Zeal for Church

“Peace be with you.”

John 2:13–22 NASB95

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.

“Let’s Pray:

Father, may your WILL be done.

Jesus, may your WORD be proclaimed.

Spirit, may your WORK be accomplished in us today, we pray. AMEN.”

Zeal For The Church.

Introduction.

The word on the streets these days implies that the Church is a group of people, not a building. While on the surface, this is partly true, it is not entirely accurate and is often most cited by those who lack their commitment to attend Church. This concept is usually used to justify one’s lack of commitment to the gathering of God’s people in a building on Sunday and encourage others to follow suit. Due to the current state of the declining Church, I do not think this is the best way to communicate how the Church should be seen in the eyes of believers. Throughout history, God’s people have identified a particular place to gather and commune with God. From the beginning days of Genesis, the garden upon the mountaintop was the sanctuary where God and Adam communed. Then you move to the patriarchs, and they would establish altars, or stacks of stone, where they met God and performed their Worship to Him. Then there was the Tabernacle, or the tent of meeting, when Israel was sojourning in the wilderness, having land to call their own. The Tabernacle was set up in the midst of the camp with the people tented up around it; it was a very cozy scene in the middle of nowhere. Later, after establishing their land, a temple was built with the world’s best materials and adorned with luxurious furnishings with symbolic details. The Temple would be where, on special occasions, those who lived far off would travel great distances to gather together and worship God. But even when they were not at the Temple, places of local Worship were erected called Synagogues so that God’s people could gather locally and Worship. Though the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, God’s people continued to gather together for Worship and fellowship. To offer praises and prayers, to encourage one another, and to engage with the rituals that Jesus established, and this became what we know today as the Church.

My point in referencing all this is to show that God and His people have always had a habit of gathering together in a particular place that was sacred and special. To perform proper Worship and fellowship that deepens the family relationships. But there is another point I want to make: as Christians, we model our life after Christ. We are given a record of Jesus’ life that demonstrates his zeal for the Church, and we, as Christ’s followers, should also emphasize and embody it.

In John 2:13-25 The disciples witness Jesus’ actions in the Temple just days before the Passover as actions of zeal. What we are about to study about Jesus does reveal that he was a man consumed by the passion for the house of God. By the end of our time together, may we be consumed by the same zeal and commit our lives to the Church that honors Christ’s passion for the Church.

“Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

I want to point out several observations that define the zeal that Jesus was consumed by for His Father’s house:

1. “The Passover was Near… v.13”

The days leading up to the Passover, the people would leave their country and journey to Jerusalem to cleanse themselves before the day of Passover. John tells us that at the beginning of the passage, these days are identified as days of cleansing. This helps us better understand that the actions of Jesus are cleansing acts.

2. “He found in the Temple… v.14”

When Jesus comes into the Temple, what he finds is not pleasing. Matthew and Luke define it as a den of robbers, and John describes it as a place of business. Both are not fitting for the house of God. It is a place of Worship. Note: There is no mention of the people; only the priests oversee the exchange of money and the animals. In all gospel accounts, though Jesus drives out specific people, others are drawn towards Him, and He ministers to them. The end of this account ends with those worshipping Him. The House of God is not a gathering place for robbers to count their loot or where business should be engaged. It is a place for Worship and ministry to be performed.

3. “Drove them all out… v.15”

Jesus sees his father’s house becoming something it shouldn’t be. He makes a scourge of cords to clean the house. A scourge of cords is intense and may seem a little over the top for a tool to clean the house. Maybe a broom or a vacuum would be more fitting, but a scourge of cords, also known as a “cat of 9 tails?” In typical Jesus fashion, there is more than surface cleaning going on here. Jesus is cleaning his house with the same instrument that would be used on him to pay the debt for your sin, resulting in cleaning you of all unrighteousness. Jesus takes cleaning very seriously. He doesn’t just clean things to appear clean, but he deep cleans and removes everything to restore the house to “like new” condition. His father’s house had become a place where people felt comfortable and complacent with other things besides Worship. Instead of a place of Worship, it had become a convenience store and a man cave for robbers to count their money. Let’s pause and consider the implications of this. It seems evident that what takes place and how we treat the house of God matters to Jesus and should also matter to us. In almost every Church, you can hear it said that you can come as you are, sinners are welcomed, and while that is true, the point of saying that is heavily motivated by the fact that they shouldn’t remain that way. If you come bringing sin into the house of God, you should leave being cleansed of it and restored to a “like new” condition. Don’t confuse the house of God with a place where sin is welcome and entertained; it is a house where you bring your sin to be rid of it. Prostitutes are welcome but not as one going to a brothel. Alcoholics are welcome but not as one who is coming to a bar. Juveniles are welcome but not as one who is coming to a boys and girls club or a YMCA. Sinners are welcome but not as one going to a petting zoo for their sins. The Church welcomes sinners but confronts sins and calls them to repent.

The Church has long forgotten the appropriate means of Church discipline and encouraging one another to go and sin no more. Unfortunately many churches entertain the sins of the people. We don’t want to be too offensive to those keeping sin as a pet. Some would have the house of God be more like a pet park where people can bring their pet sins. The house of God cannot be a den for robbers, a place for commerce, or a pet park for sin. It is, first and foremost, a place of Worship. Dare I say it is not a playground for kids to run around? It is a serious place where serious business does take place, and that business is the Worship of the one, true, and living God and the fellowship of His family. It is so serious a place that Jesus would drive out the inappropriate with a scourge of cords. By the way, Jesus doesn’t do anything he isn’t willing to do himself. The very tool he uses to clean the house is the same tool that is used on him to cleanse you. We get what is taking place here when you read

Malachi 3:1–3 NASB95

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.

4. “authority for doing these things… v.18?”

The leaders ask Jesus who gave him the authority to act in the Temple. The person in charge of the Temple was the High Priest. You would have several priests, but the High Priest was the primary overseer of the Temple. Changes would come from the High Priest if changes were to be made. So, it's a good and proper question. What authority does Jesus have to shake things up in God’s House? We learn that Jesus is acting as the High Priest and restoring things to their proper order. He is clearing out the dirt and mold so that Worship can be done in spirit and truth. Jesus is the great High Priest forever.

Hebrews 7:17 NASB95

17 For it is attested of Him, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

5. “The temple of His body… v.21”

Jesus identifies himself as the true High Priest who had authority by referencing his death and resurrection. That we quickly get. But Jesus is also saying something more profound that is only understood later by the disciples and at the perfect time when Jesus establishes the Church at Pentecost. Jesus is connecting his body to the Temple, where God and His people gather and meet. The very body of Jesus is the true Temple/church. When you read Col. 1:18-19 and Eph 1:22-23 , you understand and appreciate the Church more. Jesus does not see the Church as Something optional or extra. It is his very body and something He considers incomplete without.

Colossians 1:18–19 NASB95

18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

Ephesians 1:22–23 NASB95

22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Zeal for the Church

There is so much more to teach in this passage. It is packed with many truths, but we will need to leave that for a later time; maybe we can all study it together over dinner?! But let’s land this place with just a few points of reflection and application:

1. Cleansing.

Jesus likes to clean, and he is good at it. What practices in your personal life need to be driven out to establish the proper practices? Confess your sin, cast it upon the cleaning hands of Jesus, and he will wash you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He is faithful and right to do so.

1 John 1:9 NASB95

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2. Zeal

What level of zeal do you have for the House of God? Have you behaved more like a child or a teenager towards Church? Teenagers seem 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 questions, wanting to be with you everywhere you went, even to the point of annoyance because you couldn’t get a moment alone. You may have had to “go to the bathroom” and lock the door to get a few minutes to yourself. When they were young, they had no problem showing affection or 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, and you’d yell from the car, “I love you!” only to be met with “Mom” as they were embarrassed. 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 than 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 teenager who acts embarrassed of the family? Matthew’s account of the cleansing of the Temple really drives this home for me. Do you know who is left? Who fills it back up after all the driving out that Jesus does? Children.

Matthew 21:15–16 NASB95

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’?”

3. Commitment.

Will you commit yourself to be the body of Jesus, though? A body disciplined in what it does and Who it belongs to? Has this Church become a place where you and your family find it to be the most exciting place in all the world to be? Can you honestly say with a pure heart that “better is one day in this court than thousands elsewhere?” or do your thoughts steal your mind to think of other places you would rather be? How can you reclaim the zeal for the Church in your life and in the lives you have been entrusted with? May we all be in one mind and of one spirit in this, that we will strive to encourage each other in making our gathering here at this particular place called (harvest pointe) the best place to be because it is the house of God where he meets with all of us at the same time and same place each week.

4. Federal Heads.

Federal Headship is a Biblical concept. Adam represented the entire human race and when he sinned it fell upon all humanity and resulted in our sinful nature. Abraham represents the federal head of all who belief. His faith stands today as a great example for us to follow. Jesus, the second Adam, is the federal head of all who believe and He passes down to those who believe his gifts of grace which are the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. God the Father operates through his created order and as Men we are the federal heads of the family. What we do matters in our house. In all my experience in youth ministry, what I observed in the student could be traced to the influence of their fathers. Take their level of commit for example. The students who were a little flaky on their commitment to church was because the level of commitment that the father had to church was flaky. If Dad does it then it must be ok for them to do it. I say this about Dad because oftentimes their mothers were actually faithful but not their fathers which demonstrates the amount of influence the Father has in the family. How can a faithful mother tell her child to commit to the church when the Father is always absence. It is the father’s actions can either cause support or disparage the commitment to the Church. Dad’s if you are not consumed with zeal for the house of God, then neither will your family develop that same zeal. Now God can instill that zeal apart from you, but God has made you the head of the family and desires to use you as the agent to stir your family closer to God.

I know this is hard. I speak form a position of experience. I do not mention this much but as some of you know I have 7 other children from my first marriage that I have been alienated from. Their names are Faith Anne, Ezekiel Bruce, Carter Alex , Joy Janell, Providence Mary, Evangelina Grace, and Corban. Before my divorce, I sought to teach them the scriptures and stir their hearts to worship. If you join us for a meal in my house we always sing the Doxology as a prayer before we eat, I started that with them and have kept it going so Beau would have a connection with them when they meet. I would catechized them with the same questions and answers and scriptures that Beau is now learning, and I played guitar and we sing the same songs with Beau that I did with them. And though that is not much I have recently found out, that after almost 9 years they are not playing guitar and piano on a worship team at their church. Despite all that has happened in their lives, those years of doing those things with my children are proving to still guide them somehow today. It’s not just spiritual things you instill but also things you prefer seems to be effective. I have also recently learned that the youngest of the 7 who was just a baby when we divorced is now wrestling which is something I did with my oldest boys and will do with Beau. I mention all this only to testify that what you do as a father has lasting impact and influence on the family. What you do matters. And so I ask you this, is your family consumed with zeal for God’s house? How would you gauge their level of zeal? Will you begin today to increase a passion in your home for the things that matter to Jesus like the gather of his people and the ministry he employs them to do in the world?

I think there is much to reflect upon and responses to be made. Commitments to be renewed. So as we enter into a time where we renew our commitment to our King, will you search your own life for the level of zeal you have for God’s house and step up to the challenge of being more like Jesus in this way.

Let’s Pray.