Sermon: The Unleavened Vanguard with Christ

#1760-AM
Mark Schindler
Given 29-Apr-24; 74 minutes 2024-04-29

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On this Last Day of Unleavened Bread, after spending seven days eating unleavened bread each day throughout the day, it should not have been far from our minds why we were doing it. Jesus Christ, in the most selfless act of outgoing concern, is in the process of bringing all of mankind into the Family of God, and the Father has set each one of us into the vanguard with His Son, in the places He has determined from His perfect perspective.

The word “vanguard” in the last paragraph was purposely used because this word means, “the foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle; those occupying a foremost position.”

Within our carefully appointed positions within the vanguard with Jesus Christ, we spent the last seven days considering the incredibly perfect, sinless life that was lived by God in the flesh and how much we need to be doing day in and day out to take in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth in our own lives and then act on it.

In this regard and in reference to John Ritenbaugh’s quote from George Peabody in this day and age, “Our task is not to bring order out of [the] chaos [in which we live], but to get our work done in the midst of [the] chaos.” That work is to continue, through the perfect work of Jesus Christ to live unleavened lives in our unique circumstances together and to the best of our God-given abilities.

Just like the Sabbath that we only keep one day a week as a reminder of our Creator and how we need to be living as He lives 24/7, we have had our annual weeklong reminder of our privileged responsibility to strive to live 24/7 apart from the leavened lives around us. If we are going to be a true witness for the only One who could show us how to do it perfectly, this always must be the focus of everything we do within the growing lawlessness and chaos around us.

It was also a week that should have reminded us, if we have spent our time carefully considering what we were doing, how much this can only be done by the grace of God. Each of us must be individually dedicated to unleavened lives in carrying out the small part God has given each of us to faithfully serve the Body of Christ within the places the Father has set us, to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

It may be good as we start this sermon to consider what God expects of the unified Body of Christ that He has set apart from this world as described by the apostle Paul in Romans 12.

Romans 12:1-11 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Romans 12:16-18 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Brethren, all of this is only made possible through Jesus Christ!

With this in mind and in keeping with the season, let us go back to Exodus 3 and we will pick it up with God’s initial instructions to Moses from the midst of the bush that did not burn. As we read this, please pay special attention as to who is always doing the work.

Exodus 3:7-8 And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”

Exodus 3:10-12 “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" So He said, "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

Exodus 3:18 “Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, 'The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'

Exodus 4:10-15 Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." But he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.”

We are all familiar with these verses, but I just wanted us to note the clear word that it is God who is doing all the work, and at the same time teaching His anointed to take on the mantle of responsibility that will lead to His honor and glory as He is expanding His Family.

Exodus 6:1-8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land." And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.'"

Exodus 6:13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Then following a list of leadership within families of Israel, we read:

Exodus 6:26-27 These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies." These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Exodus 7:1-6 So the LORD said to Moses: "See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them." Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the LORD commanded them, so they did.

I would like us to consider that word “armies,” as it is translated in Exodus 6:26 and 7:4. This same word is translated “hosts,” as in God’s heavenly hosts of angels is tsaba, a mass of persons, especially regimented and organized for war (as an army); by implication, a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship; worship). The Theological Word Book of the Old Testament notes the following about tsaba:

Tsaba has to do with fighting. It has also wider use in the sense of rendering service as the Levites in the tent of meeting. No doubt service for Yahweh is seen as involving total dedication and careful regimentation, since God is Yahweh of hosts, enthroned between the cherubim housed inside the tent of meeting, work associated with the tent may be considered spiritual war. It is also suggested this word may denote the length of time spent in the army such as it is used in Job 7:1, and Job 14:14. In the first passage (Job 7) man's earthly existence is likened to hard military service. He must continually labor, endure suffering and be subject to a destiny beyond his control. In the latter passage (Job 14) man's tenure of abode in sheol is described in terms of the restrictions and hard ships of military service.

As noted earlier, when God brought Moses to Israel to have his small part in the work that only God would actually do through this man, who by this time had become so humble he tried to get out of it, Israel was loosely organized by families, as was hinted back there in Exodus 6.

This was pretty much the armies that came out of Egypt, marching for six days to the boxed canyon at the Red Sea, and then on this seventh day moved en masse through the sea, while their pursuers were destroyed as the sea closed behind them. As they came up out of the sea and free from their former captors, they were only a loosely organized army, even though God saw what He was going to establish in clear order in the second month at Mount Sinai.

But they were still God’s army set free for His service, but only if they would each diligently learn to fulfill their responsibilities within the place God set them looking beyond themselves to the others in their care.

We are going to take a bit of a detour here, but I think it may help us see how important our unleavened walk must be within our God-determined gifts to serve the Body.

Some of you might be aware of the five Sullivan brothers, who died together on a ship in the Pacific during WWII. However, most of you have never heard of the Sage brothers: Greg, Gary, and Kelly. In the late 1960s in contravention to the Defense Department’s policy in the aftermath of the Sullivan tragedy, and for the first time since the Sullivans, the United States Navy decided to let three bothers serve on the same ship together. As with the Sullivan family tragedy, the Sage family from Nebraska ironically suffered through the same loss as the Sullivans had endured some 25 years before them.

The brothers died together in 1969 during a joint exercise of a fleet consisting of American, British, New Zealand, and Australian ships in the South China Sea during the War in Vietnam. To add to the irony, it was not even part of the war, but rather a training exercise.

On June 3, 1969 the USS Frank E. Evans was operating in darkness in the South China Sea between Vietnam and Spratly Island in a formation with ships of the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and Royal New Zealand Navy. All ships in the formation were running without lights. Sometime between 2 and 3 AM, the Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier Melbourne was in the process of going to flying stations and radioed the Frank E. Evans, then to the port of her, to take up station as the rescue destroyer. This required Frank E. Evans to reduce speed and take up station on Melbourne′s port quarter. The commanding officer of the Frank E. Evans was asleep in his quarters, having left instructions to be awakened if there were to be any changes in the formation. Neither the officer of the deck nor the junior officer of the deck notified him when the station change was ordered. The bridge crew also did not contact the combat information center to request clarification of the positions and movements of the surrounding ships.

The conn officer on the Frank E. Evans misunderstood the formation's base course and believed the Frank E. Evans was to starboard of the Melbourne. The Frank E. Evans, therefore, turned to starboard cutting across Melbourne′s bow twice in the process. The Melbourne struck the Frank E. Evans at a point about 92 feet from her bow on her port side and cut her in two. After the collision, the Frank E. Evans′s bow drifted off to the port side of Melbourne, and sank in less than five minutes, taking 73 of her crew with it. One body was recovered from the water, making a total of 74 dead. Her stern scraped along the starboard side of Melbourne, and Melbourne′s crew attached lines to it. It remained afloat. Around 60 to 100 men were rescued from the water.

It was reported in an article years later by Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler,

In a berthing compartment in the doomed forward half of the ship, the heartening voice of Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Gary Sage reassured some of the men trying frantically to escape as he said, ‘Stay calm, and we will get out of here.’ One of the escaping sailors noted that Sage had remained behind, searching for his younger brother who was berthed in that same compartment. In all, 74 men died that terrible night, their final resting place in 1,100 fathoms of water. Later, back in Niobrara, Nebraska, Eunice Sage stood in front of her screen door as a uniformed officer approached, three sheets of paper in his hand.

You may be scratching your heads and saying, “How could this possibly tie into the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, and our responsibilities in God’s vanguard?” Please keep in mind what we have already considered about God’s army for hard service. They were loosely organized as they came freed from the bonds of Egypt through the Red Sea and even after making responsibilities clear within the gifts and positions for service were clarified by God at Sinai, there continued to be a battle among themselves because of human nature and they did not see who was really doing all the work through those He saw fit.

The Melbourne's commanding officer during SEATO's Sea Spirit exercise was Captain John Phillip Stevenson. On board was also Rear Admiral John Crabb, the Flag Officer Commanding the Australian Fleet. During Sea Spirit, the Melbourne was assigned five escorts: the U.S. destroyers Frank E. Evans, Everett F. Larson, and James E. Keyes; and the frigates HMNZS Blackpoole, and HMS Cleopatra. Stevenson held a dinner for the five escort captains at the start of the exercise, during which he recounted the events of the Melbourne-Voyager collision, and emphasized the need for caution when operating near the carrier, and provided written instructions on how to avoid such a situation developing again. Additionally, during the lead-up to the exercise, Crabb had strongly warned that all repositioning maneuvers performed by the escorts had to commence with a turn away from Melbourne.

Despite these warnings, a near-miss occurred in the early hours of 31 May (a few days before) when the Larson turned towards the carrier after being ordered to the plane guard station. Subsequent action narrowly prevented a collision. The escorts were again warned about the dangers of operating near the carrier and informed of Stevenson's expectations, while the minimum distance between carrier and escorts was increased from 2,000 to 3,000 yards.

The Captain of the Evans, Commander Albert S. McLemore and the two lieutenants who he had left in charge of the ship, Hopson and Ramsey, faced courts-martial for their contributions to the collision. Hopson and Ramsey both pleaded guilty to charges of dereliction of duty and negligence, and had their positions in the promotion list moved down. McLemore, who pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, was found guilty of dereliction of duty and negligently hazarding his ship. The formal reprimand effectively ended his naval career.

In 1999, McLemore publicly accepted that the collision was his responsibility, as he had left two inexperienced officers with the conn of his ship. These three officers had been trained at the United States Naval Academy. The Sage brothers and the rest of the crew’s lives were in their hands. Every man on that ship had been trained to make sure that his training and experience within his position would ensure the success and safety of the ship itself and every other man on board. But it is important to note the greater the responsibility in the chain of command, the more impact there is on ship and crew entrusted to their care. To whom much is given much is required. (We will be considering this principle more within the context of Luke 12 in a minute.)

I would like us all to continue to draw on the Melbourne/Evans tragedy, as we consider our hard service training exercise now within the Body of Christ. If the captain of the Evans would have exercised more of his authority with outgoing concern for his crew, he never would have put officers in charge he knew were incapable at that post. Ultimately, the Sage brothers and 71 of their shipmates died because the captain took the easy way, rather than managing the hard responsibilities toward those men and ultimately his officers that ended up out of the service.

These are hard lessons in life. They are even harder lessons when eternal life is on the line.

Now as I said, we are going to turn to Luke 12, because I believe there are some vital hard lessons from Jesus Christ that are much in line with our training and the Days of Unleavened Bread. However, as we turn to Luke, we need to consider the possible context of time and events during which Jesus spoke the words which we are about to read.

Let us begin first in Luke 10 just after the 70 returned that Jesus had sent out in His name as laborers and lambs among wolves, as stated in Luke 10:1-3. We will pick it up in Luke 10:17, as they return.

Luke 10:17-20 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

Here we see His warning to those who have been set apart for service to learn to live as He lives in service, not to get big heads about it.

Reading on:

Luke 10:25-29 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" So he answered and said, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

He immediately follows this up with the two great commands, on which all of the law hang: Love for God first and foremost, then love for one’s neighbor. Of course, this is followed up with men trying to justify themselves and trap Jesus. However, following Christ’s Parable of the Good Samaritan, we find a very clear statement from Jesus Christ with an interesting caveat that appears almost out of the blue, within Luke’s carefully organized account for making sure, the neighborly mercy is on God’s terms and not men’s.

Let us pick it up in Luke 10:36, as Jesus makes a clear statement of what He expects from all who have been gifted, which is immediately followed with a very important caveat.

Luke 10:36-42 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

Jesus made it clear, here, that there was something else. Brethren, you may consider this a bit of a stretch, but as Luke has put together “an orderly account” we should tie together these verses, which otherwise may just seem to be a dangling introduction to Martha and Mary, to what Jesus has been telling us and telling us and telling us! When God has given us the ability to go and do likewise, we can only do it right if the focus of our attention on the truth of God’s Word through Jesus Christ and not on merely the abilities He has given us to serve. But learning how to use those gifts rightly, to “go and do likewise” according to the Father’s will is the key! This, of course, is all only possible through Christ doing the work from within us, and continuing as we ingest Him, as the unleavened bread of life! Has this not been a main reason we have been eating the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth throughout this past week?

Just to keep this in front of us let us read those words again that Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

I Corinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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.

We know that Paul’s issue here is an obvious sin of sexual immorality. But let us consider the principle he was using here. These people should have been so familiar with learning and living the unleavened Word of God that this should not have even been going on among them. They should have been so adept at taking in and making decisions using the Word of God that this should not have even been tolerated.

And yet, as he noted in the beginning of this chapter, they had only been using the gifts God had given them to puff themselves up with a self-serving mercy that was leading them to allow behavior that was not even happening among the unconverted. They were not cooperating with Christ and allowing Him to do His work in them, learning and living His Word!

Please flip back now to Luke 11 and the persistence in seeking the will of the Father in unity with Christ to make our lives shine before men, having no part any longer in the darkness of men, except to radiate the life of Jesus Christ within.

Here in Luke 11 we find clear direction to those who have come under the blood of Jesus Christ and now learning to live as He lives.

The first point is in the section of Luke 11:1-13. We now have a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ that makes us His friends and within that friendship we can now serve one another but it must be persistent on our part.

Luke 11:5-6 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him.'

Luke 11:9-10 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

Luke 11:13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

These are important lessons Luke is teaching us.

The second lesson is found in the section of Luke 11:14-36. It is impossible to follow Jesus Christ, and also to stay in neutral. Now that we have been set on the path with Jesus Christ, we need to be filling up with the unleavened Word of God and using it both to maintain unity with Him and one another. The lamp has been lit and must continue to burn more brightly within a unified Body that is learning and living the Word of God.

Luke 11:17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”

Luke 11:23-26 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

Luke 11:28 But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

Luke 11:33-36 "No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light."

We must be eating, digesting, and filling up with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth through Jesus Christ, if we are going to stay with Him during this time. He is preparing His army to be just like Him, at His return.

The third lesson from Luke 11 is in verses 37 through 52. Hypocrisy must be avoided at all costs. We cannot be among those making up our own rules to suit ourselves. We must be faithful across the board in both small and great ingesting the law of God motivated by the love of God if we are to have the eternal life of God.

Luke 11:39-46 Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them." Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also." And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”

Luke 11:52 "Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."

We now get to Luke 12, where I believe we find Jesus Christ laying out some vital unleavened bread lessons, very possibly during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Luke 11:53-54 And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

Luke 12:1-3 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

Luke 13:1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

While keeping in mind Luke’s intent to share an orderly account, is it possible Luke is setting a time frame in 12:1 and 13:1 for teachings relative to a particular holy day? He said in Luke 12, “In the meantime. . .” and 13:1, “present at that season. . .”

Brethren, this is speculation, but I think we can find vital lessons here from our Savior to apply as we consider the Days of Unleavened Bread and possibly delivered within the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Continuing with the theme that began to be developed with an exclamation point in the reference to Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42, that “one thing is needed:” total focused attention on Jesus Christ, we see a huge crowd gathered in Luke 12:1, a crowd of people so much larger than can normally be accommodated in limited space (perhaps it was in Jerusalem). This is immediately followed with a warning regarding being puffed up with the leaven of pride and the hypocrisy it brings, which cannot be hidden from God.

Then in Luke 13:1 we find another hint from God through Luke, “There were present at that season, some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” What season? Could it have been the Passover season? There are two things within this verse that could indicate this. The first is a reference to Pilate. From what I could find, Pilate’s normal place of residence was in Caesarea, which was the administrative capital and military headquarters of the province of Judea. He only traveled to Jerusalem when large groups of the Jewish population gathered there for special events, like the three seasons in the year when they kept the feasts. He made sure that he was there to firmly manage Roman control over the events.

The second piece of evidence is the reference to the Galileans, who were insurrectionists that Pilate had violently put down. One resource I found notes: "This reference has been variously interpreted as referring to one of the incidents recorded by Josephus, or to an entirely unknown incident.” Some biblical commentators argue that the number of Galileans killed does not seem to have been particularly high. Also, in their view “the reference to ‘sacrifices’ likely means that this incident occurred at Passover at some unknown date. It was noted that it is not only possible, but quite likely that Pilate's governorship contained many such brief outbreaks of trouble about which we know nothing. The insurrection in which Barabbas was caught up, if historical, may well be another example."

Is it possible this season recorded by Luke may have been a precursor to the same time, a year or two down the road when Christ Himself would become the one whose blood should be shed for all men?

Brethren, again, while the timing may be pure speculation, I believe there are important Passover Season lessons that culminates with this Last Day of Unleavened Bread and are vital for us. The chapter again begins with a very stern warning regarding allowing our gifts and places to become the leavened by pride that will produce hypocrisy.

Luke 12:1-3 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

God knows exactly what is motivating us. If it is not the love of God under the work of Jesus Christ, it will not produce the true witness of Him that those unleavened by Him set before all men. The overarching message in the Luke 12 is appears right in the middle of the chapter:

Luke 12:29-34 "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Our focus is our treasure in heaven. That treasure is Jesus Christ who never fails!

Luke 12:8-9 "Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

Luke 12:11-12 "Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

It is He that is there at His Father’s throne interceding for us! It is He that is dwelling in us, guiding our steps as we continue ingesting the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth! It is only by Him abiding in us that the Body of Christ grows together as His living witness!

In this chapter under this overarching message are seven warnings from Jesus Christ of the danger of leaven that could return if we take our focus off of Him.

1. The leaven of hypocrisy.

The more that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us and we humbly live in reverential fear, giving witness to Him and the work that only He can do, the leaven of hypocrisy will stay destroyed with the old man.

Luke 12:4-5 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

Luke 12:8-9 "Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

We must be witnesses for Jesus Christ, and you cannot do that with the leaven of hypocrisy.

2. Materialism.

The more we use the richness of the gifts He alone gives to each for the glory of the Father, the leaven of covetousness will remain destroyed with the old man.

Luke 12:15-18 And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.”

Luke 12:20-21 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

3. The leaven of fretting and distrust.

The more we trust in God and the work that Jesus Christ alone is doing, the more the leaven of fretting and distrust stays buried with the old man. Keep your finger here because I think it is important that we drop back and read a few verses from Psalm 37, because it is relevant to a number of these points for staying unleavened in through the strength of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 37:1-8 Do not fret [boil] because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

These are vital lessons for us to learn: Trust in the Lord, and do not fret. He will never allow us to be moved.

Luke 12:22-23 Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”

Luke 12:27-28 “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?”

We need to be having strong faith, and trust in God. We cannot allow the leaven come back into our lives of fretting over evil, lawless men. At the end of that verse, He also went into what he expects from us, not to be faithless. That is the fourth warning.

4. Do not let the faithlessness appear.

Each having been called by the Father to His son are placed within the Body in order to faithfully and patiently serve to the best of our ability through Jesus Christ’s spirit within. The leaven of impatience, misuse of time and mistreatment of others must no longer be found in the new man given to live as Christ Himself lives.

Luke 12:35-37 "Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.”

Luke 12:42-44 And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.”

Luke 12:48 “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

We need to be faithful. We need to be servants. Jesus Christ gave us the example just over a week ago of faithful service, intending to come again to do it.

5. Becoming comfortable of living as the world lives.

Through Jesus Christ, we have now been given a life to live as He lives, which will be painful. But through Christ the leaven of compromise with truth must continue to be put out by living the truth no matter what the cost. Relationships will only truly be eternal and in peace when built together on the true unleavened life of Jesus Christ.

Luke 12:50-53 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

These relationships cannot work unless they are built on a relationship with Jesus Christ. As Richard Ritenbaugh noted in the CGG Weekly last week, if those relationships we do have are nothing more than mortal life, we will be no more than super-humans; and it will be a disaster.

6. Looking only to the physical, but blind to the spiritual.

The leavening of the short-sighted must not be allowed back in to keep us from the real work that Christ is doing in us to be part of His vanguard.

Luke 12:54-56 Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming'; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, 'There will be hot weather'; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?”

We cannot be looking only at the physical around us, even though we can discern things are going on. We must be looking beyond that to the spiritual, and the glorious hope that Jesus Christ has put before us.

7. The leaven of division that is our fault.

Brethren, as hard as it may seem, Jesus Christ has given us the words of truth and the ability to make peace with all men, from our side if we are willing to continue in the unleavened bread of His Word, if we are willing to humbly apply it in all the circumstances of our lives, if we are willing to trust Him!

Luke 12:57-59 "Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite."

Jesus Christ has given us the opportunity to repent and change from the division we cause. Notice that when the judge declares you guilty and puts you in prison, it is you who is found guilty. We cannot let the leaven of division back into our lives.

Finally, we have one more warning from Jesus Christ that should make us appreciate just how much Jesus Christ has done and is doing as we keep this last day of the Unleavened Bread, reminding us that none of this walking as a new man is because of us, but it is all through Him by the grace of God.

In Luke 13:1, going back to what that one historian said about the undetailed event with the Galileans that this may have very well been at the Passover.

Luke 13:1-5 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."

Repentance and the ability to continue in the unleavened life of Jesus Christ is only by the grace of God. And we must have the same attitude toward this incredible opportunity with the same fervor as Jesus Christ Himself!

Please turn with me now ahead to Luke 22 and the preparation day for this week, while keeping in mind the ordinance of the Passover, as stated in Exodus 12:8, “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”

Jesus Christ kept the Passover this way 1,993 years ago.

Luke 22:14-19 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

Luke records in verse 15, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled I the Kingdom of God.”

Fervent desire is the Greek word, epithumia.” It appears a number of times in the New Testament and it can have a good or bad connotation. It typically refers to carnal desires like lust, craving what is forbidden, etc. But it can also refer to something right, as it is in line with God’s will. However, it is only found this way three times in the New Testament: here and in Philippians 1:23 and I Thessalonians 2:17. It is important for us to read all three now and see how they tie to our real treasure that it is in heaven—Jesus Christ Himself—and our preparations to be with Him in His vanguard for all men.

Luke 22:15-16 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire (epithumia) I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

Philippians 1:23-27 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a [fervent] desire [epithumia] to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

I Thessalonians 2:17-20 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire [epithumia]. Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.

Brethren, this is the fervent desire of Jesus Christ to share the bread of His unleavened life with us so that through Him we can be with Him in His vanguard, at His return. He and He alone is our treasure in heaven that is in the process of bringing all men to the Father for His glory. He is the unleavened bread of life and He is working to make us all just like Him, in the vanguard of the heavenly host at His return.

MS/rwu/drm