Lessons of Unleavened Bread

I want to start the sermon today by pointing out something in Acts 18. In Acts 18, you see the Apostle Paul, who had been worked with by God to become the servant, that he would be an apostle to the Gentiles. And here in Acts 18, he's come to Corinth. And all I want to point out here is in Acts 18, verse 8, or excuse me, verse 9, I guess, one night the Lord said to Paul in a vision.

He was there in Corinth. He says, Don't be afraid, speak, and don't be silent, for I am with you. And no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people. Now, as most of you know, I'm reading out of the Revised Standard Version, so it might be a little different than your New King James, which many of you have. But it just says, you know, God was going to draw a considerable number of people to the church to make up the congregation in Corinth.

And he was going to do that through whom? Who was the physical person who's going to be there? Well, Paul. He even told him, Don't be afraid, just do the job. And what we find is, verse 11, he stayed there for 18 months teaching the Word of God among them. And so I mention this just to lay the groundwork for what I want to talk about as we go through the sermon. You know, Paul was very aware. He was close to, he loved. He was considerably concerned about the people in Corinth. I imagine he knew many of them by name. Even as here in this congregation, I think I know all of your names.

I know, you know, at least most of you, anyway. And Paul had a loving, nurturing concern for those people. But I want us to study some out of the book of 1 Corinthians today. Because here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we see a reference to the Days of Unleavened Bread. And it's a significant one. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, starting in verse 7, it says, Clean out the old leaven, so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened.

Our Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now, clearly, this was a Gentile church, mostly.

There had to be a few Jews there. Some came through. But primarily, it was a Gentile area, and Paul had gone there. He had, as we saw in Acts, he had been there quite a long time. He was very busy contacting people and talking to them and teaching about Jesus Christ and about the fact that the Passover has been sacrificed, and that was Jesus Christ for us. And yet he mentions here, verse 8, let's keep the feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

And so, this reference to the Days of Unleavened Bread supports what we read in the Old Testament about how the Israelites came out of Egypt and went out with their unleavened bread because they were going out in haste, and God was going to use that as a symbol. That would be for them, would be for people early on in the church, it would be for all of us today, which would have significant meaning.

And so, it supports what we read in the Old Testament and directly regarding the Days of Unleavened Bread. So, I think it's applicable that we would read through this today. I'm also going to say, for the most part, most of you are aware of what 1 Corinthians is about, at least a number of different topics that Paul covers.

And you have to say that Paul, in some ways, has to be kind of corrective. He has to be giving them instruction about many topics. But what we read here in chapter 5, and the first part of it, is a problem that he was addressing there in Corinth. In verse 1, he says, it's actually reported that there is a sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that's not even found among the pagans. So, he said, this is really outside the realm. Now, we live in a pagan world here.

You're familiar with this pagan city that you live in. What's going on here among someone in the church, it's just unheard of, of a kind not even found among the pagans for a man who's living with his father's wife. So, this was clearly an adulterous situation. I'm not sure exactly all of the details of it, but obviously, clearly a wrong relationship.

And in verse 3, he says what they should do. For though absent in body, I am president's spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus, on the man who has done such a thing, when you are assembled and my spirit is present with the power of the Lord Jesus, you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

And so, clearly, he was addressing a given problem, one that had been reported, one that was obviously wrong. We were talking last night, thinking about what God has done, and so mercifully bringing us out of our captivity to sin. And yet, in the world today, kind of hard to define sin. Most people don't come up with a real good answer for that. Kind of hard to define fornication. Kind of hard to define adultery. I mean, that's just almost promoted instead of seeing as something to get away from or move away from. And yet, this is what Paul addresses here in the first part of chapter 5.

And again, I said, I'm pretty sure most of you were already aware of that. You knew that that was at least one of the problems Paul was addressing. But I asked you, was that really the primary sin that Paul was writing to the Corinthian church about? Actually, we find he later, in 2 Corinthians, in his second book to them, in chapter 2, verse 5 through 10, he says how to rectify that, how to correct that. He says, to after a while, hopefully, this person will have come to be repentant and be able to return and ultimately be forgiven.

You know, that's what he says about that. But again, I ask you, is that really the primary sin that Paul was addressing the congregation about? What is the bigger issue regarding that church congregation? What's the bigger issue that Paul addresses that is in connection with the days of Unleavened Bread? Do we really see, do you see the problem that was going on in Corinth? I want to look at the first few chapters here because they all lead up to what we have already read here in 1 Corinthians 5.

And so, I think it's good for us to take a look at this, especially as we observe, not just the physical observance of eating Unleavened Bread for seven days, but understanding the spiritual significance of putting sin out of our lives. And of course, see, the first thing you have to do to put sin out of your lives is to be able to recognize it, to be able to see what is sin. And yet, it's amazing to see, you know, the guidance that God gives us in his inspired Word.

So let's back up to chapter 1. Again, you might be familiar with chapter 1. It's one we commonly talk about. I want to go through this. I'm going to go through it a little hurriedly, probably, because I can't spend too much time, unless you want to be here until 4.30, 5.30. No, I don't want to do that to you. I want to try to do this in an hour. But 1 Corinthians is an amazing book, and actually the first part of it kind of begins in describing other problems that the people there in Corinth had. Not just the problem that we read about in chapter 5, but he's describing other problems. He says in verse 2, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those of you who are sanctified in Jesus Christ, those of you who have been called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours, grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave a customary introduction that he commonly would give, but he was directing this right to the church of Corinth, and he told them, You have been called to be saints. You have been called by God to Jesus Christ.

And he says, even in verse 4, I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given to you in Jesus Christ. And in verse 7, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, he will also strengthen you to the end. And in verse 9, God is faithful, and by him you were called into this fellowship. You were called into a unison in a ecclesia, a called-out group of people. The word ecclesia refers to the church. It's a called-out group of people who come together, not because it's happened to be convenient to come and meet here in Oberlin Park from Buckner or from Topeka or from Ottawa or from other parts of the city. You know, this is not terribly convenient. We're kind of central here, but we're all here because we believe what God has done in our lives and called us to be faithful to him.

But here he begins to point out some of the problems. Verse 10, I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no division among you, but that you are united in the same mind and in the same spirit. Because it's been reported to me by close people that there are quarrels among you, my brethren. And I mean, what I mean is, you know, some of you say I belong to Paul, some say I belong to Apollos, some say I belong to Cephas, to Peter, some say I belong to Christ. And when he asks a question in verse 13, is Christ divided? He says this doesn't make sense.

And so what was kind of the initial thing that he talks about here in 1 Corinthians 1? Well, he talked about being divided, not being in unison, not being in agreement with one another. And, you know, there was a cause for that, which we're going to discover.

Now, again, another section here that we're kind of familiar with, and Paul brings this up in this chapter and in this setting for a specific reason. Verse 26, we sing this in one of our hymns pretty commonly, or at least at times. Consider your calling. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many of you were wise by human standard. Not many of you are powerful. Not many of you are noble. But God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. He's chosen what is low and despised in the world that things that are not to reduce to nothing, things that are so that no man might boast in the presence of God. See, now again, we sing that, and yet what does that really say? Well, it says, you know, we're not the high and lofty and mighty. We're not the wealthy. We're not Hollywood celebrities. We're not big-shot politicians. At least we'd better not be if we're a politician at all. We'd better be the right kind of politician. Well, we're not... There are numerous different descriptions you could give to this, but Paul is saying, look, none of you are the Queen of England. None of you are the princes there. We're not royalty, physically, anyway. And we're not, you know, powerfully wealthy, or we're not just so much smarter than everybody else, so much wiser. You know, there are scientists that I'm sure can, you know, run loops around us as far as intellect. Scientists and even educators, many, you know, highly, highly schooled. But what did Paul say? He said, well, take a look at this. God has called the weak of the world, and he says, I've done that in order... God has done that in order to confound the wise. But then he lets it out here. He lets it out in verse 28, or in verse 29, excuse me, verse 28, God chose the low and despised in the world, so that in verse 29, no one could boast in the presence of God.

Here he's pointed out initially, you're not united, you're divided, you're in conflict, and here he tells them, look, you're just the regular, weak, and foolish of the world that God is going to use to do marvelous things. But he says, I'm telling you that just so that... so you do not boast. It's another thing he's telling them. And so he's already identified division, he's identified quarreling, he's identified the fact that they were boastful. In chapter 2, and I'm not going to spend as much time on it, chapter 2 is a very important chapter, one that you surely might want to read sometime. But it talks about, in verse 11, verse Corinthians 2, how the human beings know the things of a human being because of the human spirit, the spirit in man that is within us. But he wanted to point out to them that what makes you different is in verse... latter part of verse 11, so that no one comprehends what is truly God's except through the spirit of God. So if we're going to come to know the things of God, and it's because, not because we were wise or noble or wealthy and rich, it's because God chose to give us a blessing of the Holy Spirit. And he says, now we've received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from God so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. He was telling them, look, you are incredibly wonderful because God has entered your life and God has given you His Spirit. Why are you quarreling? Why are you divided? Why are you boastful? That's what he's telling them. In chapter 3, he actually tells them, you're really a bunch of babies. That's what he says. Verse 1, Brother and I couldn't speak to you as spiritual people, but rather people of the flesh, infants, spiritually.

So he says, you're divided. You're arguing. You're boastful. And you really don't have the spiritual maturity that would allow me in verse 2, I'm feeding you with milk, not even solid food, for you're not even ready for solid food.

He goes ahead to explain why in verse 3, are you not, for you are still of the flesh, for as long in verse 3 as there is jealousy and quarreling among you. So he goes back to quarreling again. They had not been of the same mind. They had not been together. They had not been united. But he says in verse 3, because there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving according to human inclination? And he says, whenever one says, I belong to Paul or another, I belong to Paulus, you're just simply carnal. And so, man, Paul's laying out a lot of stuff here, for if they're going to listen to what he has to say, then he's certainly already given them a good amount of correction about how they could improve.

Now, in the latter part of chapter 3, you see Paul pointing out some things that they needed to know, or a little later here. He says in verse 5, what's Apollos and what's Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord assigned to each of you. He says, we're just servants. Peter, Paul, Apollos, others who actually were teaching them, later Timothy and Titus would be there. We're just servants. God is the one, he says, who assigns to you what you have, what you understand. He says, I planted and Apollos watered, but who caused the growth? Who caused the increase? Well, it was God. Who said, I've got many people in this city? But Paul, he didn't even know. God told him, I have many people that I'm going to call and draw to the Church of God. And if I do that, then I'll help them do the work they need to do. But Paul's already pointed out some problems that they need to become aware of. They say God gave the increase. And so again, he reminds them, he talks about how I've laid the foundation, and that foundation is Jesus Christ. He is the one who drew all of us into the relationship that we have with God. He's the one who extends forgiveness. He's the one who was the sacrificial lamb for us spiritually. And so he is the foundation, and then you need to build on that as you go forward. But he reminds them, let's see, in verse 9, we're simply God's servants, talking about Apollos and Peter and him, working together. And you are God's field. You are God's building. He's going to later say, you are God's temple.

See, now, Paul knew that they certainly didn't have much of an idea what he was talking about. But he reminded them even more, in verse 16, don't you know that you're God's temple and that God's Spirit resides in you? And so he told them in verse 18, don't deceive yourself. If you think that you are wise, you know, here in chapter 1, he told them you are not the wise, you are not the noble, you are not the powerful, you are the weak of the world. But here he says, if you think you are the wise, then you should become fools so that you can become wise. And so he says in verse 21, again, let no one boast. What were they doing? Well, they were divided, they were quarreling, they were boasting, they were proclaiming their own, either brilliance or judgment, determination, what they thought was right. Paul already told them you're not doing a very good job with that. We read that in chapter 5.

But see, it gets even more graphic here. Verse 21, let no man boast about human leaders. For all things are you. In verse 23, you belong to Christ, Christ belongs to God. He says you need to have a right perspective of what it is that God is doing. And this ties directly in with the Days of Unleavened Bread. Particularly here in chapter 4, we see this tied in by Paul. He says in verse 1, think of us in this way, servants of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God. And we are doing that in a trustworthy way. We are responsibly achieving our job. And yet here in verse 3, Paul says, but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by any other human court. Paul didn't really worry about it. If the human courts, they drug him in there, whatever they had to say about him, he wasn't too worried. But in this case, he was kind of worried about the fact that the brethren there in the Corinthian church were quarreling and divided, and they were boastful. And in this case, he says, you're even judging me. Now Paul had a checkered past, nonetheless. You know, he got straightened out by God, and there were many people around Jerusalem who didn't like to have Paul around because, you know, well, we know who he was. But, see, the churches in Corinth had heard that too, and they weren't very receiving, at least as receiving as they should have been, because he's going to tell them that. Let's drop down to verse 6. He says, I've been applying all this to Apollos and to myself for your benefit, brethren, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, nothing beyond what is written, so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. And so here he uses a little different description. He's talked about it numerous ways now. He said, you're thinking more highly of yourself than you should. And he says, you're puffed up in favor of one against another. And he goes ahead in verse 7, but who sees anything different in you? What do you have? See, he wanted to point out to them, what standing do you have in the Church of God except that God brought you here, that God gave you forgiveness and God gave you the Spirit of God? God even sent me, Paul was saying, to help you, and you're not even accepting of my direction. See, that's what he said. They're puffed up. They were filled with pride and arrogance, more so than, you know, you might think if you haven't read through this recently, it's really graphic, and you know that that's exactly what he's describing. I want to jump on down. Again, there's other things we could talk about in these chapters, but I'm not going to be able to go over them. I want to drop down to verse 14 because here he directly says, he says, you've been judging me and you have been puffed up. You are boastful. And there's really no reason for that because in verse 7, he says, what do you have if you have received it, then why do you boast as if it were not a gift? You think it's just you? Do I think it's just me? Well, no. What we have is a blessing of God. What we have is God's calling and his mercy, and we have his involvement in our lives. Paul says in verse 14, I'm not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. See, how did Paul look at the people there in this beloved, he says, beloved congregation?

Now, in a sense, we might say, well, you know, that was Corinth. That's not us. But in another sense, we might think, well, we better consider whether this actually could apply to us. And certainly the way Paul talks about the people there, he loved them. He was concerned about them.

He wanted them to grow, but did he think they were perfect? No. He didn't think they were perfect. He knew they weren't perfect. He knew he wasn't perfect. He says, the only thing I've got to go on is God's going to be merciful. God's going to help me do what he wants me to do, and God is going to be merciful to me, as he will be to you. But he says, I'm not writing this to make you ashamed, but I wonder what Monty's shoe is, my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, there might be a lot of other preachers that will come along and preach to the church in Corinth.

Ten thousand can take quite a while. But you might have ten thousand others who would teach you, but you don't have many fathers. Fathers, indeed, in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Gospel. That's what he was saying. God sent me to raise up the church in Corinth.

He brought you and became a part of the congregation there. And in verse 17, for this reason, because I have this fatherly concern for you, I have a love for you, like God the Father has for you. In verse 17, for this reason, I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. Timothy was very close to Paul. He had a very loving relationship with Paul for this reason. I sent Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Jesus Christ as I teach them everywhere in every church. So he said, I'm teaching the same thing.

I'm teaching the foundation of Jesus Christ. I'm teaching that he was crucified for us. I'm teaching we've all been bought with a price. I'm teaching that we've got to come out of our old ways and pursue new ways. But he says, even though I sent Timothy to you to show you what I've been doing and how it would be helpful to you to pay attention, some of you, in verse 18, thinking that I might not come see you, thinking that I might not be coming, you have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out the talk of these arrogant people, or not the talk of these arrogant people, but their power.

See, Paul said, I see that you are puffed up, that you have become arrogant. You don't see this as a problem. And this has actually become a bigger problem than what we addressed in chapter 5. Because here in chapter 5, verse 1 again, it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, immorality among you, and of a kind not found among the pagans for a man who is living with his father's wife, and you are puffed up.

You are arrogant about that. Should you not rather have been sad, mourned so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you. Now, I read to you earlier what Paul said they should do, and how they should try to help this man, but more so, he was talking about the fact that the congregation had not really had much of a focus on putting sin out of their lives, and certainly not recognizing that arrogance and pride caused them to make a lot of very bad decisions, like quarreling, like being divided instead of united, and like being puffed up, being arrogant.

See, how many different times has he described this? But he says, and he tells all of us, being puffed up, and that's kind of a symbol that we find connected with leavened bread. Leavened bread has yeast in it. It has the puffed up taste, the feel, soft, of leavened bread. See, the symbol is that sin puffs up. It puffs up people and causes them to think of themselves more highly than they should. And Paul wanted them to recognize that. This is a lesson, in a sense, a primary lesson, of the days of unleavened bread. And it actually was what had created the unrest and the lack of peace that was so visible, at least to Paul, in the Church of Corinth.

He says, you've not known how to handle this person who was sinning, and you've actually included yourself in the sin, in that you're arrogant and puffed up and filled with pride. What does that have to do with us today, brethren?

That's a nice story in the Bible. It's clearly there. It's actually something we probably study every year, at least to some degree, because of the days of unleavened bread. But do we really see how bad, how much of a sin, arrogance, and pride are for each of us? Every one of us.

None of us are immune to pride. Every single one of us have to think about. Do I fit the category of what Paul was talking about here in this discussion with this congregation in Corinth? Now, I want to go through several other verses, because it's obvious that, you know, if you want to give a sermon about pride and arrogance, plenty of information in the Bible to be able to cover. Because that's, you know, essentially the nature of Satan, and it's the nature of man, because we've been deceived and acquired that nature as a carnal, human nature. But, see, if we don't see that and resist that in our lives, then we may be like the seemingly clueless Corinthians. They didn't see it. They just thought we were doing pretty well. And, of course, Paul said they weren't, but they would judge him then. Well, what do you know? You don't really know. But, see, throughout the Bible, you see very clear statements about how the pride is ruinous to human beings. It's as much a sin as Sabbath-breaking or killing or adultery. It's as much a sin as, you know, any of the other commands. You know, you could enumerate any of them. Pride and arrogance need to be, being puffed up needs to be overcome. And, perhaps, we can think about that this week. When we're eating our unleavened bread, when we're eating the crackers that are, you know, actually different, and we probably eat throughout the rest of the year, crackers or homemade. We had some really good homemade stuff last night. We had some really tasty, cheesy stuff. Mrs. Crosby was passing out. Did you take any of that home? Oh, good, good. I was going to say I missed a chance to get some if I didn't take it. And we had several others that were there. Some of them tasted different, different flavors of stuff. But see, we're going to be thinking about the lesson of leaven, the lesson of being puffed up in an unleavened product. A leavened cake or a leavened bread, real fancy bread, good tasting bread. Those are all leavened and they're puffed up. They're usually softer. They go down ice, fat, donut. Goes down really good. But, see, what is it that we want to be mindful of? Well, it's very clear that God hates pride. It is clearly against everything he stands for. That's the first point. I'll make four fast points here. God hates pride, and you can read that throughout many, many verses in the Old and the New Testament. But we'll look at a few here in Proverbs 16.

Most of you could think of verses that have to do with pride. Like God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Or like pride goes before a fall. There are a lot of different verses. I'm not going to try to go through all of those. But here in Proverbs 16, he says in verse 5, all those who are arrogant are an abomination to the Lord. Be assured they will not go unpunished. See, that's pretty clear. What do we remember reading out of the book of Daniel?

King Nebuchadnezzar was a pretty good example of pride and arrogance. He was the king of Babylon, a world-ruling empire, and he said how marvelous he was as he had built this whole mess. Well, let's again look at Daniel 4. Daniel 4, you see Daniel was in Nebuchadnezzar's court. But you also see that Nebuchadnezzar had such pride and such arrogance. He says in verse 30, the king says, is not this magnificent Babylon that I build as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty? Now, again, I'm sure all of you know what happened. He became essentially an animal for seven years. Essentially, much like a dog or cat or more like a wild animal. Until God finally woke him up. And then, whenever God did that, starting in verse 34, when that time was over, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me, so it would appear that God returned the spirit in man to him. And he says, I bless the Lord God, most high, and praise and honor the one who lives forever. His sovereignty is an everlasting sovereignty in his kingdom and doers from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. He does what he wills with the host of heaven and with the inhabitants of the earth. There's no one who can stay his hand or say to him, what are you doing? At that time, my reason returned to me. My majesty and splendor was restored to me by the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and Lord sought me and reestablished things over my kingdom. And I still had even more greatness in I. Verse 37, Nebuchadnezzar prays and extol and honor the God of heaven. For all his works are truth, his ways are justice, he is able to bring low those who walk in pride. See, that had happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Now, I don't know, certainly knowing the outcome of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, I don't know how much of an impact this had. You don't see a lot more about it, but you see him very clearly believing that the God that Daniel worshiped could do anything he wanted, and he will clearly bring those who walk in pride. And so, clearly, God is capable of doing that. We see a verse here in Isaiah 2. Isaiah 2, this is about the millennium, about what we worship, or what we envision, I guess, during the Feast of Tabernacles. Isaiah 2, the chapter has several things about that.

It starts out in verse 1, or verse 2, I guess. Days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house will be established as the highest of the mountains, so it's obviously talking about a millennial timeframe. It says the law will go forth from Zion, they'll beat their swords into plow shears. That's a kind of a millennial setting that we celebrate and that we envision and that we are grateful for and we know God is even preparing us for.

Down in verse 11, he says, the haughty eyes of people will be brought low and the pride of everyone shall be humbled because the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The people are going to be worshipping themselves anymore. They're going to be worshipping the great God. Those who walk in pride and who have never recognized that pride is a cause of all the problems that we talked about there dealing with the Corinthian church, those who walk in pride are going to be brought low.

And so clearly God not only hates pride, he resists the proud and so it would be wise for us to consider. Do we really recognize pride or arrogance in our lives? Do we see that? Of course, when you read Isaiah 14, you know, or we have a description of Lucifer's rebellion against God, that he was clearly corrupted by pride.

Clearly corrupted by arrogance and pride and over estimation of his ability. We better go there, I guess. Isaiah 14. Verse 12, how are you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn? How are you cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low? Verse 13, you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I'll sit on the Mount of Assembly on the sides of the north. I will ascend to the tops of the clouds. I'll make myself like the most high. Verse 15 says you'll be brought down to the grave. Now, clearly a description of what we also see in Ezekiel 28 about Lucifer's rebellion against his creator. Insane decision. Crazy idea that the one who made the angelic realm and even the archangels is not stronger than any of the creation.

And so, pride and arrogance is really the core of all sin, and it's simply following a way that we see so graphically described throughout the world. The second thing that I'll mention, and this is part of what we read through in the first part of the book of Corinthians, is simply that pride always brings about enmity and hostility and looking down on others. Pride always is a cause for hostility and envy and looking down on others.

See, what did Paul say there in 1 Corinthians 4? He says I'm sad to see that you're so critical of me and looking down on me. But see, the reason was that they were puffed up. In 1 Corinthians 4, we read much of this. He said, you know, you've become arrogant. In verse 6, you're puffed up and favor one against another. See, pride and arrogance causes bad comparisons, bad evaluation, and so and so, you know, it's better or different or whatever than I am.

See, that's what Paul describes. Pride is actually the cause of quarrels and not really being able to share the love of God. Romans 12, 3, again, in talking to the church, this time in Rome, Romans 12, he says in verse 2, don't be conformed to the world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In Romans 12, verse 3, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think. See, here's another description that Paul gives of the fact that vanity or pride or arrogance, perhaps, is a better description, that that is personified by being puffed up, thinking more highly than you should of what we have to say. Even here in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 3, this is actually in connection with qualifications for the ministry.

This is clearly something the ministry can be corrupted by, unless we realize that's a probability. Unfortunately, we've seen way too much corruption in the ministry because of pride, because of arrogance, because of not wanting to cooperate and not wanting to get along, not wanting to be united and being puffed up. But, you know, if you don't recognize that, here, in talking about an elder and giving different qualifications, it says regarding someone who would be designated as a teacher, he should have certain qualities temperate, sensible, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money managing his household.

In verse 6, he must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit, puffed up with pride, and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Again, a warning to the ministry, don't go there. Don't go there. And, of course, if it's a warning to the ministry, then it's a warning to all of us that we don't want to allow ourselves to be corrupted in that way.

But pride almost always means you enmity and hostility and looking down, making wrong comparisons. The third thing I'll mention, again, we've already read this in 1 Corinthians 3, pride undermines unity. That's why there were divisions and quarreling there in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 3, the first several verses, he says, when there's jealousy and quarreling, you're not really being spiritual, you're being carnal. And so, when pride is there, then we are not united as we should be. We're not sharing the love of God. What else is Jesus described as His disciples?

We read this at the Passover service in John 13. It says, verse 34-35, My disciples will be recognized by loving one another. That's how they'll know. That's how you'll know. That you are My disciples if you are overcoming pride and arrogance and seeking, in a sense, the exact opposite of that. And the last thing I'll just point out to you is pride is the complete opposite of the love of God. You know, if you want to read through something that's completely different than pride, you can read through 1 Corinthians 13. That whole chapter describes a mindset, it describes a way to live that is completely different than what pride produces.

Because it says in verse 4, the love of God is long suffering and kind. It is not jealous. It is not boastful. It is not arrogant. It is not rude. And it goes on with a lot of other things. It's completely opposite from what God wants to see in His children. So as I said, brethren, none of us are immune to this, and clearly it maybe should be obvious. Self-glory simply doesn't glorify God. It glorifies us. You know, it tries to. But it's not something that God wants to see. In Psalms 138, Psalms 138, in contrast to pride and arrogance and being puffed up as the Corinthian church was, hopefully they improved, hopefully they got better, hopefully they learned something from the days of Unleavened Bread that He said you should keep.

Psalms 138, verse 6, it says, For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He perceives from far away. If we want to be close to God, then we want to put away pride and arrogance and seek humility. In James 4, verse 6, it says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. And therefore, of course, He tells us to submit ourselves to God and to seek humility that comes from looking at ourselves in a proper way. You see, in Matthew 18, Matthew chapter 18, we've gone through much of Matthew here in the last few months, but in Matthew 18 we have the example of who's the greatest in the kingdom?

Matthew 18, verse 1, Jesus says, in verse 3, 2, verse 3, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven, and whoever becomes humble, like this little child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

He said, that's the way I am. That's the way I represent myself to you as the disciples. You know, I am a king, and I am, Jesus would say. I'm your teacher, and I'm your master, but I'm willing to wash your feet. I'm willing to humble myself in any way necessary, ultimately, in the ultimate way of giving His life for us. But say, that's a humility, and of course you can go through Philippians 2 if you want to read real humility, what Jesus was willing to do, coming down, having been with God, and then becoming, taking on the form of a servant, and then achieving His mission, and again, now returning to the Father.

And of course, in Matthew chapter 5, we're familiar with the attributes of a converted mind. The Beatitudes, as some might call them, but I think it's better to think of them as the attributes of a converted mind, because the first one says, blessed are the proud, the arrogant, the mighty. No, it says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. And of course, two verses later in verse 5, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. See, that's the opposite of pride, opposite of being puffed up, the opposite of arrogance. And so, as we enjoy the days of unleavened bread, which I hope all of us can over this next seven days, as we enjoy those days, I hope we'll be mindful, and as we eat our unleavened bread, wanting to take in the life of Jesus, the mind of Jesus, the way that he was, the humility that he personified, although we want to recall what Paul told the Corinthians.

The problem wasn't simply the one man who was sinning, it was a congregational problem of being puffed up, of being arrogant and not knowing it. Not knowing that that was something that caused many of their other problems. And actually, you could say pride is perhaps our greatest enemy, because it involves us, it involves our thinking, it involves our heart, and of course, as we see ourselves, you know, that we can repent, as Mr.

Rebaum covered, we can repent, return to God, and certainly receive his forgiveness and mercy, but we want to seek the humility of Jesus Christ. So I hope this helps in seeing what it was that Paul was talking about in Corinth, and as he talked to a congregation of the Church of God there, it is also applicable to us to seek not to be arrogant or be boastful or be puffed up, but to simply seek the type of humility that is actually represented by unleavened bread. Bread that is not puffed up, bread that is somewhat hard and not as tasty, but nonetheless, a spiritual lesson for all of us during this first festival of this year of God's holy and righteous festival days.