Matthew 16:5-12 really nails what I have been thinking about a lot lately. I have included the text below:

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn't bring any bread.”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Like I wrote previously in this space, I am completely fed up with the "modern" (again I am going to say I hate that word and label but it does a service here) church and those who still follow that paradigm. Yet I never could place a finger on where my issues with them centered. This Scripture points it out to me.

Like the disciples in the above text, moderns are asking the wrong questions. Jesus told the disciples to "watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" and they thought he was mad that they didn't bring any bread. Jesus could care less that they didn't bring any bread! Didn't they remember just a short time ago when he fed the five thousand with just a few fish and loaves of bread!

Much the same, today we are asking questions about what type of music to play, the order of the service, whether to be seeker-sensitive or seeker-friendly, whether we take the Saddleback approach, the cell approach, home church, etc. We ask if we should have a brat fry outreach or just a pizza party, what do we do if someone brings a six pack of beer to the picnic (heaven forbid!). We are functioning around these questions, and they are all wrong. Rather, the questions need to be how can we glorify God? How can we spead His message to the ends of the earth? How can we portray His grace and rescue people from the depths of sin and depravity? How can we use our God-given gifts (time, talents, and treasures) to bring the hope of Christ to those in despair? In other words, how can we live the Kingdom and bring the Kingdom to the world, just as Jesus told us to do. These questions are much harder but much more fulfilling in the large picture and the greater scheme of things.