DAY 21
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Galatians 5:7-12 NIV
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Matthew 13:33 NIV
Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.
Exodus 34:25 NIV
I find bread fascinating… and how much I love it is probably my weakness.
If you ever try making a loaf of bread, you need yeast to make the bread rise. However, you only need a small amount to see a whole loaf rise. This is the small, yet significant power, of yeast. Even as you start to put a few grains of yeast in the dough, it won’t result in half the loaf rising and the other half not rising, but rather it will work its way throughout the loaf.
Paul is using the metaphor of yeast to highlight the significance of choosing to live by works, or by grace.
The Galatians were used to hearing and observing Jewish customs. In Exodus 34:25, yeast was forbidden and unacceptable in sacrifice. When Paul references yeast, he is helping the Galatians to understand the huge significance of something they think has only small significance.
Living according to works will permeate your whole life.
However, living according to grace will permeate your whole life.
The reality is that we cannot have Jesus and a bit of works on the side.
We have to make the decision: Jesus is either everything to us or nothing to us. Thankfully, it is the greatest decision we can ever make.
Question
What is an area of your life that keeps trying to trick you into believing your identity is in your performance and not in Jesus?