“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
If we can get a hold of this truth about keeping the Festival - or rather if this truth can get hold of us - our lives will become a worship song before the Lord!
Paul points us back into Exodus 23 and to the command to celebrate a festival to the LORD three times a year. These festivals are times set by God to celebrate God’s goodness to His people. A Festival of unleavened bread to celebrate the day God brought the nation Israel out of the womb of Egypt. The Festival of harvest using the firstfruits of the harvest in anticipation of what God will do (faith). The Festival of ingathering, celebrating the bountiful harvest that the LORD has provided (faith realized). These Festivals are communal, that is people assembled together as families, and as tribes and as a nation. These Festivals are times of worship, as sacrifices are given, prayers are offered, and temple worship is observed, as each man appears before the Sovereign LORD.
The apostle Paul is pointing us to the reality that sexual purity in a Christian’s life is not about following a list of don’ts. Rather sexual purity in a Christian’s life is about appearing before the Sovereign LORD, celebrating what He has done by saving me, thanking Him in faith for what He will do in my life, and thanking Him for the very real tangible things He has already done. In short- sexual purity in a Christian’s life comes from us realizing our entire life is to be a celebration before God. How long will I live on this earth? Haven’t got a clue! But however long I live on this earth- my life is to be one long or short worship song to the Lord whom I owe everything to!
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