Pastor Rex gave a sermon this week about the application of the Days of Unleavened Bread - to rid our lives of spiritual leaven - that is, of sin.
The Days of Unleavened Bread (one of the festivals of Israel) comes immediately after the Passover and teaches us lessons about how we should respond to Jesus Christ’s gracious sacrifice.
In those ancient times, bread was a very important part of people's daily food needs. Each day the household would prepare dough for baking later on in the day. This wasn't possible when the Israelites left Egypt to escape the rulership of Pharaoh. The Israelites, because of the need for haste, were unable to add the yeast and allow time for their bread to rise and simply grabbed their food and possessions and left. Their bread remained unleavened, and the Days of Unleavened Bread became a perpetual reminder of their escape from Egypt and the slavery they left behind.
They ended up with flat bread, bread that hadn't been puffed up by the action of yeast, and unadulterated type of bread. Because we associate yeast with "puffing up" it is easy to see the relationship with the cause of many sins - pride. Pride puffs up an individual - even a nation - and leads to a number of harmful things such as greed, malice, deceit, hypocrisy.
I Corinthians 5:6-8 6 Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Peter 1: 14-15
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.
Colossians 3:12-14
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Just as the Israelites needed to get rid of leaven when keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, we need to make sure that the sin that made up our former lives is no longer part of us. If we have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus, then that means we have left that old type of leavened bread behind, and the unleavened attributes of Jesus have become our life bread.