Baking Bread
Tonight we are going to finish our series on baking bread with the final step -- actually combining the ingredients together and and using an oven to bake it into something delicious.
The simplest bread recipe only has three ingredients -- flour, water, and yeast. When you combine these ingredients together, you get warm, fluffy, delicious bread. All three of these ingredients must be modified in some way in order to be useful. We’ve already gone over the steps necessary for wheat to become flour. After harvest the wheat must be threshed, winnowed, and then ground into flour. If one or more of these steps are not performed correctly, the bread will fail.
Water must be purified -- if there are too many impurities in the water, the bread will have a bad taste and may not rise correctly. In ancient times, people were very careful to get their water from sources that run, like rivers, or wells to help ensure the water’s purity.
Yeast is an odd animal -- and yes, it is an animal. Yeast is a microscopic little critter that changes something chemically. It’s used to make alcohol, bread, ethanol for fuel, root beer, yogurt, and many other foods. We don’t really know where the first yeast came from, but historians think that the first batch of yeast may have come from natural impurities in the flour after being left in the sun too long. Bakers would then take small pieces of dough -- called leaven -- that has already risen and mix it into new dough to ensure it rises as well. In the Bible, when the Israelites are called to make unleavened bread, it means that they did not add this leaven to their dough, preventing the dough from rising.
Not to get off topic, but there is a sermon in that. The impurities from our past can still be used to make future Christians rise…
Anyway, all three of these ingredients, after being transformed, purified, and left in the presence of the sun, must be combined together in the proper way in order to become bread. We actually have some bread here for everyone thanks to the wonderful Mrs. Kim.
Just like bread can only be made if all ingredients are mixed together properly, we must also work together with other believers in order to become something better. Just like there are three main ingredients to make bread, there are also three types of people we must work with in order to become more mature as believers. Let’s take a look at the life of Paul to find out what these types of people look like.
Paul started out as Saul, a Pharisee dedicated to eradicating Christianity from the face of the earth. While travelling to Damascus, he had an amazing encounter with God that changed his life forever. After this encounter, though, the real fun begins. Saul is now a Christian, and began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus. The change was so amazing -- the transformation so complete, that the people around him began wondering what was going on. Eventually, the Jews in Damascus got so suspicious of Saul that they began to plot to kill him!
When Saul heard about this, he decided to get while the gettin’ was good and escaped to Jerusalem. Things did not start much better for him there -- the disciples were afraid of him, thinking that he was trying to trick them. Finally, a man named Barnabas took Saul to the other apostles and told them his story. Saul was able to stay with them for a short time, until more threats by Greek Jews sent him away yet again. Eventually, Saul meets back up with Barnabas at Antioch, where they are sent on a missionary journey that covered eastern Greece and most of Turkey. Let’s pick up the story in Acts 13, starting with verse 4:
“4The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.”
Let’s skip ahead a bit to verse 44: “44On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. 46Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”’”
Without the influence of Barnabas, Paul would likely have died in Jerusalem, and certainly would not have gone on to become a missionary to the Gentiles. Barnabas did not have to vouch for Paul, but he did it anyway. In fact, Barnabas was always looking for someone to encourage -- in Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas part ways because Barnabas is trying to give someone else -- John Mark -- a second chance. This is fitting because the name “Barnabas” wasn’t his birth name. Barnabas was actually named Joseph, but because of his repeated actions in encouragement, the other apostles renamed him Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement”.
Barnabas did more than save Paul’s life, though -- he was a mentor to Paul. Remember, when Paul met Barnabas in Jerusalem he had only been saved for a short time -- probably only a few months. I don’t know about you, but when I’ve only been doing something for a few months I typically don’t quite know what I’m doing yet -- and Paul was no different.
True, Paul had the power of the Holy Spirit behind him, but that doesn’t mean that he never made any mistakes. He was still very immature as a believer, and needed someone like Barnabas to encourage him and help him grow in his faith.
We also need a Barnabas in our lives -- that’s the first of the three types of people we need to work with. We all need someone who is spiritually more mature than we are to encourage us when life gets difficult and to act as a mentor. This person may be older, younger, or the same age we are, but will be further along in their walk with the Lord and can help us as we follow the Lord in our own walk.
So the first type of person we need is a Barnabas -- someone more mature than we are who can act as a mentor. But what is the second type of person? To answer that we must go forward a bit to Acts chapter 16. Here Paul is travelling with Silas and Luke. While in Philippi, something amazing happens. A female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future constantly followed Paul and his group, shouting that they were servants of the Most High God. She kept this up for so long that eventually Paul got annoyed, turned around, and told the spirit to leave the woman. Let’s pick it up here at verse 19:
“When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’ 22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.”
This is very interesting. This chapter of Acts does something that few chapters in the Bible do. Acts 16:1-10 are all written in the third person -- that is, using phrases like “he did this” and “they did that”. Starting with verse 11, though, it switches to the first person -- using phrases like “we did this” and “we did that”. The author of the book -- usually thought to be Luke -- was actually physically present here, and dutifully recorded everything that happened.
This means that Luke was with them during their encounter with the fortune teller. In fact, Acts 16:17 says, “She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’” The rest of us. This implies that there were more than just Paul, Silas, and Luke -- but a small crowd of fellow disciples and followers. Why then would the magistrates only arrest Paul and Silas, instead of the entire group?
Because Paul and Silas were the leaders. They were equal, in a sense -- they were the missionaries, everyone else either helped them or followed them. Paul and Silas worked together to bring the Gospel to the people of Philippi because they were at the same point in their walk. They were constantly encouraging each other and standing up for each other. A perfect example -- Paul is the one who commanded the spirit to leave the slave woman, not Silas. But Silas stood next to Paul in front of the magistrates; Silas went to prison with Paul; and, as we can see in verse 25, Silas sang hymns in prison with Paul.
The second type of person we need in our lives is a Silas. We need someone who can walk alongside us as we follow Christ. Typically, this type of person ends up being an accountability partner -- the person you feel so comfortable being around that you share everything -- your deepest doubts, darkest sins, and hardest troubles.
So we need a Barnabas to walk ahead of us, and a Silas to walk alongside us. I’m guessing you guys can figure out the third type of person we need -- someone to walk behind us.
In Paul’s life, that person was Timothy. Timothy was a native of Lystra, a city where Paul and Barnabas healed a crippled man in Acts 14. By the time Paul returned to Lystra in Acts 16, Timothy was already a respected -- if young -- member of the Christian community. Timothy joined Paul on his missionary journeys, and is even listed as a co-author with Paul of the books of 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.
Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, giving him advice and encouragement in his ministry -- just like Barnabas did to Paul so many years previously. I Timothy 4:11-16 is some of the most well-known advice given from Paul to Timothy:
“Command and teach these things. 12Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Paul’s advice to Timothy was good, and Timothy grew to become a leader in the church. When Paul was in prison in Rome, and saw the end of his life approaching, he called Timothy to him in 2 Timothy 4 for a final visit.
An important thing to note -- just because Timothy was younger than Paul does not mean that those we mentor must be younger than us. It is entirely possible for a young person to be farther along in their walk than an older person!
The three types of people we need are a Barnabas, who walks before us; a Silas, who walks beside us, and a Timothy, who follows behind us. If we don’t have all three types of people in our life, we will be unfinished, like this unleavened bread. What’s more, though, is that we are not only expected to HAVE all three types of people in our life, but we’re also expected to BE all three types of people for others in our life. We’re not only expected to be mentored to, but be a mentor. We’re not only expected to have someone walk alongside us and encourage us, but to walk alongside them and encourage them. In this way all believers can work together in learning, encouraging, and teaching, to best proclaim the Gospel and spread the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.
