Passion Conference 2013 - Session 2 - Sermon by Beth Moore, Founder of Living Proof Ministries
Beth Moore was sharing about the significance and importance of Passover Meal. She started off by saying some of these astounding words:
- Only God can bring this many people together with that kind of initiative of faith.
- I'm hoping for God to do something so dramatic in our life that you flat out never get over it.
- I felt the call of God over my life when I was a sophomore in college.
- It can only be God. We can't fire ourselves up year after year. Jesus did that!
- What would happen in the coming generations if every one of you be set aflame for the word of God.
- If you have the kind of passion you do for worship and put together with the love for his word..
Sermon based on Matthew 26:17-30
This was the most important meal [The Last Supper] in all of human history. This Passover meal would have taken about 3 or so hours to celebrate. It's very important to know that they [the disciples and Jesus] were going throughout the entire Passover meal. The Passover feast is the longest existing celebrated feast year after year in human history. By the time we come to the Passover meal [described in Matthew 26] it had already been going on for thousands of years. It very much had an order to it. Jews call it 'seder'. The word 'seder' means order. Jesus himself told the whole Passover story as the father at the table to all those who were listening. The Passover would have been celebrated around Easter and the table was full of food. What had to be on the Passover table: Unleavened bread, roasted lamb, bitter herbs, parsley… Everything is really symbolic sitting on the table. The Father would pour the wine to everyone at the table then say the opening prayer.
The wine on the table could not be of greater significance. There are four liftings of the cups of wine, which coincide with the promise of God in Exodus 6:6-7.
Cup 1: I will bring you out.
Cup 2: I will deliver you from slavery.
Cup 3: I will redeem you.
Cup 4: I will take you as My people.
Technically: The first cup is for Kiddush, the second for the Exodus, the third for Birkat Hamazon, and the fourth for Hallel.
The next step of Passover is traditionally the washing of the hands Instead of washing the disciples hands, Jesus gets down on his knees and begins to wash their feet. Everything has changed. John 13:6-8 The next step is the asking of the four questions by the youngest child at the table.
How many favors has God bestowed upon us? DAYENU!
Had Jesus had just been born to a virgin, it would not have been enough. Had Jesus caused the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the mute to speak, it would not have been enough. If Jesus had only raised the dead, it would not have been enough. Something had to happen. In those next hours that would answer to the question of, what will be enough?
They begin going back to Psalm 113 to Psalm 118 and read them in antiphony. When they take the bitter herbs, they are acting out the bitterness of slavery. They are going through all of this mourning. Jesus knows he is the lamb.
Luke 22:20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup saying "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Does it suddenly make sense that the bread was broken?
Jesus broke the bread just like his body would be broken. He takes the third cup and instead of pouring it around to everyone, he pours his own and says take my cup. At the new covenant, Jesus says you have to ingest this. It's the offer of salvation and complete redemption. We don't even know if Jesus sips from the cup. Look at verse 39 in Matthew 26 When Jesus got on that cross, he not only took the cup, he became that cup. When Jesus gets to cup four, he says I will not take of this cup until we take it together in my kingdom. At the end of it, they sung a hymn. We know what the hymn was… The hymn sung was Psalm 118.
"This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." Jesus is singing to them, all of days is made for this day, all of time is made for this time. Psalm 40 verse 9 says something gloriously significant for us today. "I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart."
The gospel means good news and it is good news… but it's not only good news, it's glad news. Jesus has set us free from all the bondage and depravity and foolishness of our past. Glad always has a reason to it. Glad always has a why. I'm glad because Jesus Christ has saved my scrawny neck. This is the day I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. It is enough. He is enough.
I am glad. God has not just done something good for me. I am glad about it. I am glad God's mercy is anew every single morning. The evil one will not get the last say and I am glad about that. For all those who love God and are called according to his purpose... I am glad about that. Christ will come back and he will claim his kingdom and I am glad about that. There is a world coming where there will be no more bad news, no more crying, no more sickness and no more death and I am glad about that. The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad.
What is glad to us today?
Snapshot taken from Live Stream #Passion 2013
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