Spreading like yeast

I find it interesting that Jesus uses yeast in His parables twice, representing two completely different things. First, Jesus uses yeast to symbolize His kingdom: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." Matthew 13:31-32

A small amount of yeast can slowly infiltrate the entire "large amount" of dough. Which is like the kingdom of heaven (which He calls us to NOW, not just in heaven). His kingdom gradually, relentlessly, and unceasingly continues to move towards completion. All of this, He equates to something as small and seemingly insignificant as yeast.

He also speaks about yeast in another parable, the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. On a side note, this is one passage that is hilarious to me. Jesus says, "be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees," and the disciples begin to worry that Jesus was upset at them because they forgot to bring bread. I can imagine Peter blaming the others, "See Matthew, I told you to bring the bread," and I can picture Jesus shaking His head wondering why the disciples were such idiots. Then Jesus says, "How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Like most of His parables, the disciples voice a collective "ahhhhhhaaa."

The yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees was just as gradual, and just as relentless, and ultimately could infect the entire ball of dough. More than just the "teaching" of the religious leaders, I believe the "yeast" represented the self-righteous mind-set that many of us can quickly acquire when we have some sort of epiphany or have gained a better understanding of who God is. Most of the time, this understanding is pure and simple knowledge that can quickly turn to a clique of sorts. Jesus says to be on guard against this. If we are truly chasing after God, then we are going to have a lot of these epiphanies. We may see a better way to meet together and worship God, we may attain a better grasp of the Holy Spirit, we may understand our own personal calling and feel deeply connected to God because of it (like wanting to sell your possessions and buy an RV to travel around the country). All of these things however can cause divisions between believers if we are not "on our guard." Whenever God reveals something to us we must first be humble, we must be accepting of those who disagree, or who don't understand. If not, we create a clique of people who think and believe just like we do.

Let me be completely transparent here: I have struggled with "being filled with the Holy Spirit." I have asked God to fill me with His Spirit, others have prayed the exact same prayer, no shaking, no deeper understanding, no healing, no casting out demons. In Jesus' name, I have tried, but that is for another blog post. I have felt out of place amongst certain friends because I'm not a part of "The Holy Spirit Club." I am confident that His spirit is inside of me, and that the fruits that He guarantees in Galatians overflow from my life, but I'm just not quite part of the clique, I don't have, as Robert Duval's character in The Apostle says, "Holy Ghost power!" I hope many of you out there don't hold this against me.

My prayer is that this journey we are on is done through humility and understanding, one that tears down walls rather than build them up. We will come across (and already have) people who don't agree with us, even people who love the Lord - God calls us to love them anyway, God calls us to accept them anyway, not create a clique that separates ourselves from them. I pray that the yeast of self-righteousness is burnt up and destroyed, something only the fruit of the Spirit can do.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23