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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 11
13 August 2006
Ye Are Unleavened
(Message delivered by Pr Hien
Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Aug 6, 06)
Text:
1 Cor 5:6-8
Those of us
here who like cooking or making cakes or buns are very familiar with
leaven or yeast or its similar terms like baking powder or raising agent
or fermentation agent. We all know that leaven or yeast is a substance
that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise. Nowadays, it is
convenient for us to find instant dried yeast in the shop, but in the
old days, even in Bible times, leaven was usually a piece of fermented
dough retained from a previous baking that was placed in the new dough
to cause it to rise.
Leaven in
the Bible refers to an influence whether good or bad that permeates or
spreads. Telling about the good influence of the Gospel, our Lord Jesus
says that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and
hid in three measures of
meal/flour
till it was all leavened (Matt 13:33). In the Old Testament days, all
the offerings or sacrifices to the Lord by fire were not with leaven
(Lev 2.11) except for the peace offering and the two wave loaves offered
at the Feast of the Weeks or Pentecost (Lev 23:17).
The leaven
we learn today carries a bad sense and influence. In this Bible text, we
are commanded to purge out the old leaven and the leaven of malice and
wickedness. The Lord Jesus also warns us to beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees and of Herod. Then what does this leaven
mean to us and are you and I unleavened? And are you and I keeping the
Passover feast in spiritual sense?
Little
Leaven but Pervasive Impact
Perhaps
most of the believers in Corinth knew leaven but did not notice its
pervasive impact, so the apostle Paul had to remind them with his
question, “Know ye not (Do you not perfectly/fully know) that
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (v 6). Sadly, they not
only failed to notice the bad influence of the immorality and sins among
themselves but were even boasting of themselves. Paul had to admonish
them, “Your glorying (boasting) is not good” (v 6).
Actually, all boastings are bad and evil except boasting in the Lord.
The one who is so confident and boastful of himself and of his plan for
tomorrow without acknowledging God’s sovereignty is doing evil in the
sight of God. “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such
rejoicing is evil” (Jas 4:13-16).
Truly, God
has chosen the foolish things, the weak things, the base things and the
things that are despised that “no flesh should glory (boast)
in His presence,” and “He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord” (1 Cor 1:27 -31).
Whether you
and I notice or believe or not, leaven does have a very powerful and
pervasive influence or impact. It works secretly, quietly and slowly but
it spreads by contact widely and diffusely until the whole lump or dough
is affected and rises. My dear friends, do you and I truly and fully
notice how bad and pervasive influence of leaven in spiritual sense?
Christ
Our Passover
In order
to keep our Christian life pure from “leaven,” the apostle Paul reminds
us of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb, “For even Christ
our passover is sacrificed for us” (v 7). Under the bondage of
slavery in Egypt, the Israelites cried and their cry came up unto God.
God saw their affliction, heard their cry, knew their sorrow and
delivered them out of the slavery in Egypt by sending His servant Moses
to lead them out (Ex 2-3). Although Moses performed miracles and carried
out God’s judgement upon the land of Egypt with the plagues of blood,
frogs, lice, flies, death of the cattle, boils, hail, locusts, and
darkness, we see that
Pharaoh did not let the people
of Israel go. In the end, God sent the last plague, the death of the
first born of both men and animal in the land of Egypt. God instructed
His people, every household or with his neighbour next to his house to
take a lamb without blemish, kill it and take its blood and strike it on
the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses in the
evening. And that night, the angel of the Lord passed through the land
of Egypt and killed all the first born, but passed over the houses with
the token of the blood at the doors. They were seriously instructed to
put away leaven out of their houses and eat unleavened bread for seven
days, “Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for
whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off
from the congregation of Israel” (Ex 12:19).
Only with
this plague, Pharaoh let the people of Israel go. When Jesus came into
this world, although He performed many miracles to prove that He was the
Messiah sent by God, he knew that His miracles could not save any soul
except His blood-shedding death on the cross. Many religious leaders
nowadays claim that they may draw many people to Christ through signs
and wonders. However, miracles, signs and wonders can never deliver any
soul from the power of sin and Satan. My dear friends, the Passover
sacrifice, the Lamb of God is our Lord Jesus Christ and only He, His
blood and His Truth can set us free from the power of sin and Satan.
Our Lord
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper at the night he was arrested. While
other Jews killed the lambs for the Passover, our Lord Jesus knew that
He was that Lamb and that Sacrifice. Taking bread, He gave thanks,
broke it and said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for
you: this do in remembrance of
me.” And then he
took the cup and said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood:
this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor
11:23-25; cf. Matt 26:26-28). Then according to our Lord Jesus’
commandment, the Lord’s Supper or the Lord’s Communion is an ordinance
we are to keep in place of the Passover. We thank God that Rev Stephen
Khoo will come to conduct the Lord’s Supper in our midst every two or
three months as I have not been ordained yet. However, in spiritual
sense, we are still to keep the Passover continuously. Then what does it
mean to keep the Passover in our lives?
Keeping
the Feast
“Therefore let us keep the feast”
(v 8). The verb “keep” is in present, active, subjunctive, denoting a
continuous action: Let us keep on keeping the feast, a perpetual feast
(Lightfoot). My dear friends, are you and I keeping the feast now? Then
how can we keep the feast? The requirement is that “as ye are
unleavened” (v 7), which is in present tense. Are you and I
unleavened now?
Purging out the Old Leaven
The
Israelites were strictly ordered not to have any leaven in their house
nor eat any leavened bread while keeping the Passover. Likewise, while
we are to keep the feast continuously, we are to keep ourselves from all
kinds of “leaven.” “Purge out therefore the old leaven” (v
7). The verb “purge out” is in first aorist, imperative, denoting a
command to cleanse out completely, urgently and effectively, do it now
and do it effectively before the whole church is contaminated
(Robertson, Word Pictures). Then what should we cleanse out
completely and effectively right now?
Old leaven
(vv 7-8) is the product of our
old life before we come to
know our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our sinful nature, sinful lusts,
selfishness, self-will, self-boasting, self-indulgence, etc. The
believers in Corinth were contaminated by this leaven and were asked to
purge it out completely right away. How about you and I?
Leaven of Malice and Wickedness
(v 8): According to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, these
two terms have much in common but are distinctive and still not
interchangeable. The former denotes whatever is evil in character,
morally or ethically “evil,” whether of persons or emotions, passions,
deeds, etc. while the latter indicates what is evil in influence and
effect, causing labour, pain, sorrow, malignancy, etc. The believers in
Corinth were commanded to purge out not only the leaven of evil habits
of thought, mind, and character but also the leaven of evil deeds and
words that hurt others. How about you and I?
Beware of other Kinds of Leaven
Our Lord
Jesus warns His disciples to take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Matt 16:6-12), and of Herod (Mark 8:15).
Then what does it mean to us?
Leaven of Hypocrisy:
The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), not practising
what they preach or say, loving the honour and praise of men, looking
righteous outwardly, loving honoured positions and highly respectful
titles, adding human traditions and teachings to God’s Word, etc. This
leaven is very common and spreads through many Christians. If I am only
good and godly outwardly, my family members will do the same and so will
the church members.
Leaven of Unbelief:
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, angels or
spirits (Acts 23:8), and they only accepted the five
books of Moses as the Law (Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary).
We can see many churches nowadays are contaminated by this leaven of
unbelief. Some do not believe that God has preserved His Word perfectly
for His children. Some do not believe that our Lord Jesus Christ will
come to establish His millennium Kingdom of peace on earth. The leaven
of an unbelieving few can cause many to have a spirit of unbelief and
criticism. Such a leaven of unbelief has quietly and secretly spread
through many generations, and to many Christians, churches, and
seminaries! We are to take heed, and be wary of this leaven of unbelief!
Leaven of
Compromise and Politics:
The Herodians, regarded as a political party, sided with the Sadducees
in their pro-Roman sympathies, and joined with the Pharisees to plot
against the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 3:6; 12:13). Their goal was to gain
worldly power and influence for selfish interests. They were thus
willing to compromise regardless of truth and
justice. Sadly, today we also see
many leaders playing politics in the church, trying to win the hearts of
members through their compromises and man-pleasing ways to draw many to
themselves or to their groups.
Leaven of False Teaching:
The believers in Galatia were influenced by unbiblical doctrines or a
different gospel from false teachers, and this leaven was detected by
Paul (Gal 1:6; 5:9). We are to beware of unbiblical doctrines!
Conclusion
My dear friends, only through our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Passover Lamb, and His Blood that we are saved and delivered from
the power of sins and Satan. We are to be unleavened to partake of the
Lord’s Supper as well as to keep the Passover in our lives. Have you and
I completely, effectively and urgently purged out the old leaven of our
sinful nature and the leaven of malice and wickedness? Are you and I
cautious and discerning, noting that just a little bit of the leaven of
hypocrisy, unbelief, compromise, politics, and false teaching can
influence and defile us and many others? May God keep us unleavened
always until our Lord Jesus comes back again. Amen.
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