A Little Bit of Leaven
Pray.
Little things can cause major problems.
In the early to mid 1950's a air line company began to to make the first state of the art passenger air liners.
They came up with the idea of pressurizing the cabins, allowing their air craft to fly higher and faster than any other
jet in the world.
They created the perfect jet airliner, or so they thought. But in 1954 two of their air liners literally dissinegrated
in mid air, killing 56 people. The designers of this jet over looked one very little detail, which caused these jets
to dissinegrate, Square windows.
They failed to recognize that square windows caused numerous weak points , all through out the plane, causing
the plane to literally dissinegrate in mid air. Today, every window on every airliner is oval or round.
Some years ago, the Hyatt Regency decided to build a state of the art Hotel in Kansas City. They designed a
double decker walk way which was to be suspended from the ceiling. The original plans called for ONE single
steel pole to hold the structure together.
But someone decided it would be better to used two individual poles, one pole for each level, instead of the one
long one. And that little change caused the structure to collapse, which resulted in the deaths of 114 people and
injuring 216 others, costing the Hyatt Regancy 140 million dollars in lawsuits.
In the Bible Jesus and the apostle Paul warn against the little things in our lives.
Many of us are under the assumption that if we used to do 10 things wrong and we're down to 1 or 2, that's a good
thing and God should be proud of us. But that is most definitely not the case according to God's Word.
Open your Bible's to 1 Corinthians and look at chapter 5 and verses 6-8.
First let me explain what leaven is in the Bible. Leaven means to cause something to ferment or turn sour.
Often times used to speak of corruptness, perverseness of life, doctrine, heart, etc.
A common agent today is yeast. Yeast is used to alter dough , it is used in many beverages in order to bring them
to an alcoholic state. It literally changes the orignal state of something, from good to bad.
And Paul here warns the believer, Don't you know, Don't you understand that just a little bit of leaven in your life
can and will ruin your entire spiritual life.
Paul says, just ONE pet sin in your life will ruin your relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.
See, you're not a success in God's eyes if you keep that One or two pet sins in your life.
I'm talking about continual sins. Unconfessed sins or even sin in your life.
Whether it be some addiction, or a gossiping tongue, a critical tongue, or even here in our text , a Prideful spirit,
Paul says, just a little bit of it in your life will Effect your entire Spiritual Life.
How true. And it goes beyond sin. Oh yes, one consistent sin in your life will devestate your relationship
with God, And in Matthew 16:6 Jesus said these words, Take heed and BEWARE of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Saducees.
Jesus was referring to their poisonous teachings. Now here is what we must understand. After reading what
Paul said, that a little bit of leaven can leaveneth the whole lump and combine that here with Jesus' warning
considering false doctrine, I think it is safe to conclude here that even A LITTLE bit of false teaching in your life
can ruin your entire spiritual life and relationship with God as well.
It's very evident that these words are true in our day and time.
As I said, One continual sin will Effect your walk with Jesus.
But Christians that have been exposed to the truth of God's Word that still insist on holding onto ONE false teaching
from a past religion, that God had set them free from, will also Effect your walk with Jesus Christ.
I've seen it first hand several times and just very recently.
I saw how it affected their life. They believe the truth of God's Word except in one area. They twist that one
particular area and it has them in bondage. They struggle with that portion of God's Word, when they don't need to.
They twist God's Word to fit their belief and deep down, there is a struggle because their Holy Spirit within their
being is resisting the lie. And because of that ONE area in their spiritual life, it is ruining their entire relationship
with Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in John 8:32 and 36, Know the Truth and the Truth will set you Free. When you know the truth
there is no more struggle of false doctrine in your life. Jesus says beware of such False Teachers and Doctrines,
becuase, He was very aware of the danger they will pose in your life as well.
back to our text in 1 Corinthians 5, look back at verse 7
Paul says, Purge out that leaven in your life. Make yourself unleavened. And do it by asking Jesus to forgive you
through His shed blood as your sacrifice for your sins.
Paul says, the only way that you will take your corrupt life and make it uncorrupt is through the Power of Jesus
Christ and His Sacrifice.
I love the wording of the Holy Spirit in this verse. PURGE them out of your life. See often times, our sins or
even a false doctrine will become intertwined in our lives, we can't tell exactly where our flesh and our spirit is anymore
What I mean is, our Flesh, the earthly side and our Holy Spirit, our Godly Side become so intertwined, we can't
tell one from the other sometimes. So a Purging is necessary. It's the picture of burning out impurities from gold.
Now, I would recommend that you ask God to purge you. Cleanse you, wash the grime out of your life before
He takes it upon Himself to do it. 1 John 1:9 says, if you confess your sins to God, He will forgive you and Cleanse
you from all unrighteousness.
But Christian, if you leave that leaven in your life unconfessed, don't forget something, You're still His child and
He will correct you. So just like fire is used to clean the impurities out of gold, often times God will put you in the
fire to purge that sin or false doctrine out of your life.
Could be through an illness, loss of job, whatever, But in some way or another, God will remove it from your life.
And thank Him when He does so, Because it means He loves you and wants the best for you.
You will not walk according to How God wants you to walk with His Son until there is a Purging in your life.
Is there a sin in your life, that you just cannot seem to let go of?
If so, is it effecting your walk with Jesus Christ? Is it effecting your service to Him?
Or maybe , sitting here today, you have accepted the truth of God's Word and teaching but there is still ONE
false piece of doctrine you hold on to. Guess what, No matter how many truths of God's Word you claim, ONE
false piece of doctrine will Effect your entire relationship with Him. That is not my opinion, that is God's Word.
Jesus, literally says BEWARE.
Now lastly here in verse 8
Paul basically tells every believer to put away that old spirit. Just a little bit of malice in your life will breed disaster.
Just a little bit of wickedness in your life will breed disaster.
Folks, it's not about living a Godly life 6 days out of 7. It's striving to be more like Christ every day.
This isn't a test where 80 percent is good. Even 90 percent is failure in God's eyes here.
Does God expect us to be perfect? Of course not, But what God does expect is a New Creature born in
Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature, old things are passed
away, behold all things are become new.
Perfection, NO, New actions, New attitude, New awareness towards your sin, YES.
How bout you?
Is your standard of Christian living, To Do more good than you do bad? Because if it is, that is not God's
requirement. God requires a Newness of life and a walk of sanctification, which means a walk CLOSER to Jesus
every day of your life. Which means, You cannot harbor leaven or corruptness in your life.
Just as leaven changes the state of dough or grapes into wine, Leaven or sin will alter your state of being as well.
The moment you accepted Jesus as Savior, God gave you every attribute of Jesus, except for the sinless part,
unfortunately. You have the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit to possess the same compassion that Jesus
had, The same Love for humanity that Jesus had, God gave us so much at that moment, Christian, you are so
capable of so many things for Jesus, but unfortunately some of us, CHOOSE to keep that leaven in our lives, which
alters that state of being. That sin in our life alters that New Creature in Christ to a back slidden Christian.
God wants so much more from us than what we're giving Him.
JUST A LITTLE Leaven will Leaveneth the whole Lump Paul said.
Who here would drink a 32 oz. glass of water with 1oz of cianide in it?
Who here would build their house at the base of a dam , with a little crack in it?
Who here would get on a jet with square windows?
The simple fact is, most believers guard their fleshly lives more than their spiritual lives.
No, I wouldn't drink that water with cianide in it, it might kill me.
No I wouldn't build my house at the base of that dam with the little crack in it, it might break and flood me out.
We worry about our fleshly well being, yet often times fail to act accordingly with our walk with Jesus.
Sin, is cianide in your life.
Sin, is that crack in your Christian armor.
Sin, is a square window in a jet airliner that will dissinegrate your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Little things cause Big problems. Christian don't underestimate the devil. I personally believe, he doesn't
always hit us with big things. See, we're often on guard for the big attacks. But I believe Satan is subtle and he hits
us with the small things. Things we don't think are really that bad, but guess what, he knows the damage they will
inflict in our lives and here God's Word warns us to guard, to Beware of the little sins in our lives.
I don't know where you are at with all of this. Maybe you're here and this is not a struggle for you , YET?
Beware.
Maybe you're here and you're living this sermon. You think I wrote this for you, You're wrong, God wrote it for you?
Now what do you do about it? Ask God to forgive you and ask God to PURGE that sin or false teaching from your
life, and start walking closer to Jesus today.
Or maybe you're sitting here and your saying to yourself, been there done that and you're a living testimony of
God's sermon here this morning. I ask you to praise God for His Goodness and His deliverance in your life, now
as we pray.
