Wednesday, September 8, 2021 PM

Luke 12:1-3 and the Leaven of the Pharisees

We're gonna go ahead and get started. We're gonna be in Luke chapter 12, and I'll be reading Luke 12 verses 1 through 12 here in a moment. Let's go ahead and start with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the time that you have arranged for us tonight to rejoice and fellowship together around this meal, and we thank you for the children gathering to to learn songs and scriptures and truths from your word, and we pray that you would bless their time.

Lord, help us as we read your word together to understand it clearly. We pray that you would bless us with through your Holy Spirit to show us your Son, Jesus Christ, that we would rejoice in him, and that you would help us to follow him in all things, and we pray that you would bless our time of prayer together, that we would intercede for one another in a godly way, trusting you, asking for the many needs that we have in our lives, but asking in faith, knowing that you're a good Heavenly Father, and it's in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray for all these things.

Amen. So Luke chapter 12, verses 1 through 12. In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

Therefore,.

Whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Fear of Man, Death, and the Fear of the Lord

But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. Also, I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, him, the Son of Man, will also confess before the angels of God.

But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

So,.

We need to think about.

How Jesus deals with his.

Disciples in the middle of this crowd, this innumerable multitude. As we read, there's so many of them there. People are trampling over one another, knocking people down and tripping over them or stepping on them, just trying to get close to Jesus Christ, to get close to Jesus of Nazareth.

And.

He begins to talk to his disciples in the middle of all of that chaos, in the middle of that great crowd. He has some things, some very specific things he wants to say to his disciples. And he continues this instruction, and you may imagine that more and more of the crowd are settling in and he's going to get a question from the crowd in verse 13 that he's going to be handling and then it turns into this this teaching session.

But at this point, he's talking to the disciples, to his friends, to those who are probably part of that group that follow him, maybe not one of the twelve, but those who are often following him and with him and so on, and they're all in the middle of this massive crowd.

And the first thing he wants to talk to his disciples about in the middle of this massive people-trampling crowd is he wants to talk about leaven. He wants to talk about leaven. Now, how does leaven work?

What is leaven and how does it work? Right, so it's yeast, it raises the bread. If you don't put yeast in bread, and then you do put yeast in bread, the difference between the two is quite startling. If you forget to put the yeast in the bread, you're very disappointed when you had planned to.

I remember when I was a boy and my mother was baking certain things, my brother and I were not allowed to be in the house because we did not know how to tread lightly and we would stomp and bang and then the cake would fall or whatever and it did not look nice.

So we had to wait for the leaven or the yeast to do its work until finally it was all settled and then finally we could come back into the house. Now, the leaven, the yeast, does not rank up there with one of the main ingredients in terms of material, in terms of amount.

It's usually a small amount that you would ever use in any recipe. And so it's a little bit of something in there that changes everything. It changes everything. It's a little bit of something that changes everything, and that's what makes leaven or yeast a really great illustration that Jesus uses more than once.

In particular here, he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And we don't have to guess at what he means because he identifies that it's hypocrisy. It's hypocrisy. The word comes from the.

The.

Greek theater.

It has the idea of someone wearing one of those acting masks from afar. The crowd would sit from afar in the amphitheaters and Hellenistic cities, and they would watch the Greek plays being put on, and they would have these masks that are like emojis, over-emphasizing whatever the emotion is, so that everybody could see the mood of the actor.

And they would put the mask up so that everyone would see this emotion or this this character, so that everybody would know what was going on. And from this we have the word hypocrisy. It has the idea of wearing a different face than what you actually are.

It has the idea of marketing yourself in a certain way. I want people to think such-and-such about me, whether or not it's true. Okay, it's about putting up a front. It's about having a second face.

Something that covers your own face. Something you want others to see. Now, Jesus calls this leaven. Now, what is it about leaven that we just discussed? How does leaven work? It affects everything. It may not seem like a bunch.

It may not seem like it's a big deal, but it actually affects everything. It gets into everything. And so he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. So what he's saying is, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the things that they do to make themselves look good, we have a list of that in Matthew 6.

When it was time to give to the poor, they'd have someone blow the trumpet, and everyone look around like, why is that trumpet being blown? Oh look, there's the Pharisee. Hey everyone, I'm giving to the poor.

Right? I want you to think of me as generous. When it was time to pray, they would find a street corner where there was a lot of people, and they had, and they were ready for a long prayer with a lot of words.

And everybody, you know, had to go walk around them and try to, you know, they're trying to do the marketplace there at the at the intersection. But there's the Pharisee praying. Boy, isn't he spiritual.

When it was time to go fasting, they would fast two days a week, two days a week. And the two days a week that they fasted were the big market days. Because that's when they could drag themselves through the markets, not having combed their hair, or done up their faces, or they're in their, you know, they're in their their filthy rag clothes, and they're dragging themselves through the marketplace, so that everyone could see that they're fasting.

And they'll look longingly at the dates, like, oh no, I'm fasting.

And.

There's, you know, giving, giving, generosity, that's good. Praying, that's essential. Fasting,.

Great.

But their hypocrisy got into everything. It got into everything. It, the leaven got into everything and changed the nature of it. And so Jesus puts the priority elsewhere on the private piety, which understandably will spill out into public, but it's not the reverse.

So Jesus says here, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now, there is a big crowd.

All around.

I want us to keep that in mind. Why is he talking about this subject when there's a massive people trampling crowd pressing in on Jesus and his disciples? Jesus continues and lets them know that hypocrisy ultimately is a failure.

Hypocrisy is a failed strategy. Hypocrisy will not work. He says, there is nothing covered that will not be revealed. Right? There's the mask that covers. That mask will have to come off. There's nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. The Pharisees were all about the big appearance, the big.

Show.

Jesus.

Complained about this when he was surveying those who came to the temple, and they made a big show of them giving to the temple treasury. But he says here, what matters is that which was in the dark, that which was in the inner rooms, this is what's going to be shown and declared.

It's all going to come out. It's going to be made evident. So once again, he's putting the priority just like he did in Matthew 6, so here in Luke 12, he is putting the emphasis on what goes on in private, what goes on between a person and God.

That's what really matters, and that's what's going to come out. The Pharisees we read in the Gospels would often take their plotting in private to try to figure out how to destabilize the popularity of Christ, even how to get him in trouble with the authorities, maybe they'll stop him, or how do we get rid of him altogether?

Their murderous, hateful intentions were done in the dark, whispered in the ear, but eventually it all came out. It all came out until they were with the crowd chanting, His blood be upon us and our children.

I mean,.

They had the face on of holiness, of humility, of patience, of kindness, of tolerance, of we're the loving ones, we know how to love our neighbor as ourselves, we're the masters of God's law. But in reality, what was going on inside eventually came out.

They were lawless. So, Jesus cautions his disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, it's going to come out. And then he says, and it seems like he's changed subjects, but having just talked about the Pharisees, it's a natural connection for him to now say, and I say to you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

Why We Should Fear God Rather Than Man or Death

But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. Now, how many fears can we find here in.

Verses.

Four and five? How many fears can we find here? Let's.

Name them.

What's one of the fears that we see?

Okay,.

There is definitely a.

Fear.

Of death. Fear of people, so there's a fear of man. Okay, one more. Out of all the fears in the Bible, they all end up under one of these three headings. Somehow, someway, they all track back to one of these.

Now, the Bible.

Tells us that the fear of death is slavery. In Hebrews, we're told in Proverbs that the fear of man is a snare, but the fear of the Lord, the fear of God,.

Well,.

That's the critical piece to all true religion. The beginning of knowledge, the beginning of understanding, the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil, the fear of the Lord is the bedrock basis for everything.

When things are going bad in Israel, it's because of the lack of the fear of the Lord. When things are going well in Israel, it's because the fear of the Lord is abundant. This is.

The.

Main concern. So, in this passage, Jesus says, after dealing with the, warning them about the leaven of the Pharisees, he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. He's not telling his disciples, be obsessed and afraid of the Pharisees.

He just.

Says, just be.

Conscious of this, be alert about this, and he says, but he doesn't want them afraid of the Pharisees, afraid of their murderous intentions and powers, and so he says, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and that's all they can do.

So, don't fear man, don't fear death, fear God. Fear God. And I want you to see.

The.

Pastoral maneuver that Jesus offers to his.

Sheep here.

He doesn't want his flock terrified of man or terrified of death. How does he turn them very quickly away from that to the fear of the Lord? How does he do it?

How does he help.

Them leave the slavery and the snare for the fear that they should have? How does he help them do that? In verse 5. So what now? So he.

Warns them,.

So he puts everything in perspective, doesn't.

He?

What's the worst that man can do?

Yeah. And,.

You know, what's the worst that death has in its litany of horrible experiences? Well, you end up dying. But what is death compared what is the suffering of death compared to the horrors of hell? Not even close.

And God is the one who's in charge of hell. The everlasting smoke of the torment of those in the lake of fire rises eternally before the Lamb in Revelation. He's the one administrating it. All these cartoons that we see of the devil running hell, he's not running hell.

He's running as hard and as fast as he can until he finally ends up there. God is the one who runs hell as his instrument of vengeance and justice to his own glory. So what is death compared to hell? It's not even a comparison.

What is the power of man compared to the power of God? Just the temporary flash-in-the-pan power of man compared to the ever-eternal, strong power of God? Not even close. And so what Jesus does in a very quick way to move people away from the fear of death and away from the fear of man is to simply put things in their perspective and contrasts.

The.

Power of God with the power of man.

And.

Instantly,.

The whole.

Perspective has changed. And this is what Jesus offers for our consideration.

First.

And foremost, consider how much greater God is. Consider the power of God. Consider the magnitude of God. Consider the eternality of God. Consider how much greater and bigger he is. And that's what we need to immediately do when we recognize that we are enslaved to the fear of death or ensnared by the fear of man.

We need to immediately consider what the scriptures have to say about the bigness of God. And then Jesus does something else that's very kind, very loving to his sheep. Verses 6 and.

7.

God's Providential Care and Our Value Before Him

Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before.

God?

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Now, I'm not trying to pick on James. I saw you disappointed with this. But we have to consider Jesus is telling a joke.

He is lightening the mood. He is helping those present kind of laugh at themselves a little bit and say, yeah, I guess that's true.

He talks.

About the cheapest creature.

That.

Gets used in any transaction. Five sparrows for two copper coins. And again, he's still writing this theme of the power of God, the sovereignty of God. And the power and the sovereignty of God is not one in which he's in charge of so much that he's only a big picture kind of manager.

And never, never bothers himself with the details. That's for the other lesser authorities. The power and the sovereignty of God.

Is.

Infinitely dense.

So.

That he is directly managing everything down to the electrons and beyond. So Jesus just says, sparrows, just think of the sparrows. Not one of them is forgotten before God. He's in charge of all the sparrows.

He's tracking them all. He doesn't miss a single sparrow's death.

And he.

Says, he's got all of your hairs.

Numbered.

And.

He says, do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So in one sense, he says in verse five, he says, you need to fear God, not man and not death. And he's just told them, and given the example of, you know, God's the one in charge of hell.

But he doesn't leave them with some sort of sense of this, of a terror about God. He immediately then talks to them about the love of God and the providential care of God and how he's shepherding them even more closely and with a greater attention than even.

The sparrows. And in this,.

The.

Fear of man and the fear of death, we are delivered from those into the fear of the Lord. Now, what is the connection between verses four and seven and verses one and three? How are these two sections connected?

Well, Jesus does.

Not want his disciples to be hypocrites.

And.

The main thing that we need to know is that hypocrisy is not courage. Hypocrisy is a quick and easy method to make it look like I'm handling it. I've got it all together. No problems. And also, hypocrisy is a seemingly easy way to make sure that everybody is happy with you.

If you fear man, you immediately.

Will.

Engage in hypocrisy because you want people to think well of you and so on and so forth. And so Jesus is saying, don't fear men. Beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. That'll get into everything that you do.

Don't go that direction. Fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord will deliver us from hypocrisy.

Fear of the Lord.

Leads us into this situation where we recognize his power and respect his power and think of him first and think of him most and consider the great love that he has for us. And then, we don't have to we do not have to use the leaven of the Pharisees.

We don't even have to bring that in. We don't have to be more spiritual than we are to have to make ourselves look like we are more courageous and better than we are. We can trust in our Heavenly Father who's got our hairs numbered.

Conclusion and Prayer

I'll say we'll leave it off there and then we will consider next time as the Lord wills verses 8 through 12, which is also a further application of these themes that Jesus is bringing to focus in the lives of his disciples.

Well, let's turn our attention to prayer.