Tag: Redemption

Redeeming the Broken

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Interruptions are part of life. For the last couple of weeks in our teaching series, When Life Gets in the Way, we have been talking about the kinds of interruptions God’s plans can bring to our lives and what to do in those times. But what about when our interruptions are the cause of our own, sinful choices. What then? Today we are going to explore the story of a Bible “hero” whose choice to sin seems like it should have derailed all of God’s plans for his life. But it didn’t. Let’s talk about why and what that might mean for us.

Redeeming the Broken

People are different. Now, you can take that statement in several different ways, but what I mean is that we’re not like the rest of creation. When Moses was poetically describing the creation process, when he got to the part where God made people, he presented it differently than all the other aspects of creation. He changed the poetic pattern, which would have been a major tipoff that something was different. He said this: “So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” In bearing God’s image—His personal characteristics, not His divine ones—God made us distinct from the rest of creation. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 8:23

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“Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a pastor, I’ve done a lot of funerals. Now, by virtue of pastoring churches with a number of young families that aren’t mostly gray-haired, aging congregations, I haven’t done as many as some guys who have been in ministry as long as I have, but I’ve done my fair share. There is a kind of groaning that comes with age. Some of it is, of course, physical and audible. But a bigger part is existential. We know we are slowly dying (or perhaps quickly dying depending on circumstances), and we long for relief from it. Not the relief of death, but something entirely more substantial than that. We long for restoration. Well, this is part of the Gospel’s good news. Let’s explore it some today.

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Morning Musing: Romans 8:19-22

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“For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Things in this world are not the way they should be. That’s something every religion acknowledges in one way or another. It’s not just that we’re broken, though. The problem extends to the whole world. Creation itself is broken. Creation itself needs to be restored and set right again. Believe it or not, this is part of the Gospel. Let’s take a look here as Paul explains that creation is looking forward to our redemption as much as we are.

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Redemption Is the Goal

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As we come to the third part of our series, Leverage, this week and next we are going to explore a couple of very specific examples from Jesus on what leveraging our resources for the sake of those around us can look like. This first one takes the form of a passage that is used to talk about a whole bunch of other things including church discipline. But the often-missed heart of the passage falls right in line with what we have been talking about this entire time. Let’s talk about sin, relationships, and God’s preference for redemption.

Redemption Is the Goal

I grew up as the older sibling. When you are the older sibling, sometimes you might occasionally do something to cause injury to your younger siblings. Of course, the whole thing is totally their fault, and they have it coming. But the injury occurs nonetheless. The trouble with injuring younger siblings is that your parents don’t always see the absolute justification you had in your actions. Or, they can’t understand that it was totally an accident. You didn’t plan for him to run into your fist at the precise moment you swung it forward, it just happened that way. It could have happened to anybody. The universe acts in strange ways sometimes. It was an honest mistake. 

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Morning Musing: Exodus 13:1-2

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“The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Consecrate every firstborn male to me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it is mine.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Firstborn children – especially firstborn sons – have long held an incredible significance in human cultures around the world. Monarchial societies depended on them to be the next king in the line of royal succession. They are the ones who often carry the weight of continuing the family name. They are looked to as the leader of the family when the previous generation begins to pass on. The expectations of success on them are often high. It’s a lot of weight to bear. As God is framing out some of the instructions for the Passover celebration once the Israelites reach the Promised Land, He gives some instructions regarding the firstborn son of everything in the nation that are a bit challenging to get our heads around. Let’s talk about them.

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