In Exodus 12:15, God commands the ancient Israelites to put the leaven from their homes, a command that we still follow through on today when we search for the leaven and put it out of our homes as well. Understanding the context of this particular command is important for us today - because the Israelites didn't have nice, tidy Fleischmann's Yeast packets. They used SEOR, essentially a sourdough start. Full of wild yeasts and bacteria, these starts could be used for hundreds of years continuously and unbroken with a little bit of care and feeding. God in his infinite wisdom however drew a line in the sand with the Israelites and said, do not bring these starts with you. Remove them from your homes, and start over. The apostle Paul builds on this in 1st Corinthians 5, telling them not to leaven the new lump, with old leaven. Yeast wasn't identified as a leavening agent until 1857, Fleischmann's didn't start until 1868... in Paul's time, the context is this contaminated sourdough start, the Hebrew word SEOR. Christ provides his disciples, those who would follow him with a series of warnings to avoid the "Leaven of the Pharisees". To avoid these attitudes and sins in order to better follow him. In this message we will explore what constitutes the leaven of the Pharisees as we see it defined in scripture, and look at the antithesis to these attitudes, and ways to ensure that we do not fall into this trap.

Ben Light

Pastor, United Church of God

Ben is an elder serving as Pastor for the Salem, Eugene, Roseburg, Oregon congregations of the United Church of God. He is an avid outdoorsman, and loves hunting, fishing and being in God's creation.