Church thoughts to chew on for January 24th, 2010: Redemption

Posted By Hup | January 24, 2010

thoughtstochewon Before I start this week’s church thoughts to chew on, I wanted to say that Stephanie and I have gotten some great response from several people since we decided to start posting these weekly recaps. For us these posts are a great way to reflect, absorb and share the message that we hear each week during church and we’re super excited to get feedback that lets us know that some of you out there have actually been paying attention as well. Our goal isn’t to to shove our thoughts and beliefs down your throats, it’s to give you all an insider’s look into what we’re experiencing each week in a Christian worship setting and to give you some of our thoughts on how it all translates to us personally. As always, thanks for reading and if you have any comments or questions for us, please be sure to comment on any post or shoot us an email (you can contact us by clicking on the links under the ‘Stalk Hup and Steph’ to right).

With all of that being said, the main focus of the message at church today was redemption, which to me is a word that is often used in religious settings, but rarely explained. If you Googled the word redemption, you’d quickly see that it has a lot to do with being freed or rescued from a harmful situation. Today during service, redemption was specifically defined as: to be liberated, freed, or rescued from bondage and slavery to a person or being and it was the foundation of a fantastic message that explained and outlined the redemption that Jesus gave each and every human being by giving up his life on the cross. Yeah, you could say that redemption is pretty awesome. Read on to find out why.

To better understand redemption, we went over two different prototypes: Exodus Prototype and Cultural Prototype, as well as Bible verses that supported each.

Exodus Prototype: This type of redemption is focused on a freeing or release from something that is harmful to us or enslaving us. For example, in the Bible passage below the Israelites were redeemed from being slaves to the Egyptians, but this type of redemption could easily be from something more relevant to our everyday lives, such as being a slave to alcohol, pornography, sexual temptation or any other unhealthy or sinful behavior.

Exodus 6:6 - “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

Cultural Prototype: The idea of redemption has become a major theme in today’s pop culture, which can easily be seen by flipping on your TV on practically any night of the week. Are you in a situation where you severely need some redemption for your home? Well, then MOVE THAT BUS!!, because all you need to do is contact Ty over at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and your redemption will be granted through the building of a brand new, top of the line home with all of the furnishings. Need your wardrobe redeemed? The show What Not To Wear can help you out with that redemption, too. Need to be redeemed from a drug or alcohol addition? The guys over at Intervention would be more than happy to help you with with that, too. Everywhere you look there are people looking for a new beginning, a fresh start and a release from the hardships and struggles that they are dealing with and it’s selling better than ever before because true redemption is an incredibly powerful thing to watch.

Mark 10:45 - For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Now that we’ve all got a good grasp on redemption, it’s time to dig into how Jesus plays into all of this.

How Did Jesus Redeem Us?
- Jesus redeemed each and every one of us by willingly dying on the cross for us.
- God paid our ransom through the death of his son, Jesus Christ, and through that gave us all the opportunity to be redeemed from our sins.

How Do We Receive This Great Gift?
- Receiving the gift of redemption is free and simple, but not easy.
- Redemption requires humility, which basically means that you need to realize that you don’t have the power to overcome sin on your own, and we are ultimately undeserving of such love and forgiveness due to our sin nature.
- The first and most important thing that you need to do is to confess to God for forgiveness and then confess to others to start your healing process.

What I got most out of this message is that no one has done too much or gone too far in God’s eyes — there’s always a way to get redemption and be freed from the things that you are a slave to. But, it’s not going to happen automatically and it’s not easy, although it’s very straight forward from God’s point of view. If you ask Jesus to come into your life and realize that you can’t overcome the temptation of sin on your own, you will be given the gift of redemption and that, my friends, is an amazing sense of freedom that only God can give.

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If you’ve read through this and you’re questioning how exactly you can receive God’s free gift of grace and forgiveness and are ready to make that commitment, then please read on! There is no “magic prayer” or exact wording that you need to pray. It’s as simple as admitting to God that you are a sinner, and there is nothing that you will ever be able to do to merit forgiveness. Believe that Christ, God’s son, came to earth to die on the cross and take our sin upon Himself. Believe that He rose again on the 3rd day, and is alive today. Dedicate your life to God and invite His spirit into your life.

If you have dedicated your life to Christ after reading this, then please don’t stay silent. Contact us or someone that you feel comfortable with and tell them! It’s a long road ahead but it’s a wonderful one, filled with hope, love, and new beginnings.

Filed Under adventures in bicycling, you gotta have faith