Sermons
The Leaven of The Pharisees
Sun, May 20, 2018
Teacher: Tom Blackford Series: Sunday Sermons PM - 2018 Scripture: Mark 8:10-21
-
Show text Hide text
The Leaven of The Pharisees
Mark 8:10-21
INTRO:
Good evening.
Before I begin the lesson I’m going to relate a little story. Two teenagers asked their father if they could go the theater to watch a movie that all their friends had seen. After reading some reviews about the movie on the internet, he denied their request.
"Aw dad, why not?" they complained. "It's rated PG-13, and we're both older than thirteen!" Dad replied: "Because that movie contains nudity and portrays immorality, which is something that God hates, as being normal and acceptable behavior."
"But dad, those are just very small parts of the movie! That's what our friends who've seen it have told us. The movie is two hours long and those scenes are just a few minutes of the total film! It's based on a true story and good triumphs over evil, and there are other redeeming themes like courage and self-sacrifice. Even the Christian movie review websites say that!" "My answer is 'no,' and that is my final answer. You are welcome to stay home tonight, invite some of your friends over, and watch one of the good videos we have in our home collection. But you will not go and watch that film. End of discussion."
The two teenagers walked dejectedly into the family room and slumped down on the couch. As they sulked, they were surprised to hear the sounds of their father preparing something in the kitchen. They soon recognized the wonderful aroma of brownies baking in the oven, and one of the teenagers said to the other, "Dad must be feeling guilty, and now he's going to try to make it up to us with some fresh brownies. Maybe we can soften him with lots of praise when he brings them out to us and persuade him to let us go to that movie after all."
The teens were not disappointed. Soon their father appeared with a plate of warm brownies which he offered to his kids. They each took one. Then their father said, "Before you eat, I want to tell you something: I love you both so much."
The teenagers smiled at each other with knowing glances. Dad was softening. "That is why I've made these brownies with the very best ingredients. I've made them from scratch. Most of the ingredients are even organic. The best organic flour. The best free-range eggs. The best organic sugar. Premium vanilla and chocolate."
The brownies looked mouth-watering, and the teens began to become a little impatient with their dad's long speech. "But I want to be perfectly honest with you. There is one ingredient I added that is not usually found in brownies. I got that ingredient from our own back yard. But you needn't worry, because I only added the tiniest bit of that ingredient to your brownies. The amount is practically insignificant. So go ahead, take a bite and let me know what you think."
“Uh Dad”, said one, "would you mind telling us what that mystery ingredient is before we eat?" "Why? The portion I added was so small. Just a teaspoonful. You won't even taste it." "Come on, dad, just tell us what that ingredient is." "Don't worry! It is organic, just like the other ingredients." "Dad!" "Well, OK, if you insist. That secret ingredient is organic...dog poop."
Both teens instantly dropped their brownies back on the plate and began inspecting their fingers with horror. “YUCK!”
"DAD! Why did you do that? You've tortured us by making us smell those brownies cooking for the last half hour, and now you tell us that you added dog poop! We can't eat these brownies!" "Why not?” Their father asked. “The amount of dog poop is very small compared to the rest of the ingredients. It won't hurt you. It's been cooked right along with the other ingredients. You won't even taste it. It has the same consistency as the brownies. Go ahead and eat!" "No, Dad...NEVER!"
"And that is the same reason I won't allow you to go watch that movie. You won't tolerate a little dog poop in your brownies, so why should you tolerate a little immorality in your movies? We pray that God will not lead us unto temptation, so how can we in good conscience entertain ourselves with something that will imprint a sinful image in our minds that will lead us into temptation long after we first see it?”
In your Bibles please turn to the eighth chapter of the gospel of Mark.
I would like to read a few verses beginning at verse 10. We’re going to be in this text tonight for most of the study.
Mark 8:10-16: “10. And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.(dal-man-u-tha) 11. And the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. 12. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.'' 13. And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. 14. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 15. Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'' 16. So they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread.''”
In the letter to the Corinthian church, the first of the two letters, the apostle Paul wrote, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22,23).
But the Jews seek a sign.
I. Our lesson text for today begins with the coming of the Pharisees. Often they came with to questions, tempting and testing the Lord.
A. They came on this occasion, the Bible says, to test Him and to try Him. The Bible also says they sought “a sign from heaven”. I am not sure how the Lord felt about the scrutiny under which He lived. Perhaps I’ll say more about that in a minute or two, but I know from experience that the scrutiny by people who place public folks under a microscope of examination is not particularly pleasant.
1. Still, public people, as Jesus most certainly was, must deal with this from time to time and this is one of those occasions. We’re told in Mark’s gospel at chapter 12 verse 13 that the Pharisees often listen to Him with the intention “to catch him in his words” They’ve come seeking a sign.
2. As I began my thoughts, I first wondered about these Pharisees and the kinds of questions they would ask. In scripture we find, they came with a question, they came with a request; We want a sign from heaven.
3. These are people who have heard Jesus teach and who have doubtless seen His miracles. In Acts chapter 26 and verse 26 when the Apostle Paul is preaching to Agrippa he says: “I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.” In other words, the things of which he spoke, the things concerning Jesus had not been done in secret. They had been very open and very public. These people who had come to Jesus seeking a sign have probably heard Him preach and seen the miracles, but there are none so blind as those who will not see.
4. Would you turn in your Bibles to the 16th chapter of the gospel of Matthew? In Matthew’s account of this event which Mark is recording and from which we are studying, I want to read the first three verses of this chapter to you. I want you to listen and keep in mind that phrase “there are none so blind as those who will not see.” Matthew 16:1-3: “1. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; 3. "and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.”
5. In other words, here are some people who can predict with some accuracy what kind of day it’s going to be based on the sky, but they cannot see the great spiritual truths of Jesus Christ. I’m fairly sure we have known people like that.
i. It doesn’t matter that they heard Him preach.
ii. It doesn’t matter that they saw His miracles.
iii. They still come seeking a sign from heaven.
B. Mark tells us that Jesus sighed deeply.
1. What is a sigh? It’s a non-verbal means of communication. It may communicate a number of things. For example, it may communicate disappointment. It may communicate exasperation.
2. Jesus sighed deeply. Who are these people who come?
i. They are intelligent people.
ii. They are knowledgeable people.
iii. They are people who know the scriptures.
iv. They have in some sense focused their life on religion.
3. As knowledgeable, and as intelligent as they are; as much scripture as they know, they refuse to see the great spiritual truths which Jesus has come to bring.
4. Jesus sighed deeply. There are times when nothing a person does will satisfy the skeptics and the critics and Jesus is evidence of that fact. There are times that it doesn’t matter what you say or what you do, whether it’s good or bad or indifferent there are going to be those who criticize, those who are going to be skeptical of what you’ve done or said. They’re going to verbalize that criticism and it’s frustrating and it’s disappointing. Jesus was disappointed at these people who should have been the people best qualified to understand all of His missions and all He was saying—but they didn’t.
5. What does one do in a situation like that? He just continues on with His work. There really aren’t any other options. It’s either drown in the skepticism and the pessimism, which isn’t all that difficult to do by the way, or hold your head up knowing that you’ve done and said that which was right, that which was good, that which was just, that which was wise. Then move forward with your ministry.
C. In Matthew’s gospel there’s some observations made about this incident. I’d like you to turn back there if you don’t mind to the 16th chapter at verse 4.
1. Notice what Jesus says: Matthew 16:4 – “"A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.'' And He left them and departed.”
2. There are two observations that I see here: First: He refers to these people who have come questioning Him who came in the wrong spirit as a wicked and adulterous generation. That word adulterous is significant for in the Old Testament when it is used of Israel it always refers to Israel’s apostasy, Israel’s unfaithfulness, like a spouse would be unfaithful to their mate—adultery.
3. Jesus, oh, how plain spoken He is here, to say of these people that they are people who are away from God. Matthew records (Mark does not add this) there is only one sign that they are going to get and it’s the sign of Jonah.
4. I don’t know what sign they were expecting. I don’t know what sign they desired. They came seeking a sign from heaven. What they expected exactly is not mentioned in scripture. It’s not verbalized. What it was that they really wanted to see, we don’t know. They just wanted a sign from heaven. Second: Jesus said that the only sign they’re going to get is this—the sign of Jonas.
5. Jesus use of that sign in this particular incident, is to speak of His resurrection. The only sign that generation will receive is the sign of His resurrection. It is the great sign confirming His identity. It is the great sign confirming that ALL He claimed is legitimately from heaven.
6. There is a verse in Romans chapter one at verse 4 in which the apostle Paul gives emphasis to the resurrection and shows us all that it means. Listen, of Jesus he says: “declared to be the Son of God (that’s who He claimed to be) with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, (How was the claim confirmed?) by the resurrection from the dead,” All of the possible signs which might have come from heaven could not equal this one great sign from heaven—the sign of the prophet Jonas.
II. Jesus says to His disciples, “take heed, beware” then He refers to the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.
A. “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”
1. Immediately, immediately the disciples think He’s talking about bread. Look at verse 16 again: “they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.” Think about it. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, beware of the leaven of Herod”. Is it because we forgot to bring bread?
2. In verse 14 Mark gives us a little commentary which explains the circumstances which are going to follow. Mark 8:14 – “Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.” Folks, this is what is on the minds of the disciples. Is it because we have forgotten to bring bread?
3. Jesus knows that they are reasoning among themselves and responds to that reasoning. He responds by challenging them concerning their inability to understand what it is that He is teaching them and what it is that He is saying to them. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware the leaven of Herod or in the case of Matthew’s gospel the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Yet, we forgot to bring food. That was their first thought.
4. How they leapt from the subject of leaven to bread I’m not really sure except that you use leaven in the making of bread. Somehow they got from what Jesus said to them to the fact that we forgot to bring bread.
B. I want you to listen to how Jesus answers their reasoning. In verses 17 and 18 of Mark chapter eight: Mark 8:17-18 – “17. And Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18. "Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?”
1. When we read these verses what you realize is that the apostles, disciples, are seeing things entirely from a human, earthly point of view. They too have seen His miracles. They too have heard Him teach, and it was so hard for them to get past their humanity to be able to see the great spiritual truths that He came to bring to them. Is it not also difficult for us?
2. We read the words of the Bible as we should and it’s good to do that, but do we read them with a spiritual eye and mind or do we read them entirely in view of our own human experience of needs and desires?
C. How did Jesus deal with the subject of the no bread? I think these next verses are just amazing.
1. Verses 19 and 20: Mark 8:19-20 – “19. "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' They said to Him, "Twelve.'' 20. "And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?'' And they said, "Seven.''” Interesting to me is that He puts it in terms of how much is left over. Then in verse 21: - “So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?''”
2. You see, their entire problem here is “we didn’t bring any bread”. That’s all that’s on their minds and Jesus says to them don’t you realized that I’m able to provide all the bread that’s necessary?
3. Don’t you remember the times when I provided bread for two great multitudes of people? As I said it is interesting to me as I studied this, that He did not try to explain how much food He had provided. What He did was call their attention to the leftovers. How much was left? Twelve baskets. How much was left? Seven baskets.
4. The point Jesus is making to them is that it is not a problem that you didn’t bring bread. Earthly bread is not the important food. Don’t they understand that God will provide what is necessary?
D. Going back to Matthew’s account for just a minute, there are a couple of verses that we should read here that go along with this question, how is it that you don’t understand.
1. Verses 11 and 12: Matthew 16:11-12 – “11. "How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? but you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.''(Why did you think that I thought about bread?) 12. Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
2. I imagine this was a light-dawning moment. Have you ever had one of those experiences? Perhaps one of the reasons that I’m loosing hair in front is that I’ve slapped myself on my forehead so many times when the light dawned. I’ll admit I’m a little dense.
3. Sometimes, as Nina can attest, you’ve got to draw me a picture, but once you draw me a picture, I usually get the point. You know you slap yourself like that? (slap) That’s what goes on here. The light finally dawned. (slap)
i. Ah, He’s not talking about leaven in bread.
ii. He’s not even talking about bread.
iii. He’s talking about the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees!
4. No matter that the doctrines of these two groups were altogether different, those doctrines, if continued, if believed would lead ultimately to unbelief and spiritual blindness.
E. In using the figure of leaven, Jesus is saying a couple of things.
1. One of the things is this, leaven in that day and age was the symbol of corruption. What He’s saying here is that the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees will corrupt.
2. Here’s the other thing. Leaven works silently. It works gradually and it works inevitably. No matter that the doctrines of the Pharisees or the Sadducees may have only been believed by people marginally, if they continued to tolerate those beliefs they would lead ultimately to apostasy and it is the same way today.
3. If we are willing to tolerate a little error, we may say to ourselves that it’s no great thing. We may say it’s just a little error and we may be willing to tolerate it to have peace. Oh, we want to have peace in the church. This is not all that big a thing so let’s just allow it. Let’s just go along with it and we’ll have peace in the church, but the lesson of the leaven is nevertheless there and it is nevertheless valid. If we are willing to tolerate a little error for whatever the reason it is going to spread and it will lead ultimately to outright apostasy. Error, no matter how small, cannot be tolerated. Like leaven it is going to influence the whole and it’s going to lead the whole into unbelief and spiritual blindness.
CONCLUSION:
One additional observation is that in many religious groups there are doctrines of man that are contrary to God’s word. Some of them are small discrepancies when viewed from the world’s point of view. I tell you these small things will lead the whole to ruin just as assuredly as what Jesus was saying about the doctrines of the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees.
When we are caught up in the world and we see things from the world’s view, it’s difficult for us to see things that are spiritual. It will be difficult for us to see spiritual truths. When we begin to tolerate some small bad thing we need to realize that it won’t be long until it leads to a big bad thing. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
It doesn’t have a thing in the world to do with bread, but it has everything to do with the effects of error among God’s people.
I am not just speaking of the congregation either lest anyone think that. We as Christians, people who have been baptized into Christ, if we are not watchful we can let the leaven of this world creep into our lives, that leaven will work its way into our heart, and cause us to say and do things that we shouldn’t have, perhaps even to think in terms of things like it’s really not all worth it to be a child of God.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins... If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.
Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.
# ???
Reference Sermon: Cecil A. Hutson 10/7/2007
Where and when we meet
Chardon, Ohio 44024