Yeast in the Flour

I'm writing today from Starkville. I'm here for the Small Towns Conference and super excited that I go home today. I've been away from home so much in the last three weeks that I'm desperate for my own bed. 

Last night, my sister and I were discussing my recent blogging techniques. "I like stories, but I really like the in-depth Bible study. Maybe you could do both, switch it up a little." Since I like the Bible studies, too, I intended to write about a passage in Luke 13 today. 

The next verse up is the one about the kingdom of God being like a mustard seed. I have some mustard seed from Israel at home (where I am not), so I'm jumping to the yeast verse. 

“And again He said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."”   Luke 13:20-21 NASB

I'm of two minds about these verses, but we're just exploring one " mind" today. 

In the previous verse, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. It was a very positive image. In these verses, He compares the kingdom of God to leaven in flour. The nature of leaven (yeast) is that it expands and grows by fermentation until it affects all the flour. It's how we make bread. The flour becomes more than it could be without the leaven. 

Matthew Henry suggests that the people expected the kingdom of God to arrive by external means such as a conquering king and his armies. Instead, the kingdom of God arrived by internal means, much like the work of yeast in flour.  

The kingdom of God, through the Holy Spirit, constantly, but slowly, works in our hearts until they are transformed, expanded. It changes us into more than we could be without God. It takes time. We don't become all God wants us to be overnight. 

Maturity as a disciple is a process that cannot be hurried. 

I wish discipleship could be speeded up. I hate the struggle of intending to always do right but finding myself doing or thinking wrong when I least expect it. As long as I've followed Christ, surely I could do better. 

Just yesterday, the impromptu group of which I was a part was assigned a brief project as part of a class. It wasn't rocket science, but it required that everyone participate. The group assigned me as facilitator. (Note-taker) One man in our group didn't want to do the assignment. He wanted to talk about all the wonderful things he'd done in his town. I'm always happy to hear what other towns have done, but not while we have an assignment to do. His self-absorption stopped our progress because no one else could speak, and we couldn't get our work done. 

I was frustrated. Efforts to get him on track failed miserably. I was not the only one who was aggravated with him, but my frustration was evident on my face. When the class was finally over, the woman across from me commented about it. "He was driving me crazy. I looked at your face and could see he was driving you crazy, too." What happened to my patience, kindness, self-control? They flew right out the window!

Maturity is a process. It takes time, and I clearly need more time than I've had to be like Christ. 

Sigh. I praise God He has liberated me from the power of sin in my life. Today, I hope to do a better job of appropriating that freedom. I intend to act more like Jesus today than I did yesterday.   

It's exactly what Jesus said. 

The leaven moves through the flour and changes it, but it doesn't happen in an instant.

Maybe you have a little trouble acting like Jesus sometimes, too. The leaven of the kingdom of God will transform if allowed to proceed. Invite Him to keep at it until all the "flour" in your life is transformed into what it was intended to be. 

If the kingdom of God is leaven, then just as we are light and salt, the leaven in us should spread to the world around us in such a way that our presence brings transformative change. 

We should carry Jesus as we go and leave a bit of Him with all we meet. 

Is that how we live? How we interact? When we look at the world, do we see the evidence of God's leavening at work in the loaf? 

Perhaps some introspection is in order. If you, like me, struggled to act like Jesus yesterday, let's start fresh. Today, invite the kingdom of God to do its work in you. Pray that the work will not stop until all is transformed. 

#leaven #transformativechange #disciple #JesusChrist #yeast

In case you missed any of this week's posts, here are the links: The Wonder Girls Close the Park, Soft drinks, snacks, and airplane takeoff. 

The most-read post of the past week: Death is Not the End. 

The yeast (Luke 5:37)

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. (Luke 5:37 NASB)

The list of ingredients for making wine is pretty short. Grapes + yeast + sugar are enough to make wine. Sometimes additional water or clarifying agents are added, but for basic winemaking, grapes, yeast, and sugar are enough. In fact, if the grapes are sweet enough, you could potentially make wine with only grapes and yeast. 

When the grapes are crushed and the yeast is added, transformation begins, and continues until the winemaker stops the fermentation or until the yeast dies. Isn't that interesting? The yeast gives its life to accomplish transformation of fruit to wine. 

Wow! That's exactly what Jesus did for us, isn't it? In the same way that the work of the yeast is completed in its death (otherwise the wine would be spoiled), the work of Christ was completed on the cross and demonstrated by his resurrection. What He has already done is enough. 

As we consider our loved ones today, pray that they will embrace the finished work of Christ and allow the life-giving transformation only He can give. 

Part 10: The Reproduction (Luke 5:37)

Part 10:  the reproduction

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. (Luke 5:37 NASB)

When yeast is introduced into the must, it goes right to work. There is not a moment's delay. It does NOT, however, go right to work converting sugar to alcohol. That will ultimately be the job of the yeast, but the FIRST job of the yeast is to reproduce. An army of yeast cells will be required to turn a vat of grape must (juice+seeds+pulp+skin) into wine. The cells will begin to reproduce as quickly as possible and continue steadily until sufficient numbers are available to do the work that must be done. This is not work that will be done on top of the must where you might get a glimpse of the cells dividing. The yeast head to the bottom of the vat and begin to divide. The casual observer can not see a bit of action at all. In fact, you might think nothing is happening, but you would be wrong. In the place where no one can see, one of the first, and critical steps in transformation is occurring. Without it, no wine can be produced. 

In that same way, the transformation of one trapped in  the grip of sin does not happen overnight, and the beginning of transformation may be completely invisible to the naked eye. It takes considerable room in a life for the Holy Spirit to do the work of transformation, so making room is one of the first jobs. Perhaps attitudes need to change, or a new willingness toward God needs to develop. It may be that nothing you can see looks at all like freedom, or even like the potential for freedom. At the deepest spot of hurt and pain, however, healing may have already begun. 

You know the saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover".  In the same way, neither the vat of wine nor the life of a wayward loved one can be judged by what you see. The start of something amazing could be happening at the deepest point where no one can see. 

We are a people of faith who walk by that faith, and not by sight. Nowhere is that more important than in the transformation of grapes to wine and sin-bound souls to freedom in Christ. Take heart. None of your prayers have been ignored. There are answers to your prayers. You just may not see them yet. 

Continue to pray that the work of redemption and transformation will continue until all the work is done

Part 7: The Yeast (Luke 5:37-38)

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. (Luke 5:37, 38 NASB)

After the crushing, most winemakers today add yeast and sugar to stimulate and control fermentation. There are some winemakers, however, who rely on "natural" or "wild" fermentation. It turns out that yeast actually gets onto the grapes in the field and, once the grapes are crushed, the "wild" or field yeast begins the fermentation process. Those grapes come in from the field with everything they need to become wine already! The only thing lacking is the crushing!

Imagine that! God, in His infinite wisdom and design, has already arranged everything in advance to allow for preservation of the juice.  

What we need to understand is that He has done the same for us. Even while we were in the field of our rebellion, God was placing in us everything we needed to become the mature believers He intended us to become. All that was lacking was "the crushing" for the process to begin! 

Take heart, dear ones. Crushing is not a bad thing. Allowed to progress to completion, crushing can bring the grapes to maturity as wine, even without any other intervention  (added yeast or sugar) except what God has already done. Those wonderful consequences we can barely stand to experience ourselves or watch in the lives of our loved ones can be the very thing God will use to bring maturity and rich flavor to our lives. Crushing consequences can be the thing that starts the process of preservation of our very lives. How important it is to allow the crushing! 

Dear ones, as we watch our loved ones struggling along the road to faith, trust the One who loves them most. Do not despair! There is a plan, and the crushing is only the beginning of what will become something wonderful. 

Pray that what God has started will be allowed to progress to completion exactly as He planned and that maturity and a firm faith will be the result.