Dear Saint: Everything is Yours
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by Jon Buck
“For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” ~ 1 Cor. 3:21-23
Throughout the first part of 1 Corinthians, Paul has been appealing to the church there to stop following after men, and to follow after Christ. His argument comes to a conclusion at the end of chapter 3.
The conclusion to his argument is a remarkable statement about the importance of the saints. Paul says that all things (ALL things) belong to the people of God. What does this include?
The Apostles, and all ministers/pastors belong to the saints (not the other way around!)
The created world belongs to the saints
Life and death belong to the saints
All things that are coming in the future, for eternity, belong to the saints
Why? Why does everything belong to God’s people?
The answer is that the saints belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. Christ has willingly submitted Himself to His Father, and in that sense, He belongs to God. And the saints, as those He ransomed with His own blood, belong to Him.
For this reason, Christ, in His sovereignty, protects, loves, and provides for His people. In fact, in everything that happens in the lives of God’s people, Christ is working.
So what’s the upshot of all this? Everything belongs to you BECAUSE you belong to Christ. You are not owned by your trials or by anything else. In fact, quite the opposite.
Your pastors and leaders belong to YOU. We are your servants for Christ’s sake.
Your trials and hardships belong to YOU. They are gifts given to you to conform you into His image.
Your future belongs to you. Jesus is working everything together for His glory and your joy.
Even death doesn’t own you—your death belongs to you because it is in the perfect sovereign hand of God, and will be for His glory.