Tents, Houses, and Yeast

Jim:

2 Samuel 7:1-17
When David aspires to build a temple for the ark of the covenant God intervenes through the voice of the prophet Nathan. The last part of verse 11 says, “Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.” There is a bit of a pun involved, of course. David was going to build a “house” for the ark, but instead God will build a “house” or dynasty for or of David. Perhaps David wanted the glory of a grand temple to reflect on his kingship. God reminds him that whatever David achieves will be according to God’s will and will not be a product of his own efforts alone. Yesterday in my sermon I encouraged us to rely more on God and less on our own abilities (or anything else). Here is a good example. David needed to be patient and let God be God and to trust what God would do.

Acts 18:1-11
Verse 3 tells us what Paul (and Priscilla and Aquila) did for a living. “Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers.” I don’t know about other denominations, but when a Presbyterian minister serves a church part-time and works in a secular job as well it is called a “tent-making ministry.” Paul was clearly an industrious fellow who worked hard. But he did not compartmentalize his life. Whether he was making a tent or arguing in the synagogue, Paul was always a Christian at work for the coming kingdom. We would do well to carry our Christian identity with us wherever we go and not try to leave it at the church door.

Mark 8:11-21
In verse 15 Jesus says, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” According to the Oxford Annotated Study Bible the yeast of the Pharisees is hypocrisy and the yeast of Herod is worldliness and irreligion. The point is to beware of those ideas or mindsets that will have an impact on all of one’s life, the way a little yeast causes the entire loaf of bread to rise. As Christians our yeast should be the love of God which in turn should affect everything that we do whether we are “tent making” or gathered for worship.