Mark 8:14-21 - Ruining bread and the Church

Pray

Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church

From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Mark 8:14–21 NASB95

And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus’ Ministry Travels

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 NASB95

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Introduction

Mark is one of the Gospels - it tells us how we can be reconciled to God and gain eternal life

Preceded by John, Jesus came from Galilee

John got the people’s attention

Jesus began his ministry

Signs and wonders demonstrated His lessons

Cripples, diseases, resurrections, casting out demons

Created food from nothing - controlled the weather

Knew He was going to the cross - trained His disciples

Last week: We saw how Jesus fed a crowd of 4000 people over in the Decapolis - a predominantly gentile area.

This week: After another encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus instructs His disciples on two subjects - False teaching and patience in Christian growth

Mark 8:14–15 NASB95

And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

1. A warning about false teachings

The Lord gives a serious warning at the beginning of this passage

If we look to Matthew, we don’t have to guess the meaning

Matt 16:12 “Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

by leaven, Jesus is talking about the teachings

Pharisees were self-righteous and legalistic

The Law is strict and unforgiving - the Lord is not

Herod’s officials were driven by worldly ideas and concepts - the mixed Jewish beliefs with worldly political philosophy

Jesus warns His disciples to be on guard against these kinds of teaching

Across history, Christians would have done well to remember Christ’s teaching here

Attacks from outside the church have never done nearly as much harm as the rise of false doctrines within

Easy believism in our day

False prophets who claim to be in the church have done far more damage to the cause of Christ than the persecutions of Rome or Russia , China, North Korea, or Japan

Speech and the pen have done far more damage

Leaven (yeast) is a good example or analogy to teach about false teaching

Describes small beginnings of false doctrine, the way it subtly works its way into religion, then changes the whole character of Christianity (health and wealth)

This is the great danger of false doctrine (boiled frog)

We need to check ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith

The Bible is our metric/mirror

We cannot toy with false teaching any more than we can toy with lies

Once we begin to accept them, they will infect us and our beliefs in a bad way, lead us away from the faith

Its like a crack in a dam, first a trickle, then a flood

Gal. 5:9 “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

Mark 8:17–18 NASB95

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,

2. The dull understanding of the disciples

Thought He was talking about bread

He was actually speaking of doctrine

Obviously, they didn’t need to worry about bread - twice fed thousands

These disciples were saved Christians, yet they were having trouble understanding spiritual things

Their spiritual eyes were dim and they were slow in understanding things about the kingdom of God

Let’s be careful not to think too highly of ourselves

We may have high thoughts about our own wisdom - this should keep us humble

We need to be patient in learning biblical truth

Our knowledge, like everything else, is far from perfect, but our wisdom has grown since we came to know Christ

We are more ignorant than we are aware of

1 Cor 8:2 “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.”

Bringing it home - dealing with new Christians

We need to remember this lesson when sharing with new Christians

Cannot expect perfection in a new convert

Leaven can be especially damaging to a new Christian

We need to understand when they come off as godless or graceless - gently correct - from the Bible

Heart may be right with God, but slow in understanding he may see only part of the truth, the whole truth comes later, with the Holy Spirit

Must bear patiently, but not cast aside

Needs time to grow in grace and knowledge, just like Peter and John

Christ despises none of His people

Frustrating as their slowness is, he is always patient

Persistently teaches “line upon line, precept upon precept”

We need to do the same - never look down on the weakness or dullness of new Christians

Wherever we catch of glimpse of true grace, no matter how dim or mixed with misunderstanding, we need to be helpful and kind

Just the way we would ask others to do for us.

Prayers

Questions