Reading this morning from Matthew 16, I happened upon a warning from Jesus that caught my attention. In verse 6, “Jesus said to them (the disciples), “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”” After a little discussion that ensued and Jesus figuratively smacking them on the side of the head for missing his point, “They understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees (verse 12).”
I’ll give you a little helpful background to make this more meaningful. The Pharisees at one time (about 144 years previous to this time) really did have a devotion to God but they had become pulled so deeply into the exactness of religious rite and piety, their relationship to God was now really in word only. They had totally lost the life-force of service to God and instead held tightly to outward regulations. The Sadducees also laid claim to being servants of God, but their service was really to written tradition and they did not have a view of any future hope outside of this life. Hence, they lived only for this life.
The warning of Jesus is to watch out for the leavening effects of such teachings and lifestyles. Receiving any part of a teaching or viewpoint such as these has a way of affecting our whole life much like yeast affecting a whole batch of dough. When we give these things a place in our Christianity, they have a tendency to deeply affect the product of our service to God.
I pause to consider this warning from Jesus and wonder at its application to my own life. How much of what I do as a Christian is driven by religious tradition or experience? This could be a simple as how I approach worship or what I deem as important in worship. It could be borne out by a mental assenting to God’s words with little real fruit being produced in my spirit. How much do I live like the Sadducees, with no real future hope and only a concern for today and the benefits of this life? Materialistic hopes easily blend into a Christian life that is more rooted in this world than in a future hope.
Even as I wonder at this warning God is speaking to me through three separate scriptures. The first is from John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.” The truth of this is that I need to examine the vitality of my relationship with God and see if it is truly with his person or with the religious practices that have been passed down from others who were related to him.
Secondly, this thought is found in James 4:8, where it says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” I am reminded that when I don’t feel the vitality of the relationship, the fault lies with me and not God. When I rid myself of duplicity in my life and truly give myself to true openness with him, he always rewards me with his fellowship.
The third scripture is Eph 5:18-20: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is up to me to fill myself up with God’s Spirit. It is easy to be filled up with all kinds of other things and none of these things will contribute to the desired result of vitality and fruitfulness in Christ. I must make it my urgent mission to fill myself with the things that God would speak to me personally and the life-force of what his will is on this earth.
I am convinced that if you, like me, will give yourself to these truths that I have mentioned, we will be injecting ourselves with the antidote to the poison of religious and worldly leaven. It is of utmost importance that we give ourselves to the urgency of this warning from Jesus himself. True kingdom fruitfulness awaits us as we are honest enough to admit that this warning applies to us!
