Beware of the Leaven

Then Jesus said unto them,
Take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:16
Then understood they
how that he bade them 
not beware of the leaven of bread,
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:12

The leaven Jesus warned us about can represent many things
They are all bad
Puffed up,
vain thinking,
hypocrisy,
false teaching,
man’s doctrine
and some I haven’t thought of
The Pharisees and Sadducees were religious leaders
who exalted themselves above God’s word,
who knew all about God,
but didn’t know God:

Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well: the devils also believe,
and tremble. James 2:19

In the Old Testament,
The priests were to use unleavened bread for the offerings
leaven was the yeast that had fermented
it was forbidden for the people
to eat leaven at certain times
in honor to the Lord
There was a feast of unleavened bread:
And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem
kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness:
and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, 
singing with loud instruments unto the Lord. 2 Chronicles 30:21

Jesus is the bread of life,
Jesus is pure,
perfect,
just right.
Adding anything to Him or His teachings is leaven

Leaven is adding to who He is by thoughts in the flesh
The flesh cannot understand God
The flesh cannot comprehend things of the spirit
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14

Making up ideas
even if those ideas seem good
and adding them to what Jesus set down at the beginning is wrong
and equates to false doctrine,
Mixing truth and error creates deception
While His Holy Spirit teaches us new things all the time,
getting a doctrine, even if it’s from the Lord
and sealing and locking it up as the only doctrine is not pleasing to the Lord
Then it becomes man’s doctrine
Jesus is always teaching us and His word lives within us
Everything we learn needs to line up with the Word of God
He is the Word of God
He is ever teaching and instructing us from His Word,
so be open to His leading
and never feel like you’ve got it all figured out
or believe anyone else who thinks they have it all figured out

Teaching His Word is a great honor
and it comes with a great responsibility
That is why I prefer to share what I have learned
and then leave it open for Him to show you more,
to make it obvious that I cannot possibly know all there is to know,
even with much study on a subject
Teaching is to stimulate your spiritual mind
to let Jesus expand or bring more truth to you in His own way
as it applies to your life
your hidden manna from His Holy Spirit
Like searching for treasure

False teaching is common
Men come up with their ideas and solidify their teachings
and some make much money selling the gospel
‘Listen to me!’
‘I will show you the way you must follow!’
‘I can show you the truth!’
While this may be true,
they may speak scriptures
and glorious teachings they have received from the Lord Himself,
never follow a man
and never be fully comfortable with whatever a person might teach

Always weigh what people teach out of the Word of God
Always
Teachers must keep their hearts pure
That is, to bring others to the knowledge of Christ
To focus on Christ
To encourage people to seek Christ on their own
and learn from the very One who created you
His word is alive and multi-faceted
We will be learning and understanding more about Him for all eternity

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:20-21