Hypocrisy!

For Friday, May 30, 2025:

Luke 12:1b NLT, Jesus warning his disciples: “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy.”

This was a good analogy. The Hebrew people were all familiar with yeast. As they fled Egypt, God told them to make bread without yeast. It takes time for yeast to rise, and they didn’t have any extra time. When God said to get going, they needed to get going right away. Flatbread, bread with no yeast, isn’t light and fluffy, but it’s fast. When made with einkorn, it’s just as nutritious.

Jesus is comparing the false doctrine of the Pharisees to yeast. A little bit of yeast can raise a big batch of bread. A little bit of hypocrisy can grow into laws, traditions and ceremonies that overtake the fundamental religion. Suddenly, the made-up stuff is the focus, and the foundation is forgotten.

Our Savior is reminding the faithful to stick with what is true. Listen to what Jesus said; read your Bibles. Nowadays, many denominations are peddling yeast – a big show with little foundation, just like the Pharisees did. Religion with yeast may look big and fluffy and attract a lot of attention, but most of it isn’t true. Most of it isn’t required.

Don’t be taken in by a religion full of yeast!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Passover!

For Friday, February 21, 2025:

Exodus 23:15 CJB: “Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.”

Passover celebrates the rescue of God’s people from Egyptian slavery. Getting 2.5M people out of Egypt wasn’t going to be easy! So God orchestrated 10 plagues on Egypt, until Pharaoh not only let the Hebrew people go, but insisted that they leave! God said to never forget what he did! Enough with the plagues!

They ate bread without yeast so it didn’t need time to rise, so that it could be prepared quickly. When God said, “Get going,” promptness was the order of the day! The Jews also kept their walking stick by their side, and tucked their tunic inside their trousers so they could run quickly.

Passover was the day the Hebrew people were delivered. Easter, Resurrection Sunday celebrates the day Christians were delivered. We should never forget what a good thing God did for us!

Jesus conquered sin and death on the same day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Yeast?

For Wednesday, October 16, 2024:

Matthew 16:6 NLT: “’Watch out!’ Jesus warned them. ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”

After the disciples crossed the lake and discovered that no one brought any bread, Jesus made the above statement. And the disciples, God bless them, were a simple lot. They didn’t perceive the higher meaning in his words. They were still looking for bread! Yeast? Are we gonna bake our own bread? What’s for supper? Tunnel vision, for sure!

Friends, you don’t need much yeast to make bread rise. I found a recipe with 10 cups of flour that only needed 4 tiny teaspoons of yeast to make the whole batch plump up! Jesus, it turns out, was warning about the untruths being taught about God and religion by the Pharisees and Sadducees. Lies are like yeast! If a lie gets repeated enough times, people will start believing it. And people tend to accept the teaching of their spiritual mentors, even when they’re wrong. But remember, it only takes 4 teaspoons of false teaching to affect the entire Synagogue or Temple!

Unfortunately, many US churches have abandoned their textbook, the Bible. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that more false churches exist than those who teach the truth. Those false teachers are wrong. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and if something was sin 4,000 years ago, it’s still sin nowadays. Read about it! It’s all in the book!

Truth is God’s opinion on everything! Worship at a church that teaches only truth!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Beware False Teaching!

For Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Matthew 16:6 NLT: “Watch out!” Jesus warned the disciples. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Hebrew people knew about bread and yeast. When preparing to depart Egypt, they were told to make bread without yeast, unleavened bread. Yeast would have made the bread rise, but that could take quite a while, and they might have to leave tout suite! So no yeast in the bread that day!

What the disciples didn’t understand at first, is that this was an analogy. Just as it only takes a little yeast to make a big batch of bread rise, a little incorrect theological leadership could take a large number of believers on a false journey.

That’s why at my church, we teach from the Bible. We’re more concerned with what Jesus said and did than with ritual and tradition. With the inspired words of God as our guide, we bring forth truth and hope several times each week.

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Yeast - What's the deal?

July 15, 2013 Monday Message:

“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1 NLT)

When God rescued his people from Egypt, He gave them special instructions through Moses. The Hebrews were to sacrifice a male lamb or goat and put some of its blood above their doors. Death would then “pass over” that house, the first “Passover.”

The meat from this sacrifice was to be part of their Passover meal, and the meal also came with specific instructions, as God put the rescue into play: be fully dressed, ready-to-go; tuck your shirt into your belt, so you can run quickly; wear shoes, so that you can get going; keep your walking stick in your hand; and eat quickly - we’ll be leaving soon!

And one more thing – don’t eat any bread made with yeast. In fact, get all the yeast out of the house for the entire week. What? In fact, Passover has come to be known as the Festival of Unleavened Bread. But why? The Bible doesn’t always tell us why. Sometimes it’s, “God says, so just do it!” My private theory is that yeast takes time to rise. It would take too long to make yeast-bread, and God wanted them ready-to-go at a moment’s notice. But that’s my commentary, not from the Bible, so don’t quote that part.

The Hebrew people were told that God’s rescue, the Passover, was a special day to remember, something to be celebrated from generation to generation, year after year. And so it was taught annually. That’s why Jesus could refer to getting the “yeast of the Pharisees hypocrisy” out of their lives, and people would know what he meant. All Jews knew about getting yeast out of the house, so they would understand the yeast “analogy” about getting the Pharisee hypocrisy out of their lives.

Jesus was just speaking their language! He’ll also meet YOU where you are.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) gathers every Sunday at 10:30am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, July 21, Jesus deals with Pharisee hypocrisy, and honoring God and the Holy Spirit, Luke 12:1-12. See you at church!

NL