Week 6 Devotions

February 5 - - The Passover and the Lord's Supper People tend to forget, even significant events and promises. Legions have been those through the centuries who pledged to change their lives or dedicate their lives to the Lord if He would only get them out of the mess they were in at the moment. While some remembered and kept their promises, the vast majority soon forgot their pledge, even after God kept His end of the bargain. The visit of God’s death angel to Egypt, the miraculous sparing of Israel’s firstborn, and the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt were all major events. Only by remembering how God had saved the Israelites in this way, would God’s people feel confident in God’s protections and provisions in the future. God established the Passover celebration as a feast to remember how He had liberated Israel from it’s captivity. Each year when the Israelites observed the Pass-over by carefully following the instructions God had given them, they were keeping alive that part of their history. And whenever the Hebrew children asked their parents what the meaning of the Passover was, the parents would explain how God’s Death Angel had passed over the houses of the Israelites where the blood of the Passover Lamb appeared on the doorposts (Exodus 12:12-16; 24-30). This feast would be a visible reminder that God had brought His people out of Egypt with great power (Exodus 13:9,14,16). With the death of Jesus Christ, his burial and resurrection, God made it possible for people from every land and every time in history to be forgiven and liberated from their slavery to sin. So, that we would not forget the blessings of our redemption, Jesus established the Lord’s Supper. His instructions were that we observe this memorial feast symbolizing the sacrifice of his body (bread) and his blood (fruit of the vine), whenever we gather in his name (I Corinthians 11:23-25). It was no coincidence or accident that Jesus established this observance on the night of the Passover meal (Luke 22:13-30). Even as the Passover symbolized God’s deliverance of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, so the Lord’s Supper symbolizes God’s deliverance of believers in Christ from their bondage to sin. Interestingly enough, those with children have often had the same questions posed before them that the Hebrew children asked of their parents. “Why do we do this?” The Lord’s Supper is not only a reminder to all who are redeemed of God’s wonderful grace, but also an opportunity to tell the story to their children and an unbelieving world about the love and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (I Cor.11:26). February 8 - - Beware of Idols and Idol-Worshippers God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; Joshua 24:15). And in the light of all He’s done for us, He deserves to be jealous. There is nothing we have that we didn’t receive from Him (I Corinthians 4:7; James 1:17). His kindness, His goodness, His grace, and His generosity are all for the purpose of leading us to Him (Romans 2:4). Our God is as good to us as He is because our God longs to have an intimate relationship with each and everyone of us. He naturally assumes that we will notice His generosity, His goodness, and His guidance and desire to want the same intimate relationship with Him. Why wouldn’t it bother Him when we ignore the many advances He has made toward us? God reminded His people over and over that they were to have no other gods. It wasn’t a matter of acknowledging Jehovah as the most important god on our long list of gods, but rather, a matter of having no other gods, but him. None! “Anyone who sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed” (Exodus 22:20). “Be sure to obey all my instructions. And remem-ber, never pray to or swear by any other gods. Do not even mention their names” (23:13). “Do not worship the gods of these other nations or serve them in any way, and never follow their evil example” (23:24). “You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you.....I will keep you healthy” (23:25). “Make no treaties with them and have nothing to do with their gods. Do not even let them live among you! If you do, they will infect you with their sin of idol worship, and that would be disastrous for you” (23:32&33). Now an idol can take many forms. It may be a car we spend all our time and money, on. An idol may be a hobby or activity we spend all our time doing. It may be a sport we participate in, or our work that becomes more important than our family or our relationship with God. Not only does God tell us to avoid worshipping idols, but He also warns us against associating with others who do. God knows that evil more quickly influences good than good influences evil. That is why He warned us, “Bad company ruins good morals” (I Corinthians 15:33). “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Proverbs 27:17). Obviously, the Lord does not want us totally isolating ourselves from those who don’t know Him. Who would we reach and witness to if only associated with Christians? But, the Lord does caution us to be very careful whom we are spending the bulk of our time with because He knows how susceptible we are to peer pressure and sin.