Christ our Redeemer

The Lord’s Table: Bible Study/Prayer meeting

(Every Wednesday 6-7 pm in the Chapel)

St Paul’s Church

The Anglican Church of Canada

28 December 2011

Opening Prayer                                                                               

Theme: The Good News

Topic: Christ our Redeemer

Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ^* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,^* having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this^* is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Introduction

Redemption implies salvation, liberation, deliverance, rescue, freedom and such more. We celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ few days ago; and atimes I wonder what Christmas really means. It could mean different things to different people- eating, drinking, family visits, travelling, shopping, giving and receiving of gifts and so on and so forth. There is nothing wrong with these activities but as Christ followers, we should always remember that Christmas is the celebration of God’s greatest gift to mankind- Christ the Savior and Redeemer of the world. From the fall of Adam, sin came into the world and held mankind captive and God due to His love for us sent His only begotten Son to pay the price for our sin and reconcile us back to Himself. In this study, we will discuss how Christ is our Redeemer.

Questions/Discussion

1. What does Christmas mean to you?

Ephesians 1:3-6

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ^* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

2. Why did God send His only begotten to Son into the world?

John 3:16

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Romans 3:21-26

²¹ But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ^* for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement^* by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.^*

Hebrews 10:1-10

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it^* can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshippers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵Consequently, when Christ^* came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; ⁶ in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you have taken no pleasure. ⁷ Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God” (in the scroll of the book^* it is written of me).’ ⁸When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), ⁹then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰And it is by God’s will^* that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

3. What does it mean to be redeemed by Christ?

Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.

Colossians 1:21-22

²¹ And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled^* in his fleshly body^* through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—

1 John 1:5-7

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; ⁷but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

4. Is there anything that can separate us from the redemptive power of Christ?

Romans 8:35-39

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Intercession

Conclusion

Christ came into the world that we may have life and have it more abundantly. He came to redeem us from the power of sin and death. May we live as the redeemed of the Lord; delivered from the bondage of sin and evil all the days of our lives.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we are ever grateful for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ who you sent into the world as the propitiation for our sin. May His redemptive power be evident in our daily walk with You through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.