Start small and dream big! Part 2
Luke 13:20,21
He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
Last week we talked about the Kingdom of God being like the mustard seed and the mustard seed tree. How the smallest things can impact the Kingdom of God.
After sharing the mustard seed concept he shares this one.
While they are similar they have different meaning.
– The Mustard seed is about the growth in us to impact the world.
– The yeast is about transforming us from the inside out. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives
We see in this that it only takes a little bit, but that little bit, is kneaded though out the dough and as it is kneaded affects the whole.
When Israel was leaving their 400 years of bondage they took with them the unleavened bread. Leavening (yeast) gives bread it fluffiness and full taste unleavened bread has very little taste but will not spoil as quickly but al it really is, is flour it has not power to be something greater. It is an example of moving in our own strength rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit moving through us.
Today as part of the service we are celebrating communion. It helps my point with this teaching to have you remember the taste or tastelessness of bread without yeast, matza.
Tasted pretty bland didn’t it, dried your mouth out a bit
Here are some quick things about yeast that I want us to talk about today.
– First, as with the parable of the mustard seed, it teaches us not to underestimate the potential of small beginnings in the Christian life.
– Second, the parable teaches us that when the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel, there is no limit to what can happen in a person’s life. The Holy Spirit is like the leaven: He affects everything. The Gospel is the kneading process
– Third, much of this work happens even when we are not aware that we are being changed. The work is silent. Maybe you think…
“I wonder if I am really growing spiritually? I don’t think I am changing at all.” The truth is, wrote Paul,
“It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” Philippians 2:13.
I want us to look at a few things about and how it can change our lives
The presence of yeast
1) The yeast is a foreign substance that comes from the outside and dramatically changes the flour
– In order for there to be transformation in our lives the Holy Spirit comes from outside to us as sinners because of the blood of Christ
– The Holy Spirit is not in the nature of man but when He comes in gives us a new nature
– Just like the yeast does to the flour the Holy Spirit touching our lives brings about radical change to who we are
2) It is not simply enough to add yeast to the flour a process called kneading is necessary.
– Kneading is the process by which the dough is pushed and stretched so that every little bit of flour is impacted by the yeast Genesis 18:6 sarah does this
“So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.”
3) It is the word of God that does the kneading in us. This is what Peter did on the day of Pentecost, he got up full of the Holy Spirit and power t did not stop with simply showing the power of the Holy Spirit to reach every person in their own language but continue to knead them. Acts 2:40
“Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
We must know and apply the Word of God to our lives or the power of the Holy Spirit will be limited through us
The Purpose of Yeast
– Yeast does not come into the flour to destroy it but instead to add to it and make it into something more amazing
1) Yeast communicates its own nature to us and it effects the flour
– if the Holy spirit would not communicate His grace to us we would not have know ever the love, joy peace etc.
– He expresses that in us because that is who the Holy Spirit is, we the flour could not know this about from the yeast being himself and bring about His nature in us.
– It has nothing to do with our temperament but everything to do with who He is in us. The purpose of the Spirit is to release the fruit and the gifts in us.
– There has been a sad divorce today in many churches between the Word and the Spirit. Those who emphasize the word focus on doctrine, sound teaching, expository preaching and all of this is right, correct, and needed in the church today, so that the church might be able to know what they believe why they believe it and defend what they believe Spurgeon, Wesley, Finney and the early church Fathers….Those who emphasize the Spirit focus on the gifts and fruit of the spirit, miracles, signs and wonders all of the things we see in the book of Acts which are necessary for the world to take notice of the church and this too is all right and correct
– The problem is we need both! The Holy Spirit give us the ability to study and understand God’s Word and to share it in power and truth and as He permeates every part of us, gives us the power to live out His fruit and walk in his gifts
2) If we allow this purpose to take place in us then we have all the God wants for us because his nature has worked its way to every part of us producing the most amazing thing….holiness
– a hatred for sin,
– a longing for Christ
– a desire to see the glory of God manifest so that the world will see that there is a God in the heavens.
The Spirit combines what He is with what we are, so that we might become that which we were destined to be.
– Darkness becomes light
– confusion becomes order
– numbness becomes feeling
– apathy becomes longing
– death becomes life.
The purpose of the yeast is to communicate it’s own nature to the flour. It doesn’t destroy the flour but makes it enhanced. So the Holy Spirit is with us. As we submit to the nature and work of the Hoy Spirit in our lives He takes our gifts, personalities, abilities, talents and fulfills their true nature.
Many are afraid of what the Holy Spirit may do if we allow Him to do his work in us but that is the fear of man rather than God
He will change you and give you an aroma, a scent, a beauty, and He will use your abilities to exceed all you ever dreamed of. Do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit, submit completely to God’s work in you.
The Holy Spirit is God; He is the God of the Bible. He doesn’t destroy he only changes us to fulfill what the lord has designed us to be.
Next week the process and power
What about you today? Are you permitting the yeast to permeate every part of you to where you are seeing the victory, life, and light