Sanctuary

Reclaiming the Truth

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” – Ephesians 1.7

Redeeming the Time

One way the Israelites were reminded of God’s Great Love Story was through special meals that were full of symbolic food, prayers, story and song. 

During the Passover feast, Jews often sing the “Dayenu.” Dayenu is a Hebrew word that means, “It would have been enough.”

They would sing a line and then respond, “It would have been enough.” There are 15 lines of the song. Each line highlights a gift of God. And after each line is sung, everyone at the table would respond, “It would have been enough.” As if to say, if nothing else, if God hadn’t done anything else, the very first act would have been enough. 

Five Stanzas of Leaving Slavery 

1) If He had brought us out of Egypt.

“It would have been enough.” 

2) If He had executed justice upon the Egyptians.

“It would have been enough.” 

3) If He had executed justice upon their gods.   

“It would have been enough.” 

4) If He had slain their first-born.

“It would have been enough.” 

5) If He had given to us their health and wealth.

“It would have been enough.” 

Five Stanzas of Miracles

6) If He had split the sea for us.

“It would have been enough.” 

7) If He had led us through on dry land.

“It would have been enough.” 

8) If He had drowned our oppressors.

“It would have been enough.” 

9) If He had provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years.

“It would have been enough.” 

10) If He had fed us manna.

“It would have been enough.” 

Five Stanzas of Being with God

11) If He had given us Shabbat.

“It would have been enough.” 

12) If He had led us to Mount Sinai.  

“It would have been enough.” 

13) If He had given us the Torah.

“It would have been enough.” 

14) If He had brought us into the Land of Israel. 

“It would have been enough.” 

15) If He built the Temple for us.

“It would have been enough.” 

Reflection 

• What is enough for you? 
• What if things don’t go back to normal?
• What if you don’t get back to school?
• What if wages continue to be cut and you can’t provide like you want to or at all?
• What if you get sick?
• What is enough for you? When everything is stripped away and you are left with your questions, what one answer is enough? Is redemption enough?

Resting in His Redemption

The verse we began this devotion with today is found in the middle of some indescribably beautiful truths in Ephesians 1. We’ll read those truths here believing even one would be enough. Then, we’ll personalize these truths by writing your name in the blanks. Rest and receive His redemption today. 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1.3-14 (personalized)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed __________in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  

For He chose __________ in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. 

In love, He predestined __________for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given __________in the One He loves.

In Him, __________ has redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on __________. 

With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to __________ the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In Him ,__________ is chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. 

And __________ was also included in Christ when she heard the message of truth, the gospel of her salvation. When __________ believed, she was marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing __________ inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.

Reclaiming the Truth

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.” – Psalm 107.2 

Redeeming the Time

Now is the time. Now is the time to tell the redemption story. Now is the time to point people to God’s Great Love Story.

In the midst of all of this uncertainty and fear, at a time when people are being confronted with some really important questions and searching for answers that satisfy, now is the time for the redemption song to be sung.

There is no greater time to be the Church than today.

In Scripture, we see God choosing a people whom He will make His own. A people who have become enslaved and forgotten. A people who were broken and dismembered. God speaks to Moses about His redemption story.

“The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’ ” – Exodus 3.7-10.

You probably know the rest of the story. You can read more about it in Exodus 12 & Deuteronomy 6. Redemption would happen, but it would come with a cost. A price had to be paid. The Passover lamb was slain, blood was shed, freedom was bought.

Your freedom and mine was bought through the shed blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” – Ephesians 1.7

Our world is desperately searching. You and I have the answer. Let’s tell the story.

Reflection

• What does this text show me about the loveliness of God? 
• What is it about God in this text that calls for my love for him? 
• What does this text show me about people and about what love requires of me on their behalf? 
• As one who has been shown mercy and love from God, what empowerment from him do I need to overcome my obstacles to love? 

• What about the love of God in Jesus gives me hope and provision for my own lovelessness?
• What does this text show me about people and about what love requires of me on their behalf? 
• What does it look like to rest and receive in His redemptive love today?

Resting in His Redemption

Write a prayer of thanksgiving in response to His redemptive love.

Singing the Redemption Song – Isaiah 35

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.

No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,

    and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Celebrating Redemption 

Each Saturday, we celebrate a redemption story of someone in our Faith Family. Today we celebrate God’s redemption in the life of Olivia Nix. You can watch her story below.   

Reflection

• Where specifically do you see God at work in Olivia’s story?
• How do you see God at work in your story today? 
• Where are you currently celebrating redemption?

Olivia shares about her desire to be content right where she is, just as she is. Spend a few moments receiving His love today, just as you are, right where you are. 

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4.11-13

Reclaiming the Truth

“Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.” –  Genesis 19:30 

Redeeming the Time

Have you ever felt a letdown after a significant event or season in your life? Maybe you found yourself asking, “What now?” In our story, the region has now been ransacked by war, and Lot has been captured, then rescued and now returns home. What now? What happens after the peril wanes and the sensation of the rescue wears off?

A crisis has a way of making the important truths in life very clear. Our values are crystalized and our priorities made clear, but when the dust has settled and life has resumed its regular pattern, it can be easy to drift back into habits and patterns we know are not best for us.

The story of Lot reminds us of the dangers when we don’t let the reality of redemption take root in our lives. Lot is mentioned several times in four straight chapters of Genesis (11-14), but then not again until Genesis 19. Here, Lot is again the subject of a great rescue. Once again, Abram plays a pivotal role in Lot’s rescue, this time in advance of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19 ends with the final mention of Lot, and it is not a pretty scene. Take a few minutes and look up the story for yourself. How does someone who has been rescued twice fail to walk in the freedom and blessing of that love?

It seems so obvious when we look at the story of Lot, but it is probably a little more challenging when we think about our own stories. I was lost and promised eternal death, but Jesus showed up to make a way for me to experience life. An incredibly high price was paid for my redemption and yours because the Redeemer loves us that much. Our redemption was paid for so we could live in the freedom that redemption provides. Galatians 5:1 reminds us that, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

May our stories look different than Lot’s story as we live in the reality of God’s redemption. We have been redeemed and God will continue to rescue when we call, but let us be people who seek to live in the freedom that God provides.

Reflection

• When have you found yourself drifting back to old practices and patterns?
• How do you find yourself drifting away from the reality of your redemption in Christ?
• Whom do you have in your life who encourages you to live as a redeemed child of the King?

Resting in His Redemption 

Psalm 107 is entitled, “Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So” and is a declaration of what God has done for his people.  Before you read this beautiful Psalm, I want to draw your attention to three things that I hope will encourage you today:

1) The Psalm begins and ends speaking of God’s “steadfast love.”

2) Verses 6, 13, 19, 28 all repeat the same line:

“Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.”

3) This cry of desperation is followed every time in a subsequent verse with the line:

“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!”

Receive Psalm 107 and rest in the truth that our God is able to deliver us from any trouble, and His love is forever steadfast. Once redeemed, God will continue to rescue us because that’s what steadfast love does.

Psalm 107

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    

for his steadfast love endures forever!


² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
   

 whom he has redeemed from trouble


³ and gathered in from the lands,
   

 from the east and from the west,
   

 from the north and from the south.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes,
   

 finding no way to a city to dwell in;


⁵ hungry and thirsty,
   

 their soul fainted within them.


⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    

and he delivered them from their distress.


⁷ He led them by a straight way
   

 till they reached a city to dwell in.


⁸ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    

for his wondrous works to the children of man!


For he satisfies the longing soul,
   

 and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    

prisoners in affliction and in irons,


¹¹ for they had rebelled against the words of God,
   

 and spurned the counsel of the Most High

 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
   

 they fell down, with none to help.


¹³ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   

 and he delivered them from their distress.


¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
    

and burst their bonds apart.


¹⁵ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    

for his wondrous works to the children of man!


¹⁶ For he shatters the doors of bronze
    

and cuts in two the bars of iron.

¹⁷ Some were fools through their sinful ways,
    

and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;


¹⁸ they loathed any kind of food,
    

and they drew near to the gates of death.


¹⁹ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    

and he delivered them from their distress.


²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them,
   

 and delivered them from their destruction.


²¹ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    

for his wondrous works to the children of man!


²² And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
   

 and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

²³ Some went down to the sea in ships,
    

doing business on the great waters;


²⁴ they saw the deeds of the Lord,
   

 his wondrous works in the deep.


²⁵ For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
    

which lifted up the waves of the sea.


²⁶ They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
    

their courage melted away in their evil plight;


²⁷ they reeled and staggered like drunken men
    

and were at their wits’ end. 


²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   

 and he delivered them from their distress.


²⁹ He made the storm be still,
    

and the waves of the sea were hushed.


³⁰ Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
   

 and he brought them to their desired haven.


³¹ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   

 for his wondrous works to the children of man!


³² Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
    

and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

³³ He turns rivers into a desert,
    

springs of water into thirsty ground,


³⁴ a fruitful land into a salty waste,
    

because of the evil of its inhabitants.


³⁵ He turns a desert into pools of water,
    

a parched land into springs of water.


³⁶ And there he lets the hungry dwell,
   

 and they establish a city to live in;


³⁷ they sow fields and plant vineyards
    

and get a fruitful yield.


³⁸ By his blessing they multiply greatly,
   

 and he does not let their livestock diminish.

³⁹ When they are diminished and brought low
    

through oppression, evil, and sorrow,


⁴⁰ he pours contempt on princes
    

and makes them wander in trackless wastes;


⁴¹ but he raises up the needy out of affliction
   

 and makes their families like flocks.


⁴² The upright see it and are glad,
    

and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

⁴³ Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;    

let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.“