SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: September 2, 2010
Date Preached: February 24, 2002; Edited September 2, 2010
Church: OPBC (AM)
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Recognizing and Responding to the Living Word
Title: The Angry Jesus
Text: John 2:13-22 [Read all verses now]
Introduction:
Have you ever been ANGRY...I mean really angry! I know I have, if you have driven in New Orleans traffic you have been angry... I told yall a couple of weeks ago that I saw a Tshirt that about said it all... it said, "I don’t have an anger problem... I have an idiot problem!"
But I know that there are some things in this world that rile my dander... if you know what I mean! I mean what’s the deal with our bodies... I tried to go play ball the other day and I couldn’t walk for 2 days! I get sore just sitting at the computer! What is up with that?
And don’t get me started on the government... why do they insist that I and my fellow citizens who have worked hard and paid our own way... why they feel the need to FORCE us to pay for health care for others! Where does it say that in our Constitution?
I get angry with politicians who say they support a position in the campaign and then when they are elected they suddenly begin to think it not so important of an issue to ’rock the boat’ over...
I get angry with a lot of things as a citizen and as a man in our country, but as your pastor, I get angry with a lot of things as well...
I get angry at the constant barrage of Satan on our fellowship... seeking to destroy our joy and disrupt any unity...
I get angry with seeing good decent Christian people who have to endure harsh and difficult times...
I get angry with prevailing attitude in our society that says that ALL Christians are judgmental and hypocritical...
I get angry at myself when I do what I am NOT supposed to do...
I get angry at myself when I am NOT doing what I know I should be doing...
I get angry at those in the church who SEEM to place tradition and personal preference over righteousness and living according to Scripture...
I get angry at so many, many things... and when I do... I am attacked by the enemy! He comes to my ear and plants seeds of doubt and depression... telling me that I am a failure... that I should not get angry... telling me that me being angry is not very Christian like!
And I know that I am NOT the only one in this boat! Am I? Can I get a witness up in here? Have you ever been angry about something?
Well, when most believers read this passage in John, they have a tendency to become a little uncomfortable with how Jesus is portrayed. Jesus is portrayed as angry!
In fact, there are MANY professing believers who read this passage and they find the anger portrayed by Jesus in these verses as something of an embarrassment to them and to Christianity! When you ask them about it, most of the time they don’t want to talk about it, and they will retreat into a shell that refuses to share Christ!
WHY is that? Why do believers have SO much trepidation when it comes to this passage and the concept that Jesus could be angry? Well I believe that the reasons can be many, but I think the most evident reason for this is that MOST believers fall prey to the enemy and are duped by his lies and they fall into the category where they equate anger with sin...but that is NOT what the Bible tells us about anger...
When we read scripture, we see the book of James encouraging believers to be ’slow to anger’. In the OT we can go to the book of Ecc where Solomon warned all who would read..."Be not quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools."
The Apostle Paul teaches, in his letter to the Ephesian church, that we CAN be angry, but he DOES caution us, "...do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil..." [Eph 4:26-27]
Here is what I have found out by studying Scripture... ANGER in and of itself is NOT an inappropriate emotion for us to have... In studying some of the early church fathers, Jerome said, "The greatest anger of all is when God is no longer angry with us when we sin..."
That really makes sense when we think about it...for God to give up on his people is a far greater terror than for Him to show His anger toward us. We can be grateful that "the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love..." Ps 145:8
When we view Scripture we read about God and His characteristics and we see on many occasions that God burned with anger. However, what we see about the anger of God is that it is not an undisciplined anger... IT is disciplined, harnessed and carefully directed against evil and disobedience.
Aristotle once said that it was very easy to become angry, but to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose in the right way -- THAT was NOT easy! Anger is NOT a sin, it is all about why we are angry and what we are angry about, and how we go about relating that anger.
In this passage we read this morning, we find Jesus’ anger revealed in two particular verses. 1st in v.15 when Jesus forms a whip by binding several cords together... the implication here is that Jesus’ anger had brought Him to a point of action and He was preparing for such action.
Then in v.17 we find Jesus coming into the Temple in Jerusalem, and we are told that He was moved by zeal for the house of the Lord and He drives out those He saw exploiting the people of God in the House of God using a cord He had made with His own hands.
But WHY is Jesus so angry? This morning I believe that we can look at this passage and the anger that Jesus shows... and I believe we can KNOW how we can get angry and still NOT commit sin!
When I read this passage I can see 3 very specific reasons for Jesus being angry and for His actions:
This morning I want to share these 3 reasons with you:
First Reason: Evil was present...
Second Reason: Perversion of God’s purposes...
Third Reason: Idolatry was present...
Let’s look at the 1st reason... we find this evident in v.14
14 In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
FIRST REASON: Evil is present:
God created the Tabernacle in the wilderness as a place of worship, a place to meet God. When the children of Israel settled in the Promised Land, the built a permanent Temple to replace the tabernacle...
The Temple was looked upon as the House of God... the dwelling place of God. It was a place of reverence, and solomn practice, giving worship to God!
But what Jesus saw when He arrived in Jerusalem was NOT a place of reverence but a place of business and a place of enterprise... but what was so terrible is that it was a place of exploitation of those who came to worship.
The animals brought by people were rejected by the priests and they were forced to buy the animals that had been ’approved’ by the priests... this was being done right in the Temple... in the court of the Gentiles.
Now Jesus saw this evil use of God’s holy house and He was set on putting a stop to it... This angered Jesus because the priests KNEW that this was wrong... they knew that it was evil in God’s eyes, but yet they not only allowed it to happen!
What we need to realize is that the priests were NOT simply turning a blind eye toward it, but they were actually encouraging this activity! Jesus was furious at the people who were content for this EVIL thing to remain and so He acted... Jesus acted by forming a whip of cords and driving them OUT from the temple!
These people knew better than to do what they were doing, but they compromised their values and were cooperating with others to take advantage of the worshipers who came to the Temple by the thousands each day! They compromised their values for profit... which is evil in the sight of God!
Understand that God is NOT against business! This is NOT a judgment from God against capitalism or free enterprise. God does not hate entrepreneurs! However, God will not tolerate those compromise godly values for financial gain, especially when it involves a place of worship that is supposed to be dedicated for worship and praise to Him!
So when Jesus saw what was going on in the Temple...When He saw the double-dealing, the underhanded nature of those who were supposedly there to further the worship of God...His anger boiled inside Him...
Again I want you to understand that His anger was NOT just at the fact that all this dishonesty and underhanded dealing was going on...but also at the fact that it was out in the public eye and the people God had appointed at the spiritual protectors and teachers...the Priests... were allowing it to continue...these religious leaders were content to allow things to remain as they were, because they were profiting from it.
What we can learn from this particular action of Jesus is that when those of us who profess Christ as Savior... those of us who call ourselves the people of God... when we see injustice and evil flourish and indecent gain made from the things of God and we do NOTHING... that is wrong and God is going to be angry with us...
If we are not willing to speak out against evil, if we are willing to look the other way when evil exists...we need to be prepared for the consequences because the wrath of God will fall. God will always be angry at those who are willing to turn a blind eye to evil and injustice in this world. I have seen churches that have dried up and died because they refused to call a sin a sin... they refused to point evil out and rebuke it!
When we will not confront evil, we run the risk of God clearing the Temple and starting all over again with someone who is willing to submit in obedience to Him. What do you do when you see evil? Do you turn the other way? Do you allow it to continue? Or does it make you angry to the point of action!
Now we know that Jesus saw evil present and the blind eye that was turned toward it and that angered Him, but I can also see where Jesus was angry with those who would NOT pray when they came to God’s house.
SECOND REASON: Perversion of God’s Purposes
In v.16 Jesus said, "...take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade..."
In a parallel passage we find Luke 19:46, Jesus saying, "...it is written, ’My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers."
Jesus saw the perversion of God’s house being parlayed into profits and exploiting those who came for the TRUE purpose and that is to pray... that is to worship... that is to commune with God!
Jesus’ anger here in this passage WAS in part a reaction to the religious leaders of the day and their cruel willingness to turn the ’House of Prayer’ into a ’den of robbers.’ And even though His anger burned toward the religious leaders it was WHAT was going that angered Him even more!
Jesus wanted those who came to the Temple to understand that this was not a common marketplace... it was NOT a place of indifference or pre-occupation with other matters, but it was a place of worship and solomn prayer to the God of the Universe!
And I fully agree with Jesus on this matter... The house of God is NOT a place for indifference and pre-occupation with things other than worship! When anyone comes to the house of worship, they need to be very careful not to handle these sacred moments with our God with indifference or pre-occupation with other matters.
This does not mean that we cannot have a good time while worshipping God. This does not mean that God wants us to be dour in our disposition... this does not mean we cannot bear our souls to God! But our focus... our direction... our attention... must ALL be focused on the reason we are here, and that is to worship, praise and glorify the God who loves us and has saved us!
So you need to ask yourself the question, "What do you do when you come into the house of prayer?" Do you come focused on God with worship and praise in your heart? OR are you more concerned with what songs we will sing, or how someone is dressed, or is your mind a million miles away thinking on something OTHER than God!
I want to warn everyone here this morning, do NOT come into this house of worship and take God for granted! God is a jealous God and will not be treated flippantly or with indifference. Do you want God’s wrath to fall on your life... then come into this house with your heart focused on something OTHER than Him!
When you enter this place of worship, HE must be your SOLE focus! Anything less is an affront to God! Your heart’s desire should be to give praise and honor... your attention and focus should be NO WHERE else!
It can’t be on who is sitting beside, in front or behind you! It can’t be on what songs are being sung! It can’t be on who is wearing what! It MUST be on HIM and HIM alone, and anything else is a slap in the face of God!
Jesus was angry at those who flippantly came into the house of the Lord and did not come with a heart of reverence and praise to God! Today, I know that we have many distractions in our lives, and we deal with many things, but is your heart ready for worship?
Do you pray about this before you get here? Today are you here with barriers of distraction or indifference between you and the God of the universe? If so, I urge you to set them aside and focus on worship of God!
You see, this building is a HOLY place! It is NOT that the bricks are heavenly or that it makes you holy to step inside... it means that this place has been constructed and dedicated and set aside for the express worship, praise and glorification of God! This is a place where you can come to pray and worship!
SO when you come here... when you step inside those doors, you must be alert because God comes in judgment and anger to overturn the tables of our lives, spill our plans onto the floor, and He calls us to worship HIM; not the things of this world.
The third and final reason I see for Jesus’ anger is that Jesus was angry with those people who tied their religion to physical and material things, as well as the the religious rituals of the day.
The religious leaders of the day had replaced the worship of God with the worship of the process... they had redirected their worship... it was NOT given to the object of worship which is God, but it was directed at the FORM of worship, which was represented in several things!
THIRD REASON: Idolatry was present
When I see John’s placement of the cleansing of the Temple and I know how John saw things...how God revealed things to him, I believe what John is telling his readers is that the end is seen from the beginning.
We know that Jesus came to reveal that the worship of God is NOT about physical things, but it is about focus on Him! Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:21-25 [ESV] "...the hour is coming when neither one this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father...the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth..."
What Jesus was saying to her, and what the point He was driving home as He cleared the temple here in our passage this morning is that worship of God is NOT about the building, although a building can be set aside for the strict purpose of worshipping God.
God is not about the ceremony or routine, although ceremony and routine can be used to worship Him! The worship of God is NOT about anything material or any tradition of man, but the worship of God is about HIM and Him alone!
We need to understand that this is just a building. Yes, it is beautiful and YES it is a place we have dedicated and set aside for the express purpose of worshipping God... BUT it is not this building that we worship... it is GOD!
We also use a form of worship where we start at a certain time and we end our services at a certain time (well maybe not the end part...ļ) But the fact of the matter is that we DO have a form that we use to worship God, but our worship is NOT about that form... it can never BE about that form...
No building or routine or FORM is ever going to bring us into the presence of our almighty and loving God. They help us to focus, they give us markers to guide us in the ACT of worship, but if we are NOT careful these helps, can become hinderances and roadblocks to TRUE worship!
Yes God provided this building for worshipping Him, but our building must NEVER be a substitute for the worship of God.
Yes we use a form or a routine for worshipping God, but our form or our routine can NEVER substitute for the TRUE worship of God. Anytime we rely on the FORM of worship instead of the OBJECT of our worship... we are worshipping at the wrong altar... we have created idols that replace God, and this will incite His anger!
Baptism or church membership are great things, but they are NOT worship of God, they are the RESULTs of worshipping God! When we hang onto the FORM of worship as our security in God... we are missing out on a great blessing but we are also relegating God to a secondary role... a role He refuses to play!
Let me try to clarify myself, just in case I haven’t made myself clear! What I am speaking about this morning is not the actual ACT of worship for the believer...but I am speaking directly to the heart of worship for the believer!
You can come to this building for worship, you can pray a certain way, you can serve a certain way...but none of that is really the key to your relationship with God. None of that is actually your WORSHIP!
Our Worship is directly tied in with our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is based on our heart and whether or not we have truly given our heart to God. True worship comes from a fully surrendered heart... from a fully focused heart!
So when we look at what was done here in our passage this morning, the place or building was not the main issue for Jesus.
The services that these men provided to the worshipers at the Temple were not the main issue.
We can see that Jesus was striking directly at the HEART of each person there...He was saying that their hearts were not right.
So, this morning as we take a look at our own ’building’ and our own ’rituals’ I want you to understand THOSE things are NOT the issue here. The issue is where is your heart? Is it focused on God and worshipping Him? Or is it more concerned with the form of our worship, or other distracting matters?
If we place the building, the baptism, the songs we sing, the way we pray...is we place ANYTHING in front of our true worship of God...that is IDOLATRY and THAT is wrong!
I once heard a song that said, (sing it???)
Its not what’s over the door...Of the church that you attend,
That makes you a child of God...Or a Heavenly citizen!
As the eyes of the Lord look this world ore
There’s just one thing that He’s looking for
Can’t you see that is what’s in your heart...and NOT what’s over the door!
This song echoes what Jesus was telling those people that day... it is what God’s word shares with us about Him...
We need to understand that God is not looking for what our church sign says.
God is not looking at what our Church Denomination is.
God is not looking for things but He is looking at our heart!
This morning you have seen the ’Angry’ Jesus and how He ’cleared’ the Temple! He cleared the Temple of the people whose hearts were NOT in the right spot for worshiping God... they had NOT come to ’worship’ God but came to ’profit’ from the worship experience.
So often, we are JUST like those people. We come to church to see what we can get OUT of church, and not what we can bring to it... Our focus must always be on the true and focused worship of God... Our job on our day of worship is to bring our worship, and our praise to God! Its not about what you get OUT of worship, but it is about WHO you are worshipping!
God will not honor or bless us when our focus in worship is NOT right! I believe to Him this is blasphemy and as Jesus cleared the Temple, so God will NOT allow idolatry in the church go unpunished!
But the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God is a forgiving and loving God who will forgive us of our failures and sin when we come to him with a repentant heart.
My question to you is this morning, "Are you coming into God’s house with a heart focused on selfish motives? Are you here for ALL the wrong reasons?"
God sees and knows your heart...this morning if you have been ’cheating’ God and you know it...the good news for you today is that God will forgive you and restore your relationship with Him. Won’t you come and make things right with God?
For those here who do NOT know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior...I offer you this... For your entire life up to this point, you have been living your life based on your OWN selfish desires...
And whether you choose to believe it or not you have been cheating God! The Bible is very clear about what happens when we live our life according to OUR desires...it leads to nothing but destruction. But this morning you don’t have to leave this place facing God’s wrath and destruction... there is GOOD NEWS!
That GOOD NEWS is this...Jesus Christ died for your sin, He died so that your selfish motives could be forgiven and your standing with God be restored!
Jesus has all that needs to be done! You don’t have to DO anything! In fact there is nothing you CAN do that will do what Jesus has done! Jesus has paid the price for your sin and selfish living, He has made a way that you can be restored to God the creator and know the forgiveness He delivers, the salvation He brings and the eternal life He promises.
Today Jesus is calling you to be a part of His family...You cannot do it on your own, the only chance we have to obtain eternal life in heaven is through Jesus Christ. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, NO MAN comes to the Father, except thru Me..."
Jesus is the ONLY door thru which we can enter God’s kingdom! Won’t you come this morning? Jesus has done it all, you have but to accept Him? Come as Steven comes to lead us in our Hymn of invitation! Would you stand as we sing...
