SPEAKER_00 0:02

There is godly power in celebration and remembrance. Join me, Pastor Richard, as we look at the Old Testament festivals of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles, and find meaning for us today. The Old Testament contains many, many, many laws and regulations, right? There are dietary laws, there are hygiene laws, there's laws that have to do with work, there's the Ten Commandments, there are many, many laws and regulations in the Old Testament. And it can be difficult at times to sort out which of these things are we still supposed to follow today and which are no longer necessary for us to follow. And so we ask, I mean, what is the value of these laws and regulations that we're we're not supposed to still follow? What are we supposed to take away from there? And so, as is often the case in the Old Testament, we have a simple and a very important question to ask. What does this have to do with me today? And so that's one of the questions we're looking at as we look at our passage today. Church, shall we pray? Lord Jesus, thank you for your word. You tell us that your word is profitable to us, all of it. Lord, would you open our ears, our hearts, and our minds to receive from your word today. Lord, that we would be edified, that we would be built up, that we would know you better, that our hearts would be renewed with love again for you, O Lord. Bless your word now. We pray and ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Church, the Old Testament is like a rainbow gway. Alright? The Old Testament is like a rainbow gway. It has layers. There are layers to it. There are layers, and one of the layers is what did this mean to the original audience? Those at that time when these things took place, what did it mean to them? Another layer is what does this foreshadow? Is this pointing towards something that had not happened at that time, but it was pointing towards something in the future? And then another layer yet is what does it have to do with us today? How does God mean for us to receive this today? And these the answers that we have to these questions are not just arbitrary answers. I've explained, let's say I want to engage in a bit of carpentry, and I take four wooden poles and I put a flat surface on top, and then I sand down that surface on top, and you know, maybe I stain the wood and I put some kind of a sealant on top of it. What have I made? Table. All right. Who said that first? Raise your hand. Is it there? There's a rainbow gway. Help me out here. I don't need the rainbow gway. Okay, I did hear your voice, huh? Yes. Don't eat during the service. Don't eat during service. Okay. So we have layers in the Old Testament, right? We have different layers. Um now, if in this example of a table, it means that I've made this thing for a specific purpose. Can you use the table for something else? Yeah, you can. In China, it became a ladder to stand on to fix light bulbs when I lived there. Tables can be used in different ways, but it was made for a purpose. And that purpose is not arbitrary. So as we look at the Old Testament, we need to be mindful. We're not just reading in for ourselves what we want to find there, but we want to discover what is God saying to us. And today our passage is about feasts and festivals. What is God's purpose? What does he want us to learn and take away from this today? So we are covering the Passover feast, the feast of weeks, and the feast of booths. And this we start with a Passover feast, and in here in Deuteronomy, it actually covers the Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread. This took place during the spring season. How many here have eaten a satyr meal? Okay, I see a few quiet hands here, not too many. The Passover or the Seder meal is in remembrance of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, right? And uh Moses, he through Moses, God demonstrated his powerful uh miracles, and there were the ten plagues that came upon the land. And so every year the Israelites were to share this meal together, a Passover meal, remembering and recounting how God had delivered them and spared them, particularly during the final plague, which was upon all firstborn children and animals. Right? Do we remember that? Is there anyone who thinks without looking it up you could recite all ten plagues? If there is, uh you you raise your hand for me. Do we remember all ten? There is a prize for it if you if you uh need incentive. Tough one, huh? Anyone? Any takers? Okay, you want to try? Okay, come on up. There are ten plagues.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Locus.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Flies.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Oh the hurt dying.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Oh, okay. That was a really good try. That was a really good try. Uh okay, in the interest of time, uh I guess we will move on. Well, lose out on an opportunity, everyone. It's okay. Uh, thank you for trying. Thank you for trying. During the Passover meal, they would eat lamb with bitter herbs, remembering how they had responded to God's grace by smearing the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the door frame, right? And so when the angel approached during that plague, the angel passed over the home. And so we remember this as the Passover. Uh the Seder meal, I think, looks a little bit different during modern times. We have a short video to maybe share that with us.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Passover sedil, or in American seders, come in many forms, from those filled with skits to those lasting all night, to those rushed through in an effort to get to the food. Whatever your sedil, there are some symbols and customs you'll see most of the time. In the middle of the table, there's wine, a stack of matzah, and a cup of wine for Elijah the Prophet, who's said to visit every sedil. Additionally, there's the sedil plate. It can be anything from a fancy ceramic piece imported from Israel to a makeshift number hacked together from picnic work. On the sedil plate, a shank bone, egg, bitter herb, chavoset, karpas, and a piece of lettuce. Each thing symbolizes a different aspect of Passover. Also, everyone has the hagedh, the book or printouts, that guides you through the siddah. There are tons of different hagedhas. Minimal and elaborate, you can get them in Hebrew, English, or both with any kind of commentary you like. From feminist to environmental to ascitic to political. There are versions for kids, for interfaith groups, and for activists. And of course, people remix the tradition every which way to make it their own. Siddh literally translates to order, so let's talk about that. There's a few traditions to start: blessing the wine, washing your hands, dipping veggies into salt water, and then breaking the middle matzah. Half of it, called the Afikoman, gets hidden surreptitiously. Then comes the main event, the telling of the Exodus from Egypt. Or more accurately, the main event is an interactive reading of rabbinical discussions about how to remember the Exodus. When the seda was put together, the rabbis assumed everyone going in knew the story. So it was silly to just retell it. Instead, they went deeper and in doing so created a holiday that is about memory. How do people today relate to these themes of liberation and redemption? At many sedels, people go around the table and read a paragraph each from the Agad. People add songs and discussions about what happened back then and about parallels with today's world. Sedals around the world may include diverse traditions like hitting your neighbor with green onions, pouring water on the floor, or pulling out a bag of plushy plates. And overachievers hold all-night seders. One famous part of the sedr is the four questions, where the youngest child at the table asks, Ma Nishana. If you are the youngest child, you can practice here. Learning songs is a great way to prep for the sedir. If you have to pick one, make it the chorus to dayanu. It's one word, and you can learn it here. After the storytelling piece, there's a few more customs. More hand washing, eating matzah, then mahol, something bitter like horseradish, then the matzah mar sandwich, and then dinner. If you're at a safardi satyr, there might be kits meals included. People's strenuousness about keeping kosher for Passover varies widely. For instance, some folks won't eat anything made with wet matzah, including the Passover staple, matzabas. After the main meal and dessert, there's the search for the afikoman. Whoever finds it gets a prize, and everyone else gets the ability to finish the meal with a tiny piece of matzah. Now, just being honest, a lot of sedels peter out here with tired kids and matza kill-induced food comas. But at a full sedil, you continue with Birkata Mazon, the grace after meals, followed by opening the door for Elijah, a special set of songs of praise called Haled, more wine, and the famous closeout next year in Jerusalem. Then, two popular bonus songs are Chadmiodea and Chadgadiah. If you want to learn those, click over there. Haven't had enough of sedil yet? Lucky you. Outside of Israel, traditional Jews celebrate two nights of sedil. And there are lots of other variations out there. It's a quirky holiday. Chad Kesher Vasamer. Happy Passover.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

In Old Testament times, as it was practiced, it was in a sense, it was the National Day for Israel as well. Because it's when they were delivered from slavery in Egypt that they really came into their nationhood. I mean, for us in Singapore, National Day is a big deal, right? We've got the National Day parade, there are performances, there are all sorts of things going on. You go by, everyone encouraged very strongly to hang the flag, the Singapore flag from your window, right? And uh which is given freely, just in case that's uh something to hinder you. And so it's a big deal. National Day is a big deal, and we have to imagine that for Israel, who was brought out and into their nationhood with such power and miracles, it was a very, very big deal. So Passover encompasses all of this. It's this remembering of all that God has done. Then there's, as I mentioned, there's also within our passage included is the feast of unleavened bread. And so this was something that was supposed to be held for one week long, and it was in remembrance that when God delivered them, it was urgent, and there wasn't time to add yeast and wait for dough to rise and nicely bake it. Instead, they were to make bread without yeast and be ready to go. Now, this Passover meal, of course, it foreshadowed Jesus, the Lamb of God, and who was the perfect spotless sacrifice once and for all time. And so, just as the Passover lamb in the Old Testament was an innocent creature, so too Jesus was completely free of sin and shame. He was the perfect sacrifice. And so we would say that this Passover feast has already been fulfilled. And in the New Testament, interestingly, yeast is also often used as a metaphor for evil and for sin in the New Testament. And so during this feast of unleavened bread, the Israelites they had to do away with leaven. When you observe this time of unleavened bread, you're supposed to remove all leaven from your home. Even today, if there are those who really want to follow very correctly, they will remove all leaven, all yeast from their home at that time. And so, this, in a way, it can even point to as New Testament believers, as we come to Christ, we're meant to put aside all evil, all sin from our lives. And so, in this way, I would say the feast of unleavened bread, it's both been fulfilled and it is ongoing in the lives of believers today. Now, the second is the feast of weeks. In all these, where we use the word feast, we can also use the word festival. I think it's pretty interchangeable here. So the feast of weeks, it fell between the months of May and June, and it began seven weeks or fifty days after the beginning of the barley harvest. And it took place uh between the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. It took place during the end of spring. And at the Feast of Weeks, there's supposed to be a free will offering that was taken from what God had provided through the harvest. And you'll notice for us on Sundays, uh, we have a time where you can give your tithes and your offerings. The tithe we know is uh tithe literally means a tenth. So it's a 10% of our income. And offerings, this can be something free will. Perhaps God has done something and you just want to give thanks for it. Uh perhaps God is prompting you in a certain way. So when we collect tithes and offerings, that's what we're looking at, and it's a part of our worship of God. So, how is this feast of weeks offering to be used in the scripture here? I'll just read. We we heard it earlier, Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 10 to 12. It says, Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a free will offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, the widow who is among you at the place that the Lord your God will choose to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes. It was used to celebrate. It was used to throw a big community party. It was used to be a time together, the community, everyone, even if you were on a long-term pass as a foreigner, you were a sojourner, uh, even if you were poor, whatever the case may be, this was a time for a sacred celebration, everyone together, remembering all that God had done. And in Hebrew, the feast of weeks is called Shavol, meaning seven sevens or seven weeks. Can anyone tell me what the Greek word is describing this in the New Testament? Anyone? You're gonna you're gonna realize, oh, I knew that. Pentecost. Pentecost means uh 50, 50th. And so seven weeks is 49 days, and after the seven weeks, on the 50th day, you would hold the celebration. And so this is Pentecost in the Old Testament. In Leviticus chapter 23, verse 17, it says, You shall bring, this is describing the same thing here, you shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two-tenths of an etha. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. So from the harvest they are to bake two loaves of bread from each home. And some commentators see these two loaves as representing the Jews and the Gentiles. As we're looking through our layers, we're looking, does this foreshadow something? Some commentators would say this is representing the Jews and the Gentiles upon whom the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And so, of course, before Jesus came and did his work before the day of Pentecost, before all these things, if you want to become a part of Israel under the God of Israel, there was a lot of things you had to do. If you were a male, you had to be circumcised, you had to come under all the different regulations and laws that Israel followed. And even then there were limitations, it would take a few generations before you are considered a full member of Israel. But from the day of Pentecost, we see that God He brought forth fulfillment to his prophecy that he would pour out his spirit on all flesh. And so is the new covenant with the people. And so, in light of all this, I would say that this feast of weeks was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And so our third and final feast today is the feast of booths or tabernacles. You may have heard the word translated either way. And this feast of booths was preceded first by the feast of trumpets, and this was held on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, and so for ten days it was meant to be a time of penitence of looking at your life, dealing with sin, dealing with all that was displeasing to God. And this was in preparation for the tenth day, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. And it was on Yom Kippur, the one day, the one time that the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies, remember, and he's symbolically bringing Israel with him into the presence of God. And then five days after this is the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. And the community of Israel, they were to head out and go camping. They're to go out and build these booths or tents, and it's probably less like cloth over some frame. We're thinking about branches here, uh kind of temporary structures, maybe they could even be reused. I don't know. But this was the idea. They are to go out. The community was to go out and go camping together. And you have to imagine that children would be looking forward to this, a chance to, for a week, to camp outside together. And even my own children were making a trip at the end of the year. It's going to be winter, but the thought is not really there. They say, hey, can we go camping during that time? It's something that would bring a lot of excitement, something to look forward to. And so again, all of the household, uh, servants, whatever it may be, all the relatives, foreigners who were living in the community as well, they're all to go out for this feast of booths or tabernacles. And it points to remembrance that Israel lived in temporary shelters all during that time after that exodus from Egypt for a very long stretch. They didn't have a mobile home to tow along behind them. They had to bring with them and create as they could. And so they would remember during this time, during this feast, how God had delivered them and sustained them. Right after their exodus. And the other thing that we think of, this feast of tabernacles, is the tabernacle of the Lord in the Old Testament, right? And so these imagery would be coming to mind. In John chapter 1, verse 14, Jesus speaking, speaking of Jesus, it says, the word was made flesh and tabernacled or dwelt among us. That word could be translated either way. The word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. Jesus came and he tabernacled among us. This feast, which looks forward, we see that Jesus did come and dwell among us. And so just as in the Old Testament times God had a way for his presence to remain with his people, New Testament times we see that he sent Jesus a much better living presence of his among us. The feast of Booth was held at the end of the harvest season in grape, uh in October, after the grape harvest and the wheat harvest. And so it foreshadows the final harvesting of souls that's going to happen when the Messiah comes again. And I really appreciate our worship songs this morning. And it was a reminder to me. We need to have some urgency and remind one another that the Lord is coming and it will be soon. I gotta admit to you, in my Christian life over the many years, for a while, that sense of urgency really died out. And it feels like if you look back through generation and generation, every generation has been saying, look at the signs, the Lord is coming soon. But I've got to tell you, the Lord is coming soon. And we do need to have a sense of urgency and expectancy that He is coming soon. So this feast of booths, it reminds us that one day as well, there's going to be this great wedding feast that has been spoken of in the book of Revelation. It reminds us that our homes here on earth are temporary. We are just passing through. All right? This is not a freehold for us. This is temporary. These are temporary homes. John chapter 14, verses 2 and 3, it speaks about in the Father's house there are many rooms, and that he will prepare a place for us there. There is a better dwelling place for us in the future. And in Revelation chapter 21, verse 3, it says, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will tabernacle with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. And so the feast of Booths, I would say this is not really fulfilled yet. This is something still coming. It's still a glimpse into the future. And so every time we think about this, we're reminded there is something better for us in the future. All right, that was a lot of content. Huh? That was a lot of content. Can take a deep breath. Let me uh we we've looked at the background of Passover and of the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Booths. We understand a bit about them, some of the layers, and there's another layer, but first let me tell you a story. When I was living in India, we had some who uh came from Hindu religion, and they came to put their faith in Jesus, they came to Christianity. And you know, one of the things which I never would have guessed, which was so hard from them in that change, is that in Hinduism, they had many, many events, they had special days, they had celebrations, there were things were colorful, there was food, there was a lot of tradition involved with that. And yet when they came to Christianity, it felt very empty to them. They came to believe in Christ, to come into this new family, and yet it didn't feel like there was any family activities. There wasn't much in the way of festivals, there wasn't much in the way of holidays. In the previous identity, there was so much, but now it didn't seem to be there. And so there was perhaps Easter, perhaps Christmas, but apart from that, they didn't they didn't have anything, and it was a very real struggle. The communal times together strengthened their identity, strengthened their beliefs. But when they came and they put their trust in Christ, it was it was difficult. And so it it was a shock, it was very jarring, and it made it very hard to maintain a Christian identity or a sense of Christian community. We're coming to the reason for this. Do we need to go back to keeping these feasts that we've talked about today? Uh no, anyway, you're gonna have trouble going out, finding enough branches, and a space to go camping for a week. Uh, we don't have to observe these feasts, but we just need to know they point towards certain things. Some of them have been fulfilled, some of them have not yet. Every time we take Holy Communion, we remember Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is sacrificed for our sins, who willingly died for our sins. Do we need to for us? Do we need to celebrate Passover every year? We don't. We have something better already to remember. We're reminded that every time we look around, that the gospel is for both Jew and Gentile. You remember those two breads. We're living out the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Every time we consider the glorious future that God has for us, uh, we're reaffirming the experience that will one day be fulfilled that the Feast of Booths points towards. And so the final layer that I want us to see today is kind of the principle that runs through all three of these. And so if you remember nothing else, remember this, okay? Uh perk up your ears, open your eyes, listen for this. There is godly power in remembrance and celebration. There is godly power in remembrance and celebration. Can you repeat with me? There is godly power in remembrance and celebration. And we as Anglicans, we have a lot of rich tradition to draw from, right? We have beautiful colors for different seasons. And these seasons, we have Lent, we have Epiphany, we have Advent, we have Easter, we have Pentecost, we have many things that we can draw upon. The treasure chest is rich for us, but we have to draw upon it. We should not be poor in this area of holidays and events. We should be very rich in it. And I hope that as that story showed the lack in that setting, that that will not be the case, that we can together make our faith a very rich one. Uh I'll give you an example for St. Patrick's Day, which is on the 17th of March, every year for my family, on that day, I will cook up an Irish meal, a special Irish meal, and I'll talk about who was St. Patrick in history. All right, we're leaving out the rainbows and the pot of gold and the leprechauns and all these things. Who was St. Patrick? And Saint Patrick, he was a powerful missionary. As a young man, he was taken as a slave to Ireland, and he was there for quite a number of years. And then after that time, he somehow escaped. He went back to his homeland, and God did a powerful work in his life, and there was preparation, and then he went back to that place where he had been held captive for so many years, and he preached the gospel again and again and again. God used him powerfully. For St. Valentine's Day last year, for the youth, we talked about who was St. Valentine. And so at that time, there was a big war effort going on, and able-bodied young men were needed for the war effort. And so Claudius II, he made marriage illegal during that time. Did you know that? Made marriage during that time illegal because he wanted to conscript as many people as possible, and those who were married were exempted from the war efforts. And so Valentine, he didn't always seek to bring men and women into faith, but he would secretly hold marriage ceremonies for young men and women, upholding this God-given gift of marriage. Isn't that more meaningful than just chocolates and cards? We have a lot of richness we can draw from so that we're not just celebrating Easter and Christmas in the year. We have a lot that we can draw from, and it is good for us to do so. Remembrance and celebration are godly activities. And so I think that on the personal level, on the family level, on the church level, we can be strong in these things if we try. On a personal level, you might keep a diary or a journal of different things that God has done that you can look through every year and be reminded about God. That's the whole thing we're looking at here. The feasts were to be remembrance of things God has done. All right, that's the principle. We can remember the things that God has done. On a family level, we can celebrate all sorts of different anniversaries and give thanks to God. If you have a family member who perhaps on a certain day prayed a prayer to commit their life to the Lord, you can celebrate that every year. If perhaps uh you have someone who's been baptized, you can celebrate that every year. And so we have uh your your if you've been confirmed on that confirmation day, uh if perhaps there was a dramatic healing or you went through a tough time and it came down to the wire and God provided for you. Celebrate and remember these things. Put it into your phone and have a reminder, an annual reminder that comes every year that God has done something on this day and celebrate it. In our home, uh, for the my eldest daughter's been baptized, we celebrate it. Every year we will celebrate it. Every deal we'll remind each other it is a big deal what God has done for us and what God has done for her. And so we celebrate it all the times. Uh, as a church family, there are opportunities for us to celebrate. And so, in your connect group, celebrate birthdays. Even if you have them every month, all the better. Celebrate. Make it be a time to give thanks to God uh for one another. And if it's uh your anniversary week, and perhaps you've been married for not just a few years, for decades, make that an opportunity to share together how God has seen you through that time and how you've seen him at work. We can even for Easter or Christmas services, let's dress up in our best, not because God's impressed by your suit or your dress, but because we can make it a big deal together. And when we do this, we celebrate and we remember. And this is wonderful things to do. These are sacred celebrations, and there is power in it. In fact, we have other ways to celebrate. We go to Izone each Sunday, right? This is a time as a community we can give thanks to God for one another and for the snacks that have been provided, and that we can openly celebrate and share our lives together. We have Family Day coming up at Hort Park. All right, we're we're I'm just suggesting applications here for our passage. Why don't we choose to make this a real celebration to God for all that he's done for us? That he chooses, he is willing to come and be with us every Sunday. We're not coming into a church and just going through uh going through the motions, empty traditions. No, God chooses to meet us, his presence is here with us. So we can celebrate all these things. When I was a student with YWAM doing a discipleship training school long, long time ago, uh, this was in Germany, and we had something scheduled called a love feast. I was a bit concerned. I never heard of it before. The name honestly sounded a bit dodgy to me. Uh, but okay. And what this love feast was, it was a time where we came together and we dressed up and we just had a real nice meal together, and there wasn't worship, there wasn't a message. It was just a time to celebrate being brothers and sisters in Christ and to intentionally renew our kindness towards one another. This was the love feast. And so I think that uh every school that YOM holds, these DTSs, this is something that they practice. It's a way to celebrate God's goodness. And so, as I kind of conclude the message this morning, I just want to remind you of the main point. You remember nothing else, remember this. There is godly power in remembrance and celebration. This is a godly thing. We need to be strong in this. And we see it in the Old Testament feasts, and so the more that we invest in times of remembrance and celebration, the stronger we are in our faith, the stronger we are in our identity, the closer the bonds that we have together. So get creative. Think. How can we, at a personal level, at a family level, perhaps at a connect group level, how can we apply this word of God today? How can we apply this word of God today? We can be creative, we can weave this beautiful tapestry out of our faith as we do this. Amen. We pray that you've been applying the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about this future, please visit our website at ycc.com.