Mat 13:33; The Silent Spread: Unseen Growth of Virtue and Vice.

Wednesday April 9, 2025

Mat 13:33. 

Leaven in every other NT text is bad. 

An aspect of the leaven of the Pharisees is that people do not have to be radically changed by supernatural rebirth to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Joh 3:3-15

Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

9 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?  11 "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.  12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.  14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Mat 16:12

Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

The leaven of Herod (Mar 8:15) is the thought that life depends on power, position, wealth, influence, and being liked in general. (third soil of thorns that choke the word).

The leaven in Corinth was immoral degeneracy, which is the thought that grace exempts me from the commandments.  

The leaven in Galatia was moral degeneracy, which is the thought that the spiritual life is sustained by rituals and living righteously.

Main idea: Within the church grows good and bad, fluctuating with each generation.

What good things happen and bad things happen in the church varies and changes as societies and cultures change. It should be steadily good, but unfortunately, that has never been the case.

If we simply look at diffusion, just like the mustard seed was expansion, then we know from history that the church has been filled with good and bad.

Good diffusion: the spiritual life gifted by the Life from heaven. 

Vine infographic. 

If you settle for falsehood and do not discover understanding, you will remain a stub. 

Our life, flowing and growing from the Vine, is supernatural.

Phi 3:7-11

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

When done properly, all life gives glory to God for all things, Rev 4:11

Application: 

Putting works before grace is cutting the branch and cutting yourself off from Christ (saved or unsaved).

Gal 5:4

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Leaven in the church says that this love for Christ can be compromised. 

Beware: Likened to leaven, false ideas about anything essential to the spiritual life, from salvation to fruit, will eventually diffuse itself throughout the whole of your theology and shrivel up your spiritual life.  

Religion and liberal theology have snapped this vine and rearranged it, while keeping all the same pieces, hence the deception.

Signs that you are not attaining to the growth of the vine are: self-righteousness, seeking self-pleasure first, personal prosperity first, lack of sacrifice for others, no desire for greater personal sanctification, immorality, no covenant love.