This is MY Church!

Why is it so hard for preachers and, in fact, all Believers to really get the Gospel? Because in order to get the Gospel, you have to believe and declare that you have nothing

The vast majority of Christians will at least assent to the fact that Jesus died for their sins. They will assent to the fact that they are saved through faith and by the grace of God.

But what most Christians don’t seem to get is that they cannot earn any kind of merit from God.

Let’s say that you owe the bank a large sum of money. But lately you have fallen on hard times. Business has been bad and have defaulted on the payments. In fact, things have gotten so bad that you have sold everything that you own in order to pay this debt and have hardly managed to make a dent in the principle. Because you are working insane hours you are hardly ever home and your family And the bank rings you up and tells you that the president of the bank wants to talk to you. And so with heavy heart and slow footsteps you make your way to his office, expecting to be told that they are going to confiscate everything that you own in order to pay off your debt.

But instead, you are stunned to hear the bank president say, “Sir, we have reviewed your records and we know that there is simply no way that you can pay off your debt. And so, we have decided to cancel your debt. You can’t believe your ears! You sit there a while in stunned silence thinking that it’s too good to be true.

You come to when a secretary taps you on your shoulder and says, “You can go now.”

You make your way outside onto the sidewalk and look around. You can’t believe how light your heart feels. You can’t believe how bright the future looks! In fact, the whole world just seems brighter. The sky is bluer, the grass is greener, the sun is more brilliant than anything you have ever seen before. Your debt has been canceled. You are free!

By a show of hands, how many of you would say that this is a good example of what the Gospel is?

Most of you?

And there was a time that I might have agreed with you. It does sound like the Gospel doesn’t it?

If you would ask most Believers to say in one or two sentences what the Gospel is, you might say something like this: “Christ died for my sins, He lives in my heart, and I will go to live with Him when I die.”

And indeed, these are all biblical thoughts.

But let me take you back to “you” on the sidewalk:

Before you went into the bank, what did you have? (besides a massive debt?) Nothing!

After you left the bank, what do you have? Nothing! You find yourself just as broke as when you walked in.

And so what do you need to do at this point? You have to work hard to build yourself back up. To gain equity and credit and wealth and status.

And this is the way that many Believers look at being a Christian. We say, “Christ died for my sins! My debt is paid!”

Hallelujah! yes it is! But that’s often the extent of our understanding of the Gospel. And at the point of our sins being forgiven and our debt paid, we are left with....what? Nothing!

And so what do we need to do in such a situation?

We need to work, right? We need to “wear ourselves out for the Kingdom”.

We need to build structures and systems that will fill that void that we feel. That will take care of the indebtedness that we feel.

We try to arrange our lives in a way that will help to pay that debt that we think that we have.

IN a way, we try to barter with God. We say, “God thanks for paying my debt. But I’m feeling sort of insignificant now. So let me show you how much I can do.”

Now take yourself back to the bank president’s office. He has just told you that your debt has been forgiven and that you are no longer liable for it. But he doesn’t stop there! “Furthermore”, he says, “I am adding your name to the deed of the bank. You are now co-owner of the bank! You have access to all the wealth that is in the bank! It’s yours!

You walked into the bank with what? Nothing!

You walk out of the bank with what? EVERYTHING!

Folks, this is the Gospel in its completeness. That, yes, God in His mercy sent Jesus to pay our debt. That debt of sin that we had was canceled. But he didn’t stop there. Not only did He cancel the debt, but He gave us Christ’s righteousness! He made us co-owner of the bank! He did it with no help from us and without us doing a thing to earn it!

This is why the Gospel is so easy for a lost person to understand and accept but so hard for us as Believers to live out.

Because in order to “get” the Gospel, you have to declare, “I have NOTHING!” A lost person who comes to the end of his rope can declare that.

But many of us Believers loose sight of that. Instead, we think that we have a lot to offer.

We think that we can do things to get God to smile on us

“If I just say my prayers at night and treat people right, he’s going to smile on me”

When we do this, we make God’s dwelling place, our hearts, into our own creation.

That’s what the Jews had done in our passage today.

What they were doing wasn’t all bad. There were Jews coming from a long distance for the Passover. And if you remember, they had to bring a perfect lamb to sacrifice. And there were other sacrifices which required other animals like pigeons. So the enterprising Jews in Jerusalem were just being helpful. They set up a marketplace in the temple as a service to the out-of-town Jews and as a way to line their own pockets.

The temple was the center of worship, the place where the very presence of the Lord was to dwell.

Worship and sacrifices had a very strict protocol.

By its very nature, sacrifice was to be costly and personal.

Instead, the Temple had become a place of trade; a place where men tried to make a form of worship that brought a sense of practicality and helped them feel like they were helping the worship of the Lord along a little bit. A place to help men feel self-sufficient.

They had put personal success and parameters in place as means of judging whether or not God was smiling on them.

Instead of seeking the presence of God and realizing their own brokenness without Him, they were building their own religious empire.

Their worship had become a religion of practicality and

And Jesus, distressed at their short-sightedness and arrogance, made a whip and drove them out.

“Get these things out of here! Do no not make my Father’s house a house of trade!”

In my words “Stop trading the presence of God for works which in your minds indicate the presence of God!”

Stop pointing to your cultural way of life as an indication of the presence of God

Stop pointing to your fancy church buildings as an indication of God’s favor on you

Stop using your church attendance or your giving as ways to make yourself feel better