And Jesus said to them, “Watch Out and Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” – Matthew 16:6 (NASB)
Anyone who knows a little about baking may put together leaven is what causes bread to rise. No, this is not a piece on baking and the intricacies of the chemistry and science behind it. What you need to understand is that very little leaven is required to cause your loaf of bread to rise. This was a warning about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious teachers and powerful people for the Jewish people in biblical times). It may make sense that perhaps Jesus was calling out an error in teaching, but what does this have to do with us so many years after? A lot.
I am astounded by the amount of aberrant teaching, thoughts, and ideas that are entering the church and more so people’s minds. This really is nothing new, but the level of infiltration due to the many mediums that people access and are bombarded with are unprecedented. Furthermore, the level of censorship and “fact-checking” going on by the social media giants is alarming, to say the least. This should alarm all of us regardless of our beliefs. Dialogue and the interrogation of truth claims are what healthy societies are built on because “IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.”
Jesus was not just fact-checking the Pharisees and Sadducees. In fact, this was a warning that is more relevant today than ever, in my opinion. Jesus was warning that even the smallest amount of bad teaching adopted into one’s system of beliefs, worldview, or many things for that matter has the potential to affect the whole thing. In philosophy and logic, this would be the slippery slope fallacy. These authority figures at the time would have been viewed as knowledgeable and authoritative, and their role garnered with it much power. They may have even been viewed as possibly above reproach and religious. This is where we see their human teaching, which appeared like a high view of morality and seemed right, was not the message of God. Jesus was turning the system upside down and correcting this.
This can be seen all around us in things like Progressive Christianity [I would rather call this liberal Christianity, but that is even a stretch. Refer to Alisa Childers ministry and book on this for more.], CRT, and the various ideologies that are taking over people’s minds and actions. A little idea that takes root and then pervades the whole thing. It should not really be a surprise since many warned of this in academia decades ago when this began to become such a contentious issue, but it was minimized and ignored and here we are where the little bit of leaven has become a lot and so much of what people hold true and dear has been spoiled.
This is the importance of adhering to Jesus and his warning. This is why I chose the title of “Truth Interrogated Ministries”. There are so many people who put out ideas and claims that sound factual. The scary thing is when you ask many how they came to those conclusions or arrived at those thoughts they cannot articulate a positive case for this aside from a 2–5-minute YouTube video they watched. Did you consider the other side? Most often the answer is ‘no’ and dare I go out on a limb and suggest it is because the idea they are promoting suits their view and their autonomy. But, I submit, as Frank Turek often posits, “They are not on a relentless pursuit of truth, open to evidence where it leads. They’re on a happiness quest, not on a truth quest”[1] I am on a truth quest, and I am not ashamed of the truth. Is the gospel offensive? Yes, but so is the truth. Maybe there is a correlation here, and I submit you need not think it is fantasy or a crutch. Having finished my MA in Christian Apologetics now I can say it was one of the most intellectually challenging journeys and I am amazed at how relevant the gospel and the message of Jesus continues to be. Our culture today needs this message, not some perversion of it, but the full, expensive, authoritative, TRUE gospel. I invite you to join me on this relentless truth quest as we interrogate truth claims and challenge the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees of our day.
[1] Frank Turek, Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishers Inc., 2014), 112, Kindle.