Our Response to Godly Authority

Well, good morning again, brethren, and I'm always thankful to be able to come up here and hear all of you sing. Wonderful, wonderful enthusiasm for praising God. Several weeks ago, I covered the important topic that, in a sense, was directed to men or husbands. And yet, in some ways, understanding how it is that God wants us to properly administer authority, whether it's in marriage or even whether it's in the church or whenever we are learning to serve other people. I went over that, and of course, as husbands, and I have to include myself in this, we have to be examining ourselves in that regard. We have to consider, and we mentioned, in a sense, some primary words that God says husbands have to have in mind, because their care and their concern for their wives would be expressed in love, nourishing, cherishing, and honoring. And very, very important to understand what God's words say. And, of course, at that time, we identified two aspects of government, the first one being the administration of authority, properly exercising authority, but then also the second part of that was response. Response to authority, a proper response to godly authority. Now, we can think about that in a number of ways, and I want us to think about that. The sermon I want to give today is going to be, in a sense, directed toward women or wives, but it is applicable to all of us, because all of us are under authority.

If we are under the rule of the law of God, and we are under the guidance of God in our lives, and under the guidance of our Savior, Jesus Christ, well then, our response to that authority is very important. I want us to read here in Romans 13, beginning in verse 1, Paul gives direct command to everybody, men and women, to recognize where God administers His authority, whether it's through civil government, whether it is through the church, whether it is through our family and marriage, making up our families. But here, in Romans 13, he says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. That's pretty clear that everyone is under authority. Now, how well people recognize that? How well people take note of that? How well people respond? That's what we want to discuss today. He goes on in verse 2, therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. And so, it is important, he actually goes ahead in verse 5, to say, therefore, one should be subject. And so, in talking about this whole topic of responding to authority, in talking about the topic, he said there's more to it than just maybe the fear of punishment. Of course, in these verses, he's talking about authorities, and if you break the law, then you'll pay a penalty. You will be punished. But he says in verse 5, therefore, one must be subject not only because of wrath, not only because you might be punished, but because of conscience sake, because we have a recognition of God in our lives.

So, what should each of us clearly examine about our response to God's authority in our lives?

I want to point out here in Ephesians 5, which is, of course, a section we read some of in the past, and we'll read a little more here today. You see, at kind of a conclusion of Paul's instruction about husbands and wives learning to follow God's instruction and guidance, he says in verse 32, this is a great mystery.

Ephesians 5, 32, this is a great mystery. I'm talking about Christ and the church.

And so he's saying, well, there's more than one application here. Clearly, it's for all of us who wish to be members of the church, you know, that we are subject to Christ. But also, he goes ahead in verse 32, each of you, therefore, should love his wife as himself and her wife should respect her husband. And so, you know, Paul is really talking about a wider range of response to authority than just simply in marriage. Now, you know, I have to say in going over what I did cover last time, kind of directed to men, when I think about the seriousness of learning to love my wife and being willing to lay down my life in true love for her as Christ did for the church, that's a pretty tall order. That is far bigger than most of us probably think about it.

And yet, that's what he says. We have to learn to be a servant leader in our marriages, in our homes, and that clearly is learning to lay down our lives. You don't give our lives in service to others.

I also went over, you know, learning to be meek, meek like Moses, because he was clearly a leader that God used, but he had a humility and he had an ability to recognize that, well, you know, I really have to rely on God's intervention. I can't lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.

I can't get them to do hardly anything. God was the one who was going to have to bring about, and of course, at times, God needed to, and he did. Chill. Well, I'm going to work through Moses.

Whether you like it or not, I'm going to work through Moses, and that's the way I'm going to administer my guidance and authority here in Israel. I also mentioned being nurturing and cherishing and not dealing harshly and giving honor to our wives as heirs together of the grace of life.

And so, to follow up with what I covered the last time, I want to cover the equally important topic of response to authority. And again, you can summarize what God says by some very important words that are applicable to wives in marriage but are applicable to each of us as a member of the Church of God. See, those words are obey, submit, subjection, respect, and love. Again, that's not unfamiliar, I'm sure, to any of you. But I think it's important that we think about how it is that God tells us to learn to be affected by His words. Those are His words. Obey, submit, subject, respect, and love. Those are all God's instructions. So first of all, what was Sarah's response toward her husband, Abraham? Now, I'm not going to go back into Genesis and try to go through actually the very limited information we have about how did she respond to Abraham because sometimes it doesn't look like she's all that responsive to Abraham.

And she is off doing something else or telling him something that doesn't really turn out quite well with Hagar or with Ishmael or, you know, I'm not going through that, but I simply want to read what it says here in 1 Peter 3 because 1 Peter 3 is one of the areas that we have instruction that we want to go through today. So it says in verse 5, 1 Peter 3 verse 5, In this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands. And so this is instruction that Peter was giving to the church in general and directly in this case to wives. And he says in verse 6, As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid of any terror. Now, what does it tell us? Well, it just says that Abraham would give direction and Sarah followed that. You know, I guess one of the easy example you see is, you know, the angels and the Lord showing up and he said, we got to fix some food now. And so that's what they did. And it appears that Sarah was quite obedient and responsive in this way. And I only point this out because it is important to recognize that particular, in a sense, opening.

But it's obedience, all that God is desiring to see in a Christian woman. And what is it that wives should examine about their response to their husband? The obedience can be somewhat mechanical. It can be without heart. It can be out of compliance.

You can just comply. And yet, this is talking about something a little bit different. Beyond obedience, wives are to be responding in their marriage and toward their husband from the heart.

And that involves more than simply obedience. It involves the second word I mention, the word submission. See, and that's the second point. The first one I made is about obedience.

And yet, that only goes so far. It has to be done from the heart.

And the second point is that true submission is an attitude, first of all, toward God.

An attitude toward God. And then, regarding a husband toward the man that God has given you as your husband. See, here in Ephesians 5, again, you read the verses that are, I'm going to say again, a very tall order. I said it about husbands. It was a very tall order. It's a tall order. What we read regarding wives. Here in Ephesians 5, verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. See, that adds a different dimension. That kind of puts it in the same category of a very tall order for husbands and for wives to live up to what God says. For, he says in verse 23, the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Now, again, you know, sometimes you can read that and say, well, I'm not really sure that my husband does things right and I think I can do it better or I can do it differently. Well, that isn't what it says. It says, be responsive in a proper way. And actually, I'd like to follow up this with what we read because Paul actually continues. We're in chapter 5 of Ephesians, but he continues in chapter 6, talking more about the idea of submission. Here in chapter 6, beginning in verse 5, he talks about the relationship of a person who's a member of the church who has bond servants. And how is it that those bond servants are to respond to, in this case, their master? It says in verse 5, bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh and with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart, again, as to Christ. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. And good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. So there's a dimension beyond just looking to men. You know, it's involving our obedience to God. And of course, there's other direction there for the masters to be properly serving, you know, those who are their servants at that point. So what I want to point out here in this second word that God uses in being submissive or in being in submission, do we really realize that the key component of that is that we are in submission to God and not simply to man.

Who is really able to bless you and fight your battles? Again, Mr. Jackson kind of went over this, the king of Israel, or in this case, the king of Judah, didn't have the ability to be victorious, but if they relied on God, well then God could give them the victory that they needed.

And so we have to ask ourselves, you know, if we're truly submitting from the heart, then will God fight our battles for us? Will He provide in ways that we may have never dreamed of?

I think we have to think about that. So submission, according to the word of God, it makes God, it involves God to the point to where He is your protector. He is your defender.

And so true submission is an attitude, a frame of mind, a way of life, an understanding of your relationship with God and of your desire to honor God's Word in your response to your husband. Now, the third thing I mentioned, the third word I mentioned, is subjection.

And I'll add to that wholehearted subjection because that's what we're going to read here in Colossians chapter 3. In Colossians 3, you again see Paul going through some of the information that he mentions about wives and about husbands and Ephesians. He also mentions about servants and how they should work for whoever their authority figure is, whoever their master would be.

But in verse 18, he kind of summarizes what he said in Ephesians.

Colossians 3 verse 18, he says, wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. See, that adds a different dimension to simply just submitting or obeying out of a somewhat of a mechanical response. You know, doing that because I'm really responding to God and His direction. In talking about bondservants in verse 22, he says, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with the eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God, and whatever you do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not to men. So as Paul's discussing the ideas of cooperation, of learning to grow together as a unit and as a family, he said this is a part of our commitment, a part of our devotion to God. So in verse 23, whatever you do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

See, that's who, you know, we've been, all of us have been called to serve. To go back regarding again this idea of subjection in 1 Peter 3, I didn't read all of what it says there, and I want to go back and read some more of it, because here in 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 1, it talks about wives and their response to the authority that God has given to a husband.

He says in verse 1, likewise, wives be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some did not obey the word, they without a word might be won by the conduct of their wives.

So here he talks about how that being in subjection is really more than, it's not talking about, I think the King James says, conversation. It's not talking about trying to talk people into believing things, but it says by the conduct of their wives, when they observe in verse 2, your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging a hair, wearing a gold, putting on fine apparel. Rather, in verse 4, and here is kind of the main part of this, in verse 4, rather let it be the hidden person of the heart. This is what, you know, Paul, in both of these cases, whether it's Peter in this case, but Paul in visions and in collations, and then Peter here in 1 Peter, let it be the hidden person of the heart, with an incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Now here, God says something that is incredibly precious to Him. Now, the translations that we use describe this as a gentle and a quiet spirit. Now, I've talked to my wife about that, and she's told me that's always seemed kind of hard because I want to be happy. I want to be joyous. I want to be even funny, and that's okay. That's good to be all of those things because whenever you think of of a gentle and quiet spirit, that's more of simply a respectful, responsive individual, and someone who is actually reacting from the hidden person of the heart. Someone who is, and actually I think we find women are often more receptive or more responsive as far as emotional or heartfelt things than sometimes men either appear to be or actually are, because you know often that's not the case. So it's not talking about not being joyous or not being funny, but it does involve an attitude of respect. And then, of course, for in this matter, in former times in verse 5, the holy women who trusted in God adorn themselves being submissive with their own husbands as Sarah obeyed him and called him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good. See, that is again describing an attitude of submission, an attitude of being in subjection, actually recognizing who my head is according to God and asking that God would bless me for responding in this way to His Word. Now again in verse 6, Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. Sometimes you see that described as Sir. And yet what it's really reflecting, and I'm not sure exactly what word you would find that would be in a sense kind of applicable today.

I doubt that most of you ladies call your husband Lord, although sometimes you may call him a lot of names, but at least my wife can think of a few for me sometimes, stubborn or pig-headed. But what is deciding? I mean, you can have even terms of endearment that would be respectful. You can have a mode of showing respect, and I think that's what is being referred to here, say, Sarah obeyed, in a respectful manner, in a responsive tone. And that's, I think, what God is wanting us to see.

So the words obey, submit, subjection, those all are important words. They're important for us to understand in our relationship to God, each of us, but they're important to understand inside our marriages as well. And so the final ones that I want to mention here today are simply living in respect and living in love. That's what we read here in Ephesians 5. We read this earlier.

Ephesians 5 verse 33, it says, where every Ephesians is here, Ephesians 5 verse 33 is kind of the concluding section of verse 5 here, or chapter 5. It says, Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself.

And so that again is directed toward a husband and a wife should respect her husband.

You know, that's clearly, I think, what we've been talking about here. If we truly understand what it is to be in subjection or to be, in a sense, submissive, that we are showing by an entire attitude a response that is wholehearted, that is from the heart, and a response that is respectful.

And we might also look here in Titus. You see, again, in this case, Paul directing to Titus how it is that he was to teach different segments of a congregation. He talks about the older men, the younger men, the older women, the younger women. In speaking to older women in verse 3, likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink, but they are to teach what is good so that they may encourage the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, to be chased. Good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands so that the Word of God may not be discredited.

See, again, it's not just, how do I look at it? It's a matter of, well, I want to respect the Word of God. I want to honor the instruction that God gives and that He gives to give me the joy and happiness that He wants me to have. And so you find that instruction that is not so much directly a directive from God, but an instruction to how older women can help younger women to learn things that are going to be godly and actually not discrediting the Word of God.

Now, you know, those are, in a sense, the verses that you could go to, the verses we could go to, that would cover how it is that wives should respond to their husbands, how they should respond to the authority that God has placed in the home. Now, if you can remember those words, and if you can do those, then that's great. And that, of course, is what God would desire and is what He would want. I want to point out, though, several things just about the whole topic of submission.

As I've mentioned, submission is more of an attitude. It's more of a way of life than just simply, you know, obeying. And yet, I'll give these cautions just by way of trying to, in a sense, explain this a little more.

You know, there is a danger that we ought to be aware of, of being too dependent, a danger of being too dependent. Now, obviously, in the way that God sets things up, husbands and wives are to work together in love, and they both have a responsibility toward God in growing together. But is there a danger of being too dependent? I think you could think of times when that could be the case. See, if you expect another person to make you happy, then you're probably going to be endlessly disappointed. You know, if you are thinking, well, I surely hope my husband will make me happy.

Well, I would hope that I could help my wife be happy. I would hope I would not do things that diminish her happiness, but if she expects another person, me, to make her happy, then she's going to be disappointed, because I'm not really able to do that. That's something that is between her and God. That is something that God can give and does give. And of course, all of us know that one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy, and we seek that. We want that. But again, if we are, in a sense, thinking, well, it's somebody else's job, it's somebody else's role, well, you know, we might be disappointed that we're not as happy as we should be.

One of the flaws of dependency is that it is unconcerned with the spiritual growth of the other person. See, if you're only interested in your own nourishment and not more, and you simply want to receive and not give, well, you may again not be happy. You may again not learn what it is that God wants you to learn. But in thinking about a difficulty or danger in dependency, you know, if we don't want for our husband to grow, I mentioned again last time, the husbands really have a responsibility of laying down their life and doing everything they can to try to help their wife grow and be a part of the kingdom of God.

Well, that's the same thing that would apply to a wife. You know, if she is thinking of, how can I help my husband to grow and develop and be a part of the kingdom of God? That again is if people are a part of God's people today, if he has offered his calling to us, then we have that as a goal, and we do. Other people obviously don't have that as a goal, and we can't push that on them.

But dependent people are often not really that concerned about the growth of their mate. And I think it's good to consider that. And certainly, we need to recognize the value of helping one another succeed spiritually. That's what husbands and wives both have to think about, but it's in essence a response to God.

Obviously, and some of you know this quite intimately, if you lose your mate, you still have to go on. I mean, you're not in the same kind of a setting that you were before, whether that's for wives, which often is the case where we have widows that can be for widowers at times. I guess we surely know that that could happen or does happen. And no people in that category. And yet, we have to continue to go forward in our quest for eternal life. We have to still seek the kingdom of God. And yet, we are doing that in a little different setting.

So, we all need to avoid the tendency to become dependent personalities in which we're only thinking of our needs being met. See, that's one of the dangers that you could say. Now, the second thing I'll mention under these kind of closing comments here I did kind of mention earlier, submission does not mean silence. Now, that's something that I think in some ways is obvious, but again, some have read what it says about a gentle and quiet spirit saying, well, that means you're not supposed to say anything. That isn't what it, as I mentioned, it's talking about having just a respectful response to things. But submission does not mean silence or the toleration of evil.

I mean, unfortunately, and certainly we hope that all of us are not directly affected by this today, but clearly in the world you find a great deal of evil, a great deal of distress within families, and certainly things where just unspeakable abuses occur. And yet, if there's ever a conflict between what God says and what man says, obviously, Acts 5.29 says you must obey God rather than man.

And so there is something that needs to be understood about that. I mentioned this in connection with the gentle and quiet spirit. That's not saying, you know, you should not be joyous or happy or able to contribute with ideas or abilities in areas. Certainly my wife has capacity and abilities that I simply don't have. I don't even think of many of the things that she would think of. And so is it right for her to bring that up? Well, of course. That's the right understanding that we should have.

In a sense, you know, if you withhold your thoughts, you are actually less than being wholeheartedly submissive because you're not putting that input at your husband's disposal so that he would have that information. Now, he might decide to do something else anyway.

But it doesn't hurt to have that input that you as a wife could offer. You know, what submission really is, it means that we put ourselves wholly at the disposal of the person that God has set over us. It's a matter of us being able to work together and do that in a peaceful and joyous way. And so, I think it's good to point that out. Another thing that I might say that there are, I mentioned a couple of dangers, but what are the advantages of submission? Are there any advantages?

I think we ought to consider that. I'm thinking of one situation that I recall. And maybe, let me go ahead and point out one thing else, and I'll come back to that.

Well, what are the advantages of submission? Well, one of them, and the scriptures that we've read allude to this, that clearly Christ is the Savior of the body. He's the one who rescues. He's the one who nurtures. He's the one who protects all of us as members of the church. And yet, one advantage of submission to women would be just physical protection.

Women in this world certainly can be subject to physical attack and abuse from others, and your husband should be able to at least do something to try to protect them. And again, whether we have done that or do that properly, we have that kind of idea in our mind that that's what we should do, that's an advantage of being in subjection and having that kind of help.

You could also say protection from emotional attacks, from children, even, at home.

Of course, a father should ensure that his wife and mother of his children are that she is respected, that she has that respect and from the role that the children are to be supervised by her and him in that marriage. And the other thing, and I thought about this more later than I really had before, if you think of protection spiritually, you know, if husbands are to nourish his wife in a sense helping her grow spiritually, you know, that's a concept that, you know, perhaps we have to think about in order to grow together where, you know, where we can both have a better appreciation for and enjoyment of a relationship with God.

See, we need to go back. I need to go back to 1 Peter 3 here again, because here in 1 Peter 3, we read, and this is actually directed at husbands in verse 7.

Husbands, 1 Peter 3, 7, show consideration for your wives and your life together, paying honor to the woman as a more delicate vessel, since she too is also an heir of the gracious gift of life, heirs together of the grace of life. But then what is the concluding sentence of that or final wording of that verse say? So that nothing can hinder or may hinder your prayers. See, we can do things that could help each other draw close to God, and we can do things that could contribute to that not being the case. I can say, you know, trying to, knowing that I ought to be praying, I put emphasis on that, and yet, at times I fail. At times, I'm not as good as I would like to be in that area. And yet, if I am encouraging my wife to pray and if she's encouraging me to pray, well then, that's a part of what is mentioned here, that your prayers need be not hindered.

And even praying together. I have to say again, Pat and I didn't do that for a long time.

And again, we both have a desire, but we just didn't see the benefit, didn't see how that would really work or how that would help us. But anymore, that's something that really is helpful. It is helpful, not just over our meal before we eat, but even before, usually, I leave.

You know, to pray with her and even to listen to her prayer. Because often, I learn things that she's aware of and praying about that maybe I didn't even think of. But see, that's something that I think you would find that that's a benefit of being in subjection and working together in peace and in harmony. And certainly, it's something that is an incredibly wonderful blessing from God. It's a wonderful blessing to be able to grow together and grow together toward a relationship with our Father and our elder brother that is eternal. That's what we want for one another. That's what we should want for one another. And certainly, whenever it talks about it says in Ephesians 4, I think, be you angry but sin not. And don't let not the sun go down on your wrath. That's involving working things out day by day. Don't let them build over days and weeks and months and then it becomes, well, I don't think it's solvable. That's what we think.

But it says, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Resolve your issues. And then it follows that, don't give place to the devil. See, because that's something, again, that a protective thing spiritually would be to be drawing together in prayer and loving one another in that way and loving God in that way. And so, I will just point out that those are some of the things that are beneficial to all of us but directly to wives about being in subjection, as God says we should be. So, all of us, you know, we have a tremendous responsibility and a challenge to administer God's authority in our lives and modeling the roles that God has so graciously assigned to each one of us. You know, we have responsibility. We don't want to neglect. We don't want to be unaware.

We don't want to be misinformed. We actually have, you know, incredibly good examples.

And clearly Jesus Christ is the perfect example and no matter who we are, male or female, we all are to be growing in the mind of Christ. We are to be growing in the way that He and the Father work together to achieve an incredible plan. And so, you know, we could certainly say that we must exercise authority properly and we must submit properly. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Wives are to submit to their husbands as it is fitting in the Lord. Again, the descriptions that are given is as the church is subject to Christ. And so, you can't separate, you know, those two concepts. You have to understand them together. I'd like to, you know, close here with a final verse here in Hebrews, chapter 5, because this is, in a sense, the perfect example, as I said, we want to be like Jesus Christ. And of course, we're thinking about Jesus Christ as we approach the Passover. We consider the incredible sacrifice that He gave, the suffering He endured in order to extend to us the benefit of healing, the blood that He shed instead of me. Instead of my blood, instead of your blood, Jesus Christ was willing to offer Himself as His sacrifice for my sins. And so, I want to become like Him. I want to follow His example. I want Him to live in me. We have verses that back all of that up. And yet, do we think about it that Jesus, you know, was so incredibly close to the Father? He was so incredibly close to the Father that He said, I am not here to do my own will. I'm here to do the will of the Father. He said, I'm not here to even speak my own words.

I'm speaking the words that the Father gives me. I'm not here to do my own works. Clearly, we see Jesus doing amazing works. He says, these are the works of the Father.

These are what He does through me because I'm close to Him. And yet, you see this described here in Hebrews 5. It says in verse 5, Christ didn't glorify Himself in becoming a high priest, but He was appointed by the one who said to Him, You are my Son. Today I have begotten You. He says in another place, You are a priest forever.

According to the order of Melchizedek, Jesus had that role that He had been given, a spiritual priesthood. But it says in verse 7, in the days of His flesh, as He spent 33 and a half years in this physical form, in the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, sometimes with loud crying and tears, to the one who was able to save Him from death. And He was heard because of His reverent submission. Now, I believe that King James closes that a little differently, but this revised standard or new revised says He was heard because of His reverent submission. Could the Father rescue Him from death? Clearly. Did He allow Him to go through the torturous and cruel death that He endured, but then He resurrected Him from the dead. But it says He was heard in His prayer to God.

Jesus talks about His prayer. You see examples of His prayer relating to the Father and how close He was. And as He asked in John 17, restore to Me the glory that I had with you before the world was.

He had been in that glory. He was willing to take on a human form, and then He was restored to that glory. And yet, the example that He said is just incredibly wonderful. He says the Father is greater than I am. He says, ultimately, we read in 1 Corinthians, whenever He's put all opposition down, He's going to be in subjection. Everything will be in subjection to Him, but then He will be in subjection to the Father for the good of the family. That's what He will do. And that's why, when you read verse 7, that He was heard, He was respected, He was honored, He was blessed, He was answered because of His reverent submission to the Father. And I think, in essence, that is the perfect example of subjection to God. An example that we need to think about as we consider our own lives, as we consider our own marriages, and as we examine ourselves as we approach this passage. I hope that all of us can consider the incredibly important words, as I mentioned regarding husbands, love like Christ, love and the nurturing and cherishing and honoring. That's a tall order. But on the other hand, as far as wives are concerned, obey and submit and be in subjection, respect and love, that's a tall order too. So we have plenty to examine ourselves about, and I think as we do that, as we learn to fully submit our lives to God and to Christ, then we can, in a greater way, reflect the love and joy and peace that God wants us to live in. So I encourage all of you, and certainly want all of you to have a wonderful Passover service and a joyous days of Unleavened Bread because they have so much meaning about how it is that God continues to encourage us, even beyond our baptism, to come out of sin, recognize and come out of sin. So we want to examine ourselves in the light of God's words for each of us.