The bread of grace and the leaven of performance

My name's Linda, for those who don't know me.

I'm just going to do the reading today.

It's from Matthew 15, starting at verse 32.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said,

I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days

and have nothing to eat, and I am unwilling to send them away hungry

lest they faint on the way.

And the disciples said to him,

Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?

And Jesus said to them,

How many loaves do you have?

They said, Seven, and a few small fish.

And directing the crowd to sit on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish,

and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples,

and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

And they all ate and were satisfied,

and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

He answered them,

When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning, it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky,

but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign,

but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

So he left them and departed.

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.

Jesus said to them,

Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And they began discussing it among themselves, saying,

We bought no bread.

But Jesus, aware of this, said,

Oh, you little faith,

why are you discussing among yourselves the fact you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive?

Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you gathered?

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many baskets you gathered?

How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread?

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread,

but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

My name is Bo, and I want the elders.

Welcome to church.

And for those who are online as well,

I understand that there are quite a number of us who are not well.

And I think over this winter,

as the viruses are spreading around,

I think every week there will be some of us who would not be well enough to come.

But yeah, just gather with us on Zoom.

Today the title that I'm speaking on is

the bread of grace and the leaven of performance.

So on the picture, you can see there are two types of bread.

One has got leaven,

that is more with A inside,

and the other one is unleavened.

At first, I put down the name as

the yeast of performance,

but actually the Lord used the word leaven.

What is the difference between leaven and yeast?

Yeast is just the organism itself.

Leaven means that the organism has infused or permeated the bread.

So that's why it's called leaven.

Leaven on Greek actually translates into English,

I think into the word enzyme.

Enzyme, the same word.

Enzyme is the substance that we use to change.

A little bit of enzyme can change a lot of material

and our body functions on enzyme.

Let us pray before we start.

Father God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ,

the Messiah who has come,

who has done wondrous things,

and who has given us life.

Help us as we read your word

and meditate on your word today

that we might appreciate

and know that we do have this treasure,

great treasure in us.

Help us to live out such a life,

a life that contains the treasure that is unspeakable.

Thank you, Lord.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

About a month ago,

after the elders' meeting,

David Coderwood told us about someone

who was being interviewed for a job.

And he said,

the question the interviewer asked was that,

tell us why we should employ you.

And David was a bit perturbed by such a question.

Maybe he's a bit too old

and he didn't know that this is how the world operates now.

But that is a very common question, isn't it,

for those who have gone to an interview.

But that question actually made me start thinking.

And that's how this sermon came about,

even from his random remarks.

And yes, if the interviewer asked you this question,

why we should employ you,

how will your answer?

And if your answer is,

because I need the money,

then your answer could be the most truthful one

among all the candidates.

But you are not likely to get the job.

Why is that so?

Because a company needs people

to give it life and growth.

It cannot employ people who does not perform.

So just for the young people here,

if you come to an interview,

I can tell you that,

this is from what I experienced this,

I'm not an expert on this,

but there are four EEs that you can remember.

The first one is,

you talk about education or expertise,

what level of knowledge you have,

and how your knowledge is related to the job you apply for.

So they want to know your qualifications.

Number two is experience.

And they want to know if you have done similar jobs before

and for how long and how you perform.

Number three is efforts.

They want to know if you have put in some effort

to find out about this job,

what you know about this job

and how hard working you'll be.

In general, they want to know that.

And the fourth EEs is exceptional skills.

So that one is a bonus.

If you have any exceptional skills or talents,

such as photographic memory

or speedy calculation,

so this will improve your chance of getting the job.

So the fourth EEs,

why am I telling you this?

But this is not a talk about interview.

But I thought this knowledge is useful for young people

if you want to be selected as school captain

or president of a club or employee.

There's good knowledge.

But more importantly,

I'm telling you this

because this is how the world outside your family operates.

Your parents may put up with you

regardless of your performance in any four EEs,

but the world outside will not.

The world outside is a huge place of needs.

It needs capable people to run businesses,

schools, factories, hospitals.

Because we live in this world of needs,

we tend to assess people with respect to their usefulness.

So we come to today's reading.

We see Jesus interacting with three groups of people.

How does the world assess them?

How do we see them ourselves?

And how does Jesus see them?

And how do they see Jesus?

So we just spend some time

looking at these three groups of people.

The first group,

I call the nobodies,

that is from Matthew 15, 32-39.

So in all the history of the world,

there's always a last row of people

who do not make it above the poverty line.

They are dispensable

and they play no important role in their societies.

As far as the rest of the world is concerned,

they are the nobodies.

You know that for most of us,

we live above the poverty line.

We have education.

We have a comfortable life.

This is not common in the history of the world

or even today in many parts of the world.

because for people to live as we do,

we need to have a stable society.

We need to have good healthcare.

Otherwise, people get sick and they die young

and they are not productive.

And if the society is not stable,

you can't be sure that what you earn

will not be robbed by other people.

And so it's hard to put in any effort to do things.

But most people who are poor,

not because of laziness,

but because they do not have any opportunity

to get education or healthcare

or such thing that we enjoy.

And if you're not in those societies

or those people,

it's very difficult to understand

the feeling of happiness and desperation of the poor.

We just simply don't.

I didn't until I went to the Philippines

and Cambodia

and lived and see how those young, poor people lived.

I would not actually have felt very much for them

or understand their situation.

It's difficult to imagine the pain of parents

when they can't afford to get their children

to have any healthcare,

a child has a toothache,

what do you do?

And it's difficult to understand the hunger

that people suffer,

people who don't know

whether they can have the next meal.

And that is still very common in our world today.

In Matthew 15, 32 to 39,

we see Jesus living among this group

of mostly Gentile,

Gentile nobodies for three days.

He went through hunger with them.

Right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry,

he was led by the Holy Spirit

to be in the wilderness

and went through hunger for 40 days.

Why did he do that?

Jesus was identifying with the poor and needy.

He knew what it was like to be hungry.

We see these thousands of people

over these three days,

they enjoyed their starvation,

but they did not go home

because they found one who cared for them

and they latched on to Jesus

to get some relief from their sufferings.

Were they worthy to be helped?

Not really.

Nobody was worthy to get help from Jesus.

Like us,

they were foolish people.

They were disobedient people.

They were led astray

by their sinful desires.

They were slaves

to their various passions and pleasure,

passing their days in malaise and envy,

hated by others

and hating one another.

This is what Paul said in Titus.

But Jesus had compassion on them.

The disciples said,

where are we to get enough bread

in such a desolate place

to feed so great a crowd?

When we read this,

we would be surprised.

Didn't Jesus just fed the 5,000

not too long ago

at a similar situation?

Didn't Jesus just heal so many people

over the last three days?

So,

were those disciples slow?

Were they dumb?

I don't think so.

I think they were just tired

and they have had enough.

After spending three days

serving these people,

they wished that Jesus

would send them away.

They had already done so much for them.

What more would they expect?

The disciples could not see

any benefit for them

to keep helping this group of nobodies.

And so,

as a contrast,

we see the grace of Jesus.

The Canaanite woman,

as what

Gareth mentioned just now,

might be asking

just for some crumbs,

but Jesus was giving

these Gentiles bread.

And he did not care

for these people

because they were useful

to him,

but because he had

compassion on them.

He fed them

with so much bread

that they could

not eat anymore

with seven baskets

full of broken pieces

left over.

And this is the grace of God.

It is free

and satisfying

and he will feed you

until you overflow with it.

The next score of people

we can read from

Matthew 16,

1 to 4,

I call them

the sunbodies.

For

a society

to be established,

we need

sunbodies

to unite,

to organize,

to judge

the population,

to keep

the law and order.

These people

usually have more education,

experience,

and skills.

and they tend

to rule the society,

to rule the nobody

with iron fees.

They knew that

if they were soft,

people would become

disobedient and defiant.

They could not afford

to rule with compassion

because people

would take advantage

of their compassion.

They saw Jesus

feeding the 4,000.

They might think

that Jesus was a fool

for giving up

free food.

If you give people

free food,

they will become lazy.

a wise leader

will always make

people work

for their needs.

They do not

appreciate Jesus'

generosity,

even if it was

a miraculous act.

However,

they need to do

something about Jesus

because more and more

people were

being attracted

to Jesus

and they were

losing control

of the crowd,

of the people.

so they

wanted Jesus

to either join

their rank

and to be

one of them

or to disappear

from their circle.

Jesus did not

have any

formal education

like they did.

Jesus did not

have many years

of experience

in leadership

and Jesus

did not

even want

to uphold

somebody's

creed

and their

direction.

Jesus

tended to

oppose

to what

they,

the way

of doing

things.

So,

as far as

somebody's

are concerned,

Jesus failed

to qualify

regarding

to the law.

Perhaps

Jesus could

join the ranks

as a prophet.

Perhaps

Jesus had

exceptional

skills

that would

promote

his status.

And so,

in Matthew

16,

1-4,

we see the

Pharisees

and Sadducees

coming together

to test

Jesus.

So,

both of

this group

of people

were the

religious

elite

of the

Jews.

They

actually

dislike

each other.

They have

their own

stand.

but now

that they

have a

bigger

threat

to their

status,

they work

together

to see

what they

can do

to Jesus.

So,

they request

Jesus to

perform a

miracle,

one that

will

validate

or

disqualify

Jesus.

Depends

on what

Jesus

could do.

So,

Jesus

said,

you can

associate

the appearance

of morning

sky,

with the

weather

of the

day.

You

should

also

be able

to

associate

what

I

have

done

so far

with

what

the

scripture

has

prophesied

about me.

So,

what the

scripture

has

foretold

about me.

You read,

you knew,

and you

should be

able to

associate

that

with

what

I

have

done.

You

do not

recognize

my

identity,

not because

there was

not enough

evidence,

it is

because of

your

rebellious

heart.

In

Psalm 18,

25-26,

we read,

With the

merciful,

you show

yourself

merciful.

With the

blemeless man,

you show

yourself

blemeless.

With the

purified,

you show

yourself

pure.

With the

crooked,

you make

yourself

seem

torturous.

mercy.

So,

these

assemblies,

they work

hard to

establish

and maintain

their

position.

They did

not know

what mercy

was.

They

know that

if they

did not

work hard,

they won't

get what

they want,

and they

don't expect

any mercy

from anyone.

So,

they therefore

could not

appreciate

the mercy

of Jesus.

They

thought Jesus

was either

a fool

or he

had

ulterior

motive in

helping the

people.

No one

would give

out free

lunch.

Jesus

must be

seeking

something

from the

crowd.

Because

their hearts

had not

been purified

by God,

they could

not see

the purity

in Jesus.

Because

their minds

are crooked,

they could

not associate

what Jesus

has said

and done

with purity

and righteousness.

They could

only assume

there's

something

Jesus was

after

in what

Jesus

has done.

For an

evil

and

adulterous

generation,

nothing

Jesus

could

do

would

convince

the

somebody

because

they

did

not

know

what

mercy

and

purity

were.

However,

Jesus

remained

merciful.

While

these

people

could

not

accept

him,

Jesus

would

still

give

them

an

ultimate

sign,

the

sign

of

Jonah.

In

chapter

12 of

Matthew,

which

has

gone

through,

Jesus

explained

what

the

sign

of

Jonah

was.

Matthew

12,

40,

it

says,

For

just as

Jonah

was

three

days

and

three

nights

in the

belly

of the

great

fish,

so the

Son of

Man

will be

three

days

and

three

nights

in the

heart

of the

earth.

Jesus

was

telling

them

that

there

is

one

sign,

the

ultimate

sign

that

will

happen.

You

just

have

to

wait

for

it.

Jesus'

death

and

resurrection

will

prove

Jesus'

purity

in

his

motive

and

his

righteousness

in

his

action.

In

Jesus'

death,

we

know

that

Jesus

gave

his

life.

What

more

could

he

do

to

prove

his

compassion?

His

death

was

only

restricted

to

only

three

days.

His

resurrection

will

prove

that

death

could

not

hold

on

to

him

because

it

was

without

sin.

So

what

he

has

done

were

all

righteous.

So

this

is

the

group

of

the

sun

bodies.

The

last

group

we

read

from

Matthew

16

5

to

12.

The

third

group

of

people

were

those

who

followed

Jesus

as

their

masters.

I

call

them

the

antibodies

because

they

were

walking

on a

path

opposite

to

that

of

Jesus.

They

were

a group

of

nobodies

hoping

to

become

somebody

by following

Jesus.

Like

many

people,

they put

in a

lot of

effort

to

upgrade

their

social

status.

However,

without

education,

experience,

or

exceptional

skills,

they could

not advance

themselves

on the

lateral

status.

How do

I know

they did

not share

the same

aspirations

with

Jesus?

You can

see this

in their

failure to

understand

what

Jesus

said.

They

failed to

understand

not because

of lack

of

intelligence,

but their

mindset

has been

contaminated

with the

level of

performance.

The most

obvious

example was

when

Nathaniel

heard about

Jesus

in

John 1.

He said,

can

anything

good

come

from

Lazarus?

He did

not

believe

that

somebody

can

come

out

of

a

nobody

town.

When

he

later

saw

Jesus

having

exceptional

skills

because

Jesus

could

see

him

at a

distance

and

knew

what

he

was

thinking

about,

so

he

changed

his

mind

and

acknowledged

that

Jesus

was

his

king.

But

Jesus

told

him

to

hold

on

to

his

impression

until

he

saw

Jesus

on

the

cross.

So

Jesus

asked

to

not

to

be

impressed

by

what

miracles

sign

that

he

had

done

but

the

last

sign

to

prove

who

Jesus

was

that

is

on

the

cross

when

he

was

there.

So

these

disciples

were

hoping

that

Jesus

would

move

them

from

being

nobody

to

becoming

somebody.

However

Jesus

was

on

the

path

from

being

somebody

to

being

nobody.

So

they

were

crossing

in

their

aspiration.

The

disciples

wanted

to have

authority

and

influence

in

the

society.

Maybe

they

have

good

intention.

They

might

want

to

bring

justice

and

equity

to

the

society.

The

disciples

would

be

happy

to

see

Jesus

calling

down

lightning

to

strike

all

their

opponents.

They

wanted

Jesus

who

was

like

a

superman

who

would

bring

justice

and

order

to

the

world.

But

Jesus

was

sending

them

like

sheep

into

the

world.

And

Jesus

himself

was

living

like

a

lamb

that

was

led

to

the

slaughter.

in

the

scripture

we

read

today

Jesus

was

again

helping

them

to

align

their

aspiration

with

his

this

time

they

forgot

to

bring

bread

with

them.

They

might

have

given

the

seven

basket

full

of

bread

away

or

they

might

eaten

all

after

all

these

days.

And

then

after

Jesus

interacting

with

the

religious

leaders

Jesus

warned

the

disciples

to

beware

of

the

leaven

of

the

Pharisees

and

of

Sadducees.

Upon

hearing

the word

leaven

the

disciples

associated

it

with

bread.

The

association

itself

was

correct

because

leaven

at that

time

was

only

used

to

make

bread.

Where

they

went

wrong

was

thinking

that

Jesus

was

admonishing

them

or

hinting

them

that

they

were

doing

something

wrong

for

forgetting

to

bring

some

bread

or

food.

They

feared

their

failure

to

perform

would

displease

Jesus.

Jesus

reminded

them

about

the

leftover

bread

in the

feeding

of

5,000

and

of

the

4,000.

Jesus

was

saying,

Don't

you see,

my grace

is free

and

overflowing.

I'm

not like

the

rulers

of this

world

who

would

give

you

rewards

based

on

your

performance.

Your

thinking

has

been

contaminated

by the

level

of

the

religious

leaders.

That is

the

level

of

performance.

In

this

world,

we all

live

the

mindset

of

performance.

Part of

becoming

an adult

is for

us to

learn

that

there is

no

free

lunch

in the

world.

You

need to

pay

to get

what

you

want.

We

also

want

to

pay

for

it

because

that

shows

that

we

are

capable

and

worthy

of

what

we

get.

And

that

is

the

mindset

that

we

grow

up

in.

Mindset

is a

part of

our

life.

That

is what

controls

what we

are looking

for

in life.

What

we do

right

now.

Talking

about

mindset

reminds

me

that

Brendan

asked

me

how

the

coffee

was

last

Sunday.

I

said

I

don't

drink

coffee.

Then

Brendan

said

what's

wrong

with

you?

And

then

he

proceeded

to tell

me

that

he

spent

seven

hours

including

last

Sunday

morning

from

2am

to

6am

trying

to

calibrate

the

coffee

machine

to

make

the

best

possible

coffee.

You

see

there's

a

different

mindset.

To

Brendan

coffee

is

such

an

important

thing.

he

needs

to

perfect

it

for

himself

and

everybody

else.

For

me

water

is

important

so

coffee

doesn't

taste

anything

unusual

or

extraordinary

to me.

for

different

mindsets

we

see

different

things

and

there's

something

wrong

with

me

not

drinking

coffee

but

there's

something

wrong

with

Brendan

for

spending

so

much

time

on

such

a

thing

as

coffee

so

there's

the

mindset

that

we

live

in.

So

today

we

have

two

different

mindsets

in

this

scripture.

The

first

one

I'll

talk

about

is

11

of

performance

11

improved

appearance

and

palatable

lust

of

bread.

The

teaching

of

Jesus

is

like

unleavened

bread.

It

is

full

of

substance

but

it

is

a

bit

difficult

to

chew

and

swallow.

The

teaching

of

the

Pharisees

and

Pharisees

is

like

leavened

bread.

It

appears

to

be

good

for

food

and

delight

to

the

eyes

but

it

is

also

full

of

air.

Jesus

teaches

that

we

can

do

nothing

to

gain

us

and

we

receive.

The

religious

leaders

teach

that

we

can

do

something

to

earn

God's

favor.

We

perform

and

God

rewards

us.

We

all

want

to

prove

ourselves

to

be

performers

that

we

can

do

it.

We

therefore

naturally

listen

to

the

religious

leader.

And

in

so many

at

the

funeral

one

of

the

favorite

songs

you

know

that

is

that

I

do

it

my

way

that

is

what

people

want

to

show

how

we

can

do

it.

And

that

is

the

level

of

performance.

The

Pharisees

and

Theresees

are

no

longer

around

their

age.

You

don't

know

about

them.

But

their

level

is

still

as

prevalent

now

as

it

was

during

their

days.

Think

about

the

themes

of

movies

and

story

book.

They

usually

tell

you

that

you

can

be

the

hero.

You

can

change

yourself

and

make

yourself

great,

make

yourself

powerful,

attractive.

You

can

change

the

world

around

you

or

you

can

do

something

to

earn

God's

favor.

Think

about

the

money

we

spend

on

things

in

weddings.

We

want

to

tell

our

wedding

guests

how

successful

and

perfect

we

are.

We

accept

the

level

of

performance

and

act

we

feel

ashamed

when

we

cannot

afford

an

expensive

wedding

or

holiday.

Sometimes

we

might only

come to

church

when it

is our

turn to

lead

or to

serve

because

we

earn

our

respect

from

performing

such

services

and

that

is

very

much

part

of

our

thinking.

But

Jesus'

mindset

is

different.

Jesus

wants

to

give

us

bread

without

leaven.

That

is

the

bread

of

grace.

In

John

6

41

we

read

that

so

the

Jews

scrambled

about

him

because

he

said

I

am

the

bread

that

came

down

from

heaven.

To

the

Jews

Jesus

was

talking

nonsense.

First

isn't

Jesus

the

son

of

Joseph?

How

can

he

say

he

come

down

from

heaven?

Second

how

can

a

man

say

it

is

the

bread

who

in

his

right

mind

will

offer

himself

to

be

eaten?

To

the

Jews

Jesus

was

just

a

lowly

man

born

in

a