The Prepared Heart

“Clean Out the Leaven … INFLUENCE”

The Hebrew kitchen, even while living in Egypt, was a bustling place of preparation, cooking, serving, and fellowship. Recipes were shared and the delights of God's provision were enjoyed. When it came to bread you wouldn't find the bleached white, fine milled (and far less healthy) versions of bread we are accustomed to. The grains would be far courser and prepared in a typical Middle-Eastern way. Flatbread, baked in a clay oven was perhaps most common. The flatbread however shouldn't be confused with the unleavened bread we share at the Lord's Table. This bread would be leavened - with the leaven carried forward from prep to prep; the Hebrew woman always careful to tear off a bit and keep it aside for future meals.

The Christian most often relates leaven with sin. While sin and leaven do find themselves in the same illustrations, teaching, and instructions in Scripture - it really isn't best to simply say "leaven = sin”. Consider …

LEAVEN and the Pharisees:

Matthew 16:5-6

5 And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.

6 And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Clearly this is a warning against false teachers and sinful leaders. But ...

LEAVEN and the Gospel:

Matthew 13:33

33 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."

So how are we to understand leaven? One word says it: INFLUENCE. Leaven in Scripture, whether speaking of the dangers of sin, the threat of hypocrisy, or the spread of the Gospel, is always talking about INFLUENCE.

The fellowship at Grace is anticipating a great time of remembrance around a Passover meal this Thursday. We will remember the historical setting of the Passover meal that Christ and the disciples shared on that Thursday evening before our Lord faced the suffering of the cross. Those first century Jews were celebrating God's deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. We will be quick to understand that deliverance as only a forshadowing of our own deliverance, by His grace, from our bondage to sin. The elements of the Passover meal are rich in symbolic significance for us.

Despite the thrill of the historical celebration, the simple joy of fellowship around memories of God's faithfulness, the Jew sharing in the Passover remembrance was challenged to examine his heart with an eye toward simple obedience to God's commands. A prepared heart was essential to realizing any lasting benefit. The preparation of the heart involves much - ground we'll cover this week - and a good place to start is leaven (INFLUENCE).

Notice God's instruction to the Jews facing deliverance from Egypt ...

Exodus 12:15

15 'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

At the outset of deliverance God asked the Israelites to focus on a vital area: "As you move out into a new life of freedom and liberty, don't forget to leave behind the INFLUENCE of your former bondage."

Every Christian is challenged to do the same. Embarking on a new life of change the believer is called to avoid the sinful influences of their past.

Ephesians 4:17, 22

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

Notice how Paul puts this … laying aside the old self is in reference to (with an eye toward) your former manner of life. Or, we could say, putting aside the old self is about leaving behind the INFLUENCES, removing the leaven.

It is easy to ignore the influences, to justify our remaining entangled in the "former ways", but the prepared heart doesn't choose the easy, self-justifying path. No, the prepared heart listens to God's compassionate warnings; whether they say "lay aside", "avoid", "put off", or "have nothing to do with". The prepared heart is diligent to heed every warning.

So what about you? What about today? Where's your leaven? Go ahead, get rid of it. You can’t keep that leaven and be prepared at the same time.

Grace and Peace,