord, I am Thine, Thy love to me
Constrains my soul to cleave to Thee,
And gladly to resign
Whate’er I have, whate’er I am,
My life be all with Thine the same
And all Thy shame be mine.”
What a wonderful position the Christian occupies, as seen in the passage just referred to. His body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit. He is Christ’s, purchased by His precious blood. He is enabled to glorify God in his body. Well will it be for us if we keep these things constantly in view. It must create a profound effect upon our whole course if we ever have in mind the fact that we now belong to Christ as bought by Him, and that the Holy Spirit has taken up His dwelling place in us in order that God may be glorified in our lives. No longer do we belong to the world. Christ’s death has separated us from it. We are in it, we are passing through it, but as we do so we belong to Christ, and know that at any moment Christ may come into the air for His own and call us to be with Himself.
But we belong to Christ in another way, and in a way that is without doubt dearer than any other to Him. Not only are we His by creation, and His by purchase, we are His also
By the Father’s Gift.
In John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37) we read: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” The thirty-ninth verse of the same chapter tells us: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” “My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:2929My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:29).
These verses show that those given by the Father to Christ come to Him, are safe in Him, and are kept for Him. The Lord speaks of His sheep as His own (John 10:3, 43To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. (John 10:3‑4)), and “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (13:1). He values those who believe on Him as the love-gifts of the Father to Himself. May we not say that as each sinner comes to Christ he is seen as a fresh proof of the Father’s love, a gift from the Father and received and welcomed as such? In John 17 we find the fact of our having been given by the Father to the Son referred to seven times over (verses 2, 6 (twice), 9, 11, 12, 24).
Blessed indeed is it to ponder thus upon the joy of the Son in giving eternal life to those given Him of the Father; in manifesting the Father’s name to them; in praying for them, because they are the Father’s; in putting them into the Father’s care during His own absence from them; in guarding them so that they perish not; and lastly, in claiming that they may be with Him where He is. Precious indeed to the Son are the Father’s love-gifts to Him.
In 2 Corinthians 8 we find yet another way of belonging to Christ. We are His by creation, we are His by purchase, we are His by the Father’s gift to Him—all this is blessedly true of every believer on the Son, and our souls may dwell upon these truths with great delight. But let us ask ourselves whether we are Christ’s in the way in which the Christians were of whom the Apostle speaks the words: “This they did, not as we hoped, but first of all gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.” 2 Corinthians 8:55And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. (2 Corinthians 8:5). Have we done this? Are we Christ’s
By Presentation?
Have we yielded ourselves to Christ? Have we given ourselves to Him? Have we ever in the secret of our own rooms, or wherever we could be alone, said to Him, “Lord, here I am—one of Thine own—I am Thine by creation, Thine by purchase, Thine by Thy Father’s gift; now, Lord, I give myself to Thee, for Thee to use, as Thou wilt and where Thou wilt and when Thou wilt; all that I am, and all that I have, I place at Thy service. Henceforth I am Thine by my own gift, and only Thine forever”? It will be a happy day in your history when this is true of you. Nothing less is a fitting answer on our part to all His unfathomable and eternal love to us.
“Lord, we are Thine: Thy claims we own,
Ourselves to Thee we’d wholly give,
Reign Thou within our hearts alone,
And let us to Thy glory live;
Here let us each Thy mind display,
In all Thy gracious image shine;
And haste that long-expected day
When Thou shalt own that we are Thine.”