Parable of the Yeast
We are in a series looking at some of the stories Jesus told.
If we are Christians these stories matter because we are supposed to live a life like Jesus. His priorities should be ours. He is our Template, our Mentor, and our Example.
If you are not a follower of Jesus, this matters as well, it's important to know what it means to be a Christ Follower. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him. That language means there is a cost, there is a price to pay.
One of the greatest mistakes the church made was telling people "follow Jesus and your life will be great". The truth is we follow Jesus because we have sin. He is the way to access the father. The thing is once that relationship begins God begins dealing with the sin in our lives. Our wrong thinking, and attitudes, and actions begin to change, and that change is hard. It's under pressure, in the trials that our true self comes out.
I've always had a problem with Christians wearing masks, pretending to be spiritual. I want to lead a church that is Authentic.
So these stories matter, In this series I am hoping we will gain insight and perspective that we may not have had before, or be reminded of the things that matter.
The story we will look at today is one of the smallest ones in the bible. I like punchy messages….
Matthew 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
So Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like yeast. The original word was leaven, Yeast hadn't been discovered yet.
Jesus as he did picked something his audience would have been really clear about and linked it to a spiritual idea.
To discover what aspect of the Kingdom Jesus is reveling we must understand the process of making bread back then
There were two types of Bread. Leavened and Unleavened. One was flat bread the other was lighter and had risen so it was easier to eat.
Bread was a staple food. Bread was made each and every day. If someone would not be home the bread would be packaged for them to take with them.
Jesus feed the 5000 with bread, in his model of prayer he says give us today our daily bread. Bread is referenced in many festivals, or ceremonies in Jewish culture. Bread show up in the last supper and we use it in communion services to this day.
The process of making bread then was more like we would go through to make sour dough today. They would use wheat if they could afford it or more commonly barley. It would be ground by hand in a mortar and pestle. There were mills that could do the job, but these things all cost money. For the common person it was a daily task of collecting, crushing and preparing and baking the bread.
So here's what we can learn about bread. Or more correctly today yeast or Leaven
1. Leaven Has a History
In order for the bread to rise there has to be an active ingredient. People would keep some of the dough from the previous batch for the next batch.
you start with a tablespoon of water and a table spoon of flour and mix them together in a container, in eight hours you add two tablespoons of water and two table spoons of flour and you wait, and in eight hours you double it again, and you wait.
They would feed it periodically and then would split it.
There are bakeries today making sourdough that have kept part of the previous batch going back generations.
So the kingdom is like something that is past from Generation to Generation.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
There's that word therefore again so we have to stop and ask what therefore is therefore. This passage comes at the end of the story that began in Hebrews 11 the story of people of faith, the heroes of the bible story.
And we can add to that 2000 more years of history, we don't stand alone we stand on the shoulders of believers and teachers, theologians and lovers of God. Each generation tears off a little piece of their dough and adds it to the next generation to help them rise and to keep it right.
We therefore each have a responsibility to the next generation. If you are here and you are retired, your job isn't done. There are generations that need a piece of your dough. If you are here and younger then you should discover from the older ones here part of their God journey.
We need each other. The older generations make way for the younger ones to stand on our shoulders. To go further than we have. We leave a legacy. When I pass this church on to the next person, I want to pass on something that is healthy and growing and ready to embrace the next season. I stand on the shoulders of all the pastors that have gone before.
The Church internationally has a proud history, it includes the first hospitals, and the first schools for the blind and the deaf, the first orphanages, the fight to end child labour, and the end of Slavery in western, Christian cultures. The women's rights movement had its birth in a Wesleyan Church in New York.
We can't forget our history and we have to understand that we have an obligation to pass on what we have. And that's why churches have to grow and reach people. Unless we do that we are not leaven we are simply bread, we are prepared and baked and served and then we are gone. And that is not the purpose of the Kingdom; it's not only to provide a church for today it is to provide a church for tomorrow.
2. Leaven Has a Purpose
The reason that leaven was added to the bread mixture was to make it rise, it wasn't added to increase the flavour or change the colour. They didn't add leaven so there would be more fibre in the bread, they added leaven so it would rise and become light and fluffy. And if the leaven functioned the way it was supposed to that's exactly what it did. And because of that the bread tasted better, and had a nicer texture and was easier to eat.
There are bakers in the sourdough industry who claim their starter not only causes their sour dough to rise but that it adds a distinct flavour to the dough, and that may be the case but the primary function is to make the dough rise, the flavour it adds is a secondary benefit.
The church has a purpose as well and it's spelled out in
Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
The churches purpose is to make disciples. And sometimes people forget that.
Our mission statement is just a reflection of that.
Leading people to be fully committed followers of Jesus Christ.
That's what discipleship is. That's a big challenge for us, working out how to do that effectively.
3. The kingdom of God may have small beginnings, but it will increase. Yeast is microscopic in size, and only a little is kneaded into the dough. Yet, given time, the yeast will spread through all the dough.
In the same way, Jesus’ domain started with twelve men in an obscure corner of Galilee, but it has spread throughout the world. The gospel makes progress.
We may be a small church in the grand scheme of the Christian world. We may not have the budget or the programs or the people, but God can use what we do have to great impact.
Every time we do something in the community, every time we share the love of God in practical ways it’s like a little bit of leaven going out. Eventually that little bit can make a big difference.
4. The kingdom of God exerts its influence from within, not from without.
Yeast makes dough rise from within.
God first changes the heart of a person, and that internal change has external manifestations. God always starts with our heart
The gospel influence in a culture works the same way: Christians within a culture act as agents of change, slowly transforming that culture from within.
What is our role then in a changing climate? We stay true to our convictions, but we live the two most important commandments
Love God and Love people. When we do that effectively we can change opinion, we can change attitudes, we may not change the law but we shouldn’t even be trying.
The law has no power to change a heart or a mind. There could be a law passed that everyone must pray before the star of a work day. Does that mean everyone will pray? Absolutely not.
What has power to change hearts? Us living this kingdom centered lives.
5. The effect of the kingdom of God will be comprehensive. Just as yeast works until the dough has completely risen, the ultimate benefit of the kingdom of God will be worldwide
Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
6. Although the kingdom of God works invisibly, its effect is evident to all.
Yeast does its job slowly, secretly and silently, but no one can deny its effect on bread. The same is true of the work of grace in our hearts.
For me that is a perfect picture of the Christian life. It may seem like nothing is happening but all of a sudden change is evident.
