The Power Of Perseverance

Matthew 13:33

“The Power of Perseverance"

January 12, 2025

One of Jesus' shortest parables is the Parable of the Leaven, also known as the Parable of the Yeast. In this parable, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven mixed into bread dough. It’s important to define “kingdom of heaven.” By this, Jesus is referring to His domain as the Messiah. In the current age, the kingdom of heaven is spiritual, existing within the hearts of believers (Luke 17:21). Later, the kingdom will be manifest physically, when the Lord Jesus establishes His throne on this earth (Revelation 11:15). And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” As we become a disciple of Christ our life must be in perfect harmony to the will of God. Our life should be contagious to those around us. When you are a follower of Christ, you will influence those around you. A Christian is an influencer; Christ-like in thought, in word, and in deed. The "yeast" in this parable represents the power of God's kingdom, which can work subtly and gradually to transform lives. Small beginnings can have a great impact: Even a small amount of faith can lead to significant change. The "flour": Represents the hearts and lives of people who are being influenced by God's message. Just like yeast works through the dough, God's influence works within people's hearts. The "woman": Represents a person who actively shares the message of the gospel. It’s a wonderful parable about the power of perseverance which is the process of transformation which takes time and patience, just like waiting for dough to rise. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

1. Leaven works Inwardly - God works from the inside out. In the parable Jesus used leaven as a symbol of the wholesome influence of his Kingdom, the Church. In the Old Testament, Leviticus 23:17. The two loaves presented to the Lord at the Feast of Weeks were to be baked "with leaven." The Feast of Weeks foreshadowed what is recorded in Acts 2, where the "first fruits" of Church Age are seen. The two "loaves" represent saved Jews and Gentiles. In Matthew 16:11 Jesus told the disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." In Luke 2:1 He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." The metaphor of leaven has been used in many ways, but it always works from the inside out. From the heart flows the issues of life and builds character. In this parable, the leaven is hidden in three measures of meal (about 40 lbs.), and here it started its work. The Psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Conversion and reformation must spring from the heart, from within. In Luke 17:21, Jesus says the “Kingdom of God is within you.” Paul in writing to the Church in Colossians 3:4 says God works within to change the without. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Christ changes our ambitions to the heavenly - He changes our mind from earthly to heavenly. To set our affection is to direct our thoughts and desires toward things in Heaven, cultivate an earnest desire for them, following the paths that lead to them. By faith we are crucified to ourselves, we have died to our own life and now we appropriate the life of Jesus into ours.

2. Leaven will Influence – It influences and is not influenced. But leaven must make contact with the flour. In the parable the meal would have remained unleavened unless the leaven had been placed therein, so many will remain non-Christians unless we make contact with them. Church buildings don’t fill up on their own. We used to have a saying, “Each one has to reach one.” ILLS: Luigi Tarisio was an Italian violin dealer and collector in the early 1800’s and was found dead one morning with very little creature comforts in a small dusty old home, but with millions of dollars’ worth of exquisite violins, which he had been collecting all his life, crammed into an attic, the best in the bottom drawer of an old rickety dresser. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that music all the time he treasured them; those who he bought them from over the years him had done the same, so that when the greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, was finally played! It had sat 147 years in silence. Yet, how many of Christ’s people are like old Tarisio? In our very love of the church, we fail to give the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal for the truth we forget to publish it. When will we learn that the Good News of Jesus needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? I work very hard on my sermons and when I finish writing them, I post them on a public forum so that you can share them with others. Some have asked, Why do you give your hard work to other preachers on the forum? Do you care if someone will just copy what you have and not put the same amount of care or labor as you did? I asked in reply, If the elder preachers before me didn’t share their studies, where would I be today? All people need to hear it, and we should be about the business of telling it. Paul says, as we should also say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Romans 1:16 Leaven changes the meal, the flour, that it comes in contact with. In the home Christians change strife to peace, selfishness to selflessness, harshness to kindness, hate to love. In the church we should change, indifference to zeal, pessimism to faith, turmoil to rest, defeat to victory. Christians whether on the job or in school or wherever they are should fight against evil by changing dishonesty into integrity, impure speech into wholesome language, immorality to purity. The world needs the preserving influence of Christians being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are not to conform, we are to transform. We are to overcome the world, not to be overcome by the world. Leaven influences and is not influenced.