Christ our Passover Lamb

A Good Friday message by Phil Rogers 6/04/07

To listen to Phil's message click here mp3

“Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malicious thoughts and actions, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

This rather odd statement comes in the middle of a passage in which Paul addresses immorality in the church. He refers to the Jewish feast of unleaven bread which lasted for seven days, on the first day of which the Jews celebrated the passover ‘seder’ meal. It commemorated God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt, which they did in such a hurry they did not have time to bake proper bread with yeast. They packed everything up including all their baking yeast. They roasted their lamb and made simple flat bread which they ate in their travelling clothes. That night the angel of death saw the blood on the door posts of their homes and passed over their houses without killing their first born and as dawn broke they were sent out of Egypt.

Each householder had to begin preparations for the passover by removing all yeast from the home which was seen as a symbol of evil. “For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the 1st day until the seventh must be cut off from Israel.” Ex 12:15. But Jesus also used yeast positively to illustrate the spread of the kingdom of God “He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Matt 13:33. Then he also used it negatively, in the common way, when he spoke about the yeast of the pharisees. “Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1. Paul takes up this same theme in Gal 5:9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough ,” warning against the dangers of legalism.

Just as a small bit of yeast works it way through the whole batch of dough making it rise, so can the kingdom of God work its way through society, as we long for it to do. But equally well sin acts in the same way. Four areas specified in scripture are: Hypocrisy, immorality, legalism and malice

Like the householder preparing for Passover we are to ‘remove the yeast from our houses’. “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch of dough without yeast -- as you really are.” What are we? A new batch of dough, clean and free from the yeast of hypocrisy, immorality and legalism. “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malicious thoughts and actions, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” Jesus our passover lamb has been sacrificed once and for all time. When the angel of death sees the blood of Christ he passes over, we will not die in our sins but will live with him for ever in a place much more wonderful than the promised land.

Having repented of our sins and so rid ourselves of these things, we need to be on our guard. They can so easily contaminate us again.
•A little bit of hypocrisy - play acting, putting on a false face to others to appear upright, while everyone at home knows the real us - especially our kids and it will turn them right away from the Lord.
•A little bit of immorality, tolerating inappropriate sexual behaviour. Unmarried men and women sleeping together, married people having affairs because they have spent time with members of the opposite sex inappropriately.
•A little bit of legalism, Derek Prince called this the biggest problem faced by the church - so insidious Dave preached about it last week ‘moralism’ the older brother attitude, the scribes and pharisees. Paul slates the Galatians for it, who has bewitched you, how can you go back to self-righteous duty, when Christ has set us free?
•A little bit of malice. Malice has to do with reacting badly to others - Paul uses two related words, 1. malice - wanting to hurt someone, get back at them, put them down, feelings of revenge and hatred, and 2. ‘wickedness’ is actioning such feelings - treating people wrongly out of our wrong inner reactions.

Instead Paul says because Jesus is our passover lamb let us celebrate with sincerity and truth. This is the antitdote to b eing vulnerable to hypocrisy, immorality, legalism and malice. Openness, total honesty, truthfulness, sincerity, integrity. If we are truly open with others, honest about our temptations particularly in these areas, we can avoid the yeast that can so easily spread through the whole of our lives and indeed affect other people too. Lord help us to live free of these things because you, our wonderful passover Lamb, has been sacrificed once and for all, but let us spread the yeast of your Kingdom instead.