"Power to Redeem" (Psalm 130)

I did something this week that I’ve never done before since becoming pastor at Bixby Knolls Christian Soda.

I bought myself a soda from our soda machine.

I bought it, but I didn’t drink it. In fact, it’s right here, unopened.

I bought it because I wanted to see what was printed on the top of the can: here, right next to the tab, are the letters CA CRV.

Do you know what those letters stand for?

They stand for “California Cash Refund Value” or “Cash Redemption Value.”

I bought this can because of that word, “redemption.” It’s a very good word, a good biblical word.

Scripture talks about redemption. The psalm we heard a moment ago, Psalm 130, says that, with God, there is great power to redeem. Redeem is the word redemption in verb form.

This can has a redemption value. I paid 75 cents for this can of soda; however, five of those cents went to the state. I can redeem those five cents if I recycle this can.

To redeem means to reclaim, to get back what’s mine.

In the Bible, the word redeem means the same thing, except that instead of redeeming nickels, it talks about redeeming lives.

In ancient times, a person who falls into a difficult financial situation with no way out could sell himself to another, to be that person’s slave, to work as a slave in order to pay off his debt.

However, a relative may redeem them; that is, a relative may pay what is owed – the redemption price – and reclaim the one who sold himself into slavery.

So to redeem a person means to buy them back so that they could once again be free.

When the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, it was God who redeemed them by sending the plagues and reclaiming them from Pharaoh’s hand. It did cost God quite a lot to redeem Israel; after all, even Egyptians are children of God. But in the face of oppression, God chose to redeem those who were oppressed.

At the time of the Roman Empire, the Jews in Israel and Palestine were oppressed. Technically they weren’t slaves, but the oppressive economic policies enacted by Rome kept them in a slave-like state in which they were forced to work hard but could not enjoy the fruits of their labor. Jesus came to redeem them, to reclaim them, which he did by healing, feeding, and inaugurating a new kingdom, the kingdom of God.

It all works the same way with you and God. You belong to God. We all belong to God. God has claimed us as his own.

But other things pull us away from God…

Consumerism is one of those things. Our lives have been given over to corporations who want to claim us as their own. The corporations work hard to convince us that owning a new car of a certain brand is of utmost importance. When I give in to them, a new car becomes a statement of who I am. It’s no longer just a mode of transportation to get me from one place to another; it’s a reflection of my identity. My identity becomes joined to the car and to the brand.

And that’s how the brand “owns” me.

The same thing is true for the brand-name clothes we wear, the electronics we use, the purses and bags we carry. Everything from shoes to glasses to where we go on vacation – how often do we make these types of purchasing decisions based on the brand, regardless of any practical use or benefit?

You can’t escape it. I can’t escape it. I need God to redeem me from the sway and influence these things have over my life. I need God to reclaim me from these influences which exert far too much control over me.

Here is another power that has claimed far too many people: fear.

Now I will grant you, there is a lot to be afraid of today. My own list of fears includes nuclear war, earthquakes, the safety of my family, the future of the church, and whether or not a particular pair of pants makes my butt look too big or too small.

Fear can consume us and overpower us. It can make us retreat into the past and dread the future. It can cause us to circle the wagons, and cast out of the circle anyone who is different. It can cause us to close the gates and lock the doors to friends, neighbors, outsiders and immigrants.

The most repeated phrase in scripture is FEAR NOT. Good thing, too. We need to hear that message over and over, because all the messages we get from society tell us that we should fear.

We anticipate and expect fear. The headline appears – BREAKING NEWS – and even before we know what it is, we get an awful feeling in our stomach, and we just have to keep watching to find out more.

This week, CNN headlines included: “Scariest Jet Landings Ever.” This was followed by a story about killer escalators in China.

On the Fox News website I saw this headline: “Is America Becoming Barbaric?”

And people watch this, and they think, “Oh my God!”

And we’re captive. Captive to fear. Captive to corporate news organizations that care more about keeping you captive than about actually informing you.

And then there’s all the “news” that is designed to make you fear anyone who is different: immigrants. Muslims. Homosexuals. African-Americans.

As a result, we live in a world where some lives matter more than other lives: rich lives matter more than poor lives, white lives matter more than black lives. When Sam Dubose was pulled over because he was missing a front license plate, the police officer pulled his gun on him, shot him, and murdered him. The officer’s own chief condemned the killing. Yet when NBC News showed the police officer’s picture, they showed one in which he was in his uniform standing in front of an American flag; and when they showed Sam Dubose’s picture, it looked like a mugshot. Why did they use Sam Dubose’s mugshot, but not the mugshot of the man accused of murdering him?

This is the world we live in, the world that claims us, brainwashes us, controls us and holds us captive. But God has the power to redeem, and God will reclaim us and save us from this world.

We live in a world that profanes, exploits, and destroys God’s wonderful creation. Scripture refers to the goodness of creation, and calls us to compassion, yet we not only pollute and destroy the earth, we also do it in a way that disproportionately affects the poor and ethnic minorities. Hazardous waste facilities are kept away from wealthy white neighborhoods, but are located in the midst of poor, ethnic communities. 

This is the world we live in, the world that claims us, brainwashes us, controls us, and holds us captive. But God has the power to redeem, and God will reclaim us and save us from this world.

We live in a nation where 100,000 people are shot every year, 32,000 of them dying, including more than 17,000 children shot and 2500 children dying by gun violence. Names like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Tucson, Charleston, and others form a litany of tragedy and lament.

This is the world we live in, the world that claims us, brainwashes us, controls us, and holds us captive. But God has the power to redeem, and God will reclaim us and save us from this world.

We live in a nation where one out of five adults and teens experience mental illness in a given year, yet many do not seek help because of the stigma, because the church has been silent, because they do not know where to get help; and so they live without the care and the help that could benefit them and their families. This lack of knowledge and the stigma keeps many from living lives of wholeness, and for some, ends in suicides that could have been prevented. Many of the people in jail or prison suffer from mental illness; instead of helping them find treatment, we lock them up. There is a terrible lack of understanding and compassion.

This is the world we live in, the world that claims us, brainwashes us, controls us, and holds us captive. But God has the power to redeem, and God will reclaim us and save us from this world.

And just how is God going to do that? How will God’s power to redeem manifest itself?

Through us.

It has already begun!

These issues that I’ve mentioned were all addressed at the General Assembly of our denomination when it met last month in Ohio. The Assembly approved resolutions on: black lives matter, environmental racism, gun violence, and on welcoming and supporting people with mental health illness. 

I’m particularly proud of my son Ethan, who briefly told his story to the entire Assembly in support of the resolution on mental health, and helped ensure the Assembly’s unanimous support of that resolution. God is using him and all of us in the church to redeem the world from the powers that have us in their grasp.

General Assembly resolutions are not laws that we in the church must obey; rather, they are calls to action. When the Assembly approves a resolution, it is saying to the church and to society: this is an important issue, one that we should reflect on and act on.

We should reflect and act on black lives matter. We should reflect and act on environmental racism. We should reflect and act on gun violence. We should reflect and act on mental health issues…and let God’s power to redeem flow through us.

It’s time to redeem people from the brokenness of the world. It’s time to get involved, speak out, act out, in Long Beach and Lakewood and Signal Hill and California and America.

That’s what God calls us to do. That’s how God’s power to redeem will manifest itself in our world.