Overturned

Big Idea of the Message: Jesus disrupts the activities of the Court of the Gentiles to show that just going through the motions of worship isn’t enough.

Intention

Everything people do there is some type of intention behind it, whether the intention is good or bad completely depends of the individual;

Show the picture of Herod’s Temple (leave it up while I talk about it)

As we look at Herod’s temp we get an example of intention, the temple was divided into sections based on what catagory people fell - the higher your catagory the closer to the holy of holies you could get - notice the Gentiles (us) were not allowed inside the walls;

Now the intention of having oxen, sheep and doves available for sacrifice was most likely came to be with good intention - why, because people would travel long distences for the Passsover Feast and it was an easier journey without animals;

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 2

People who had traveled from a great distance for the festival could hardly have brought their sacrificial offerings with them; traders took advantage of that by selling animals for sacrifice in the outer courts. People likely paid exorbitant prices for the convenience of buying at the temple.

However this good intention ultimately disrupted the Gentiles ability to worship;

It is believed that the selling of these animals took place in the Courtyard of the Gentiles - could you imagine coming to church and having to battle past people trying to sell you something as you came on the property;

Would that be a huge disruption to worship;

How do you disrute worship with your good intentions?

Restorastion

A place of worship should have on intention - to lead the broken to Jesus Christ, to cast a light of hope for the hopeless, by leading them to the foot of the cross;

The church needs to be overturned if this is not the focus with the same passion has Jesus had for His Father’s house;

Jesus was brokenhearted over what He saw and would not allow it to continue;

Jesus was restoring worship to the temple - His Father’s house;

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 2

Turning the outer courts into a market effectively prevented worship for non-Jewish people. Jesus’ quotation of Isa 56:7 in the Synoptics underscores His desire for the temple to be a “house of prayer for all peoples.” Jesus is angered by the commercialization of temple worship, which created an obstacle to true worship.

There need to be a restoration of the intent of worship in the church;

How can you help bring restortion and not self intention into His church?

Passion

Why was Jesus so enraged over this event, because people had lost the reason for the temple and turned into a market place;

Now some people may say and that’s why we need to go back to the old time religion;

Why, because of the movement of God in the church, because of the outpouring of the church into ther community, why do we need to go back what is your passion for going back;

Jesus’ passion was parcially over the lack of worship in the “house of prayer”;

Let’s look at Psalm 69:9

Jesus’ passion for the intention of the temple - worship - is what drove Him to cleanse His Father’s house;

Where is your passion for worship?

Application Point: Disrupting the temple set the stage for the cross, and it also pointed to the need for people to have a genuine change of heart if they are to have a relationship with God.