Beware of Leaven

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Dear Family,

The political season is getting more hotly contested by the day. It seems that everyone in the world has an opinion as to who we should elect and how he should lead. France, Russia, special interest and the terrorists all want to influence our thinking and our voting.

Mark 8:15

Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (NKJ)

Christ warned his disciples against leaven. Paul warned the churches against leaven. Now, I'm warning you against leaven. If, therefore, leaven is deserving of warning then what is leaven?

LEAVEN, n. lev'n.L., levo, Eng. To lift.

1.        A mass of sour dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough or paste, produces fermentation in it and renders it . light. During the seven days of the Passover, no leaven was permitted to be in the houses of the Jews. Ex. 12.

2.        Anything which makes a general change in the mass. It generally means something which corrupts or depraves that with which it is mixed.

Leaven corrupts the mass with which it is mixed and that is the goal of the outside special interests. They want to influence, taint and corrupt the system of our election but more than that they want to influence the way you think and live your life.

There is one other thing that leaven does and that is to cause the bread to become stale.

STALE, a. I do not find this word in the other Teutonic dialects. It is probably from the root of still, G., to set, and equivalent to stagnant.

1.        Vapid or tasteless from age; having lost its life, spirit and flavor from being long kept; as a stale beer.

2.        Having lost the life or graces of youth; worn out; decayed; as a stale old person.

3.        Worn out by use, trite; common; having lost its novelty and power of pleasing; as a stale remark.

Leaven affects each and every one of us in various ways and most is not unique to just me or you. Leaven does not segregate itself from the mass and has greater influence on the mass than the mass has on it. The mass dilutes the effect of the leaven but does not change the leaven. Leaven, on the other hand, changes the mass.

It is important that we at this political season find the leaven and get it out of our government. There is no such thing as separation of church and state. The church is made up of all those who are members of the body of Christ, spiritually, and that spirit lives within the heart, soul and mind of each and every living, breathing, physical, true believer. By the same token each and every living believer is a part of government. In our form of government, the people choose a representative to speak for them in the political arena. Even if we do not participate in the election of our representative, the policies they enact affect us. It is only when we actively participate that we influence the way our government functions. Beware of leaven! When we do not participate, we are actively endorsing the things with which we disagree and disapprove. Beware of leaven! Your team wins only when you play. If you do not play, you are not part of the team. Keeping leaven out of our lives means we need to keep it out of our government. Beware of leaven, it generally means something which corrupts or depraves that with which it is mixed. Leaven and stale both are decaying processes.

Now, if you apply the definition of stale to every part of your life, you can see the effects leaven has on your life. How is your family life? What type of relationship are you having with your wife, children, parents and family as a whole? Is your relationship becoming better, closer and stronger? How is your work and profession? Are you happy with your work, co-workers and your boss? Do you find a sense of satisfaction with your job? Beware of leaven! Think of your relationship with your spouse, church, children, co-workers and friends. Has it lost its life, spirit and flavor? Has it lost the life or graces of youth? Is it worn out or decayed – worn out by use, common, having lost its novelty and power to please? I pray this does not describe your life or any part of it, but remember this is what leaven does to our lives. Beware of leaven!

1 Cor 5:1-13

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles – that a man has his father's wife!

2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you

3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ

5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolators, since then you too would need to go out of the world.

11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone names a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person.

12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

13 But those who are outside God judges. Thetefore "put away from yourselves the evil person." (NKJ)

When Jesus told the disciples of His upcoming persecution and death, it was leaven in the religious and government leaders He referred to as the ones who were conspiring to get Him and his influence out of society. He said if you follow the religious and government leaders who are tainted with corruption, false doctrine and sinful deeds – then you too will become tainted.

Notice what Paul said, "You do not associate with a member of the church who is tainted but you must not disassociate yourself from the world which is tainted and in sin." Christians have a higher standard to live by and must not permit that standard to be compromised by other Christians. Christians are to be the light of the world shining in a dark and sinful world. Stand up, speak out, vote and let your voice be heard. It is our responsibility to make sure the church has influence on the state and to be a part of the state, not segregated from it. Christ said, "ye are the salt of the earth and light of the world" and as such we certainly have to be active not passive. We must be informed so we can select those representatives who share our values and support the issues which more closely follow Christian principles.

Last week, Ardyce and I were coming back to San Antonio from Austin. I have 10 ply tires on my pickup truck which are the smallest truck tire or largest pickup tire available, depending on how you look at it. The tread came off the right rear tire and demolished the outside and underside of the fender. Beware of leaven!   The fault did not lie with Firestone. I knew I needed to replace the back tires because I carry too much weight in the truck. I knew I should keep 85 pounds in them at all times to prevent heat buildup and most of all, I knew I should drive the speed limit. I chose to ignore all those known issues. I even chose to test the limit by driving with the speeding traffic (80 to 90 mph).   Beware of leaven! When the tread came off, it not only put Ardyce and me at risk, it also put everyone in the 10-30 cars around us at risk.

The point is stale and complacent look a lot alike. When we become stale and complacent in our responsibility to do the "little" right things in life and become stale and complacent in the things which have long term and lasting effects then we have put our family, country and the world at risk. Beware of leaven!

The most important thing I want to say to you today is do not become stale and complacent in your relationship with Christ. When we do, we lose our saltiness and we lose our light. We begin to ignore the little things and just accept some of the bigger things. Beware of leaven! It will destroy your relationship with Christ! It will destroy your relationship with your family and it will put the world around you at risk. Beware of leaven!

Love ya,

Dad

Please sign our guest book. You will be added to our mail list.