wee beasties
This week is on Matthew 16:5-12:
Yeast is a funny thing. They're microorganisms, "cavorting wee beasties," as Leeuwenhoek called them. When yeast gets added to something, before long, it's worked its way through the whole thing. If you've ever made bread, wine, or beer, you know what I'm talking about. Once it's awakened, it spreads through the whole batch in a very short time. It takes sweetness and turns it into alcohol and gas. In a short time, it puffs up whatever it's added to, and over a longer time, it turns it into a drug.
Naturally, this isn't the sort of effect that you would want on Christ's body: getting all puffed up and then turning to a slow poison. The problem is that it's a very natural process, and when people become complacent, very natural processes work very naturally. Before you know it, you've got a whole body full of heresies and bad character traits.
It starts small. For a five gallon batch of wine, you need less than a tablespoon. For a whole loaf of bread, it only takes a teaspoon. Once it's in, the yeast does all of the rest. Maybe you're only a little bit of a hypocrite to start off with. Maybe your group decides that one subculture is more worth being vulnerable with than another. Maybe people are discouraged from admitting when they're really hurting, and asked to pretend everything is just fine. Maybe your requirements for becoming a minister require payments of huge sums of money for training and materials. It could be any little detail.
If you don't keep on it, those little compromises will reach a flash point, and you will have endemic problems that will be almost impossible to rid yourselves of. Have you ever tried taking the yeast out of bread once it's started to rise? Or taking the yeast out of a batch of wine once it's started to bubble? It's a whole lot easier to put it in than take it out!
Watch out for the yeast of the pharisees in your lives.
Jesus used the situation of the disciples forgetting to pack bread to say "Speaking of things made with yeast, like bread, watch out for the yeast of the pharisees and sadducees" The disciples, however only heard "words words YEAST words BREAD blah blah YEAST" and filled the rest in themselves. Have you ever took time to explain something to someone, only to have them just pick out the words they recognized and just assume it's something they already know? If so, you can understand how angry and frustrated Jesus got with them.
When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Yeast is a funny thing. They're microorganisms, "cavorting wee beasties," as Leeuwenhoek called them. When yeast gets added to something, before long, it's worked its way through the whole thing. If you've ever made bread, wine, or beer, you know what I'm talking about. Once it's awakened, it spreads through the whole batch in a very short time. It takes sweetness and turns it into alcohol and gas. In a short time, it puffs up whatever it's added to, and over a longer time, it turns it into a drug.
Naturally, this isn't the sort of effect that you would want on Christ's body: getting all puffed up and then turning to a slow poison. The problem is that it's a very natural process, and when people become complacent, very natural processes work very naturally. Before you know it, you've got a whole body full of heresies and bad character traits.
It starts small. For a five gallon batch of wine, you need less than a tablespoon. For a whole loaf of bread, it only takes a teaspoon. Once it's in, the yeast does all of the rest. Maybe you're only a little bit of a hypocrite to start off with. Maybe your group decides that one subculture is more worth being vulnerable with than another. Maybe people are discouraged from admitting when they're really hurting, and asked to pretend everything is just fine. Maybe your requirements for becoming a minister require payments of huge sums of money for training and materials. It could be any little detail.
If you don't keep on it, those little compromises will reach a flash point, and you will have endemic problems that will be almost impossible to rid yourselves of. Have you ever tried taking the yeast out of bread once it's started to rise? Or taking the yeast out of a batch of wine once it's started to bubble? It's a whole lot easier to put it in than take it out!
Watch out for the yeast of the pharisees in your lives.
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