Ownership - 1

"You are not your own for you are bought with a price." (1 Cor. 6. 19-20). These words, written to an early Christian community, were a reminder that those who professed to follow Christ were no longer free to indulge in the ways of the world and the natural man. They belonged to a new owner whose laws or commandments they were in honour bound to obey. "If you love me, keep my commandments". There can be no community without law. Whether it be a church or a nation, rules and the observance of them are essential to hold a society together. It is a common assumption that the human being belongs to himself. Any form of bondage is irksome, resented and in some cases intolerable. For freedom, liberty, self-possession and self-expression men have fought and died rather than suffer the restriction and suppression of the natural right of man to be free. To be captain of his own life and master of his own fate is, in the philosophy of the progressive, not only possible but proper.

The tendency of human nature is to go from one extreme to another. Between the galling shackles of tyranny and the law of every man for himself, neither of which has brought any relief to the struggle for freedom, lies an acknowledgement of a higher authority. It is a submission to a nobler law, a wiser set of rules, a servitude that is not galling, an allegiance that is wholesome and life preserving. It does, not lie in party, system, sect, religious or political formulae, nor does it demand loyalty to human leadership. The real liberty and life of man lies in fidelity to his Maker. This first claim upon all that is finest and best in his nature is the only certain way to that freedom which is the desire of all people. When met willingly it is the surest way to peace and happiness. The tendency of the times is to set aside or ignore what has become known as the old theology, that God created the earth and made man to inhabit the planet as a responsible tenant. If the Christian is not his own, but bound to his Saviour in the bonds of love and service, neither is man in general his own nor does he own the earth he inhabits. The wordy reasoning, the vain babbling and the idle speculations which keep this world in perpetual confusion form a singular contrast to the simple, straight-forward declaration, "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein".

It is a statement of ownership. Man does not belong to himself. He belongs to God his Creator. He is God's creature, bearing some likeness to his Maker. As such he owes, without any loss of dignity, not only allegiance and respect but obedience to a higher, superior power. For the globe he inhabits, the air he breathes, the food he eats, his power of thought, his many abilities and pleasures, he is indebted to One whose invisible presence is overwhelmingly visible in all that concerns man. Without God and without hope the world is a dark place, one in which man must inevitably admit himself lost in its twisted, entangling mazes, its insoluble mysteries and its bewildering confusions. That the creative Being exists, that He is the Maker of the globe and its inhabitants, the Author of universal dominion, is the only basic belief, the one sure foundation upon which the fabric of an ideal society or a successful personal life can be reared or continue to exist. Knowledge of that existence is not enough, nor a formal lip service. Power and energy alone did not produce a planet fitted to sustain a race of living creatures; wisdom and love went into the production of both. Gratitude for the blessings of life, a ready response to the will and wish of the Life-giver, are the first essentials of growth of both a new world and a new creature. Respect for God means respect for men and women. Neither are demanded, for God leaves his creature freedom of choice, yet past and present prove man's dependence upon a supreme Will, a universal law of good for peace and complete happiness.

A self-willed world with its own selfish plans for living produces little of lasting benefit. The demolition of ancient restraints opens the door to new destroying evils. Whether men or women are saints or sinners, the reminder that "You are not your own" is always salutary and timely. Intelligently to admit the right of God to rule His own, to bow the heart as well as bend the knee before Omnipotence, is to gain the two-fold benefit of delight in His law and liberty, which is perfect freedom. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" declared Jesus and the first great truth is that God created, and what He made are His and His alone. As the Apostle Paul, that notable student of the law emphasised, "The law has dominion over a man so long as he lives" (Rom. 7.1). Law is the rule of established authority. With this legal science and common sense agree. It is a body of rules drawn up by nations and communities for the smooth running of an orderly society. From birth to death, the life of civilised man is regulated by laws formed to meet every exigency that can befall either his personal or national life. From being a few simple rules these laws have grown to mammoth proportions, needing the expensive and ponderous machinery of the law courts with all their official procedure for the administration of some form of justice. Churches and society make their own laws and regulations for general conduct. This formidable array of do's and don'ts is to the rebel a thorny barrier against which he kicks, but not without injury or loss. To the daring, a challenge; to the mischievous, a source of derision, the law yet remains the law, the rule of authority which all classes must observe if they wish to live with a degree of peace and security. Kicking over the traces, putting oneself above and beyond the law, may produce a short lived satisfaction but in the long run the end is futility and misery. A lawless society, abandoning order for the wild frenzies of revolt, is heading for catastrophe.

Obedience to rule is not the easiest thing in the world. A multitude of restrictions becomes both tiresome and irksome. Few, if any, get through life without breaking rules or conveniently overlooking some of the less, weighty matters of the law. Such is human nature and the observation that "all we like sheep have gone astray" and "there is none righteous, no not one" cannot be denied. To the verdict of Holy Writ, Shakespeare adds tersely, "Conscience doth make cowards of us all". The ten laws of Israel in their short and simple clarity, though not beyond the mental ability of that new nation, were beyond their moral capacity. Laws great and small, bye-laws, books of rules and strings of regulations, dominate human existence. There are also unwritten laws governing man's whole nature which have their own system of retribution and reward according to how well or ill they are observed. Above all are those universal laws which keep the earth on its axis, which govern day and night, which keep the heavens in their place, which man with all his vaunted skill and knowledge cannot outwit. Law is essential to life, and man is subject to law. There are man-made codes which cause resentment, yet the testimony of experience down the ages is that the law of God is loveable, liveable, easy to understand and well worth keeping. It is an eternal principle to which a materialistic, disillusioned world will someday readily submit when the wisdom of this world has perished. Men, nations, civilisations come and go, but the law of God is the deathless word by which life will be sustained in all worlds without end, for there is a law written in the inner being of man, "the work of the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2.14-15), which makes itself heard and felt in all but the most hardened of evil doers. It is a fragment of original man which the temptations and failures of successive generations have not entirely eradicated. This still, small voice of conscience continues to play a part in the regulation of conduct despite the somewhat cynical conclusion of certain scientists that man is merely a machine. Whether a remarkable machine or cleverly put together by a master-craftsman is not openly admitted. Machines are made by someone and no self-respecting manufacturer will send out a good one without instructions for its maintenance. To keep a machine in good order and efficient use, the book of rules must be studied and carried out by the owner. When God created man in the earth and of the earth, his book of rules was issued with him, written into him, so that he did not need to seek high or low or far and wide for information. He knew what was right and wrong for himself and for others because the rules were woven into his being. Failure to follow that law written into the heart and mind of man brought about those disruptions, discords and disasters that must inevitably come to any piece of intricate machinery where the instructions for its preservation are ignored or neglected. As a notable public figure observed, "Whenever there is trouble of a public or private nature you can be sure that some one has broken one of the Ten Commandments". In the first instance when the one rule of obedience snapped with dire consequences it might be said that an ambitious outsider with malevolent intentions disturbed the fine harmony by throwing a false element into the works, so creating a state of imperfection which has not yet been fully repaired. When later ten definite rules were issued as a code of law to assist the diminished power of man's moral nature, these also failed to correct the faulty human creature. In spite of promises, the race which received them was either unable or unwilling to bear the discipline of rules. Down the centuries law-makers have been so busy adding to the instructions that even the lawyers are lost in the mazes of their own legislation. The sensitive and sincere still hear and feel within them the sound and touch of the true regulator. To them the book of rules is still a salutary reminder of the frailty of human nature, something to be read, studied, learned and practised through all life's changing scenes and chequered experiences. Time has condensed the 'thou shalt nots' into 'thou shalt love' through the mouth of Him who came to fulfil the law that man was unable or unwilling to apply. It remains the standard for all, the yardstick of conduct, the measure of a man's ability to love and obey God, to love and cherish his neighbour. The law written into man by his Maker is love, and love is the fulfilling of the law.