If you’ve ever watched Finding Nemo, you probably remember those seagulls. You may have even clicked on this article because of them.
You don’t remember them because they contributed much to the movie in their 10 seconds; you remember them because when something catches their attention, they all begin squawking, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” They don’t seem particularly concerned with who it actually belongs to. They see something they want, and they all try to claim it as their own.
It’s funny how much meaning can be packed into such a small word. And while those seagulls probably aren’t going to teach us much theology, they do provide an interesting starting point for thinking about a word that God Himself uses throughout Scripture: Mine.
As Christians, we talk a lot about things that belong to the Lord.
We use words like God’s people, the Lord’s Day, God’s Word, the Lord’s Supper, etc. These are probably familiar to you, especially if you’ve been around the church for any length of time. But I wonder how often we actually stop and think about what we’re saying.
I think this happens quite a bit in the Christian life. We become so familiar with certain words and phrases that we can say them without giving much thought to what they mean. And sometimes, in doing so, we miss some really wonderful and comforting truths.
Take those expressions I just mentioned, for example. They all have something in common, in that they speak of things that belong to God. For the most part, we think, and rightfully so, that these words are speaking of things that belong to God, and that He has a rightful claim on them.
But there is something else here that we can be quick to miss. When God claims something as his own, he also takes responsibility for it, and His ownership is never separated from his care. Stop and consider what this really means.
The Lord’s People
When Paul was speaking to the elders at the church in Ephesus, he told them to care for the church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28). Think about that for a moment. We belong to him because he graciously made us his own. He redeemed us, reconciled us to God, and brought us into his household.
It also ought to change the way we think about one another.
Peter tells pastors to shepherd “the flock of God” (1 Pet. 5:2). I find that language particularly helpful as a pastor. The people I have been called to shepherd are not my people. They’re His.
I’ve been entrusted with people who belong to Jesus Christ, and I will one day give an account for how I cared for them.
But this isn’t just something pastors need to remember; it's the call for every Christian. The brother or sister who tries your patience, who needs forgiveness - these are people Christ purchased with his blood, and surely that ought to shape the way we treat them.
The Lord’s Day
We call Sunday the Lord’s Day, but I wonder if we’ve thought much about what that means. John uses this possessive phrase in Revelation 1:10, and we see the early church gathering on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7).
The point is that the day belongs to the Lord, and that certainly means he has a claim upon how we spend it. Put bluntly, our time is not ultimately our own, and we ought to order our lives around the worship of God rather than trying to fit worship into whatever time we have left.
But again, I think we can miss something if we only think about what God requires of us.
The Lord’s Day is also a gift to his people.
Every week, the Lord calls us away from our ordinary labors and gathers us together to receive from Him. We come weary, distracted, burdened by sin, and often carrying all sorts of troubles that nobody else knows about. And what does the Lord do? He gathers us, speaks to us, assures us of his grace, and feeds us.
The day belongs to Him, and He has graciously set it apart for our good.
The Word of the Lord
When Paul commended the Thessalonians, he thanked God that they had received the message preached to them, not as the word of men, but as the Word of God (1 Thess 2:13).
This is something both pastors and congregations need to remember.
As a preacher, I don’t have the freedom to stand before God’s people and simply say whatever I think might be helpful or interesting. It isn’t my Word. My responsibility is to faithfully explain what God has said and direct people to Christ. But there’s comfort here too.
When you gather to hear the Scriptures read and preached, you are not just coming to hear a man’s thoughts about God. You are coming to hear what God Himself has said to you. It is through that Word that God is speaking to you that exposes our sin, announces the forgiveness we have in Christ, and strengthens our faith.
What a wonderful thing that is. The God who claims us as his own has not left us guessing about who He is or what He has promised. He speaks His Word to His people.
The Lord’s Supper
This one is especially interesting to think about because the apostle Paul actually contrasts the Lord’s Supper with what he calls each person’s “own supper” (1 Cor 11:20–21).
The Corinthians had begun treating the meal as though it belonged to them. Their divisions and selfishness had distorted what they were doing to the point that Paul told them they were not really eating the Lord’s Supper at all.
Why?
Because the meal belonged to Christ, he instituted it, He gave it its meaning, and thus, He determines how His people are to receive it.
But once again, don’t miss the comfort that comes with His claim on the Supper.
The Lord’s Supper belongs to Jesus, and He has given it to His people for their good. He knows how weak our faith can be and knows how easily we forget His promises, and so he gives us this meal. In this meal, He sets before us the very body that was broken and the blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
He gives us bread and wine, ordinary things, that He has appointed to communicate extraordinary promises. And as we eat and drink by faith, we are reminded that Christ has given himself for us, that his sacrifice is sufficient, and that all the benefits of his death belong to those who trust in him. We preach the gospel until He comes.
The Lord’s People
I could go on. We could talk about the Lord’s house, the Lord’s servants, the Lord’s inheritance, or even the Lord’s discipline. In each case, there is something worth considering about what it means for these things to belong to Him, but I think you get the point.
When we hear that something belongs to God, our minds often go immediately to the obligations that come with His Lordship, and don’t hear what I am not saying, those obligations are real. The Lord has every right to command His people, and to direct our lives according to His Word. But neither should we separate his authority from his goodness.
The God who claims a people for Himself is the same God who purchased them with the blood of His Son. The Lord who sets apart a day for His worship is the same Lord who gives rest to the weary. The God whose Word governs our faith and life is the same God who speaks promises of forgiveness and life to sinners. And the Christ who institutes His Supper is the same Christ who gives Himself to be received by faith.
In other words, God’s possession is not just a statement about what He requires from us; it is a reminder of what He has graciously undertaken to do for us.
Nowhere is this more wonderfully expressed than in the words of our Savior in John 10.
Speaking of His sheep, Jesus says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
Don’t miss the connection that Jesus is making in this text. They are His sheep, and because they are His, He gives them life and promises that they will never perish. Their security rests in His gracious commitment to keep them.
That is the comfort of belonging to the Lord.
We are often quick to think about what it means for God to be our God, and rightly so. But there is much comfort to be found in remembering what it means for us to be His people.
After all, the great covenant promise that runs throughout Scripture is not merely that we will belong to God, but that He will be our God and we will be His people (Jer. 31:33).
So the next time you hear someone speak of the Lord’s people, the Lord’s Day, the Lord’s Word, or the Lord’s Supper, or anything else that belongs to Him, I would challenge you to think about more than the fact that these things belong to him.
Remember what kind of Lord He is.