Cleaning the Temple

Anyone big into remodeling?

Thats always my fear when I do any sort of project

but it got me thinking have you ever had that? not where you are on a TV show, but you make a change to something or remodel something and you realize it was a bad choice

My brother did this he had a truck growing up and he decided he wanted to make it look sportier and lowered it.

And he was really happy about it until it started scraping whenever he went over a speed bump.

That feature made it a little less cool.

I had a freind that bought a house and they took out a wall to make it look more open, however h is starting to realize that the wall may have been structual…

Thats my nightmare

And the reason I am telling you this is today is not to give everyone anxiety about doing any remodel project, but today we are looking at a story of a place that was held in really high regard, but overtime people altered and cheapened the space to something completely different then what is was intened for.

And so we are going to be in Matthew 11:15-19 and while you are finding that, this is the first week in our series “Journey to the Cross”

And I mentioned this but really we are slowing down and looking at this last week of Jesus’s life leading into Him being betrayed, tortured, crucified and killed

and really the reason we are slowing down this year (and you might get tired of me saying this by the end of the series),

but some people call this last week of Jesus’s life passion week and its because this last week of Jesus’s life tells us what Jesus is passionate about,

and this is a little bit of a spoiler but I think what you will find is He is passionate about you!

And so we are going to start with this passage that probably a lot of us have heard where Jesus clears the temple.

And so lets dive into it, and we are going to read the passage together today. It is Matthew 11:15-19. It says this:

Mark 11:15–19 NIV

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

So let me give some background here because this passage can kind of a shocking passage at face value when you read it.

I mean did anyone go this does not seem like the Jesus I know?

But let me give us some quick background, because this was all happening during the time of passover so everything was packed.

And during this time people would travel to Jeruselum to make an animal sacrafice.

But there is a little bit of an issue, because if you are traveling far (especially in Biblical times, where there are not cars)

Bringing an animal with you becomes an issue, so what people would do is they would end up bringing money instead so when they arrived to the temple they could purchase their sacrafice.

So it actuually makes a lot of sense doesn’t it?

I mean if you have ever tried traveling 200 miles with a cow, I wouldn’t recomend it.

But heres the issue because overtime people began to realize that they could probably start making some money off of this.

Because if you don’t have an animal with you, you have to buy one right?

And so people have begun to abuse this sytem and it gets to the point in verse 17 that we read Jesus says:

17 “… My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

So I want you to see whats happening here because the temple was a place or worship and at this time it was actually considered the dwelling place of God, but these people have instead turned it into a market where people are getting ripped off.

And so this is a big deal because they have turned their faith into something so much cheaper.

and I want to take a moment to sit here, because the truth is while we might not like to admit it, so often we substitute our faith for a cheap knockoff that looks good, but it leaves us in a place where we are disappointed.

Its kind of like this table, this table looks like a wooden table doesn’t it?

I mean thats looks like a beautiful oak right?

No because it has a veneer on it that makes it look like its wood, but if you look close enough there are chips all over it

Where you can see underneath the veneer it looks like a bunch of wood shavings glued together

And can I be honest people can see right through this.

No one looks at this and goes wow what beautiful wood.

And I have to say this because so often our faith is mixed with other things that cheapen it,

And what people are not seeing is Jesus but they are seeing this Jesus thats been warped into someone else.

and so lets keep going because Jesus walks into this and He has a reaction that is a little different then what we normally see of Jesus.

Because it says he overturns the tables of the people selling all this stuff and he drives them out of the temple

And I am not sure if anyone else thinks this but this picture is a little different then how I normally picture Jesus.

I kind of picture Jesus peaceful and loving not attacking people… right?

But I want to us to catch something because this story shows us two things that Jesus is really passionate about:

One that this story implies that often times we skip over is that Jesus is really passionate about when the marginalized are taken advantage of.

Because this might not have been a huge issue if you were rich, but if you were poor, or had an issue where you couldn’t make money

And then someone is charging you a crazy amount to buy an animal, it would have almost been impossible to make a saacrafice.

In fact something I love in the book of Matthew

It tells this story from a different perspective, but Jesus drives these people out of the temple and in the first verse after He does this it says:

Matthew 21:14

“And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple , and He healed them”

I don’t think its a coincidence that Jesus does this and immediately after all these people who might have never been able to make a sacrifice come to Jesus.

I want to pause here because I think sometimes while we might not necessarily want to say this, the church (in general) has times where we have cheapened our worship,

and not just that, but there are probably people that come to mind where the church has said hurtful things and while we might not have said you can’t come in,

Our language and glances have communicated that message clearly.

And let me tie everything together, because anyone else go Jesus I get why your mad, but I just think this could have been handled better?

But I want us to really understand this because in biblical times the temple was considered the dwelling place of God

And so in a way they are polluting the dwelling place of God.

and let me bring some application here, because when Jesus died, something happened where the temple curtain was torn.

And so just to give you an image of whats happening is the temple was set up where the further you went in the temple to more Holy it got

and so the further inward you went the closer you got to God’s presence

And so at the most inward part was this curtain that seperaatd the most Holy place called “The Holies of Holies” and only one person who was the high priest could go in their once a year after do these purifying rituals

and when Jesus dies the curtain is litterly torn open

Symbolizing that now the dwelling place of God is not a building, but it is His people.

Meaning that God’s presence is literally dwelling in us.

And I want us to catch this because what are the things in our lives that are polluting our temple.

I mean if we took an honest inventory of our life what areas are in our lives that shouldn’t be there.

I mean imagine if you are wearing a white shirt

Whenever you are wearing a white shirt you avoid certain things don’t you?

I mean you know your not having spegatti

if your dog was just outside and jumps up on you you get paw prints

You have to be careful about drinking coffee

And in a way God is going don’t you realize your body is a temple?! Don’t you realize that I have called you to be pure and holy.

Because the worship team is going to be coming forward and I think as we close its a good time to reflect at ourselves this morning.

If I am a temple, where are the places that God wants to knock down, what tables does God want to flip?

Because I do not know about you but often times I find myself good at focusing at everyone elses booths that they have set up while ignoring my own.

And I think as we close today it is a really good time for us to sit in this place where we go is there a table Jesus needs to flip over to get to me.

Is there a place where maybe I have distored my faith somewhere?

Because I think often timse we look at this passage aand go wow, look how angry Jesus is, but I am not sure thats what I see because I see a God passionatly pursuing His people.

Hes not just sitting there not caring going well I have given up on them but he is pursuing us

And the people whos tables He flips are the same people that He dies for.

And what I love about this song is it says theres no wall you wont kick down, lie you wont tear down coming after me.

Guys maybe this morning we have a wall that needs kicked down, or something torn down,