A little over a year ago, my wife and I bought a house. We had lived in an apartment in downtown Bellevue since we had first been married.
The apartment was fine and good, but the truth is we didn’t care for it really well. We lived there, but we hadn’t really taken permanent residence there. We spent our time there, but we didn’t really intend to make it our home. We always knew we would sometime soon move somewhere else. As a result, we didn’t take much time to improve it, paint it, renovate it, etc. It just wasn’t our home.
That’s drastically different from where we live now. Since we now own a home, we’re constantly thinking about how we can improve it to make it more hospitable, who we can host, how we can serve, and how we can best use it for our family. Ownership of the home changed our view of the home. That means I spend a lot of time painting (though I don’t like to paint), fixing things (though I’m a laughable Mr. Fix-It), and doing yard work (though my thumb is far from green).
Ownership wasn’t just about a title or deed, it wasn’t just a legal document; it was a frame of mind and heart change. Ownership meant that I now had a responsibility to be a good steward.
Change of Ownership
Ownership of a home changes the way you live. Ownership of the mission changes who you are. And this begins with knowing who you are owned by.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 gives us the glorious news that we are owned by Jesus. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” The Spirit has taken permanent residence in us, and he is on a mission to renovate our hearts, to make us new. As this happens, as we know that we are owned by him, we are set free to be stewards of his mission.
In one of our foundational books for Mars Hill Church, called Community, there is a great section on ownership that reads,
“Ownership inspires passion and leads to action. Yet, for the Christian, ownership does not come from believing in a good idea but from faith in the good news. Our ability to own comes from the fact that we are owned by Christ. We inherit ownership from our Father. Thus, we don’t need to manufacture ownership as much as we need to awaken the church to the reality that this is our mission. We are agents of the king. It is already ours; we need only to exercise that ownership.”
Ownership and Our Mission
In our day, we want to be owners of everything. Cultural emphasis on owning homes, cars, and the whole gamut of consumer products can make it’s way into our view of the church. Ultimately, Jesus isn’t calling us to “own the mission,” but rather to steward his mission. If we see that we are owned by God, we’re set free to live for him.
Don’t own it. Don’t try and bring Jesus along on your mission. Instead, acknowledge that you are owned by him, and that the greatest endeavor by which you could spend your life is to steward the mission of God.
