“And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of…the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:5-6)
After taking a boat to the northern Sea of Galilee shore, the disciples realized they didn’t have bread. Jesus, with time running out before His imminent death, took the opportunity to teach them what was the most critical thing for their spiritual survival: spiritual bread (Matthew 4:4). So, He warns them to “beware.” Beware of what?
Leaven is a single-cell fungus that, once activated, permeates bread dough, feeding on the natural sugars. Our Lord likens this activated yeast to an insidious weapon and points to the Sadducees. The Sadducees, sons of wealthy aristocratic families, were highly influential and controlled religious politics. They taught religious naturalism, all but denying God’s miraculous intervention in creation. These pragmatists constructed a synchronistic theology that is still alive and well.
Today’s Sadducees spin their insidious influence in churches, schools, and seminaries. Their leavening influence includes rejecting the biblical teaching of a six-day creation, adopting Darwinian ideologies like natural selection, rejecting the Noahic worldwide Flood, nullifying miracles in Scripture, and denying Jesus Christ’s deity and resurrection.
What does just a little leaven do? It blinds people from seeing the gospel. It dulls a believer’s understanding of clear biblical truth. Allowing these microbe-like single-cell ideologies to grow unopposed always spells spiritual catastrophe.
Believer, don’t allow any of these influences a foothold in your life, the lives of your family, or those lives you shepherd in your spiritual family. As our Lord warns: Believer, beware! CM
Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, Dr. John Morris, and others to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
