Well, good morning, church.
Would you turn with me to Exodus chapter 13 this morning?
That's page 55 in the Pew Bible.
We're going to pick up our series in Exodus with Exodus chapter 13.
Let's begin by reading verses 3 through 10 of chapter 13.
I'll read these for us.
Verses 3 through 10, chapter 13.
Then Moses said to the people,
Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
For by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.
No leavened bread shall be eaten.
Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
which he swore to your fathers to give you,
a land flowing with milk and honey,
you shall keep this service in this month.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread,
and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.
No leavened bread shall be seen with you,
and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.
You shall tell your son on that day,
it is because of what the Lord did for me
when I came out of Egypt.
And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand
and as a memorial between your eyes
that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.
For with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.
You shall therefore keep this statute
at its appointed time from year to year.
Well, I wonder if you would consider yourself
a forgetful person.
Of course, sometimes forgetfulness can be funny.
Like the man who had a leaking pipe under his sink
and put a bucket under there to start collecting the water.
And then when the bucket started to get full,
decided to empty out the bucket into the same sink.
Like, don't.
Sometimes forgetfulness can be a bit embarrassing,
like when someone asks you the date of your anniversary
and suddenly your mind goes completely blank.
That's never happened to me.
Not once.
Promise.
But other times forgetfulness can be a bit more serious,
can't it?
You forget that this is actually a one-way street
and here I am driving the wrong way.
Or you forget to turn off the stove
after cooking breakfast.
Or you forget about the big phone call with a client.
Sometimes forgetfulness can be pretty serious,
pretty costly.
And there are times when even forgetfulness can be devastating.
For example, when an aging parent or an aging spouse
begins to slide into dementia,
forgetting the faces of even their closest loved ones.
Forgetfulness.
Now, we might not realize it at first,
but forgetfulness is actually one of the greatest dangers
that we face spiritually.
You know, for most of us,
it won't be a massive theological heresy or false teaching
that undermines our relationship with God and with one another.
For most of us,
it won't be some sort of big overt temptation to immorality
that shipwrecks our faith.
No, actually, the much more pervasive
and greater and widespread danger is forgetfulness.
We forget who we really are
and we forget what God has done
and we forget the story that we're really a part of.
In our passage that we had read earlier in the service
that Suzanne read for us from 2 Peter,
did you catch why Peter said
our growth in grace tends to break down
as he lists all those qualities
with which the life of Christ begins to work itself out within us?
What is it that makes us ineffectual and unfruitful
in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus?
In verse 9 of that passage,
Peter said,
it's because you've forgotten.
It's because you've forgotten
and you need to remember.
And that's what this section of Exodus
that we just read is all about.
It's about the vital importance of remembering.
Remember this day,
Moses says to the Israelites.
Remember.
And as we think about this passage this morning,
Exodus 12 and 13,
I want us to think about three things.
What to remember,
how to remember,
and lastly,
why to remember.
Why it's so important that we remember.
So why don't we think first about
what we need to remember.
Now,
at this point,
in the story of Exodus,
the Israelites had just witnessed
God perform perhaps the most significant
redemptive event in the entire Old Testament.
The tenth plague has just fallen
on the Egyptian firstborn sons.
The blood of the Passover lamb
has kept the Israelites safe.
Pharaoh's obstinance against the Lord
has finally been broken.
He releases the people from slavery
and they have now left Egypt
once and for all.
At last,
after 400 years of slavery,
the people are free.
God has saved them.
He's redeemed them.
He's liberated them.
They're no longer slaves of Pharaoh.
They belong to the Lord now
and they are free.
That's where we're at
in the story of Exodus.
And now,
Moses says to the Israelites,
as they're going out,
remember this day.
But here's the surprising thing
about what happens in Exodus 12 and 13.
This command to remember
doesn't just come after their redemption.
This command to remember
becomes before their redemption as well.
If you glance back at Exodus chapter 12,
God doesn't just tell Moses
what's going to happen
on the night of the last plague.
And God doesn't just tell Moses
how the Israelites
are going to be kept safe
from the plague
through the sacrifice of a lamb.
That's sort of the verse,
that's the first sort of 13 verses
of chapter 12.
God even tells Moses
how they're going to remember this event
throughout their generations.
Before the event of the Passover in Egypt
even happens,
before the redemption even occurs,
God tells Moses,
here's how you're going to remember this forever.
And you see that in verses 14 through 20
of chapter 12
as he describes the feast of unleavened bread.
And you see it again
in verses 24 through 27 of chapter 12
as he talks about the Passover,
celebrating the Passover year
after year after year.
God doesn't just say,
here's what I'm going to do to rescue you,
but also,
here's how I want you to remember it.
Now that seems a little strange at first,
doesn't it?
God tells them to remember something
and how to remember it
before he even does it.
You know,
it's sort of like
we're going on family vacation
and we spend the whole time
on the drive thinking,
here's how you're going to remember
this family vacation.
I want you to take pictures.
I want you to put together a slideshow.
I want you to play it at every reunion.
This is how we're going to remember
this great,
awesome vacation
that we're about to take.
That seems really strange.
All my kids would be like,
dad,
knock it off.
We're just trying to watch our iPads.
But God does that.
He says,
this is how you're going to remember
this thing that I'm going to do.
But you know,
as strange as that feels to us,
the same thing would happen
1,500 years after the Exodus.
During a small Passover celebration
in the upper room in Jerusalem,
that same thing would happen again.
The Lord Jesus would say to his disciples,
here's how I'm going to rescue
the whole world.
And here's how I want you to remember it.
What was Jesus doing
on that night with his disciples
when he took the Passover elements
in his hands
and told them to eat and drink?
You see, for hundreds of years,
Israel had remembered again and again
how God liberated them from slavery.
Passover was the liberation,
celebration of Israel,
that they were God's freed people.
Again and again,
they remembered how God
had liberated them from slavery
and had saved them
through the blood of a lamb.
And now,
Jesus was telling his disciples
that it had all been about him.
that he was the true lamb
who would die,
that his blood would set us free
and set us free
from the greatest slavery of all,
our slavery to sin
and death
and judgment.
And what that means is this.
You see,
before the cross
and the resurrection of Jesus,
Israel looked back
to the Passover from Egypt
and remember how God
had set them free.
But now,
for us,
living on this side
of the cross
and resurrection of Jesus,
we look back
to the even greater Passover
and remember
how God set us free
from sin and death.
So what then
do we need to remember?
What do we need to remember?
If we understand
Exodus 12 and 13
in the sweep of the whole Bible,
if we see it
in light of the whole story,
then we remember
the Passover best
by remembering
the cross.
How do we keep
the Passover feast today?
We look back
to the cross.
But here's also
what we see.
We remember the cross
best
when we remember it
through the lens
of the Passover.
Now,
what do I mean by that?
Well,
it's actually very easy
to view the cross
with the wrong lens.
All historians agree
that around 30 AD,
a young Jewish teacher
from Galilee named Jesus
was crucified by the Romans
outside of Jerusalem.
Pretty uncontested event.
But what lens do you use
to see that event?
Was he just a martyr
dying for a good cause?
Was he a political
revolutionary
meeting his demise?
But how did Jesus himself
see his impending death?
What lens did he use?
It was the Passover lens.
That his death
is what would allow
the just judgment of God
to pass over his people
and keep them safe.
and as a result,
set them free
from slavery.
In Egypt,
the lamb died
so that the firstborn
didn't have to.
And at the cross,
Jesus died the death
we deserve
so that we don't have to.
And he rose again
as Lord and King
to grant freedom
to everyone
who trusts in him.
This is what we remember
when we remember
the cross
and in doing so,
remember the great Passover.
So,
Moses tells Israel
to remember
this day
and that call
to remember
goes straight
through the Old Testament
into the new
culminating
in Jesus' death
and resurrection.
salvation.
So,
today,
throughout all of our lives,
this is what
we need
to remember.
But second,
how are we meant
to remember this?
How do we go about
doing it?
And God gives Israel
very specific instructions
about how they're
to remember the Passover.
They're not just going
to do it
in any old way.
You know,
go out into a field
and write a poem
if you feel like it.
No,
that's not what God says.
They're very specific
instructions.
For Old Testament Israel,
they were supposed
to remember
God's rescue from Egypt
with three interrelated things.
First was the annual
Passover celebration.
Second was the Feast
of Unleavened Bread.
And third,
the ongoing consecration
of the firstborn.
Now,
the Passover
and the Feast
of Unleavened Bread
always went together.
On the 14th day
of the first month
of the year,
all the Israelite homes
would have a Passover meal
and they would retell
the story
of how God
redeemed them
from slavery.
Generation after generation
after generation.
And then,
for seven days
following that,
they wouldn't eat anything
with leaven in it.
In fact,
they would get rid
of all the leaven
in their homes
and eat only
unleavened bread.
And in the passage
we read
to start our sermon,
God says,
I want you to get rid
of all the leaven
in your whole land.
Get rid of all of it.
And then,
at the end of that week,
they'd have a feast
to the Lord.
That's how they were
supposed to remember
the Passover.
That's how they were
supposed to remember
the redemption.
celebration.
And in addition
to that annual
week-long celebration,
the Israelites
were also meant
to consecrate
to the Lord
on an ongoing basis
any firstborn male.
Now,
that's the rest
of chapter 13,
verses 11 through 16.
We didn't read that
to start,
but you can just sort of
scan your eyes
down through there.
The firstborn male animals,
God says,
I want you to sacrifice
those to me.
And the firstborn male
children would be redeemed.
That is,
the parents would offer
a set amount of money
to the priest
as a gift and offering
on behalf of their
firstborn sons.
And one sort of minor
exception to those
general rules
was that animals
that weren't typically
used for sacrifice,
like donkeys,
well,
those could be redeemed
as well.
And the point
of all those practices
was so that the people
could remember again
and again
what God had done,
how he had spared
their firstborn in Egypt
and rescued them
from slavery
would have been
a very powerful reminder
if every time
you had a firstborn male
in your land,
you were doing
something related to God,
whether it was bringing
an offering
to the priests
or whether it was
bringing a sacrifice
to the Lord.
But I want to make
three observations
about these Old Testament
practices that apply
to how we are meant
to remember
our redemption today.
You know,
obviously living this side
of the cross
and resurrection,
we don't do
those things anymore,
but there are still
some patterns there
that are helpful for us.
And the three observations
are this,
that these acts
of remembrance
are perpetual
and they're tangible
and they're verbal.
Where do we see that?
Well, first,
this remembrance
is meant to be perpetual.
And you actually see
that throughout, right?
Every single year
without fail,
Israel was supposed
to celebrate the Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
again and again
and again and again.
They repeated it over
and over
and over again.
Now,
we, of course,
live in a very
entertainment-saturated age,
don't we?
We don't like things
being the same.
We value variety
and change.
But when it comes
to remembering
our redemption,
it's supposed
to be perpetual.
We're supposed
to do it over
and over
and over again.
And you see this
in the New Testament
when it comes
to the Lord's Supper.
The church
didn't just do it annually
like the Old Testament
Passover.
They did it regularly.
In many cases,
they probably did it
weekly
every single time
they met.
Now,
as Protestants,
we can be very wary
of repetition,
can't we?
We are afraid
that something
will become rote
and empty.
Just an empty ritual,
right?
We're very cautious
of that.
And that certainly
is a very real danger.
But at the same time,
repetition
can also be
a great friend.
Think about it
this way.
If you're playing
a role
in a theater performance,
in a play,
you probably
practice your lines
again and again
and again.
And you repeat
them to yourself
over and over
and over,
in the shower,
in your bedroom,
to your little siblings
until they get sick
of it, right?
You just rehearse it
and you repeat it.
And your theater company
will probably run
through rehearsal
after rehearsal
leading up
to your opening night.
Why?
Why do you do
so much repeating
and repetition
in rehearsal?
Well, it's not just,
actually.
It's not just
so you don't mess up
your lines
during the performance
and get embarrassed.
That's one reason why.
But it's not just that.
It's more than that.
It's because
all that repetition
internalizes
the material
so that when
the curtain
lifts
and you take
the stage,
you can actually
perform your role
with freedom
so that you can
actually be
who you're meant
to be
in the story.
The same is very true
of musicians.
Some of the best
improvisational players
have honed their playing
through endless hours
of repetition
until the scales
and the progressions
have become
just second nature.
And all of that
is true for us
in the spiritual life,
in our life with God.
Our weekly worship together,
our regular taking
of the Lord's Supper,
hearing the word of God
read and preached,
giving,
singing,
praying,
all of these practices
that we do week in
and week out
again and again
and again.
Even the overall
order of our service
is the same every week.
Have you noticed that?
Every single week
we do the exact same thing.
Don't tell anybody.
It's the secret.
We begin with
adoration of God, right?
You can see this
in your bulletin.
We try to give you
a little hint.
Here's what we're doing now.
We're adoring God, right?
We begin with
adoration of God,
acknowledging and praising
Him as our Creator
and His majesty.
And then we confess
our sins.
We look to God
as our Redeemer
in His mercy.
And then we move
to a time of thanksgiving
and prayer and offering,
which are all right responses
to God's majesty
and His mercy.
We want to thank Him
and we want to pray to Him
and cast our burdens on Him
and we want to give
to the work of the gospel.
Have you noticed?
I hope you've noticed
that sort of threefold movement
every week.
Worshiping God the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit,
the Father who made us,
and the Son who redeems us,
and the Spirit who empowers us.
And then we go to God's word together,
eager to hear His voice.
Why do we do that
every single week?
Because we need to get it
ingrained deep down
in our hearts
so that when the curtain lifts,
so that when we
take the stage
out in the world
as God's people,
we can actually be
the image bearers
He means for us to be
with freedom.
So that we can actually
play the part in the story
we're meant to play
as His people
in the world.
So that our hearts
can be calibrated
to God and His kingdom.
So our remembrance
has to be perpetual.
It's got to have some rhythm
and some repetition to it.
But it's also meant
to be tangible.
The Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
involved all of your senses.
You ate the Passover meal,
those herbs
and that bread
and that leg of lamb.
You ate it.
And you could feel
and smell
and taste the unleavened bread
for the whole week following.
You know,
from time to time
I'll attend seminars
on youth ministry
and one thing
that comes up a lot
in those seminars
is how to teach well.
How do we teach
so that teenagers
will really grasp the faith?
And the answer
that is often given is
engage the senses, right?
Don't just engage the hearing,
engage their sight,
show them a picture
or engage their sense of touch.
Bring an object
to sort of pass around.
Apparently educational research
so is that if you engage
more than one
of the five senses at a time,
we absorb the material
at a much deeper
and lasting level.
And isn't it wonderful
that God knew
all about that
thousands of years ago
having made us
after all.
In the Passover
and in the fulfillment
of the Passover
and the Lord's Supper,
God has us engaging
with nearly all of our senses,
doesn't he?
you can touch it
and you can smell it
and you can see it
and you can taste it.
And in some churches,
they even hold it up
and they break it
so you can even hear it.
And all of that
is so that we can grasp it
at the deepest
and most meaningful level.
That tangible nature of it
connects us to the story
in a powerful way.
I mean, think about it.
If we lived in Old Testament Israel,
eating unleavened bread
for a whole week
connected generations
of Israelites
back to that original
Exodus generation.
How?
Why were they eating
unleavened bread?
Because God's rescue
was so decisive
and so immediate
that they had to go right away
and there was no time
for the bread to leaven.
They had to go.
And every generation
would take up unleavened bread
and eat it
as a way of saying,
we're part of that people too.
We have an organic connection.
God freed me
from slavery in Egypt.
And in the same way,
when we eat the bread
and drink the cup
and the Lord's Supper,
it connects us to the story.
This is what Jesus ate
and drank with his disciples.
This bread that represents
his broken body
and this cup
that represents his shed blood.
in a tangible way,
it's putting us
into that same
unbroken story,
into that same
unbroken people.
But finally,
remembrance is meant
to not just be perpetual
and tangible,
it's got to be verbal.
Look at Exodus chapter 12
verses 26 and 27.
It should just be
on the opposite page
from where we started.
Exodus 12,
26 and 27.
This is Moses
giving instructions
to the Israelites
before the Passover event.
He says,
You see a similar thing
in chapter 13,
verse 14.
Jump across
to the next chapter.
Verse 14 of chapter 13.
And when in time to come,
your son asks you,
what does this mean?
Meaning the consecration
of the firstborn.
You shall say to him,
by a strong hand,
the Lord brought us
out of Egypt
from the house
of slavery.
Yes,
the remembrance
needs to be tangible,
but it can't just
be tangible,
friends.
There need to be words.
It has to be explained.
Did you notice the pattern?
Your children will ask,
what does this mean?
And God says,
and then you will say.
In other words,
when we remember
our redemption,
we've got to tell
the story with words.
The tangible practices
are an integral part,
but they don't stand alone.
That's why
the reading
and the teaching
and the preaching
of God's word
has to be central
in all that we do.
Without the clear
teaching of the Bible,
without the consistent
preaching of the gospel story,
these tangible practices,
whatever they are,
they lose their meaning
and they become empty.
But,
when joined
with the teaching
of the word,
they become
very powerful ways
for us to remember
our redemption.
And, of course,
isn't it true
that the nature
of our redemption,
it has to be spoken,
right?
Why?
Because
our redemption
was accomplished
in a once-for-all
historical event.
You see,
when Israel
was celebrating
the Passover
year after year
after year
after year,
they weren't actually
redoing the Passover,
right?
The Passover
happened once.
God rescued them
once and for all
from slavery in Egypt.
And when something
happens once and for all,
how can you reconnect
with it?
You talk about it.
It's the same thing
that's true
of the cross.
God has rescued us
from sin and death
once and for all
through the perfectly
sufficient sacrifice
of Christ.
And now,
what do we do?
We speak about it
and we remember it.
So these are the ways
that we remember.
This is how
we're meant to remember.
But last,
why?
Why do we need
to remember
our redemption?
Why go through
all the trouble
of this perpetual,
tangible,
verbal remembrance?
What is at stake
in all of this?
Well,
these chapters of Exodus
point us in three
sort of related directions.
reasons.
The first reason why
is for your children.
Remember your redemption
for the sake of your children.
We already saw that
in chapter 12,
verse 26,
and 13, 14,
how the next generations
are very much in view
as these practices
are put into place.
But we see it again
in 13, 8.
Look at 13, 8.
During the Feast
of Unleavened Bread,
Moses says,
you shall tell your son
on that day,
it is because of
what the Lord did for me
when I came out of Egypt.
You see, friends,
being born
into a certain family
doesn't make you
a Christian.
Just because I'm
a follower of Jesus
doesn't mean that my kids
automatically are.
They need to be shown
and told about
God's great work
of redemption in Christ
so that they can trust it
for themselves
through faith.
Here in Exodus,
Moses envisions
children watching,
taking it all in,
participating,
and then asking
their parents
what it's all about.
And you know,
that dynamic
hasn't really changed
for us today.
When we celebrate baptism,
the kids are here
watching, right?
And when they ask,
Dad, Mom,
what does that mean?
Why are those people
getting all wet?
That's weird.
then you can tell them
it's because of what
God did for us
through Jesus.
He went down
into death.
He rose again
to life for us
to wash our sins away.
And that can be true
of you too
if you take hold
of them by faith.
And the same is true
when we do the Lord's Supper,
isn't it?
Parents,
when you're fourth
and fifth
and sixth graders
or when you're teenagers
ask you,
what is this all about?
As we do the Lord's Supper
every other week,
you can then have
a conversation
about who Jesus is
and what he's done.
When with a mighty hand,
God dealt once and for all
for our sins.
You see,
every other week
when we do the Lord's Supper,
we have an opportunity
to have spiritually
significant conversations
with our kids
because they've seen something
and something's gone
right before their eyes
that speaks
of the gospel of Christ.
And even if they don't
initiate with you,
some of you are thinking,
my teenagers would never say,
Dad,
what does this mean?
Right?
No.
But even if they don't
initiate with you,
the practice of the Lord's Supper
gives you a chance
to engage with them.
Doesn't it?
Hey,
I noticed you're not
taking the Lord's Supper.
How come?
Or,
hey,
I noticed you took
the Lord's Supper this morning.
Let's talk about that.
And let me just say,
if you yourself
are a middle schooler
or a high schooler
or in grade school,
let me say to you
that the Lord's Supper
isn't just an empty ritual,
but it's a powerful reminder
of what Jesus has done.
The most important thing
that you can ask this morning,
if you're here
with your parents,
is not,
how can I make my parents happy?
How can I get through this
as quickly as possible
and get back to playing
video games this afternoon?
No.
The most important thing
you can ask yourself
this morning is,
where do I stand
with Jesus?
Do I believe
that He's the Son of God?
Do I believe
that He died for my sins
and rose again
as the Lord of the universe?
And have I surrendered
my life to Him?
Can you answer yes
to those questions?
If not,
what's holding you back?
Talk to someone older
that you trust.
The reality is,
you don't need to hide
your doubts and fears
about Christianity.
We've all been there.
And the spiritual life
is not something
that you can do alone.
Talk to someone about it.
But if you can answer yes
to those questions,
then who have you told?
If you are saying,
yes,
I believe He's the Son of God.
I believe He died for my sins.
Yes,
I've surrendered my life to Him.
Then tell someone.
Tell your parents.
And then tell someone
here at the church.
Talk to me
or talk to one
of the other pastors.
Make a public profession
of your faith in Jesus.
And if you haven't been baptized,
that's your next step.
Step into the waters
and make a public profession
of your union with Christ.
You see,
friends,
what Christ has done,
He's done for you.
Middle schoolers,
high schoolers,
this is for you.
And one of the main reasons
God gave us the command
to remember our redemption
again and again and again
is so that you
would come to know Him too.
But this isn't just
for our children's sake.
It's also for our own sake.
Look at the next verse
in chapter 13.
Verse 9.
Verse 9 says,
And,
you're not just going to tell
your kids about it,
and,
it shall be to you
as a sign on your hand
and as a memorial
between your eyes
that the law of the Lord
may be in your mouth.
For with a strong hand,
the Lord has brought you
out of Egypt.
I heard a statistic recently
that Americans watch
an average of five hours
of TV a day.
A day!
Holy smokes!
Think about all the advertising
and all the narratives
and pictures
of what it means
to be human
and how to find happiness
that we're absorbing
through our media consumption.
You know,
as I heard that statistic,
I thought,
where do people find
five hours a day
to watch TV?
But then I started thinking
about all the other ways
in which I consume media
during the day.
And I thought,
okay,
maybe not five hours,
but
maybe a couple,
maybe a few,
if I count up
all the podcasts
and all the
flipping through
whatever I'm looking at
on my phone,
you know,
Facebook,
news feeds,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right?
And all of that stuff,
almost everything
that we come across
as humans
is in some big
or small way
telling a story
about where real life
and meaning
is to be found.
I read a book recently
called
You Are What You Love
by a professor
out at Calvin College
named James Smith.
And in that book,
he spends some time
meditating
on the sort of
typical practice
of going to the shopping mall.
And as he sort of
starts to think about
what we do
when we go to the mall,
you start to see
that even something
as mundane
as going to the mall
has this pervasive power
to shape our desires
and to saturate us
in a narrative
about where real life
and real joy
is to be found.
Think about it.
You enter the mall
and it's sort of enclosed
and it's its own
set apart space
in the world, right?
You're going
to a different space now.
You're leaving
the real world
and you're stepping
into this sort of
trans-historical
timeless space
where there's never a clock
and there's always
sort of nice music playing.
You've been transported
to a different realm
and there's a picture
of beauty
and health
and attraction
and joy
lining the walls
at every step of the way.
There's a little place
where you can go
with the promise
that if you turn in here
and you just give us
a little money,
we will give you
an object
that will allow you
to experience
and participate
in that joy
and beauty
and you'll be able
to win friends
and influence people
and you will be loved.
And then,
when the experience
fades after a few weeks,
when the jeans
just don't feel
as cool anymore
or that sweet
leather purse
just doesn't quite
fit
what you're about
that week
or whatever,
you know,
those killer Jordans
you got,
get a scuff on them.
When the experience
fades after a few weeks,
when the purchase
starts to lose
its luster,
well,
you can always come back
and find something new.
Enter all ye who weary
and are heavy laden
and we will give you stuff.
Right?
See,
the reality is,
friends,
that we are inundated
by counter narratives
all the time,
not just in the shopping mall,
but everywhere.
Everything's telling a story
about what's real
and true
and good
and beautiful
and how our hearts
ought to be aligned
and all of these stories
that saturate our world,
they cause us
to forget.
They cause us
to forget
who we really are
and who God truly is
and the simply
astounding thing
that he's done for us.
Why did God tell Israel
to remember their redemption
year after year
after year after year?
Because he knew
that even in the promised land
they were going to be
surrounded by false gods
and false promises
of happiness
and if they forgot
that the Lord
had redeemed them,
they would run
to those other gods
for security
and protection
and life
and safety
and they would end up
in spiritual slavery
once again.
And friends,
our life is no different.
when I forget
that I've been liberated
by the work of Christ
and made a child of God,
an heir of God
and a co-heir with Christ
to share with his suffering
so that I might share
in his glory
of the new creation,
when I forget that
and when you forget that,
then suddenly
you find yourself
going to all sorts
of other things
for security
or for joy
or for peace.
like the approval
of other people
for example.
And when you go
to those other things
like approval,
you end up a slave.
You end up a slave
to what other people think
or don't think of you
and people's criticism
crushes you
or their praise
elates you
and you end up
blown and tossed
and then you end up
doing things
and saying things
that you know
you shouldn't
because the approval
of others
is really
what your heart
is resting in.
And yet at root,
what's happened?
We've forgotten
who we are.
We've forgotten
who God is.
We need to remember
that we've been
bought with a price
and that God alone
is worthy
of our heart's desire
and that we're
his beloved children
because of Jesus.
verse 9 here
says that remembering
our redemption
will function
like a compass,
reorienting our lives
and our identity
to true north
as a sign
on your hand
and as a memorial
between your eyes.
Not just individually
but corporately too.
And out of that
reorientation
again and again
to God
and God's redemption,
then genuine obedience
and service
to the Lord flow.
Look how the rest
of that verse runs.
That the law
of the Lord
may be in your mouth.
As we reorient
back to God
and his redemption,
then our lives
begin to flow
and we begin to live
the way we're meant
to live
as his image bearers.
Not just individually
but corporately.
Why do so many churches
lose their way?
Why do so many churches
become intoxicated
by the promise
of political power?
Why do churches
become rife
with conflict
and bitterness?
Why do churches
become proud
and look down
their noses
at other churches
who are less big
or less hip
or less doctrinally precise?
At the root
of it all,
brothers and sisters,
is because we fail
to remember
our redemption.
We forget
and other things
steal our hearts
and captivate us
and make us captives.
We fail
to keep God's
gracious work
in Christ
as the constant center
of our
congregational message
and our corporate life.
And if we think
that we're immune
to these kinds
of dangers
at Trinity,
we need to think again.
We, too,
are always in danger
of letting
some other narrative
shape our life
and our identity
as a church.
And so we must remember
again
and again
the redeeming work
of Christ
like a sign
on our hands
and like a memorial
between our eyes.
It has to be
the thing
that colors
everything we do.
The inescapable
mark on all
of our words
and all of our pursuits
and all of our programs.
And that leads us
to the last reason
why.
Why do we need
to remember
our redemption?
It's not just
for our children's sake.
It's not just
for our own sake.
But friends,
it's for the world's sake.
At the end
of chapter 12
verses 43
through 49
the Lord
gives Moses
instructions
about who can
and who can't
eat the Passover
when they celebrate it
in the promised land.
And God,
it's very clear
that non-Israelites
are not allowed
to eat it.
Just as the New Testament
is clear
that the Lord's Supper
is only for believers
in Christ.
However,
in verse 48
we read this.
If a stranger
shall sojourn
with you
and would keep
the Passover
to the Lord
let all his males
be circumcised
then he may come
near and keep it.
He shall be
as a native
of the land.
Do you see
what this verse
is envisioning?
The people of Israel
celebrating the Passover
in the promised land
and outsiders
who have come
to dwell
in the promised land.
They see
the common life
of Israel
and they hear
the story
of the Exodus
and they see
the Passover celebration
and they want
to be a part of it.
And then
they actually
come in.
God says
they can get
circumcised
and they can become
a part
of the people
and God says
they shall be
as natives
of the land.
In other words,
the outsiders
will become insiders
and the strangers
and the foreigners
will become natives
and the homeless
will find a home.
God's mission
for Israel
wasn't just
to be a holy club
that excluded
everyone else.
Their mission
was to be a light
to the nations
and though they fell short
time and time again,
God still didn't give up
on his people
or his mission
for his people
because now that Jesus
has come
and poured out
the Holy Spirit,
that mission continues
through the church today.
We need to keep
remembering God's redemption.
We need to keep
holding it up
perpetually,
tangibly,
verbally,
verbally
because God
has many
people
in this city
who are his people.
And though they may
seem strangers now,
God's plan is to
call them
and bring them
to his self.
for the sake
of the world,
we need to remember
because God says
there's a place
at my table,
in my family,
in my home
for everyone
who believes.
Friends,
the reality is
we are
a forgetful
people.
Left to our
own devices,
we would forget
and we would
drift
and we would
allow the cares
and concerns
of life
and all those
competing narratives
to choke out
the growth
of the gospel
in our lives
and to choke out
the growth
of the gospel
in our church.
But here's
the good news.
God,
in his grace,
not only
tells us
to remember,
but he gives us
the very means
by which
we can remember.
So as we have
now heard
God's word,
we're going to
go to the table
this morning
and having heard
and considered
God's word,
we're going to
do just that.
We're going to
grab hold
of these means
of remembrance
and we're going to
pray that God
uses them
to orient
ourselves
back to God
and God's
great salvation,
not just
for our own sake
and for our
children's sake,
but what we do
here is for
the world's sake.
God's sake.
Let's pray.
Lord,
thank you
for all
the many
and varied
ways that you
have given us
to remember
our redemption.
Lord,
thank you
for the reminder
that we need
to keep it
in front
of our faces
at all times.
Lord,
thank you
for the table
where you
promise to meet
with us
in a special
way and feed
our faith
and realign us
to you
and to your
kingdom.
We thank you
for all this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.