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‘Ye belong to Christ.’
Mar_9:41
I. Those who come to Christ.—So the Saviour said: ‘All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me’ (Joh_6:37). You are invited to come just as you are. Are you young? ‘They enter the narrow way easiest who enter earliest.’ Nothing is more delightful than to see a girl sitting where Mary sat, at the feet of Jesus—or to see a boy leaning where John leaned, on the breast of Jesus. Are you middle-aged? Victor Hugo said forty was the old age of youth and fifty the youth of old age. Now is the time to come to Christ, before the shadows of evening are stretched out, before the harvest is past, before the summer is ended. Are you old? Then come, ere the fading years are all gone, ere the falling fire has quite died out. For coming to Christ and believing in Him are the same thing—‘He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst’ (Joh_6:35).
II. Those who follow Christ.—If we are sincere followers of Jesus Christ we shall be willing to suffer for His sake. That is to say, if Christ and our own worldly interests clash and come into conflict we shall follow Christ at all costs. We shall put Christ first and be willing to part with everything rather than part with Him.
III. Those who long to see Him.—I think it was Samuel Rutherford who said: ‘His absence is like a mountain upon my heavy heart—O, when shall we meet?’ This longing to see Him is a third mark of belonging to Him. Only those who love Him want to see Him. ‘If I have had pleasant and profitable correspondence for years with one whom I have not seen, but who is known to me by his wisdom and kindness; if he has done me more good than all the men whom I have seen, taught me, helped me, and stamped the impression of himself on my mind and heart; do I not long to see him face to face, and eagerly wait for a day when I may be nearer to him who has become indispensable to me, the very life of my life? Surely it is so between Christians and Christ.’
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustrations(1) ‘A young man of sceptical tendencies in the East End of London said: “I like this Jesus of yours, but what I cannot understand is that those who profess to be His followers aren’t a bit like Him.” In some cases this is true.’
(2) ‘Some of you remember Shakespeare’s wonderful story of the lady who was sought in marriage by many suitors. To test them, her father had made three caskets—one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead—and in one of the caskets the lady’s picture was placed. Each casket had a motto. On the gold one, this: “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.” On the silver one, this: “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.” But on the lead one, this: “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” The gold and silver caskets spoke of getting; the lead casket spoke of giving. He who gave most gained most, for the lady’s picture was in the casket that bade a man give and hazard all he hath.’
(3) ‘The first question in the Heidelberg Catechism is: ‘What is thy only comfort in life and in death?” And the answer, “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, Who with His precious Blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that, without the will of my Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.” To put it in fewer words: “What is thy only comfort in life and in death?” Happy are they that with simple faith can answer—“That I … belong to … Christ.” ’
NOT YOUR OWN
I. Proprietorship.—There is a sense in which it may be said that all men belong to Christ.
(a) His claim to us is based primarily on His Creatorship.
(b) All are His by redemption.
(c) Baptism is a confirmation of all this—a sign and seal of Divine proprietorship.
(d) But believers belong to Christ also by an act of personal consecration.
II. To belong to Christ implies privilege.
(a) Special care. So precious is goodness in the sight of God that He rules the universe for the sake of the good.
(b) Identity of interests. If I am Christ’s my joys are His joys, my sorrows are His sorrows.
(c) Dignity. You may speak of a Diviner ancestry. You belong to Christ. The King of kings owns you, and calls you His child.
III. To belong to Christ involves responsibility.
(a) We are to live for Christ. All the disorder and misery in the world may be traced to the fact of men living for themselves.
(b) We are to live like Christ. By the assumption of our nature, by His life on earth, by His suffering and death, Jesus Christ exemplified a self-sacrifice which was positively sublime, and to which the world had been a stranger.
(c) We are to confess Christ. His mastery once owned, His Headship once acknowledged, it becomes our first and most obvious duty to confess Him before men.
Illustration
‘If you inflict pain upon the remotest and least significant joint of your finger, the whole body sympathises, the sense of pain courses like an electric current through the million ramifications of your frame. The union between Christ and His Church is as intimate, as vital, as the union of the head with the body. He is our Head, we are His members. You cannot touch the remotest, the humblest member in that spiritual body without sending a thrill of sympathy up to the common Head. “In all, our afflictions He is afflicted.” When Saul persecuted the saints, Jesus charges him with persecuting Himself. “Why persecutest thou Me?” Jesus, having ascended up on high, far above all principalities and powers, was personally beyond the reach of persecution; yet a bond of union, invisible but real, linked His holy ones not only to the throne, but also to the person of the Mediator, so that every touch of agony they felt thrilled its utterances to the throne and moved the heart of Him, Who sits thereon. “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye” (Mar_9:42).’