Don't Get Him Angry

DON’T GET HIM ANGRY!

John 2:12-25

S: Worship

Th: My Life as God’s Light

Pr: THE TEMPLE DEMANDS ATTENTION.

YOUR TEMPLE DEMANDS ATTENTION.

?: Why? Why do we do it?

KW: Issues

TS: Because the temple demands attention, we will find in John 2:12-25 three issues that must be dealt with.

The ____ issue to which we must give attention is…

I. ADORATION

II. AUTHORITY

III. AUTHENTICITY

RMBC 02/04/01 AM

INTRODUCTION:

1. Has somebody ever made you angry?

ILL Notebook: Anger (irritation, anger, rage)

Two friends, Bill and Tom, were drinking coffee at an all-night café. They got into a discussion about the difference between irritation, anger, and rage. At about 1 A.M., Bill said, "Look, Tom, I’ll show you an example of irritation."

He went to the pay telephone, put in a coin, and dialed a number at random. The phone rang and rang and rang. Finally when a sleepy voice at the other end answered, Bill said, "I’d like to speak to Jones."

"There’s no one here named Jones," the disgruntled man replied as he hung up.

"That," Bill said to Tom, "is a man who is irritated."

An hour later, at 2 A.M., Bill said, "Now I’ll show you a man who is angry." He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. Eventually, the same sleepy voice answered the phone.

Bill asked, "May I please speak with Jones?"

"There’s no one here named Jones," came the angry reply, this time louder. The man slammed down the receiver.

An hour later, at 3 A.M., Bill said, "Now I’ll show you an example of rage." He went to the phone, dialed the same number, and let it ring. When the sleepy man finally answered, Bill said, "Hi, this is Jones. Have there been any calls for me?"

That kind of gets to you, doesn’t it?

Have you ever said, “Don’t make me angry!”?

Most of us, probably, don’t like to be angry.

But, when you do get angry…

2. Are you ever able to keep your anger under control?

That’s a tough one, isn’t it?

TRANSITION:

In today’s text, we come across a very different Jesus than we studied last week.

Last week, we saw Jesus express compassion to a couple at their wedding feast by turning water into wine.

It saved them great embarrassment.

In the next event that John discloses to us, he shows us a different perspective.

John does this, I believe, because…

1. We need a balanced view of Jesus.

ILL Hughes, p. 65

There is a memorable passage in C. S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader that will help us understand our text today. Lucy and Edmund are engaged in their adventure when they come to a large grassy expanse. The sensuous green of the grass spreads off into the blue horizon except for a white spot in the middle of the green expanse. As Edmund and Lucy look at this spot intently, they have difficulty making out what it is. Being adventurous, they travel across the grass until finally the white spot comes into view. It is a lamb! The lamb, white and pure, is cooking a fish breakfast. The lamb gives Lucy and Edmund the most delicious breakfast they have ever had. After they have eaten, a wonderful conversation ensues as they talk about how to get to the land of Aslan—Heaven. As the lamb begins to explain the way, a marvelous thing happens. As Lewis records it, “His snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane.”

There is a great truth in this story that we need to remember.

It is simply this…

The Lamb is a Lion.

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

And the qualities that we consider lamb-like—gentleness, innocence—are indeed in Christ, but so are the qualities of the majesty and ferocity of a lion.

In our text today, we observe that…

2. Jesus demonstrates a fierce and jealous anger.

In Ephesians 4:26, it says:

“In your anger do not sin.”

We have often referred to this as righteous anger, but admittedly, it is very hard to do.

Jesus does show us an example of righteous anger and it is all about defilement.

ILL Personal: new car

I am willing to wager that most of us hold this in common. We love the smell of a new car. And at the same time, we are very protective of the car when it is new. We don’t want anybody to touch it, bump it or scratch it. We want to save the car from every possible defilement.

In a more significant way…

3. Jesus is offended at the obvious defilement of the temple.