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Belong - June 29, 2008

Belong

Mark 936-41, Galatians 3:26-29

June 29, 2008

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

At Christ Lutheran Church in Maple Plain we have a "lost and found" because we do not know whom things belong to.

But the Bible Focus this morning makes it very clear whom YOU belong to.  Please open your bulletins one more time and take a look at the last line of the Bible Focus.  It says, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

That almost give the misimpression that you might or you might NOT belong to Christ because it says, "if":  "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's see, and heirs according to the promise."

According to most experts in biblical Greek, this might better be translated this way:  "SINCE you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's see, and heirs according to the promise."  After all, look at the beginning of that same passage, at the beginning of the Bible Focus.  Here there is no question about whether or not you belong because it says, "You ARE all [children] of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothes yourselves with Christ."

So, you are not like the items in the lost and found:  whom you belong to is known...whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, or even whether you believe it or not:  ALL of us who were baptized into Christ belong TO Christ.

And, "SINCE you belong to Christ, then you are...heirs according to the promise."

You know I get in to places based on whom I say I belong to.  My wife works in a secure research facility at the U.  To get in there, I say that I am her husband.

When I need to get into a secure area of a hospital, I explain that I am so and so's pastor.

When I need to enter a crime scene, I say that I belong to the police department as their chaplain.

When I need to get into heaven, what will I say?  Same thing:  I'll get in based on who I belong to.  THAT is what I inherit because of belonging to Jesus Christ.

And this inheritance that we receive by belonging to Jesus is not just a heaven thing for some day in the distant future.  It has a right now impact...IF I know that I belong to Him, if I trust that I belong to Him, if I value that I belong to Him.

Since I last saw you, a lot has happened.  I went through crash landing preparations on a airliner.  My aunt passed away.  So did Nina Marklund's mother.  Barb Dugan came home from a check-up at the doctor's and four hours later died watching television.  Judy and Dareld Schliinz' eldest son, Jerry, disappeared yesterday under mysterious circumstances from his eighteen wheeler in Missouri.

I can tell you for a fact that every single situation I just mentioned is being weathered with grace and hope and total trust by the people who have gone through these things.  And every single person has told me that they are able to do this because they are certain that they and their loved ones are totally safe because they are being watched over and blessed by God whom they know they belong to...regardless of the pain and the tears through which they are also struggling.

One of these sermons I'm going to share with you what the last few minutes before a possible crash landing were like - except to say that any fear I might have had was replaced with the excitement of maybe meeting, in just a few short minutes, the Jesus I belong to.

And after all this drama, God provided a special little benediction yesterday when I got to meet with the newest member of this congregation at North Memorial - seven pound, ten oz. little Alaina Ruth Pettit, born to Amanda and Craig and two brothers...who locked themselves in their bedroom in protest that it was not a boy like them!

You see, belonging to Jesus, for those who bank on that, has a right now effect on how we can go forward amidst the sometimes frightening uncertainties of this realm.

And not just for us.  Jesus was not just about the benefits which come to those who trust Him - but the benefits we can pass on to others when we trust that we are taken care of, so that we can turn our attention and our resources to those who are in special need of them.

In the Gospel Lesson which you read right before the sermon, you heard Jesus say that, "anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward."  Well, how about this:  what do you think He then wants YOU to do with that cup of water since you belong to Him?  I hope you don't have to think too hard on that one.

Each one of us has more than enough to think about in our own lives.  But it is because we know and trust that we belong to Jesus, that we can turn our attention to others.  That is why we never have worship without offering intercessory prayers for others - to pass on to others the benefits of belonging to Jesus.

So let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.  Lord in Your mercy...