Cash and Carry (Jesus and the Money Changers)
Matthew 21:12,13
Cash And Carry
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ”‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”
Commercialising the Church – Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there.
Jesus had cleansed the Temple at the beginning of His ministry. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market” [John 2:14-16]! Now, at the conclusion of His ministry, He again cleansed the Temple courts. He was demonstrating His authority over the House of God and inveighing against crass commercialisation.
Warnings against Commercialisation:
There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping [2 Peter 2:1-3].
You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness [1 Thessalonians 2:1-5].
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God [2 Corinthians 2:17].
Sale of Entertainment —
CCM (Christian Contemporary Music)
Fund Raising Schemes
Sale of Trinkets (Jordan River Water, figurines carved out of olive trees, icons, records, Bibles, etc.)
Examples of Sacrifice:
When I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so [2 Corinthians 11:9].
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” [Acts 20:33-35].
Simony … a Related Sin:
Now for some time a man named Simon had practised sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptised. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
…
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”
Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me” [Acts 8:9-13,18-24].
With the unholy union of church and state under Constantine, simony was raised to an art. Though practised long before that, it reached new heights. A bishop’s office could be purchased for so much money. An archbishop’s office could be purchased for so much money. A cardinal’s hat, an ecclesiastical living in parishes and monasteries were bought and sold. Indulgences were sold in order to get money to build Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. It was practises such as these which precipitated the Reformation.
What of today? Is Simony still practised? I believe it is one of the most common sins of the modern church. It is the sin of doing what one does for what one gets out of it. “I am here because I am paid. If I were not paid, I would not be here. If I did not have to, I would not be present. I do my task because I gain what I need most, recognition and control.” Universally, simony is a sin of the ministry. It is a sin of the whole Christian world – doing what we do for what we can get.
The concept of call and of service is foreign to the churches of our day. We are horrified at the thought of service without due recognition. We are fearful of being a mere servant to the church since it carries no clout. Therefore, we elevate the office of a servant … a “deacon” … to a position of power and control. Our egos are fed and we are pleased. We have received what we wanted most, so we will do the job assigned. Pastors perfunctorily carry out their duties so long as they receive adequate salaries. If the funds are insufficient, God will shortly call them to another ministry. Church members attend, participate in the services of the church just as long as they are stroked just so. If they should be ignored or the tone of the preacher insults, they will quit.
Whenever the preacher ceases to serve because he was called by God and place by the One who called him, he practises simony. Whenever the deacon ceases to serve because he wasn’t voted into office, whenever he ceases to serve because he received a call from God to the ministry, he practises simony. Whenever an individual ceases to serve God, exercising gifts and influence for Christ where He has placed that church member, that church member is guilty of simony. Do I preach and pastor because of the income I might receive? Do you serve because of some power and control you can exert over another? Are you participating in the life of the Body because Christ placed you’re here? Or are you here only so long as the preacher and the service titillate and amuse? How carefully you and I need to guard ourselves against this vile sin of simony. To practise simony is to attempt to reduce God to a mere creature at our beck and call. To even think of attempting such is to reveal a faulty concept of God, revealing that we do not even know Him as Sovereign.
God’s people are never to be controlled by the thought of “what do I get out of it?” or “what is in it for me?” Whether it is recognition, accolade, election, preference, fame, love and devotion, I am doing what I am doing because Jesus Christ called me to do it. “If I am not noticed, that will be all right because I am not doing it to be noticed. If I am not elected, I am not serving Jesus for election. If I am not preferred and advanced it is all right; I am not serving Jesus for preferment or advancement. I am serving Him for the love of God in my soul.”
Sanitising the Saints – He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ”‘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 when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
”‘From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise’” [Matthew 21:12-16]?
God assailed the moneychangers and those selling doves. He called all back to foundations of Faith and exposed the hearts of those gaining wealth at the expense of the Name of Holy God. Then, to demonstrate the error of the profiteers, He invited the blind and the lame, which had been previously excluded from the Temple courts, to come to Him at the Temple where He healed them.
Applications and Recommendations –
We must avoid commercialising the work of God.
We must endeavour to maintain holy dignity within the life of the Body of Christ.
We must ensure that the House of God is a House of Prayer for all.
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 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.’”
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 [Mark 11:15-18].
Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, ”‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words [Luke 19:45-48].