| Romans 14:7-12 "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: '"As surely as I live," says the Lord, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God."' So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." Back when Paul was writing the book of Romans, the society allowed selling of servants, so servants were the properties of their masters and master could trade the servants. When a servant was sold to a new master, he knew that he belonged to the new master and must serve him no matter he liked it or not. That is the historical background under which Paul used the relationship between master and servant as analogy for our relationship with the Lord. When Jesus was nailed on the cross and sacrificed Himself for us, He redeemed us from the curse of law with the price of his precious blood, much like how a master bought a servant from the market. Therefore, when the early church heard this analogy, they immediately understood that becoming a Christian is a major event because they would be getting a new master. The ways they lived, spoke and behaved must change from the ways of the old master to those of the new master. That's why Paul said here, "whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." We belong to the Lord and Jesus is our new master. We used to belong to the world and we were influenced by the world in everything we did. Our cultural affiliation and values were from the world. Since we belong to Jesus now, we can no longer follow our old ways of life and we must go through a fundamental shift. The Kingdom of God represents new culture and values that are completely different from those of the kingdom of the world. Those who belong to the Lord must follow the new ways of the Kingdom of God in our daily life. Do you understand that you belong to the Lord now? Do you understand it just as a knowledge, or are you actually practicing it in life? We can only seek His will and follow Him in everything that we do if we truly understand that Jesus is the Lord of our life.
Pray with Pastor Tong Liu 
Lord, we thank you because not only you are our Savior, but you are also the Lord of our life. Please open our hearts to understand that you are still sitting on the throne and ruling our daily life. Let us seek your will and follow your commandments, so that your righteousness and love will be manifested. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen! |
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