A Not So Funny Story About Yeast

1 Corinthians 5 :6-7a  NIV "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are."

      Lord, all through the books of Exodus and Leviticus You instructed Israel about times they were to make and eat bread without yeast.  Yeast was used as a symbol of sin. A tiny bit can make a small bit of bread dough rise very large, too much can cause a real problem.
      My twin sister Chris and I found this to be very true!  She decided she would like to have homemade root bear for her wedding reception.  She and I found a recipe and gathered many glass gallon jugs...yes, this was a time when we didn't have much plastic anything. :o)  The recipe called for a cake of yeast to be put in each jug.  We did not know that a cake is 1/4 if a bar of yeast.  Mom had always had bars of yeast at the house so we didn't know there was anything different.  We added a bar of yeast to each jug.  We laid the bottles on their sides and stacked them up out on the front porch under a blanket to "cure".  She got married on August 3rd, so it was hot outside.  One night just before the wedding, we were all in the house eating supper when we heard an explosion and the sound of shattering glass coming from the porch.  Then it sounded like a war out there.  We went running out to see what was happening and there was shattered glass and sticky syrupy root beer and lots of shattered glass all over the porch!  The quadruple amount of yeast we used was far more than the jugs could handle.  It was only then that my mom, who was not home when we made the batch, asked us how we made it and instructed us to the truth.  We had bees on our porch for a very long time even after we washed the wooden floor many times.
     Lord, a tiny bit of sin not taken out of my life can explode just like those bottles affecting everyone and everything around me.  Paul is using an analogy with these Corinthians they would well understand.
The NLT put is this way:   "Your boasting about this is terrible. Don't you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old "yeast" by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are."
      Paul is telling them they are no longer like the world as they are a new creation.  They need to rid the church of this sinful man, to stop boasting about the fact that they embraced him and his sin, and make it like a fresh batch without the sin that infects and will destroy the whole church.
      Lord, convict me early and often of my sin so I might repent and confess and not infect those around me.  I never want to be the cause of others sin, and certainly never want to be the cause of the death of Your church in any location!