King Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Last week we saw Jesus enter Jerusalem. This is the last week of His life. It’s also the most important week for the Jewish people. It was the week of Passover. Jews from many areas were making their pilgrimage to the Holy City. Literally millions of people would be in Jerusalem. They came to worship God.

The focal point of this celebration was the Temple. It was the place of worship, sacrifice and even fellowship. When Jesus enters Jerusalem the first place, He goes is the Temple. It’s interesting that Jesus begins and ends His ministry with cleansing the Temple. Three years earlier He had done something very similar to what we see in our text. But no one listened. It was business as usual at the Temple.

Why is Jesus so concerned about the Temple? It was the political and religious center of Judaism. What happened here affected the entire nation. When Jesus cleanses the Temple, we see in verse 15 that worship erupts. Worship is stifled if the Temple is corrupt.

The Temple was corrupt because the religious leaders were corrupt. How could the people truly worship God if their leaders were not leading them to God? Jesus is putting the Temple in order so the people of God can worship in spirit and truth.

How does this relate to us? We don’t have a Temple. The Bible says believers are the Temple of God. The Bible also teaches that we are the church. Just as Israel was called to gather in worship and fellowship, we are called to do the same.

This morning we’re going to look at the cleansing of the Temple and draw out some principles about worship. We’re going to consider some truths we learn about the gathered church. Hopefully these truths will keep us from repeating the errors of the religious elite in Jesus’ day.

1. Church should not be a place of personal agenda.

A. The ministry of the Temple had been hijacked by the priests.

The outer court of the Temple was called the “Court of the Gentiles”. Anyone could enter it. It was big. In fact it covered about 35 acres.

Overtime it became a religious marketplace, a flea market of sorts. And it was spearheaded by the High Priest Annas. In fact, it had become known as the “Bazaar of Annas”. He had the Chief Priests and others oversee the Franchise.

Here’s how it worked.

Merchants could buy rights to a concession for selling things in the Court of the Gentiles. Most of the stuff related to rituals or sacrifices involved in the temple: animals, wine, oil, salt, etc. The merchants would pay a franchise fee and give a certain percentage of their prophets to Annas.

Initially the selling of these things was supposed to be a convenience for the people. It would be hard to travel all the miles they traveled with animals in tow. But what started as convenience quickly turned to commerce.

All sacrifices had to be approved by the priests. So, the priests made sure that only animals bought in one of the franchises would be approved. On top of that the cost was inflated drastically. It was like buying a coke in the movie theater.

Many of the people were poor and could not afford things like lambs. So, they bought the cheaper sacrifice which was the doves.

Who were the money changers? There was a Temple tax that had to be paid. But it could only be paid in the Tyrian currency. The Roman money had images of false gods, etc on it. It even cost for you to have your money converted into the proper currency. This vile, greedy, self-centered High Priest is making a killing off the Temple. Many of the priests are in league with him.

Now we understand why Jesus turns over the tables and runs these people out of the Temple. They thought the Messiah was going to come into Jerusalem and attack Rome. Instead, Jesus came into Jerusalem and attacked their dead religion.

B. Jesus said the Temple had become a den of thieves.

What is a den of thieves? The terrain around Jerusalem was rocky. Criminals would often hide in caves or dens. They found security there. They would leave the caves to rob or kill. Those traveling to Jerusalem would have to beware of thieves robbing or even killing them.

Once they got to Jerusalem you would think they would be safe. But Jesus says the Temple itself was a den of thieves. It was a place where criminals were protected. They felt secure there because they had the High Priest protecting them.

Jesus isn’t afraid. He walks right into this den of thieves and throws them out.

Here’s the problem: They saw the Temple as their own. They didn’t see it as the Lord’s house. They saw it as a place for personal gain. They went to the Temple for two reasons:

To exercise authority

To make money.

C. If we transform the place of worship into a place of personal agenda, we can expect the discipline of Jesus.

Let me illustrate this.

Do you remember when Jesus sent the letters to the seven churches in Revelation?

He told them things they needed to cleanse.

He told the church at Ephesus, repent or I’ll remove your church.

Pergamos, repent or I’ll come down there and fight against you with the sword of My mouth.

Thyatira, repent or you are going to have some funerals.

We can cleanse the church, or God will do it for us. It’s a lot safer for us if we do the cleansing. Here’s a good question for us

If Christ stepped into our church, what would He change? What would He turn over?

Here’s the answer- He would turn over anything that’s ours. When it’s ours and not His we have missed the mark.

It’s not my seat, it’s His seat.

It’s not my class, It’s His class.

It’s not my money, it’s His money.

It’s not my ministry, it’s His ministry.

Church should not be a place of personal agenda!

2. Church should be a place where we express our religious affections.

A. The church should be a house of prayer.

We pray at church, but we certainly don’t pray enough. When we gather there should be a spirit of prayer among us. We should behave as if we are communing with God. We should be communing with Him.

We should pray that His power be made known.

We should pray that His word pierces hearts.

We should pray that backslidden saints repent.

We should pray that lost people be saved.

We should pray for the sick and the hurting.

We should pray for our elected officials and military.

We should pray for the spiritual state of our community and our country.

The religious leaders didn’t care if the people prayed, they cared if the people paid!

B. The church should be a house of worship.

We see that in verse 7. Children sing praises to Jesus. Do you sing to the Lord? You should. You should because He has told you to. Even children know they should sing to the Lord.

What keeps you from singing to the Lord?

I want to say that we have a church member who blesses me greatly. Charles Haywood cannot even speak. He had cancer and it resulted in surgery that caused him to lose his voice. He uses an artificial larynx to speak. He uses it to sing as well.

I would imagine the devil thought he had heard Charles Haywood sing his last praise to Jesus. He was wrong!

Do you express religious affections when you come to church? Do you speak to the Lord? Do you sing to the Lord? Or do you just look around and listen?

The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were not expressing religious affections. They were expressing sinful actions.

3. Church should be a place of ethnic diversity.

A. All of this occurred in the Court of the Gentiles.

As I mentioned earlier that place was huge. It was 35 acres. It was the only place the Gentiles could go. The problem was much of the area was covered in booths. People had rented their spot to sell their goods.

Why would Gentiles want to go to the Temple?

They wanted to learn about the God of Israel. The Lord made provision for them to come and learn about Him. The hope was that they would be saved.

The Court of the Gentiles was clogged up with concession stands. It was an insult to the Gentiles. The place of evangelism had become the place of commercialism.

The religious leaders had no heart for the lost.

They wanted to make money not disciples.

They wanted cash not converts.

B. The house of God is for all nations.

Matthew only quotes Jesus partially. He says that Jesus said “May house shall be called a house of prayer…” But Jesus said more than that. Mark 11:17 says Jesus said “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Jesus was quoting from Isa. 56:7.

Christ brought Jew and Gentile together. Our churches should reflect that truth.

In the church there is no Court of Gentiles. There is no separation. We are one body. We are equal in worth.

We all have the same Father.

We all have the same Savior.

Sometimes when we want to know where a person is from we ask them “Where is your home?”

If you ask a Christian “Where is your home?” the answer should be “My home is heaven.”

That means every Christian has the same home. We belong together.

If you want to separate the nations, you are in the wrong religion. You are trusting in the wrong Savior. You are praying to the wrong Father.

You say “They have their church and we have ours!”

No friend. We don’t have a church and they don’t have a church. It’s God’s church.

It’s not a white church.

It’s not a black church!

It’s not a brown church!

It’s not an Asian church!

It’s a blood washed church!

Charles Spurgeon, great preacher of the 1800’s told this story.

There was a lady on her deathbed who was visited by her minister. She had one question to ask him. Very affectionately she said, “I want to know if there are two places in heaven, because I could not bear that Betsy in the kitchen should be in heaven along with me, she is so unrefined.”

The minister said, “Don’t trouble yourself about that madam, for until you get rid of your accursed pride you will never enter heaven at all.”

We welcome all nations to church because God welcomes all nations to heaven.

4. Church should be a place where people find mercy.

A. Some people had to be removed for others to find mercy.

That’s a sad reality. Have you ever watched the show Hoarders? It’s a show that documents the lives of people who hoard. Usually there is a small trail through the house so the person living there can move around. But most of the house is useless. Every room is filled with stuff.

Many times, everyone has left the home except the Hoarder. They have been crowded out by the hoarder’s stuff.

By the end of the show you’re hoping the person comes to their sense and agrees to deal with their problem. But it’s normally hard to convince the hoarder that their decisions are making life more difficult for others.

In extreme cases the house has to be condemned because it is such a hazard. There are people in churches who have made it difficult to minister because they have crowded the church with their:

Egos

Unbiblical ideas

Foolish opinions

Unfruitful ministries

It’s sad but a reality that some churches will never move to a place of ministry until a person or particular people are no longer at the church. It’s so important not to be that person. It’s important to recognize if you are keeping the church from fulfilling its mission. These religious leaders didn’t see that.

B. People find mercy immediately after Jesus chases some people out of the Temple.

The blind and the lame come to Jesus and are healed. The Temple is a mess. Birds are flying all around, tables are turned over, coins scattered all over the place. But in this mess the blind and the lame find mercy. They are healed.

Some were removed from the Temple.

Others were welcomed in the Temple.

There are people who need mercy, and we should not stand in their way. If we do the Lord may remove us.

I had a pastor friend who got fired after just a couple of months. It was a tiny church. But it immediately started growing. They fired him because they said they didn’t want a big church. They wanted a small church. They wanted church to be like it had always been.

Jesus gets mad when we stand between Him and people who need mercy.

William Hendricksen made a great insight on this passage. He said, “The eyes of Jesus moments ago flashing with the fire of holy indignation are now filled with tender compassion.”

C. The religious leaders weren’t happy about the mercy people were receiving.

Look at verse 15. It says they saw the wonderful things Jesus did in the Temple and they were displeased.

That doesn’t even make sense. These are wonderful things. How can they be displeased at wonderful things?

It was because in their mind the Temple was theirs. It belonged to them. They had no desire for it to be filled with people in misery or children singing.

They should have been praising God instead they were pouting. They were happy when the Temple was a den of thieves. They were sad when God was being praised and people were receiving mercy.

The Temple now what it should have been. Our churches should be places where people are blessed by God.

Spiritual eyes should be opened!

The spiritually lame should be healed to walk the narrow road!

People should be fed the good Word of God!

People should be blessed by the fellowship of the saints.

5. Church should be a place where the next generation is engaged in worship.

A. The children begin singing the song they heard the adults singing when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Remember that in 21:9? They start singing the same song they heard. The religious leaders tell Jesus to tell them to be quiet. Jesus says they’re fulfilling Scripture (Psalm 8:2).

There’s the first children’s choir!

The fact that these kids were praising Jesus was bad news to the religious leaders. It meant another generation of Jesus followers was coming. It meant this movement wasn’t about to die out.

B. We should expect our children to love Jesus.

We should create an atmosphere in our home and in our church that encourages young people to love and serve the Lord.

I think too often we expect the kids to stay in their place until they grow up. That’s why so many of them grow up and don’t come back to church.

What do we expect from our children?

We expect that they will be saved!

We expect that they will live for Christ!

We expect that they will serve Christ!

We expect that they will sing the praises of Christ!

Jesus said let the little children come unto Me!

We should say Let the little children come to church!

I can remember my son knocking on doors, handing out gospel tracts and inviting children to VBS when he was very small. Sometimes he would run ahead and be all by himself in a sketchy part of town. I had no idea that God was training him for a work.

He is in his twenties and this Summer it was a joy to see him doing the same thing he was doing when he was still in elementary school.

Church we should not just entertain our kids. We should evangelize them. We should train them. We should put them on the front lines!

C. Without Christ our churches are dead.

In verse 17 Jesus leaves the people. The Glory of the Lord departs from the Temple!

That Temple would be destroyed in 70 AD. It would cease to exist.

Every church is in danger of seeing the Lord do the same thing He did the Temple. If we make church about us and our agendas the Lord will depart. When He departs, we have nothing but a social club left.

We want Christ in our church! What Christ is in does not die! It lives! It bears fruit!

Our prayer should be “Christ cleanse our church if you must, but don’t leave it!”

What about you friend? Are there some things the Lord needs to drive out of your Temple? Are there some tables He needs to tip over? Are there some things that need to be released? Submit to Him.