Whoa... hold on a minute Jesus, I thought leaven was compared to the teachings of the Pharisees. I thought that the bread of communion was unleavened to represent Your sinless nature, and therefore sin is leaven. How can the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, be like leaven?
(For those who do not know. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are largely interchangeable. This is because authors like Matthew follow the tradition of not speaking the name of "God." Therefore they substituted heaven in the place of YWHA, or God.)
Leaven in modern terms is the result of yeast being active in something like bread. In the context of the kingdom of God being like leaven, Jesus is saying the kingdom of God is like yeast.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Yeast is a living fungous substance. When added to dough the living organism begins to comsume the dough as well as multiply. The resulting by product is a gas that causes the bread to rise and become fluffy. Likewise when yeast is added to fruit juices it again begins to multiply. It also consumes the sugars and as a waste product secretes alcohol.
As a result of this leaven, juice becomes wine, and in the process gives off gases. These gases, if not released or contained in a flexible "new wine skin" can cause the vessel to burst during fermentation. We do not see the gas of wine, but we all can relate to the gas that is released from a bottle of champagne. Champagne is nothing more than wine that has undergone a second fermentation where the gas is not allowed to escape.
The result is that when a bottle of champagne is opened and poured, the bubbling experience is effervescence Effervescence is the escape of gas from an aqueous solution and the foaming or fizzing that results from the release of the gas.
With me so far?
The kingdom of God is an effervescent life within a life. It is a living, growing thing inside our very soul. It is producing a cleansing gas, that from time to time will result in a spiritual burb. Expelling the gas, expelling the waste byproduct is necessary as the kingdom of God expands. As it converts what is in its way to itself, the waste must go.
I know this, because it is what I experienced with 12 or 13 living examples of Christ at love machine. With all hell breaking loose around me, with what feels like life hanging in the balance, God chose today for me to burb up some shame.
How fitting that this blog's theme is shameless surrender. How characteristically God that in a season where hell itself seems to be on a personal vendetta against me, that God would have me pause in the pressure to release some gas. I laugh because there is a condition that divers can experience under extreme pressure called the bends. If they come up too quickly without the gas buildup in their blood being released they will experience extreme pain and even death. Today for me was a decompression. Today's painful burb is preventative to spiritual bends tomorrow.
Even now I hear some of you asking how. How did you have a spiritual burb? To that, I have no answer other than God is just God. The specifics however were a release of shame. Shame of failure. Shame of not being a better person. Shame of not being smarter. Shame of not thinking the right thing, of not treating people with perfect love. Primarily I feel shame because I don't believe my life reflects Christ completely. I feel shame because I don't think my heavenly Father is proud of me. None of which is true... but all of it needed to come bubbling up. It is the effervescent life of God inside my very soul that surgically brought all of the shame to the surface so that it could be removed. These lies were buried in my soul. They were affecting my actions and my obedience. Fear of shame was causing ungodly reactions to normal pressures.
The fathoms of the issue are irrelevant. What is relevant is that we need not resist God's effervescence. We need not push down those feelings that rise to the top. New wine skins, a born again soul... expand as needed, but they are also porous allowing the gas to escape. Expand with the Holy Spirit but let the CO2 off. There is no life in it. Let God breath into you, and as necessary exhale the crap, the lies, the barriers, the walls, the myths, the teachings, everything that exalts itself against God. Allow the leaven that is the kingdom of God leaven your entire soul.
And if you want to see this practically applied. If you want to learn to exhale, contact me and I will put in touch with someone to help you in the process.
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