Facing Grace in The Gospel – Redeemed

Redemption  (Apolytrosis)

     We were created to be more. We are inherently not what we should be. This deficit is built into the fabric of human existence. This loss drives us to be successful, to sense our failure, to be hopeless and to hope. It motivates our good deeds and our bad. It weaves its way through our minds, our hearts and our soul. It is the foundation of all Satan’s attacks and it is the motivation of the greatest victory of Jesus Christ!

     Sometimes I imagine Adam sitting on a hillside at sunset, drenched in sweat as the day’s labors close, looking back to the garden and becoming overwhelmed with sobs. We all know his grief. We are born with it. A sense of loss; of something we should be or a love we have not known. 

   God created us to be more and through Adam’s sin, our own sin and sinfulness we are imprisoned within the need to be more. We are a deficit and we have no means, or way to gain a means, to purchase for ourselves a wholeness. But God has purchased for us a redemption from this loss, so that we not only have a wholeness placed on us but receive an abundance that cannot dissipate.

     We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 1:7 it says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” We have been bought out of the slavery to loss and have been filled up with the abundance of His grace. 

    The idea of redemption is that we have been bought with a price. It is the idea of an assignment of value. In our case the value placed on us is the price that was paid for us. We have the value of Jesus Christ. From salvation forth we are forever known by His name. Held within His honor. Sharing in His glory. We have been purchased and set free to the sure hope of life eternal with Jesus. Now we look with certainty to the future with the reality of becoming like Christ!

     Colossians 1:13 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son. In whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins.”  In being redeemed by Jesus, we now have the value of Jesus in God’s eyes. We no longer operate from the sense of loss that we were born with but with a sense of purpose that we will live like Jesus and gratitude that one day we will be like Him. We have been changed and we are being changed until the day when we are glorified, and we will be completely like Him. 

     This passage in Colossians chapter 1 continues by discussing the value of Jesus Christ, “He is the image of the Invisible God, He is the firstborn of all creation, by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. 

     In the previous verse Colossians 1:12 God’s word tells us, “giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” In our redemption we are made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. An Heir is the one who receives the inheritance. The value of an heir is not found in who they are today but in the inheritance they will receive. In Ephesians chapter 1 we are also told that we have obtained an inheritance. Paul, the author of the book of Ephesians, tells us that in Christ we have every spiritual blessing. He explains this in verses 3-14. 

In this passage Paul tells us that in Christ we have

Been blessed with every spiritual blessing

Been chosen by Him 

Been adopted by Him

Been redeemed by Him

Been made heirs by Him

Been Sealed with the Holy Spirit by Him

     All these gifts have an expectation of a future event. A time when we will receive the totality of all these things. But being chosen by God we have the worth and experience of them all now. That is what it means to be an heir. We have all the privileges of these gifts but will not receive the full extent of them until Jesus returns. 

     There seems to be a formula Paul uses to express the great value of these gifts. First, they come “in Him” that is in Jesus. They come “according to” this indicates they originate from God based on His resources. And the next phrase is “to the praise of His glory” This formula is used by Paul to highlight God’s plan in bringing us to salvation. His plan was to put His grace on display in us so that it would bring Him praise and glory. This is the “more” that we were created to be! The depth of the loss that we were born with does not compare to the value that our  redemption gives us. That is why He has redeemed us. He has given us the great value of bringing to Him praise and glory. We show the glory of His redemption when we walk in obedience. We are living life facing grace when we live adorned with the value of redemption.