Redemption Center

Ephesians 1:3-14New International Version (NIV)

Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace,which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[c]made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen,[d] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 1:5 Or sight in love. 5 He
2. Ephesians 1:5 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture.
3. Ephesians 1:9 Or us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he
4. Ephesians 1:11 Or were made heirs

When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was taking cans back.  We did not do make a regularly occurring trip to the redemption center so it could have been years between trips which meant it was quite an undertaking.  The fun parts about going were looking at how old some of the cans were and how they had changed since the last time we had taken cans back and seeing how many bags we could fit into the back of the truck.  At an early age, it wasn’t about the money it was about seeing all the cans and the whole experience of it all.  When we moved from the highway to where my parents live now, that is probably what I remember most vividly.  Some of the cans we found when preparing to move were as old, or older, than I was at the time.  Taking cans back that time was the first time I remember seeing a $100 bill so that tells you just how many cans we took back that day.  The redemption center itself was never very clean and smelled like rotten and sticky pop.  But I remember watching the people count the cans and flinging them behind their heads not even watching where they were going but making them into these large cardboard boxes.  We were there for at least an hour on every trip because Dad did not want to be shorted a single nickel.  I have very fond memories of the trips to the redemption center and I think those memories are why the sermon title came so easy for me this morning.

Now, what do these memories of the redemption center and old cans have to do with our message today?  I want to spend our time this morning talking about redemption.  In the interest of full disclosure, this is also the first time, at least the first time I am aware of it, that I am preaching on the same scripture as I have before.  The first time I preached this scripture I talked about predestination and what that meant for our faith but for whatever reason when I read this scripture again, it was the word redemption that stuck in my head so that is what we will be discussing this morning.  The word redemption is mentioned 24 times in the Bible, 14 times in the Old Testament and 10 in the New Testament.  Out of the 10 mentions in the New Testament, Paul’s writings account for 8 of those and one-quarter of all mentions in the entire Bible.  In the course of 12 verses, our scripture this morning says the word twice.  So, I ask you, what does redemption mean to you?  Have you thought of that word in terms of your life and faith?         

 When it comes to faith, redemption theology has most likely played a large role in the development of your faith, even if you did not really know it.  When it comes to theology, redemption is our deliverance from sin, our salvation, God making a recovery by payment through the death of Christ.  When we by a can of pop, we are charged a nickel and the redemption center is where we get that nickel redeemed.  It is where we recover our previously made payment of that nickel.  It is the recovery by payment of Christ’s blood that atones for our sins.  There are theologians, as well as people of faith, who feel that this sort of theology does not make sense because it makes God sound like He needed to have the blood of His son to redeem the rest of us.  That God needed a payment in order to love.  Can this redemption theology be looked at this way, sure.  But I would say that it doesn’t have to be.  God loved before the Israelites left Egypt.  God loved before Jesus died on the cross.  God loved before the Holy Spirit came upon us.  God loved before any of that.  God didn’t need the blood of Christ to “save” your soul.  Rather, He wanted to show you just how much he loved you.  The blood of Christ didn’t replace my blood.  It wasn’t Jesus instead of me or you.  It was Jesus for me and you.  God spent thousands of years trying to show his people exactly how much He loved them.  Their interpretations of that love where misguided and misconstrued.  So I think God placed before us an example of His love that we couldn’t misinterpret or misconstrue.  

“In him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”  In this one verse we come face to face with two (some would argue the most important two) conceptions of the Christian faith: deliverance and forgiveness.  The greek word for deliverance is better described as ransom.  In the greek, it was a word used for the ransoming of a person who was a slave or prisoner of war, a word used for the freeing of a person of the death penalty.  William Barclay said this about the greek translation, “In every case the conception is the delivering of a person from a situation from which they were powerless to liberate themselves or from a penalty which they themselves could never have paid.”  In other words, Paul uses this word to describe situations where God has delivered people from situations that they could have never delivered themselves from.  Paul, a Jew, is writing this letter to a largely Gentile group in Ephesia and he is using words like “us” and “we.”  Unheard of language for the two groups for up to that point it was always us and them.  That, that is the unifying power of Christ described in verse 10 “...to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”  That is the condition that we cannot save ourselves from, the human condition.  The second great condition that comes from this verse is forgiveness.  And what Jesus did on the cross was to show that God did not hate the sinner for he was willing to send his son to die for that sinner.  It showed us that God loved the sinner.  Because Jesus came into the world, people, despite their sin, discovered and still are discovering God’s love.  The actions of Christ form a bond through all of human existence because forgiveness was meant for all for it does not matter where you live, how much money you have, the color of your skin, or even whether you believe or not, that forgiveness was meant for you.  

We need God, and I am not talking a completely over the top, fundamental version of God, nor am I talking about a completely over the top liberal view of God that makes Him almost seem unnecessary. Rather, I am talking about a vision of God that is inclusive, forgiving, and delivering in order to ransom, redeem, and deliver us from a situation from which we were previously powerless.  And that situation is unity.  Only through the redemptive power of Christ can we understand one another, love another, live in accordance to God’s unending grace with one another.  But please, please do not either overplay or undermine the power of the Cross.  The cross itself has an intersection that roughly meets where Christ’s heart once beat and it is at that intersection where we find unity.  It is there we find understanding and true love for thy neighbor.  God is found in the middle ground.  In the compromise of conversation.  Paul tells the Gentile group that they too were “included in Christ when they heard the message of truth, the gospel of salvation.”  A Jew, telling Gentiles that God’s love, God’s grace and Christ’s actions were intended for them.  And in today’s world, we can’t hardly say it to one another.  Some believe that Christ’s death on the cross and saying the right words in the correct order will secure your place in heaven.  Some believe that everyone is destined to be there.  Arguments can be made for both.  In some ways, both are equally right and equally wrong.  But think about it this way, did God place us here to argue theology or are we here to share the good news of Christ and love thy neighbor?  Sometimes redemption can take a while, sometimes it can smell like rotten, sticky pop.  God’s redemption center is right out those doors and you all, are the can counters.  Amen.