"Beware of Leaven." Yea, sure, wait what?

Matthew 16:6 ~ And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Panhandle. What a week, snow and temps ranging from the neg. to the mid 20s. And then what I thought was just a sinus infection turned out to be a little bit more. So the last few days I have been a bit wiped out. But I'm not going to let that stop us from meeting and looking at God's Word together, so come on in and make yourself comfortable and lets dive in.

Matthew 16:6 seems kind of a weird command for Christ Jesus to give. And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Pharisees and Sadducees, we don't have them today or do we? Let's dig into this verse a little bit more and see where it leads us. The first place to start is with the word leaven.

Leaven: a substance (such as yeast) used to produce fermentation in dough or a liquid. Leaven means to introduce one thing into another so as to affect it throughout.

The corrupt principles and practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees are compared to leaven; they were souring, and swelling, and spreading, like leaven; their words and actions fermented wherever they went.¹ Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees had infected the religious beliefs of Israel with false doctrine.

Pharisees and Sadducees. The theological views and policies of these groups were markedly different from each other, but they had to cooperate as members of the Jewish supreme court, the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were legalist who taught that only obedience to the Law and the traditions would please God and usher in His kingdom for Israel. The Sadducees were liberal in their thinking and denied that there would be such a kingdom on earth. They even denied the truth of the resurrection and the existence of angels.² So this combination of of the two parties in opposition to Christ Jesus showed to what extent they felt threatened. Because of this Christ Jesus commented on the two groups as a unified opposition to His ministry.

Here is the caution Christ Jesus gave them, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He had been debating with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and saw them to be men of such a spirit, that it was necessary to caution His disciples to have nothing to do with them. The Disciples were in more danger from hypocrites; than against those who were openly vicious. These kind of people were easier to stand firm against and keep their guard up. But against Pharisees, who were great pretenders to devotion, and Sadducees, who pretend to hold to a free and impartial search for truth, they commonly let down their guard: and therefore the caution is doubted, Take heed, and beware. False teacher, cult leaders, and others like them are just like the Pharisees and Sadducees. They make their lies and false teachings sound so appealing as they twist God's Word around for their own purposes.

Why did Christ Jesus compare the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees to leaven or yeast? He said their teaching was like permeating leaven or yeast, penetrating and corrupting the nation.³ Leaven was used as a metaphor for something seemingly insignificant that could have enormous influence ~ He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33).

Satan does not have to tell a big lie to get people follow him. He just needs a small tweak here and there for his lies to spreads in the soul, or the church, as leaven does in bread. I heard this example many years ago and still find it a great example of how Satan work. Which is more apt to make you late to an appointment a watch 5 minutes slow or a watch an hour slow?

Just like the Pharisees and Sadducees it only takes a little to get you totally lost. What's the difference does it make if you are off by one degree? At a mile, you'll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference. After traveling from San Francisco to L.A., you'll be off by 6 miles. If you were trying to get from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., you'd end up on the other side of Baltimore, 42.6 miles away. 42.6 mile may not seem like a lot, but remember that it is 42.6 mile away from your original destination. You see it doesn't take a lot to be totally lost and that is just what Satan wants.

Take care and thanks for dropping by today. I pray that our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus lead and guide you and your throughout the day.

Biblesurfer

1 Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1694). Peabody: Hendrickson.

2 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 57). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

3 Barbieri, L. A., Jr. (1985). Matthew. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 57). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.