Title: I Must Change (Matthew 13:33)
Contents
The parable of the leaven is very short. It has only one verse. However, just as the leaven went into the powder and made the whole thing swell, today's words penetrate deeply like leaven in our hearts, and we believe that God will fill our hearts with His grace.
What is leaven? Yeast is also called yeast and baking powder. However, since this yeast has a fermenting element, it makes the dough rise and ferment the light grains to make it into alcohol.
It's hard to see in my family these days, but when I was a kid, I grew up seeing such scenes a lot. My mother accompany me with flour. Then, put something like leaven or yeast in it. Then, after some time, the dough will start to rise. Then, they use it to make sujebi or eat bread.
If you just knead wheat flour without yeast and bake it, the bread will be very hard and difficult to eat. However, when bread is baked with a dough that has been puffed with yeast, the bread becomes softer and tastes better.
However, if you look at the Bible, this leaven is often used to symbolize human pride, desire, and evil teachings that corrupt and corrupt. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 16:6, “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6).
In this case, leaven was used as a bad influence.
However, in today's text, leaven is not a bad thing. Used in a good, beautiful and blessed sense. That's right. Leaven is a good thing. Yeast is very good when used well.
Yeast is what makes tasteless things delicious.
Koji is what softens hard things.
It is leaven that makes useful things more useful.
The characteristic of leaven is change. Leaven causes change. Even a small amount makes a large amount of powder swell. That's why today's text also says, "It is like leaven that a woman took and put it into the flour to make it all swell."
Therefore, this leaven is Jesus. Jesus is leaven.
Jesus came into this world as the Son of God. However, for each person who met Jesus who came to this earth, changes have taken place.
Zacchaeus and Saul are the representatives of the changes in the New Testament.
Zacchaeus was a wretch. He was the only person he knew. A person who was blind to sacrifices and a person who lived by stealing other people's things. But Jesus came. “Zacchaeus, come down, I must stay at your house.” He said and went into Zacchaeus's house. But he confesses himself to Jesus.
“Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I will give half of what I have to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone, I will repay you fourfold” (Luke 19:8).
What a cool change. The confession that he would live for others occurred in his life after meeting Jesus.
Even the Apostle Paul changed completely. I met Jesus on the road to Damascus.
“Saul! Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you?”
“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Arise, go into the city, and someone will tell you what to do.” I met Jesus. After that he completely changed 180 degrees.
There was a slave trader. His highest goal in life was to make money by selling slaves at high prices. To him, the words “sympathy” or “love” were just extravagant emotions. People around him called him “the cold-blooded man”.
There will be no end for us to tell the story of the people Jesus changed in history.
But more importantly, Jesus has changed me and you.
You saved a dead soul. You have transformed us, who are stubborn, into people who can understand us. He changed people who could not do it into people who could do it.
The more we know Jesus, the more we believe in Jesus, the more we change. A lot of leaven causes many changes. However, when the leaven is gone, the change is small. When I am filled with Jesus, my life changes. But when Jesus disappears within me, nothing changes.
I must change. When I change, the family changes, when I change, the church changes, and when the church changes, society and this country change.
There was a man who had just come to church. But then an unbelieving friend I had been very close to came to visit. Then he said, "Yeah, you're going to church?" “Yes.”
“Then you should know quite a bit about Christ. Where can I listen When, in what country, where was he born?” asked. Then he said, "I don't know."
"do not know. No, you don’t know much about becoming a Christian!” He dismissed him. Then he said
“You are right. No, I am ashamed that I still know so little about Christ and his teachings. But there is one thing I know for sure. But, you know, three years ago I was a drunk, I was in a lot of debt, and my family was falling apart. Every evening my wives and children were afraid of me coming back. I was becoming like a terrifying tyrant. But now I am no longer a drunkard and I have paid off my debt. Now our home has become a harmonious family. Every evening the children wait for me to come back, thirsty. All these have been given to me by Christ Jesus Himself.”
That's right. We don't know anything about the Bible, but what is certain is that we have changed. That my husband was comfortable.
So, I've seen a deacon boasting about her husband's changed appearance, saying, "My husband believes in Jesus and has changed a lot."
Where Jesus, the leaven, is present, the family has changed. The nation has changed. The country changes. Look at the history. Look at Korea. I firmly believe that it is because the gospel came to this earth and brought about changes until the country became such a prosperous nation.
However, countries that do not accept the Gospel are poor. in the midst of oppression. There is a difference in identity. Human rights are being violated. They are not changing.
Therefore, Jesus is leaven. He makes the hard things soft, the tasteless things delicious, and the useless things useful. We must change. Our stubbornness must turn into the leaven of Jesus. Our desires must be turned into Jesus. We, who enjoyed the world and were satisfied with the world's joy, must change to Jesus.