How many times in the past 24 hours have you used the pronoun “my”? I am thinking of the pronoun – not the oath “my” or the exclamation “my.” “My, aren’t those politicians behaving badly?” That kind of language is a form of swearing called a “minced oath.” It originally involved the name of God – “My GOD, aren’t those politicians behaving badly?” Genteel people have dropped the blasphemous part of the statement, but it is still implied. And therefore it should not be found in the vocabulary of the Christian. Don’t get into the habit of using any kind of minced oath. And perhaps we should question our use of any ejaculatory words. In every part of our speech as Christians, our “yea” should be “yea” and our “nay” “nay.” We should strive to use precise words, good words and appropriate words. But again, I’m not thinking whether or not you have used the oath or the exclamation “my.” I am thinking of the little pronoun that declares personal possession. “My family, my car, my shirt, my Bible, my church” – that sort of thing.
I can’t really be sure, but a study of our use of that word might reveal things about our characters. It might illustrate how possessive we are – and as a result – how jealous. Our use of that word might show what things are the most precious to us. And it likely would surprise us know how often we use that little two-letter word.
Perhaps our grammar books indicate how possessive we are as a society. In English, there are three cases of pronouns: nominative, dative and possessive. Or as it is now taught: subjective, objective and possessive. “He, she, it” – “him, her, it” – and “his, hers and its.” Looking at it in this way – one third of our pronouns refer to possession or ownership. But in German and Latin there are four cases of pronouns: Are those people 15% less possessive than we Americans are? And in Greek there are eight cases – only one of which is possessive. Are the Greeks 60% less possessive than Americans? Probably not.
But if some sociologist said we are the most possessive people on earth, I wouldn’t be surprised. We live in a very self-centered, egotistical, possessive society. And I think that the reason for this is due fact that we are not heavenly-minded people, as a rule.
A rich, American Jew went Poland and visited a renowned Rabbi. The rabbi lived in small room with only a single bench table, bed and book shelves. The visitor asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture.” To which he replied, “Where is YOUR furniture?” The American said, “Mine? But I am only a visitor here,” and the Rabbi responded, “So am I.” And so are we all. One of the greatest defects of modern Christianity is our lack of heavenly-mindedness. In many it is outright worldliness, and in others it is just a lack of spirituality. It boils down to a heavy interest in what we possess – what we can call our own. But remember the words of our Saviour – “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
With that in mind, one day I asked myself, “What things did the Lord Jesus claim as His own?” He once said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” The Lord didn’t have a twelve bedroom mansion in the hills, like many religion-starters have had. He didn’t have a donkey to ride or a fishing boat to sail. But if the Lord used possessive words, how much and how often? Where did His heart lay? With my curiosity aroused I turned on my computer and asked my electronic concordance. The word “my” is found 552 times in the New Testament in 496 verses, And believe it or not I made sure that my eye skimmed over everyone of those verses. Approximately 50 times it was God the Father Who used that word, as in “This is MY beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Nearly 300 times the word “my” was uttered in parables or by other people in the New Testament. But about 250 times Christ Jesus used that word – 45% of the use of “my” in the New Testament. That surprised me – Jesus used it more than any other person in the Bible. That tells us that the Lord has a very possessive nature; His divine ownership shows. And the Scripture also tells us the Lord is very jealous– when we think about that we aren’t surprised.
Ah, but about what is it that the Lord is jealous? Usually the more possessive a person is the more he is going to fight to keep has he possesses. Another person may own or have things, but if he’s not jealous and possessive, he will be more likely to let others share in what he has. But when it comes to the Lord, my impression is – Brother, you better not try to take what is His. What is His is His. He’s like the proverbial bull dog that would sooner die than relax His grip on what is His. The Lord’s Supper is the Lord’s Supper, and you’d better not mess with it. God’s Word is something about which He will fight, and He is very jealous over His church or churches. You had better not take the Name of the Lord in vain.
But here is the really strange thing – about what things was Christ Jesus THE MOST POSSESSIVE? 75% of time when Jesus said “my” he was referring to only six things. For instance, 11% of the time, the 6th on that list, Jesus referred to His body. There is certainly nothing wrong with claiming one’s own body. As much as you may wish to trade with someone else, that body is yours for keeps. And the incarnate Christ had a body too; it was His body; and it was very, important.
One quarter of the time that Jesus said “my,” it was in reference to “My Father.”
If the math is correct, then the Father was the number one thing in our Saviour’s heart. In fact, the very first recorded utterance of the Lord was: “Know ye not that I must be about MY father’s business?” Among the many things that short statement tells us about that 12 yr-old boy – it says that He knew the difference between Jehovah and Joseph, his step-father. That was a unique and precise way to look at Jehovah – not common among the Jews at that time. It reminds us that Jesus was aware that He was “the only begotten of the Father.” Then at the opposite end of his life, some of the last statements before His death were: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” And “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Christ was characterized by special thoughts about God: “He is my Father, and I am His Son, unlike anyone else on earth.” One reference I checked said Jesus called God “Father” four times as much as did simply – “God.” And someone else said that if Jesus was here, He would rebuke the saints for talking about “God” so often — ignoring the more personal – “Father.” We have a special relationship to Jehovah that the world does not have, and they should be told.
And yet, Jesus was so dogmatic, so possessive about His Heavenly Father that it made Him unique. The reason for this was that this relationship was so prominent in His thoughts. How could the Lord not think about someone closer to His heart than any human spouse has ever been.
“I and MY Father are one.” That is a direct declaration from lips of Christ about the union between God the Father and the Son. It is a declaration of the essential deity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. If we could take away the Sonship of Christ, it would destroy the entire doctrine of God in the Bible. When Jesus said, “Yes, I am the Son of God,” the Jews took stones to kill him. That was a declaration of His deity, and those Jews knew it. Too bad the liberal seminary professors can’t see that.
Christ Jesus is the eternal Son – and therefore unlike any creature. It is certainly beyond the relationship of the saint and God the Father. “The Father loveth Son and hath given al things into His hand.” That is not true of anyone else. Jesus did the works of His Father, spoke the words of His Father, depended upon His Father, revealed His Father, and reveled in His Father. No one knows the Son save the Father, and neither doth any know the Father save the Son.
In other words, take away from Jesus’ unique and eternal sonship, and you destroy the doctrine of Christ. No sir, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians, and Mormonism is a non-Christian cult. They have denied and mutilated the deity of Christ as we find it in the Bible. Unitarianism is anti-Biblical. And so are any Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, or Baptists who deny the unique Sonship of Jesus.
Jesus’ most prized possession was “My Father.”
The second most prominent use of “MY” in the language of Lord was “My Teaching.”
Thirty one times the Lord Jesus made reference to “MY words,” “MY sayings,” “MY witness,” “MY record,” “MY speech,” and “MY voice.” And when He did, He let everyone know that His word took priority over every other voice. For example consider John 5:24-29 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth MY word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 8:31-32 – “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in MY word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Verse 51 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep MY saying, he shall never see death.” John 15:10-12 – “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
Do you mean tell me that the words of David Oldfield or John Gill are not as important as those of Christ? Now you’re starting to get the picture. Nor are the words of Council of Trent, or the Council of Nicea. Nor are the words of Ellen G. White, Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith, or Pope what’s-his-name. Your relationship to Christ and thus to God, hinges on your relationship to the Words of Christ. “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of (Him.)”
But what makes His word so special? Ah, that’s an easy one – He is the Living Word; He is the Revelation of the Father. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other Name under Heaven, given among men, whereby ye must be saved.” He, Christ, is the one mediator between God and men – we who are the children of Satan. What is more, every other word, every other author is temporary and short-lived. Christ said, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away but MY words shall not pass away.”
If you want answers and wisdom that you can cling to at the point of death then Jesus is the One you need. This is why Paul wrote, “I determined to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Any preacher or church which takes its message from anything but the Word God ceases to properly testify of Christ. That is something which the Lord would fight over: That is something for which the Lord removes church candlesticks.
Our next reference is to Jesus’ own NAME.
Twenty-six times, or 10% of the time that Jesus used the pronoun “MY” it was tied to His Name. But what is so special about a name? Ordinarily nothing. If you named your child Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, or even Junior, it would not make her a ball player. If you named him Billy, Charles Haddon, Dwight Lymon, or John R. that name won’t make him a preacher. A name is usually nothing but a few syllables given to identify something.
But the name “Jesus Christ” is not just a name; it is a designation of the infinite God. “Jesus” is the name of my Saviour – means “Jehovah saves.” As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t belong on the immigration card of anyone else. “Christ” and “Messiah” mean “anointed of God.” “Emmanuel” means “God with us.” These apply to Jesus of Nazareth – to Him alone.
And this special name transcends the few syllables, or the breath, used to utter them. So Jesus said, “He who receiveth this little one in MY NAME received me.” “Where two or three are gathered together in MY NAME there I am in the midst.” He said that a cup of cold water given in his name, guaranteed His blessing and reward.
Not only does the name of Christ designate the Person, but it also refers to His authority and power. In the days of the New Testament, in His name lay great power. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” In that blessed Name lay the ability to raise the dead. Perhaps, rather than “ability” I should say “authority.” Spurgeon said, “To neglect the name of Christ in prayer is to pull the walls of the Temple of Supplication down upon your ears, like Samson did the temple of Dagon.” Ultimately at the name of Jesus “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
No wonder the Lord Jesus is so jealous of His name. It is true – “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” But Jesus Christ is the Name of the infinite God. And “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.”
Jesus also speaks quite often about “MY sake” and “My cause.”
Our Lord places His cause above every other cause in the universe. And this is a point to which our hearts need to grasp. If your cause is not Christ’s cause then you are essentially causeless; your life is going to be wasted. Heart disease research, cancer research, politics, world-food production campaigns, Habitat for Humanity, the SPCA, Greenpeace, etc – in the light of eternity, they are nothing more than pastimes. I have never met a single soul won to Christ through such things. If your cause is politics or the American constitution, you are wasting your valuable life. Any goal not in Christ is perishing; it is vanity in comparison to His cause.
Jesus said, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for MY sake.” He said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for MY sake.” He said, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for MY sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for MY sake shall find it.” Christ said, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for MY sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”
For the sake of Christ, thousands of missionaries have traversed the world, evangelizing the lost. And thousands of good men have given up profitable careers to preach the gospel at home. And over the centuries millions of martyrs have died for Christ’s sake. Yet no matter what the physical outcome, it is worth it all to work for Christ’s sake.
When Jesus said, “MY sake,” He was talking about something very special.
Jesus’ last prominent use of the word “My” is found in connection with His people.
Oh, how I like this – The same One who said, “My Father,” also said “these are MY people.” Don’t ask me for a logical reason; I don’t think that one exists. But with one hand Christ reached down and picked up a few wretched sinners as they were about fall into Hell, and all the while He still had His hand in the hand of the Father in glory. He indeed is the one and only mediator between God and men, that man Christ Jesus.
But the word “people” is so general, so Jesus got much more personal. He speaks of “My brethren,” “My friends,” and “My disciples.” Notice again our text — God the Father is on one hand, Jesus in middle, and Christ’s sheep are at the bottom. Christ condescends to call us: “My sheep.”
I rejoice in thought that Jesus is as dogmatic and possessive over me as He is His Name or His body. He says, “All that father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise case out.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No sir, we are “kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day.”
Praise the Lord, that we can be the sheep of his pasture and He our Saviour. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
Can you take pleasure in being possessed by Christ this morning? Do you know that you will spend eternity in HIS house? Repent before Him, and trust in His grace.