Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /Scripture: John 2:12-23/

 

/" After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples.

There they stayed for a few days.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

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 money changers 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!”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” *Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?*” Jesus answered them, “*Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days*.”

The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”

But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.

Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, *many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name*.

But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.

He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man."

(John 2:12-25, NIV) /

[1]

Are there limits to God’s patience?

Do you suppose he looks at the world today and the “lightning finger” begins to twitch by times.

Funny how we object to the fact that God sometimes doesn’t seem to care enough to keep bad things from happening?

What would we ever do if God let loose in justifiable anger toward our society today.

Even the Christian community winced in discomfort when Jerry Falwell suggested that the collapse of the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001 could have been the hand of judgment.

We can’t imagine that God would ever act in such a way.

I have come to believe that we live in an age of grace when God will not punish us for our sins here and now but we will reckon for them when we stand before Him one day.

1.

An *Offensive Review*

 

*/“So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area.”/*

Jesus went to the temple near the time of Passover.

John’s words of testimony were still ringing in his ears as the Lord of the temple came to observe in flesh and blood.

"/ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”/" (John 1:35-36, NIV)

[2]

This was not his first trip to the temple.

Undoubtedly he attended every year with his parents.

This time however it was different from the other trips.

He was now the inaugurated Lord, baptized publicly by John The Baptist, anointed by the presence of the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove and proclaimed to be the beloved son of God by the voice of the Father himself.

He was fully charged, duly authorized and totally offended at what he observed.

As a matter of fact, Malachi had prophesied his coming to the temple and his cleansing of it,

 

/"“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.

*Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple*; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming?

Who can stand when he appears?

*For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap*.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.

Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

“So I will come near to you for judgment.

I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty."

(Malachi 3:1-5, NIV) /

[3]

 

It was quickly evident to Jesus that things were not as they should be and now it was his time to make the difference.

Ø      These marketers were there with the full blessing of the priests.

Ø      They were dishonoring the nature of the Father.

Ø      They were perverting the purpose of the temple.

Ø      They were profiting from the devotion of those who came to give themselves to God in obedience.

*/The Christian Concession Stands/*

 

Ø      *Spiritual Scalpers – *Get it at the door for more.

Other temple businessmen sold livestock for the sacrifices.

A lamb brought by a worshiper might be rejected because of some blemish when inspected by a priest: it had to be traded then for an animal that was “acceptable.”

Jesus angrily drove the traders from His Father’s house[4]

 

The buying and *selling *of animals in the area was probably rationalized as a convenience for the pilgrims coming into Jerusalem.

But abuses developed, and the pilgrim traffic became a major source of income for the city.

With *money *to be made, worship easily became corrupted.

[5]

 

Ø      *Legalistic Lucre – *What you have to offer is not proper

 

There they visited the temple and saw the money changers at work.

These were businessmen who exchanged other currencies for coins minted at the temple, because the religious leaders had decreed that only temple money was acceptable to God.

Smiling, the money changers inflated the rate of exchange—and probably gave the leading priests their cut.[6]

The money changers were another convenience for the pilgrims.

Temple dues had to be paid in the acceptable Tyrian coinage, and a high percentage was charged for changing coins.[7]

The moral intention of Jesus’ work is seen in his driving out the money changers who were profiting from worshipers more than was appropriate.

This was apparently acceptable to Judaism, but was unacceptable to Jesus.[8]

Ø      *Discounted Doves or Poverty’s Pigeons - *Equitable Abuse

* *

It seems that these ecclesiastical entrepreneurs were determined to gather every stray shekel.

The doves were the “poor man’s sacrifice”.

These too were sold at a profit, affordable yet profitable.

We have learned over the years that there is a fortune to be made in doughnuts.

Even the smaller purchases can be incredibly profitable.

And so there were overpriced sacrifices for sale even for those who could not afford a more

 

/Sometimes God uses a whip//./

2.

An *Officious Response*

/ /

/.” *Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?*”/

 

Naturally, the proprietors would wonder why this man would take it upon himself to clear the clutter out of the temple.

We can get used to abuse that persists over long periods of time.

They were looking for credentials that would support his actions.

Christ was an unwelcome rebel out to identify the abuse of God’s intended purpose in the existence of the temple.

And when the boat is rocked there are always those who want to know who is rocking it and what gives them the right to do so.

/How well does a church hear the voice of the reformer?

/

 

For instance, if God wants to help us to be effective in a rapidly changing world we must be somewhat receptive to change.

Most often that will come through people.

One one hand we say that we want new people to come to church, come to Christ and then become grounded.

One great indication of spiritual maturity is that we become “contributors”.

We learn the scriptural concept of stewardship and we practice in the use of our time, our talents and our treasure.

As we see this happen change comes to a local church.

How open are we to receive this?  Often, new people coming into a church have a blindness or lack of awareness of tradition – the way things have been done.

With this blindness comes an ability to see things that others of us have “grown” blind to.

We have understood the reason that certain things are less than they should be and we have understood the reasons.

Over time we have accepted these deficiencies and they have left the realm of our consciousness.

New people see these things relatively quickly and they sometimes are able to identify them and work to correct them.

Other times they meet with a closed-minded, possessive, proud, arrogant spirit that attacks their desires to “better” things.

/We think we are “good enough”./

Everything was working just fine in the temple prior to Christ’s entrance.

People were coming and offering their sacrifices.

It was focused on God and the Old Testament directives for worship.

Everyone was happy it would seem – even those who were being taken advantage of.