Kevin Dibbley - October 15, 2023
"Redemption: Freedom and Forgiveness"
In this sermon, we are going to be talking about the doctrine of redemption. Our sermon is taken from Ephesians 1:7-10. Redemption is staggering because it is the great truth that God has come to rescue his enemies from captivity at the price of His own Son. At the greatest personal cost to Himself, God has come to set us free from our captivity to sin and to make us His own people. This is the message of the gospel and it is the message of Ephesians: God is making His enemies, not just His friends, but His family through Jesus Christ. However, there is more to redemption than being forgiven. Redemption is the ground out of which we learn to love and to forgive others. God’s mission for us begins with a willingness and a determination not just to announce this forgiveness but to actually love and forgive our enemies. We are to work out on the ground what God has determined in the heavens and for heaven and earth. So, here is the challenge as you prepare for Sunday: Are you willing to extend to others what God has extended to you in Christ? Are you open to considering deeply what redemption means not only for your personal forgiveness but your forgiveness of those around you? Will you start praying for yourself and one another as we come to rejoice in the gift of redemption? This Sunday’s message is called: Redemption – Freedom and Forgiveness.
Scripture References: Ephesians 1:7-10
From Series: "Ephesians: One In Christ"
We are beginning a sermon series focusing upon the New Testament letter of Ephesians. Our series is called “One in Christ”. In Japan, there is a form of artwork called Kintsugi art. Kin means gold. Tsugi means to mend. In Kintsugi art, an artist will take, for example, a piece of ceramic teaware that has been broken during an earthquake or something like that. Instead of repairing it to make it look like the original plate or teacup, the artist will instead use Japanese lacquer and gold to actually highlight the fractures. Out of the broken vessel comes a brand new piece that is considered more beautiful and more valuable than the original. The apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians that God in Christ has chosen to take our lives broken and alienated from God and each other by sin and make one new community. John Stott writes “Through Christ and in Christ, we are nothing less than God’s new society, the single new humanity which he is creating and includes Jews and Gentiles on equal terms. We are the family of God the Father, the body of Jesus Christ his Son, and the temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.” Our hope and prayer is that over the next several months, we would get a vision of the church as God’s new creation, His masterpiece, which is just the beginning of what God intends to do throughout all eternity and throughout the entire heavens and on earth. Out of his brokenness, we become one. Pray that together we would become in real relationships what we are in positionally through the gospel – One in Christ.
