The Three “Bes”

Secular -

A young, energetic pastor was appointed to a very old, traditional church. On his first Sunday, he noticed that during the singing of the Invitation, the entire left side of the congregation stood up, while the entire right side stayed sitting down.

The two sides started glaring at each other, and by the end of the song, they were practically shouting. The young pastor was confused, so he asked the board of elders, "Is it the tradition to stand during the Invitation?"

The oldest elder on the left said, "Common sense! We stand to show authority and respect!"

The oldest elder on the right shouted, "No! Our tradition is to sit to show humility!"

The pastor couldn't get a straight answer, so he went to visit the oldest living member of the church, a man in a nursing home who was 104 years old.

"Sir," the pastor pleaded, "I need to know the tradition. Is the tradition to stand during the song?"

The old man whispered, "No... that is not the tradition."

The pastor sighed, "Okay, then the tradition must be to sit?"

The old man whispered again, "No... that is not the tradition either."

The pastor threw up his hands. "Well, whatever it is, the congregation is fighting, shouting, and turning over chairs in the foyer!"

The old man’s eyes lit up and he said, "Aha! That is the tradition!"

Historical/Cultural Context -

This Gospel is written by Matthew, also known as Levi who was a former tax collector. It was most likely written between AD 50-60. Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. Matthew wrote primarily to Jewish believers—people who knew the Old Testament well. Matthew had one goal: to prove that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Kings, and the fulfillment of God’s promises. Connecting the Old Testament prophecies to the life of Christ, proving that every word God spoke was coming true in Jesus. The key themes of the Gospel include Jesus as King, The Kingdom of Heaven, Fulfillment of Prophecy and discipleship.

Biblical Text -

Matthew 21:12–27 NKJV

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there. Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - God honors the substance of a surrendered heart over the shadows of religious activity.

Life Point- Be Transformed

Exegetical -

Matthew 21:12–17 BSB

Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them. But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked. “Yes,” Jesus answered. “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?” Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.

Homiletical -

Jesus has come through the gates of Jerusalem and now He enters into the temple courts.

What does he find there? Money Changers.

You see you had to have the proper coinage and they could exchange your money for the proper temple money, for a fee of course.

Notice it says that there were those in the temple selling doves.

Why?

For sacrifices of course, and I am sure they were making a profit on it as well.

Probably kind of like a theme park. Everything there costs 10x as much as it should.

That’s not the point of a sacrifice. The point is to come to God, humbly, with something that meant something to you and to offer it to Him.

So why don’t we sacrifice today? Because Jesus is our once and for all time sacrifice for the believer.

Hebrews 10:11–18 BSB

Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet, because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.” Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.

Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, the law, and the need for us to perform sacrifices which was written in the law.

I heard a joke about this. When someone asks you WWJD, What would Jesus do? Remind them that turning over tables is not out of the realm of possibility.

After Jesus righteously judges these people, He heals the blind and the lame.

Well you would think that the priests would be happy about this right? No, no they weren’t. They were upset. Their attitude was one of “How dare He do these things!”

They were upset that He was performing miracles and children were praising Him.

These priests knew the title of the Son of David meant that they were calling Him the Messiah.

So they asked Him do you hear this? In other words, you need to denounce what they are saying. But Jesus accepts it and throws some scripture at them.

So that couldn’t have made them too happy either.

Then He leaves, goes to Bethany and spends the night there.

You know in our lives as God begins to move in a church, as He starts sending people, we have to make sure we aren’t upset by a move of God. We don’t want to be like these religious leaders not grasping the big picture.

That is going to require getting on board with what God is doing. Otherwise we think we are doing good, when in reality we are like the money changers and God isn’t having it. He will sooner close a church down that is doing no good for people than to see it continue to exist and give the body of Christ a black eye.

So what do we do?

We pray that God starts to do a work in our lives and church. We pray for God to have His way in us and in our church. If we will do that you may find God will come in and throw your tables around, changes things in your life and church before He does the miracles. Are you open to God changing the church? If not, then maybe you’re not following God.

We pray that He will show us where He is working so that we may join in on His mission.

Illustration -

We talked about WWJD earlier. We often ask 'What Would Jesus Do?' but we rarely ask, 'Am I ready for Him to do it?' Because sometimes, following Jesus means getting your tables flipped before you get your miracles.

Life Point - Be Fruitful

Exegetical -

Matthew 21:18–22 BSB

In the morning, as Jesus was returning to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they marveled and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Homiletical -

You know sometimes we often forget that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. We don’t fully understand how that works but that is what scripture teaches us. It is called the Hypostatic Union.

Notice how this section starts with Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem and He was hungry.

He sees a fig tree that looks like it is bearing fruit, but it wasn’t the time for figs and this one looked like it was producing, but not.

So Jesus decides, in His role as righteous Judge, to curse the fig tree and it immediately withered and died.

The purpose of the tree was to produce fruit, with Jesus saying you don’t produce fruit from now on, it no longer has a purpose and it dies.

Folks, that is like a lot of people out there. They look like Christians, They look like churches that are producing fruit but they aren’t. Jesus may just say, OK. I am done with you and take you out of this world or, when speaking of a church, He may say I am done and lets that particular congregation die.

The disciples see what is going on and they marvel at how quickly it all happened. This reminds me of Jonah as He is sitting in the blistering heat God causes a plant to grow overnight to cover him and then it was quickly taken away. Just like this withered fig tree.

Then Jesus talks about belief. Remember that if it is God’s will that something should happen and you pray His will, then it will happen. But let no one doubt when you know God’s will, there should be no doubt in your prayer.

James 1:5–8 BSB

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

There are times in your life when you need wisdom and you need wisdom in your church too. We are told here that God’s will is to grant wisdom to all and He does it liberally. So when we pray for wisdom we should not doubt, otherwise we are double-minded and unstable in all our ways.

Let us not deceive ourselves. Let’s examine our lives, hearts, churches and make sure we are not like the fig tree. Promising fruit but unable to deliver.

Illustration -

Jesus cleared the Temple because it was full of 'robbers' instead of 'prayer.' He cursed the tree because it was full of 'leaves' instead of 'fruit.' In both cases, He was looking for the same thing: Reality. He wants a House of Prayer and a Life of Fruit

Life Point - Be Shrewd

Exegetical -

Matthew 21:23–27 BSB

When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave You this authority?” “I will also ask you one question,” Jesus replied, “and if you answer Me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. What was the source of John’s baptism? Was it from heaven or from men?” They deliberated among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will ask, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, for they all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered, “We do not know.” And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Homiletical -

The chief priests were trying to trick Him to have something to accuse Him of. But Jesus squarely puts them in their place.

Jesus knew that these were scoffers or mockers so he dealt with them shrewdly.

Proverbs 9:7–8 BSB

He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself. Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Rebuking people like these priests would have done nothing but to stir the pot, to make things worse. So Jesus doesn’t come out and out with it.

Instead He asks them a similar question. What was the source of John’s Baptism.

They deliberated and stated if we say John was from heaven then Jesus would say, well why didn’t you listen to him when he said Jesus was the Messiah. If they denied he was from heaven than the crowd would be upset and might riot for they thought him to be a prophet.

So they took the coward’s way out. They didn’t stand on what they truly thought. So they answered “We don’t know.”

Jesus is like, “if you don’t answer then I’m not answering you.”

When dealing with religious people and indeed the world we must be shrewd. We must react in wisdom not a knee jerk reaction which can get us in trouble.

Now when I say religious people I am not talking about those who are born-again by the Spirit of God. But those that are religious and deny the power thereof. There religion means nothing because they are not grounded in relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is a prime example of being gentle as doves and wise as serpents.

Matthew 10:16–20 BSB

Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues. On My account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Illustration -

During the Byzantine Empire, shrewd politicians navigated survival in a complex political landscape. They employed strategies and alliances, showing that wisdom often requires careful planning and adaptation. As modern believers, we too must navigate our surroundings with discernment, holding on to our faith while making shrewd decisions that reflect God's kingdom in a challenging world.

Life Principle – God honors the substance of a surrendered heart over the shadows of religious activity.

Call to Action – altar call….