November 29, 2015
Key Passage: Exodus 11 -12
“Being Thankful for the Passover”
A lot of things baffle me about the Bible (shocker!). Chief among them is the sheer amount of blood shed. As I’ve grown to understand the necessity of blood poured out (especially, the precious blood of God’s Son), I’ve grown increasingly irritated by pastors and churches that either preach a “health and wealth” message, or those who’re committed to downplaying the seriousness of sin and rarely if ever speak of it. Blood is essential to the Gospel because God takes sin extremely seriously, even if we oftentimes don’t. Simply put, Jesus’ blood was shed to do for us what we could never do for ourselves – namely, relieve of us having to “try hard enough” or be “good enough” to appease God and come into a right relationship with Him. We can’t even fathom the depth of love it took for Christ to do that for us … and though “good works and efforts” don’t earn our salvation, they are the result of it. It doesn’t take faith to do what we already want to do. Real faith is trusting God when we don’t understand what He’s doing. For instance:
• to resist the morality of the world and maintain the purity God commands
• to give of our ourselves and our material wealth sacrificially
• to act with integrity and report things accurately even though others aren’t
• to tell the truth even though a lie would keep us out of trouble
• to forgive someone who hurt us
• to trust God even though it feels that He has forgotten us
In Exodus, the Passover is an event that clearly points to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. Just as the Jews remember it to mark their freedom from Egyptian slave-masters, we should never forget its lessons either:
We should never forget the horrible consequences of sin – Passover reminds us that sin comes with a price. It destroys relationships, leads us away from God’s perfect design for our life, and often hurts the people we love; however, it also puts a barrier between us and our Holy God that can’t be easily removed. We don’t really have any idea how devastating and offensive our sin is to God … and until we face our sin head on, we won’t be interested in God’s grace.
We should never forget the astounding depth of God’s love – Just as the Passover reminds the Jews of his tenacious pursuit of them, it should continually remind us of his persistent affection for us even though we resist and disappoint Him time and time again. Frankly, you’re here today because God is calling to your heart and asking you to follow Him in total surrender.
We should never forget the lasting benefit of obedience – Trusting Christ isn’t just a matter of “saying a prayer” – it’s an attitude of the heart. It means coming to Him honestly with our sin, trusting He’ll provide exactly what we’ll need – namely, forgiveness. And it means being willing to follow him wholeheartedly in the small, daily events of our lives – especially when things don’t make sense at all … in fact, it’s most notable when things DON’T make sense. That’s faith.
Q: How does grace impact our understanding / view of obedience?
Q: How does this story help when we find ourselves in despair or not understanding what God’s doing?
Bottom Line – The final thing we should never forget is how utterly grateful we are to be to Christ for what He has done for us. The plagues of Egypt aren’t just boring pieces of history. They point to the One who changes lives, rebuilds broken hearts, gives strength to the weary, and brings eternal life to those who could never earn it. If you and I have even an inkling of what Christ has done for us, we’ll have a sense of gratitude that’s fleshed out in a daily life that’s filled with humility, hope, and obedience …
