Ownership

Think of yourself as living in an apartment house. You live there under a landlord who has made your life miserable. He charges you exorbitant rent. When you can’t pay, he loans you money at a fearful rate of interest to get you even further into his debt. He barges into your apartment at all hours of the day and night, wrecks and dirties the place up, then charges you extra for not maintaining the premises. Your life is miserable.

Then comes Someone who says, “I’ve taken over this apartment house. I’ve purchased it. You can live here as long as you like, free. The rent is paid up. I am going to be living here with you, in the manager’s apartment.” What a joy! You are saved! You are delivered out of the clutches of the old landlord!

But what happens? You hardly have time to rejoice in your new-found freedom, when a knock comes at the door. And there he is—the old landlord! Mean, glowering, and demanding as ever. He has come for the rent, he says. What do you do? Do you pay him? Of course you don’t! Do you go out and pop him on the nose? No—he’s bigger than you are! You confidently tell him, “You’ll have to take that up with the new Landlord.” He may bellow, threaten, wheedle, and cajole. You just quietly tell him, “Take it up with the new Landlord.” If he comes back a dozen times, with all sorts of threats and arguments, waving legal-looking documents in your face, you simply tell him yet once again, “Take it up with the new Landlord.” ln the end, he has to. He knows it, too. He just hopes that he can bluff and threaten and deceive you into doubting that the new Landlord will really take care of things.

Three years ago, Debra Mejeur and her husband Steven took Lola on a trip to Elk Grove, a suburb of Chicago, to visit friends. Then they received a call from neighbors that Lola was running down the street after escaping from the chain link fence and commenced what would turn into a lengthy search for her.

For two months, Debra and her husband drove three hours to Elk Grove every weekend to look for Lola, but the trips became costly and the trips slowed down. It was emotionally and physically exhausting. Debra said, “It was just devastating. I hated leaving Elk Grove because it just felt like I was abandoning her.”

Debra held out hope for finding Lola. She joined every Elk Grove neighborhood group she could find and would post every year on the anniversary she went missing asking if anyone had seen her. She even sought advice from a professional dog rescuer. She hoped that if someone out there had taken Lola in that they would care for her as much as she did.

Debra’s wish was granted and a couple in Glendale Heights did look after Lola. They noticed her in the woods and set out food and water for her for a year. Finally, they gained her trust enough to put a leash on her and take her to the DuPage County Animal Services. Debra received a text saying her pet Lola’s microchip had been detected and to contact Animal Services in Illinois. Debra said, “They are amazing people who did a very selfless act.”

In the yard in front of the animal shelter Lola was timid at first and hid behind the vet. She then gave Debra a few sniffs and a big lick on the forehead before her tail started wagging wildly and she burrowed into Debra for a hug. When she noticed Debra’s husband, Lola bounded over to him knocking him to the ground with excitement.

Lola was in good health with no noticeable signs of injury or trauma, although she had lost 10 pounds. Debra said, “I wish she could talk because I would probably give her a little lecture, too. ‘You’re not supposed to run away. Don’t do it again.’”

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Identity in Christ; Security in Christ – Debra’s missing dog was found because it was marked with a microchip. Believers can never be lost because we are marked with God’s seal of ownership (Eph. 1:13). 2) Lost; Lostness - We have also wandered away from God, but he never stops searching for us. (Luke 19:10)

To illustrate the truth that the Christian's body is no longer their own, pastor/author Ray Ortlund writes the following:

I try to drive carefully. But when I happen to borrow a friend's car, I drive very carefully. I don't want to damage the property of a friend and return it to him all banged up. Even so, our bodies are the personal property of someone else. The only way we could say, "Who does he think he is, telling me what to do with my body?" is by not belonging to him at all. Did he shed his blood to cover our sins? Has he given his Spirit to make us new? If so, then we should glorify him even in our physicality, especially our sexuality.

In Disney's animated movie Toy Story, Woody (a plush toy cowboy) confronts Buzz Lightyear (a toy astronaut) with the fact that he is only an action figure and not really a space hero. Early in the movie Woody shouts, "You're not a space ranger! You're an action figure—a child's plaything."

Only after failing to fly, Buzz realizes the truth of Woody's statement. Grief-stricken and disillusioned, Buzz hangs his head in resignation, declaring, "I'm just a stupid, little, insignificant toy."

Woody later seeks to comfort his friend by underscoring the love of the boy who owns them both. "You must not be thinking clearly. Look, over in that house, there's a kid who thinks you're the greatest, and it's not because you're a space ranger; it's because you're his."

As Buzz lifts his foot, he sees writing on the bottom of his little shoe. There in black permanent ink is the name of the little boy to whom he belongs. Seeing the image of his owner, Buzz breaks into a smile and takes on a new determination.

Elapsed time: 00:56:54 to 00:59:31

Content: Rated G

I just bought a used car. I need to get a license plate bracket that says, "Given by God, owned by God, and to be used for the purposes of God." It's not my car, not my house, not my money. I have to keep giving them back to God, because I am an acquisitive person and I want to have my own stuff.

A shepherd owns the sheep and marks them. In some cases, sheep are branded. Although some sheep are branded, that's really not a popular thing because it damages the wool. Even if the brand is placed through the wool and into the hide of the lamb, the wool can overgrow it so the brand won't be seen. Today the ears are pierced with identification tags, but that's a fairly modern invention.

For thousands of years, shepherds around the world marked the ears of their sheep by notching their ears with a sharp knife. Each shepherd had his own distinctive notch for the ear of his sheep. If the sheep gather in a cluster, he can see even from a distance which ones are his.

I think all of this is a lot like being a Christian. For Christians are also those who admit to being owned and marked by Jesus Christ--sometimes marked painfully through suffering and difficulty. It must be painful for Jesus Christ to allow those marks to be burned, pierced, and notched into our lives.