Sermon Tone Analysis

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”[1]

Exchanging gifts is a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas.

Although giving gifts is a part of other celebrations, giving and receiving gifts is an important part of the tradition that has grown up around Christmas.

Perhaps it was first practised to commemorate the gifts which the Magi brought to Mary’s newborn child, or perhaps it was simply an expression of the joy that marks this holy season.

Whatever the reason, today we look forward to giving gifts to those whom we love; and undoubtedly, we each enjoy receiving gifts as well.

Today, I do not want to probe some arcane theological tenet, though the theme of the message is great.

Neither do I imagine that our explorations will be considered profound.

Rather, I anticipate that most of us will murmur assent, thinking that we have heard nothing that we did not already know.

Of course, there is no new knowledge in this message, but it is a wonderful opportunity to recall the goodness of God expressed in the great gift of life in His Beloved Son.

Join me, then, in reviewing the Apostle’s exclamation concerning God’s great gift.

*God’s Great Gift Identified* — “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”

God’s great gift to mankind is redemption.

“Redeem” is a term virtually unknown to modern Canadians, except in reference to investment.

Theologically, the term has fallen into disuse.

However, this was not always the case.

Recall some of the great hymns of a bygone era.

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child, and forever, I am.[2]

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.[3]

I have a song I love to sing, since I have been redeemed,

Of My Redeemer, Saviour King, since I have been redeemed.[4]

Though not sung much today, they speak of a forgotten truth of Christ as our Redeemer.

If redemption is so great, why do we not hear more about it?

Perhaps the reason is that we preachers have grown careless.

We have a tendency to pander to the base desires of those who listen to us, telling them what they want to hear.

This may well be a reflection of our desire to be liked, being driven more by culture than by Christ.

What I am saying is that our fear of man is often greater than our fear of God.

Consequently, we sidestep controversial issues and refrain from saying anything that would hurt the feelings of those who listen and who provide our support.

Paul certainly speaks of redemption.

He attests that redemption is in Christ Jesus [*Romans **3:24*].

Though our souls are redeemed, we await the redemption of our bodies [*Romans **8:23*].

Now, however, the Risen Son of God is “our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” [*1 Corinthians **1:30*].

By His sacrifice, Jesus our Lord has redeemed us from all lawlessness and has purified for Himself a people for His own possession [see *Titus **2:14*].

Because of this redemption He has provided, we now have the forgiveness of sins, indeed, the forgiveness of every trespass [see *Ephesians 1:7*], and we have received the adoption as sons [*Galatians 4:5*].

Thus, redemption is intimately associated with the concept of forgiveness and adoption and ultimately our transformation into the image of the Risen Son of God.

However, knowing this does not yet explain what is meant by redemption.

At the simplest level, redemption speaks of purchasing in the marketplace.

In particular, the word speaks of purchasing again that which belonged to an individual and which has now been placed for sale in the marketplace.

Too many people have stopped at this point without considering what the Bible says concerning redemption in its entirety.

The danger of stopping at this point is that we may draw the conclusion that our Lord engaged in some sort of monetary exchange with the devil to purchase us back.

This view once held sway over theologians during the middle ages, and it still has currency among some individuals who prove careless in handling the Word of God.

There are still people who imagine that in His death on the cross, Jesus was actually “paying” the devil a price required in order to buy back our souls.

As we have already seen, redemption speaks of the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of trespasses, and sets the stage for our adoption as sons.

In other words, redemption speaks of setting aside the condemnation that we have appropriated to ourselves and preparing us to receive the inheritance of God’s own sons.

Without the “adoption as sons,” we have no inheritance.

Did God pay a price to redeem us?  Scripture is quite clear that Christ gave His life in order to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession; and so in the broadest sense, yes, Christ Jesus redeemed us.

However, the language appears to be figurative.

If you wish to insist that a price was paid, because the sacrifice was to secure the forgiveness of sins and the forgiveness of every trespass, then the price was paid to God.  Jesus, by His sacrifice, provided for us to be forgiven and for us to receive the adoption as sons.

The death was necessary to provide salvation, setting aside all condemnation and equipping us for eternity.

Paul is making an effort to assist his readers to realise the magnitude of the gift that God has provided in the sacrifice of His Son.

If we are to look for an analogy, perhaps it is more correct to speak of being freed from sin than it is to speak of being purchased.

If we are to understand the Apostle we need to focus on the effect of His work rather than focusing exclusively on the transaction itself.

We are loosed from our sin.

According to the Word of God, we have been freed from */the penalty of sin/*.

Though our bodies are subject to death, in the redemption we have received from our Lord Jesus Christ we have the testimony of the indwelling Spirit of God and the promise of the Word that our bodies shall be redeemed.

What else can the Apostle John mean than this when he writes in his first letter [*1 John 2:28-3:3*], “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Paul declares to the Philippian Christians, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savoir, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [*Philippians 3:20, 21*].

Though this body is subject to death, and though life is always tenuous, God has promised that we shall receive a transformed body.

Writing the Corinthians, Paul states, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold!

I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

 

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

 

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” [*1 Corinthians **15:50**-57*].

We are also freed from */the power of sin/*.

I do not mean to imply that we somehow live sinless lives or that we are already perfected, but we no longer need to yield to the power of sin.

When we were identified with the world, we were powerless to live holy, godly lives.

However, when we were redeemed, we received the Holy Spirit who now empowers us to turn from sin and to embrace righteousness.

Listen to a rather extended portion of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome.

Paul is relating what these Christians confessed in their baptism, drawing the logical inference that their profession does not permit them to live as they lived before that confession.

“Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means!

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” [*Romans 6:1-14*].

We shall ultimately be freed from */the presence of sin/*.