Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Reading through the Bible-Jesus our feast!

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1 Corinthians 5:7-8, "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Purge out the old leaven: At the Passover feast, all leaven was to be removed from the house, and nothing with leaven in it was to be eaten for a whole week. Paul says that just as the Jews were concerned to remove all leaven from their midst, so the church should have a concern to remove such notorious, unrepentant sinners from their midst.
Christ, our Passover: Paul's connection between the purity of Passover and the Christian life is not a strange stretch; Jesus is in fact our Passover Lamb, whose blood was shed that the judgment of God might pass over us. 
Our Christian lives are to be marked by the same things which characterized Passover: salvation, liberation, joy, plenty, and purity from leaven.
Since you truly are unleavened: Paul's point is both clear and dramatic: live unleavened because you are unleavened. "Be what you are" is the basic message of the New Testament for Christian living.
Sincerity and truth: These are two strong guard-rails for the way of the Christian life.
Dear God, I praise you for the feast of Jesus! 

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