Day 42

Jesus continues His teaching over the next several months. We only have time in this study to cover a couple of His lessons on leadership development. These days for Jesus are packed with incredible teaching on the development of leaders. One of the most important teachings that Jesus gives during this time is on being an unleavened leader. Read carefully and digest what Jesus is saying to His disciples about leadership. He calls for a radically different leadership style than what they had seen their whole lives from the religious leaders. As you read, ask God to examine your leadership style.

Read Luke 12:1-12; Matthew 16:1-12

What is hypocrisy- how would you define it?


List all the results of hypocrisy found in Matthew 23:13-35.

What was the leaven, the yeast, of the leadership in Israel? (Luke 12:1; Matt.16:12)?

What type of hypocrisy did the disciples need to fear?

How do you find hypocrisy creeping into your life?

During the past six months, Jesus has drawn a sharp distinction between the type of leadership he expects and the type of leadership His disciples have had as a model growing up in Israel. He does this by stopping periodically and pointing out that how the leaders of Israel are leading is different from the leadership Jesus desires from them. Jesus says that something in the Jewish leaders of His day causes them to lead poorly. They have been corrupted, and that corruption is leaven or yeast. Leaven is an ingredient that people would add to bread or wine to give it body. You put a small amount of yeast into the bread or wine, which affects the whole thing quickly, changing it.

In the Old Testament, God told the people to search their homes, throw out any leaven and then make unleavened bread to eat for seven days. This, Feast of Unleavened bread, dates back to the Exodus from Egypt (Exod. 12:14-20). On the night before the Israelites were to leave Egypt, Moses commands the people: “ For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your house…”(Exod. 12:15). Leaven, or yeast, in the Old Testament was a symbol of Sin.

Jesus uses this common practice in Israel as a teaching illustration for His young leaders. He knew it would be something they would never forget because it was sewn into the fabric of their culture. Jesus says there are two different types of leaven that they, as faithful disciples, should be aware of. Two ingredients in poor leadership that they should watch out for and purge from their leadership style so that they might be unleavened bread (1 Cor. 5:8). He tells them, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6). The two types of leaven to guard against are the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of the Sadducees.

Jesus tells us that the leaven of the Pharisees is their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). They taught one thing and lived another. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisee. You should practice what you preach. If you tell people they need to be involved in making disciples, you must also be making disciples. I have met many people who give lip service to the Great Command (Matt. 28:19-20). They talk great, but when you ask them about their disciples, they have all kinds of excuses for not actively or intentionally investing their lives into others. Beware of a lifestyle that demonstrates something other than what you are teaching.

Do you have leaven of the Pharisees in your life?  

The leaven of the Sadducees can be best seen in Acts (Also written by Luke). “The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there are neither angels nor spirits” (Acts 23:8). Jesus had been teaching that there are two resurrections, where “Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:29). He goes on to say, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The leaven of the Sadducees was that they hardened their hearts to the truth. They were more interested in being correct than in what was the truth. Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. Do not harden your heart. Remain teachable and open to being transformed by the truth. Don’t think you know it all; stay teachable and willing to be transformed by the truth you have yet to discover about God. Don’t put God in a box and think you have it all figured out. There are many truths that God still longs for you to know about Him and His son. That is the reason for eternity: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Let God the Father continue His work in you. Get rid of all the pride and humble yourself before the Father.

Both groups of leaders, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, have been corrupted by the world around them. As a result, they lacked sincerity and would not believe the truth. Paul says, “Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:8).

Beware of the leaven of hypocrisy, insincerity, and hard-heartedness.

It does not take much leaven to infect your whole life and wound those around you. A little pride, hypocrisy, insincerity, and an unmoving heart will affect the world around you.

How does one know if they have leaven in their life? How do you clean your house of all leaven?