Away With the Old Crumbs!

 In 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul admonished us regarding the Passover, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:27-28).

This word “examine” is the same one translated “test” in 1 Thes. 5:21: “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” It’s Strong’s # G1381, dokimazo, and it means to try, test, examine, prove, or scrutinize.

So before Passover, each one of us must scrutinize and examine his or her own heart, to avoid partaking in an unworthy manner. Among the Corinthians, failure to do this brought about God’s judgment: “For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep” (1 Cor. 11:30). Paul added, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged” (v. 31).

By this time, most of us have probably begun de-leavening our houses in anticipation of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This critical task of de-leavening is a physical sign and a reminder of a greater one: spiritual de-leavening.

Paul spoke of both earlier in his epistle: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Here, Paul speaks not only of leaven itself, but more importantly of spiritual leaven: the leaven of malice and wickedness.

De-leavening before partaking of Passover is both physical and spiritual. And it’s in this process of spiritual de-leavening that self-examination comes into play.

Look in the Mirror

In order to enter God’s Kingdom, we must repent of our sins. In order to repent of our sins, we must be aware of them. And in order to be aware of them, we must examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word.

The apostle James wrote,

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

God’s Word is the standard by which He expects us to live. When we compare ourselves to that standard, we can see where we fall short and what sins need to be purged away.

It’s so easy to drift off course if we get distracted and take our eyes off the path. It’s so easy to be deceived if we start slacking off in our relationship with God. It’s so easy to begin sinking beneath the waves if we take our eyes off the Messiah.

To avoid this, we must continually examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word. You must “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15; KJV).

The apostle Paul wrote, “But let each one examine his own work” (Gal. 6:4). Again, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). And again, Lam. 3:40 exhorts us, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.”

Have we been experiencing trials and difficulties? Perhaps it’s simply part of our Creator’s refining and teaching process, but it might also be that we’ve fallen asleep at the wheel and God is trying to get our attention and wake us up. Here’s Hag. 1:5-7: “Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Consider your ways!’”

In other words, “Look in the mirror!” Look in the Word.

Ask and You Will Receive

But there’s another vital element of self-examination, and that’s asking through fasting and prayer. When we ask God to show us what we need to change, He will. Ask Him for wisdom and discernment, and He will give it, for He “gives to all liberally and without reproach” (Jam. 1:5). Ask Him to open His Word to you, and He will.

King David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psa. 139:23-24). Again, he asked God to cleanse him of his faults, even the ones he didn’t know about: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression” (Psa. 19:12-13).

Three Elements

Thus far, we’ve discussed mostly the need for self-examination in regard to finding our own sins and repenting of them. This is indeed the most important element of it, the most important element of spiritual de-leavening.

But there are also two other elements of spiritual de-leavening and self-examination that we must take into account. Both follow from the first, and both are discussed in 1 Corinthians.

Let’s return to 1 Cor. 11, where Paul said, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (v. 28). The specific issue Paul addressed was partaking of the “cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner” (v. 28). He went on to say, as we read earlier, “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:29).

“Unworthy manner” is translated from the Greek anaxios (Strong’s # G371), which means “irreverently, unworthily.” It denotes a failure to accord proper weight to something. A devaluing of it.

Partaking of Passover is a weighty and serious matter. It’s not a party. We’re coming before our heavenly Father and partaking of His Son’s sacrifice. Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, was beaten, tortured, and gave His life to spare us from death. Passover is a matter of life and death, and we must regard it as such.

That doesn’t mean we need to be mournful or sad. Not at all. We can and should be grateful and joyful for our deliverance. But we must treat our Savior’s sacrifice with the reverence it deserves.

Paul addressed the other element of spiritual de-leavening earlier in the letter. Let’s return to 1 Cor. 5. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:6-8).

The leaven that Paul referred to was a matter of ongoing sin being tolerated in the congregation. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles — that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:1-2).

Paul told the Corinthians to put that man out of their midst, to put away the sin from among them. He went on to say that, as followers of Jesus Christ, we must neither allow unrepentant, evil people in our congregations nor keep company with them. “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person” (1 Cor. 5:11).

As Paul explained, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” If we permit ongoing sin within our congregations, it will lead only to our own destruction. He added later in the same epistle, “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits’” (1 Cor. 15:33).

In the same vein, King Solomon wrote, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Prov. 13:20). And indeed we have Solomon’s own example, for he, though the wisest man who ever lived, was corrupted by keeping company with pagan women.

Being Doers the Word

Now that we’ve seen some of the key elements of spiritual de-leavening, how do we apply these? What are some of the things we should look for and address as we prepare for Passover?

Remember, Jesus Christ taught us that all of God’s instructions boil down to two things: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mat. 22:37-40; quoting Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18). All the rest of God’s laws expound on these two. All spiritual leaven, all sins that still cling to us, will fall into these categories.

In the Corinthian congregation, failure to properly love and revere Almighty God led to partaking of Passover in an unworthy manner. Failure to love fellow brethren led to mistreating one another during the very same Passover service (1 Cor. 11:17-22)! When Paul told them to expel the unrepentant sinner from their midst, to put away the leaven from among them, he also admonished them to put away “the leaven of malice and wickedness” (1 Cor. 5:8).

We cannot pretend to love God if we mistreat other people: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20). Nor can we pretend to love other people if we don’t love, revere, and obey our Creator: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:2).

If we have sinned against someone and thereby alienated that person from us, there is no better time than now to repent and make amends. Yeshua/Jesus admonished us, “Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mat. 5:23-24).

If we have begun to slack off in obedience to our Creator, in prayer, or in Bible study, there is no better time than now to repent and return to Him. When we come before God, let it be with a pure heart and a pure conscience!

If we have friends who cause us to stray from God’s path, it’s time to distance ourselves from those people. If we’ve allowed other bad influences to creep into our lives — through TV, movies, social media, music, and more — it’s time to put those away.

Now, of course, repentance is not a once-a-year activity, but an ongoing one. Spiritual de-leavening is not a once-a-year project, but an ongoing one. Nevertheless, it takes on added importance at this season of Passover.

To partake of our Savior’s sacrifice while walking in sin is a serious matter indeed. Failure to give proper weight to His sacrifice and to our calling is a serious matter indeed. “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28-29).

Conclusion

As Passover draws near, and as we de-leaven our houses in preparation, let us give special consideration to the spiritual de-leavening above all. Let us “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mat. 6:33) with renewed vigor and diligence. Let us seek reconciliation with those we have wronged.

Let us put away the evil from ourselves and our congregations. Let us put the evil influences out of our lives, whether those be evil people, movies, TV shows, social media pages, music, or any other tool that Satan uses against us. As King David prayed, so we must also: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23-24).

And let us examine ourselves to be sure that we give the proper weight and honor to our Savior’s sacrifice.

Now, in closing, there are two Psalms that I would like to recommend for further reading and consideration on this topic of spiritual de-leavening. I cannot recommend them enough! Please read them.

They are Psalm 15 and Psalm 26.