the significance of being a christian - belonging to the lord
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"THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BEING A CHRISTIAN“
Lesson #2Belonging To The Lord
INTRODUCTION
In our previous lesson, we began this series... Asking what is the
significance of being a Christian. Starting with the idea that a
Christian is “A Person Reborn"
INTRODUCTION
We noted that a Christian is a person reborn because in Christ...
They are a new creation. They have been born again.
They now have a new loyalty: to serve Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION
We begin this lesson by noting Paul's comments to the Corinthians...
1 Corinthians 6:19 NET Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your
own?
INTRODUCTION
20 For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your
body. In which he challenged their
thinking by asking "Do you not know...you are not your own?"
INTRODUCTION
The Christian needs to understand that they have been "bought at a
price" and consequently "Belong To The Lord"
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
"Belonging to the Lord" has many connotations attached to it.
One is that a Christian is...
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
CHRISTIANS ARE NOW GOD'S OWN SPECIAL PEOPLE...
1 Peter 2:9 NET But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people of his own,
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. 10 You once were not a people, but now
you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have
received mercy.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
“a chosen race““a royal priesthood“
“a holy nation““people of his own“
These are terms that were once reserved for the physical nation of
Israel.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
The Lord had chosen them Deuteronomy 10:15 NET However, only to your
ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants,
from all peoples — as is apparent today.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
He made them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Exodus 19:5 NET And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my
covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all
the earth is mine,
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
6 and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'
These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites."
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
Thus they had become a special people above all other nations Deuteronomy 7:6 NET For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. He has chosen you
to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
What had once been limited to physical Israel, is now possible to
all people who are in Christ, as promised to Abraham.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
Galatians 3:8 NET And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of
time, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you."
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
9 So then those who believe are blessed along with Abraham the believer.
Galatians 3:28 NET There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female
— for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
GOD'S SPECIAL PERSON
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
A SPECIAL PEOPLE, WITH
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
To proclaim the praises of God.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
1 Peter 2:9 NET But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
10 You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Because He called us out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
Because He showed mercy, and made us the people of God.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
To grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:8 NET For if these things are really yours and are
continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and
unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more
intimately.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
9 But concerning the one who lacks such things — he is blind. That is to say, he is nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing
of his past sins.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble
into sin.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
11 For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
To make our calling and election (as God's people) sure.
To have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
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!
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Hebrews 3:12 NET See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has
an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called "Today," that
none of you may become hardened by sin's deception.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial
confidence firm until the end. 15 As it says, "Oh, that today you would
listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came
out of Egypt under Moses' leadership? 17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years?
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the
wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who
were disobedient?
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. 4:1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise
of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come
short of it.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in
faith.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Hebrews 4:11 NET Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following
the same pattern of disobedience.
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
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."
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
God's love for the Christian is made even more evident when we note
that he is also...
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
CHRISTIANS ARE BLESSED TO BE
CHILDREN OF GOD...
In one sense, all people are God's children.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Acts 17:26 NET From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and
the fixed limits of the places where they would live,
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around
for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
28 For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we
too are his offspring.'
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
29 So since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an
image made by human skill and imagination.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
In another sense, many do not have God as their Father.
John 8:42 NET Jesus replied, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and
am now here.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
I have not come on my own initiative, but he sent me. 43 Why don't you understand what I am
saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
44 You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what
your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature,
because he is a liar and the father of lies.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Yet Christians are the children of God in a very special way.
Because of their faith, and having put on Christ in baptism.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Galatians 3:26 NET For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Redeemed and adopted by God, they have received His Spirit into
their hearts. Galatians 4:4 NET But when the appropriate time had
come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be
adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, who calls "Abba! Father!"
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Because we do the Father's will, Jesus considers us His family. Matthew 12:48 NET To the one who
had said this, Jesus replied, "Who is my mother and who are my
brothers?"
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
49 And pointing toward his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is
my brother and sister and mother."
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
Christians should be touched by this expression of God's love
1 John 3:1 NET (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that
we should be called God's children —
GOD'S BELOVED CHILD
and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us:
because it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God's
children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him,
because we will see him just as he is. AS GOD'S CHILDREN, WE
HAVE BLESSINGS AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ
Galatians 4:7 NET So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a
son, then you are also an heir through God.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Romans 8:16 NET The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God's children. 17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow
heirs with Christ) — if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified
with him.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
For we are heirs according to the promise of God
Galatians 3:29 NET And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to
the promise.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
It is an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade, and is reserved for us in heaven. 1 Peter 1:4
NET that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
It is reserved in heaven for you,
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
As heirs, we have many responsibilities, including: Being thankful for the
inheritance we have. Colossians 1:12 NET giving thanks to the Father who
has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Abstaining from the works of the flesh. Galatians 5:19 NET Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity, depravity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions,
factions,
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
21 envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God!
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:17 NET Therefore
"come out from their midst, and be separate," says the Lord, "and touch
no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and
daughters," says the All-Powerful Lord. 7:1 Therefore, since we have
these promises, dear friends,
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of
reverence for God.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
If we wish to receive the promised blessings, we need to patiently
carry out our responsibilities with an enduring faith.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Hebrews 10:35 NET So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. 36 For you need
endurance in order to do God's will and so receive what is
promised.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
37 For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he
shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith
and preserve their souls.
BLESSINGS & RESPONSIBILITIES
Besides being God's special person and God's child, a Christian who "belongs to the Lord" also has a
special relationship to the world in which they live.
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM CHRISTIANS ARE IN THE
WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE WORLD.
As Jesus mentioned in His prayer for His disciples.
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
John 17:15 NET I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but
that you keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to
the world.
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
Like Abraham, a Christian is a sojourner, a pilgrim.
Hebrews 11:13 NET These all died in faith without receiving the things
promised,
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged
that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the
city that is to come.
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
1 Peter 1:1 NET From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those
temporarily residing abroad (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the
province of Asia, and Bithynia) who are chosen
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
We are fellow citizens with members of God's family. Ephesians 2:19 NET So then
you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's
household,
GOD'S HEAVENLY PILGRIM
As such, our true citizenship lies in heaven, not here on earth.
Philippians 3:20 NET But our citizenship is in heaven — and we also await a savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ,
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
AS GOD'S PILGRIMS, WE HAVE SEVERAL OBLIGATIONS...
To conduct our sojourn on earth with fear.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
1 Peter 1:17 NET And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in
reverence.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
To abstain from worldly lusts.1 Peter 2:11 NET Dear friends, I urge
you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
1 John 2:15 NET Do not love the world or the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the
desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material
possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains
forever.To keep our conduct honorable,
filled with good works.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
1 Peter 2:12 NET and maintain good conduct among the non-
Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds
and glorify God when he appears.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
To obey the laws, and respect the leaders, of the countries in which
we sojourn.1 Peter 2:13 NET Be subject to every
human institution for the Lord's sake,
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
whether to a king as supreme 14 or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those
who do good. 15 For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people
by doing good.
GOD'S PILGRIM’S OBLIGATIONS
16 Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God's slaves. 17 Honor all
people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the
king.
CONCLUSION
We have seen that a Christian is a person who
“belongs to the Lord", one who is...God's special person,
God's child, God's pilgrim.
CONCLUSION
The more we understand the significance of such privileges. We
ought to be filled with gratitude and humility. We ought to be
moved to be the kind of people God intended.
CONCLUSION
Are we living and conducting ourselves as those who “Belong
to The Lord"?Are we acting like a special people?
Do we live like a child of God should?
CONCLUSION
Is our life truly a sojourn, or are we living like we want to make this
earth our permanent home?As we saw in our beginning text:
CONCLUSION
1 Corinthians 6:19 NET Or do you not know that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and
you are not your own?
CONCLUSION
20 For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your
body.May the significance of belonging to
God prompt us to always glorify God in our bodies and our spirits!
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