October 29, 2006 Sermon

Passover
Exodus 12:14-28

Earlier this week an elder in our church told me he felt we needed to do one of our “Presbyterian altar calls.” We have not done one for months. So, fair warning: today we will.

First, a definition. Preachers use “altar calls” to help people respond to the message of salvation. When a preacher lets fly with a sermon that hammers home the need we all have to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, often that preacher follows immediately with an invitation to come forward and make that confession of faith. They urge their hearers to get up and walk to the communion table. (Ironically, churches that employ altar calls usually do not actually have altars.) At that table, prayer counselors meet those who come forward and guide them as they seek God’s forgiveness and love.

From the start of the Northern Lakes Community Church nine years ago, we have offered “Presbyterian altar calls”. Presbyterian theology (or teaching) does not insist that we must have a definable moment of salvation. You do not have to respond to an altar call to enter heaven. This does not, however, mean that Presbyterians believe it does not matter whether you believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. It matters. Everything depends on it. So we offer a modified altar call. We offer you the opportunity to meet with an elder and pray about your relationship with Jesus right after the service, not in the midst of worship in front of all those witnesses. Today we again make that offer. If you would like to meet with an elder and pray, please come forward after church.

We believe that confession of sin and of faith in Christ matter. Jesus saved us. But we must respond to his sacrifice in order for it to apply to us. Coming forward to pray with an elder can be the start of that response from you. God offers salvation. In fact, God has offered salvation repeatedly. Throughout the Bible we find examples. Even centuries before Jesus walked this earth God extended salvation to people. But every offer came with strings attached, and those strings have often kept people from accepting. We must answer God’s invitation. We must respond. Accept salvation. Answer the call.

Exodus tells us how God delivered an entire nation from physical slavery. But Exodus also tells us how God offered spiritual deliverance. Scholars uniformly point out that Exodus has two climaxes: the escape from Egypt and the gift of the Ten Commandments. Together, these incidents show God at work to extend both earthly and spiritual salvation. The Passover night we just read about in Exodus 12 starts the escape from Egypt . In eight chapters the Ten Commandments will come along, and with them, God’s demand for a response, the response of obedience in return for freedom. Today we focus on Passover.

We read from Exodus, chapter 12. By this point Moses (and his brother Aaron) have repeatedly told Pharaoh of God’s demand to free the Hebrews. Repeatedly, Pharaoh has not listened. God has sent plagues to punish Pharaoh for his stubborn pride. Frogs, gnats and flies; skin boils, blood in the Nile and darkness at noon : no horror has yet proven great enough to make Pharaoh relent. Now, however, God prepares to unleash the severest plague, the killing of all firstborn, non-Hebrew, sons in Egypt .

Our verses begin with God telling Moses to teach the people to have a feast on “this day” until the end of time. The Jews still obey this commandment. They may no longer personally sacrifice lambs and paint their doorposts with their blood, but they follow the rest of the instructions quite carefully. More importantly, the meaning of Passover has not changed—for them or for us.

Passover means that God has passed over the sins of the people. Though according to God’s perfect will we should have to pay for our evil ways with death, God has given us an escape clause. For the Jews, that escape comes through obedience. For Christians, that escape comes through faith. For both, the Passover Lamb plays a pivotal role. In Exodus we read that the Hebrews were to find a lamb with a perfect coat and sacrifice it. After marking their doors with its blood they were to cook its meat in a specific way, then eat it as part of a feast.

Jesus of Nazareth observed this selfsame Passover feast with his disciples. It was his Last Supper, the last meal he shared with his followers before his crucifixion. At that Passover, Jesus said that he would offer his own body and blood as the new sacrifice, that his death would permanently serve as God’s Passover feast. He would become the sacrificial lamb who paid for our sins with his own blood. When people believed in Him as the Savior, he taught, God would not require of them the destiny we all deserve: death.

The Israelite slaves in Egypt did as God had commanded them to do. And the Lord kept his promise. The last and most terrible plague, the death of the firstborn sons, passed over the Hebrew houses marked with the blood of sacrificial lambs. Have you marked yourself with the blood of Christ? Does that seem like a weird question? Ironically, many non-Christians, especially radical Muslims, accuse Christianity of being a bloody religion because they misunderstand this blood of Christ business. Let us not make the same mistake. What does it mean to be marked with the blood of the Lamb? And how does one get marked?

Last question first. We get marked with the blood of Christ when we believe in Him as the Son of God, our Savior who died to take away the sins of the world. We get marked with the blood of Christ when we trust that he lived, died and rose again from the dead. Faith in Jesus marks us.

The New Testament book of Hebrews tells us that when we believe in Jesus, God sees us not as the sinners we are, but as spotless as Christ. This is no trick God plays on Himself; it is, rather, God’s will, God’s deepest desire. When we believe in Jesus we obey God’s longing for us. Bearing the mark of Christ means knowing that we belong to God—and that this is exactly what God wants.

Trusting in God makes salvation happen. For the Old Testament Hebrews this meant obeying God’s commands. They obeyed God’s command to paint their doorposts with lambs’ blood in order to receive God’s protection from death. For we New Testament Christians trusting in God means believing in Jesus as the Lamb of God. We obey God’s command to follow Him in faith and in service. The Northern Lakes Community Church exists, first, to help create followers of Jesus. How are you doing on the following Jesus score?

A mother recently told me of the joy she felt when a Vacation Bible School coordinator related that her daughter had confessed her faith in Jesus. A young man recently told me he had come back to the comfort of faith after a couple of years of college nearly scrubbed it out of him. A grown man recently shared with one of our committees that without our church he does not know how he could stay close to God. A woman reported that she often closes her eyes in worship not because she is sleepy, but because she can feel the Spirit of Christ here. She loves to watch others do the same, and claims she can tell when they are sleepy vs. when they are experiencing the presence of God.

We are here to build faith in the living Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God for those times when we succeed—and praise God for the ministry of other congregations engaged in the same work. If you feel the need to confess, or to boost, your faith in Jesus, come forward immediately after our worship service this morning. Our prayer elders will meet you with joy!