Study of Leaven

In my devotions this morning I was reading in Luke 12 and it comes right out and tells us that the leaven of the pharisees that we are to beware of is hypocrisy. I'm not sure I have ever heard it preached. I suppose that it was assumed since it is preached that we are not to do as them but I never caught that before in Luke 12:1. It says the leaven IS hypocrisy. I think I've always felt that the preaching used about the pharisees has always leaned more toward that we are not to add to or change the Word of God like they did. They added to the Law. They made extra, more astringent rules that were quite frankly nearly impossible to live by and the commandments are hard enough to live by when we battle the sin nature we have daily! 

Now that I have caught that idea of hypocrisy being the leaven, I pondered on it for awhile (we are supposed to do that when reading God's Word --- think about what it means and what and who is being talked about and to). I wondered why hypocrisy was compared to leaven. What does leaven do? It expands! It grows! It is what makes baked goods rise. Maybe the warning comes because hypocrisy will keep growing in our lives when left unchecked. As hypocrisy grows in our lives, we become more judgmental and self-righteous. We become more filled with indignation towards others thinking we are better. It can get out of control and cloud our thinking and correct judgment of others. I think this is what the warning is about. 

Now I'd like to address the way many preach that all leaven mentioned in the bible is bad. That it always represents sin and that many seem to think that the Jews never ate anything with leaven in it at all. This simply isn't true. Some even go so far as to preach that during the Passover they were to eat unleavened bread because of the representation of sin. Noooo, they did that because during the exodus and flight from Egypt, there was no time to allow the bread to rise using leaven (yeast). Anyone who has ever made homemade bread, knows that it takes several hours to do correctly. Now, when Jews celebrate the Passover it is observed that they eat unleavened bread in remembrance of the flight from Egypt, not because leaven represents sin. They did eat leavened bread at other times----read your Bible! In reality, there would be no need for a command to refrain from leavened bread during certain times if they didn't eat leavened bread. Is that not logical?! 

Get in God's Word and STUDY for yourself. Do not let your only knowledge be from what you hear preached and do not let the only time you hear preaching be on Sunday morning! Most often the more meaty sermons that help you grow and learn come on evening services.