Redemption - Phil Kauffman

Good morning. I'm here. I think I'm glad to be here to worship

with you all here. It's kind of k kind of good to come back

here again once in a while. I like living where I am, but

see old people and connect with old people. Seen a few of you yesterday,

and it's good this morning. The thoughts that were going around at Sunday

School and then he talked a little bit about it now, about love of

Christ and holiness and some of those things kind of segue into what I was

thinking this morning. I'd like to talk a little bit about redemption and the

redeemed and and it's a huge subject, and and it feels like as I

as I think about it, then there's little bunny trails that go off this

way and that way. So I try to keep it corralled a bit.

The word redeemed is not a typical word you hear in the street today.

We read in the Bible. Most of us grew up with it. But

when you got out on the street or you talk to the teller at the

bank and you talk about being redeemed, they you know, what's that have

to do with anything? So theoretically we all understand what redeem means or do

we what does it mean to be redeemed spiritually? The dictionary would say to

get to get a win back, or to free from captivity by payment of

ransom. Excuse me. So when you think of redeeming, you think of

going back to something that was let go of or or you lost, and

you you get some money out or you get something to trade for the value

to get it back to you. There are some dramatic tales in the Bible

about this, and and and the Bible talks a lot about about redemption,

the h the redemption of humanity, but it also it talks about it as

a big picture, but it also gives individual detail about individual people that were

redeemed. There are stories of Abraham and Moses, David that committed sins and

got in trouble and had issues and and then it talks about the story back

of how they were repented and came back to God and we're redeemed again,

and all the offerings and the motions they went through to be redeemed back into

grace, back into favor with God. So for redemption to work in a

big picture, it has to work in a little picture. So if you

think about this church as being a redemptive a redemptive church, then it's only

about as redemptive as we are individually. And how how much do we redeem?

How much are we redeemed? I like to read first Peter One,

and I was trying to decide where to start and stop, and then I

just decided, I guess I'll read the whole chapter. So first, Peter

One, I'm going to read the chapter through and follow along with me.

First Peter One, Peter and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered

throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to

the fore knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience

and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, Grace unto you and peace be

multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which

according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and defiled,

and it faith not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by

the power of God through faith, into salvation, ready to be revealed in

the last time, wherein He greatly rejoiced. Though now for a season,

if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold transtemptations. Excuse me,

but the trial of your faith, being much more precious then then of gold,

at perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto

praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having

not seen, ye love earth in whom, though now you see him not

yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the

end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation.

The prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that

should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of

Christ which was in them to signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of

Christ and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto

themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are not reported

unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you, with the holy

ghosts sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.

Wherefore, grid up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to

the end for the grace that is to be brought into you at the revelation

of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former

lust in your ignorance. But as He which hath called you is holy,

so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be

holy, for I am holy. And if he call him the Father,

who, without respective person's judges, according to every man's work, passed the

time of her. Sojourning here in fear, forasmuch as ye know that you

were not redeemed with corrupt, corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain

conversations received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,

as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was fordained before

the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and

gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you

have purified your souls in obeying the truth this spirit into an unfeigned love of

the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently,

being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the

Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all fleshes as grass,

and all the glory of man is as a flower of grass, the

grass with earth, the flower there fallth away, but the word of the

Lord and doeth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is

preached unto you. So in this in this chapter, there's a lot of

things going on. But in this chapter it seems like Peter's encouraging these people

and saying there's there's a destiny that we're going somewhere, and and you're part

of this, You're you're included in this. And and you were you were

bought back, you were ransomed, you were wherever you were, you you

had the opportunity to come back. You were ransomed. H someone paid the

price. And he talks about how that since we are ransomed since they are

ransomed, then they need they need to live accordingly. Talks about being holy,

and we talked about that this morning, living holy lives being holy,

which which indicates that something happened. I think about the the price, and

we know about the price that that that was paid for our for our redemption,

but I think about prices that are paid for kidnapped people and and those

things. And I have a story to tell about that. But but it's

it seems like once you're in that situation where there's no way out and someone

comes up with a couple of dollars to get you out and get you free

from death or from whatever happens, that the gratefulness that goes back to that

donor to that person that came up with the money is pretty great. Like

if you just live that lived experience, if you go through that, it's

a big deal. And I think about that as our spiritual life. Sometimes

we forget We don't think about where we were, and we just kind of

live. We just kind of do our thing and do the next thing,

and kind of maybe we deserve it. We've done it right, we grew

up right, and all of those things, and we forget the importance of

the redemption. Matthew twenty verse twenty eight says, the son of Man came

not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a

ransom for many like his. Essentially his destiny when he showed up here,

his destiny was death. His destiny was to pay the price for all all

the needs. So the critical part of of of of being redeemed is to

understand why you need redeemed. So what are we saved from? In Galatians

talks about being saved from the curse of the law. And we know how

that is when when someone when you read the ten Commandments and you read down

through and you realize that, you know, all of us have probably told

a lie, or maybe stole something, or dishonored God or didn't obey our

parents all of those ten commandments. It's so easy to not have followed all

of those through all your life. And so there's the law. How do

you get above it? What do you do? Well? We can't do

anything. That's that's that's the that's the punchline of Jesus Christ. We can't

get above that. We need salvation, We need something to get us from

going to hell because of because if we can't keep those that law, Billy

Sunday said, the law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along

and straightens me out, and I think that's nice. That's a nice way

of looking at it. The law says, you're not going to make it,

you will not, you will not attain. Christ comes along and says,

but I'll pay your price. So for an illustration, there's a story.

Some of you might have heard the story, but the main person in

the story that's that was written about her name was Jessica Buchanan. She and

a co worker were in Somalia. This lady was born in Portland, Oregon.

She was thirty two years old, was married, and she was an

aid worker in in Somalia. And I'm not sure what all she was doing,

but education advisor or something humanitarian aid. She had almost completed her term

and her and a co worker were driving doing a doing a routine field visit

somewhere in the car, driving to somewhere to drop something off or pick something

up. I'm not sure what happened, but going along and as they're going

along, they a car came up beside or a vehicle came up beside and

forced them off the side of the road and kidnapped him, held him first,

held him hostage for ninety three days outside. They were outside the whole

time, little tents and huts and under trees, and this group of kidnappers

surrounded them and kept them there. This lady, thirty two old lady and

another person with her. They videoed these two people and let them talk,

let them show their plight, and then on the video they said we'll let

you go. We'll let these people go for a forty five million dollar ransom,

and then they sent it out for the world to see, which really

got things stirring. Of course, it was rough living. They they were

barely giving enough food and water to survive. It was. It was intense

compared to how they'd grown up. Uh. One of the last videos that

was made and scent she spoken, let's see. She spoke into the video

and said that she had some kidney infections. She thought something was happened.

She had a fever, vomiting, she was getting sicker. The video was

sent and then a US doctor. They took the video to US doctor and

he looked at it and was trying to assess her from what he's seen and

what she said, and he determined that maybe she'd have a couple of weeks

left if she if they d if they to live, she'd only have a

couple of weeks left to live unless she had some immediate treatment. So things

started to roll. And I don't know how it all works, but the

short story is that the US sent in a seal team at night and parachuted

from a helicopter, snuck in, surrounded it, and rescued them in a

halo gunfire. I think some people were killed. I don't know those details.

It all happen, but they rescued and the people the kidnappers did not

get forty five million dollars, but at best it was risky and dramatic and

a huge sacrifice of time and money and some life. I think so they

were ransomed, not as expected, but they were ransomed. That that story,

and you can research the story. I think it's on out there.

You can find it. But lots of detail goes into that. But those

people were dying essentially and were rescued. And so how does that apply?

How does this apply to our spiritual life? Like our ad off, were

we or or weren't we very bad off? Sometimes I wonder how convinced we

are that we really need saved, Like do we do you think we can

make it by ourselves? And as we grow up in a in a controlled,

protected environment in our churches, are we that bad off? Is it

okay? Can we make it without outside help? As we go through life,

we get accustomed to the world around us, and you know how it

is. You talk to your neighbor and they have a pretty nice family,

and you talk to this person and they're struggling, but they're they're kind of

making and we live in a good world and it isn't quite as bad as

they say it is. And I think we're all gonna make it. But

I think the spiritual ramifications of that coldness can bite us. We don't realize

how black we are inside. And to be redeemed, we have to understand

what plight we're in. Like the like the like the workers in Somalia,

they were dying. There was no questions, it was over. Like after

three months in the in the desert, it gets there's not much left.

There's not much future. With the very little water and food and medical treatment.

I think only only desperate people need redeemed. The rest don't need it.

M How desperate are we are? How desperate have we been? I

think redemption as we grow up in in in in our world redemption, we

tend to be skeptical about it a little bit, maybe maybe because of failure.

Like if we go through this process and and accept Christ to actually carry

carry out load and take away our sin and repent of it as as we

repent from it, then we we step into this We step into this track,

and we start going what happens if it don't work? What happens if

if somebody pushes me back? What happens if there's a church fight, what

happens if all these things can go through it? And I think the devil

sends him our way. We're not sure how it's going to work out.

I have a I have a friend in maddress that that I talked to periodically.

I tell him why you need Jesus HM. He says, yeah,

I know that's fair, But how will it turn out? At this point

he's headed downhill. I would like to turn around, but not sure.

Not sure if it's actually a good thing, Not sure what will happen,

Not sure if he can make it. Sometimes I think he's I was scared

of making the attempt or stepping forward because of the people around him that say

they're Christians, And he wonders, like, why do if they're Christians,

if they're redeemed, why would they do that? Why would they fight?

Why would they right? But as you look inside, as we all look

inside of us, we understand we need redeemed. Yeah. And I think

as I get older, I see it more and more. I realize all

the things that I try, I can get on top of this. And

I'm gonna the undisciplined way of thinking. We can just discipline a little harder.

We can just do a few more things. We can kind of get

stuff in order, and and then we fall again, and then you realize

how how we are. And as you look at yourself, it's not a

pretty picture. But that's in Peter. He was talking. He said,

you are redeemed, you are ransom. And I think as Christians we need

to live like it. I'd like to look at a few thoughts on what

a redeemed person actually lives like and looks like and acts like. There's so

many things you could, Like I said before that this discussion could go places

you could go with it, but a few points. I'd just like to

look at how redeemed people live. And on Peter two nine, it says,

but you are a chosen generation, a royal priest, and a holy

nation of peculiar people, that you should show forth, show forth the praises

of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Oh,

drawing specifically from Isaiah forty three, where it talks about God's talking about

his chosen people, the people whom I form for myself that they might declare

my praise. I think treadeem people are selected. They're chosen, and we

can go to God and we can actually say I can't do this, and

He selects us. He pulls us apart and says, okay, let's do

this. Let's walk, and he will be there. He will give us

the power, he give us the strength. But it's not just tag a

number on you and you get in line. It's a special selection, special

choosing from God. It's so easy in a world of Christians, in a

world of the people we go to church with. You know, you can

have one hundred people or two hundred people or forty people in your church and

you become one of and you're not. You don't feel that. Sometimes you

don't feel that specialness. Sometimes we can get lonely in our own little churches

or big churches. I think about that, how how we can be going

and me at forty nine, and I go through life and I do my

work and my family and the things I do, whatever it is, my

responsibilities. And then there's somebody that I see three times a week, maybe

that I go to church with, but I don't connect with them. I

don't I don't know, you know, we just don't click. Talked with

the man the other day. That's my age in a church. He felt

lonely. He felt lonely. He has a family doing what he does,

doing what I do, but he felt lonely. I think readeem people should

feel selected and chosen, and we are one of We are going somewhere.

It's an exciting thing. It's what we wake up in the morning. For

God has a plan for this, for this group of selected people to show

forth his glory. We'll get to that again a little later. Another thing,

a redeemed person is the property of God. First Corinthians six says,

what know you not that your body is a temple of the holy ghost which

is in you, which you have of gods, and you are not your

own you know, I know this isn't very an American, this isn't very

American. But we don't own this property. This isn't ours. You know.

It's like Onyx Maps. You pull up the map and you tap on

that property that's surrounded in green, and you tap on it and it pops

up another page and it says owner this and this, and it could be

a one or two names. But that property is owned by someone and they

have exclusive rights to that property. If you want to if you want to

access that property, or if you want to cross that property, if you

want to do something on that property, you need to go talk to the

owner, call him up, visit him something, get a hold of him,

because if you're on the property and you haven't got any permission, he

can There's there's laws for that. He can do what he needs to do

to get you off and whatever. Whatever. You know that, you know

the rules for that. But you can't just access and say it's okay.

You only access with his permission, their permission, and you can only do

what they say you can do on that property. You can only do if

you want to build a little campfire on the on the property, you ask

them first. As a redeemed person, if somebody taps on you, whose

name comes up? I know people have tapped on me, and I don't

know if Christ's name came up or not, but I kind of was a

little intense about this, like what do you think you're doing? Who m

HM? As a redeemed person, Christ's name is on our title. The

title for my for me says Christ owned by Christ, and he has exclusive

rights. And it's easy for us to fudge those rights, to say we

want to do this and we want to do that, or don't say we

just do it. What's going on with that? Why does that happen?

As a redeemed person? Christ is owner of the of me HM number three.

A redeemed person will be or eyes excuse me, I'll start over.

A redeems the person's eyes will be open and their heart will burn, their

heart will burn within them because they have been with Jesus. You know the

story in Luke twenty four after Christ resurrected and they couldn't find him and they

had no idea what was going on that these two people, and there is

all kinds of ideas who they were. It was a couple maybe or two

of his disciples or or whatever it was. But these two people that had

followed Christ, and they're walking, they're they're walking along. I'm trying to

figure this out. Like Christ, we watched him die, we we seen

it all. He was put in the tomb, and he's gone. The

things rolled back, who stole him, you know, all the thing that's

going And they're discussing this in their minds and together, and the third person

caught up with him said what are you guys struggling for? What's going on?

What's what's your problem? And they said, I mean, haven't you

heard what? And you know the story? And how uh, how did

how that Jesus when he was walking with him, he started back and explain

in detail, one step after the other, how this was gonna happen and

what was going on and wow, that's yeah, that's right, that makes

sense what he was saying. And then and then as they kept kept going,

he stopped, they stopped and well, let's have lunch, you know,

And so then they were having lunch. He was gonna pray and prayed

and bust the food, and then he was going and they they were just

h They said that was Jesus. He was here, He's alive. And

it says something about in in there, if you read it says something about

there didn't our hearts burn within us? And I think as Christians, as

people that are redeemed when things start changing, and when you read, when

you read the news, and stuff is blowing up here, and the president's

doing this wrong, and the and and yours little son is crying because you

don't spend enough time with him. It seemed like it seemed like our hearts

should burn within us because there's so many important things to think about and to

talk about and to do. An action to be taken to help people find

Christ, help my son find Christ, help help the world see what's really

important. The next one, a redeemed person is engaged with the people of

God. Hebrews ten says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto

love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the

manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more

as you see the day approaching. It says, get together and connect and

try to help each other. I encourage each other. Don't forsake it,

don't don't stop doing that. It's interesting how the world has slowly started to

see that. They're starting to believe or understand what the Bible has been saying

all along. They've found to treat, to treat and care for victims with

trauma and depression and PTSD and all, you know, all the all the

acronyms. They found group therapy is really crucial to help these people get back

on the road and back to civilization or back to life again. Group therapy,

that's what they call it. Group therapy. It's it's a way for

people to actually lots of things. They helps them see that they're not alone.

I'm not doing this all by myself. That person has PTSD, and

that person has and that person struggling with I'm not alone. Hey, there's

more people out here. Wow. Helps you find your voice, helps understand

what's going on inside because that person says the same thing I'm saying. Helps

you relate with yourself and others. It helps facilitate giving and receiving support.

This is group therapy. This is what the human psychology says. I don't

know why it's so easy for Christians to not do this. It seems like

it's so crucial. It's like, gets what keeps us alive? Hey,

let's have coffee? What's going on? Hey? Can I help you do

something for the day? When that goes away, the redeemed part starts a

lesson, I think somehow the last one I have is a redeemed person doesn't

keep dark secrets and looks for help to repent and resolve them. You know.

The result redeemed person is a normal human being, and they go through

hard times and valleys and try and temptations and things come to us and we

don't know what to do and not sure. And today I didn't read my

Bible, and yesterday I didn't either, and I don't know what, Like,

how do I fix this problem? In Glatians five, it talks about

some of these dark things and then tells them to put them off, and

further down it tells us what to take in and do. It says all

the good thing the fruits of the spirit, and in verse twenty four says

that they that are Christ or they're redeemed are crucifying those dark things, trying

to repent it, get away from those then if you keep on reading,

and from the end of chapter five in Galatians, it goes into chapter six

and it talks about how that the people of God reach out with meekness and

help to restore, help help restore those struggling person back to fellowship with Christ

and as people. This is the community of the redeemed. Some days I'm

up and my brother's down, and some day sometimes it's vice versa. And

sometimes those dark things maybe something that happened not yesterday, but maybe longer ago,

and they're starting to come to light in my mind, Well what happened?

Why? Don't know what to do with those? And because they're there,

they're kind of troubling but not sure what to do. And it's not

a big deal, so we leave it alone. We kind of like,

I think it's taken care of. It doesn't hinder me much. I can

do what I need to do. I can be a Christian, I can

and plus to resolve it. I don't even know what to do. And

or maybe it's like too much pain and embarrassment or too much I don't even

know who to talk to to get that thing resolved. Most times, those

things build little by little, keep building. It affects our lives sometimes,

and other people's lives sometimes starts to choke our choke out our redemption. You

know. It's a little bit like the little descriptive illustration that Jesus used in

Matthew seven about the moat and the beam. And if you study that little

lesson, it's really neat. But the story is it's illustrated really well,

and that it takes a picture of a man that doesn't even understand he has

a beam in his eye, or if he does, it doesn't really register.

But he's reaching out. He's going to help this brother and do something

with his do something with that little thing in his eye. And as he's

doing this, he's got this big log sticking out of the other eye,

and he's kind of lived with it all his life and he doesn't hardly know

it's there. And that beam, like so many things, grew incrementally.

You know, a beam is a tree. And you know how trees grow.

I mean this big one, they're small, and they grow and in

every year there's another ring and another ring, and there's a fiber that grows

this day, and another fiber that grows on and that's how beams are built

in people's eyes, one fiber after the other, and you always adjust your

seeing a little bit. You turn a little bit more because I don't know

what that is, but you'll have to look out of this eye a little

more, or turn your head a little further or something, and then I

can adjust and see issues on top of issues unresolved. Those dark secrets are

like that, just issues on top of issues, and it's just interesting.

You know. At my age, I think back of when you're little,

you're eight and nine and ten or six, and something comes up and you

tell your mom or your dad and it's fixed and life is free, and

you just go forward. And then as you go into teenage years, and

everybody has their maybe hard times in life, but they come sooner than others

maybe, And once you get through that, you kind of look back and

wow, that was a hail storm, but I think I made it.

And then there's things that I don't know what. Yeah, I don't know

how to fix that, like I said before, and then at forty nine,

you say, well I should fix it. What should I do?

How do I fix how do I go back. Maybe my dad's going already,

and my mom's going, or the preacher or whatever. My friend,

a redeemed person, gets his group around and says, I can't fix this.

Can you help me? And the community of redeemed people reach out in

meekness and say, let's fix it. In closing, I like to think

of us as Christians as agents of redemption. First Peter tour nine says,

you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people,

that ye should show forth the praises of Him that's called you out of

darkness into his marvelous light. In Romans twelve, it's really interesting if you

just kind of click down through there you look at the different things in that

chapter. It says, do not be conformed to this world. So you're

changing yourself. Things are changing in yourself. And then it talks about the

little things that happen that an agent of redeemed, of the redeemed does.

He's kindly affectioned one to another, he distributes to the saints. He rejoices

with him that do rejoice, He weeps with them that weep. He blesses

those that persecute him. He overcomes evil with good. Those are things that

the agent of redemption does as an agent our lives. As an agent of

redemption, our lives become become more like Christ, more doing what he did.

Another thing that agent of redemption does is starts to see the world through

the lens of Christ, like you see a struggling person that nobody even knows

he's struggling because you see him through the lens of that Christ had. I

think of the little story of the little girl that was crying because she was

scared of night and her mom said, it's all right, Jesus is in

your room. You can go back to sleep. And she said, I

don't care Jesus is here or not, but I just need somebody here with

skin. And I think that's what we are, or people that have Christ's

skin. You know, Jesus does does the work of redemption, but we

are his hands and feet. Thank you.