2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
I am led to continue discussing the traits of a true kinsman-redeemer. You’ll remember that the first two are: 1) He must be a blood relative; 2) He must be able to pay the price of redemption. Today’s addition to that list is: 3) He must have the desire to redeem his relative. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ was an integral part of God’s plan to redeem us from slavery to sin. Our situation is that there was no way we could ever redeem ourselves. Because we were born into sin, we were God’s enemies, ones who didn’t deserve to be redeemed. However, God, through Paul, reveals to us that despite this situation, God through His grace send Christ to redeem us anyway. RO 5: 10-11, “We were God’s enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life! but that is not all; we rejoice because of what God’s has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has now made us God’s friends.” This verse gives us some insight into the merciful grace that God has extended to us.
The question arises about Christ’s attitude about facing such awful pain and humiliation on our account, especially since we were God’s enemies at the time. But, when we look carefully into Christ’s life, we see the most perfect example of obedience there ever was. If we recall the story of a tax collector, Zacchaeus in LK 19: 1-10, we will have a look at Christ’s attitude. Zacchaeus was rich. Zacchaeus had climbed a tree so he could see Christ pass by. The Lord saw him and said, “Hurry down Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.” The crowd exclaimed, “This Man has gone as a guest in the house of a sinner!” Zacchaeus denied ever cheating anyone and offered to pay back anyone he cheated four times what was owed. Our Lord, who is omniscient, was the only One Who wasn’t surprised by this outburst, and in LK 19: 9-10 said, “Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also is a descendant of Abraham. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
We can go back to JN 5: 19 for more insight into Christ’s attitude. “So Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on His own; He does only what He sees His Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does.” At every point of decision, Christ prays to the Father for direction and affirmation of His plan. What a great example He sets for us! We might ask to what extent will Christ go to carry out the Father’s commands? The answer is in JN 15: 13, “The greatest love a person can have for His friends is to give His life for them.” That is why we can come to the greatest demonstration of Christ’s willingness to be our Kinsman-Redeemer in the Scriptures, LK 22: 42, His conversation with God in the Garden of Gethsemane. “’Father,’ He said, ‘if You will, take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will, however, but Your will be done.’”
As the story of Christ’s passion unfolds, we see that Christ never lost sight of God’s purpose. Despite the pain and suffering He was enduring, He stayed the course, even to the point of bringing others like one of the thieves being crucified with Him and the centurion standing guard at the bottom of the cross on Calvary to faith. Christ carried out God’s purpose to His last breath on this earth and still carries it out as God’s beloved resurrected Being from heaven. He is there as a presence in the life of every believer and lives forever to intercede as our Advocate in heaven having opened the heavenly Holy of Holies for each of us [HE 8: 1-2, 9:12]. Had Christ not had the desire to do the Father’s will and become our Kinsman-Redeemer, there were plenty of opportunities for Him to disobey the Father along the way. He took none of them, even when it meant the loss of his physical life in such a painful and humiliating way.
When we reflect on what that means to our individual lives, the blessings to them are enormous. Where is Satan in all of this? The moment that Christ died on the cross for us, Satan’s eventual fate was sealed. Satan’s anger and desire to do evil are clear. He knows his time is limited, and that the head of this serpent is surely crushed [GN 3: 15; REV 12: 12]. What is our place in this plan? If we love God as much as we say we do, then we will demonstrate through our obedience to His commands that we intend to follow the wonderful example that our Kinsman-Redeemer has set for us. For our obedience is a measure of the love we have for Him [JN 14: 21]. We will look at each aspect of our lives and see how we can make them better conform to the standard Christ set for us. Thus, we will allow the Holy Spirit to fill our spiritual vessels and take control of our lives. We will shuck off the world’s values in favor of God’s. And, when we do, we will know the full measure of the blessings our loving Abba is eager to shower upon us.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have granted us the privilege of being Your children even through we were originally Your enemies and didn’t deserve this favor. That is because You are such a giver of life, light, goodness, and grace. Your love for us is expressed in 1 JN 3: 1, “See how much the Father has loved us. His love is so great that we are called God’s children-and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.” We have never fully understood what made You love us so much, but we are so grateful that You do. Our lives would have been miserable and would have ended in spiritual death had it not been for Your plan and Your Son’s willingness to obey You in carrying it out. We struggle to understand why those led by Satan and his followers don’t understand, but then, through Paul, You explain it in 1 COR 2: 14, “Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them; they are foolishness to him, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.” Then You explain to us in RO 8: 14-17, what it means to be adopted by You. “Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For the Spirit makes you God’s children and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Abba! my Abba!’ God’s Sprit joins Himself to God’s children. Since we are His children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for His people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for Him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share His glory.” We approach Your altar today in humility to confess our sin, to pledge our willingness not to waste the suffering Christ went through by being disobedient to Your commands, and to offer You our deepest and utmost gratitude for the tremendous sacrifice both You and He made when He atoned for our sins. Your compassion, constant love, and patience for us deserves our praise. We praise You not only for what You do for us, but for Who You are. We promise to be loyal, diligent, trusting, and obedient. You have our eternal worship and adoration. To You belongs all the honor and glory. Your are our blessed Abba, and we will always love You. In Christ’s name, amen.
In tomorrow’s message, the Holy Spirit leads me to discuss another trait of the kinsman-redeemer. Each time that we examine the citations for these traits, our loving Abba gives us a better idea of just how blessed we really are. We should never take any of these blessings for granted. When I think about the many soldiers who had died so that America can enjoy the freedom that it has today, I am reminded of the example of selflessness that they learned to have. The quintessential example of selflessness is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Father Who allowed Him to be sacrificed for us. It is because of these examples that we need to meditate upon how important it is for us never to feel alone and abandoned and to thank Him every day for all the goodness in our lives. If we will look for it, we will find it. If we will seek Him out, we will find Him too. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn