Getting The Yeast Out

I Corinthians 5:6-8

Any bread-makers reading this?  I have made various fruit breads before, such as banana bread and cranberry bread.  However, I have never made any yeast breads before. My children and I frequently watch classic TV shows, and one of our favorites is I Love Lucy from the 1950’s.  One hilarious episode is when Lucy accidentally puts way too much yeast in a loaf of bread she is making, and what happens then.  In our brief Scripture passage today, the Apostle Paul speaks about leaven, or yeast, and what it signifies in our life. Let’s take a look and see what we can learn today.

I Corinthians is a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, and a significant part of the letter is spent attempting to correct some serious sins and problems the Corinthians had allowed in their lives.  This was very necessary, as sin, left unchecked, will spread and become worse and more destructive. As our passage opens, Paul is warning the Corinthian believers that this is something they need to take seriously, since it seems that some of them were even bragging about some of the sins that various members of their congregation were involved in (vs. 6).  Paul begins to compare sin to something most of them would be familiar with - leaven.

Leaven, better known today as yeast, is referenced in Scripture to represent influence, and in most cases it refers to an evil influence.  If we make bread, and add yeast to it, the yeast permeates the whole loaf. When we tolerate sin in our lives, and in our local church, that sin will permeate our whole life and being, and it will also corrupt the local church.  If someone sees one person doing something wrong or sinful, and nothing is done to correct them, then they might think that this behavior is okay. If speed limits are never enforced on certain roads, then rather quickly speed limit signs mean nothing, and everyone goes however fast they want to.  This holds true with any behavior. With no correction, the behavior gets worse and worse. Ask anyone who has taken in some foster children who have not been raised with any firm rules, discipline, and guidance.

Blatant sin left uncorrected in our life, or in the church, will permeate it and corrupt it, just like the bit of yeast added to the dough.  Very soon it has spread through it. It is just like a small bit of mold that very quickly destroys a whole loaf of bread. The same is true with cancer in the body.  If nothing is done, it can spread to other organs and put one’s life in danger. It must be removed (vs. 7). We cannot tolerate it, or else it will jeopardize the spiritual health of ourselves or the church.  We cannot sin a little without it tarnishing our witness.  We cannot sin a little without it diminishing our power.  We cannot sin a little without sowing curses and death for ourselves.

When the Jews left Egypt, being set free from the bondage of slavery, they used unleavened bread at the Passover ceremony.  Bread with no leaven or yeast symbolized being freed from the bondage of sin. The Church today is to be “unleavened”, separated from the power of sin and death by Jesus, the perfect Passover Lamb (vs. 7).  We are to remove everything sinful in our lives, and that of the church, being separated from our old life. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb, the perfect sacrifice for sin. Because He has delivered us from the slavery of sin, we should have nothing to do with the sin of our past, the “old leaven” (vs. 8).

As believers, those who have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, our life is to be unleavened.  We need to get the sin out of it. We get the leaven out of it by replacing it with sincerity and truthfulness, (vs. 8), with honesty, integrity, and God’s Word.  If we see anything corrupting something, we make sure that we get it out, just as a doctor will cut in and remove a cancer. Before sin eats deeper into our souls, we need to ask God to excise it so that we can become spiritually sound and healthy.