2023 02 24 Our Red Coloured Defense (Lunar New Year)

The speaker begins by discussing the significance of wearing red during the Lunar New Year. They then ask the audience about the Salvation Army's motto, which is "Blood and fire," symbolizing the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit. The speaker explains the importance of the blood of Jesus and how it symbolizes safety and belonging for Christians. They also discuss the tradition of wearing red in Chinese culture, which originated from a legend about a sea monster being scared away by the color red. The speaker connects this to the Israelites using red to mark their doors for protection during the Passover in the Old Testament. They explain that Jesus is now the Passover lamb and his blood represents freedom and protection for Christians. The speaker emphasizes that Christians no longer need to make sacrifices or feel guilt because Jesus' blood has paid for their sins. They encourage the audience to embrace their new identity in Christ and live a life dedicated to Him. Well, thanks so much for worshipping with us this evening, and I threw a new song in there for you guys with Love Ran Red, and I think you guys are starting to notice that there's some sort of theme tonight, and a few of you have probably figured out at least a piece of it, being that we're in the midst of the Lunar New Year, and at least in the Chinese version of that, wearing red during that time is a significant thing to do, and I'm actually going to get into a little bit of why that is tonight, but first I want to ask you guys a question that is going to sound entirely unrelated to that, and that is, does anybody know what the Salvation Army's motto, or rather, I guess one of their mottos is? I feel like they have like 15 of them if you look around, but there's a specific one that's very short that I'm looking for. Is anybody? Nope, different one. Shorter. Very short. Three words. Shorter. No, not shorter. I can't count. It's on a flag. That's it. Blood and fire, which sounds very violent at first, doesn't it? But it's not. And blood and fire is one of the mottos the Salvation Army has, and that represents the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit. And the last few weeks we've been talking about the Holy Spirit, but we're going to take a break from that this week, because I want to talk to you a little bit about the blood of Jesus, which sounds morbid if you're not necessarily familiar with all of that meaning. As early as the first few centuries of the Church, there were people that had the misunderstanding that Christians were vampires, because they just heard rumors of them drinking blood and stuff like that. They weren't actually, but symbolically with communion and things like that, there was drinking the cup that represented Jesus' blood. But people didn't necessarily understand that. It might seem strange outside of context, even a song like that, Love Ran Red, where we're so happily singing about Jesus' blood, his death, sounds weird out of context, but we're going to talk about some of the importances of that tonight. But I have more questions for you. Does anybody here ever feel vulnerable? Afraid? Insecure? Okay, we've got some very secure, fearless people on this side, and some honest people. No, I'm kidding. But I do, and I have different habits of that. In fact, right now I have my sleeves rolled up, because I have a really bad habit when I'm feeling, I don't know, insecure or whatever, that I'll have my sleeves down like this, and I'll start pulling it over my hands, going like this. So I'll roll up my sleeves when I'm talking, so that I don't do that. Everybody's got their own insecurities and things. We all have those fears, anxieties, and questions about who we are, where we belong, and other things in our day-to-day lives. And don't you just wish that sometimes that you had something like some sort of badge or something that would indicate to the world that you matter, that there's someone that cares about you, that's protecting you, some sort of symbol that you're safe and that you belong. I believe that as Christians, we can rest assured, knowing that Jesus' sacrifice, that His blood shed for us, is that symbol of safety and belonging, that we can identify with Him in His sacrifice. As I said earlier, we're in the midst of the Lunar New Year celebration, and there's a big emphasis on the color red in the Chinese New Year version of that. And it's very traditional at this time of year to wear red, and there are reasons for that. And I want to tell you a bit about that. So in the Chinese tradition, at least, there is a legend of a creature called the Nian. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong. But basically, there's different versions of the legend, they all boil down to the generic pieces of the idea that there's a sea monster or something like that, that would come up onto the land and terrorize the village, these villages, and they needed protection. And so what this old elderly person comes into town and what he ends up doing is scaring this creature away by wearing red and by pasting red paper above the doors and windows. Now, any longtime Christian here might already know where I'm going with some of this, but let's hang in here. But that jumped out to me immediately when I heard that in the story. And the reason is because back in the Old Testament of the Bible, the Israelites also put red above their doors for safety. See, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for quite a long time. And after many years, God had heard their cry of freedom and sent Moses to deliver them. And to, let's just say, encourage the Egyptian Pharaoh to let his people go, God sent 10 plagues against Egypt. But Pharaoh was incredibly stubborn. So finally, God decided that to save his people, he had to show his enemy that he meant business. And he would send an angel to pass over the land, killing the firstborn in every family. Remember, biblical angels are not the cherubs you see on Hallmark greeting cards. They're literal warriors. So to protect the Israelites and to set a symbol of things to come, and we'll get to that, God gave a plan to Moses, which we read in Exodus 12, 21, 23. I don't have slides for you guys tonight, so we'll all have to listen close. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, go pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and then slaughter the Passover animal. Drain the blood into a basin, then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the tops and sides of the door frames of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning, for the Lord will pass through the land and strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the door frame, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down. So much like the villagers keeping the Nehemiah away, the Israelites had covered their doors in red for their defense. The blood showed they were part of God's chosen people. They had aligned themselves with God and God was protecting them. When I was visiting my parents back in Ontario, a gentleman from their church found out I was in Salvation Army Church. And he was from, I forget the exact country, but he's originally from a South American country, which has a lot of turmoil and that sort of thing. There's a lot of sort of essentially mafia rule and that sort of thing. And he told me, he was like, do you have anything with like the shield on it? Wear that. And I'm like, okay, why? And he's like, this is where I come from. He says, well, there's like mafia rule. He says, but not even the mafia will touch someone with that Salvation Army shield on their clothing because there's that certain respect. There's a protection with that symbol. Similarly here, they had that protection. They were marked by God with this blood. And this, if anyone's curious, is actually where the Jewish celebration of Passover comes from, when the Lord has passed over the land. So every year they'd sacrifice a lamb to represent how they were counted as God's people when God passed over the land, that they were free from that punishment and free from that sin. In the second part of the Bible, part two, the sequel, even better, the New Testament, there are some amazing details that sometimes we kind of gloss over, but it's all like everything is in there for a reason. And in 1 Corinthians 5.7, it tells us that Jesus is our Passover lamb, that same sacrifice. It says, Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us. In fact, Jesus was crucified during a Passover celebration, according to Mark 4.12. Why do you think that was? Did God send his son to die on some random day? It was just kind of a coincidence? Or was he trying to tell us something with the detail of what day he chose? He wanted us to see that Jesus' blood, by his sacrifice, that he was taking the penalty for our sins and becoming that new symbol of protection, that he is our protection. He had come to set us free for all time. And with the shedding of Jesus' blood, we had a new red symbol over us to give us freedom. So as you all sit here tonight with red on, I want you to see that you've been marked with a new symbol of freedom. In Luke 22.20, Jesus said he was ushering in a new era for mankind when he said, this cup is the new covenant between God and his people. And he was figuratively, literally, he was holding up a cup, but figuratively, he was talking about the blood that was being represented. That was bringing in that new covenant, an agreement confirmed with blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. So now we live in a new era. We no longer need to sacrifice year over year as they did. And that's where the Jewish faith and Christianity diverge. Christians believe Jesus paid the price once and for all. As we read in Hebrews 10.1-10, the old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come. Not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped for the worshipers, would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. Anybody ever feel like that? Anybody ever feel like they're praying to God and they're asking for forgiveness? And we know conceptually in our head that we're forgiven, but maybe we're not really feeling like it. And just when we think of these things, it's just reminding of us of a sense of guilt instead of a sense of freedom. We have freedom in Christ. We don't need to feel that guilt over and over again. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why when Christ came into the world, he said to God, you do not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings, but you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, look, I have come to do your will, oh God, as it is written about me in the scriptures. First, Christ said, you do not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them, though they're all required by the law of Moses. Then he said, look, I have come to do your will. He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect for God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. I think each of us does this in our own ways. No one in this room has probably ever sacrificed a goat or anything like that, and maybe the goat curried. I don't know if that counts, but none of us probably have, but we've probably all tried to make our own other sacrifices to God when we feel guilty. We've probably all prayed prayers at different times when things are going rough in our lives saying, God, okay, if you just come through for me in this way, I'll stop doing X, Y, and Z, or I'll start doing X, Y, and Z that I should have been doing. I'll be nicer to so and so if you'll just help me get this job. Whatever it might be, we've tried to bargain with God. We've tried to make these sacrifices, these offerings to him. He's not looking for that. He just wants us to come and recognize that it has been paid for us already with Christ's blood and to be marked and identified by that blood. And there's something, there is a, there, I wouldn't say catch, but there is a responsibility that comes with being marked with his blood, marked by Jesus, right? The same blood on the doorpost for the Israelites that marked them as being safe, probably, I mean, I don't know, if I was an Egyptian, I probably would have noticed the pattern, probably would have been pretty upset that all of our people went and theirs didn't, right? There's a marking, and as a Christian as well, like I mentioned earlier, early on, there's people who thought these Christians were crazy, that they were all sitting around drinking blood like a bunch of vampires. There is a marking that will set you apart, and that may make certain things in this world, in this life, more challenging for you. But what you do have is Christ with you, Christ within you, and he's always going to be there for you, to guide you through, if we'll listen to him. So thanks to Jesus' sacrifice, we have a new identity in Christ. No longer do we have to be afraid of punishment, because we have Jesus' blood as our defense. So when the trouble of life comes at you, like the Neon, when the weight of judgment comes for you, know that you have freedom in Jesus. You're no longer the underdog. This isn't an underdog story, you know. We have the Bible. Go read the last book. We win. It's right in there. You're no longer the underdog. You aren't the slave. You're the heir. You're the child of God, and you have Jesus' blood as your defense. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you that you died for our sins. By your blood, we're made whole and free. We're no longer slaves to sin, to shame, to being on the outside. We're free, and we're accepted, and we're loved by you, and we have a new identity with you, and we thank you for that. Help us to live our lives wholly dedicated to you, set apart and set free. In Jesus' name, amen.