A church that has been “leavened” is fairly easy to recognize. It is a church that is attempting to live in two worlds and has multiple unchallenged influences in the spiritual lives of the people.
It is amazing how eight years, new leadership, strong cultural pressure, and the yeast of false doctrine can make a church a very different people. The difference in the church from Acts 15 to Acts 21 is amazing.
The church in Jerusalem was destroyed in the second generation because “yeast” of the Pharisees was allowed to remain in the church. When Jesus says to be careful, we must learn to be careful. No wonder, Paul commanded Timothy in the second generation of Ephesus, to command false doctrine to stop. False doctrine is not harmless, it grows , permeates, and destroys.
We have talked a great deal about goals lately. Many Christians confuse a God-given goal that grows within them with human obsession. First of all, God-given goals guide us in life. Human obsession only drives us to empty future. But maybe, the greatest difference between the two can be seen in our present. It is required to sacrifice things in our present for a future goal but we will never neglect current responsibilities for a future goal. God expects sacrifice but he also requires faithfulness in the present to receive the future.
Jesus lived a life that we should imitate. He lived a life in which He could say ” I always do what pleases him.” John 8:29
Living a life that pleases God is not legalism nor it works program. It is understanding that we have a relationship with God. In every relationship with those we love, we desire to discover what pleases them.
You cannot live a life to please men. There are just too many of them. We become unfocused and unreal, trying to please everyone. To make pleasing God our primary goal in life brings focus to our life. We become a unified whole rather than a chameleon. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 Galatians 1:10
The goal to please him is a choice. Paul teaches us that we must make the choice to “make it” our goal. 2 Corinthians 5:9
One goal that rules all other goals does not just work in this life but in the life to come. Read carefully the verse, 2 Corinthians 5:9. Every planner and project management chart in our lives must now be changed. To please him must be the goal all other goals flow from and roll up into.