Family Tradition | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

God, the way that you're moving amongst your people, the way that you're bringing healing and deliverance, a reminder of your faithfulness.

So, Lord, it's with this humility, it's with this posture, God, that we reflect on your goodness, we reflect on your power, we reflect on your authority, God, and we celebrate the fact that you invite us to partake of your presence.

So, God, we honor you.

We thank you for dwelling with us and for being with us and allowing darkness to turn a light.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Church, can we put our hands together for the faithfulness of God?

We are so, so glad that you're with us here on Worship Sunday.

Would you mind taking your seats?

But as you're doing so, turn around to someone around you and welcome out to Celebration Church today.

All right.

There it is.

I had that reverb in my voice.

I thought we were in the throne room of heaven, but no, we're we're still at OMA, but we brought heaven here.

Can I get an amen to that?

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me just really quickly in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

We're going to be taking communion together as a family.

And I just want to speak to us briefly around just engaging the presence of God and worship.

And we're going to go back into our time of worship in just a few moments.

But as we're turning there, I want to give us some context that Jesus is sitting with his disciples in this moment.

This is what we commonly refer to as the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper.

There's something powerful that's taking place at this time.

And as Jesus is sitting with his disciples, he begins to unpack some things that maybe they didn't quite have clarity on up until this moment.

Starting here at verse number 26, it says this as they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it, then he broke it in pieces, and he gave it to the disciples, saying, Take this and eat, for this is my body.

And he took a cup of wine and he gave it, he gave thanks to them, to God for it.

And he gave it to them and said, Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people.

It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.

Mark my words.

Then verse number 30.

Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Today is worship Sunday for us here at Celebration Orlando.

And every Sunday is worship Sunday.

Every day is a worship day, but more specifically for us, this is an opportunity as we've been talking for the past couple of weeks about what does it mean to engage the presence of God, knowing that God inhabits the praises of his people.

So we've been talking about that in a very intentional and deliberate way, leading us up to this Sunday in hopes of establishing an atmosphere where we feel free to engage God's presence.

And based off of what we've already seen so far, I'm loving to see and hear the way that we're engaging the presence of God with freedom.

So today, as we take communion together as a family, I want to speak to us very briefly around the idea of what does it mean to engage the presence of God through the lens of what He's already done for us.

If you're taking notes and certainly this is going to be a very short message, you can write this down.

But I just want to talk to you really quick about family traditions.

We're going to pray, and then we're going to go back into worship in just a few moments.

Lord, we thank you for your presence.

We thank you for your grace, and we thank you for the atmosphere that is essentially a table that's being set with us sitting with you, Lord.

God, I just pray over the next few moments that we can hear you, that we can see you.

So, God, I ask for open eyes to recognize and see you even amongst the chaos that's in our life.

Lord, I pray for open ears to hear your truth above all else.

And Lord, I pray for open hearts to receive the transformation that you want to perform in us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

You know, just real quick, I realize that we are officially in that time of year that it's the holiday season.

Tis the season.

And I love it so much.

I'm learning more and more as I get older.

I'm starting to appreciate these moments that I have with my family and how they are turning into little traditions.

I'm I'm recognizing when I get a chance to have that first glass of eggnog with my son Caleb.

Just what it's something significant about that.

I I love when I get a chance.

Yes, I love my pumpkin spice latte.

Y'all can hate all y'all want.

It's okay.

But I'm gonna get me a pumpkin spice latte for the next two months and then I'll pack it up.

Because what I love about seasons is that seasons kind of give you permission to engage things.

Seasons give you um a pattern that you can follow.

There's a there's a rhythm that we find in the varying seasons we find ourselves in.

Like I've even decided that for us and our family is that we're gonna be the type of family that that we're we're putting up our Christmas tree the first week of November, family.

That's that we that's a some people are like too soon.

And I'm like, hey man, you do what you want to do in your house.

But as for me and my house, we're we're gonna get an early start on the season.

I I love what these seasons represent because of the memories and the moments that that are able to be built around those things are really significant for me and my family.

And when I think about how traditions are birthed, traditions are birthed off of moments that create memories that we want to sustain, and that becomes a tradition.

I have a moment and then it creates a memory, and then I want to preserve that memory, so I want to turn it into a tradition.

And the way I turn it into tradition is by doing it over and over again, it has meaning and significance to it.

When we look at the passage that we just read, that this was a this was a tradition for the people of God, that they would come together at this time where they would have a Passover meal together, and it was a very, very significant tradition that has a lot of history connected to it.

In fact, let's rewind a couple of centuries so we can understand the significance of the moment that Jesus is sharing with his disciples.

You guys will often hear me refer to the children of Israel and in their journey from going from Egypt to the promised land.

The reason why I reference it so much is because it's truly a reflection of the journey of all of us as followers of Christ.

Egypt means being away from God, being in bondage, being away from the things of God, knowing that there's something better that God has for us, but I'm not experiencing it right now.

That's Egypt.

We all have been in Egypt in areas of our lives that are still in Egypt.

And then you have someone that comes, Moses in this case, but for us it's Jesus that comes and liberates us from the bondage that we have grown accustomed to.

And then he leads us on a journey through the wilderness.

So that means that you can get out of Egypt, but Egypt can still be in you.

That's the journey.

That's what we call the sanctification process.

And we we're walking these things out, and then we finally get to the promised land.

That means we're thriving as followers of Christ.

But what we learn by looking at the children of Israel that even as they were thriving, that was not an opportunity for them to put their guards down, that they still needed to maintain their disciplines.

Because guess what?

Even though I am free, there's something that still wants to take what God has given me.

And we see this cycle over and over again.

So for the children of Israel, this narrative is so personal and powerful for me because I can identify with it.

For them, they were in bondage for over 400 years, working in Egypt and being oppressed.

And then Moses comes and he says, Let my people go.

You guys have seen A Prince of Egypt.

It may not be all that theologically accurate, but it was a great movie.

Let my people go.

And then through a series of miracles, that God shows up on behalf of the Israelites until the Israelites are finally set free.

But there's something significant that happens with that last miracle.

It's it's it's something that we often refer to now as the Passover.

And what God says to Moses and Aaron, and he says, instruct the people of God that I'm going to finally set them free.

And this is what's going to take place on that night.

I need them to go and find me a lamb.

And when you find this lamb, I need it to be a lamb that's without spot or blemish.

It needs to be a perfect lamb.

I need you to bring it into your home.

Then I need you to shed its blood.

I need you to take the blood from that lamb and put it on the doorpost of the home that you're staying in.

And whatever you do, don't come outside of that covering.

Stay on the inside where the blood is covering you.

Then I want you to prepare the lamb in a very specific way.

And then I want you guys to just sit and be sober-minded and be prepared for the freedom that's about to take place.

What was going to happen is that God's judgment was coming into Egypt.

And as God's judgment was coming into Egypt, it would look at the houses that had the blood of the Lamb on it, and it would literally pass over it, and the judgment wouldn't fall on them.

That is what Passover was meant to signify.

After God's judgment comes and the children of Israel set free, they start this journey and they're going into the wilderness and they experience many mighty acts from God while they're on this journey and God shows up.

So eventually they get to a place where God begins to instruct them on make sure you don't forget what you have seen me do, because it's possible that the next generation is going to come and they will not see what I have done for you, and they're going to forget the power that exists within me.

So I want you to do these things in remembrance of me.

This is when God created the feasts and the festivals, and all of them were connected to the miracles of God that He did for them while they are in bondage, because it's possible, it's just possible that if enough time passes, we can forget what God has done for us.

It's possible that when we're looking at our present problem, that we can forget that we have covenant with the solution.

It's possible for us to get to a place where we begin to think that our problem is bigger than the God that we serve.

So God instituted these rituals, he instituted these festivals to serve as a constant reminder of how big and powerful your God is.

So now we fast forward.

Jesus is sitting with his disciples and he's sitting with them at this Passover meal, which they would do every single year.

It was just a part of their culture and it was a way to be reminded.

In fact, in Exodus 13, the Bible says that God is instructing the Israelites, hey, the day is going to come when your children are going to ask, why are you doing this?

Like, I don't understand what these rituals are all about.

I don't understand the whole thing about the blood, and I don't understand the thing about the lamb.

Why are we doing this?

And he says, and at that moment, you'll be able to have a message illustration of saying, You see this lamb, that is how God set us free.

The blood was shed, and we're no longer in bondage, like we were set free as a result of that.

And you need to pass it on to the next generation.

This is all how this is building up.

And so as Jesus is sitting with his disciples, this is a this is a meal that they're used to having every year.

It's a sacred time.

But then Jesus begins to shift the narrative just a little bit by letting them know that everything you've been celebrating up to this point in your life has all been pointing to me.

He starts off by saying, I want you to take a look at this bread.

So if you have your communion elements, I want you to go ahead and get the bread out.

If you don't have it, just slip a hand up and we have a team that would love to come and serve you at this time.

But he he says to them, This is the bread, which they would have taken multiple times, but but let me give you a brief background on the bread.

The bread that they were using would have been defined as what they call unleavened bread.

That means bread that didn't have yeast in it.

Scripturally speaking, yeast was always meant to symbolize sin and pride.

Knowledge puffs up, pride puffs up.

So whenever there's bread without any yeast in it, that means that there's a bread that has no leaven in it, it has no sin in it symbolically.

So Jesus is saying this flat piece of bread that you're looking at, this is me.

A life that has no pride, a life that that has no sin.

This is me.

Also for Jesus, this isn't the case for us because we get these wafers at a discount.

But for the bread they used back then, the bread that Jesus would have been presenting to his disciples, it would have been bread that was that had burn marks on it for the way that it was cooked.

There would have been strips of burn marks on it, as well as piercings in it to ensure that it remained flat.

So when Jesus says that this is my body which is broken for you, I want us to understand what they would have been seeing.

They would have been seeing bread that had strips and beating marks on it.

It reminds me of the scripture where it says that by his stripes we are healed.

The pierced marks that are in the bread that they would have seen, it seems to remind me of what the Bible says, He was pierced for our transgressions.

Jesus is literally showing them that everything you've you've been practicing up to this point, these traditions you have, they all are pointing to me.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Remember this moment.

Remember this.

There's gonna be some times where you're not gonna feel like you're healed, but you're gonna need to remind yourself of what you have access to and what I took to the cross on your behalf.

There's gonna be some seasons that you're gonna go through where sickness is gonna seem to be prevalent.

There's gonna be some things that you're walking through that's gonna challenge and shake your faith at its core.

But do this in remembrance of me.

Remember who I am, remember who you are, remember what I've done.

Some people need to hear that right now.

Remember who God is.

Remember who you are, remember what he's done for you.

Listen to me, friends.

Remember who God is.

Remember who you are.

Don't lose sight of who you are.

You are a child of God, but don't forget what God has done for you.

The Bible says, by his stripes, you are healed, not by your behavior, not by your theology, not by your methodology, not even by the way that you were able to sing.

It says, by his stripes, we experience healing.

That means that we didn't have to do anything except receive what God has for us by his stripes, by his piercing, we are set free.

So as a family and as a community, maybe there's somebody in here that needs to be reminded of what we have access to in Christ.

Let this be our family tradition as we take this bread together, eating, being reminded of the fact that I am healed in Jesus' name because he took my sickness to the cross.

Let's take an eat.

During the Seder meal, which is the Passover meal that Jesus would have been sitting with his disciples for, there was a process, there was a rhythm in the way that they would drink, and they had these four cups, and each of the four cups had a different meaning to them.

There was a cup of freedom, there's a cup of redemption, there's these different cups that have the different things, and then there's the cup of wrath, is often what is referred to.

So Jesus drinks from that cup, but he does not give that to his disciples.

He actually passes the cup of blessing to them instead.

You can go back and research just the Seder meal and what each cup symbolizes.

This is why Jesus says, I will not drink again until I'm with you all in heaven.

That's the ultimate conclusion cup, that's the culmination of God's plan when we're with him in heaven.

But he passes these cups to them, and as he drinks the cup of wrath, God's judgment, bringing redemption for us, letting us know that I'm going to take all your sins, all of your brokenness, all of your dysfunction, I'm going to take God's judgment upon myself so that you can experience the freedom that God intended for you to have.

Because in your own strength you couldn't live up to God's standards, so I did it for you.

This is why we have the idea that there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

One of the bigger soapboxes that I often find myself standing on is when Christians judge other Christians as if we all don't need the same grace from God.

We never graduate from grace.

No matter how much we pray, no matter how much we study, no matter how much we worship, there may be seasons where we may have a little bit more of a rhythm, but none of us ever get to a point where we graduate from grace.

So we need to extend the grace that we need to receive from God.

Jesus says that this is my cup, this is my blood that is shed for you.

You see, up to this point, there was only one person that had permission to go into the presence of God without being judged.

And I was a high priest, and that was only once a year on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.

This was a very sober day for the children of Israel.

Only one person could do that.

So that means that every day they had to wait for that moment for their sins to be forgiven.

But because Jesus became that perfect Lamb whose blood was shed on our behalf, he now creates access for every single one of us that we can come boldly before the throne of grace.

This is good news, friends, because I no longer have to go through a middleman in order to engage the presence of God.

That I can be sitting at home and I can engage the presence of God.

I can be in different spaces and I can engage the presence of God.

There's freedom in this.

So as a family, let this be our tradition.

Let this be a reminder for us that every time we take of this communion cup, this cup of blessing that Jesus has extended to us, that we're reminded that we can go boldly into the throne of grace, that all of our sins have been forgiven.

That barrier has been removed because of the precious blood of the Lamb.

Let us take and drink together.

In closing, the Bible says that after they partook end of this moment, that they sang a hymn together.

This is literally the only time in scripture that it communicates Jesus singing worship unto the Lord, leading his disciples into what does it look like to engage and sing worship unto God.

Time doesn't give me the ability to unpack the significance of that, but I will say this.

That whenever we're engaging the presence of God, that it needs to be accompanied with worship, reflection, and singing praises unto God.

When the children of Israel would ever they will be traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate these sacred feasts, they would read and sing psalms, and they were called the songs of ascent.

That means that we're ascending up into the presence of God, and they will always sing these songs as a way to keep them motivated because sometimes they're traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles.

I want y'all to hear me.

Sometimes they will be walking through some dangerous environments, but they're singing praises to God.

Sometimes they would be under attack, but they will sing praises unto God.

This was all meant to be symbolic of making sure that no matter what we have experienced, that we are reminded by the fact that God is on the throne, that God is for us, and if God be for us, what or who can be against us?

So as a family and as a community, we're gonna go into a moment of worship.

We're gonna have the team that's gonna come out and they're gonna lead us in worship.

And initially, I just want us to sit here, stay in your seats, and reflect and just meditate on the words and the goodness of God, being reminded that we're healed because of the stripes that Jesus took and that we have access and that we're forgiven because of the blood that was shed.

And then we're gonna continue in worship.

And maybe you want to come to the altar, maybe you want to come and get prayer.

We're just gonna do a couple of songs to allow us to have a tradition similar to what Jesus had with his disciples in that moment, of sitting together, reflecting on what God has done, what he's going to do, and singing worship together as a family.

Let's engage the presence of God together.

Let me pray for us.

Lord, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for the bread that is symbolic of your body without sin, without brokenness, God, that you have extended and made available for us.

So, God, we're able to experience healing and our minds, our bodies and souls as a result of what you did on the cross.

Lord, we also celebrate the shed blood, that blood that we now apply over the doorposts of our hearts.

So now when God's judgment and wrath is coming, you pass over us because we're in covenant with you, God.

We celebrate that.

So, Lord, as we sit and have these moments of reflection, as we look at the burdens that's in front of us, we enter into a time where we're singing the songs of ascent.

We're ascending above our problems, we're putting our focus on you, knowing that you're going to meet us because you inhabit the praises of your people.

Hear our cry, O Lord, and attend unto our prayers in Jesus' name.

Thanks again for listening.

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