Zeal for Church option 1
Notes
Transcript
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
Let’s Pray: FATHER may your WILL be done. JESUS may your WORD be proclaimed. SPIRIT may your WORK be accomplished in us we pray—AMEN.
“Zeal for your House will consume me.”
Zeal or passion is something that often drives our actions. It is what fuels us to accomplish a particular purpose or end result. Zeal or passion is most often seen in our intense emotions and reactions. Zeal and passion isn’t usually recognized in the mundane or normalcy of life. The day to day. It erupts onto the day to day in a moment. Romantic zeal is express with special acts of love that go above and beyond the normal. Someone who proclaims their love for another while standing in the town square upon a roof declaring their undying love for another would be a zealous act. Zeal is like a Father who fortifies his home and upon hearing a noise in the middle of the night erupts into action like a special operative about to take out the enemy’s army single handed. God, The Father, demonstrates his zeal for us through committing his own Son to death on a cross for the sake of sinners. Christ demonstrates here his zeal for his bride by cleansing her of all that is corrupt and presenting her to himself in beauty.
Here we find the our Savior, Jesus Christ, displays his zeal for the church and the church’s need for that zeal to keep her pure. In this demonstration what we will notice two things, What the church is (a body), what the church does (Ministry), and How Jesus feels about it (zeal).
I want to walk you through the ways that Jesus is zealous for the house of God. Then I want to challenge you to assess your zeal for the house of God. As we walk through the zeal of Jesus, why the church needs this type of passion will be obvious.
Before we dive in though, we want to define the theology of the House of God.
Images of the Church.
Garden, Altars, Tabernacles, Temples, Sanctuaries, Church are all places where God’s presence dwells among His people. From the very beginning God establishes special places to walk among us, to dwell among us, to enter into conversation with us. And because these places involve the presence of God, the place itself needs to be fit to hold a Holy God. The place must match the quality of the thing it holds. You can’t store a consuming fire in a bowl made of ice. The fire will consume and melt the ice. Similarly, the church must be a place fitting for the Holiness of God to reside.
However, What the place is made of is not the only thing; the way the place operates needs to be considered. Not only does Temple need to be a place build for Holiness but also to practice Holiness to maintain a right relationship between God and His people. What we do and how we do Church matters.
There is more to say on this matter but we must move on to the ways in which Jesus shows us how zealous he is for church.
The First place we need to look to understand what John is describing to us about Jesus’ actions in the Temple leading up to Passover is:
1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. 2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 “He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
Some questions arise:
Why does the servant need to cleanse the temple?
Worship has become unclean and unclear.
To House a Holy God and offer right sacrifices.
How does he cleanse the temple?
With rebuke
with beatings
purging/refining
What is he going to accomplish by doing this?
Right relationship
Right worship
Better community
The worship conducted in the Temple was so far off the marker that it could no longer be said, “Better is one day”. Let me change a perspective about this. I often pray on Sunday mornings and have you often heard me say “Better is one day in His courts than thousands elsewhere.” I am just quoting the Psalmist. I preach and teach that this is how we ought to feel about being in Church. I have always thought about this psalm being about us and our thoughts about church. But after looking at how Jesus is consumed with zeal I began to discover a fuller understanding. While it is true and even spoken from our mouths and the psalmists mouth that we should find delight in the house of God, it may be even more true, that if we take these words from our mouths and attribute these words from God’s mouth it has a more weighty I think. What if these are not words spoken from the people to God but from God to the people. That an omnipresent God, who can be in all places and all times but finds the most enjoyment and pleasure to be in a particular place at a particular time to rendezvous wit his people that change our perspective. What if these words we often quote to encourage others to feel about church a certain way are actually Jesus’ words about what he thinks about Church and the gathering of his people. That there is not greater place in all the world then to be with his people on the day in which they gather and worship. God himself says better is one day in these courts than all the places I am currently present. And if those courts become dirty, unsanitary, if the actions that take place in these courts diminish the quality of the joy that God wants to establish then he will clean it and maintain it so that it can always be said for all eternity, Better is one day in His Courts than thousands elsewhere.
A. Jesus’ Zeal for the Church:
A. Jesus’ Zeal for the Church:
I. Jesus is zealous about how the church operates.
I. Jesus is zealous about how the church operates.
14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;
II. Jesus is zealous about the ministry of the Church.
II. Jesus is zealous about the ministry of the Church.
13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
III. Jesus is zealous for the people that belong to the church.
III. Jesus is zealous for the people that belong to the church.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.
the purpose of Jesus cleansing the temple is to not only reestablish proper worship and community but to make room for those who genuinely belong in the church—those who believe in Him.
IV. Jesus steers the church in the right direction.
IV. Jesus steers the church in the right direction.
16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
Jesus steers the church towards a better direction. The economy taking place in the church at this time was an economy built towards making atoning sacrifices according to Old Testament practices. This system is about to change. Jesus will no long require sacrifice but mercy upon those who enter into his house. Jesus clears the temple of its current practices in order to steer it in a new direction that will be build upon his redeeming work. Jesus disrupts the old sacrificial system which foreshadows the destruction of the temple in 70AD when all sacrifices will no longer be conducted because Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice is all sufficient.
V. Jesus The New Priest In Town.
V. Jesus The New Priest In Town.
The High Priest was the main guy in charge of the Temple in overseeing what happens in the temple and performing the important rituals in special services. So, here we get a glimpse of Jesus stirring things up and changing the way things are done. The Jews ask what is the sign of your authority to do what you are doing in the temple. Notice there is no mention of the High Priest in all of this. Where are the priests? What is being revealed to us is that Jesus is the high priest and he is making things right.
VI. Jesus treats the church like his own body.
VI. Jesus treats the church like his own body.
20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Jesus clues us in on the fact that if you seek to destroy his body (Temple) he will raise it up again. We know, on this side of history, that the leaders of the Jews do strive to kill Jesus and succeed and He was resurrected. What is more, is that this statement that Jesus makes also informs our understanding about his actions of cleansing the temple. If you defile the temple and commit it to policy, purpose, or people that steers the direction of the church wrongly, then he will clear it out and redirect her back on track. And anyone who has studied church history will find that throughout the years, God has preserved his church through many situations.
B. Having Zeal for the Church.
B. Having Zeal for the Church.
Are you consumed with zeal for the church?
How have you committed yourself to the purpose and operations of the church?
How about the temple of your body?
What needs to be cleared out?
What needs to be repurposed?
What needs to be steered in a better direction?
Do you possess a similar zeal for the house of God?
Salvation implies that you are born again. You are given a new heart, new mind, new life that is growing into the image of Jesus Christ. The evidence that you have been born again and the evidence for your maturation will be the level you look like Jesus. So at some point in your salvation you will develop an increasing zeal for the house of God like Jesus had. That is how you know you are growing in the faith. Babies in the faith don’t have a well developed understanding of the role of Church in the life of the believer but a mature growing Christian should. You can know that you are born again and growing in your faith when your zeal for God’s house increases and Church becomes a large part of your life.
Christ is Zealous for you.( v.17)
Some of us may have forgotten the Zeal of Jesus. Others may have never experienced it. We need this story about Jesus to remind us of another time that Jesus is completely and utterly consumed with zeal. We all know too well His zeal as he goes to the cross but here we are given an early depiction of Jesus’ zeal of the same sort. His zeal is not only individually poured out for you but also collectively for all of his people to be together and wield his love in the world. When you couple this story with the Crucifixicion of Jesus what you find is that He has always had zeal for you and He shows it.
By what sign do you do these things? (v.18)
Jesus states that his authority to cleanse the church comes from his resurrection which hasn’t happen yet. He says you destroy this temple and in three days i will raise it up again. this tells us two things.
Jesus’ present authority is established because of what He will do later. His actions now are determined by His actions later.
What does this mean for us? Like Jesus, ours lives and our present actions should be determined by what we know will happen one day. We are mindful of what we engage in because of the future that is coming. We tend to the meek because they inherit the earth, we wage war against the spiritual forces of darkness because we know they are to be defeated. We expand the kingdom because he know that the Kingdom will be established on earth and it is in Heaven. He tell others about King Jesus, because we know that every knee will bow. We purge the fleshly things in our lives and replace them with the Spirit filled things because we know that we will be glorified one day. Because we know what happens later, we are able to assist in bring it to fruition now.
2. Jesus’ authority comes because he holds the power of the resurrection. Jesus will rise from the dead and that gives him his authority in the church to cleanse it.
This tells us that the keys of the kingdom belongs to the church, the church belongs to those who, like Jesus, have been raise from the dead. When the Spirit caused you to be born again, you became a child of God. It is that regeneration by the Spirit that establishes your entry into his church and commissions you to keep the church steered in the right direction. How do you know you belong to the church, because you have been baptised symbolizing dying to self and raising, with Christ, to walk in the newness of life. Therefore, if you have been raise with Christ you are a new creation, and he has given you the keys to the Kingdom to keep the purpose, ministry, and drive alive in the Church. So how well have you been doing? Being born again is the “sign” that you are part of the church. Does your life reflect that of a person who is part of the family of God.
A Child or Teenager?
I think this is the challenge for us today. Teenagers seems to be the best example of how some of us may act towards being in the family of God, the Church. Tell me I’m wrong parents, but when your child was young they were constantly around, asking you all sorts of questions, wanting to be with you everywhere you went, even to the point of annoyance because you couldn’t get a moment alone. Just to get a few minutes to yourself you may have had to “go the the bathroom” and lock the door. When they were young they had no problem showing affection, no problem talking to you, at length, about their adventures in the backyard, or a dream they had. But Something happened as they grew, they seemed less affectionate, you’d yell from the car, “I love you!” only to be met with “mom”. As they are filled with embarrassment. The child who once loved to cuddle on the couch has grown to curb any signs of affection. The little person who wouldn’t leave you alone, who asked all sorts of questions, who was a sponge for knowledge, is now a person who wants to be alone, doesn’t respond at all when you ask them a question, and seems to have no ability to remember to take clean their room. What happened? Are these signs of growth and maturity? When we were young in the faith we found purpose and excitement in the church. We felt like part of the family, but over time may you have turned into a teenager of the church who shows no signs of being a part of her, helping around the “house”. You would rather be alone then cuddled up when the family gathers. If you were to cast your life upon a screen for Jesus to watch, would He see you more as a child who loves being a part of the family or a teenage who acts embarrassed of the family? What really drives this home for me is in Matthew’s account of the cleansing of the temple, you know who is left? After all the driving out that Jesus does, you know who fills it back up? Children.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”