Throughout Jesus earthly ministry the religious leaders were constantly seeking to attack Him, His teaching, and His method of ministry. These religious people were filled with jealousy but also attacked Jesus out of ignorance as Paul attested to in 1 Timothy 1:13. Jesus would often correct these hypocrites’ doctrine as they had made their personal observations on the same level as the doctrine of God Himself (Mark 7:7). But some of the greatest admonition from Jesus is over what He called their “leaven.” But what is that leaven?
In Matthew 15 and 16 this confrontation comes to a climax as Jesus directly confronts them over this issue.
It begins in Matthew 15 when the scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of not ceremoniously washing their hands before they ate. Jesus does not respond by attacking the washing of the hands, as that was a proper thing to do, but He did address their heart being far from God even if they sounded good in their words. (Matthew 15:1-8) Jesus then gathers the people to Himself and publicly addresses the heart of the issue of the hypocrites - motivation.
You see, the religious leaders believed that if they did the right things the motivation was unimportant because they were doing “the right thing.” But Jesus makes it clear that doing the right things for the right reasons was the crucial to being right with God. He tells the people that the sins of our lives come from the condition of our heart (Matthew 15:18-19).
Then in Matthew 16:1, the Pharisees and Sadducees approach Jesus looking for a “sign from heaven.” This was obviously their attempt to get Jesus to prove to their satisfaction that He was from God. Jesus makes it clear, Matthew 16:1-4, that their desire for signs is because they refuse to accept the sign of Jonah, which was a message of faith alone. Jesus then warns his disciples of the “leaven” in Matthew 16:6-11. His illustration of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand was proof that the outward cannot motivate the inward but the other way around.
This truth has unfortunately caused many to throw away their holy righteous living as they believe that Jesus has accepted their heart’s motivation instead of the outward living. They say things like “God knows my heart.” It is true that God knows our heart, and according to Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is wicked and cannot be trusted in itself.
So what are we to do?
First, ask the Lord to give us a clean heart - Psalm 51:10. God is the only One who can make our hearts clean before Him. Proverbs 20:9 tells us that we cannot make our hearts clean.
Second, accept that God is holy and we must seek to live holy lives - 1 Peter 1:16. Sin has no place in our lives, and, our salvation should change our desire from sinfulness to sanctification toward God’s holiness. (James 4:8)
Third, never justify your sin because you think your motivation is right with God, because the sin shows you are NOT right in your motivation. (Romans 6:1-4)
My entire life has been lived in a group of Christianity known as independent fundamental Baptists (IFB). This group has often been called Pharisees due to their strict stance on certain moral issues and a perceived belief that the outward makes a Christian right on the inside. I cannot answer for every IFB out there and I am sure there are those who are Pharisaical in their stance. But though every Christian may not have the right stance about the heart’s motivation there are those who do have their hearts right with God. So don’t judge every IFB as a Pharisee. Those that choose to live their lives with standards and convictions may be doing so out of a desire for holiness and thus have a right motivation.
Beware of the leaven, even in your own heart!
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