“Living our Redemption” on Ephesians 1:7-10 by Pastor Joe Ellis - Sept. 15, 2024

We’re going to take a closer look at the two parts of the Scripture passage we read in Ephesians and explore how they relate with one another. We are going to explore how Paul’s proclamation that “in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins” (v.7) — ties in with Jesus’ plan for it all, that is to “head up all things in Christ — the things in heaven and the things in earth.” (v.10) We have our redemption and the forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus, and this is part of God’s master plan to bring everything in heaven and everything on earth under the authority of Jesus. In other words, how does our redemption fit into the big picture of Christ’s redemption of the entire world?

Let’s first explore the word ‘Redemption.’ I don’t encounter the word redemption very often, especially not in the way Paul used it here. Probably, the most frequent nonreligious use of the word redemption is when we talk about redeeming a Dairy Queen coupon, or our Air Miles. A free trip to Vancouver! Paul uses the word redemption slightly differently. For Paul, redemption is a word that harkens back to slavery. In this sense, redemption means to “buy back’ a slave or a captive, i.e. ‘making them free’ by the payment of a ransom.” Here in v.7, Paul says that the means by which we have been bought back from slavery is through the blood of Jesus. With the blood of Jesus, God purchase our freedom and put an end to our enslavement to sin (there are lots of questions about how Jesus’ blood could do that… very good questions, but they’re not for this sermon).

Now let’s talk about that word ‘sin’ — in Paul's writings, sin can refer to bad things that humans do, but sin is often portrayed as something or someone bigger. This especially comes across when you read Romans 7 where we see sin not simply as bad things we do, but that sin is presented as a Slave Master, controlling humankind. Furthermore, when you read Romans 7, Sin Himself is a slave, a slave to Death. So Sin has a job, which is to lead all that is in his domain towards death. That’s the dark hierarchy in the Christian worldview. Without having redemption from Christ through His blood, humans are enslaved to Sin. And Sin has one main goal, to lead his charges to his master Death.

This larger view of Sin, as an entity drawing creatures and creation towards death, has significant implications. For me, it enables me to look at trajectories not only of personal action, but of systems and organizations and states, and wonder about the influence of Sin. Take the gambling system — sure there are individual sins committed in casinos, but you can also look at the overall system as used by Sin to keep people ensnared in the cycle of gambling. Sin is that which leads to death, working against justice and human flourishing, subverting the Order that one would see in God’s Kingdom. This view of Sin invites us to look at the big picture and the small and ask, how can we make it right? How can we lessen the power of sin in this situation or in that system, and begin to facilitate the emergence of life?

Sin enslaves. Now, when Paul speaks of ‘enslaving,’ he’s got an Old Testament story in mind that had a big impact for him and his people. For Paul, redemption in Christ and freedom from Sin, mirrors the redemption of Israel and their enslavement to Pharaoh in Egypt.

Let’s break this down. When the ancient people of Israel were enslaved to Pharaoh, the people of Israel saw all too clearly how Pharaoh was a servant of death, leading them toward death. This is laid out in the first chapter of the book of Exodus. Aside from overworking these slaves to exhaustion, without dignity, without pay, without adequate supplies, without leeway to say no — Pharaoh became anxious about the huge number of ancient Israelite slaves. He was afraid that his slaves would rise up and take away his kingdom — so in this way Pharaoh also was enslaved to death, he knew that death had control over him, and he was afraid. So Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all Hebrew baby boys as soon as they were born. The Pharaoh was living in fear of death, and bringing death to his slaves. From out of that slavery, God planned to emancipate the Israelites and lead them into the promised land where they would be free to worship God and live in relative peace. 

When Paul speaks of redemption in Christ, he wants us to think back to the story of the Exodus. This frames the way we hear verses 7-10 in Ephesians 1: “We have been redeemed by Christ’s blood, set free from our trespasses in anticipation that God will lead us into the fullness of His plan which will bring everything in heaven and on Earth under Christ Jesus” — in other words, God’s freedom in Christ will ultimately lead us into a New Promised Land where everything is under the rule of Christ (in Christianity we refer to this in shorthand as the New Creation, which is when Heaven comes to Earth, and all things are made new. This will be a completely new epoch initiated by God, not something that just seemed to happen gradually). That’s where we are going, but we are not yet at that part of the story. We have not arrived in the New Promised Land yet. 

If we are not in the New Promised Land yet, where does that place us? There is a phrase that biblical scholars use to describe the period of time that we live in as Christians: “Already but not yet.” In Paul’s framework, we have been already redeemed by Christ’s blood, we have been already set free from bandage and slavery to sin, we already have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us — but we are not yet at the point where all things in Heaven and on Earth are brought under the head of Christ.

This of course means that we live in a world where Sin is still a slave master, working in the service of death. Those in Christ have been set free from Sin’s power, because Christ has purchased us with His blood — but we still feel Sin's presence, we still succumb (at times) to Sin’s influence, and we still see Sin’s power wreak havoc in our lives and in the world around us. We are not in the New Promised Land — when Christ will bring all things under the head of Christ.

In some ways, we are more like the Israelites living in Egypt than the Israelites living in the Old Promised Land (though that was a shadow of what is to come). It’s like we’re living as freed slaves in Egypt, think about that — it’s a risky thing to be freed slaves living in the territory of your old master. What might that look like? There is a story in the first chapter of Exodus that is a compelling picture. Remember that Pharaoh gave the order for every Hebrew boy to be killed? Well, Shiprah and Puah were the two Hebrew midwives who received this order to kill the Hebrew baby boys. The story goes, “The midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” 

When you disobey the master of the land, you get confronted, right? The story goes on: Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?  The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive. 

What a powerful picture of two women living emancipated lives in a land of slavery. What a powerful picture of what it looks like to be redeemed while still living in the vicinity of your old master. As people bought with the blood of Christ, we will still hear the old master, we will feel his threats, his authority, his compulsion to obey — but you feel the disgust of the rule of sin, you see it for what it is, leading to death, you learn to see his orders are at odds with the will of God — and because you have been freed to love God rather than Sin — you work to bring life instead of death.

Can you identify with Shiprah and Puah, living emancipated lives in the pressure of sin and death? Working against the pull of sin and death? Striving to bring life as you wait for God to lead us into the promised land? Have you found moments of standing alongside Shiprah and Puah, working out the will of our heavenly Father amidst pressures to do otherwise? If so, you are not alone.

Christians have been living this way through the ages. For example as Christianity grew, so did the abundance of hospitals. Did you know that some of the first hospitals were started by Christians who wanted to care for the sick and dying? Followers of Christ who had been redeemed from Sin, set free from fear of death, began to work against powers of death in their community, helping people heal. And because Christians have been set free from death (we do die, but not forever), we can serve in places of death without fear of death. At the leper colony on the island of Molechai in Hawaii, priests cared for people with leprosy, and contracted leprosy themselves. Yet death did not win.

In addition to having been set free from Sin and Death, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. And one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to reveal Sin. Now this humble recognition of Sin is absolutely necessary to subversively act against Sin in the realm of Sin and Death. It is the ability to see sin that gives Christians the capacity to subvert our old master, to undermine sinful purposes, and instead live in intentional ways that lead to the abundance of life in our own lives, in our family, in our school, in our work, in our town, in our country, in our world... As we draw close to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit helps us to became nauseous at the scent of sin — the Holy Spirit begins to show us where specifically you or I are called to undermine the work of sin. 

We could choose to ignore the leading of the Spirit to subvert Sin. After all, it is dangerous. We could ignore this calling just as Shiprah and Puah could have obeyed Pharaoh. Followers of Jesus are right to glory in our redemption, yet our redemption is emancipation with purpose. Our redemption means that the calling of every follower of Jesus is to become sensitive to the presence of Sin across all spheres of life, to sense where God is calling you and me to partner with the Holy Spirit in transforming those spheres from death to life. This may look like confessing our own sin, or helping another see their actions as leading to death, or it may look like advocating for fair housing, or caring for the sick, or by talking to your teacher or principal about how the school might better serve the students; or removing vulgar graffiti and replacing it with art, or teaching someone how to pray, or sitting with a person in their loneliness, or befriending someone that your classmates find a bit weird.

Let me say it again — working against Sin in a land ruled by Sin is a hard place to be. Disobeying Pharaoh did not mean that Pharaoh would like it. There will be backlash. Jesus is our paradigm — He confronted Sin, He confronted Death — and there was terrible backlash. He was mocked, flogged, crucified, buried and descended into Hell. Yet Jesus’ death shows us what He has won for us — freedom from Death — the grave did not hold Him. He burst forth from the grave. He displayed to the world what it truly means to be emancipated from Sin and from Death. It’s Resurrection! And so we take our place behind Christ — He beckons us to pick up our cross and follow Him — cross carrying is finding ways to undermine Sin and Death to their face, and bear the consequences. Sometimes we are knocked down, sometimes we are blindsided, sideswiped, crushed, or ridiculed, and sometimes we don’t get what we want, and some are even killed. Yet Christ has redeemed us, purchased us with His blood, so that Death will never be the final Word. He will raise us to New Life, triumphant over Sin and Death. He will lead us into His New Promised Land, when all things, in heaven and on earth, are under His power, authority and glory.