The New Temple

Mark Chun

Christ, Our Life • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

John 2:13–22

Ecclesiology

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The church is reformed and always being reformed

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Introduction

This morning, we are continuing our study out of the gospel of John so if you would turn with me to .

Introduction

John 2:13–22 ESV

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 2:

If you remember before we took a short break for mission’s month, we looked at how Jesus makes all things new. He came to give us a new name based on our identity in God. He transformed the water of lifeless religion into the new wine of an intimate relationship with Him. And here we see Jesus cleansing the corruption of the church and proclaiming that He is the new temple through whom we have access to the presence of God.

It certainly isn’t hard to see why we need a new temple because unfortunately corruption has always been a part of organized religion. When you give sinful people a large degree of power, this is generally what you get whether they are religious or not. When I think the modern church can’t get any lower, it seems the news constantly proves me wrong and somehow we still haven’t found the bottom of this cesspool of corruption. Not long ago, I heard new allegations about some priests in the Catholic church who have been using their nuns as sex slaves. It’s absolutely crazy to think about the levels of immorality in our religious institutions and this has led many to become cynical and highly skeptical of the church and understandably are calling for the end of organized religion.

But here is the tension, a purely organic movement cannot have the lasting impact that an institution can make for the long haul and so the church finds itself between these two opposing modes of operation that seem to cycle in waves. When the church becomes too institutionalized, grass root movements come in and spark change and reformation but eventually these organic expressions of church either die or they, themselves, become the very institutions that they fought against. For example, John Wesley and his circuit riders fought against the dead orthodoxy of the Anglican church and spawned the Methodist movement but today the Methodist church has become the very same institution that it once opposed. (This is probably way too much church history but it’s helpful in understanding these dynamics.) If you’re asking yourself, where does Radiance fall on this spectrum between the organic and organized church, well, I guess you’ll have come to our membership class to find out.

The Temple

Now sadly, the things that we try to build for God often become just another monument to ourselves and to our achievements. Actually, doing something for the glory of God as opposed to building your own glory is a very thin line. And that line is buried somewhere deep in the human heart. The temple in Jerusalem that served as the focal point of religious observance for the Jewish people began to blur those lines. During times like the Passover celebration and other festivals, the population of the city would explode from roughly 50 thousand to over a quarter of a million people, all there to visit this impressive monument to God. As we read, the physical building itself took 46 years to build at the time of Jesus’ visit and it would be close to another 40 years from this point to finish it completely. At any given moment, 10,000 workers were employed to finish the project and run the daily operations. Historic accounts tell us that the glimmer from the temple could be seen for miles and miles.

It is no wonder that Satan took Jesus to the very pinnacle of this building and tempted him to test the Father’s love. Satan could have taken Jesus to any high point and tempted him to throw himself down but it was specifically at the height of this temple where Jesus was tested in gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 4:5–6 ESV

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

Matthew 4:5–7 ESV

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

It was as if Satan was saying, “There is already a thriving religious system in place, this God thing is making money hand over fist and is more popular than ever before and you can be at the center of all of that, if you just sell out and become part of the show.” Could you imagine church attendance if a pastor jumped off the Sales Force building and the angels of God came out of the sky and saved him from dying? I would leave our church for that ministry. The only problem is that you would have throngs of people at church for all the wrong reasons. They would be there for the spectacular show and the impressive faith and charisma of the pastor. Now, there is nothing wrong with good strong Christian leaders but it becomes problematic when pastors become superstars who are more concerned with building their own little kingdom rather than the kingdom of God. Again that line gets blurred all the time and it doesn’t help that religion equals big, big money. There are books to sell, albums to release, and speaking engagements and concerts to pack out.

Matthew 4:5-7

It was as if Satan was saying, “There is already a viable religious system in place, God is making more money and is more popular than ever before and you can be at the center of all of that.” Could you imagine church attendance and giving if pastors jumped off the highest building in their cities and the hand of God came out of the sky and saved them from dying? The only problem is that you would have throngs of people at church for all the wrong reasons. They would be there for the spectacular show, the impressive faith and leadership of the pastor, and the hope that God would do the same for them.

and all of this fuss over a building that lasted just over 30 years after it’s completion. History tells us that the temple was destroyed completely in 70 AD.

So when Jesus says, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace?”, I think much of the western church is guilty as charged. We have turned religion into a business and we are now reaping the consequence of that. For years, critics of American Christianity have been warning us about the consumer orientation of our churches. Everyone wants to be at the newest, trendiest church that has a pastor who has the brains of Tim Keller and the body of Carl Lentz. And these same critics told us things like, “What you win them with is what you win them to.” and “The medium becomes the message.” So if our church services look like entertainment, it will produce the same level of of inspiration and life change as a good movie or book. (I had a friend in college who would tell me such and such a movie or documentary changed his life.) After a while, it was hard to believe him because I saw no visible change whatsoever in his life. Sometimes church can feel like that, a lot of people saying that their lives are changed but there is little proof of it. I think it is time to reevaluate what the church is and to rethink how we do church. I want to look at three key steps in this rebuilding process:

Reform the church according to the Scriptures

Have the courage to destroy the old temple in order to build the new temple.

Imitate Christ’s zeal for the house of God.

One of the famous quotes from the Dutch reformation was “the church reformed and always reforming according to the word of Christ. I believe one of the main reasons for the decline in Christianity is that we have moved away from the biblical purpose of the church. The church has always existed to fulfill the mission of God which is to bring salvation and healing to the nations. But instead, we have become this consumer oriented, personality and event centered anomaly. We don’t look very much like the New Testament church that we read about in our bibles. John Mark Comer, who is the pastor of New Town church in Portland gives us three basics things that we need to happen in order to recover the biblical DNA of the church.

1. We need to do church in community and not as isolated individuals.

2. We need to put church back into the hands of the people.

a) Volunteer

b) Tithe

c) Invite Your Friends

I completely buy into the Home Depot model of church. You can do it, we can help. Our Encounter retreat is one the ways that we are trying to put the church back into your hands. Most of the preaching at the retreat will be from our lay leaders.

3. We need to take the church to the city and not expect the city to come to the church. People who are completely alienated from Christianity will not come to church no matter how good our music, how relevant our preaching, and how dynamic our programs. We need to take church outside of these walls. Each of you have to become the pastors and evangelists to your corner of the world.

I understand that this may sound crazy to some of you and it will take courage for us to destroy the old temple so that God can build the new temple. The irony of the temple in Jerusalem is that it took almost 100 years to complete but it stood for a mere 30 years before the Roman army completely destroyed it in 70 AD. It was doomed even as it was being built. In the same way, it seems like the end of American Christianity is not a matter of if but simply a matter of when. I read an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times and it caught my eye because it’s not often that they publish an editorial from a conservative Christian. Then I read it and understood how it got into the Times but what he had to say accurately describes the state of the church in America. He writes:

Since the 1980s, conservative Christians unwittingly participated in our own marginalization by placing too much hope in Republican politics. Conservative Christians helped elect Republican politicians, but that did not stop the slide toward secularism. True, the church gained some access to power, but it failed to effectively counter popular culture’s catechetical force.

Conservative Christians helped elect Republican politicians, but that did not stop the slide toward secularism. True, the church gained some access to power, but it failed to effectively counter popular culture’s catechetical force.

Too many of us are doubling down on the failed strategies that not only have failed to convert Americans but have also done little to halt the assimilation of Christians to secular norms and beliefs. Mr. Trump is not a solution to this cultural crisis, but rather a symptom of it.

For those of us who love the Lord and care deeply about His church, it will take courage for us to battle not only the secular culture outside but to fight the secular culture that is found within the church. But the history books are filled with men and women who have done exactly that. Martin Luther stood against the corruption of the Catholic church and famously stated, “Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.” One of my favorite stories comes from the life of Thomas Aquinas. When Aquinas entered in the room of Pope Innocent II with the Sunday offering sprawled out over the table, the pope turned to him and said, “You see, the church is no longer in that age in which she has to say silver and gold have I none” to which Thomas Aquinas replied, “True holy father but neither can she say to the lame, Rise up and walk!”

Brothers and sisters, reform always takes courage and that is why it is imperative that we follow the example of our Savior. After the incident, the disciples realized that this was a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures describing the coming of the Messiah. One of those prophecies is found in which is translated as “Zeal for your house has consumed me” in our Bibles. In the English, it is easy to read that to mean that Jesus was really passionate about the church and consumed by his zeal. In much the same way that we can get consumed by the things that we are passionate about. That isn’t actually what means. The verse literally means “Zeal for your house will destroy me.” In other words, Jesus knew that the religious leaders would take his life because of his passion for his Father’s house. This is why He says, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in 3 days.”

Jesus gave his life for the church so that from the ashes of his death, a new temple would be resurrected not built by the hands of men but built by the hand of God. The church is the body of Christ, the new temple that has been raised in place of the old. And if Jesus was willing to give his life for the church so should we. Commitment to Christ means commitment to His body which is the church not matter how dysfunctional and broken it may be.

Biblical scholars argue about how many times Jesus went into temple in order to disrupt the activities. If you align the gospel of John with the other gospels, it does appear that Jesus went through the temple twice. Once at the beginning of his ministry as we read here and then a second time at the end of his ministry which then cause the religions leaders to come up with a plot to kill him. (You can fool us once but you can’t make a fool of us twice)

Anyways, the second cleansing is accompanied by a sign. Jesus as he prepares to clear the temple a second time seems to take great care to plan out what he is about to do. We assume that this was some fit of anger, a moment of explosive passion. But isn’t the case because this is what we read in Mark.

Mark 11:11 ESV

11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

The sign that accompanies the 2nd clearing of the temple is found in the next verses:

Mark 11:12 ESV

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

Mark 11:12–13 ESV

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

Mark 11:12–14 ESV

Mark 11:12-

Jesus’ strongest actions and words are against the hypocrisy found in the church and among its leaders. And it is at this very point that we see a glimpse of Jesus that we are not accustomed to, a Jesus who has a burning anger towards sin especially those that corrupts the nature of worship and keep God at a distance from those who trying to draw close. They are two points of contentions that bring out Jesus’ fury. Now to be fair, the practice of selling animals for sacrifice was a legitimate service to the people. Logistically, people had to travel for days to get to Jerusalem often on difficult roads and having to bring along their own animals would have been an unnecessary burden. So theoretically, this is a good thing but just like selling popcorn at the movie theatre and hot dogs at the ballpark, the price that one had to pay to make their sacrifices to God was excessive. On top of that, the temple only received a certain currency so everyone had to exchange their money, presumably again with a price for convenience. You can begin to see why Jesus turned down Satan’s offer and why He was so livid as he walked into the temple.

I believe that the greater contention that Jesus had was not the financial profits made in the name of God but the fact that all of this was happening in the area of the temple know as the Courts of the Gentiles. For the Jews, the Gentiles that actually made the effort to come to the temple, would have been viewed as God-seekers, as unbelievers who were displaying genuine interest in faith. You assume that the grandeur of the temple itself was enough to draw in tourists and other visitors to the city. It was like a religious Disneyland but instead of honoring these guests into God’s house and creating an atmosphere conducive to seeking and worshipping God, the temple authorities did exactly the opposite. They made it virtually impossible. Many of us have a hard time focusing in on spiritual matters when there are no distractions, imagine trying to do that with the bleating of sheep, the smell of cow manure, and the clanging of coins as we are trying to listen to a message. It is not difficult to see why Jesus cracked the whip driving out all the animals and their vendors, overturning the table of the moneychangers, and with a voice like thunder commanding everyone to stop making His Father’s house, some thing other than a house of worship and prayer. What is harder to see is that the contemporary church may have just as much a need for reform as the temple in the days of Jesus.

AW Tozer who I would categorize as a modern prophet writes these words of yearning for the people of God –

“When the circumstances call for it, love can use the sword, though by her nature she would rather bind up the broken heart and minister to the wounded. It is time for the prophet and seer to make themselves heard and felt again. For the last three decades timidity disguised as humility has crouched in her corner while the spiritual quality of evangelical Christianity has become progressively worse year by year.”

The idea that there might be something wrong with the church is not a very popular one but I do believe that God is beginning to raise up voices in the desert that will beckon Christians back to our roots, back to living lives of sacrificial love, back to living in the deep reverence and fear of the Lord, back to pursuing holiness and honoring the name of Christ.

Conclusion

Jeremiah 6:13–14 ESV

13 “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. 14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

In the meantime, the great comfort for those who are authentically seeking God is in the fact that God cares about your spiritual pursuit. For this reason, the Bible repeatedly warns us of the dangers of superficial religion that exploits and manipulates people. If you have a chance and the patience to read carefully through the OT, you see verses like littered throughout its pages.

13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace. [1]

There are many prophesies that tell us of the Messiah coming into the temple.

Malachi 3:1–2 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare 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.

The entire purpose of the refiners fire is to burn off impurities. Perhaps even more terrible than that is the fuller’s soap, which was used with rough clay to clean and condition new wool. The process would require repeated cycles of cleaning, bleaching, soaking, and beating the new wool fibers so that it would be of desirable consistency and usability. It is a painful process. Dealing with sin and its consequences is extremely painful and it will feel like Jesus is overturning everything in your life whether you want it or not. And the first objection that we might make will sound very much like the words of these religious leaders, “What sign can you give that proves your authority to do these things?” What right does Jesus have to ruin whatever you have going on in your life?

That is the entire purpose of the refiners fire. Perhaps even more terrible than that is the fuller’s soap, which was used with rough clay to clean and condition new wool. The process would require repeated cycles of cleaning, bleaching, soaking, and beating the new wool fibers so that it would be of desirable consistency and usability. Some of us may have already gone through this process, some of you may be going through it right now, for the rest, you have something great and terrible to look forward to.

One of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia describes the paradox of a true encounter with Jesus. If you remember from the books, Aslan is the Lion who is the Christ-figure. The ministry of Christ is described perfectly in this poem about him.

“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”

Many times, it does take the roaring of his voice and the baring of his teeth to bring the church and our individual lives back into the right alignment with God. Dealing with sin and its consequences is extremely painful and it will feel like Jesus is overturning everything in your life whether you want it or not. And the first objection that we might make will sound very much like the words of these religious leaders, “What sign can you give that proves your authority to do these things?” What right does Jesus have to ruin whatever you have going on in your life?

Now, you’ll notice that the temple officials aren’t questioning the validity of what Jesus is doing because they must know in their heart of hearts that there is something wrong in using religion to turn a profit and obstructing peoples from coming to God. Their main challenge to Jesus is to prove that he has the authority to command them to change their ways. And in response to their challenge and ours, Jesus’ simple reply is “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

Jesus death and resurrection is the only sign that is needed to prove that he has the authority to not only to cleanse the temple but also to cleanse our lives, so that together, we might be the new temple in which God’s presence dwells.

A relationship with Jesus is not an easy one because no relationship with a real and living being can be expected to be easy especially if that being is your creator and the very Son of God. But what gives us the faith to enter freely into this relationship is the fact that despite his zeal for his Father’s house, he doesn’t consume us in his anger but that anger is turned against himself to be consummated on the cross. And there on the cross, all trappings of superficial and powerless religion are utterly broken and we can finally see God for who He truly is. This is what I like to call the furious and unrelenting love of Christ. His anger flashes for a moment but his love lasts for eternity. I love the way CS Lewis describes how we enter into a real but very complicated relationship with our Savior.

We are not in the least perturbed by the contrasts ... in Jesus of peasant shrewdness, intolerable severity, and irresistible tenderness. So strong is the flavor of the personality that, even while He says things which, on any other assumption than that of Divine Incarnation in the fullest sense, would be appallingly arrogant, yet we— and many unbelievers too— accept Him at His own valuation when He says, ‘I am meek and lowly of heart.’

This morning, if you are not a Christian I would love to invite you into a new relationship with Christ and the first step is simply to ask Jesus to enter into your heart and to cleanse you of your sin deep within.

But this not only a prayer for those who are new to faith but also those who have been walking with God for a while. The refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap is not pleasant but the freedom from sin and the healing of our wounds are well worth enduring the temporary discomfort.

It is the intention of the holy God that His children should be holy as He is. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to make us holy by conforming believers to the image of Christ. The personal manner in which the Church is presented in the NT as the fellowship of Christians means that it is holy as its members are holy.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

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