Passover with Shane Willard - Emerge Church From Home - 10/04/2020

[Music] [Music] [Music] I think it's fantastic to be able to have someone like Shane Willard who has done the work over many years of looking and studying and asking questions and and looking at all of these things and how it's relevant to us as 2019 Christians and so let's put our hands together as parts of show you will outcomes and cheers today thank you so much I'm so glad you guys put aside the afternoon to celebrate a Passover with us a couple things about this if because if you're like me your anxiety lowers when you know what's going to happen right so so here's what's gonna happen there's a there's an initial ceremonial part which will be about 40 minutes long and then and then so about 10 till three or so five till three that's when the actual meal will come out right so if you're if you're sitting there wondering where's the food it's coming no don't worry right knew who it would get to that part and then there's a there's an actual meal that will celebrate together and then after that there's a second part that's only about 10 to 12 minutes long that closes it out ceremonially so if this is if this is your first time doing something like this let me um let me explain the why behind some of the what you're gonna see this will be a very unique experience it's liturgical it's ceremonial in nature in other words there won't be a lot of me preaching there'll be a lot of me reading from a script' now that that's a little unique in a Pentecostal church like you know you don't see preachers in a Pentecostal church reading from their script normally but I'm gonna try to be faithful to it instead of and resist the urge to go preachy because you know I'm a communicator as well now I will do what I need to do to make it entertaining and and interesting and you will enjoy it but there's gonna be a few parts there gonna be a few a little bit unique there's me a couple times where I'm going to ask you to do a responsive reading with me so I'll tell you what to say and you repeat it back with some go Adelaide Crows gusto okay alright so that's that's what or whoever your team is we'll repeat it back that will repeat it back that way remember that truth has three elements to it okay the literal the symbolic and the event elaichi of truth and if you remove any one of those three it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful so all truth is grounded in some sort of story some sort of happening some sort of event somebody wrote something down and what you're gonna have in front of you is a very concrete sort of experience with the objective thing that it's grounded in but all the power of truth is found in the infinite exploration of the meaning of it and so we're gonna spend a lot of time with that and then of course the infinite exploration of the meaning should lead us to an event experience for truth which is we don't just simply believe something happened we allow that something that happened to fundamentally shift the way we see all other happenings after that and that's our goal today because we're gonna be looking at the cross the resurrection the Exodus story and that the cross is not something that has one meaning the cross is that which defies meaning this is where this is where we look and we we identify with a Christ that identifies with our suffering he doesn't just we don't serve a God who sits on a throne and watches us suffer rather we serve a God who engages suffering with us who confronts oppression with us who also forgives sins for when we fail but doesn't want to stop there but wants to set us free as well and to identify with the Christ on the cross we have to also identify with those moments in our life where we are required to have profound trust in the perceived absence the central cry of the Cross is my God my God why have you forsaken me it's that moment where you've done everything to obey God and yet you still feel like he's absent from you if you've ever felt that way you simply are identifying with the Christ on the cross and it's a moment where we embrace those things as well that death is not the opposite of life death is just a part of it that suffering is not is not at the opposite of exaltation suffering is a part of how we experience it when we win and with joy and this meal will put some concrete things around that now one last observation before we get going I am an American / Australian you are Australians we are trying to engage in something very ancient it existed before any of our cultures did and we're engaging in some ancient Jewish tradition here that has its roots there but we're gonna have to do it our way right because if you're here and you're from a traditional Jewish household if you see us mess something up please be gracious to us we don't really know what we're doing we we're engaging we're engaging in something the best that we can plus I don't want anybody coming up after his going was that accurate was that exactly traditional well a traditional Jewish Passover was four and a half hours long I don't think you want us to be that accurate okay so so so we're gonna do this we're gonna do this in in our American Australian Way and we're going to enjoy it because the power is in the meaning now when a Passover starts it always starts with the woman of the house in this case Nina she will start the Passover with the lighting of the ceremonial lights as the ceremonial lights are written this blessing would be pray blessed are you O Lord our God King of the universe who has sanctified us by his Commandments and commanded us to Kindle the festival lights blessed are you O Lord our God King of the universe who has kept us in life and preserved us and enabled us to reach a season once again where we can celebrate his Passover at each Sabbath and feast it is the woman who lights the candle one for creation and the other for redemption so as you see on the table here there are two candles one is for creation and the other from adaption one is for God's creation and the other is representative of God's determination and his dependability to restore and reconcile everything he created back to the divine order by lighting the candles and giving light to the Passover table so it is the woman who gave birth to the light of the world in Isaiah 7:14 we read that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel which is God with us this is a celebration that God is not a far off but rather God is what is involved in our lives here now today for Jesus said I am the light of the world he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of Life now over the course of a Passover meal there are four glasses of wine all right so at this point we're going to fill our cups with one of those now I'm gonna urge you because let me just give you some instructions here there's four of these so ration it well right otherwise you're gonna run into an issue all right so so so there's four these so if you want to pour if everybody wants to pour themselves a little glass of the sparkling grape juice that we have there yeah yeah all right so the first cup is called the cup of sanctification or in Hebrew Kadosh that the idea that we are set apart to be a holy people that your life is not made holy when you die one day your life is made holy right now because you are held together by God's breath you are held together by the Spirit of God and the same spirit that holds us together holds you together and so this is a moment where in sharing the same meal together we remind ourselves that every word we say every action we take every kind word every encouraging moment everything we do is actually set apart and it experiences the holy that we should never separate the secular from the sacred that we cannot organize our life where God is here but not there this is the cup that reminds us that we are set apart by the Spirit of God so we would take the first cup and we would pray a blessing like this blessed are you O Lord our God King of the universe creator of the fruit of the vine and Jesus gave thanks and said take this and divide it amongst yourselves for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes forth that's in Luke 22 let's all drink the first cup the next part of the ceremony is called the washing of the hands the Lord gave instructions to Moses concerning the tabernacle to put a labor of brass and it's foot also to brass to wash ourselves with that we should put between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar and put water therein for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and their feet when they go into the presence of God at the tabernacle they shall wash with water when they die not just as Aaron the high priest was to cleanse his hands and feet before approaching the altar God we too should wash our hands for in symbolism for spiritual cleansing as well as it's just a healthy thing to do before you eat who shall ascend the hills of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place he that has a clean hand and if your heart so this was a part of the ceremony to remind ourselves to keep our hearts pure and our hands clean in the middle of great suffering that great faith is not found in having enough faith to get out of something great faith is having the right disposition a clean hand and a pure heart in the middle of that suffering so it on your on your tables in front of you there's one for every six there's a bowl with some lemons in it all right that's the one don't use the other one or this is going to get awkward all right so so so the bowl with the lemon in it just take it for one for six and just it's symbolically you could put your fingers in it and and and symbolically wash your hands okay now what we do in the name of being authentic is in a celebration of unity and camaraderie and the same spirit that holds us all together we take the bowl that we just all washed our hands in and all of us take a quick sip from it so the Last Supper was a Passover Seder and at this point at this point in the Passover Seder Jesus would have taken a bowl he was the rabbi he would have been in charge of the Passover Seder he would sit taken a bowl and everybody would have washed their hands but if you remember the story in jesus's passover seder he goes one step further and after everybody washes their hands he takes off his outer garment wraps it around him with a towel and he goes around and he washes people's feet he took it one step further John 13 tells her that Jesus took off his outer clothing wrapped a towel around his waist after that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet drying them with the towel that was wrapped around and this would have been out of the box for a Passover meal for him to do that so after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments when he sat down he said to them do you understand what I've done for you you call me master and Lord and you say well for so I am if then I am your Lord and Master have washed your feet then you ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you should go and do likewise truly I say to you this servant is not greater than the Lord neither is he who sit greater than he who sent him so go and do likewise Jesus instructed us not to just be concerned with ceremonial clinic cleanliness but to look for ways to meet each other's needs with lowliness and humble of heart that's the washing of the hands the next part of the Passover Seder is called the dips so so this is where we're gonna use the dips set in front of us alright so the first part if all of you there's one for each six we'd take a small piece of parsley off of off of the stick of parsley so you're gonna each need a leaf that parsley the story of the Passover Seder is about deliverance from bondage and each element of the Passover meal is part of that portrait of redemption the first one is called the carpus or the parsley and the salt water all right so the carpus is reminiscent of the hyssop brush which the children of Israel applied the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorpost of the house the green carpet represents life and vitality the salt water which is the water without the lemon the water that you guys did not wash your hands in the salt water represents the tears which Israel shed in Egypt and their slavery so - it represents the tears we shed when we remember our slavery the thing that oppressed us or our slavery to sin so let us take a moment what you'll do is you'll take that piece of parsley you have dip it in the salt water and then eat it together as we eat the carpet as we eat the parsley in the salt water let us remember that sometimes life is immersed with tears that the moments of joy you felt are actually the reason we can feel that level of joy is because there was a moment where life sometimes floods us with tears and it's important that we never forget to remember that God was present in the tears as well as in the joy so as we eat the parsley in the in the salt water let us remember that life contains both now the next the next dip is called the bitter herbs so that's going to be the cup of horseradish that is that that is in front of you now what you can do is you can take a little piece of the bread that's there and you can put a scoop of bitter herbs on it okay the horseradish reminds us that life is sometimes very bitter as it was for the sons of Israel in the land of Egypt as we partake of the freshly ground horseradish we're reminded of how bitter life is without redemption blessed are you O Lord our God King of the universe who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning to eat her the eating of bitter herbs let us eat the bitter herb what you're going to do is you just take a piece of it on the on the bread and you're going to eat it and remind yourself that life can be very bitter without the promise of redemption being realized let's eat the bitter herbs now the next dip is the sweet Harris set which is that apple and cinnamon and nutmeg stir that is that is there as well and so what you're going to do now is you're going to take another little small piece of bread there and you're gonna put a small portion of sweet Hera set over the top of it the reason is the sweet Hera set is sweet to the taste and is a symbol of the mortar which the Israelites used to make bricks for Pharaoh God Himself is a master builder he is building our holy habitation in which s for us to dwell Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone and whom all the building fitly framed together will grow up into the temple of the Lord the idea in this part of the Passover is this even the most bitter of circumstances is sweetened by the hope we have in God to demonstrate this we place a small amount of bitter herbs on the piece of bread and then eat it which is what you've already done and then immediately after that add the sweet Hara set eating both together we initially taste the bitterness of the bitter herbs but quickly overcome by the sweet and soothing sweet Hara set so - as we face bitterness in life in the Grace and knowledge of Messiah our adversity is sweetened would you take and eat that together the idea in this is that Jesus did not come to remove the adversity but to reduce the sting of it that that there's sweetness involved in it at this point in the ceremony the leader would hold up the shank bone of the Lamb what is the meaning of the Paschal Lamb exodus 1227 says this it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed their heads and worshiped John the Baptist as he saw Jesus approaching said behold the lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world at this point I'm asked you to repeat something so I'm gonna say it slowly and then stop and when I stop you repeat it it's just a quote from Isaiah 53 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he did not open his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her Shearer's is silent so he opened not his mouth now what's interesting is the rabbi's have given the shank bone on the seder plate a name they call it the strong arm of the Lord this very passage in Isaiah begins with the word who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed now what we would do at this point is we would move to another part of the ceremony called the breaking of bread throughout the Bible leaven is frequently employed as a symbol of sin in ancient times a small piece of roll dough from the previous loaf was used to ferment an entire portion of the next batch of fresh dough thus it was the leavening of each batch of dough related to the original loaf as the leaven in the bread causes the dough to rise so the sin in our life calls us to rise in our own estimation to become puffed up but on this night and for seven days to follow we nothing that contains in eleven and so we demonstrate our desire to be cleansed from our sin and to live lives devoted and free entirely to the Lord the Apostle Paul in first Corinthians talks about this with this exact context in first Corinthians chapter 5 he says your glorying is not good do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump in other words a little bit of pride goes through the whole thing purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you're 11 and this is the part you're supposed to read back with me for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us and what they would do is they had a pouch like this it's made of linen and it's going to be normally Passover's are done in small or household settings someone try to hold it this way where you can see it's a three it's it is three compartments in it and there's one matzah in each compartment one two and three one of the most intriguing items on the Passover table are the three matzah is placed together on one plate each and a special compartment of fine linen these three mots is combined together are referred to as the tri-unity by ancient rabbis the unity of the three mosses is a mystery the ancient rabbis conjectured that the theories that it was represented Abraham Isaac and Jacob it was another one that reflects upon it being the divisions within Israel that the priests the Levites and then the congregation but for those of us who trust in Jesus we immediately recognize that the three monsters are representing the unique tri-unity of God that God does not exist as a singularity but rather a perfect relationship between three that is so symbiotic they are acting as one the middle matzah was given a special name even in the ancient world so if I reached into the middle the middle compartment and pulled out the piece of bread the middle matzah was given a name it was called the Lechem oniy the bread of affliction that what happens in a Passover is the Lechem Oni leaves the tri-unity of of the linen compartment he leaves and it's placed in honor amongst the other he leaves his place of honor amongst the other mosses and we hold up the Lechem Oni and this is what they would say in a Passover this is the bread of affliction which our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt let us all who are hungry come and eat let all who are needy come and celebrate the Passover with us now we are here next year may we all celebrate and promise even if now we are slaves may next year we all be free the leader would then hold up the center matzah and say behold the bread of affliction at that point the Lechem onie would be broken in half now you might recognize this movement from when we do communion when you do communion in a church when you celebrate communion in a church it is a current way of symbolizing the Passover meal Jesus did so when Jesus pulled the lucky mony out of the pouch he didn't say this is the body of the one that will be broken for us he said this is my body and he broke it now what would happen 1/2 is the lucky mony which we will use in a second the other half was then given a second name it was called the afikomen the afikomen in Hebrew means it is finished it means it is finished and what you would do would the afikomen is you would wrap it in linen cloth I'll just read it as it is on the ceremony this special piece of matzah is placed in a linen cloth and wrapped in a manner one wraps a body for burial while the leader does this he recites he recites Jesus's words concerning himself I am the bread of life he that comes to me will never hunger and he believes shall never thirst as the living father sent me and I live by my father so he that eats me even he shall live by me this is that bread which came down from heaven not as your father's ate manna we enter dead but that he that eateth this bread shall live forever he said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum that's in John chapter 6 the specialty rat nathie common is now hidden away as in a tomb what would happen in a traditional Passover it was in a family's house and they would wrap the afikomen and somebody was given the job to hide it later the children would play hide-and-seek trying to find the afikomen the leader hides the afikomen out of sight because matzah is unleavened it is striped it is pierced even as the sinless unleavened Jesus received the stripes that we ourselves deserved the flogging which Jesus received at the hands of the Romans was far healing the piercing of messiahs hands and feet at the cross and the spear thrust into his side was for our Redemption this is 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 for he have made him for he had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin we might be the righteousness of God in him now you were supposed to respond in this one but he is he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquity the chest Heisman of our peace was upon him and with His stripes we are healed at this point I would pray a blessing over the bread blessed are you O Lord our God King of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth now the next part of the Passover ceremony was called the Passover story it is very important that we don't read the Passover story as something that simply happened once but rather something that is happening in us all alone anytime you read the Bible you want to ask two questions what happened and more importantly what is happening in me right now because of it the Passover story didn't start in Egypt it actually started way before that with a guy named Abraham Abraham received a promise from God and he believed that promise left his hometown and started over he had a son named Isaac nuts Isaac had a son named Jacob and in that son named Jacob had 12 children 11 of those sons turned on the one son a guy named Joseph and they sold him into slavery into Egypt and Joseph was tempted and he overcame that and he fled from it but he was still blamed for the problem and so Joseph ends up suffering for a sin he does not commit at 30 years old he has given a place of prominence by Pharaoh because of his ability to interpret dreams at that point there's a famine in Israel and the family that sold Joseph into slavery ends up needing Joseph's help to feed them so that they don't die when they realize it's Joseph there's one of two options gonna happen here Joseph is either going to have them killed or he's going to help them Joseph chooses to sort of what we would say to bury the hatchet and give them food what's interesting is that the Hebrew word for rid for reconciliation and the Hebrew word for table is the same word so a table is a show con this is a this is a show con a meal is a show so you would eat a show on a show Khanh but the Hebrew word for reconciliation is sho con same exact words the Hebrew word for a lambskin is sho con same exact word why because in Egypt when they killed the lamb they didn't have a table to eat on what they would do is they would clean the lambskin spread it out and it was like a picnic blanket so a lambskin was the original table and so later when writers said things like for we all know it's the blood of a slain lamb that brings reconciliation you could easily just say that before we all know when a lamb gets killed we get a table to eat on so in that world when you served a meal to one another it was saying what was between us is no more we are going to put it under the table and enjoy the fellowship of that which is over the table Joseph after weeping aloud comes back and says to everybody serve the shoal serve the meal let's reconcile together so in scriptures say things like for God is faithful to prepare a place before me in the presence of my enemies this is not about God favoring you over somebody else this is about God always empowering us to make things right with other people even when they've done us wrong there's always a table to sit on so the very fact that we're sitting at tables and we're going to experience a meal together should make us connect to the idea that this isn't just about my forgiveness and my freedom it's about my responsibility to your forgiveness and your freedom even when you deserve something else it's about us committed to reminding ourselves that we are about reconciliation we are about Redemption that we don't want to receive the cross that gives mercy to us while wanting justice for everybody else rather we want to celebrate mercy and reconciliation and the table is available for all now what happens is Joseph is so nice to them they give them the land of Goshen well Goshen was very fertile and they prospered there greatly it says so much so that when a pharaoh showed up who'd never heard of Joseph he chooses to do the only thing that he can do that since in his mind and he enslaved those people for hundreds of years and they began to cry out to God because what he did was he made their life harder but it says despite his attempts to make their life harder they thrived all the more so finally what he did was is he said I know what I'll do I'll kill all the babies I'll kill all the baby boys in all of Israel well that was just one step too far they begin to cry out to God one of the things that this meal reminds us is that God hears the cry god hears the cry god hears the cry and when we hear the cry we are where God is because God is listening to the cry if you want to be in the middle of what God wants us to do we have to be in the middle of hearing the cry because if there's one thing that's true about God it's God hears the cry so God hears the cry of these people in Israel and in their suffering and he sets up Moses to be the deliverer to move them from slavery into freedom and he does so by doing a public in your face confrontation to all of the Egyptian gods he does so by setting up these contests with ten plagues so Moses says let my people go but Pharaoh would not listen to the lord of hosts so Moses pronounce God's judgment on Pharaoh's house and on Pharaohs land ferrus if Pharaoh's plagues were poured out on the Egyptians upon their crops and upon their flocks but Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not yield to the will of God he would not let the house of jacob depart then the tenth plague fell upon the land the death of Egypt's firstborn this is a reading from Exodus chapter 11 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits on the throne to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill and the firstborn of the Beast and there shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt such as there was none like it nor shall there be any like it again but in against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast that ye may know how the Lord has put difference between the Egyptians and Israel and this is an interest thus the Lord executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt but to protect the children of Israel God commanded that each of the Hebrew household to sacrifice a spotless lamb and apply its blood to the doorpost of the home first to the top of the doorway and then to this two side posts so what God does is he says I'm gonna take on the gods of Egypt and we're gonna talk about the ten plagues in a second but all the 10 plagues was a public in your face confrontation to some God the Nile River was their God of life he turns it to blood and everything dies the god of fertility in in Egypt was a God called her ket and it ket was a frog for what reason I have no idea but he says you want frogs let me give you some frogs here's some frogs they write the Sun God was rah-rahs representative on earth was Pharaoh and the Sun goes in other words Jehovah says I've got power over ah I've got power over fertility I've got power over life the the god of life and death was Osiris and so he defeats Osiris on an away game contest this is an amazing sort of thing right this is um Exodus chapter 12 and the blood shall be for you and for a token upon the house where you are and when I see the Blood I will pass over you which if you didn't know that's where we get the word Passover from it's a celebration of the night that God passed over the children of Israel this is meant to be a responsive reading so I'll read part and then you say it back to me and this day will be unto you a memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord you shall keep this feast by an ordinance so Passover commemorates the night when death passed over the houses of Israel because of the blood of the Lamb the Passover lamb and so as in faith the Israelites applied the blood of the lamb to the doorpost of their homes so much widtsoe so must we in faith apply the blood of Jesus to the doorpost of our hearts this is meant for you to read back with me for in Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us now at this point we're going to have the second glass of wine so if you pour yourself a little bit there while you're doing that ominous just I'm just keep going and explaining things at this point in a Passover there would be a child as a part of the family that would begin to ask questions and these were the four questions why is this night different from all other nights on all other nights we eat leavened or unleavened bread but on this night we eat only unleavened bread why is that and the father of the house would say we eat unleavened bread to remember that the children in their haste to leave Egypt had to take their bread with them before it had time to rise then the second question is is why do we eat bitter herbs on this night the father would say we bitter herbs to remember how bitter it is to be enslaved on all other nights we do not dip even once but on this night we dip twice by dipping we remember life and bondage is bitter but even the harshest bondage is sweetened by God's promise of redemption being revealed now the ten plagues the second cup so the first cup is called the cup of sanctification Kadosh that our life is holy the second one is called the cup of Thanksgiving it's a cup of gratitude and it's called the cup of the plagues because in this part of the Passover we remember each of the plagues God brought upon the Egyptian gods from which it went from but from which the Israelites were spared so God's Word teaches compassion towards one's enemies so as each plague is mentioned what we do is we dip our little finger into the cup and spill one drop onto our plate so if you get your plate and you get the the cup here's let me just show you us go look like so you just you want you're gonna want to tip it this way just a little and just the littlest bit on your pinky finger right and as I as I say as I say the plague you're gonna repeat it and then put a drop on the plate okay so let's do this together I'll say it you say it and put the okay blood frogs vermin flies pestilence boils hail locust darkness death of the firstborn each one of us has exhorted to consider himself as having personally come forth from Egypt the Scriptures declare and you shall show that your son in that day saying this is done because of that which the Lord has done for us when we came out of Egypt that's Exodus chapter 13 he who provided redemption from bondage in Egypt has provided redemption in atonement for our sins and a once and for all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for those who are of Messiah we may say to our children I celebrate this feast because of that which the Lord did for me now this is supposed to be a responsive reading so please repeat after me it is our grateful duty to thank praise honor glorify extol and adore him who did all these wonders for our fathers and for us he brought us out of slavery to freedom anguish to gladness morning to festivity darkness to light bondage to redemption now let us thank the Lord and drink from the cup a soul drink the cup of Thanksgiving that is the initial ceremonial part of the Passover I hope you enjoyed that I hope for you Jesus got bigger the cross works better the resurrection is central and scriptures just got bigger not smaller I hope you also understand a bit more about Jewish history and how it all fits together and leads us to where we are I hope that we don't get caught up in just the literal but also explore the meaning and the event on HR of these things that may we find ourself in this story to not just know what happened but to ask what is happening in me right now because of it how can I be reconciliation how can I celebrate the sweetness while also not losing sight and failing to remember the bitterness may we be that now at this point when the people in the kitchen are ready they're going to be bringing you a meal and so and so I'm gonna step back and then after we eat the meal we'll do the second part of the ceremony together I hope you guys enjoyed that and enjoy the meal and your fellowship together all right all right if we could have everybody's attention and look back this way a couple of a couple things before we do the last part here first I've done I've done one of these every year for probably 14 years and in for this to be done in house like this at this size it's quite remarkable so I think we should give a clap of appreciation for all the people who [Music] it's it's very good by my way of some of some announcements first when you're leaving today you're gonna notice I have a table back there with resources on it CDs DVDs USBs direct downloads if you're wondering why it's because a hundred percent of what we make from that we give to the poor and the afflicted we have orphanages in China that look after the mentally handicapped children we have rescue in Cape Town that gets girls out of sex trafficking off drugs high school educated and job trained so we can break the cycle of poverty in the Cape Town flats and that's that's how we support that so if on your way out if you want to be kind there and and stop by and grab some things since the last time I was here I think we've got three brand new ones so I'm always putting something new house you check those things out also let me stop and give an invitation to anybody here who does not have a regular church home on Sunday on Easter Sunday if you'd like to celebrate Easter with us here at emerge you be more than welcome here is at 10 o'clock at their Red Cliff campus is at 9 o'clock and and I'll be I'm the one preaching in both so they're there that we do this kung-fu move or I can actually do both and and and I've got I've got something very special set aside on Resurrection and and what that means for our life not as a doctrine but what like what difference does it make if we understand the doctrine of something if we don't know how to apply it on Monday and so and so what I want to talk about is that I want to talk about the event all nature that that the cross and resurrection is not something we should believe in but the cross the resurrection should be something that fundamentally shifts the way we see everything else after that so and what that means I'm gonna put some language around that if you're not familiar with with with me that the one gift I have on my life is to put words around complex things and make it simpler and so it's it actually it's probably the only thing I'm good at in life so so so if you want me to do anything else no I can't really do that right it would take me till Jesus comes back to rebuild that door but like but I can do this so so if you guys if you guys want to if you don't have a normal church home and you'd love to celebrate Easter if you're seeking or if you're seeking a church home and you'd love to celebrate Easter with Church I can't speak highly enough of this church I can't speak highly enough of the leadership here and you would be warmly welcomed and I promise you an hour and a half or so on on Sunday morning I promise you to change your life if you if you come Sunday morning a doesn't change your life I'll I'll personally out of my own pocket I'll refund whatever they charge you to come on Sunday okay so so whatever the charge is I'll just give it back so it's a risk it's a risk free thing all right so in the first part in the first part of the ceremony we went through all of the of the Passover elements the the bitter herbs the the sweet Hera set the the parsley in the salt water the matzah bread the strong arm of the Lord we told the Passover story we remind ourselves that that God has power over any sort of forces that would disrupt us what I'm hoping that everybody at least got is this that as we share a meal together this is not just a meal this is a reminder that God reconciled us to him and our call is to be reconciled to each other in a Jewish culture to sit at a table with a problem between you was unacceptable so even before you had the meal I didn't do this today because I didn't want to break up any fights that might have taken place but but but the truth of it is is that is that before they have a passover meal they would have a moment before it started to make sure we're right there's nothing between us is there is anything you need to say anything we're not holding private grudges that result in corporate chaos right no we don't do that we don't want to do that like we this is this is a meal where we so profoundly connect with God reconciling us that we couldn't possibly hold someone else to a different standard we can't possibly do that we can't we can't possibly hold someone's failures against them longer than what we have already we can't possibly do that because God didn't do that with us now after the meal is served this is where you're going to really connect this to Jesus because the the the second part of the meal is fully recorded in the New Testament what would happen if you remember there was a bread that left the tri-unity of the three and was broken and became the Lechem oniy and the second part of that bread was wrapped in and this would have happened before Jesus this happened now after Jesus in messianic Saders they would they would wrap the the the bread of affliction in in a linen cloth and they would this is where it gets a little bit fun for a family dinner if someone would hide it and then the children who participated the meal once the meal was winding down they would say okay now go and find it and so all the kids would go find the afikomen you know the the the it is finished and somebody somebody of course finds what was hidden and comes back and you would unwrap the burial napkin and then you would you would bring it you would bring it out and so this this it is finished piece of bread this is the part where Jesus it's recorded in the Gospels stood up and and participated in something we still do today we call it communion or the Lord's Supper and and the reason is is because the meal we just participated in was the meal that Jesus would have had on the night he was arrested right so so they would have this four-hour meal that was gigantic they would drink four glasses of wine it would have started at sundown roughly six it would have lasted till 10:00 10:30 then Jesus decides to go to a garden to pray he's a member he's irritated because the disciples can't stay away he's like why aren't you can't you stay awake and they're like what we just had four glasses of wine and a meal you know so and he's like I'm sweating blood bro so it was it was is this is this or thing so what you just experienced was a version of what he would have done out but just a much a much shorter abridged virgin version and this was the point where he would have brought out the afikomen this is what it would go the afikomen has been ransom backed and we partake of it once more because the Passover sacrifice could be offered only in Jerusalem some when they did it outside of Jerusalem they would say in memory of the Passover lamb the rabbi's tell us that the afikomen should be the last morsel of food eaten at a Passover Seder because it's the taste that should linger the longest in our mouth it was during this place in the Seder that Jesus took bread gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying this is my body that would be right in a traditional Passover they would have said this is the body of the one that will be broken for us but Jesus changed it and he said this is my body do this in remembrance of me so this will be very similar to when we take communion in church would everybody grab a piece of of the bread in front of you just you know just like you wouldn't church like a wafer size so on the night Jesus was betrayed at the towards the end of the Passover meal he took the afikomen and he said this is my body broken for you so let's take a second and meditate upon the idea that this is our only hope that without Jesus we have no hope let's examine our hearts may we have clean hands and pure hearts and sweet tastes in the middle of sometimes great suffering so that we can experience the sweetness of God's Redemption let us remember the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and eat together now if you remember at the beginning I told you there was going to be four cups and so yeah either way yeah so there's gonna be four cups now I did four in my fault I own this I forgot to tell you to ration the grape juice during the meal but well I think we're gonna be okay it's in the third cup is called the first cups called the cup of sanctification the second one is called the cup of Thanksgiving the third one is called the cup of redemption this is the cup Jesus would have grabbed it's this it's this right after the eating of the afikomen it was the very cup the cup of redemption the cup after supper in which jesus said this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood which is shed for you Paul said it in first Corinthians this cup is the New Testament in my blood do this in remembrance of me as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup do this in remembrance of him and to the Lord's death until he comes every Passover Seder is a memorial of the atoning death of Jesus who gave himself for the Jewish people and for every person our hearts yearn within us to experience God's Redemption and to receive from him that salvation which we could not achieve for our self so blessed be Lord our God King of the universe who created the fruit of the vine let us remember the blood of Jesus and drink together the fourth cup came after a period of singing which we will skip because I'm not leading the singing the fourth cup came after a period of singing why because when you profoundly it's not I can't say this clearly enough it's not about believing the right doctrine it's about so profoundly connecting to that truth that it shifts the way you see your whole world and so after connecting with that so profoundly you couldn't help but sing you couldn't help but dance and rejoice all together the fourth cup was called the cup of completion and this would be the last Cup of the night this is the Hebrew Scriptures tell us in Jeremiah 31 behold the day shall come says the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant I made with their fathers in that day and I took them by hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt which my covenant they broke although I was a husband to them but this shall be the Covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I'll put my law in their hearts and write it down and will be their God and they will be my people and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest they will all know me for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more this is about God this is about the recognition recognition that God has wrote his ways on our hearts and he doesn't hold our mistakes against us he has reconciled us to himself and called us to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters this is Exodus chapter 6 and I will take take you from me my own people and I will be to you the your God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God so let us stop and and remember and meditate upon the reconciliation of what God has done for us and more importantly our call tomorrow to be reconciliation to others that family member that you've been estranged from do what you can to make it right the neighbor do what you can to make it right to show the world what it looks like for the Christ that holds us all together to be honored and glorified more than we need to be right about any one thing may we be people of kindness and gratitude and thankfulness may we connect to the Christ on the cross not just the one that forgives our sins but the one who profoundly trusted in the middle of perceived absence may we also identify with the my God my God why have you forsaken me may we identify with that knowing that resurrection is coming and hope is coming may we drink the cup of completion together the Seder is now done it's customs and laws fulfilled grant grace that we each one may do as your will for us O Lord God enthroned above raise up the low make us free replant us in production and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and first earth had passed away and there was no more sea and I John saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is now with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God Himself will be with them and be their God and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes I bless you my brothers and sisters too so profoundly connect with this to realize that what seems like the end is just a new beginning grace and peace everybody god bless wonderful who enjoyed one of the first pass waivers I just learned so much I just learn about God one of the things I learn about God is God is a great pastor he actually cares about real life and when we go through the passo when we celebrate this we're actually saying God cares about Tuesday about Thursday it's not just a Sunday ritual God is a real life person that we can do with each and every day and I just love that aspect of God I just thought it was fantastic come on let's get pastor Shane another hand [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Emerge Church

Views: 1,335

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Church, Brisbane, Australia, ACC

Id: _7bi6g0ZPKs

Length: 59min 25sec (3565 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020