Introduction: here in this
text Apostle Paul compares sin with leaven and commands the congregation at
Corinth to clean out the sins from their midst in the same way the Jewish
community had removed leaven from their
homes during their first Passover (Exodus 12:19-20). Just as leaven
permeates an entire lump of dough, sinful behavior affects the entire life of
an individual and congregation. Let us take few minutes to consider the leavens
that are to be purged from us.
I. The leaven
of Sin: Sin can be anything that displeases God. If you
know anything about sin, then you know that sin is like yeast. Sin grows and spreads just like yeast in
dough. Cheaper dead flies are powerful
enough to spoil the costliest ointment Ecclesiastes
10:1. In the same manner sin works its way into your whole life until
your life is completely corrupted by it. Therefore
purging out the leaven of sin shouldn’t be occasional instead it should be
often.
II. Leaven of
hypocrisy: The believers at Corinth were known for their
Spiritual gifts. But there was no love among them and there was no holiness in
them. Their superficial spiritual life blinded their eyes to see the defiling
leaven in their midst. Jesus had warned His disciples to avoid this type of behavior
by using leaven as the metaphor of this sinful conduct (Matthew 16:5-12).
III. Leaven of
disobedience: The apostle Paul also referred to leavening when
teaching the Galatians about obedience to God’s laws. There were those who
distorted God’s grace into license to sin. Paul made the point that a small
amount of misrepresentation of the truth can lead to large amounts of confusion
and deceit. Galatians 5:7-10 contains his warning.
Conclusion: The biblically
relevant question we need to ask is: “Am I leavened?” In other words, do
I still live a sinful life before God’s eyes? Have I learned to worship God
with the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” or am I living a sinful,
hypocritical life?
No comments:
Post a Comment