The Yeast Of The Pharisees And Sadducees

At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’” Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [Matthew 16.7-12] 

The faith Jesus promoted here in Matthew 16.7-12 is faith that, regardless the circumstances, trusts God implicitly. Such faith transcends science itself in demonstration of God's Kingdom power.

In contrast, the "faith" that Jesus denounced in Matthew 16.7-12 (He didn't call it faith, but instead "the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees") is more worried about protocol and appearances than glorifying God.

The point Jesus constantly drove home with His followers was to trust God - to have faith - in real time and in every situation. Jesus is still driving this point home today and religion and religious people are still resisting it today. 

Man's own way is the way of self-preserving reason and logic (first seen in the Garden of Eden). The way of Jesus miraculously feeds thousands, heals the sick, makes the blind see, makes the deaf hear, makes the lame to walk, raises the dead, and even walks on water ...all without fear.

The way of reason and logic looks upon Jesus' miraculous life and, instead of rejoicing that God might move among them, proudly denies and rejects Him because He does not look and act like them (in their own powerless existence). This is precisely why so many have been compelled to write books, teach lessons, and preach so many sermons about why God's people are so powerless today (deceptively normalizing powerlessness among God's people). The way of reason and logic is, in fact, the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The way of reason and logic trusts man more than God. In this way, the way of reason and logic, from Jesus' time until now, is ever-increasingly more idolatrous. The way of reason and logic - the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees - is still very much with us today.

To address the problem of reason and logic then and now, Jesus gave every would-be follower of Him this timeless demand:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

An attempt by any person to justify and even defend powerlessness in the life of a "believer" is the deceptive yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It is the work of a hard and deceived heart void of God-pleasing faith.

Father in heaven, Jesus didn't 'pull any punches' and so, You have not 'pulled any punches' today. Your Word, Jesus, exists to separate Your people from the world and its powerless, religious, ways. May all who read this today, with me, more clearly see the need to give up our own way, take up our cross, and follow Jesus (on His terms, not ours). So be it.