A Lamb For A House: An Apostolic Decree
By Michael Barrett
Exodus 12:1-4 "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb."
There should be no argument that the Passover story is replete with symbology and types and shadows, all of which tell the story of Redemption and the Redeemer. Egypt is a picture of the world and the world system, complete with it's taskmaster, who reflects the image of the enemy of God, satan.
As we move on to the symbology of the lamb, it is again without hesitation that we can see the Lamb of God in the picture. Without blemish, a male of the first year, taken from the general flock, separated and kept up until the perfect time, killed in the evening and consumed. Time will not permit in this writing to dig deeply into the rich revelation contained in this wondrous chronicle. Ask the Holy Spirit as you read these verses to break open the truths about the Christ contained in the words of the passage.
Exodus 12:5-11 "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover."
I want to focus on a singular aspect of this story that may be the most important issue of our day as the Church of Jesus Christ. In verse 3 of the passage we find that the people were commanded to take, each of them, a "lamb for a house." In other words, everyone is to take part in this ordinance. Every house is to participate; every house is to take a lamb-a lamb for a house. Now look at the next verse, verse 4, "And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it."
There are two truths that loom up out of these words. These two truths indict the Church of our day. These truths are found in the words, "if the household be too little for the lamb" and secondly "let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it."
I want you to stretch yourselves out into the revelatory realm as you read this article today. We have been at home too long in the realm of the rational! Launch out today into the realm of revelation. Stop right now and ask the Holy Spirit to break in on you with fresh revelation as you continue to read. As I am writing this I have an assurance from the Lord that in the reading there will be just such revelation as is needed to raise the bar of new vision for the reader.
The house is too little!
The first mandate of the scripture we are looking into today involves the size of the house and the size of the lamb. Again, I want you to look at these scriptures not only as a historical accounting of the Passover story but also see the "now" relevance-the now revelation which has with it the power to set us free and bring a measure of God's enabling grace that will launch us into new levels of unity in the Body of Christ.
Here is the two part question: how big is the house and how big is the Lamb? Let's first examine the question of the size of the house. We need to look at the size of the house in terms of the individual, domestic, local, regional and universal levels because all apply. When we say "we are the Body of Christ" what exactly are we saying? Are we suggesting that the individual is the Body? Are we saying that the local church is the Body of Christ? I suspect your wheels are turning by now and you are even perhaps answering these questions correctly from a theological perspective. But we must move past the theology of weighty matters like unity and we must do it now! The Body of Christ is comprised of all of the called out people of God. So, the local church you attend is not the Body but a portion of the Body in your city or region. And may I be so bold as to say that there is no such thing as a white church, a black church, an Asian or Hispanic church or any other such designation. These "denominations" are a part but must not be put forth, even in our speech, as the whole Body. If we speak of these designations as the whole we will continue to perpetuate division in the one Body of Christ. We cannot afford to continue to brush aside and ignore these things if we are to see the Kingdom come in power in our cities and regions.
Now here is the answer to the two part question: the house is too little for the Lamb!! It doesn't matter how large or small the house is. If the issue of the house to you is yourself as an individual-the house is too little for the Lamb. If the issue of the house to you is the 10,000 member congregation that you pastor-the house is too little for the Lamb! Every house is too little for the Lamb!!
And here is the mandate: "let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it." The obvious reference of this verse is that upon making a determination that the house is too little for the lamb that the lamb is to be shared with the next door neighbor. The lamb is to be taken together with the family next door.
If this is truth we have a responsibility to apply this truth in practical terms. By now we all understand that every house is too little for the Lamb. So we all fall under the category of the commandment to then take the Lamb with our neighbor. The house is too little and the Lamb is too big! So I must take the Lamb with my neighbor. Taking the Lamb speaks of true fellowship or communion.
False Unity and Ecumenicalism
Often we go through the motions of taking communion or breaking bread with brothers and sisters when it is little more that a ceremony or religious tradition. We must break away from empty religious tradition in order to break into the life of the Spirit of God! Additionally, in our humanity we will often surround ourselves with people who are enough like ourselves, who hold the same views we hold or with whom we have a deep enough history and we call that unity. This is in fact a kind of false unity and we must not settle for this as a substitute for the Biblical reality that the Lord wants us to have. Jesus said (and I will take the liberty to paraphrase this) "if you only love the people who love you, what have you really done?" He said, "Even the Gentiles do this." Again I want to take a little liberty here and say I think what Jesus means is that you don't even need God in your life to do this kind of "love" or "unity." Even a lost person will love people who in turn love them.
If we build a relational environment in which sameness or conformity is the rule of the day we are never really pressed to extend ourselves beyond ourselves and into true unity. We must take the Lamb with our neighbor! May I assure you regardless of what banner you fly or what group you are a part of that God is calling for all of us to break through the facades and veneers of the superficial and practically embrace, receive, respect and love one another in this hour like never before.
There is far too much of this holding hands across the fence and then at the end of the day going right back to our own little pasture with our little group of sheep! We must see apostolic leadership rise up with a willingness to personally bear the burden and pay the price to model Biblical unity in our regions. This is costly and my prayer is that there would be a holy band of leaders arise who would be willing to count the cost and pay the price to see relational unity in their region. Leaders must break away from a "market share" mentally that promotes competition and division in the Body of Christ. If you are a leader, when's the last time you cancelled a service at your place to go support something another leader was doing? Have you ever cancelled a Sunday morning service (the sacred cow of the Western Church)? If you were to do so are the saints under your care committed enough and responsible enough to the Lord to make sure that the tithe or offering gets where it is supposed to be so that the work continues without a stutter? Would the congregation you lead actually follow you to support another group if the other group happens to be much different from yours? If you are serving as a member of a congregation are you committed to the Lord enough to be responsible with the financial support of the work even if there is not a meeting in your building on a given day? These are hard questions that demand sincere reflection and responsible actions (not just answers). Let me also say that I am not suggesting that you do anything outside of the leading of the Holy Spirit-only that you would truly be open to be led by Him and not pull up short or whatever He desires.
We must not confuse alliances, organizations or affiliations with true relationship. Pray that the leaders in your region would get a real revelation of the organic Body and desire something real in relationship with other leaders. I personally have had the privilege of developing relationship with a number of leaders in my region for many years. We eat together, pray together, dialogue together, worship together and even minister together. It has been a glorious experience and at the same times a fearful stewardship. I know that the Lord has "lent" these precious brothers and sisters to my wife Melinda and me. I also know that if we don't steward and nurture these relationships, they will, at best, not continue to grow and be strengthened, and at worst we might stand to lose the beautiful thing that the Lord has trusted us with.
Three and a half years ago at this writing a number of leaders came together in my city and determined that the Lord would be pleased for us to walk together relationally. We further agreed that for the first year, at a minimum, we would only concentrate on our relationships. Together with our wives we started to meet an average of about once every six weeks. We sang, prayed, ate and talked about what was going on in our lives, our ministries and the region. We shared vision and insight. The relationships, being nurtured, began to grow strong. Now for the past two years we are co-hosting conferences, supporting each other in a variety of ways and continuing to meet together. This experience has truly been rich with the love and grace of God. I applaud the brothers and sisters who have invested themselves in something that is larger than who they are and what they are doing. I believe we have seen great fruit already and will see these relationships become the foundation of something infinitely greater than anything we could each accomplish on our own. I am grateful to God and my heart is full when I think about the privilege of walking together with these great leaders.
Summary
Have you lately taken the Lamb with your neighbor? Are you here realizing that your house is too little for the Lamb? Are you willing to press through the fear of doing something different or being with people that aren't exactly like you? There is a glory that awaits the person that will humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and ask for the leading of the Holy Spirit in this thing. I believe that a Passover is waiting for us if we see what the Lord wants to show us in this and yield to walk it out in obedience. I want to pray for you.
Father, I ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus to fall on my brothers and sisters now. I ask you Lord to forgive us for building up walled cities. Forgive us Lord for closing ourselves off from the beautiful Body of Christ and for thinking of ourselves as larger and more self-sufficient than we really are. I know that you give grace to the humble, so as we are now humbling ourselves we are simultaneously receiving an impartation of your grace. Thank you for the grace to embrace our neighbor, our brother, our sister. Help us grow in this Lord until we understand and have experienced the *one new man! Thank you Jesus for being our Passover Lamb! Thank you Holy Spirit for showing us today that our house is too little for the Lamb. Thank you Father for receiving us and giving us abundant security in your love so that we can receive others that are even different from ourselves. Today we take the Lamb in a different way-and so now would you show us what the practical steps are so that we can walk in obedience to this new view. Thank you for your goodness to us in these things in Jesus' name, amen!!
*The "one new man": no attempt is being made here to speak about this much needed revelation-Jew and Gentile in Body life together experientially. Perhaps in coming months the Lord will release me to write on this crucial subject. In the meantime there are several good works available on this subject-email us for more info at: resources@citychurchla.com.
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