The concept of redemption has been heavy on my mind over the last few weeks. Call it the “Easter season” or just God stirring something in my heart, but I’ve been noticing redemption – everywhere. I consider it to be one of the biggest blessings I can experience, to see people experiencing redemption and coming to know God as their Redeemer. First, let’s look the word redemption…
According to www.dictionary.com, redemption is:
re•demp•tion - [ri-demp-shuh n] – noun
1) deliverance; rescue.
2) Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation.
3) atonement for guilt.
4) repurchase, as of something sold.
5) paying off, as of a mortgage, bond, or note.
6) recovery by payment, as of something pledged.
When we claim God as our Redeemer, we acknowledge Him as rescuing us from our old self; we allow Him to deliver us from our sin; we depend on Him for our salvation; we acknowledge that He paid the ultimate price for us; it is paid. It is paid in full. He atoned for sins. We cannot atone for our own sins because the price would be too great, God already came – for you and me – and paid the price of our sins. He redeemed us. Do you see how great a gift we have? Jesus Christ, God in man form, came and was mocked, flogged, whipped, beat, spit on, harassed, shoved, kicked, jeered at, crushed, speared, punctured, and lastly, was murdered in a most grueling death because HE LOVES US. The wrath of God has already been poured out on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, so we wouldn’t have to bear it.
“He has drained the last dark drops of the cup of God’s wrath; there’s nothing left but love for me.’ Because I am justified, I will never experientially know the wrath of a Holy God. Because of the cross, I now am slowly exploring the infinite reaches of His love. Throughout all eternity I will never find the limits of His love. There are none.” – Dr. Larry Crabb
We like to think we can conceptualize God’s love because we assume we know how God thinks, and many times we like to think we know because God made us and we read His Word - and that's got to be enough? Right? We also like to think since God made us, and we are made in His image, and if we are made in His image than He must be like us. We are not the standard my friends. God is the standard and we are to be like Him, and we fail at reflecting His character every day. It’s not God failing at being like us – His love is so much greater than how we love, just as His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We will never be able to out think God or out love God, it is impossible. God’s love will not always make sense to us, just as I’m sure it did not make sense to those watching Jesus give mercy to the adulterous woman. Let's see it unfold:
In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. – John 8:5-6, NIV
Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ……You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. – John 8:10-15, NIV
I have to confess, this is one of my all-time favorite stories of Jesus. It says so much about His character, and the character of our loving Father. Regardless of how much we have sinned and how messed up we are, God comes in and rescues us. God fights for us. HE is our knight in shining armor. He is our warrior on the battle field. He is our valiant leader. He is our great Redeemer. He takes something we might think is so ugly, used, messed up, jacked up, and horrible, and He turns it into something so incredibly beautiful. He redeems this woman, and He redeems us too - no matter what sin we have committed. He is our great Redeemer! ...and our Redeemer lives!
Let's us not forget, we have to want to be redeemed. God's love and grace is not a license to sin at wreckless abandon, we must not abuse His sweetly given grace and love. We are called to repent of our sins, and in our repentance, He grants us mercy - not judgment. We emerge forgiven, having been made new. God makes all things new and beautiful, if you let Him. He calls us to give Him EVERY area of our lives, for His glory. I do not want to hold on to any area of my life, industriously planning away for my own, when I can give it to God to plan for me. In His plan, He uses my mess-ups, my junk, what I think is ugly and shameful - He uses for His glory by turning it into something beautiful. Truly, only God can do this....He is so AMAZING! When God can do this with your sin, why would you not want to repent and let Him take all the darkness away? Trust Him, He can do it. Letting go of sin means stepping out of your comfort zone for God, but it is so incredibly, undeniably worth it! You can repent without fear of judgment if you love Him and acknowledge Jesus as your sweet Savior.
…because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! – James 2:13, NIV
Right there, plain as day. Grace triumphs over judgment! God’s grace, what He did on the cross, covers our sin – no wrath for the believer, the price has been paid in FULL. Wow, the phrase “amazing love” doesn’t even do it justice. That is a love which not only knows no bounds, but has limits we cannot even fathom. Our finite human minds cannot even comprehend the amount of God’s love for us. No matter how much we try, I do not think we can fully know the depth of God’s love – it is just so big, so great, so beautiful. Don’t you want to follow a God who keeps no record of wrongs for those who love Him? Loving like God is something I undoubtedly fail at every single day. One exercise to try is this:
Think of it like a “test” of sorts. Since we know God is love (1 John 4), we can be fully confident knowing exhibits this as His character. This little “test” is one I learned from Dr. Ed Young, when he mentioned it during a sermon on love in Fall 2009. Give it a try! In the verse below, for each word that says “love” or “it” exchange it with your name. For example, “Sally is patient, Sally is kind” (and so forth…).
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NIV
How did you do? I know I have a lot to work on! Now exchange the word “love” or “it” with God, and you will see a glimpse of His character. Isn’t He just so good?!
Don’t be discouraged! We can work on this as a church, together, learning to love how He loves and give grace how He gives grace. We are without a doubt called to speak truth in love to each other, however, we need to remember Jesus was not a critic. Jesus was instructive, not destructive when He spoke the truth in love. He is our ultimate counselor, and those He was most angry with were the Pharisees – who thought they were doing everything right by simply abiding by the Law. Let’s focus on the Cross! We can learn how God loves and how God shows mercy by studying His word, which inherently helps us in studying His character. We can also know His character by our personal experiences with Him – which is what He deeply longs for most, to have our hearts.
Friends, I love our Lord so much. And I want to love like He does, and give grace like He does. Will you join me in wanting to be more like Him? Let’s give it our all, Jesus gave us His all. Let’s join in being more patient, more kind, releasing jealousy, releasing record of wrongs; let’s be more trustworthy and rejoice in the truth; let’s not boast, let’s not be proud, let’s not be rude or self-seeking; let’s not get easily angered; let’s always hope and always persevere. We can do this! We can love because He first loved us. We can’t have that kind of love on our own, we need our Heavenly Father to love like He does.
Love you friends, and praying for you! We are redeemed because He loves us more than we can imagine! He is our great Redeemer!
<><
K
No comments:
Post a Comment