Project Description

2015/07

A Word To Women

“A little leaven leaventh
the whole lump”
(Galatians 5:9)

Last time we considered salt in the Scriptures.  In this issue we will look at leaven. Leaven is a raising agent that most of us will have in our kitchens. Some use yeast to make bread, while others use baking powder to get cakes and buns to rise. Leaven works by causing fermentation, which releases air bubbles and therefore raises or expands the mixture in which it is found. In the Bible, leaven is not viewed favourably.

In Leviticus, the Lord expressly forbad the presence of leaven in any offering. Leaven is deemed corrupting. The sacrifices were a picture of the suffering and redeeming work of the Lord Jesus.  Everything about Christ was perfect and even after His death His body, as prophesied, “knew no corruption” (Psalm 16:10). After the Passover, seven days of unleavened bread were to be kept.  All leaven was to be cleansed from the homes of the children of Israel on pain of excommunication.

The Lord Jesus warned His disciples to “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Luke 12:1)  We would do well to pay attention, and guard against hypocrisy in our own lives. The Pharisees had all the trappings of religion – they dressed well, spent much time in religious practice, and taught obedience to God’s laws. Yet they failed to recognize who Jesus was and were willing to break many of God’s laws in their pursuit of Christ to death. Perhaps the greatest factor in their hatred of Christ was jealousy. It was the leaven that corrupted.  The Lord Jesus showed up their religion as mere empty ritual, just as the real thing exposes the fake. We can dress well, mix with God’s people, say pious things, but know nothing of the transforming power of God in our lives. We may even fool many people but the Lord knows our hearts and unless we repent, we will one day be exposed as a sham. The man who appeared without a wedding garment at the marriage of the King’s son in Matthew 22:1-14 fooled the servants, but was recognised as an imposter by the King, and cast into prison.

In 1 Corinthians 5:8 we learn of, “the leaven of malice and wickedness”. The church at Corinth had allowed wicked and sinful practices to corrupt its testimony. We battle with sin and temptation every day. In an age when good is called evil and evil good, we are in danger of having low views of sin. Sin is like leaven in our hearts, corrupting our thoughts, words and deeds. In Mark 7:23 Christ taught, “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”  The children of Israel were to purge their larders of leaven, and we need to have our hearts cleansed in the blood of Christ on a daily basis so that we might live for Him.

The only positive reference to leaven in the Scriptures is in a parable told by the Lord Jesus. He compared the kingdom of heaven to leaven, hidden by a woman in meal, until the whole was leavened (Matthew 13:33). Here the silent work of grace in the heart at conversion is made manifest in the lives of those converted. Such lives will show forth the fruit of the Spirit within.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Olive Maxwell.