I CORINTHIANS 5:6-8: “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” NKJV

OBSERVATION: Is there leaven in my heart? Leaven in the Bible refers to sin. The Passover meal was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each family would search their home for any traces of leaven and get rid of it. They would bake their bread without leaven during this time. This symbolized the removal of sin from their hearts as they sought the Lord.

Paul is addressing the Corinthian church about leaven in their assembly. A young man was involved in sexual immorality with his father’s wife. The church had turned its head and ignored this sin. Paul rebukes them for their indifference and failure to deal with this sin and reminds them,

“Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

Any sin, in a church, or in a life, that is not dealt with will impact the whole. Sin does not stay compartmentalized. It bleeds into every aspect of our lives. It affects our hearts, our attitudes, and our actions. When someone has unrepentant sin in their life it will be expressed outwardly and will infect the lives of others. Many times this is in tempting others to do the same thing. It will also infect people by causing them to take up secondary offenses and unforgiveness.

I have witnessed leaven tearing my life apart and the life of others. I have been on the receiving end of trying to deal with leaven in the life of the church and the fallout from taking such a stand. All I know is that a little leaven does indeed leaven the whole lump!

I need to treat every day like it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I must wake up and pray – “Search me O Lord, know my ways, and see if there is any leaven (wicked ways) within me.” I must gather up the leaven that I am aware of and bring it to the cross of Jesus Christ. I must confess my sins and receive the forgiveness and cleansing of Jesus Christ anew!

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:8-9 NKJV)

I need to pray for the leadership in my church and encourage them to take a loving stand against leaven in the church. Church discipline is necessary but is never to be meted out with a judgmental heart. Our hearts must be broken for the brother or sister caught in the throws of sin and be ready to restore them in a spirit of love and forgiveness when they turn back to the Lord.

If we ignore sin in our life, if we ignore sin in our churches, we will always pay a price that is much higher than the sorrow of dealing with it in truth and in love. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the benefit of such personal introspection and corporate discipline.

“For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2Co 7:8-10 NKJV)

Unleavened bread is not exciting nor as tasty as leavened bread. Sin excites and then it kills. We must not be drawn away by its false hopes or ignore its deadly effect. We are called to purge out the old leaven and become a new lump. I cannot do this in my own strength. Yet, when I yield to the Lord Jesus Christ, when I bring my leaven to the foot of the cross, His grace meets me (and it meets the life of a local church), and something wonderful happens.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Cor 5:17)

Father, this morning, I come to the foot of the cross. I lay down my old leaven. I open my heart to Your mercy and grace. Help me to become a new lump, a new creation, in Jesus Christ my Lord!

“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

In Jesus’ Name!