Happily Ever After - Redeemed

Kale Magness
Pastor Matt continued the Happily Ever After series. This series has been based on the Apostle Paul’s instruction to us in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church...”. This past Sunday’s message dealt with the topic of being Redeemed.
At the beginning of his message, Pastor Matt used the analogy of redeeming a coupon. He said much of “religion” is like a coupon, and there are different requirements, depending on the “coupon.” You have to do something in order to receive whatever it is they promise; some religions don’t accept other religions “coupons”; some religious structures have an expiration date, like the Old Covenant Law of Moses. In 2 Corinthians 3:9, the Apostle Paul calls the Old Covenant Law a ministry of death and condemnation. Many of us have been in churches that have placed us under the weight of the ministry of condemnation. In a religious system whose focus was the demand of certain requirements that you ultimately came to the realization could never be met. And...you just gave up.
Even though the Law was never given specifically to us, many denominations and religious leaders try to put us under the Law. In Romans 3:20, Paul tells us that no one is justified by the works of the Law. The Law gives us the knowledge of sin and our inability for self-justification. The “harder” you try not to do something, the more you find yourself giving in to that sin. You find yourself trying to uphold a Law that you can never live up to. The Law was never given to impart life. It was given to show that within yourself, you have no ability to keep it. The Apostle Paul says this in Galatians 3:21-22, “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.”
The Law was never given to us, Gentiles, it was given to Israel, and it was pointing them towards Jesus. It was also very conditional, and Pastor Matt used this example as God speaking:

In other words, as a result of your obedience, God will bless you. But, like a coupon, the ministry of condemnation had an expiration date. Paul tells us this in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.” So for the Jews, who were under the Law, (again, we as Gentiles never were), Jesus came to redeem them.
Paul’s message to us today in regards to this is given in Romans 8:1-4, “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. For IN Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.” It seems to me there is quite a contrast between the law of condemnation and death and the law of the Spirit of life! Like my Daddy used to say....somebody hold my mules!!!
David led us in a song entitled Enough. It may be the most lyrically perfect song out there today. I’d encourage each of you to go back and listen to not only the song but what he said leading into it. Basically, the gist of the song is Jesus is enough. My favorite lyric in the song is in the first verse. It says:
I am not loved by the measure of love that I bring
I am not who I know, I am known by the King of all Kings
In other words, we bring nothing to the table, and yet we are called children of God! Nothing outside Christ is acceptable, yet when we place our faith IN Christ, we are accepted because He is accepted! So now to God, since Jesus is enough, YOU are enough! Tell me a better deal! To those of us in the Body of Christ, God no longer says, “If you will... Then I will.” He says to us:

So, in relation to the series, as husbands are called to love our wives as Christ loved the church, then this same principle should be applied to our marriages. We should never approach our relationship with our wife with an, “if you will...then I will” mentality. We should live out, “because you are my wife...I will”. We are united as one with our wives, just as we have been united with Christ as one.