Don’t Forget The Bread
A Lesson from, Mark 8:11-21 parallel in Matthew 16:1-12
The Essence of The Lesson
The “leaven of the Pharisees” is the spirit of this world that will blind the hearts of both evil men AND Christ’s followers, and keep them from the proper focus on the spiritual realm!
Prelim thoughts, key concepts:
“Leaven” will obscure His glory, sovereignty and total reign in our lives.
Leaven is a scriptural picture of sin and its growth pattern. It begins as a small, almost inconsequential measure. It replicates itself over and over, and eventually permeates the entire batch. Another good metaphor is a tiny cancerous cell that very quickly spreads throughout the body.
Rather than specific sin, I believe that leaven typifies attitudes and world-views.
BEGIN SERMON
How many of us are looking for a sign from God? So many times we find ourselves asking God to “just give me a sign Lord.”
Well, I have a surprise for you tonight. Whatever it is you are seeking in your life, God has sent a sign for you tonight!
Show picture…so here’s your sign from God!
You know, I love signs and wonders that follow and confirm the Word of the Lord. We Pentecostals and Charismatics love signs and wonders! Often God surprises us and will do incredible things in our lives to show us that He is there, and He guiding our steps.
Thank God for signs that come from Him!
But we must remember, the sign belongs to Him. He is Lord, and He is Sovereign.
He knows the intimate details of our hearts. His very word judges the thoughts and the intents of our hearts according to Hebrews 4:12. He looks to the inward parts.
He loves to do miracles in lives. He loves to reward great faith in His promise and in His Person.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that
“without faith it is impossible to please Him, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
But we must ask ourselves, do we seek His face or His hand? There is a world of difference, it is night and day, life and death.
If we seek His hand, we seek a sign…if we seek His heart, His face…we seek HIM!
Consider the case of Cain and Abel:
Hebrews 11:4 speaks of the differences in the sacrifice of Abel and Cain.
Abel was obedient to the command of God, and brought the bloody sacrifice that He required. Cain, on the other hand, was an advocate of a bloodless, convenient and ultimately faithless religion.
Cain demanded a sign from God; he had fooled himself with the notion that God would consume his sacrifice on Cain’s terms.
The result was raging confusion, ending in death and separation from God.
Cain had left the spiritual realm, and entered into the fleshly realm, as he dictated to God his own terms.
Abel chose to remain in the spiritual realm, and he sought the very heart of God as he obeyed His command, and offered the bloody sacrifice of the finest animal from his flock.
Consider the Case of Noah:
Hebrews 11: 7 tells us that
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”
The godless crowd around Noah demanded a sign. “Where’s the rain, Noah-boy?”
“We will believe in you and your big boat when we see some rain, you fool!”
Jesus warned us in the gospels time and again about those who demand signs.
In Matthew 16, the parallel passage of our main text tonight, Jesus declared to those scoffing Pharisees who were demanding a sign, , that NO sign would be given to them, except the Sign of Jonah, referring to His resurrection!
But, did the Pharisees believe the Sign of Jonah? Did they believe the empty tomb or the over five hundred eyewitnesses who saw the Risen Christ? The bottom line is that Jesus himself told us, in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, that not even a resurrection from the dead would turn the heart of a man who is cold towards God and void of spiritual understanding.
A sign can be a confirmation and a blessing, or it can be a noose around the neck and an element of judgment.
It all comes down to the heart of the one seeking.
Tonight beloved, are we seeking His face and heart, or are we seeking for Him to do OUR will?
Jesus called the demand for a sign, the “Leaven Of The Pharisees”…and gave us a sobering warning to BEWARE.
Why would the Messiah, the Mighty Son of God, God in the flesh, issue such a strong warning and preserve it within His Word for our generation?
With that introduction, let’s take a detailed look at Mark 8:11-21
Jesus Authority Questioned: The Demand For A Sign
Verses 11-13
Notice the framing of this passage. Beginning in Mark 7:24, we see Jesus responding with great compassion to the great faith of a Syro-Phoenician woman. She came to him in great faith, and he gave her a simple test to see if she was serious. He was moved in compassion towards her, and He cast the demons from her daughter long-distance, establishing once again His power over the darkness, to all who were present and who would hear the results deep in their hearts.
Moving to Mark 7:31, Jesus touches and instantly heals a deaf and mute man, once again responding to great faith among the man’s friends!
Beginning in chapter 8, Jesus has compassion on a multitude that has pressed in to Him, in faith and in love for some three days. He literally moves heaven and earth to provide for their physical needs. These people have established a relationship with Him, and He will not send them away hungry!
He is moved by their love for and faith in Him, and He identifies with them in His humanity. He provides a creative miracle and feeds FOUR THOUSAND men, plus women and children, with seven small loaves of bread.
Following our passage, Jesus opens the eyes of a blind man in Bethsaida.
Signs, signs, everywhere signs!
Yet the Pharisees are saying…WE DEMAND A SIGN! They go into attack mode. The same miracle that satisfied the physical needs of a crowd of over four thousand, incited the venom within the hearts of the religious vanguard! The miracle that was life-giving for the people of faith became another milestone in the road to judgment for the Pharisees.
The Judgment of Unbelief
They attributed the mighty works of compassion wrought from the hand of God himself to be the work of Beelzebub! What a travesty!
The miracle that confirmed the word of the Lord, the very signs and wonders that followed Jesus Christ of Nazareth became nooses of judgment around the necks of those who refused to seek Him.
My friends, are we seeking His face tonight? Would He be moved in compassion towards our hearts tonight? Are we cynical and demanding or are we hungry for HIM?
Jesus’ Deity is Affirmed
By Miracles
Who else, but the Lord of Glory would respond to great faith in compassion upon individuals who were demon-possessed, afflicted with blindness and deafness?
Jesus himself pointed out to his detractors in Mark 3:22 cf. “How can satan drive out satan…a house divided against itself cannot stand!
The very notion that “satan could drive out satan”
It was absurd, it was illogical…it was leaven. It was rooted in the depths of their souls…
My friends, the leaven of the Pharisees is humanism, it is the godless philosophy of man as the center of his own universe, as the highest and most rational being.
It is relativism, and the rules morph and change to fit the needs of those who call for the “signs”.
Show me! Convince me! I must see a sign, and it must be on my terms!
By His Refusal To Bow To Men
Not only was Jesus’ Deity affirmed by the very miracles that He wrought, but it was affirmed and confirmed by his absolute refusal to bow to man.
The Sovereign God in the flesh, who upholds all things by the word of His power
(Hebrews 1:3) is not subject to the will of man! Do we understand that had he bowed down to them and jumped through their hoops, trying to prove himself, he would have stooped to the very level of the Pharisees? How could we worship a Savior, God in the flesh, who would bow to the whimsical, satanic demands of evil men?
Paul makes this point very clear in Romans 9:20 concerning man’s responsibility… “who are you O man, to talk back to God?
We must keep it straight, who is the Creator, and who is the Created!
Would not a man have “taken the dare”, and been happy to prove the point? Not so with the Lord of Glory…God in the Flesh. He holds the very universe in place by the express word of His power! He will not play games! Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees!
Jesus’ Humanity Suffers
His Work Rejected
V12-14
Jesus left the area very sorrowfully, and got in the boat with His disciples
As we climb into the story, I see him groaning and “sighing deeply” (v 12)
While existing as “fully God” Jesus Christ was also “fully man”. In theological terms, this is known as the “hypostatic union”. His Godhood and His Humanity were in perfect balance, fully manifest in His life.
Philippians 2:5-10 explains this union in majestic terms, this passage was a hymn of the early church; the saints would sing the glorious praises of Christ, Paul enjoins us to “let this mind be in us…”
(QUOTE).
But, for all of His glory and majesty and absolute face-to-face equality and eternal co-existence with God, Jesus the man had feelings, hurts and pain in his life.
Hebrews 4;15 tells us that
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin”.
The prophet Isaiah, seven hundred years before His birth described him as despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief.”
Some of the most troubling passages of scripture describe Jesus’ inward groaning, His hurt, His pain and His sorrows. I find myself moved to tears when I read in
Luke 13:34
“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, but you were not willing!”
As Jesus got in the boat, this exchange had greatly affected him.
Tell the story as I see it…
Jesus sitting in the bow of the boat, contemplative, praying…seeking the Father…hurting over the exchange.
The disciples are in the back of the boat, shuffling about. They are hungry and bring out the one loaf of bread they had brought with them…one loaf of bread for 13 men!
They are completely oblivious to what is happening in the spiritual realm.
Jesus is unaware of their shuffling, and is in prayer and still hurting over the trial He had just been through. At once his heart was broken, and yet perfect absolute justice was coursing through His veins. He had the power and every right to curse those Pharisees and watch them die instantly in their sins. Yet, his compassionate mercy upon them allowed them to live and have another day to repent. This is serious business…and a holy moment in time.
In the back of the boat, the disciples are preparing for supper on the water, completely unaffected by what their Lord is going through.
I picture them munching away on some fish sandwiches, and fussing over who gets some of the bread. Someone forgot to pack enough food, and it’s in short supply tonight. It’s going to take awhile to get across the lake, and someone is going to go hungry!
I TOLD you to bring the bread you moron! Peter takes the loaf and smacks James over the head with it! It looks like a slapstick Three Stooges kind of comedy!
Jesus, in a holy moment, turns to them with words of life: “BEWARE the leaven of the Pharisees and that of Herod”.
His Words Ignored
v 15-16
The disciples were completely focused on their immediate physical needs. They were hungry, and were scrambling to try and find something to eat. When I see twelve hungry men in a boat, I can’t help but see posturing, blustering, in-fighting and downright greed!
The next meal was THE issue…it was paramount in their minds. All the while Jesus’ heart was breaking, and the moment of God was here, in their midst!
I believe from the context of this passage, that they were clearly and completely in the flesh. I believe that’s what Mark is trying to show us here, as he tells the story from Peter’s mouth.
Jesus turned to them…I see tears in his eyes and agony in his face, as he turns to the ones he loves and says with the powerful and authoritative voice that could literally cause wind and waves to cease…
BEWARE…the Leaven of the Pharisees, and of Herod
Jesus was speaking of two types of perverse thought.
The Pharisees represented the religious world, and did so with hypocrisy and ritualistic behavior. The were legalists who were completely blinded to the “beam” in their own eyes!
Herod represented the political system of the region, and of that day.
Herod was a political prostitute who had killed John the Baptist because it was expedient.
He was the quintessence of “political correctness”. Herod reminds me of certain politicians of our day! “Leaven” breeds in a man a gnawing desire for political correctness, which ultimately manifests itself in the most self-centered behavior.
Do we see here that Jesus is speaking to a deeply spiritual issue here, which he likens unto leaven?
interpretation:
The symbolism of “Leaven”, does not refer to a specific sin. I would fight the temptation here to launch into a three point explanation telling you just what “leaven sins” Jesus may be referring to here.
The possibilities for the insertion of pet doctrine are endless. And let me tell you, that kind of circular reasoning and violence to scripture would illustrate the point well…
because it is leaven!!!
Let’s talk about leaven in the church. The Leaven of the Pharisees can spread throughout this church and completely de-rail and sideline every bit of effectiveness and zeal that we have.
We could have all the externals just right, and in truth be a white-washed sepulchre full of dead men’s bones!
Matthew 3:27
27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
My friends, leaven is any attitude or mindset that will take us within ourselves, and take us from the supernatural realm, and have us focus on the world-system. It can be something so very small to start!
But it will eventually take you over, and dominate everything in you, and everything that comes out of you!
I am asking God to reveal to each of us tonight, any leaven that exists in our hearts and lives
If we allow a smug self- reliance and self-righteousness to sneak in, it will overtake our church, and we will never even realize it as the leaven spreads itself throughout!
Preaching Point:
Leaven is anything that takes away, or detracts from the Kingdom of God! Leaven is anything that promotes man as paramount, and self as the center! Leaven is self-righteousness, and it breeds hypocrisy! Leaven is legalism and the mindset of “look at me”!
Leaven is the very essence of the attitude that the created is the focus, and paramount!
Jesus’ Warnings Misunderstood
we see:
His Disciples’ Irrational Fears
v 15-16
Finish the story…
The disciples mouths are agape… “oh my what did he mean by that”…they begin to whisper “what’s wrong with Him?” “wow…what was that all about?”…
“you idiot…he heard you fussing over that bread. That stuff about leaven was Him letting us know that we forgot to bring bread!”
Notice how the challenge affects them-they begin to bicker and fight, and totally miss the point. They have totally missed the moment of God. Their irrational fears were born out of focusing on the natural, the external, the temporal.
In addition to irrational fear, we see
His Disciples Disciples’ Lack of Spiritual Understanding
v17-18
Jesus appeals to their perception (spiritual understanding), their hard hearts, their blind eyes that will not see into the spiritual realm, their deaf ears that will not hear the voice of the Lord, and their short memories!
Notice the danger of living small, living in the natural, missing the moment of God.
It is the very leaven that Jesus spoke of, at work in the lives of some very spiritual men. This message is not just for the religious hypocrite, it is for the people of God! We who love Him, and who are called according to His purpose can partake of the “leaven” of the Pharisees without even realizing it!
Jesus’ Message Revealed
See that He is Lord of All, and He is Sovereign
He answers to no man…His Signs are His Signs
See the Past in Light of His Provision
He has never left us nor forsaken us! Have you ever been forsaken by Him?
See the Future in Light of His Promises
My friends, keep your mind, your heart, your eyes and ears totally immersed in the spiritual realm.
The Leaven of the Pharisees is ANYTHING that will take us from the spiritual realm, and cause us to take our eyes off the Heart of Jesus…and ministry TO Him…seeking His face, His Heart, His Will.
