Make Your Move

But at some point this last year I came across this story in my quiet time and for the first time something jumped out to me that I had never noticed before…

… Now it’s possible my Sunday School teachers taught me this, and I was just too busy

thinking about the OREO cookies and Kool aid…

… Because Ms. Evelyn never bought the imitation OREO’s only the real deal…

But in all the times I had heard this story… and all the years I have preached messages about this story I can never recall this detail jumping out at me the way it did this last year…

… You see… that first Palm Sunday, for Jesus, started out in Bethany… Most likely at the

home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha…

… But because it was the Passover Festival Jesus and His disciples made their way into

Jerusalem…

… But unlike the dozens of other times Jesus and His disciples had gone into

Jerusalem… this time crowds of people started to gather alongside the road… and they

laid their coats on the road in front of Him and waved palm branches screaming out,

“Hosanna… Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!...”

… When He arrived in Jerusalem Jesus goes straight to the Temple… and enters into the

COURT OF GENTILES…

… Now you have to picture this… the Court of Gentiles was no small place… it was this

massive courtyard the size of almost 15 football fields… and it’s packed with people

from all over who had made the trip to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival…

… Some of those people the very ones who were just screaming His name and

declaring Him to be the Messiah!

… I mean this is the moment… the stage is set… the atmosphere is electric… the crowd is engaged… Jesus was the most profound preacher in all of history… so you have to think… any preacher worth his salt is going to jump on this and start preaching to this captive audience…

… But Mark tells us that’s not what Jesus did at all… In fact, right there in the middle of this

huge bustling crowd of excited people Mark tells us that… Jesus just stops…

Slide #2

NIV…

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts (And) He looked around at everything…

Now call it the curse of familiarity or the unwillingness to pay attention to all of the details, but until this last year I had never noticed that Jesus… in this prime teaching moment… just looked around… and THEN He turned around and went back to Bethany…

… Are you kidding me… That’s it?...

… He didn’t do anything…?

… He didn’t say anything…?

… He didn’t teach anything…?

… It seems crazy right… But don’t check out on me because there’s something to this…

… You see when Mark says Jesus looked around he doesn’t use the word that would imply Jesus was looking around like He was searching for a friend or the restroom or the funnel cake stand…

… the word Mark used was telling all of his readers that Jesus took His time and He looked around slowly and carefully… making sure to take in every detail…

… He looked at the Temple building… a beautiful structure with all its detailed architecture…

… He looked at the Wall… these massive stones shaped and fitted to stack on top of one another…

… Over by the altar of sacrifice He saw smoke billowing up into the sky as the priests were making

the sacrifices for the sins of the nation.

… In front of the altar He saw the lines of people waiting their turn to have their sacrifice made by

the priests…

… and at first everything seemed to be as it should be…

… UNTIL something in the SOUTHERN part of the courtyard grabbed His attention…

… Right there inside of the Temple courts… set up like a Farmers Market… or a Flea Market…

Jesus saw a crowd of vendors…

… Some of them were exchanging foreign currencies into local currency…

… Some were selling animals to travelers for their required sacrifices…

… But Right there… in the place that was designed to be a place to worship and honor God…

they had set up a market and turned it into a place for making profit.

… And in that moment… I have to believe in His mind Jesus was transported back 3 years earlier to this exact same spot when He had walked into the temple and saw the exact same thing…

John tells the story like this…

Slide #3

…

It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.

Slide #4

15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.

Slide #5

16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

- So are you catching this… 3 years earlier… Jesus… Enraged at the misuse and abuse of the temple… unapologetically with no consideration of being politically correct drove these criminals out of the Temple courts…

… He didn’t ask permission… He didn’t form a committee… He wasn’t concerned about

offending anyone…

… He cut through the red tape and He RESTORED the temple back to a place of worship…

… And Now here He is… standing in that exact same place 3 years later… and all those criminals had found their way back into the temple…

… at the invitation of the religious leaders they had returned the temple courts to a place of

corruption and profiteering.

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Slide #6

ILLUSTRATION:

If you were alive in September of 2001 it is likely you recall exactly where you were when you heard about the terror attacks on the United States

… That was a very unsettling time for the United States… America was back on its heels…

… The thought that terrorists would come to our soil and terrorize our citizens…

… that they would violate our circle of safety… murder our citizens and destroy our property… had EVERY AMERICAN outraged…

… Government on every level made a commitment that day that this would never happen again…

…That we would secure our borders and set safeguards into place

… that we would rebuild stronger than ever…

… And I could not have been more proud than the day President Bush very publicly and very humbly

called our nation to prayer…

… Somewhere inside of my Jesus Loving heart… a glimmer of hope started to well up that

maybe America would make a return to trusting in God and relying on His wisdom and

guidance to repair our nation.

… and for a time there were signs of this…

… National Unity… Huge increase in Compassion ministry… Financial and relational

generosity… and churches were full…

BUT as time passed… as the shock began to wear off… you could watch the rally cry of our nation shift from GOD WE NEED YOU to WE WILL REBUILD…

… And instead of it being a time of humbling for America and her citizens… what it really

became was a time of national arrogance and self-reliance…

… to the point that almost 18 years later our nation has not only returned to our pre 9/11

ways… we have gone far far past that to a place where God is not honored… instead He is

being shunned from the public arena.

And somehow in my mind I have this picture of Jesus… a lot like on that first Palm Sunday… standing in the middle of the crowd of people… among all of the cheers of self-congratulation and human arrogance and He’s not saying a word… He’s just “Looking around”

… Slowly and purposefully taking it all in…

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You see what we have to understand about the Character and behavior of God is that He is in the RESTORATION BUSINESS…

… His goal from the moment Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world… has been to

bring people back into a personal and intimate relationship with Him.

Slide #7

… Every story in the Bible… every personal encounter you have with Him… every God inspired

sermon you hear… ultimately points us to God and having an uninhibited relationship with

Him.

The problem is… inside of every one of us there is a war that’s constantly going on…

… It’s a battle between following the path that lines up with the world around us or

following the path that lines up with this uninhibited relationship with God.

Slide #8

(LB)

These two forces within us are constantly fighting each other to win control over us, and our wishes are never free from their pressures.

This is why you can hear a sermon… or read a verse… and suddenly you feel like one of those moneychangers in the Temple… because it feels like God just came in and completely wrecked you…

… Maybe He exposed a behavior or an attitude that’s damaging your relationship

… Maybe it’s a hidden sin or a sin you’ve somehow justified as being acceptable in your life.

… Maybe it’s an area of your life that’s out of balance and has taken priority over God.

… And just like in the temple courts that day… He comes in and insensitively makes a

wreck out of your world… overturning tables and scattering things everywhere…

And if you’re like most of us… your first reaction is to get mad.

… I mean who likes having their failures and their shortcomings exposed…?

… Who enjoys being told… “To be right you’re gonna have to make some changes!”

… But then somewhere deep inside… you start to feel that very familiar feeling… The feeling that

says… “UGGGH as much as I hate to admit it, I can’t deny that what God is saying is Truth.”

… “And I DO want to be right… even if it means I have to make some changes to do it.”

… So you compliment the Pastor on His message and leave with a determination to DO Better.

… And even though God has turned things upside down you start to recognize that this is God doing

what God does… RESTORING your relationship to Him.

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… But it makes me wonder… whether its 3 years… 3 months… 3 days later…

If Jesus were to visit that same place with you again… and He were to take His time and slowly and purposefully look around… being intentional to take it all in… what is it that He would see…?

… Keep in mind… after Jesus cleansed the temple the 1st time… the money changers were

gone for awhile…

… Following 9/11 the American public did lean in to God… for a short time.

… but as time went on the shock wore off… the determination to do right and the resolve to not do

wrong diminished until everything just returned back to the way it was…

They are a perfect example of what the writer of Proverbs was talking about when he said…

Slide #9

(GW)

As a dog goes back to its vomit, so a fool repeats his stupidity.

But let me ask you this question this morning… How different are you from those money changers in the temple…?

… How many times has your resolve to be better been diminished by time and convenience?

… How long does it take for your selfishness to creep back in and cause you to question if

all this hard work and change is really necessary?

… How long is it before those old justifications for your sinful behaviors start to sound

convincing again…?

… How many times have you looked up days… weeks… months later only to discover you are

right back where you started…?

… Pretty humbling isn’t it… Because my guess is… if you’re being honest… you’re saying to yourself… “Wow… I’m really not that different at all from those moneychangers in the temple.”

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- SO WHAT’S THE ANSWER???

… I mean… This can’t be God’s plan that we bounce back and forth btw obedience and sin…

… His goal is always to RESTORE our relationship… so how can we stay restored?

…How can we stop this crazy cycle and quit mindlessly walking right back into the same traps?

Slide #10

I love how honest and straightforward Paul is in (LB)…

… we naturally love to do evil things… But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger,

Slide #11

constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine, envy,

Slide #12

murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

I think on some level and probably more than we want to admit… we can all relate to several things on that list… and it’s a little scary that he ends that verse with… anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God… But Paul goes on to say this…

Slide #13

BUT when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…

- ARE YOU READY FOR THE HEAVY REVVY THIS MORNING???

Our constant return to our old habits, and old behaviors is largely because we have placed our

hope and set our strategy around Modifying our Behavior…

… By sheer determination and will power we’re going to overcome depression,

alcoholism, pornography, gossip, slander and bitterness…

… only to find that weeks later… after a really good start… we find ourselves

right back where we started.

- But Paul steps in and says… “Listen guys, the battle we’re fighting will never be won by determination alone… Behavior Modification is never the long term solution… our victory comes when we’re willing to surrender our whole lives to the Holy Spirit.”

Slide #14

I love the way he says it… WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT CONTROLS OUR LIVES… THEN HE WILL PRODUCE THIS KIND OF FRUIT IN US…

… Are you catching that?... He’s saying… It’s not in your power… it’s the Holy Spirit’s power in you.

… Your Power says… I’m going to change my Behavior…

… His Power says… I’m going to transform you from the inside out…

… And as simple as it sounds the truth is it is incredibly difficult… it is a day by day… decision by decision… battle by battle transformation… Not just a determination to just DO Better… but a total surrender to the Holy Spirit as He helps you BE Better…

I can tell you without hesitation that the Christian life will ALWAYS BE FRUSTRATING as long as you’re trying to do it in your power alone… just trying to just add a little bit of goodness into our “real life”…

… it isn’t until we surrender that life… that plan… that will… and say “God I am all in… I am

choosing to live the life I was created to live rather than the one the culture around me tells

me I have to live…”

Slide #15

and then 3years later when JEssu walks

we will find the strength and the say I’m not interested in letting this broken culture drive who I am and what I do… I am taking away its power to define me and dictate what I do…

INSTEAD I am choosing the life I was created to live… The life where I am defined by the Power of the Holy Spirit… AND THEN we begin our journey of surrender to Him

Try to bring 9/11 and temple courts back in

And if you are like me you are thinking… “Ummm I think that sounds like the exact opposite of cool… it sounds really insignificant and boring…”

… but watch this…

Now let me be clear before you jump to the conclusion that I am saying God caused 9/11 or any other human tragedy… I believe good things come from God and evil comes from sin and people who are born into sin… but I also believe Gods Word when He says He will use even the bad and turn it around for good…

… Scholars have debated whether these people knew it or not… But what they

were doing and what they were experiencing was a fulfillment of prophecies that

had been given centuries earlier…

… History was literally being made in this moment

or sense God is trying to speak to you and it

OR … An honest conversation we have with a friend…

… But God is always in the business of RESTORING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM…

And so many times when He speaks to us about it…

As a kid one of my favorite Sunday School stories was always when Jesus went into the temple and He drove the money changers out…

… Now I’m sure my Sunday School teachers did a great job explaining WHY Jesus did this, but I have to be honest… as a kid I just thought it was so cool that Jesus would go all Ham on these moneychangers and businessmen… throwing tables around… whipping money across the courtyard… swinging a whip around and chasing them all out of there…

… I knew there had to be some spiritual significance… but it was always secondary to

the WWF Jesus…

… And I have to be honest… even as an adult this is still one of my favorite stories… because eventhough I never do… this is that exactly how I want to act when people are doing stupid stuff…

But do you kno what I know the more I studied this… I started to realize

CHECK FACTS

Jesus had just started public ministry…

In fact, it was right after His miracle in Cana where He turned water to wine at wedding

Now something we need to understand is that these moneychangers and marketers selling animals for sacrifice… they were invited into the temple courts by religious leaders.

… They would not have been allowed in without the consent of those in charge of the temple.

And another thing we need to understand is that it was a very practical move.

… The temple only accepted local currency and people were required to exchange their foreign currency for local currency… so set up a money changing station

… People came to the festival of Passover to offer sacrifices for their sins… this required animal sacrifices… The marketeers would provide animals for people to buy so they did not have to travel long distances with animals… they would just buy them when they got there.

… The problem was… just like most ideas… the businessmen were finding new and creative ways to turn a profit. They were charging exorbitant exchange rates and charging significantly more for the animals they were selling. This market had grown so large that it was crowding out the people who were there to worship.

… So this abuse of Gods House is where Jesus chose to start…

… He unapologetically without consideration of being politically correct drove these criminals

out of the Temple courts…

… He exposed the sinful behavior and abuse

and … He restored the temple back to a place of worship and righteousness…

… Jesus set things right…

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Now just out of curiosity… How many of you have ever heard a Palm Sunday message before?

… Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt…

… People line the streets between Bethany and Jerusalem waving Palm Branches and

screaming… “Hosanna… Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!... Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!... Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

… Sure lots of us have and probably lots of times.

But this last year in my devotions when I was reading through the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday something really stood out to me…

… Something again Im sure my Sunday School teachers taught me, but I was probably too busy staring at the package of OREO’s… I swear it is all Ms Evelyn’s fault that I am so in love with the OREO cookie…

But I loved this little detail that leapt off the page to me…

… So, the gospels tell us that Jesus started off in Bethany that day… Most likely from the

house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha…

… As He made the journey to Jerusalem crowds began to gather alongside the road and wave

palm branches… they laid their coats on the road in front of Him and screamed, “Hosanna… Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!... Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!... Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

… When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem Mark tells us…

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything…

… So in the midst of all the chaos and screaming… Jesus stops just outside of the temple gates… and He gets off of His donkey…

… He walks through the Temple gate right into the COURT OF GENTILES…

… Now the Court of Gentiles was no small place… it was this massive courtyard the size

of almost 15 football fields… and it is packed with people…

… So Jesus walks in… and here’s what jumped out to me… right there in the middle of this huge bustling crowd of excited people… Jesus just stops…

NIV tells us…

He looked around at everything

… Now I get it… at first the thought is BIG DEAL so He looked around… but when Mark said Jesus looked around he didn’t use a word that would suggest Jesus was looking around like He was searching for a friend or the funnel cake stand… but the word Mark used meant that Jesus took His time and looked around slowly and carefully… making sure to take in every detail…

… He sees the Temple… with its restricted access for Priests only…

… He sees the Wall… separating Gentiles from making their way into the Inner Courts

… He sees the smoke rising from the altar of sacrifice where thousands of animals were being

sacrificed by the priests for the sins of the nation.

… He saw the lines of people waiting to meet with the priest…

… everything seemed to be as it should be…

… UNTIL something in the SOUTHERN part of the courtyard caught His attention…

… Right in the Temple courts… right where He had just 3 years earlier driven out the moneychangers and Marketers… there they were again… back in full force… selling their goods… making their profits… taking advantage of and crowding out the worshippers…

Let me tell you why this stood out to me…

… Way back… 3 years earlier… at the outset of His earthly ministry… Jesus went through great lengths to reveal truth.

… It was a message to the Money Changers… the businessmen… but also to the religious leaders that God’s House was not to be misused and abused…

… It was a place of worship not a marketplace…

… He was speaking to the hardness of their hearts and their complete neglect of keeping the Temple a place of holiness and worship to God…

… He was exposing their sinful behavior.

… All those years ago the message was heard and it was received.

… But over time the convenience.. the practicality… the logic of it all caused people to begin drifting back to what was normal.

MODERN STORY (9/11)

Following September 11, 2001 America was back on its heels…

… the thought that terrorists would have the ability to come in and terrorize us on our soil… that they would infiltrate our circle of safety… that they would destroy our citizens and our property… that they would turn to dust our symbol of strength and financial security… it had EVERY AMERICAN outraged…

government on every level made a commitment that this would never happen again… that we would secure our borders and set into place safeguards… that we would rebuild stronger than ever…

… And I could not have been more proud than when President Bush very publicly and very humbly called our nation to prayer…

… From my Jesus loving… Bible based… Christ Centered perspective I was hopeful that we would see a return to trust in God and reliance on His wisdom and guidance to repair our nation.

… and for a time there were signs of this…

… National Unity… Compassion ministry… generosity… and churches were full…

But time passed… the shock wore off… and the focus of the nation shifted from God help us to WE WILL REBUILD…

… Instead of a time of humbling… things shifted to a time of great arrogance… self-reliance…

… And now 18 years later what we see in our nation is we have not only returned to our pre 9/11 ways… we have gone far far past that to a place where God is being shunned from the public arena.

And I cant help but think Jesus is simply standing in the middle of the crowd of people among all of the cheers of self congratulations and human pride and He is just “Looking around”

… Slowly and purposefully taking it all in…

But what does that mean to us…?

You see God is in the restoration business…

… His goal has from the moment Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world… has been to bring people back into a personal and intimate relationship with Him.

… Every story in the Bible… especially the story of Jesus points to God and His desire to have an uninhibited relationship with us.

… The Bible… The history of God’s people… Jesus… The apostles… all the way up to every church and church service held in every Bible believing church in the world has this 1 goal… restoration of people back to their Creator…

And a lot like that day in the temple courts… weekly God gives our Pastor a Word to speak to us…

… and that Word has 1 goal in mind… Restoration…

… and it is not restoration of the temple building…

… it’s the restoration of our lives and our relationship with Him

And so many times through a scripture in our personal Bible Study… A sermon preached by our Pastor… a word spoke to us from a friend… God exposes in our lives a sin or maybe not even a sin… maybe it is just an area of our lives where we have allowed something to take priority over God.

… And just like in the temple courts that day… He comes in and insensitively makes a wreck

out of our world… overturning tables and driving out the animals…

now 3 years into giving everything He had to 3 yHe is somewhere along the way these people drifted back into the habits of sin.

…

The act these people were committing was not a sin… The

And if you’re anything like me… there’s a good chance you may have even Half Listened to the story a time or 2…

… You know what I’m talking about… When you’re really familiar with a story… whether it’s a

Bible story or a story you’ve heard before from friends or family… you half listen.

… You hear the story… You laugh at the joke on cue, but if I were going to be honest you would have to admit you aren’t really engaged in the story…

… Now… eventhough you probably get away with it most of the time… the problem with half listening is… although you may be familiar with the story… when we only half listen we tend to overlook or miss out on the finer details of the story…

… And when it is grandpas weak joke or moms silly pun… not that big of a deal…

… But when it comes to the story of Jesus… DETAILS MATTER…

SO this morning instead of Half Listening I want to encourage you to close your eyes for a few minutes and go on a journey with me back to that very first Palm SUNDAY…

… I don’t want you to just hear a Bible story this morning…

… I want you to climb into the DeLorean time machine and travel back with me to ancient

Jerusalem…

I want you to feel the buzz of Jerusalem…

… It is the annual festival… where everyone shows up… not just the locals but thousands of

others from all the surrounding areas…

… The Passover Festival was a huge deal… lots of excitement… think 4th of July Parade

on steroids

… Can’t you imagine all of the noise of the excited crowd…

… The heat of the Jerusalem sun warming your face… or burning your bald head

because you forgot your hat… All my bald friends say… AMEN!

… The sun is hot and there is no breeze… except for every few seconds when you feel a little

draft from the masses of people waving palm branches up and down…

… I mean there are masses of people lined up waving these branches and the closer Jesus gets the more frantic they wave and the louder they scream… “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

… And in the midst of all the chaos and screaming… Jesus stops just outside of the temple gates… and He gets off of His donkey…

… He gracefully walks through the Temple gate smiling at the people around Him and walks

right into the COURT OF GENTILES…

… From where you stand it is a little hard to take in because the Court of Gentiles is this

this massive courtyard the size of almost 15 football fields… and it is packed with

people…

And then here is one of those details that are so easy to overlook…

The book of Mark says right there in the middle of this crowd of excited people… Jesus just stops

NIV tells us…

He looked around at everything

OPEN EYES…

… Now I get it… at first the thought is BIG DEAL so He looked around… but when Mark said Jesus looked around he didn’t use a word that would suggest Jesus was looking around like He was searching for a friend or the funnel cake stand… but the word Mark used meant that Jesus looked around slowly and carefully… making sure to take in every detail…

… He sees the Temple… with its restricted access for Priests only…

… He sees the Wall… separating Gentiles from making their way into the Inner Courts

… He sees the smoke rising from the altar of sacrifice where thousands of animals were being

sacrificed by the priests for the sins of the nation.

… He saw the lines of people waiting to meet with the priest…

… everything seemed to be as it should be…

… UNTIL something in the SOUTHERN part of the courtyard caught His attention…

… Right in the Temple courts… set up like a flea Market… Jesus saw a group of money

changers… transferring all different types of currencies into temple currency.

… He saw vendors selling animals for people to purchase to sacrifice as offerings.

… He saw a Market place full of businessmen making profit from what was intended to be a

solemn and remorse filled repentance of sin.

… And somehow… in that moment… I have to believe in His mind Jesus was transported back to this very place 3 years earlier when He had walked into the temple and saw the same thing… John says it like this…

…

It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

- 3 years earlier Jesus… Enraged at the misuse and abuse of the temple… unapologetically with no consideration of being politically correct drove these criminals out of the Temple courts…

… He exposed to everyone the error of what they were doing…

… He restored the temple back to a place of worship and righteousness…

… And Now… standing in the exact place 3 years later… only to find that the profiteers had been invited back into the temple… allowed to misuse and abuse the temple once again…

Why is this a big deal? And why would we take the time to talk about it on Palm Sunday of all days?

Challenge people to remember when they first experienced Jesus…

… When they first heard about Him…

… The first time you started to believe a relationship with him could change your life…

… When they first accepted Him onto their lives

… When the gravity of being completely forgiven of their sins… reunited in right relationship

with God…

… The moment you realized your eternal destination had shifted from eternal damnation to eternity in God’s presence

- IF you are here today and you are still unsure about Jesus or you have not yet begun a personal relationship with Him… you may not understand what we are talking about today… But for those of us here who have placed our trust in Jesus there is something very special about that moment when Jesus intersected our lives…

NEED TRANSITION

- Time has a way of diminishing the potency of our experiences…

Think about using auto pilot illustration

1st Cleansing of the temple

(immediately following Jesus very first miracle… in Cana)

2nd cleansing of temple

Start with journey into Jerusalem on donkey colt

Jesus just looked around

Remembers 3 years earlier when he cleansed the temple

Jesus exposed the sin/misuse/ abuse of the temple

Overturned tables and scattered money everywhere (He was not subtle)

Following triumphal entry He “looked around” and saw that they had returned

Mark notes that Jesus looked around at everything. This seems somewhat pointless until we read of Jesus’ actions in the temple the next day (11:15–17) and understand that Jesus had already cleared the temple of these racketeers on an earlier Passover week (), only to find here that they had returned. He probably would have acted right then except that it was already late. So he and the disciples returned to Bethany for the night, perhaps to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It was not safe for Jesus to stay in the city. His only night in the city was the night of his arrest. Jesus’ dear friends must have been a great comfort to him during this final week.

Early in His ministry Jesus cleansed temple of money changers

Then the day of triumphal entry money changers are back

FOLLOWING HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY into Jerusalem the previous day, Jesus entered the temple area and simply “looked around at everything” (v. 11). Now, we know the reason why. Had He taken action then to purge the temple of the money changers, the crowd with Him would have pitched in and a riot would have ensued. Jesus didn’t want mob action to accomplish His purposes. We know from John’s gospel that Jesus first cleansed the temple of the merchandisers at the beginning of His ministry (). Later, His disciples remembered His statement at the time: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Now, three years later in this second cleansing of the temple, Jesus’ zeal remained undiminished. How true it is that over time many go back to their old ways. Revivals come and then they ebb. Persons once “on fire” for the Lord seem passionless years later. In the intervening three years, the temple had gone back to its old ways. The court of the Gentiles was massive, spreading out over the equivalent of almost fifteen football fields. The merchandise was located on the south side, where pilgrims and worshipers entered following their ritual cleaning in the many baths outside. From all nations they came to worship God—Jew and Gentile alike. The sellers weren’t there to worship but to profit. All money had to be exchanged for the special temple currency, the half-shekel tax. For the poor who couldn’t afford a lamb, doves were sold to those who wanted to sacrifice. The temple sellers were profit-driven, not prophet-driven. The strength of Jesus’ personality is seen in that He stopped the whole vast enterprise single-handedly. He didn’t do it courteously, either. He didn’t give the money changers time to bag their currency. Instead, He overturned their tables, scattering coins everywhere.

EARLIER THAT DAY, surrounded by an adoring and shouting crowd, Jesus rode a colt down the Mount of Olives, across the narrow Kidron Valley, and up to Jerusalem. Outside the temple, He would have dismounted and then entered one of the gates leading up to the vast platform known as the court of the Gentiles. If the adoring crowd expected Jesus to do something dramatic to bring the kingdom of David, they were sorely disappointed. Jesus did nothing except look around. His gaze took in everything—the temple with its restricted access for priests only, the wall that separated the Gentiles from entering the inner courts, and the smoke arising from the altar of sacrifice. But mostly His focus centered on the outer court, especially the southern part where the money changers converted regular money into temple currency. He took it all in but took no action. This is the fifth time in the gospel that Mark recorded Jesus as having “looked around.” The phrase connotes a slow, elliptical movement of the eyes that carefully takes in every detail, a kind of patient, moving stare. The first “looked around” (3: 5) occurred when Jesus, in anger and deep distress, visually challenged those who didn’t want Him to heal a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The second “looked around” (3: 34) focused on the circle of those seated around Him when His mother and brothers came to take Him away. He disowned their attempt to divert Him from His mission and instead defined His true family by saying those who do the will of His Father are His mother and brother. The third “looked around” (5: 32) came when Jesus sensed that power had gone out from Him. He looked for the person who had touched His clothes. His look wasn’t one of anger, but of assurance to the woman that her faith had made her well from her twelve-year illness. He “looked around” the fourth time (10: 23) after the rich young ruler spurned the Lord’s offer of discipleship. At that point, Jesus spoke difficult words to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Now, in the court of the Gentiles, Jesus looked around for the fifth time recorded in Mark. He sized up everything. It was late in the day. He observed, but did nothing. In that moment, had He acted to turn over the tables of the money changers, a riot would have ensued. The adoring pilgrim throng that escorted Him into Jerusalem would have joined in a melee. But Jesus held back and returned to Bethany. These five occasions illustrated Jesus’ penetrating gaze. He was emotional at the hardness of heart from those who dared Him to heal, emotional that His mother and brothers didn’t understand Him, emotional when a woman had been cured through her faith, emotional when a would-be disciple rejected Him, and emotional when the temple was prostituted for financial gain. If Jesus looked around at you and me, what would He see? Would He look at us with anger and distress or disappointment? Or would He look at us with commendation for our fai

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