Be Contagious
Series: The Way of Jesus
Scripture: Matthew 13:31-35

We tend to think holiness is ______________, something that gets ______________ by contact with the wrong things.

But Jesus never calls the yeast ______________. He says the ______________ is like yeast.

Holiness is not about staying ______________. It's a heart so filled with ______________ that it can't help but overflow.

Jesus does not wait for the world to get ______________ before showing up.

Grace is already at work ______________ we ever show up.

The church is not under ______________. The church is ______________.

"There is no holiness but ______________ holiness." — John Wesley

The kingdom doesn't creep in one crumb at a time by our effort — it works ______________ ______________.

The world is NOT ______________ to us. We are ______________ to the world.

"We need not ______________ people to love Jesus so much as we need to ______________ the Jesus people need."

Is there a place in your life you've kept God ______________ because you assumed holiness was too ______________ to survive there?

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that works through the whole batch of dough.
— Matthew 13:33

God didn't wait for the world to get clean before Jesus showed up in it — and this church isn't waiting for you to get clean before you're welcome in it either.

There is room for you.

This Week
• Where have I assumed I need to "clean up" before I come to God?
• Is there a person, place, or situation I've written off as too far gone?
• What would it look like for me to be "yeast" this week — to bring the kingdom into a place rather than avoid it?Where have I assumed I need to "clean up" before I come to God?

TALK IT OVER

1. THE KINGDOM FLIPS OUR ASSUMPTIONS
Read Matthew 13:31–35.
Everywhere else in Scripture, yeast is a warning — a little bit works through the whole batch and ruins it. But Jesus doesn't call the yeast evil. He says the kingdom of heaven IS the yeast. He's not confirming our fear of contamination — He's overturning it.

• What did you expect "yeast" to mean before hearing this parable explained?
• Where do you tend to assume holiness needs to be protected by distance rather than shared through closeness?
• What would it look like for the kingdom to "work through" an area of your life rather than stay contained in one corner of it?

2. HOLINESS IS STRONGER THAN SIN
Read Matthew 8:3 and Luke 8:43–48.
When Jesus touches the leper, the leper is made clean — Jesus is not made unclean. When the bleeding woman touches Jesus, she is healed — He is not defiled. Holiness isn't a fragile thing we protect by staying away from mess. It's a heart so filled with the love of God that it overflows into other people's lives.

• Which is easier to believe: that sin is stronger than holiness, or that holiness is stronger than sin? Why?
• Where have you treated holiness like something fragile to guard rather than something strong to share?
• What would change if you believed grace was already at work in a person or place before you ever showed up?

3. THE CHURCH ADVANCES, IT DOESN'T HIDE
Read Matthew 16:13–19.
Jesus says the gates of Hades will not overcome the church. Gates are defensive — they don't attack anyone. That means the church was never meant to be the one under siege. The church is the one advancing.

• Have you pictured the church as more defensive (keeping the world out) or more advancing (moving toward the world)? Why?
• What's a place — a relationship, a neighborhood, a situation — the church around you tends to avoid instead of enter?
• What would it cost you personally to "advance" into a hard or unlikely place this week?

4. BE CONTAGIOUS
Read Luke 5:31–32.
Jesus says it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. John Wesley put it this way: there is no holiness but social holiness — holiness only exists in motion, spreading outward. A holiness that stays contained isn't holiness at all.

• What does it look like practically to be "contagious" with the love of Jesus rather than just protected from the world?
• Who is someone in your life you've been tempted to keep at a distance instead of drawing near?

CLOSING. WHAT WOULD YOU LET GOD INTO?
"God didn't wait for the world to get clean before Jesus showed up in it — and this church isn't waiting for you to get clean before you're welcome in it either."

• Is there a place in your life you've kept God out of because you assumed holiness was too fragile to survive there?
• What would it look like this week to let the kingdom 'work through' that place instead of guarding it?