This week I made some bread using yeast as a leavener. Yeast is a single-celled, living organism that is hardly visible to the eye. It is just about everywhere. It takes 20 billion spores of yeast to make 1/28 of a gram of a cake of yeast. You need a microscope to see a single cell of yeast. Yeast is divided into two categories, domesticated and wild yeast. In baking most of us use domesticated yeast, which has been around for thousands of years.
If you put dry yeast with just dry flour it will do nothing. In order to get the yeast quickly activated and working you have to mix it in with the flour along with some sugar in a warm liquid like water or milk. Then the yeast starts to feast on the sugar in the flour producing ethyl alcohol and giving off carbon dioxide bubbles. This causes the dough to rise. That delicious looking bread is the result of these interactions.
The use of yeast in making bread got me to wondering about something. In the Bible yeast is equated with sin. When God spoke to the Church in Laodicea He said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3:15-16 NKJV
I think we can use this as an analogy with our spiritual lives? In a cold liquid yeast will not be activated. In really hot water yeast will be killed. However in a lukewarm liquid when mixed with flour and sugar yeast will multiply rapidly. In fact researchers have found that seven generations of yeast can grow in a 24 hour period.
It’s in this lukewarm state sin can grow and infect the whole body of Christ, the Church. A little truth mixed with a lie, a small compromise of the heart, or a half hearted commitment to God and truth can breed sin. As individuals we need to make sure we are not lukewarm allowing the yeast of sin to multiply in our lives. If we are cold then the yeast cannot be activated either.
Before yeast was packaged commercially one could make yeast bread with a sour dough starter.
A starter is made by putting equal measures of flour and water in a container and putting it on the kitchen counter and letting it set in a warm environment. Remember floating all around us is yeast. Eventually some of the floating wild yeast lands in the flour mixture and starts to feel at home feasting on the sugar in the flour. Once this process is started there are various steps to take. Eventually this develops into a sour dough starter which can be replenished and can go on for years .
Now we can take wild yeast as the world’s sinful ways, thoughts and philosophy. It’s all around us. We may not be looking to have ourselves squeezed into the world’s mold, but the yeast is looking for a place to land and feast. For example today you can be watching a family friendly show or a movie and then up pops a racy t.v. commercial- wild yeast. Maybe you’re reading a book for a required class and some illustration or somebody’s retelling of a story turns obscene- wild yeast. Today it seems sin, wild yeast is on display everywhere. You get dusted with it when you’re not even trying to do so.
We don’t see the wild yeast of sin landing on us but God does. If we don’t deal with this wild yeast we will eventually see the consequences. We are getting dusted with wild yeast landing on us but we don’t have to let it activate in our lives. So what do we do?
1. First of all be truthful with God and yourself.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:8
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." II Corinthians 7:1
Let’s get mature in Jesus, by practicing holiness and reverencing God. Hold God’s Word sacred and obey it Be zealous and give no place to the enemy. Ask God to put a guard over your lips and guard your heart for out of it flows the issues of life.
2. Keep short accounts .
Confess our sins as soon as they are brought to mind and forgive each other quickly and freely. Don’t let the yeast/ sin get activated in your life. Give the sin of unforgiveness the cold shoulder, and pray for one another Pray without ceasing. "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13
3. Engage in effectual fervent prayer with the Holy Spirit ’s Guidance.
A few weeks ago one of my friends sent a text asking that I pray over something. Well I said a quick prayer right then and there. However the thought came. Pray like you would want some one to pray if it was your concern. Part of the verse in James 5:16 came back to me " The effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." Fervent is defined as very hot; glowing; exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling; zealous. God wants us to be hot, sincere in bringing our request to Him. We should not be engaging in some tepid insincere, obligatory prayers. Pray like we mean it.
Let our lives be marked by being zealous and passion fervently doing God’s work and praying for ourselves and others.
May God give us cleansing, wisdom and grace as we walk to heaven through a yeasty and sin infested world.
