The concept of redemption usually makes me think of saving that red Coke can after enjoying an ice cold beverage on a hot Iowa Summer day in order to get that coveted five cents back. If you save up enough old sticky cans in a trash bag, eventually you can take the bag to Walmart or the redemption center to see how much treasure you have accumulated. While that is one form of redemption, the redemption that I’m speaking about is worth a lot more than a mere five cents.
At the church I help pastor, we have been rolling out our new mission and vision for who mosaic church is and what we hope to become. With that, we introduced our mission statement a few weeks back: “a redeemed people for the redemption of all people.”
We spent two weeks walking through what those two phrases mean. What does it mean to be “a redeemed people?” And how can we be “for the redemption of all people?”
The definition we looked at is from a theologian named Wayne Grudem where he says redemption is “Christ’s saving work viewed as an act of ‘buying back’ sinners out of their bondage to sin and to Satan through the payment of a ransom.” That feels wordy, so let me break it down for you.
As a result of the original sin curse, all of humanity has been subject to a sinful nature where we have no hope apart from a salvation outside of ourselves. As a result, we all deserve to die for the penalty of sin and bear God’s wrath against that sin. Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has been separated from God and has been in bondage to our sinful ever since.
This is where God steps in.
God’s desire from the beginning of His creation was that mankind would dwell in His presence. In order to make that a possibility again he fulfilled His promise of sending a snake crusher to cancel the debt of sin that was owed. God came in the form of a human in Jesus Christ. When Jesus was lifted up on that cross He not only paid the penalty for the sin that you and I caused, but He also bore the ultimate wrath of God as it was poured out in its entirety on Jesus. As a result, Jesus reconciled us to the Father by bringing those who were far from the love of the Father back into right relationship with Him.
The culmination of all of God’s Work through Christ is redemption.
This redemption is worth far more than the five cents you get from a can of Coke, for this cost Jesus everything. What is even more amazing is that He was willing to give it all in order to redeem someone like me.
This redemption is now offered as a free gift. The highway to hell has had a new off-ramp installed where someone can surrender their own empty way of life that was inherited from their fathers and trust in the redemption that came from the precious blood of Christ. There is a toll booth at this off-ramp that won’t take your money for that ticket has already been purchased through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Yet, many look at this toll booth and start searching around their car or under their seats seeing if they can find that coin of self-righteousness or the gold-star chart of religious practices to see if it will cover the toll. It will not.
Others look at the off-ramp and mosey on by thinking that the highway gives the best and fastest way to their destination only to be sorely mistaken once they arrive.
This gift of redemption can not be purchased or earned, but is a free gift. In order to receive this gift you don’t have to DO anything, rather you have to trust what was already DONE for you. In order to take that off-ramp it takes a heart surrendered to God’s promised Way – a heart surrendered to Jesus Christ as the only path that leads back to wholeness.
So, as a church, we desire to be a group of people who live in light of knowing our new identity as redeemed sons and daughters of the King. And we seek to be for the redemption of all people. We want to not only see the landscape of the city change, but we seek to see hearts and lives changed as well. We know that the hope that we live with does not come from ourselves, but comes from what was done a long time ago.
So, as you explore this idea of redemption maybe you can ponder on this idea of the need of redemption. After all, I’m just trying to share my five cents worth.
Steve Bensema 
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