Announcements

Worship Team Meeting - March 14 @ 6:00 PM

Church Council Meeting - March 14 @ 7:00 PM

Opening Prayer

Lord, we come to you this day with so many things laying claim to our lives, our hearts, and our spirits. Open our ears and our hearts to hear your words of healing love. Prepare us to be faithful disciples for you. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

Opening Songs

“You Are Good,” “Love the Lord”

Pastoral Prayer

Lord, sometimes we have difficulty hearing the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple of those who would lie, cheat, and steal. We always want Jesus to be patient, meek, and mild. But there are many times when bold action is required to cleanse the cancer of greed and avarice from our lives. Lord, help us to remember that Jesus’ patient words often fell upon deaf ears. Remind us that we need to be bold in our faith; first examining our lives and clearing out the pain, greed and fear. Replace our anxieties with confidence in your all-sustaining love and grace. Enable us to put our service to you and your people above our selfishness. As we reach out to others in need, remind us that we also stand in need of your mercy; for we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN.

Song of Preparation

“Here I Am to Worship”

Scripture Reading

John 2:13–22 ESV

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.

The Promise of Restoration

1. Jesus restores the meaning of Passover. (vs. 13)

John 2:13 ESV

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Exodus 12:13 ESV

13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

2. Jesus destroys the power of sin. (vs. 14-17)

John 2:14–17 ESV

14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Romans 6:6–7 ESV

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

The Jesus we find in the first part of this passage is not the gentle Jesus that most of us are familiar with. It seems more like the God we might experience in the Old Testament. But Jesus is fully man and fully God, therefore this story is consistent with what we know of God in the Old Testament too. It shows us God’s anger at sin is consistent. “We cannot evacuate of forcible meaning these plain terms. It was a scene of violence: the traders trying to protect their property, cattle rushing hither and thither, men shouting and cursing, the money changers trying to hold their tables as Jesus went from one to another upsetting them. It was indeed so violent a scene that the disciples felt somewhat scandalised until they remembered, then and there, not afterwards, that it was written” in Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for your house has consumed me” (W. Robertson Nicoll, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1897–1910, John 2:14

v6-7. The consequence of dying with Christ involves a death to sin, "freed from sin", that "we might no longer be enslaved to sin." A believer is, in Christ, freely released from the power of sin, not so that we can go on sinning, or even be more sinful, but rather that we might no longer live a sinful life.

3. Jesus restores us through resurrection. (vs. 18-22)

John 2:18–22 ESV

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.

Colossians 3:1–4 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Even with the violence of the act, Jesus seems to up the ante in his response to the Jews who question him about it: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). To the ears of the Jews, he is declaring that if he were to really show his power, he could destroy the entire building and bring it back in three days. What is he really saying? Something similar. “But the true shrine of the Deity was the body of the Incarnate Word. The Temple of wood and stone was but the representative of the Divine Presence. That Presence was then actually in their midst. They had no reverence for the one; for, like its outer courts, it had become a house of merchandise, and was fast becoming a den of thieves. This very demand for an outward sign, while all around them feel a spiritual power, shows they have as little reverence for the other. They will destroy the real shrine; the shrine of wood and stone even will not be left to represent a Presence no longer among them. He will raise up the temple of His body the third day, and in that resurrection will be the foundation stone of the spiritual temple for the world”

The process of restoration can take a lot of work and a lot of time. One show that demonstrates this is American Restoration, on the History Channel. Rick Dale, his crew, and his family find artifacts that have been ravaged by time, and are really of no use to anyone anymore, but they mean something to the person bringing them to the shop. After a lot of time and energy spent, the artifacts have been gloriously restored to previous working condition. There are a number of shows that show this process, and you can pick from any of them, such as The Repair Shop on Netflix.

v1-4. In providing a practical application for a life lived under the grace of God, Paul first makes the point that a believer's life is lived in relationship with Jesus.

i] "You have been raised." We are alive to righteousness, a new person in Christ, therefore we should set our hearts and minds on things above. Think on these things - of love, of the fruits of the Spirit; desire love.

ii] "You died." We have died to sin, therefore we should not set your minds on earthly things. Paul is not telling us to renounce the enjoyment of the creation, rather to renounce evil.

The Eucharist

Invitation/Confession and Pardon

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another

Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. we have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Pray in silence)

Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God’s love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Glory to God. Amen.

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty (almighty God), creator of heaven and earth.

You brought all things into being and called them good. From the dust of the earth you formed us into your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

When rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, you bore up the ark on the waters, saved Noah and his family, and made covenant with every living creature on earth.

When you led your people to Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights, you gave us your commandments and made us your covenant people.

When your people forsook your covenant, your prophet Elijah fasted for forty days and forty nights; and on your holy mountain, he heard your still small voice.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. When you gave him to save us from our sin, your Spirit led him into the wilderness,

where he fasted forty days and forty nights to prepare for his ministry. When he suffered and died on a cross for our sin, you raised him to life, presented him alive to the apostles during forty days, and exalted him at your right hand.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

Now, when we your people prepare for the yearly feast of Easter, you lead us to repentance for sin and the cleansing of our hearts, that during these forty days of Lent we may be gifted and graced to reaffirm the covenant you made with us through Christ.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: "Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and for ever.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

And now, with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray:

Our Father, which art in heaven...

Breaking the Bread

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.

The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

Giving the Bread and Cup

Prayer after the Eucharist

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing Song

“Sanctuary”

Benediction

Go forth with the Lord at your side, seeking goodness and compassion. Bring the words of hope and peace to all whom you meet. Go in peace. AMEN.