OPEN: About 50 years ago there was a great preacher in the Washington D.C. area named Peter Marshall. I once read one of his sermons and found the following description of the scene we just read about in Matthew:
“It is early morning, but already the temple court is a bedlam of activity and noise. (pause…)
Among the tables of the moneychangers, the cages of doves and the stalls of cattle, people are crowding about, chatting with their friends, selecting a dove for sacrifice, getting their money from countries like Persia, Egypt or Greece exchanged into the sacred half-shekel of the sanctuary.
It’s convenient. It’s convenient to buy sacrifices on the spot instead of having to drag them from a distance. It is helpful to be able to exchange money bearing upon it the head of the emperor (a graven image and therefore unacceptable in the Temple) for the statutory half-shekel.
And SO, convenient for all - and profitable to many - the temple huckstering has become a recognized institution.
Shrill voices - arguing - bickering - swearing angrily - the metallic tinkle of coins as they drop into the moneyboxes on the table…all the signs of greed can be heard... (pause) just outside the Holy Place.
There is no serenity.
No peace.
No one can pray there.
Suddenly there is a lull in the confusion. Startled at the sudden quiet, we look up to find a strange yet hauntingly familiar figure standing between 2 of the gigantic stone columns.
(pause…)
It’s Jesus.
His face burning with intensity.
His face magnificent in its wrath.
As He steps forward with a resolution and firmness born of the terrible conviction within Him, there is a look in His eyes before which men break away.
His lips are drawn into a thin line.
Stooping down, He picks up some binding cords which the merchants have discarded.
And deftly He knots them into a whip.
There is something in His attitude, - in His eyes - in His face - in that ominous silence in which He stands watching, which makes men look at Him with an uneasiness in their eyes
And then… the full fury of His wrath breaks.
In a few long strides He is across the court.
Picking up the boxes filled with money—scornfully and deliberately—He empties them on the stone floor... and coins spill with a clatter… rolling off in a 100 direct directions.
Tables go crashing to the floor, and the moneychangers rush to gather up their coins from the filth. In their greed—made all the more frantic because of their fear —they grovel in the dirt, pouncing upon their money screaming in protest as the Man with the whip stands over them.
(pause) And THEN He drives out the terror-stricken cattle. The muscles of His arms stand out like cords; lights dart from His eyes.
Not a voice is heard in protest... not a hand is raised against Him.
Even the Temple guards only stand and watch helplessly
His magnificent figure dominates the scene.
His voice rings out, echoing among the stone pillars…
and sounds like the voice of doom
like the voice of God Himself...
‘It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves.’”
(from "John Doe, Disciple" by Peter Marshall)
APPLY: Jesus was angry.
He was furious.
But why? What made Him so angry?
ILLUS: According to one preacher: the Jewish Temple - where this incident occurred - was a magnificent structure. It soared roughly fifteen stories above the Kidron Valley to the east. It was a huge facility, nearly 500 yards long and 400 yards wide. The outer court of the Temple was nearly the size of 48 College basketball courts.
The temple had become a veritable shopping mall. Pens of sheep, goats, doves, and other animals for sacrifice were everywhere. Moneychangers operated several of the tables.
And in one sense, these merchants provided a needed service.
Worshippers had come from great distances and they were expected to offer animal sacrifices and financial gifts at the Temple. And these pilgrims found it… convenient.
But what had started out as a convenience turned into a very profitable money making scheme.
The priests and local politicians maintained strict control over franchises in the temple area… and they often demanded a kickback. Once merchants had a corner on the market, they felt free to do as they pleased. Moneychangers would charge high fees to exchange shekels for pagan coins Likewise, those who sold sacrificial animals would mark up their prices too.
And just in case, someone got the wise idea to set up a competing market elsewhere and undercut the temple sellers, the priests had that covered too.
Before an animal could be sacrificed it had to pass a temple inspection. And the priests would simply rejected any animal that didn’t come from their licensed merchants.
The whole system was filled with graft and corruption.
(taken from Roger Thomas, Sermoncentral.com “What makes Jesus Mad – Mark 11:12ff)
And there stands Jesus surveying the whole affair.
He’s angry.
And the reason He’s angry, is because these merchants and politicians and priests have taken that which was intended to be pure and holy and they’ve drug it down under the feet of their own personal agendas.
They presumed God didn’t care. And because God “didn’t care" they could do what they wanted to with the things of God.
Now, I’m here to tell that that doesn’t work real well.
ILLUS: Back in the Old Testament, God told His people how He wanted His things handled.
For example: when the Tabernacle was first constructed, God gave explicit instructions about how everything was to be built, carried and to be dealt with. His instructions were so explicit that he even told them where to get the fire to use to burn incense.
But Nadab & Abihu – two of the sons of Aaron the High Priest and nephews of Moses - decided they had a better idea. And when they offered incense in the tabernacle they “… offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.” Leviticus 10:1-2
This was such a serious matter, that God commanded Moses and Aaron not to mourn the death of these boys. There was to be no sack cloth and ashes at their funeral. These priests knew what they were doing! They knew what God wanted… but they disobeyed Him anyway.
Later, in the book of II Chronicles, we’re told about Uzziah - a King of Israel.
Now, Uzziah had been a good Godly King for a number of years.
“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense…. King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house—leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD….” 2 Chronicles 26:16 and 21
Uzziah knew what he was doing was wrong. The priests of temple even followed him inside to stop him, but the King ignored their warnings and even shouted at them to leave him do as he wished. And while he was shouting… God struck him with Leprosy.
He was the King. He felt he could do what he wanted… and he went to his grave a leper.
Now I’m here to tell you…
if the sons of Aaron the High Priest
and a King who had been as Godly and influential as Uzziah were not spared.
If these influential people were punished severely for abusing the things of God…
We don’t want to go there.
We don’t want to be guilty of abuse or misuse.
We do not want to mess with the things of God.
(pause…)
So… what are the things of God? I mean, there’s no tabernacle anymore, and the Temple no longer stands in Jerusalem. So, what are the things of God now?
ILLUS: You might think it was – like – the church building. But I don’t get the impression God’s all that concerned with our building. For the 1st 300 years of it’s existence, congregations didn’t have church bldgs. Christians met in people’s homes, or in caves, or in public centers.
There was no building that they erected to use as a sanctuary because – in the New Testament age – God hasn’t seemed to have been all that worried about impressive buildings.
But the Bible does tell us that God has a couple of things He regards as being His Temple.
The first is the church.
Not the Church building… the church body
In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul tells the church:
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”
We are a sacred group of people.
The Holy Spirit lives within us.
He here right now as we worship.
But that means that we (as His temple) bear a serious responsibility. We bear the responsibility of trying to be pure before Jesus.
When Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem and declared His intention to be King…
… the first thing He did was clean house.
… the first thing He did was go into the Temple and remove sin.
WHY? Because the temple belonged to Him… it didn’t belong to the priests or the politicians.
Ephesians tells us that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus seeks to cleanse His Church.
And He does that when we (who are part of this body) expose ourselves to His Scriptures. It’s within this book (THE BIBLE) that we learn about what pleases God… and what doesn’t please Him.
But of course, just knowing what the Bible says isn’t going to cut it.
Back in the 1st century we’re told about a Church that failed to honor what they knew God’s Word commanded. At the church at Corinth, we’re told that there was a member who was being sexually immoral. In fact, what he was doing was so bad that even the pagans didn’t do it. But apparently the leadership at that congregation apparently thought they were doing God a favor by overlooking that sin.
But Paul wrote: “Shouldn’t you (be) filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?” 1 Corinthians 5:6
The church at Corinth was allowing the body of Christ to be tainted by sexual immorality.
Even worse, Paul tells them that allowing this sin to continue without being confronted would create EVEN MORE sin in the church. Paul told them: “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?” 1 Corinthians 5:2
Paul was telling them that allowing sin to go unchallenged in the church was like putting yeast into their bread dough. Eventually that sin would work its way throughout the congregation.
People would reason… “Hey if that guy’s behavior was ok, they won’t mind what I’m doing.”
Paul said: “Don’t let that happen: confront the sin, and if the man won’t repent… put him out of the church.”
Jesus desires purity in His church… He won’t settle for anything less. If He walked into the Temple with such fury as we’ve read about, how much more fearful would it be if a church that disobeyed Him in this matter?
Let’s take this one step further:
The reason the church body is considered the Temple of God, is because it is made up of individual Christians who have the Spirit in their lives.
You see the only reason this body of believers is a “Temple” is because each of us is a temple
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 informs us: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
The Church body is His temple because, all of who are Christians are individually His Temple.
And Jesus wants purity in that temple.
Jesus wants purity in your life
Jesus wants purity in MY life
And the only way we’re going to get that done is to begin realizing who our bodies belong to.
We were bought with a price.
We are owned by Jesus.
When you placed your faith in Jesus
… repented of your sins
… confessed Him as Your Lord and Master
… and allowed your body to be buried in the waters of baptism
When you did all that – God placed His Holy Spirit inside of you.
That Spirit was the mark of His ownership.
And even more than that… His Spirit’s presence inside you was God’s declaration that every waking moment, you and I are temples of the most High God.
ILLUS: In order to help you understand this concept, I want you to do some “supposing” with me. Suppose you had reason to be in the church building here some time during the week. You’re here all alone. Perhaps you’re back in the kitchen using a knife, and you cut yourself. Or perhaps you were back by the water fountain and there was water on the floor – and you slipped and hurt yourself. Or perhaps you were folding up the folding chairs and you caught your hand and felt pain.
Now suppose something like that has happened to you in the church building. You’re here all alone, and you curse. You didn’t mean to swear, but it came out anyway.
What would you do then?
Wouldn’t you feel real bad?
Wouldn’t you ask forgiveness… real quick?
Why would you do that? Because you sense that God is here in this building… even when no one else is here.
But you see, God’s not concerned with this building.
You are His Temple. And the same uneasiness you’d feel if you cursed inside a church building you ought to feel no matter where you’re at – because you are that temple.
You ought to feel uncomfortable whenever you curse.
You ought to feel uncomfortable when you’re watching an immoral show on TV or a movie you know God wouldn’t appreciate.
You ought to feel uncomfortable reading that sleazy book or a questionable magazine.
You ought to feel uncomfortable looking at items you ought not to be looking at on the internet
You cannot get away with saying: “Oh that’s just the way I am”
You can’t excuse yourself by saying: “Well, I can’t be perfect”
You are the Temple of the most High God… and God holds you and I to high standard.
Don’t make excuses… ask forgiveness
Don’t make excuses… humble yourself before God and seek His purification
Don’t make excuses… because you and I have no excuses
But we do have a advocate
We have a Jesus who cares for us.
1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
And in 1 John 2:1 says “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
You see, all of us mess up every once in a while.
Every once in a while you’re going to
· Say something you shouldn’t say
· Do something you shouldn’t do
· Think something you shouldn’t think
And when that happens we can’t make excuses for ourselves to use as crutches
Because God isn’t into crutches.
He’s not into excuses
HE IS INTO FORGIVENESS
You are His child… and He has called you to live a life of holiness and purity.
And when you or I stumble and fall - if we’re willing to humble ourselve… He’s willing to stand beside us and lift us up
CLOSE: (the following illustration can be found on the internet – the event occurred April 25, 2003)
Maurice Cheeks is the retired All Star point guard who at one time coached the Portland Trail Blazers. His team had just finished warming up for a playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks. The players were all courtside and eager for the tip-off. The Blazers were down 0-2 in the series, and Coach Cheeks was focused on the game.
But, the center of attention for the moment was 13-year-old girl named Natalie Gilbert.
The crowd Portland’s Rose Garden was asked to stand as Natalie sang the national anthem.
The eighth grader had sung the same piece a hundred times for public events before that evening and was now about to perform it on national TV.
As the arena grew quiet, she raised the microphone clutched in her right hand and began to sing the familiar words of The Star-Spangled Banner -- and froze. She was an award-winning pianist and singer… but her mind just went blank! Yes, she’d been sick for the past couple of weeks and was behind in her schoolwork. But, she had just sung all the words perfectly in a backstage rehearsal. They were all running together in her mind now… and she was hopelessly stuck in a nightmare moment. Some in the audience began to laugh and jeer
Suddenly, Coach Cheeks was standing by her, his left arm sheltering her, and whispering the lost words into her ear. As Natalie softly tried to find her way through the anthem, he used his right hand to invite the watching fans to join in. And so a little girl, an off-key coach, and 20,000 people finished the song together.
At that moment in time, Coach Cheeks became God to her. He came up beside here when she was struggling and facing a terrible embarrassment… and he spoke the words she needed to hear. In the same way, Jesus comes along side us – when we stumble, when we fail, when life becomes embarrassingly difficult – and speaks to us the words we need to hear.
