‘How the revolution spreads’ by Owen Lynch, 2 February 2025

What does God's coming kingdom look like in you? Owen Lynch looks at how Jesus compared this to a little bit of yeast that transforms a whole batch of dough - but what does that actually mean for us? Could the apparent weakness of self-sacrifice and small expressions of love, joy, peace, patience and kindness really be all that significant, especially when we love big, spectacular experiences? We might imagine the church's first leaders to have been amazing speakers, full of charisma, but this wasn't how Paul described himself. What else was God doing then that he might be doing with us now?

Transcript

If you have ever tried to make sourdough bread or pizza, you will know that it requires attention and hard work. My friend Caleb Pedersen once gave me some yeast starter and I managed to kill it! I forgot to feed it and stir it regularly enough!

However, I do occasionally make sourdough for pizza bases, but to have pizzas on a Saturday evening, I need to start making the dough on Friday evening! It’s too much effort!

Nonetheless, I have a fascination for the way that a little bit of invisible yeast makes so much dough!

Jesus once described the power and presence of God like yeast, so imperceptible to be invisible and yet having a massive impact on people’s lives.

I wonder if that is your experience of the power and presence of God, does it have a big impact on your life, without being that visible?

The apostle Paul describes it like this. In 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, he says:

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

Anyone else agree that the Cross of Christ seems a bit foolish, a bit weak? Jesus’ ministry didn’t end well did it? He was leading a revolution amongst the Judeans and Galileans and the authorities murdered him in order to bring a stop to it.

That wasn’t a good ending was it? It wasn’t a success story.

See we are conditioned to think that true power lies in dominance, unpredictability and fear. Donald Trump is using those tools right now to assert and project the power of the United States. In his world, Trump would consider Jesus to be a loser. I don’t think that Trump would like Jesus and his methods.

But Paul says, God chose the weak, despised and lowly things of the world to shame the strong.

As a church leader, I worry that we don’t really get that. When I look at large, wealthy churches with impressive buildings and million pound budgets, when I look at expensive sound and lighting rigs, celebrity speakers and worship leaders, pastors occupying positions of power in the House of Lords and enjoying audiences with the mayors.

When I go to conferences where we pastors are challenged to go for growth as if we were salesmen selling the latest get rich quick scheme; I sense a disconnect between that and Paul’s words about God choosing the weak, not the strong, choosing the unseen rather than the famous.

When I observe the desire of some Christians for big and powerful churches dominating the cultural and moral agenda with their brand of Christianity, I think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 when he says:

“Blessed are the poor, the grieving, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted - for they are living in the reality of God’s Kingdom.”

I struggle to equate the drive for growth, power, influence and success in many Christian churches with the teaching and example of Jesus.

I think Jesus told the parable of the yeast to show that the kingdom of God whilst being unseen and insignificant, actually has the biggest influence throughout society, through it’s effect on the human heart.

Paul gets that and he spends most of his time arguing with Jews and Gentiles that Jesus’ death means that true power is demonstrated through loving sacrifice.

Turn with me to Acts 19

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

We need to remind ourselves what Paul was arguing for. He was simply trying to persuade them that Jesus was the Messiah. He was not trying to persuade them of a new religion. He didn’t ask them to abandon their religion, their heritage, their community - he simply wanted them to understand that Jesus was their Messiah.

Many Jews could not accept Jesus was the Messiah, because they believed that their Messiah would defeat the Romans in combat.

They believed that anyone who was crucified was cursed by God, and so Jesus was considered cursed for the manner of his death.

We also know that Paul was verbally and physically abused by Jews who refused to accept his arguments and it appears to have been the reason that Paul left them and hired a lecture hall to continue his discussions with anyone who would listen.

Paul believed that the gospel of Jesus was an expansive phenomenon that permeated all of society - Jews and Gentiles, just like Jesus suggested it would with his parable of the yeast.

I think it is really important to remember that Paul wasn’t an evangelist for a religion, he persistently argued that Gentiles did not need to become Jews in order to know Jesus. However, he also did not reject his own identity as a Jew, on the contrary he was very proud of it.

Instead, this gospel of Jesus was simply referred to as “the way” - the way of sacrificial love. It was a way to live that reflected the words and example of Jesus.

This “way” was a way of living that did not strip you of your heritage, family and community. Paul was not creating a cult. It was a way of thinking, living and relating.

What did this life of sacrificial love look like - well in Galatians 5:22-23, Paul says it looks like:

22 ……. love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

For all of Paul’s stern language in his letters, he did not seek to create institutional structures to keep control of the communities that were impacted by the gospel of Jesus. Instead, he was open handed and generous, not seeking a return from those who benefitted from his work.

Paul did not consider himself to be a powerful, charismatic leader with power and influence across the Roman Empire. He says this about himself in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

I believe him, I get the sense that Paul was not imposing, impressive and winsome like Apollos. I get the sense that he annoyed some of the people he met, that he was abrasive and opinionated. However, I think he had enough self awareness to know that and that perhaps the Spirit of God was more clearly seen in him because of his weakness.

Thankfully Luke (who is writing Acts) gives us an insight, saying

(Acts 19:11-12)

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Paul may have been abrasive and bombastic at times, but like Jesus he had this crazy power that caused healing in people who touched him.

It is important to understand that magic, sorcery and divination were commonplace in the Roman Empire in Paul’s era, we have already read about a sorcerer and fortune teller in Acts.

There were probably herbal remedies, but nothing like the modern medicine that we turn to when we are ill.

So it was extremely common for people to turn to magic, sorcery and divination for cures to their diseases and ailments. Of course, the people who possessed these mystical powers were admired and feared probably in equal measure. They would have had various motivations for using their power - most likely it was the way they earned a living, but no doubt some may have enjoyed the fear and respect that they received from those they helped.

So when Paul healed people in the name of Jesus, others saw a model that they could copy:

13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”

14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

We are not sure what the motivation of the sons was, but it contrasted with Paul in that many people were healed without even meeting him. Paul didn’t make a public spectacle of his healing powers, a piece of cloth that had touched him was enough to promote healing.

These acts of powerful compassion and kindness, were low key and unseen. Jesus was the same, he healed people out of compassion, rather than to create a spectacle. We know that Jesus repeatedly advised people he healed to not tell anyone about it, so as to not draw attention to himself.

Nonetheless Luke says, this powerful gospel of sacrificial love spread widely.

So what we see in Acts 19 is gospel of Jesus’ sacrificial love spreading unseen, imperceptibly, powerfully through society just like yeast spreads through sourdough.

I wonder if that is your experience of the power of God, does it have a big impact on your life, without being that visible?

Do you feel the power of God spreading through your life, your family, your neighbourhood, your workplace imperceptibly, invisibly?

How are we assessing the power and presence of God in our lives? Are we looking for the spectacular? Or are we looking for the power of God in the ordinary hum drum of our lives?

Are thinking that the power and presence of God is not in us, when in reality it is?

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