God’s passion for his church – Part 1

Christ is our Redeemer, Saviour, Lord, and Head of the church of God. He purchased the church with His blood and gave the believer and Christian servants the responsibility to care, nurse, feed, grow and develop the church. We belong to Christ who paid so great a price for our redemption. “Remember thy congregation, which thou hast PURCHASED of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt”.

The price Christ paid is for the church of the living God. The people who are saved, and have been brought out of bondage of sin by the blood of the Lamb in the fellowship of believers and church of God, are the purchased. All the people who belong to God are purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ, and He lives and reigns in them. The Lord has great passion for His purchased church.

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to ALL THE FLOCK, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood”. “All the flock” in the local assembly constitute the children, youths, men, women, workers and leaders saved by the Lord. They all belong to Him and are under the leadership of His Holy Ghost-appointed overseer. He charges the overseers to look up to Him and not be negligent of their responsibility of caring for the church. Members of the church must allow their leaders to perform their responsibility. To frustrate the leaders that God has appointed over His church is to sow evil seeds that could be reaped later. The law of sowing and reaping still holds.

The Lord has bought us with the greatest of all prices; therefore, we and all that we have belong to Him forever. He has divine ownership of and authority over our lives because He cleansed, purged and made us who we are in Christ today. Having accomplished our redemption on the Cross and effected it in every believer, He declares, “thou becamest mine”.

Over every one who is saved, purchased by Christ’s blood, God has divine ownership. “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise”. He made the greatest sacrifice to buy us from slavery to sin and Satan. The Lord wants every believer to understand that he does not belong to himself anymore. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

As the owner of our lives, He has the right to use us for His own purpose and glory. The Lord can use us anywhere and at any time He chooses to. Acknowledging His divine ownership, the believer must always promptly and implicitly obey the Lord. His response to God’s claim of divine ownership ought to be, “My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have”. He has double ownership of the believer by creation and redemption. Thus, He has the final, overruling say over the believer’s life. God pays special attention to the people who belong to Him. He is building His church and calls every believer to contribute His quota to the success of the great work of soul-winning.
Further Reading (King James Version): Acts 20:28; Psalm 74:2; Exodus 15:16-18; Acts 20:28; Exodus 21:2-6; Ezekiel 16:8-10; Isaiah 43:7,21; Matthew 13:45,46; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; 1 Kings 20:3,4; John 17:6,9,10.