Monday, December 12, 2011

Redeem

Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

I like dogs. I like movies about dogs...remember Homeward Bound? Remember Air-Bud? I like jokes about dogs. Like the joke about the man who said it was raining so hard that it was raining cats and dogs. Someone asked how he knew it was raining cats and dogs...he said, "Because I stepped in a poodle." As a kid, I always had a dog. There was Snoopy, Sam, Fuzzy, and about twenty others. I lived near a busy country road and so I got a new dog every two years or so. I may be a little odd, but I even like those commercials about pet abuse with sad music in the background that makes me want to go to the pound and bring a few homeless hounds home to the Mason residence.

I had a pastor friend in Mississippi who had a three-legged dog named tripod. He loved that dog. I asked how he came to be owner of Tripod. He said, “He just showed up one day and after a while we decided he was ours.” That three-legged dog was taken in, fed, loved, and cared for. My friend said, “Sometimes we forget he has only three legs.”

Homeless dogs are everywhere. You see them wandering through communities and cities - hungry and looking for a home. Unwanted and unclaimed they’re looking for an owner – someone to say, “That’s my dog.”

Dogs and people have a lot in common. Homeless dogs are looking for a home. Hopeless people are looking for hope. The world is full of people who will never be recognized or rewarded for their contribution to society...simply because they've contributed very little if anything at all. They may have made some mistakes that are considered unforgivable. They may spend their life behind bars and be considered a burden to society. They may be the reason their marriage divorces and their family separates. They may be known as quitters or losers or failures. They may be written off – unwelcome at family reunions and unwanted at Thanksgiving dinners.

Dogs and people really do have a lot in common – believe me. Here’s a secret about those people who seem to have their act together. They don’t. They all have something in common with my friend’s dog Tripod. Everyone struggles with something. Everyone needs encouragement. Everyone needs hope. Everyone needs a pat on the back from time to time. Everyone needs a friend. Everyone needs to be loved. Everyone needs someone to believe in them. Everyone needs a Savior. Everyone needs a redeemer. Everyone needs Jesus.

Redeem – The word simply means to recover, to purchase, to repossess. Wow. I like all of that when it comes to me and my sin and my salvation. God sent Jesus to purchase me – to save me and claim me as one of His own. And, as a believer, when I stray Jesus is the one who recovers me and repossesses me.

Redeem – The word doesn’t mean to remodel or repair or rehab. All those are good words. But redemption is greater than just giving believers a different look or attitude. It’s greater than patching an old garment or putting new paint on an old house. It’s greater than a six-month rehab. When Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t die to remodel or repair or rehab sinners. He died to redeem them. He died to save them. That’s why we can come to Him as we are with all our sins. And He does more than “fix us up” or “straighten us out.” He “brings us in” and claims us as His own.

It’s kind of like a couple I knew several years ago who adopted a little girl. That little girl is now in her fifties. Mom and dad are in Heaven. But this is what they told me about their adopted daughter. Even though she had some handicaps, and the road ahead would be long and sometimes winding, and the lady at the adoption agency said they would understand if the couple wanted to wait on a healthy baby – The mother said, “From the minute I got the call, that was my baby.” God’s grace is kinda like that. The minute you call on His name – you’re His.

Redeem...It is a picture of releasing a captive. Like a story I heard of a young boy who was seen walking down the street with a birdcage full of field birds. A gentleman stopped him on the street and asked him where he got all those birds and what he was going to do with them. The boy said he had trapped them in the field and that he was going to play with them and then probably feed them to an old cat he had at home. The man said, “I’ll give you $20 for the cage and birds.” The boy said, “OK but you’re wasting your money. They’re just old birds and they can’t even sing or nothin’.” The boy went on his way with a crisp $20 bill...and the man took the cage with the birds into an alley where opened the door of the cage. Immediately all the birds found their way out of the cage and into the blue skies. And as the story goes, those old field birds that couldn’t sing – were singing. ...You see, folks, the redeemed don’t sing because they can sing. They sing because they have a song. Do you remember this old hymn?

“I Will Sing Of My Redeemer”

I will sing of my Redeemer, And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered, From the curse to set me free.
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon, Paid the debt, and made me free.

We have been held captive to sin, but Christ redeemed all who will believe. He has paid the price and set us free. The choice is ours to either stay in the cage or spread our wings and fly.