Command 27 : Beware of Leaven | Day 185

Detect the Leaven of Pharisees!

One of the interesting characteristics of leaven is that its fermentation process produces pockets of air that "puff up" whatever it is in. God uses this phenomenon in describing people who have allowed the leaven of hypocrisy in their lives. When Paul instructed the believers at Corinth to remove the immoral man from their assembly, he also addressed the serious problem of pride that they were exhibiting: “Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you" (I Corinthians 5:2).

One way the Corinthians demonstrated pride was by forming factions around their favorite teachers and being puffed up against each other because of which teacher each one followed (see I Corinthians 4:6). Paul also warned them about the pride of living in the knowledge of liberty without showing love through deference to weaker brothers when he said, “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth" (I Corinthians 8:1).

Being puffed up with pride is a spontaneous result of allowing a little leaven of hypocrisy to exist in our lives.

In bread making, the trapped air produced by leaven causes the dough to rise and become enlarged, but the dough is easily deflated by applying pressure. In essence, this is what Jesus did when He publicly denounced the Pharisees for their many hypocrisies.

• Appearing to be spiritual, but loving sensual pleasure (see Matthew 23:27).
• Praising God with the mouth, but having a heart that is far from God (see Matthew 15:8).
• Teaching man-made theology rather than God’s commands (see Matthew 15:9).
• Doing good deeds for the purpose of being seen and praised by people (see Matthew 6:1).
• Praying publicly to impress people (see Matthew 6:5).
• Fasting with the motive of getting personal praise (see Matthew 6:16).
• Focusing on religious traditions rather than God’s commands (see Mark 7:9).
• Trying to correct others while having the same problem in ourselves (see Matthew 7:5).
• Telling others what to do but not doing it ourselves (see Matthew 23:4).
• Loving the praise of people more than the approval of God (see Luke 11:43).
• Refusing to enter the kingdom of heaven and preventing others as well (see Matthew 23:13).
• Taking advantage of others financially under the pretense of religion (see Matthew 23:14).
• Expending great effort to make converts of their own system (see Matthew 23:15).
• Emphasizing religious details while neglecting fundamental teachings (see Matthew 23:23).

It would be wise to study each of these verses and examine our own lives in order to detect and purge all leaven of hypocrisy or pride. We may try to justify or excuse little traces of these problems in our lives because they are so small, but let us remember that only a little leaven is needed to "leaven the whole lump."