The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Like...

But on the other hand, it is not fair to say that the Jews always used leaven as a synonym for wickedness or bad influence. One rabbi said, ‘Great is peace when that peace is to the earth as the leaven is to the dough.’

Anyway…the point of this parable is not whether leaven is good or bad; rather, it is used to illustrate that the most silent of forces may, in some cases, be the strongest of influences.

There was a man named Lord Kelvin. Lord Kelvin is still known for his creation of a scale that measures extreme temperatures. It’s known as the Kelvin scale.

Lord Kelvin liked to experiment. Once he suspended a large and heavy piece of metal from the ceiling of his laboratory. He then began throwing small paper wads at it in order to try to measure their impact…nothing happened at first…but as he continued to hit it with these small paper wads, that heavy piece of metal began to swing ever so slightly. The small finally impacted the large…and made a difference.

The impact of small things seem to have a small effect, and this is true to a degree, but there are many things that are small that have a great impact. Take for instance, western music. Every piece of music ever composed is written from the combinations of just 12 simple notes, Our English literature is composed of combinations of 26 letters. Small and simple, but the impact is great indeed.

The Impact of the Church, it started with a mere 12 men. They worked in this world for the impact of Christ, and they have changed the world with the power of God.

Regarding our scripture this morning; it speaks of the power of yeast and how its characteristics makes dough rise to over twice its size.

When the woman in our scripture mixed the leaven into the dough…even though the leaven was small, it changed the large amount of dough. This leaven is made up of millions of individual living cells that work to inflate the dough with carbon dioxide, providing growth and added flavor to the finished loaf of bread.

Our scripture this morning speaks to us as a church. We, too, might think of ourselves as small and insignificant…too small to affect any real change. But that isn’t true. If Jesus went to the extreme sacrifice to save each one of us individually…if he thinks that we are worthy of being saved for eternal life with him…then we are not insignificant.

Jesus started with 12 men…we sit here in the strength of more than that. I’ll say it again…Christianity isn’t easy. We come to worship each Sunday to garner God’s wisdom and strength for our lives…but more than that we come to learn how to affect a larger community of people. Those that have not found a church home…those that are unaware to the blessing God offers his children…those who are lonely, lost and the least.

Yes, we are the ‘Yeast’ for the larger ‘Dough’…the dough of this community…the dough that affects the direction of this state and nation…the dough that can help save lives on this planet and in this world.