Redemption and Adoption

Posted by anointedplace on July 15, 2015 · 2 Comments 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace –

Ephesians 1:3-7

 

We can’t move forward with Christ without having the whole story. We can’t hope to have joy and peace nor show love, mercy, and grace to each other and the world without a good understanding of what the Gospel accomplishes. There are two chapters that prove a  biblical description what has taken place. Ephesians chapter 1 and 2; chapter 1: redemption and chapter 2: position. The actual title of each respective chapters are “Blessings of Redemption” and “Made Alive in Christ “.   If we hope to have any type of life promised to us by Jesus, we must have both; forgiveness of sin and adoption.

Before going forward let me put it to you a different way….

Let’s say that you were born into a great financial debt on the magnitude of a billion dollars. This debt has been yours for as long as you can remember. It is a part of you, it describes you and influences how you interact with the world and the people around you. Before you do anything it must be considered. Soon how you operate in regards to the debt is like second nature, you just do. Your debit is who you are; it’s your identity. Now let’s say a man comes along and erases your entire debt. It changes your entire life. Your past is dead and your future is now free. Now what? How long do you think it would take you to start accumulate debt? If we are honest about ourselves we would see that when something is a part of your identity for so long it’s nearly impossible to break free from it on your own.   The reason being that it is you and you are it. This debt controlled every aspect of your life and how you handled things mentally.   The only way to free a person from a life like this is to change how they identify. Either give them positive money verses negative (debt) or a better job. This person has to change positions in life that will internally change how they see themselves; thus they need a new identity.

 

When your identity is not your old debt you approach life differently. When you look back at the debt and then look forward to a new life without you learn how live in light of it but not enslaved to it. A new position changes how you interact with other people who are either in debt or out of debt.   How you respond to situations change because you no longer operate from a position of fear. Your life cannot be this way if your debt is simply forgiven and you are left empty.   It is the same with a former prisoner. A man released from a prison life is doomed to return if he continues to see himself as a prisoner or criminal. So God through Jesus Christ redeems the sinner and then repositions the sinner as a saint. But God’s transfiguration of position is overwhelming consumed with grace, love, and mercy.   We are not just repositioned but re-imagined as someone who we could never hope to be under our own power. God adopts us into His family. We are covered by the blood of Christ in such a way that when the Heavenly Father looks at us, He sees the Lord Jesus. This is before we have done anything or lived any different. It is all of grace through faith in Jesus so that are new identity cannot bankrupt us into a debt that is un-payable because it’s a gift. Our new standing before God comes with receiving what Jesus rightfully earned. So the negative balance is replaced by an infinite positive balance to draw from. In our new identity we have a position in heaven being seated with Christ as we still reside here on earth. Our position also includes a continuous upgrade as we walk by faith as we will be conformed into the image of the Son of God. And there is more as we have a purpose, we are God’s workmanship for the doing of good works. All for the glory of God, we no longer work for the debt which has no future but death. Our position is one of progression to a righteousness, salvation, redemption, and reconciliation the ends in our glorification as we now operate from a position of Ambassadors of Christ. We are transformed from the bearers of death to the givers of hope. We are God’s pictures of grace, the reflection of the gospel. If it had not been for Jesus Christ doing what we couldn’t against our will, where would we be? We had learned to just live in debt. We now have to learn to live in hope. It’s hard because living in debt easier because we know it. Jesus offers eternal life and it’s about knowing the Father, let’s listen to what He has already said about us. Glory to God.

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