Sermon Transcript — April 19, 2006
Mr. Welty mentioned that I just returned from Nigeria. Trust me, it wasn't a vacation. We had some ministers who traveled to Jamaica for the feast. There were others who traveled to different placed in Europe. I went to Nigeria, and I can tell you it lives up to its reputation. It is a very, very difficult place to be.
A week ago last night I had a remarkable experience. In fact, it is almost whiplash to be here today and to think that a week ago last night I was sitting in the home of one of our deacons in Benin City, Nigeria, conducting Passover services for 13 Nigerians. And to know their story and know what they all went through to be there, and to be in this remote place was quite sobering. You know, there are certain times in your life you look out at the scenery around you and you sort of take a snapshot, and you say inside yourself, I will never forget this moment. A week ago last night was one of those moments for me.
In Nigeria we have approximately 150 members attending services. I am very happy to say that during this recent trip in the last two weeks I had the opportunity to visit all 150 members, from a series of seminars we did for several days in several different cities, up to and including the Passover and the first Days of Unleavened Bread. It was a rewarding experience. It was truly an experience that we will always remember. This is my second trip to Nigeria.
We met a week ago last night in the home of Peter and Mercy Oloue. Mr. and Mrs. Oloue are long time members of the church. He is a deacon in Benin City. Benin City is located somewhat in the center of Nigeria, somewhat in the center of the country. It is a fairly remote city although it is a fairly large city. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. One out of every eight people in the black population of the world is in Nigeria. One out of every five Africans is in Nigeria. So wherever you go you are shoulder to shoulder with people. And I could not understand it, we seemed to stand out wherever we were. Little kids come running up and say, oi choba, oi choba, white man, white man. And it is just incredible to them that there is a white man walking around. From the time we left Lagos until the time we arrived in a place called Enugu, which is where we did the seminars, and from there to a place called Oweri, and from there to Benin City, and from there back to Lagos, I don't think we saw another white person until we arrived back in Lagos and that was in the airport before we came home.
The story of the Nigerians is a remarkable one. There are many, many stories to be told. I simply offer one story to give you an example of the extreme difficulty the members have there. We have an elder there, a young man by the name of Oledari Kimball. He goes by Dari, a wonderful young man. He runs his own business in Lagos. He travels the country. We have actually put him on partial salary now because he does so much for us. He essentially takes care of the church office of the church in Nigeria. He has been around the church a long time, as have many of the members in Nigeria. He grew up in the Worldwide Church of God. And now to see him as an elder and serving in that area is quite remarkable. What a wonderful family. We actually had the Night To Be Much Observed with him and his wife. We refer to his wife as Ton. That has nothing to do with weight, please understand. Her real name is Tongululaobanamabama, or something like that. You see why we call her Ton, because none of us can pronounce her name. They are just a wonderful couple, and we had the Night To Be Much Observed at their home.
The story that I want to relate to you is the story of a couple of young ladies who came to the Passover. They are both in their early 20s. Their names are Beverly and Irene. In order to get to the Passover, they had to travel six hours over land. They live a bit up in the northern part of Nigeria which is primarily Muslim. It is very, very difficult for someone in that area who even professes Christianity. In addition to that, one book I read said Nigeria is the most superstitious country in the world. Witchcraft is huge in Nigeria. Beverly and Irene live with their parents, even though they are in their mid 20s. Their parents, which is typical in Nigeria, control the lives of their children, especially the father. The father's word is law in a family in Nigeria by and large. It is a cultural thing, as well as sometimes a practical thing in that he takes care of the family. The children normally live at home even until their early 30s and they can go out and form their own families, especially young ladies. Beverly and Irene were caught in a situation with their father. Times had gotten rough in the family. They were out of work, which many, many people are in Nigeria. They hardly had enough food to eat, and things were going bad. Well, their father decided that there must be something wrong with them. And maybe it is because their daughters are in the church, in the United Church of God. Maybe that is the reason their luck is so bad. So he goes to a witch doctor to try to find out. Sure enough, the witch doctor said it is because of your daughters. And so he then insists that his daughters go to this witch doctor. They call him a juju priest in Nigeria. You might wonder, how could a father force these 25-26 year old girls to go to a witch doctor? Again, you have to understand the culture. So he forced them to go to this witch doctor to commune with him to find out what they could do to bring better luck to the family. The witch doctor decided he needed to take a razor blade and cut them in order to get rid of the demons or what was bothering them. So these two young girls he took a razor blade and sliced three slices across their chest. Then he put three slashes at their shoulder, three at their elbow, three at their wrists, three at their knee, and three at their ankles. So he scarred them quite badly. Well now they come to Passover very embarrassed and very ashamed about what happened, wearing long garments to cover up what had happened. Yet they came to the Passover. They could not stay away. They are a part of the church, and in spite of what their family was doing to them they wanted to be at Passover. So we actually had the Night To Be Much Observed with Beverly and she was with Oledari and his family and we actually had Passover with Irene. Very quiet. They were very embarrassed by what had happened, but they were more determined than ever that they were not about to reject what God is doing.
And so I sat that evening, having just heard this story and looking out at the people who were there and watching them. We washed feet, and then we took the bread, and then we took the wine, and it was such a remarkable thing to sit there and know that thousands of miles away all of you and all of the people that we knew in our family were doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason.
In traveling to Africa and certainly to Nigeria it can be a bit frightening, although I have to say that the most frightening thing about traveling to Nigeria is traveling with Fred Kellers. I don't know if you know Mr. Kellers or not but he has a personality that he is always joking with everyone around him. He will say things that will shock you, surprise you. Now the first time we went to Nigeria a couple of years ago Doug Horchak and I went. We first arrived in Nigeria and we were met by big people with guns. Guns wherever you looked. We were going through immigration. Mr. Kellers goes through first and turns around and says, I think you ought to arrest these guys. They probably have drugs or something. Here we stand! These guys with guns aren't even smiling.
So I told the Nigerians the most dangerous thing about coming to Nigeria is traveling with Mr. Kellers and that from then on it was easy. They hear all the warnings that are given to Americans. Before we left we received two warnings from the State Department. One of the warnings said, do not travel to Nigeria. If you travel in Nigeria please register with the State Department so we will know where to send your body. Things like that were coming from the State Department before we left. Not quite that brutal – that's a little bit of exaggeration, but pretty much they warn you not to travel to Nigeria.
The greatest fear I have in traveling to these particular countries is getting sick. That is the thing I fear the most. So before I go on a trip to Africa I make sure I put together an emergency pack. We have a little supplement that we refer to – in fact, it's called Traveler's Friend. It's actually a little bottle of clear liquid. And wherever you go you put a few drops of that in anything you drink. It is an extract of grapefruit. It is a natural thing that supposedly will neutralize anything that might be there. Because you are deathly afraid; if you get sick, what are you going to do. I remember once talking to Melvin Rhodes. He told me if he was ever hit by a car in Ghana and not killed, please finish him off. Because he did not want to go to a Ghanaian hospital. It is really kind of like that. I have anointed a couple of people in the hospital in West Africa and it is not a place you want to be in. You really don't want to be there because it is pretty rustic, dirt floors in one place I was in. They have a little sign over a room and a curtain that says deliverey room. And it is just a little curtain and women are giving birth in this room and people are dying of malaria in another room. And you are going in to try to anoint someone, and you realize right away this is not a place you want to be.
Before going you also have to get your yellow fever shot. You take your malaria pills with you. I will still be taking malaria pills for about two more weeks. You take them religiously because malaria is so endemic in most of West Africa that it could be a very difficult thing for you. In fact, I received an email yesterday from Dari and he said the day after we left he and his family came down with malaria and he was bedfast yesterday with fever all day and hoping to be okay for today. Now, most of the people there have it in their system and when they get run down it will come back out. So it is a very, very dangerous thing. In addition to that I take a strong antibiotic with me, one I obtain by prescription. There is diarrhea and other problems people have but it is not like what happens in Africa. It can be deadly. You can be terribly sick, you can dehydrate, and you can actually die if certain of these germs get in your body. I also carry a hypodermic needle with me in case of emergency. You don't want someone in a hospital or somewhere giving you a shot with a dirty needle. So you take your own hypodermic needle. You take all sorts of things you might need just to make sure you don't get sick. We stayed in a couple of hotels this time that had electricity off, no hot water, no showers. The TV was a 12” model with two stations. I watched more CNN International and soccer than I have ever seen in my life. The one place we stay at we pay $25 a night and we overpaid, trust me, for the room. You worry about these things – you don't want to get sick.
In fact, in all the travels I have made to Africa only once did I get sick. But once is enough. It's all you have to do. This was an unusual situation. It was another Passover that I conducted in Ghana back in 2000. One of the local pastors had invited us over for the Night To Be Much Observed. He was the pastor of a congregation in Takoradi. And Takoradi is somewhat remote, although it is a huge port city. Actually, the Japanese founded it and hence the name Takoradi. The pastor there is a man by the name of Ruell and his wife Gloria. They wanted us to come over to their home for the Night To Be Much Observed. This is a group that came from the Remnant Church of God and this was their very first Night To Be Much Observed. They had not observed the holy days prior. So we were coming over to their home. They had gone all out. They lived in a rather unusual house. They had two wings to it with kind of a tin roof over the center, and one room was a living room and one room was a bedroom, and the kitchen area where they cooked was outside in between. And they had gone all out. They prepared cassava. They prepared fried plantain, Jollof rice, fish stew, fresh fruit, coconut, pineapple, and of course the favorite food in West Africa is called fufu. And they had fufu. Well, you have to try their fufu. This was a staple. To give you a little clue what fufu is like, it is like taking a ball of dough and swallowing it whole. You don't chew it. Now I chewed some and I found out why you don't chew it. It is like wood mixed with dirt. It is just not something I am used to. I grew up in Arkansas and I am still not used to that. You have to have some fufu. Now fufu is pounded. It is actually cassava, plantain, and other things pounded together and it is like a dough. The reason it is such a favorite food is you swallow it. You open your mouth and let it slide right down your throat. You don't even let it touch your tongue. It just goes right down. And it will expand when it gets in your stomach and it will fill you up. That is why it is such a favorite food, because it is very filling. Well fufu is pounded. They take a long pistol-like instrument and pound it in a big wooden bowl. It takes two people. One person is beating the dough while the other person is pounding. They get into a rhythm when his hand goes down and the pistol goes down and the hand goes down, back and forth. It is quite remarkable to watch. We were very careful. Ruell and Gloria knew not to give us anything that would hurt us. They had been briefed on what we can handle. Somebody forgot to check the fufu. The fufu was pounded with well water. And so we had to try the fufu, which of course we did, and 24 hours later we were so sick. I will never forget. There was a friend who traveled with us from Houston. He called me about 6:00 in the morning. He was sweating, he had a fever. He could not understand it. He said, I have got malaria! I know I have got malaria! I said, how could you have malaria? He said, I don't know but I know I've got it. I am dying. And about that time I realized I was too. My wife was as well. We could not walk. We had fever. We were so sick. And all it took was one little bit of fufu that had been pounded in the local water. I always remember that. I'll always remember what I felt like. It is something I never want to happen again.
I would like to draw a bit of an analogy here this afternoon, that leavening is very similar to that. At least symbolically during the Days of Unleavened Bread. You know, the lesson of the feast of Unleavened Bread is that we must take sin seriously. We live in a world that essentially ignores the concept of sin. You are laughed at if you refer to some type of behavior as sin. It is incredible where society has gone. I suggest to you that sin is very similar to a microbe or something in the water that will make you very, very sick. In fact, it will destroy you if it goes unchecked.
Let's go this afternoon to Hebrews 2. During the Days of Unleavened Bread we remove leavening. We remove it from our lives for seven days. Leavening is so small that it is impossible to see. You can't see leaven. You can only see what it does. The germ or microbe or whatever it was in the water that affected us was impossible to see. I suppose unless you had a microscope you could not have seen anything. We had no clue that there was any problem. We were sitting around enjoying the Night To Be Much Observed. Everything had been taken care of. We had bottled water. We took all of the precautions. We took our malaria pills. We had everything there. Yet we almost died. At least we thought we were. For three days we were terribly, terribly sick.
Hebrews 2:1 It says, Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
I would like to take a look at this verse in a couple of other translations. But let me read on in verses 2-3.
For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
What a wonderful thing God has done in all of our lives! The greatest danger we are told is that we can let that slip away. An interesting phrase, slip away. The RSV translates this verse in this manner. Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. I thought that was an interesting translation. The concept is that the truth does not move. We drift away from it. The Bible In Basic English translates this verse: For this reason there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears. For fear that by chance we might be slipping away. So the concept is, or the danger is, that we slip away, we drift away.
Think of the concept of a ship. Ships are moored to a dock for a reason. If they are not moored to a dock or there is not an anchor to hold them in place, they will drift away. As the tide comes in and goes out they will drift away. They can be out at sea. But it is so gradual the way it occurs. I believe the apostle Paul had that very idea in mind when he speaks of drifting away.
Well, there are people in society, and certainly in the church, who have a great difficulty with guilt and beat up on themselves quite a bit. By and large, it is our human nature to take sin very casually. Well that isn't so bad after all. We don't seem to recognize that all sin will destroy your life. There is no such thing as a small sin. We must have that in our head. The Days of Unleavened Bread are to teach you that there is no such thing as a small sin. Sin will destroy you. A little leavening will leaven the whole lump.
Rarely in the course of ministry have I met people who have committed murder, although I have met a few. By and large, when someone departs from the truth it is over various small sins as you might say them. Compromising the Sabbath, failure to tithe, a little white lie that often seems so innocent. It is as so we build up our immunity and sin no longer seems to have the effect on us that it may once have had. A small lie is no big deal. Some people try to categorize sin as though there is a physical sin and there is a spiritual sin. Well, if it is violating God's command, how can you call something physical and something spiritual? Again, I understand there are physical laws. I believe that. But my point is, all sin leads to death. No sin is acceptable. All sin will destroy. Therefore, to reason that there is an acceptable amount of sin is to deny the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which says no sin is acceptable.
God didn't say, remove most of the leaven. He didn't say remove some of the leaven. He did not say eat unleavened bread but don't worry about getting the leavening out. What did he say? Let's go to Leviticus 23. Let's review briefly here on this Last Day of Unleavened Bread the command to remove leavening. And think about it from the concept of a type of sin. This is an analogy that works so beautifully. It really does. It is one of those analogies where you think, how could anyone have come up with anything better? Over all the years that I have observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread I cannot imagine any better symbol. You think of all the things that people do, before leavening can do its work it must rot. It literally has to rot and turn sour and decay. Then it puffs up. When you think of sin I cannot imagine a more remarkable symbol or analogy for us to relive each year. But don't lose sight of the lesson. No leavening is acceptable during Unleavened Bread. No sin is acceptable. We must think in that way.
Leviticus 23 gives the command for the Days of Unleavened Bread. Begin in verse 4. It says, These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their seasons. Now you read in Leviticus 23 and when you get the Hebrew text and you find there is a deep meaning here. In fact, the very concept of holy convocation comes from a Hebrew word miqura or miqra, it is spelled different ways. It means several things. It does mean a holy assembly, that is true. But a few years ago it struck me when I looked up in several different books the meaning of the Hebrew word and I saw embedded in the word rehearsal or practice. That is remarkable. The holy days are rehearsals or practices. What are we rehearsing during unleavened bread? Removal of all sin. Nothing is acceptable. As human beings we reason, I am doing pretty good. I am about 75% there. But unleavened bread teaches us to remove all leaven, not to leave any behind. So this is a holy convocation.
Verse 5. The fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. A week ago last night we gathered and observed the Passover. We didn't follow the Jewish reckoning and observe it the next night. We observed it beginning the night of the 14 th. Mr. Armstrong always explained and it is a very simple statement here, we shouldn't be confused, that Passover is on the 14 th. Next verse. The fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. What could be clearer? Passover is the 14 th. Unleavened Bread is the 15 th. They are not one and the same. They are separate festivals. They have different meanings. Unleavened bread means something on Passover night. It means something different during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or slightly different. There are certainly some comparisons. But there are different symbols. We do different things for different purposes. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the beginning of the salvation process. It is not the end. The Days of Unleavened Bread focus on our part. Passover focuses on what Christ has done for us, and freedom from slavery. You know what happens when you are free from slavery? If you are not careful you will go right back. So Passover is followed by the seven Days of Unleavened Bread. A complete rejection of sin in every single form. So every form of leavening must go for seven days.
Continuing in verse 6. The fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread of the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. So we have a command. We also have verse 7. The first day you shall have a holy convocation. You have a rehearsal on the first day. You don't do any work on that day. You offer an offering in verse 8. And of course we read later on that the seventh day, which is today, is also a commanded assembly.
Look at Exodus 12. Look at the command to remove leavening. I have always found this so remarkable. In our society today, and I mentioned this already, close enough is often good enough. You can do a decent job. You can throw out the trash. You don't have garbage sitting around. And you have kind of done your part. You have gotten rid of the leavening. I think all of us who have been in the church a number of years realize that is not the way you remove leavening from your home. You are diligent.
In this particular case I think the Jews make a ceremony out of removing the leavening. It is a remarkable ceremony. There is a book that came out a number of years ago, “To Be A Jew”, written by a rabbi who described all the ceremonies around the holy days of the Jews. Prior to the First Day Of Unleavened Bread they take all of the children, and they hide some leavened product around the house. This is before the First Day Of Unleavened Bread. They send the children with candles at night looking for the leavening. They want to teach them that you must get rid of all the leavening. You have to go to every corner of the house. You take the candle and look under the bed, around the bed, in the kitchen, everywhere in the house, because God says all must go.
Look at the command in Exodus 12:15. This is remarkable. Israel was getting ready to leave Egypt. As Mr. Johnson so well explained this morning in a wonderful explanation of their departure from Egypt, the Red Sea, and all of the history of all of the events involved there. Verse 15. This is a group of slaves, as was described this morning, who were about to leave Egypt. Leavening and unleavened bread were probably considered minor things. I can imagine as an Israelite thinking, why this? Why unleavened bread, why do we have to remove the leavening? These are slaves who don't have very much. God is setting up a very important symbol not only for Israel but for us today.
Verse 15. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses. There are really two separate things, to eat unleavened bread but to remove leavening out of your houses. Notice here the seriousness of this to God. In recent years even people you and I have fellowshipped with a number of years ago talk in concepts, it is just a physical thing. Why is it important to remove leavening? I can assure you it was important to God. Look at what it says. For whosoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Rejection from the camp of Israel for eating leavening? What harm could it do to eat a piece of bread? How can a piece of bread bother you? How can a piece of bread affect you spiritually? Of course, the piece of bread doesn't affect you. Obeying God or disobeying God is obviously what affects you and what affects me.
Verse 16. The first day is a holy convocation and the seventh day, which is today, is a holy convocation. No manner of work is to be done. Verse 17. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for in the selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you observe this day in your generation by an ordinance forever. So the Old Testament is very clear.
From then on in the rest of the Old Testament we don't have a lot of instructions about unleavened bread. The instructions were very simple. They were given by God, and they continued through Israel, off and on during the Old Testament period. A lot of people say, but we are New Testament Christians. We are New Covenant Christians. Why should we remove leaven? Let's go to the New Testament. Let's look at a couple of statements here that have to do with the subject of leavening.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians 5. I am sure these verses have been used often and will be used often during these days, and have been used. I am sure you are very familiar with them. 1 Corinthians 5. Notice here an example of the church keeping the holy days. A few years ago when the holy days were being challenged we had the opportunity, I have mentioned this before, of visiting the Seventh Day Adventists at their world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. And one of the things we wanted to explain to them was why we felt a Christian today should keep the holy days. And in preparing for those meetings it was not that we did not know this before but it is interesting to note that there are 43 references to the holy days in the New Testament. Now to get a comparison to that, there are more references to the holy days in the New Testament than there are in the Old when you consider that the Old is twice the size of the New. So by number of verses compared to number of references, there are more references to the holy days in the New Testament than there are in the Old. In fact, the book of Acts contains more references to the holy days than any other book in the Bible with the exception of a handful of books in the Old Testament, Exodus, Leviticus, and I believe I or II Chronicles. After that it is the book of Acts. Think of that. This is the book that documents the story of God's church, and it is peppered with references to the holy days. Where do we get the decision or the understanding that the holy days have disappeared? It is just remarkable that humanity can reason the way they do with the word of God.
Look at 1 Corinthians 5. This is the story of a very serious problem within a congregation. Paul writes, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. And such fornication such as is not so much as named among the gentiles that one should have his father's wife. He wrote here than an individual was married to his stepmother. It doesn't say it is his mother, but his stepmother. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged this already as though I were present concerning him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together in the spirit and power of our Lord Jesus Christ (verse 5) to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Purge out, therefore, Paul says, the leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
It is very easy to identify what is going on here. Paul is appealing to issues that everyone understood. Gentiles and Jews alike, everyone understood the Days of Unleavened Bread. They were fully aware, at least in the church, of the meaning of unleavened bread and the meaning of leavening. Notice he says, you are unleavened. Some tried to minimize that statement, tried to explain it away, but it is pretty simple. Clearly they were not unleavened spiritually. You can't read the book of 1 Corinthians and assume that the Corinthians were unleavened spiritually. The only answer to this particular verse is that they were unleavened physically. They had, as God commanded in the Old Testament, removed the leavening. But they had failed to remove the sin. They had failed to follow through on the meaning of the festival. And I sincerely say to all of us, if we fail to follow through on the meaning of unleavened bread, then what have we accomplished for seven days? What is it all about? What is the meaning here?
It goes on to say in verse 8, Therefore, let us keep the feast.
I have read many commentaries. I have read many things on this, and by and large those who truly are honest and truly come to at least an appropriate conclusion in the matter say it is clear that the New Testament church was keeping the holy days. In fact, there are a number of writers that acknowledge that. Here is one I would quote. It is called the “History of the Apostolic Church” by Schaff. He writes this. He says, It is very remarkable that St. John (he is referring of course to the gospel of John) makes the Jewish festivals, especially the Passover, so prominent in the public life and ministry of Christ, he evidently considered them (the festivals) significant types of the leading facts of the gospel history. He continues to say, The second century Pascal controversies prove that the early church kept the Jewish festivals, that they derive their authorities for those festivals from the apostles.
So those historians who write about the New Testament period by and large conclude that the New Testament church kept the holy days.
Paul repeats in Galatians 5:9 the phrase, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. This is a lesson. This is a story about the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Let's go to Colossians 2. Again the apostle Paul writes, to some people a rather enigmatic statement, although the statement seems to be rather clear. Paul does not explain certain elements of it, but he does make a very clear statement about the festivals. Verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink (or a better translation, in eating or in drinking. There was an ascetic element to the people there at Colossae and they were not at all happy that those who were in the church would celebrate the festivals with eating and drinking.) or in respect of keeping of a holy day, or a new moon, or the Sabbath day. Notice verse 17. Which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.
Schaff writes about this particular verse. He says, It is clear that the holy days or the Jewish festivals have a deeper spiritual meaning beyond the physical. A deeper spiritual meaning beyond the physical. And of course the Days of Unleavened Bread are one of those festivals which has a very, very deep meaning.
About 10 years ago I was doing some work and research in visiting the Seventh Day Adventists. I came across a publication of the Adventists. It is a remarkable book. I have kept it over the years and referred to it on occasion because it really fits in with the lessons of unleavened bread. The title of the book is “Creeping Compromise”. It is a compilation of the writings of Ellen G. White about the end times. Now if you are familiar with Ellen G. White, and I am not often quoting Ellen G. White, and there are certainly many reasons for that. I used to wonder many years ago why there were no pictures anywhere of Ellen G. White until I saw one of her at the Seventh Day Adventist headquarters. In Arkansas we used to say “she got hit with an ugly stick” She was not a real attractive lady. But she was a prolific writer, a prolific writer. She wrote about end time prophecy. She had very perceptive statements about what it would be like in the end time. I would like to read just a couple of statements from this book. Now this book is a compilation of her writings about the end time and about what it would be like. The title of the book is “Creeping Compromise”.
The thesis of the book is that in end time the greatest problem in the world for those who are the people of God would be this creeping compromise, that as the world's standards lower the church's standards would also lower. And that while the church may still be better than the world, if we are all going down that still isn't good. There are some pretty interesting and insightful comments.
This is the introduction to the book. It says, The subject of Christian standards is probably one of the most neglected doctrines in the modern church. Very little is in print today that can provide even elementary education in this Bible area. Only a few small books or tracts have attempted to deal with the basic and practical principles which should distinguish the Christian life from that of the world. The reason for this reluctance to write on these specifics of Christian conduct probably rests upon two fears. First the fear of offending the rather large majority of church members who are living far below the Biblical standard. Second, the fear of being labeled as judgmental, legalistic, holier than thou, and lacking in the personal love relationship of Christ.
I think that is correct. If there is a standard that is upheld you are labeled as legalistic, you are labeled as judgmental, and it is easy to dismiss concern over morality as not having the love of Christ. We see that in certainly the world today.
The book goes on. Persecution and the death sentence shall come into the picture again as a desperate devil unleashes the worst that he has against the true church. He knows this is the life or death encounter that will settle the issues of the great controversy for all eternity. That was the title of Ellen G. White's book, “The Great Controversy.” Essentially she presents world history as a controversy between God and the devil.
This time he will overlook no advantage, relying upon the psychological expertise of 6000 years of experience of trying to bend the human mind. He has initiated a softening up operational plan against the people he hates. That plan consists of gradually weakening the defenses of the people of God through worldly compromise. This will be the ultimate weapon which Satan has cleverly designed to undermine the faith of every member of the remnant church.
Then quoting from Ellen G. White: I would say we are living in a most solemn time. In the last vision given to me I was shown a startling fact that only a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified and be saved. Many will get above the simplicity of the work. They will conform to the world, cherish idols, and become spiritually dead. How incredible. The great majority of those who now rejoice in the truth will give up their faith and be lost. They will be lost because they conformed to the world. Satan's insidious, innocent-appearing, highly esteemed lifestyle will disarm them, weaken them, and finally destroy them. Then this is another statement. The greatest proportion who now appear genuine will prove to be base metal in the end time.
She refers to a softening up strategy. She compares it to how quail are trapped. This is the story. How important it is to recognize the direction in which we are being led by any particular influence. The manner in which quail are often trapped provides a parallel of Satan's habits. Wheat is placed several feet from where a snare is triggered to spring shut on the quail. At first the birds approach the wheat with some obvious apprehension. But because there is no danger in view their fear is allayed. The next day the wheat is placed a bit closer to the snare. And the birds are less wary of the scattered grain. Day after day the wheat is placed just a bit closer to the trap until the quail are completely confident that there is nothing dangerous about the fine wheat. Then of course the grain is placed inside the snare and the birds still come. Innocently the trust the good food to remain good and a safe place to remain safe. Then the trap is sprung.
Of course the analogy being that is the way sin works. That is the way the lifestyle we fall into in this world works. Where people are trapped or are drawn into something by very small pieces. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little sin will lead you down a path that will destroy you.
In thinking about the lesson of unleavened bread I thought about the fact that in our lives there are three areas where it is a tendency for us to become careless with sin. Three areas where we can become careless with sin, where a small amount of sin can destroy you. These three areas are your personal life, a congregation can be destroyed by a small amount of sin, and the entire church could be destroyed by sin. So it is your personal life, the life of a congregation, and the life of a church. And we have examples in scripture of all three of these and how it can destroy you.
Let's begin with your personal life. Turn with me to Acts 5. When you look at a history of the New Testament church it is remarkable the events that occurred early in the church. There were great miracles that occurred, but in the middle of all of these miracles there is one unusual event that happens. It is found in Acts 5. This particular story is a warning in many ways to all of us. It is a warning that a little sin can destroy you. A little lie can take your life. Now I have often wondered why Ananias and Sapphira were killed. They lied. But I don't believe for a moment they were the only members of the New Testament church that ever lied. I believe that God showed in a powerful way that all sin can destroy you. And in a powerful way he pointed out to the whole church what a little sin will do to you. Ananias and Sapphira did not kill someone. They did not go and rob a bank. They did not hurt another member. It was harmless, wasn't it? They didn't even take from anybody else. It was their own possession. And yet it took their lives.
Look at Acts 5:1. A certain man named Ananias and Sapphira his wife sold a possession. They kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy of it, and brought a certain amount and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land. While it remained, was it not your own? This wasn't somebody else's property. They didn't kill anyone. They didn't hurt anyone. They didn't rape someone. They did none of those things. They simply lied in order to look good. I won't ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many in this room have ever lied so we could look good, or stretched the truth. It is innocent, isn't it?
I learned a lesson as a child that I never forgot regarding lying. Probably most children learn the lesson early in life because as a child it is easy to fall into that. You know the penalty for doing something wrong is pretty severe for a child, so if you can lie and get yourself out of it you learn pretty quickly that you can do that. Especially, as in my case, if you have older cousins. And I grew up on a farm with two older cousins. I was the younger of the three. Anything that happened on the farm that was a problem they knew where to go and find us. There was the day that we set on fire a bale of cotton. It's amazing. It's a cool thing to watch a whole bale of cotton go up in fire. It wasn't so fun when the trailer itself caught on fire, though. Everyone had to come running from the fields. Of course they knew where to look, and they quickly found us hiding in the cotton patch a little ways away. But there was a day, and this was the time when I was about 7 years old. And every year on the farm we usually had a big garden. It was usually far away from the house, hidden back away among the cotton fields. It was about 5 acres. There were several families who lived on the farm. In fact, it was all my relatives and family; we all lived on the same farm. We were sharecroppers. One year my grandfather decided he would plant a whole patch of watermelons. Five acres of watermelons. Not only would we have watermelons, which we all enjoyed, but we could sell them. That was great. I was about 7. My cousins were about 9 and 10. This was after the episode of the bale of cotton so we were pretty much in the doghouse over most things. But we loved watermelon. And as this whole field of watermelon would start to grow it would bloom, and get little melons, and they got bigger and bigger.
One day my older cousin said, let's go down to the watermelon patch and let's find a watermelon. That seemed pretty innocent. I was following alone. We went down and it was just filled with watermelons. They were just really beautiful. My cousin said, how do we know if they are ripe? I said, well I watch people in the store and they thump on them to see if they are ripe. We thumped for maybe an hour and still couldn't tell if they were ripe. So my other cousin pulled out a knife. He said, I know how we'll do it. Roll the melon over and just plug the bottom. We will pull a plug out and see if it's ripe. If it's not we'll just put the plug back in. It will be okay. We plugged five acres of watermelons. And we put the plugs back in. None of them were ripe. So everything is fine. Nobody will know. The plug is underneath the watermelon. About four or five days later there were all of these black watermelons in the field. They had all rotted. My grandfather knew where to look. We decided we were in trouble, so we hid in the barn. My aunt and my mother and my grandfather stood on the porch. You know in the South you're in trouble if they use your full name. And my aunt yelled out, Eddie Allen McGuire come out here! Denny Howard McGuire come out here! I won't tell you my name, but I was called out too. And my cousins leaned over and said, who is going to go? He can go! I said, well what should I say? You lie! What else could I do? You lie! I said why? I had not lied before. He said it doesn't matter, we'll stay here in the barn. You go up to the house and you lie. So I went up to the house where my grandfather was on the porch, my mother, and my aunt. They said, there's been a problem with the watermelons. Do you know anything about it? No maam! I have no idea what you are talking about. What watermelons? I didn't even know we had any watermelons. And about that time I began to cry. Well, the jig was up. They knew what had happened then. And so my grandfather went inside and came out with a razor strap that stayed inside the farmhouse on the wall as a warning. Rarely used but a warning. It was about three inches thick. I never saw them use it for sharpening any razors. It was only used for other measures. My two cousins hid in the barn. My aunt went after them. I have never seen a 40-year-old woman scatter after two boys as she did. She caught them both by the hair and dragged them to the house. I was too scared to run. We all were summarily whipped and from that day on I realized that lying is not a good thing. If there is anyone here who has never lied to make yourself look good to get out of trouble you are a most unusual person.
Ananias and Sapphira lied to make themselves look good. They lost their lives. Sin will destroy you. Sin will take you down as surely as any microbe will make you sick. It will destroy you. All sin will destroy. We should ask ourselves how we do in life. How do we observe the Sabbath? What is our language like? How do we talk? How do we treat other people? What about the golden rule, do we practice it? How much sin do we tolerate in our lives?
Hebrews 12 talks about a root of bitterness, a root of bitterness. If you think about a root of bitterness, it begins in a way that is impossible really to see. A root is buried in the ground. It is not seen. When it grows up it is a real problem. Hebrews 12:14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man will see the Lord. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby leave you defiled. A root of bitterness. Probably as much as anything during the Passover we talk about the subject of forgiveness. And it is often that people who do not forgive end up developing a serious root of bitterness. I don't think there is anyone here who probably would think a root of bitterness would ever be good. It will only destroy you if left unchecked.
This is a story, it could be about forgiveness, but it is about a root of bitterness. It is an interesting story, a funny story, but it makes a point. It is about a lady. It says: After a long illness a woman died and arrived at the entrance to the kingdom. The original story said heaven but I substituted kingdom. While she was waiting for Peter to greet her there she peeked through the gates. You know, the pearly gates, the whole story. She saw a beautiful banquet table. Sitting all around were her parents, and all of the other people she had loved and who died before her. They saw her and began calling greetings to her. Hello! How are you? We have been waiting for you. Good to see you! Peter came over to the woman and she said to him, this is a wonderful place. How do I get in? And Peter said, you simply have to spell one word. She said what word is that? He said, love. So the woman correctly spelled love, L-O-V-E and Peter welcomed her into the kingdom. Well six months later Peter was called away to a job and so he asked this woman if she would watch the entrance of the gates of the kingdom for him for that day. Well as it would be, this lady was watching the entrance when her husband arrived. She said, I am surprised to see you knowing the way you lived your life. But how have you been? He said, well I have been doing pretty well since you died. He said, I married the young nurse who took care of you while you were ill. I sold the house you and I lived in and bought a big mansion. My new wife and I traveled all over the world. We were on vacation and I went water skiing today. I fell and the ski hit my head and here I am. He said, how do I get into the kingdom? She remembered what Peter told her and she looked at him and said, well you have to spell one word. He said, what's that? She said, Czechoslovakia.
Bitterness is a terrible thing. Sin will destroy you. But you know sin will also destroy a congregation. This is a very serious matter. Look at 1 Corinthians 5. The apostle Paul gives some instructions in 1 Corinthians 5 that are considered archaic today. If you were to tell someone today in any religious community that there is reason to avoid people, they would say that is silly. God would not have us avoid someone. God would not have us ostracize someone. That is antichristian. Paul describes a congregation that is about to be destroyed because of sin. Not the sins of all the people of the congregation. But the fact that they were willing to tolerate behavior that was so absurd and so contrary to God's way of life that God through Paul condemned the whole congregation. Imagine you are a member of that congregation and notice what Paul says in verse 9.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators (immoral people.) Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. Verse 11.But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
I don't think there are many people today that would even accept that advice from Paul. Even at the threat of losing their congregation. It is simply too bizarre to believe there is any behavior that would warrant someone being denied fellowship. It is foreign today, yet Paul said that is what was going to happen in that congregation. The very life of that congregation was being threatened.
Again, I don't have any crystal ball. I knew in my congregation where I pastored, I felt I knew the health or lack thereof of the congregation. I think our pastors know that as well. There are times when the life of a congregation is threatened because of sin. And at those times action must be taken for the sake of the congregation. It isn't easy. It isn't fun. It is very, very difficult. But sin left unchecked in a congregation can destroy a congregation as surely as it can destroy an individual.
The third area where toleration of sin is destructive is the case of the entire church, the whole body of Christ. Look at Revelation 3. Revelation 3 is the story of the seventh church of Asia Minor on the mail route that is listed in the book of Revelation. Now I have studied the seven churches over the years. I am still convinced that this is a progressive story of the church of God down through the ages. No one has shown me where that cannot be true. I believe it is prophetic. I don't believe we are simply talking about seven churches of that day. I believe we are talking about seven churches of that day, but I believe it is much more than that.
Notice the seventh church and the statements that are made beginning in verse 14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So here is a church that has compromised itself severely. There is no overt sin mentioned There is no terrible sin. John didn't they were murderers. That they were thieves, and rapists and robbers. What was wrong with them? There was no specific sin identified. And this is probably the most subtle and difficult part of sin when you cannot identify it. Somebody who commits murder, you can identify that. Somebody commits some horrible murder or rape, you can identify that. But there is no identifiable sin. But notice what he says.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
This is the body of Christ. These are Christians. These individuals form the church of God.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
They were spiritually adrift and they couldn't see it. The concept of compromise, the concept of a little sin leads to drifting away from God. These people were drifting away.
Verse 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, Christ says, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.
What was their sin? There was no sin identified. There is no specific sin noted here. But if there is no sin, there would be no need for repentance. But the fact that repentance is needed there is sin. What is their sin? Oh, probably compromising the Sabbath. Probably not faithfully tithing. Not faithfully doing the things that they know to be right. Not treating each other properly. Not showing the love of Christ to their brethren. There are any number of things we could imagine. No specific sin. Probably, and if you look at the church as a whole today, the United Church of God, or look at the whole body of Christ in that sense, if we look out and see what is out there we may say there is no specific sin that I know of. We don't have murderers sitting in our congregation. We don't have rapists, by that I mean those doing those type of things, or robbers. Are we compromising? Are we accepting a little sin, either in our lives, the lives of the congregation, or the life of the church as a whole? If we are, then the Bible is very clear, the end result is destruction. The end result is destruction.
This verse was quoted earlier. James 2:10. If we break one of God's laws we are guilty of all. Sin is sin. Wrong is wrong. If we ever stop standing up and saying wrong is wrong, if we ever stop declaring that all sin is unacceptable, when do we fail to follow the mandate of God himself.
The lesson of unleavened bread is very simple. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little sin will destroy you as an individual. A little sin will destroy a congregation. And a little sin will destroy the church.
Being in Nigeria makes me realize how easy it is to fall prey to sickness. As I mentioned just yesterday Oledari let me know he has just come down with malaria. Traveling in Third World countries where sanitation and sickness are huge issues, you need a survival kit, you need a plan of action. I submit to you this afternoon as the people of God we need the same thing spiritually. We need a strong reaction to all sin. We need to be diligent to keep all sin away from us. We need to understand the end result of sin. Sin only produces death. It is a lonely death. During the recent trip watching the many hours of CNN International I saw a story that really was so very sad and provoked in me tears to my eyes because of the story. This was a story they did on the very first victim of the bird flu in Asia. He was an 8-year-old boy. Because bird flu is such a threat to the world, certainly to certain countries, this little boy was put in complete isolation. This virus spreads so rapidly that they couldn't take a chance. This poor 8-year-old little boy died all alone in an isolation room with his mother and father watching from beyond a glass window. The mother explained as she cried uncontrollably what it was like to watch her child die being unable to touch him or hold him. The loneliness and the terror were obvious in the situation.
If you think about sin and what sin produces, it produces a very lonely and terrifying end. If you think of Satan's future, what is his future? It is to be in darkness and lonely for all eternity. It is a very, very stark reality. In like manner, sin unchecked in our lives leads to the same reward. We shouldn't be frightened in that sense. We should be sobered by the fact that the Days of Unleavened Bread are very serious in what they mean. God is a God of brightness and glory. Sin brings darkness and loneliness. God is pleading with us during the Days of Unleavened Bread, remove sin, every last vestige of sin. Eternal life awaits us if we continue to remove sin. Now that the Days of Unleavened Bread are over we must take the lesson with us. We must learn the lesson more deeply than ever this year. Because brethren we don't have a lot of time left, either individually or maybe even collectively. Jesus Christ will return. The kingdom of God is coming. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. The lesson of unleavened bread is that we must remove all leaven.