Marriage, Passover and Godliness

I'd forgotten about all that. Terry and I met the first week of college, and we had to wait three years until we could get married, because that was a rule back then. You couldn't date too seriously until you were a senior. So we dated for three years. Terry and I liked each other from the very first week we got there. We've been married 34 years now, so we're getting there. Here's an interesting question for you. Did God design marriage only to make us happy? Or did God design marriage to lead us to something else? Did He design it to lead us to godliness and holiness, to a closer relationship with Him, more than just to make us happy?

I understand that everyone here is not married. Some are too young to marry. And of course, in the future, many of our young people will marry.

But even for those that are not married, the analogy of marriage is not lost, even on the unmarried. It's a biblical analogy. But do you ever wonder why God uses the analogy of marriage throughout Scripture and explaining our path to salvation? Marriage reminds us of the daily reality of living as regular human beings, sinful human beings in this broken world. The real transforming work of marriage is the 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ongoing commitment.

Who will wake up when the babies' nappies need changing? Who will rock them back to sleep?

Who will do the toilet training? Who will do the laundry? Who will do the cooking?

Where is my personal space? Do I have any personal space? Let me make a statement about marriage. The real purpose of marriage may not be happiness as much as it is to lead us to godliness. Not that God has anything against happiness or that happiness and godliness are mutually exclusive.

And here's why. The marriage relationship can reveal to us our true behavior and attitudes and motivations.

There's a tremendous amount of immaturity in us that marriage confronts.

And married couples certainly find this out once the honeymoon is over, especially when the first child comes along. And you realize how selfish you were before you had that first kid.

And then we realize that we need to change ourselves rather than our spouse, and that we need to change and become more like God.

Because our primary meaning in life comes from a relationship with God, not just our spouse.

And yet marriage can draw us closer to God because marriage is all about commitment.

Now why did I just give that little overview?

Because I'm not actually just talking about a physical human marriage.

There is a spiritual element to marriage that I want us to think about here today.

And it's each of ours' commitment and coming marriage to Jesus Christ as pictured through this coming Holy Day season, pictured through the Passover and Unleavened Bread.

It's about our commitment to always honor our baptismal vows to God the Father and Jesus Christ.

There's a story about commitment in the last chapter of the book of Joshua.

And in that last chapter of Joshua, we're given a glimpse into Joshua's farewell address.

You don't have to turn there right now. I'm just kind of referring to it at the moment.

But Joshua is about to draw his last breath, and he gives an impassioned speech and exhortation to the Israelites.

And one last time, Joshua summons all the elders together to tell them something.

It's at the town of Shechem, actually. The exodus from Egypt had occurred about 70 years beforehand, and Moses had been dead for about 30 years.

And now Joshua is about to die.

And his final words to the Israelites are, And this actually closely parallels the Apostle Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 5, where he says, So Joshua saw this commitment to always fearing the Lord to have the attributes of sincerity and truth.

So the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the putting out of sin and coming out of the sinful ways of this world, coming out of Babylon, coming out of Egypt figuratively, as Joshua essentially put it, forsaking the following of all affections that might rival true worship of God.

And then we replace those in our life with godly purity.

And then, you recall, comes Joshua's declaration to all the elders gathered before him of what his own direction in life will be and has been, despite what anybody else would do.

He says, But as for me and my house, no matter what you guys do, we will serve the Lord.

So Joshua was extremely committed to his relationship with God.

And it's always a very inspiring passage to read.

So Joshua was showing a commitment to something that was truly important.

And as we find ourselves about to begin the spring holy day season, what can we learn from that kind of commitment like Joshua had?

What can we learn from the lessons of Unleavened Bread and from our very own pledged baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ for our lifetime?

Because, after all, we are preparing to be the Bride of Christ.

It's all about marriage to God.

In the sermon today, we're going to look at marriage, we're going to look at baptism, the days of Unleavened Bread, and our commitment to put sin out of our lives and be true to what we've pledged.

And I've titled this message, Marriage, Passover and Godliness. Marriage, Passover and Godliness.

Tomorrow night, we will observe the Passover, as instructed to do each year by Jesus.

He says, each year do this remembrance of me. Why do we observe this annually?

Couldn't we just do it once and say we've done it?

Why the need to repeat this ceremony every year? In fact, why the need to repeat the Holy Days every year?

Why the need to keep the Sabbath every week?

Well, by nature, we humans tend to be forgetful, and we need to be reminded of important activities.

Otherwise, we forget. That's why we have calendars, appointment books, message devices, smartphones, alarm clocks, so we don't forget.

You've probably all spoken with church friends from the past who no longer keep God's law, no longer keep the Sabbath.

And you may meet them somewhere, maybe it's at a funeral or a wedding, and you say, Oh yeah, we'll be keeping the Passover here in a couple of days. And they go, Oh yeah, I forgot all about that, because they don't do it anymore. It doesn't take long to forget. A year or two of not doing it, and it just has gone from your mind.

And so when it comes to God's way, the way, we need to be reminded and recommitted on a regular annual basis.

And in society, unfortunately, commitment to almost everything is waning. It's a human problem.

Commitment to the Boy Scouts is waning. Commitment to golf clubs is waning. And commitment to church is waning.

Last year, Barna released their report, The State of the Church 2016.

The subtitle is, Research Releases in Faith and Christianity. It was from September last year. You can get it at barna.com.

Here's just a short quote from their State of the Church survey. Americans are attending church less.

And more people are experiencing and practicing their faith outside of its four walls.

Millennials in particular are coming of age at a time of great skepticism and cynicism toward institutions, particularly the church.

And later on, Barna writes, even though a majority of Americans identify as Christian and say religious faith is very important in their life, these huge proportions belie the much smaller number of Americans who regularly practice their faith.

When a variable like church attendance is added to the mix, a majority becomes the minority.

So it's not just our church where people struggle with their commitment. It's a problem overall.

And lack of proper commitment appears to have become worse in recent decades, doesn't it?

But not only do we need to be committed to what's most important, we need to be reminded regularly of our commitments, become truly recommitted each year like we do during the Passover service, and as we are reminded, to strive to put sin out of our lives at all times.

So let's take a closer look at the marriage covenant, our baptismal vows, and this annual observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Let's see how all these tie together. I've divided the message into three main sections.

The first point is the longest one, and then the second two are a little shorter.

But the first one is titled, Remembering the Marriage Covenant. Remembering the Marriage Covenant.

Because like I said, there's the physical analogy of marriage, but it transfers into a much greater spiritual meaning.

Both the Old and New Testaments use the analogy of marriage to picture the union of God and Israel in the Old Testament, and between Christ and the Church in the New Testament. And there's a lot of depth to these analogies.

Some people don't realize that the old covenant God had with Israel was essentially a marriage covenant, by which God was a husband to Israel. And in this covenant, Israel, the wife, had agreed to submit to God and obey His laws.

But as we know, ancient Israel fell far short and did not.

Ancient Israel broke the marriage covenant, and so God essentially divorced them.

But at a future time, as prophesied by Hosea, the marriage will be repaired.

If you want to, turn with me to Hosea 2. We'll just read a couple of verses there.

Hosea 2, verses 16 and 19. Hosea 2, verses 16. Hosea 2, verses 16. It shall be in that day. So we're talking about in that day, at the time of the end, says the Lord, that you will once again call me my husband, and no longer call me my master.

In verse 19, I will betroth you to me forever. So it's a marriage.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy.

She says, but you're not going to call me master, you're going to call me husband.

Think about the difference between a husband and a master.

It's obedience fueled by love and intimacy, not fear.

So we ask ourselves, how do we view God? Do we view Him as a master over us?

Or do we view God as more of a spouse or a husband relationship? Because that's where we're headed.

In ancient Israel, the people never had the right heart and mind to obey.

And this fault of the people, the book of Hebrews explains, was the problem of the old covenant.

The problem with the old covenant was the heart of the people, and became the reason a new covenant was necessary.

So what then is the new covenant that we live under? It's basically a new marriage contract that God lays out with His people.

Look at Matthew 26. Let's turn to Matthew 26, because we see this reflected in Christ's words and actions on the very evening before His death.

This time of the year, right? The Passover time of year.

And during the last Passover meal here in Matthew 26, Jesus introduced the symbols of broken bread to represent the sacrifice of His broken body, and then wine to symbolize His shed blood, His death.

Matthew 26, verse 27 and 28. Matthew 26, verse 27. Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.

For this is my blood of the new covenant, the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Jesus was explaining here that the shedding of His blood as a sacrifice for sin was required to make a new covenant possible.

Without it, there was no way to atone for the sins of all who would participate in the covenant.

Jesus initiated the new covenant. He proposed marriage, we might say, to His true followers.

Even Christ's disciples, the most faithful people of His day, were still carnal and condemned because of their sins.

Jesus' sacrifice was necessary for all.

They needed to be changed into a new, spiritually converted people to enter into this new relationship with Jesus Christ, that was known as the new covenant.

Let's take a look at verse 2 in 2 Corinthians 11.

Because all this was accomplished by Christ's death and resurrection, and then the Church's receiving of God's Holy Spirit, which enabled this spiritual transformation to begin.

The spiritual transformation is not something that was offered to ancient Israel.

Having agreed to the new covenant, the Church is now betrothed to Christ.

The Church, that's you and I, we are now betrothed to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11, verse 2. Paul says, So our spiritual journey, accepting the new covenant, participating in the Passover service, is all part of this betrothed to Christ, like an engagement.

Towards which we look forward to the actual wedding supper.

We have betrothed under the terms of the new covenant, but we're still awaiting the coming fullness of the new covenant marriage itself, which will take place at the marriage of the Lamb.

But it's like a marriage covenant, a marriage commitment that we have with Jesus Christ.

Look at Revelation 19. This is where we read about our resurrection and the marriage of the Lamb.

This is where the new covenant commitment we've made is heading. Revelation 19, verse 6. The Apostle John says, Who's the wife? verse 8.

And we are the saints of God once we become converted.

And their clothing is actually their righteousness.

Verse 9.

Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He said to me, these are the true sayings of God. So being betrothed to Him, the members of His Church submit to His loving leadership and guidance as the head of the Church, as the husband of the Church. For the husband, His head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the Church. We read, right?

And we're being prepared for an eternity with Jesus Christ, with Him. It's like a marriage covenant.

Let's for a moment go back to the physical marriage, not this spiritual marriage with Jesus Christ. Let's go back to the physical marriage for a moment and look into that a bit further.

The largest portion of fulfillment in our life cannot come from our marriage to our spouse.

That type of fulfillment can really only come from our relationship with God.

Yes, there should be happiness and fulfillment and meaning in our marriage, but our spouse can't be God.

Anything less than God is imperfect.

And because of this spiritual significance, marriages of believers are different from the marriages of unbelievers.

And the difference is shown in the marital analogy of Christ and His Church.

As long as a godly couple is married, they continue to display, often imperfectly, of course, the ongoing commitment between Christ and His Church.

The husband is head of the wife, and Christ is head of the Church.

And so a godly marriage is supposed to emulate that.

In a human-centered marriage, we're tempted to maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, our earthly desires and expectations are met. And if not, then people seek divorce out in the world.

But in a God-centered marriage, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points to our Creator's promise of our salvation, of being married to Christ.

There's a lot to this. Look at Ephesians 5. Let's go there for a moment. Because marriage paints a picture of the most important message conveyed by its vows.

In Ephesians 5 verse 25, Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. So now it's talking about the spiritual marriage here. That He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot a wrinkle or any such thing, but that this She should be holy and without blemish. This is talking about the Church here as an analogy of marriage, with Jesus Christ having the Church presented to Him without blemish. So you see, marriage has a lot more meaning than to help us avoid sexual sin, keep the world populated, and provide a cure for personal loneliness. It's about picturing holiness. You see in verse 27 there, the last part says that She should be holy and without blemish. So physical marriages, when done right, are supposed to picture and lead us towards holiness and the marriage to Christ in the future. Marriage is about picturing holiness.

So, getting back to the spiritual marriage again, to Jesus Christ, here's the clincher. To be part of that Church and be part of that covenant requires partaking of the symbols of the new covenant each year.

Each year reaffirming the terms of our marriage contract that we have now with Jesus Christ. Now that we've been betrothed to Him, we have to reaffirm those terms each year. Remembering our marriage covenant, it's a recommitment each year to obey God, and it's our acceptance of Christ's shed blood to atone for any failure we have to properly obey Him. And that remembrance is formally done at the annual Passover service. As we read a moment ago in Revelation chapter 19, At Christ's return, those who are betrothed to Him prior to that time will then go through a wedding ceremony and a celebration. A supper, a wedding celebration. And then glorified as spirit beings, we will become perfect and we'll never sin again, having God's laws ingrained perfectly into our character. That's the ultimate marriage that we will experience. And that will be the culmination and fullness of the new covenant marriage with Jesus Christ. When two people exchange wedding vows, they make a lifelong commitment, supposedly, right?

And biblically speaking, this is a covenant. At our wedding, we're actually giving our vows, and it's a covenant to our spouse. Make a note of it. Malachi 2 verse 14 says, Choose your companion and your wife by covenant. So Malachi 2 talks about that marriage being a covenant between the spouses, a solemn promise to God and one's mate to be faithful. So this commitment should not be taken lightly or maintained only when we feel like it. And God does not advocate only occasional bursts of loyalty and obedience, of course, to Him, whenever it's convenient to us, right?

God expects commitment to Him all the time, just like we should in our marriage. I have a little story for you here about a young man at college who walked into a photography studio with a framed picture of his new girlfriend. She'd given him a photo, had it framed, and he wanted the photographer to duplicate it for him.

And this involved removing it from the frame. And in doing this, the photography studio owner noticed an inscription on the back of the photo. And so he showed it to the young man, the college student, and on the back from his girlfriend was a note. My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I'm yours for all eternity. And it was signed, Helen.

Then there was a P.S. If we ever break up, I want this photo back. So Helen was not completely committed to this relationship. She said she was, but she wanted the photo back. When we make a covenant with God, though, He expects us to honor that commitment. There is no P.S. in our baptismal vows, our Passover service recommitment to God. There's no P.S. He expects us to annually recommit to Him in the Passover service and to annually observe His Holy Days as a reminder of His way of life. Human marriage should bring us happiness, sexual expression, children, companionship, food for the household, shelter, and selfless living. Once you become part of the family, you've got to look out for everybody else in the family, don't you?

It's not just about you anymore. But all this is not just to please our family or to please our spouse. It's also to please God. In fact, everything we do, not just in marriage, is to please God. Notice in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15, the Apostle Paul was telling the Corinthians, the church at Corinth, about this idea of living our lives for God. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15, Paul says, Jesus Christ died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but live for Him who died for them and rose again. So once we become committed to Jesus Christ, we now live for Him, not for ourselves, Paul says.

We no longer live for ourselves. And so it's not what will make me happy, but what will make God happy with me. We change our lifelong perspective. It's not about, what can I get any longer? It's what can I give? In our physical lives, our physical marriages, but then of course in our spiritual marriage with Jesus Christ, I'll be truthful to Him. If our marriage is marked by strife, fighting and animosity, we're actually contradicting and sabotaging the goal of picturing Christ in the church. It kind of ruined the analogy, haven't we, when we have a bad marriage? We're not living a life pleasing to God. According to pollster George Barna once again, self professed Christians actually have a higher divorce rate than non-Christians, of all things.

How can that be? That's not living the message that marriage pictures. Actually setting a very bad example for Christianity, the more Christians get divorced than atheists. The first reason we work hard to preserve and keep our marriages together is because it is our duty before God. Yes, it's best for the children. Yes, it makes us happier. Yes, it would hurt our spouse to look for another. But above all is our duty as followers of Jesus Christ to honor Him and preserve our marriage vows in an unselfish manner. Because ultimately we're picturing Christ in the church.

Yes, God lets us choose who we want to marry, for good or bad. But then once we enter the marriage relationship, we cannot love God without loving our spouse as well. If I'm making my wife unhappy, I'm failing God because of what the marriage is supposed to picture. Our society today has an obsession with standing up for ourselves, caring for ourselves, looking out for ourselves.

The me generation, right? And the emphasis on meeting our own needs has almost become ridiculous. Look at how self-serving much of social media has become. Selfies, pictures of me and post them on Facebook. Many people have lost the art of caring for others and sacrificing for another. Let's turn to Ecclesiastes and read what wise King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 5.

Starting in verse 4. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5 verse 4, When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it. For he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Because it's better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Of course, what we do at a wedding ceremony, we have our wedding vows. This is not something to take lightly. Just as well as spiritually when we're baptized, it's not something to take lightly either.

It's a vow that should not be broken. Verse 6, Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Well, it didn't really mean it. Why should God be angry at you? Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? So you've got to be careful when you say, I made a vow and I made a mistake. Let's turn to Psalm 56, verse 12. Go back a bit to Psalm 56 and verse 12. Because emphasizing the personal responsibility each of us must take in fulfilling our vows, we see here King David wrote a song that includes this very phrase.

Psalm 56, verse 12, Vows made to you are binding upon me, God, and I will render praises to you. So vows made to God are binding. So yes, we have our marriage vows that are binding in this physical world, with few exceptions, but then vows made to God are totally binding. And so we see here our vows, including our wedding vows, are to honor God.

We are to show holiness and godliness and righteousness in all we do, including our wedding vows. So how much more does this apply to our wedding covenant with God, if our physical vows are supposed to be binding? How much more does it apply to our marriage that's pictured by Christ in the church? So our baptismal commitment leads us to a marriage covenant with Christ. We are betrothed, awaiting the marriage ceremony that will happen when Christ returns. We are betrothed under the terms of the new covenant in Christ's church, but we're still, of course, awaiting the complete fulfillment of our marriage, which will be at that future marriage of the Lamb that we read about in Revelation.

Part of that church and part of that covenant agreement requires partaking of the Passover symbols of the new covenant each year, reaffirming, recommitting to the terms of the marriage contract. It truly is a marriage covenant and a spiritual recommitment each year, remembering our spiritual marriage covenant. And in our society of reduced commitments, we can easily see why God outlines for us, requires of us annual observances of these things so that we don't forget. So that was a long point one, right? Remembering our marriage commitment. Number two, a little shorter here, remembering our baptism. Let's go back a little bit further than Passover. Remembering our baptism is number two, because baptism goes right to the heart of God's forgiveness of our sins and his gift of salvation. Through his death, Christ paid the penalty for our sins. And it is through baptism that we formally make this commitment to permanently turn from sin and surrender our lives to God. When we make a covenant with God, he expects us to honor that commitment. In fact, he expects us to annually recommit our baptismal vows to him in the Passover service and expects us to annually observe his holidays as a reminder of his way. There's a book called Actions Speak Louder Than Words by Herbert Miller. And in this book, he recounts an illustration from World War II. Let me quote it to you at page 103 from Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. You're not words. Louder than verbs. Herb Miller, page 103. While visiting in Leningrad, a woman heard the story of 900,000 people who perished in the long siege of Leningrad during World War II. At one point, they were trying to save the children from both the Nazis and starvation. So they placed them on trucks to cross a frozen lake to safer locations. Many of the mothers, sure that they would never see their children again, yelled to them as they got on the trucks, Remember your name. Remember your name. By our baptism, we commit ourselves to faithfully remember who we are. We remember that we are now betrothed to Christ. We are now God's children. And we show our baptismal commitment of who we are by living our lives in such a way that we bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

If we continue to show the fruits of God's way, being led by the Holy Spirit, God will never forget who we are. He will always remember our name. And he entered into a special covenant with us at baptism, and we're reminded of it each year at this time. And so we work diligently to put sin out of our lives so that God will remember our name and who we are.

It's an interesting passage in Isaiah 49 verse 15. I can read it to you, or you can turn there. It's Isaiah 49 verse 15, where Isaiah asks the question, Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she is born? Of course, we say, no, it's not very likely that the mother will ever forget that baby.

God says, even if her mother would forget, I will never forget you. So God's memory is pretty good, right? Even if her mother could forget a baby that she had born, God says, I'll never forget you. So God will never leave us or forsake us. He will always remember who we are, remember our name. And as we approach the upcoming seven days of unleavened bread, we picture putting sin out of our lives and living lives then of sincerity and truth.

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, here and under this point. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7. Because we are to examine our hearts, we are to ask ourselves some searching questions about our intentions toward God and our fellow human beings. We ask, do we show humility? Do we show service to others? Do we honor God in everything we do? 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. Once you become converted, you become unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Unleavened bread pictures a different way of living now. It's not a life of malice and wickedness, but now it's a life of sincerity and godly truth and godliness. Once we have accepted our Passover, once our sins are forgiven, we truly become, before God, unleavened. As we then live a life led by the Spirit of God, we then show forth that fruit of living an unleavened life, that fruit of repentance.

And we live a sincere and truthful life. And so during this coming week of putting leaven out of our lives, purging the old leaven, each of us, even though we're called, repented and forgiven, we can fall down. We can sin. We'll find some spiritual crumbs somewhere in our life, right? We'll find some leavening that we've then got to get out of our spiritual lives. Maybe we'll find some physical leavening, too. You know how ghost, you're going to unleaven bread? You get surprised by where you find some breadcrumbs, some leavening, a cracker or whatever.

But that happens spiritually as well. God pricks our conscience and says, Yeah, but what about this little closet in the back of your mind where there's some spiritual leavening? You need to work on that, too. But as long as we are genuinely repentant, striving to overcome sin, tell God we're sorry and ask for His forgiveness, we can still look forward to that marriage with the Lamb. Just another passage here in 1 John 2. Let's turn to 1 John 2 for a moment and be reminded that we do slip up. We are trying to be unleavened, not just this coming week but throughout the whole year. We're trying to be unleavened, but we don't do it perfectly in this life.

1 John 2, verse 1, By little children, these things I write to you that you not sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And He Himself is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. I guess that was chapter 2, I'm sorry. Yeah, that was chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. I'm looking at... going back to chapter 1, verse 7.

I'm a little confused. Chapter 1, verse 7, If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ the Son cleanses us from all sin. So we have that propitiation for our sins. We have that blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from sin. If, verse 9, we confess our sins, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So during this week, we may come across not just physical leaven, but some spiritual leaven in our lives.

But if we confess that, God is faithful and will forgive us as we repent and move forward. Paul shows that the earliest Christians not only observe this festival annually, with its new symbols of bread and wine that Christ instituted to represent His suffering and death, but also that Christians should continue observing it until Christ returns. It's an annual observance. Our baptism and covenant with God, to put His way first in our life, is a marvelous ceremony when we bury the old man, the old person.

So it's only fitting that each year we are reminded of our commitment, that we are recommitted and then strive to once more put the leaven of sin out of our lives during the seven days of unleavened bread that start on Tuesday or start on Monday night. When we make a covenant with God, He expects us to honor that commitment, to honor that vow, and to annually recommit our baptismal vow to Him in the past service.

It's a marriage covenant. It's a spiritual recommitment. It's remembering the vows we made at our baptism. The third point here is remembering unleavened bread. So we had remembering our marriage commitment, remembering our baptism, and now remembering unleavened bread. Perhaps many of you have heard of some variation of the story about the chicken and the pig when it comes to involvement versus commitment. It's one of these stories told at management seminars, inspirational seminars, the story of the chicken and the pig. And here's a basic version of the story, but I'll substitute a turkey for the pig.

This is now a clean meat story, okay? It's a story about commitment, and it goes like this. Think about a meal consisting of eggs and bacon. And consider the contributions made by the chicken and the turkey. Of course, you say the pig, right? So it's going to be turkey bacon. A chicken provided the eggs, and a turkey provided the turkey bacon.

It can be said the chicken was involved in the breakfast because the chicken continues to live as it lays more eggs. It can be said the turkey was committed because the turkey gave it all to provide the bacon. So this is one of those motivational stories that sounds great when you read it first. And upper management at various companies have used it to motivate their staff towards being committed as opposed to just being involved, like the chicken. But continuing to follow that analogy probably isn't what management had in mind where you give your whole life for the company. The chicken is contributing for the long term at a sustainable level. She's able to keep giving as her output is renewable. Those eggs keep coming. The turkey, however, is in deep trouble. He gives everything at a single burst, and that's it. No more turkey. And I don't think there are many employees at these seminars that want to be the turkey. Everyone who's part of the team would much rather be the chicken. So you have to think about that motivational story. The point I'd like to draw from this story is that as a committed Christian, we have to be in it for the long haul. We have to sustain our commitment for our lifetime, like the chicken, continually producing eggs. We cannot allow anything to get the better of us. But we actually have to become both the chicken and the turkey in our Christian life, actually willing to die for what we believe, and yet be filled with the Holy Spirit to be sustained each and every day in God's strength. We actually have to become both the chicken and the turkey, living a daily life of commitment, but then being prepared to give all if necessary. Look at 2 Timothy 2. This leads us to these days of unleavened bread and our sustained commitment to God's way. Look at how the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2. Timothy 2 verse 1, You therefore, my son Timothy, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Says Timothy, commit these to others. And so here today, and each year at this time, we commit to the faithful teachings taught us, and we teach others also in preaching the Gospel, but then in our own lives too. And we'll repeat these ceremonies every year, because it's part of a marriage covenant and a baptismal recommitment, as we're led towards godliness and holiness in our lives. By nature, we tend to be forgetful, as I said. And so we have to be reminded of important activities and observances and annual commitments. Otherwise, we forget. That's why we have the calendars and the phones and the appointment books and the alarm clocks and all of that.

Let's turn to Exodus 13, as I start to wrap this up now. Exodus 13. Look at verse 3. And just be reminded of why we're going to be keeping these days of unleavened bread beginning on Monday evening. Exodus 13 verse 3. Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Remember this day that you came out of Egypt. For us, it's remembering the day we came out of sin. It's remembering our baptism. Verse 6. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord, and unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you. Verse 8. You should tell your son in that day, saying, This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt. So Moses says, Remember this day. So we're remembering our marriage covenant with Christ, we're remembering our baptismal commitment, and we're remembering unleavened bread. Because it's a reminder of what God has done for us in our lives, in getting us out of a sinful existence. It's about remembering where we've come from. It's about remembering our deliverance from sin, and what God has done for us. It's a very serious covenant that we've made with God, this marriage covenant. And so it's like that pearl of great price. We have something very valuable, something worth living for. What we have been given, this opportunity for eternal life, having our sins forgiven, is worth everything we have. And so as I refer to Matthew 13, it talks about the beautiful pearl of great price. This merchant was seeking beautiful pearls, and we had found one pearl of great price. He went and sold all that he had and bought it. Of course, Christ was giving a parable of being offered eternal life in his kingdom. It's the pearl of great price, and you go and sell everything else you have, if necessary, to get that pearl of great price. Our calling is the most valuable pearl we could own. It's the one pearl of great price. We must sell all to obtain it. It's all about commitment, forsaking all for Christ. And at this time of the year, it's a reminder of spiritual recommitment, of our marriage covenant with Jesus Christ. So we strive to put sin out of our lives and take on God's holiness and his righteousness, because we want to be at the wedding that we've been betrothed to. Let's go back to the story of Joshua. Let's turn to Joshua 24 now as we conclude. Let's go back to the story I told at the very beginning of the sermon of Joshua's final speech that he gave in his ailing hours. Because remember what we read in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 8, where Paul said, let's keep the feast, not with leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We read that here in Joshua chapter 24. As Joshua gave his final speech, Joshua 24 verse 14. Now therefore, here's like the final words he wants to say, fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth. And last half of verse 14, Joshua says, put away the gods, which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt.

And Joshua says, serve the Lord. So he put away anything that will distract us from the truth, anything that will cause us to be misled. Any of those gods in our life. We put them on the other side of the river, on the other side of our baptism, and we serve the Lord. And verse 15, here's Joshua's commitment, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, if you don't want to do this, he says, choose for yourself this day who you'll serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so, what is our answer when people ask us about our faith? We will serve the Lord. We'll become the turkey, if necessary. We will honor our baptismal vows. We will honor that New Covenant marriage that we've been betrothed to attend. Because living this life does have its costs in this world. Sometimes it's not easy. But when we say, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, we are saying we have something valuable, something worth living our lives for. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the putting out of sin and coming out of the sinful ways of this world, replacing that with godly purity and truth. So, the takeaways today are, remember the marriage covenant. Both physically, but even more importantly, spiritually. It's about godliness and holiness. Remember your baptism. And remember why we are going to be keeping these days of unleavened bread. As we make final preparations for the spring holiday season, let's continue our pledged baptismal commitment. To follow Jesus Christ and live our part, of our half of the spiritual marriage covenant, until death do bring us together for eternity. Not death do us part, but Jesus Christ will be until death will actually bring us together at our resurrection, at the resurrection of the saints. It's all about our marriage covenant. It's about the Passover, God's holiness, and a spiritual commitment and reminder at this time of the year.