the products redeeming value and
that way more folks will buy our product. You go into the store and
there you ring up your purchase and they demand the ransom. You hand
them the coupon and they proceed to knock off the said value and you
celebrate. But the store sometimes will double your coupon and you
get double discounting. We think wow that is so cool. There are
ladies who we have
now risen in their art of coupon cutting and are entitled the coupon queens. You can call them
up and they know websites where you can get mega coupons. The best
ransom price for the coupon queen the greatest joy is when they hit
the right day and time and get all coupons redeemed and the product
is free. They walk out full of victory and joy as they celebrate the
redemption at a free pric
This concept is not a recent invention
in our day in time. In fact the Jews had a system of redemption for
family that goes back 5000 years now. They had a cultural law that
there in Genesis 38 we see in action. The law is this: If a man has
three sons say, If one of the sons dies without a successor there was
to be a kinsman nearest to him that would in his honor raise us a
child that would inhereit the honored Father's property and servants
and animals. So usually the oldest brother in the family would have
the first right of redemption to take the dead brothers wife marry
her and have a son and that son would not be his but would in a sense
be raised to be the inheritor of the brother and to live in honor to
the brother taking his name and all.
In Genesis 28 such an event happened to
Judah one of Jacob's sons. The eldest son married Tamar and died. The next in line was evil and before he could marry the woman
Tamar he was killed. So the right of redemption went to the next in
line. The Bible says that he didn't like the idea that the son who
was raised up wouldn't be his so he married Tamar and performed the
consummation of the marriage but instead of impregnating her he
enjoyed the sex but didn't not finish the consummation and the Lord
was angry and with him for his evil and deception and he too died.
So there being no more sons the law defaults to the Father Judah, now having to
fulfill the redemption.
We see a similar event in the book of
Ruth it
is a history of a love story unlike any we have ever heard. 7 to 800
years later we have the time of the Judges in the Bible where there
were no kings and the political system was an eldership and anarchy
was very prominent. Yet we have a story there in the book of Ruth
where in the little town of Bethlehem there was a family that had
hard times with a drought and one thing after another. So the dad
took off for the suburbs of Moab to try and find better farming
conditions. It didn't happen in fact they enjoyed a short success and
the two sons were married to moabite women. But before any heirs were
born both sons and the dad died. There was no on left to redeem the
ladies and inheritance. The Mom sent the wives back to their families
but on lady Ruth took her vows to her new husband and she loved her
mother in law and stayed with her. She cared for her. Mom was an
elderly widow who would not live long in this time and society
without someones care. So Ruth did what she could and when they
returned to Bethlehem from Moab they Ruth applied for their welfare
system and went to work gleaning field scraps or droppings from the
harvesters to get food for them to survive. The town was a buzzing
with good talk for what this young lady did to help her Mother in Law
and to humbly accept the tradition and work very hard. 
The owner of
one of the fields took notice of this ladies work and servitude and
it touched his heart. He found out who she was and then went to work
to begin the redeeming process. The law not only defaults to the
Father after the sons die but then if the Father dies it goes to the
nearest of the Uncles. Dad's brothers now had the right to redeem the
land and wife. The oldest brother found out that he'd have to marry
another woman but he knew his wife would not allow that or stand for
it so he passed on the right of redemption to the younger brother
Boaz the owner of the field who then redeemed the field but not
because he needed another field but because in that field is a
beautiful lady who has a sweet heart and he loved her. He wanted to
redeem her from the humility of living on welfare and give her an
inheritance.
The interesting thing about this story
is when the first son was born the town did not celebrate to Ruth and
Boaz on their new arrival the town went to Old Naomi san and said,
“Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a near
kinsman; and may his name be famous in Israel and may be be to you a
restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter
in law, who is better than seven sons has borne him.” And then Ruth
did not raise the boy but Naomi the grandmother in law took the son
and raised him as her own. The redeemer was not Boaz guys the
redeemer was the son born to take the place of the other men. Obed
the son was the grandfather to King David and also the great great
great umpteen grandfather to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the one we celebrate at
this time of year why? Why don't we celebrate (Obed mas)? You see
this Jewish law was given by God. God the manufacturer of all the
universe had given the world as an inheritance to Adam his created
first born. But Adam made a mistake and did not fulfill his role to
raise up and eternal heir to inherit the earth. He seeded the earth
and the control there of to Satan. Satan is the owner of this world
and all its kingdoms the Bible says. There was no on who on this
planet who could redeem all the world for God. The right of
redemption defaults to the Father. God the Father had to fulfill the
right of redemption and raise up an heir for Adam that would fulfill
the control of the land and its people. But God didn't want the land
he wants the people inside whom he loves very much like Ruth. He sees
us all laboring away and sees our struggles and difficulties and see
how the sin of Adam affects us all in every way from family problems
to jobs power struggles and even neighbor fallout.
So there in Luke 2 an event has
happened unlike any before in the since the beginning of time. It is
such a grand event that in the middle of the night the Angels went
out into the fields of Bethlehem (same city) and shouted glory to God
in the highest. Luke 2:8-14,
“I bring you good tidings of great
joy which will be to all people, For there is born to you this day in
the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be
a sign to you; you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths,
lying in a manger.
A son was born. The virgin gave birth
to a supernatural being the God/Man Jesus Christ. 100% God in human
flesh 100% man in Spirit. He was born with one purpose in mind. Not
to be a ruler or lawyer or a teacher, the purpose was to be a
redeemer of humanity. Though Jesus is the redeemer he needs to
fulfill the act of redemption. You know you hand the clerk your
coupon and they give you the product at the redeemed price. In this
case Satan the owner of God's creation and the people inside demanded
the death of the son as the redemption price. Jesus was born to die
to redeem the world from the curse of being under Satan's control and
power.
Galatians 3:13 says; Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law having become a curse for us.
1 Peter 1:18; “Knowing that you were
not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. But with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe
in God, who raised him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that you
faith and hope are in God.
The Redeeming opportunity is complete
the manufacturer has created the waribiki coupon of Jesus. Satan who
owns the manufacturers product (US) demands full payment no discounts
here. So the manufacturer wants the product back for himself. Can't
he make more? Well he loves this bunch so much He loves you and me
and has given us the opportunity to be redeemed by his son. He comes
to us to collect us when we depart this earth. But there is a
problem. Though we have been redeemed and the full payment was
already given by Jesus there on that cross and he has fulfilled the
right to take the land and it's inhabitants. God isn't a mean
dictator. He is a loving creator. He asks you and I that if we would
like to have our lives redeemed that we accept is Son Jesus into our
life. We no longer listen to Satan and his world. The rules of the
world tell you to strive for money or power or fame. We can fight all
our lives to climb to the tops of these ladders and the view we have
is only of the carnage we left behind as we prevailed. It is lonely
and depressing to have made it. Most lottery winners are broke and
poor and lonely after 5 to 10 years. But God gives you the
opportunity to set out of that system. This stepping out of the fight
is called repentance. We turn from our ungodly ways of succeeding and
we realized this opportunity to be loved by God is worth more value
than all the riches in the world. We can now have a relationship with
God the Father through is redeeming son Jesus. The price is free. We
are all now set free to choose God or Satan. With God the Bible
promises eternal life. The power of the Holy Spirit to lead us, the
peace in our life through all storms of life. We will still have
difficulties and storms and sin around our lives will wash up on our
shores. But God's gift of Jesus is not just a one time redemption but
it is eternal. Maybe you accepted Jesus at one time and like the
typical citizen of earth you go though the Culture shock phases.
There is the romance stage where life with God is great new and wow,
then there is the realization stage where life is different. God is
not like this world, it isn't as easy to acclimate to this new
culture of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Then we enter the
rejection phase. This is where we stop reading our Bibles and praying
and stop going to church. We are struggling as we find two
diametrically opposing cultures in conflict. God's ways are not our
ways says the Bible. It will be hard to change. It is hard to
forgive, It is impossible to love others, But he gives us the Holy
Spirit and His power to do these things. The final phase is the
resolve phase. We resolve in our hearts to tough it out. We don't
give up. In revelation, it says blessed is the one who overcomes and
world and satan. Maybe you tried God once in you life but never made
it past the rejection phase. The culture is too different. I'm not
talking American culture. I'm specifically speaking of the Creator
Culture. Even those of us shake our heads when we read the Bible and
learn God's ways and see that our own church culture had entropy(ed)
into a convoluted system of non-biblical culture and tradition that
conflicts with God's word. Maybe you realize tonight that you didn't
understand God's culture and gave up. I'm in my 4th year
in Japan. I confess to you have had a hard time in the rejection
phase of the people I love so much. I am not Japanese I rejected the
culture, language, food, socialism and group power plays. I wanted to
give up. I want to come back to California and not deal with the
miserable lives that Japanese people struggle with. They are high
tech but so are their problems. The depth of family issues runs deep
and there are bonds and ties that the whole nation is pulling each
other down and the slippery slope shows that like the USA we are all
sinking into a time of evil unlike any other since the history of
humanity began. There is no escape but one. Jesus. He will transform
our hearts to a heart like his. The strings can be cut and we can
rise above all the evil around us. But not in our own strength. We
need Jesus.
For you who rejected God's culture
there is hope. God is not angry but understands what you are going
through. He never says understand me first and then lets have a
relationship. No like all our relationships we just start and then
later we wonder what did we get into? But Jesus is faithful and if
you rejected him he has not rejected you. But he waits like a patient
spouse. He gives you space and time to deal with it and process but
he longs for you to come back into fellowship there is grace and
forgiveness. The Bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and
just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
For you who have never known this
creator and his son Jesus. He extends to you the same opportunity as
to all humanity. You can have your sins forgiven and be cleansed of
all evil and be set free to have a relationship with the creator. He
just asks that you give up your earthly life. Not quit your job. But
the striving to use evil as a tool to get a better position on the
board. The gossip to destroy another or tarnish their reputation. The
all the ways of sin that we mastered, lying, backstabbing,
manipulating all these things are opposite of God's culture. We give
that up and we seek to learn through study of the Bible God's culture
and ways and we try through the power of the Holy Spirit to do those
things that please him. So do we do good works and that pleases God.
NO!
The Bible says without faith it is
impossible to please God. The government of heaven has an economy
unlike our earthly one. They don't have a monetary system of monies.
The system of success and wealth comes from FAITH. More faith that
God can do great things in me the more amazing things he will do with
my life. If I doubt God's work in me he will do little or nothing
with me. You must believe in your heart first and foremost that Jesus
Christ was born there in bethlehem, died on a cross in Jerusalem and
rose again and is in heaven ready to give you an inheritance. If you
believe John 1:12 you have the right to become children of God. If
you believe you have the right to be forgiven. If you believe you
have the right to eternal life, Do you believe? If you do then you
begin by praying and talking to him and introducing yourself to him.
“God the Father, I am (insert your name here). I am a sinner from
earth that wants to come to your kingdom. I understand you sent Jesus
to redeem me and forgive my sins. I would like to ask you to forgive
me and allow me the opportunity to be redeemed by you. Please forgive
my sin, and please come into my life and show me what I must do? I
pray this in your Son Jesus Christ's name, Amen!
If your a citizen of heaven then you
will naturally tell others. The Bibles says, if you confess with your
mouth that Jesus is Lord (Redeemer) you shall be saved. If you deny
Jesus before me the Bibles says Jesus will deny you before God the
Father.
The Christmas story is good tidings for
all humanity. A historical fact of God's redemptive plan put into
action. That is what it's all about that is why we celebrate every
year. The birth of a savior. Wow. He is so wonderful. He will guide
you and lead you and love you. But not like you think. Your culture
is different. His will blow you away. I for one am so thankful for
God redeeming my soul. If you'd like to begin a relationship with God
let's pray after this I'll help you. If you'd like to repent from
rejecting God's culture then let's do that. Let's take this
opportunity to once again pick up where we left off and renew our
relationship with our Father in Heaven and His redeemer Jesus. Amen.
