Flipping Tables and Taking Names.

Opening:

Good morning again Connection Church. It is very good to be with you. It is an essential thing to gather together with the Saints on the Lord’s Day. I am so thankful to be back in the pulpit. It is a great and fearful honor to be back behind this sacred desk. I want to open by commending you all. I was gone for four weeks. I was not able to preach for five weeks. And yet you all still gathered. You did not forsake the gathering together of the Saints. I want to personally express my pride and joy in this. I am right to be proud of you. God brought Katharine and myself to Lead for this church. He called me here to pastor this church. He called me here to start this church. But I did not build this church. If I were to architect of this gathering, it would have failed. Christ has built His church. We as a community are focused on glorifying God. And you have done this in my absence. This is why it is right for me to feel this pride for you. You have continued to glorify God.

But you have not just continued to glorify God. You continued the work of the church. You continued the administration of the church. You have taken seriously membership in the church. You have taken seriously the day to day work of building a gathering. Last week we were able to call elders. We were able to draft a budget. This is because of your faithfulness. Thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness. You have made me so joyful and so proud of this community. Let us continue on in our work. Let us continue on in the work Christ has called us to.

Introduction of the Text:

As I have returned to the place God has graciously placed me, we are returning to our study of the gospel of Matthew. This week we will be in Matthew 21:12-17. The last passage we covered was the triumphal entry. As a reminder, Matthew is emphasizing the fact that Jesus is King. Each gospel account has an emphasis. Matthew is writing to a primarily Jewish audience. He is explaining to them that Jesus is the fulfilment of the messianic prophesies of the Old Testament. In his opening genealogy, Matthew linked Jesus with king David. Matthew’s main emphasis is to show that the Messiah is God in the flesh and the fulfilment of God’s promise that David would have a descendant on the throne forever. Indeed, Jesus is right now on the throne ruling and reigning. Our last passage was Jesus, Himself, claiming to be the King. Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the King. He mirrored great kings of Israel’s past as He rode in. He was lauded by the people as the “Son of David.” This is the title of the Messianic King. Jesus accepted this praise and is claiming His rightful place as the King.

Now we are seeing what is happening after these events. We are following Jesus on the road to Calvary. The countdown to the Crucifixion has begun. So what will Jesus do next?

With this in mind, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Reading of the Text:

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things which He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Behold, The Word of God. Let’s Pray.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly Father, we come before you and we ask that you would be glorified today. As we gather, we long to see your name lifted high. We are so thankful for all that you have blessed us with. We are so thankful for all you have saved us from. You are God and we worship you as such.

So now in this time of the reading and preaching of Your Word, we ask that your name would be made much of. May we not elevate ourselves, but may we lift up your name. Please teach us. Help us to see what you have spoken through your Word. May we submit to your teaching. May we honor what you have said. May your Word be a joy to the broken hearted. May it be conviction to those in sin. May it be food to us all.

Help us to grow as a church. Help me to grow as a pastor. Help us to obey what you have commanded. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Transition:

This is a well known passage. But it is often a neglected passage. What do I mean by this? Many times, very familiar passages can be approached with the wrong presupposition. We can look at the text and say, “I know this story, therefore I already know what it means.” This is the wrong way to approach a text of Scripture. We are to see the passage in it’s context and see what it is saying. We are to draw the meaning of the text from the text. we are not to insert our opinion into the text. Because of this, I want to answer three questions about and from the text. What happened? Why it happened? And What do we do with it? What happened? What is recorded in this passage? What is the event recorded? What are the details? Next, Why it happened? What was the purpose of Jesus doing what He did? What are the larger implications? And finally, What do we do with it? What are we to do with this passage? How are we to understand it? How are we to apply it? How should we act and live in light of it?

So let us look at what happened?

What Happened?

Explanation:

Even though this is a fairly well known passage, let us look more closely. Let’s walk through the events. The first thing we see is Jesus enters the temple.

Jesus Enters the Temple.

This seems fairly straight forward. Mark’s gospel gives us slightly more detail. Immediately after the triumphal entry Jesus and disciples enter the temple. But it is late. So they went back to Bethany, where they were staying, and then returned in the morning. Matthew condenses these accounts. If we were to examine the accounts we would see there is no conflict with them. Mark simply records on additional detail while Matthew omits it. So they spend the evening in Bethany and then return to the temple in the morning. Jesus and the disciple enter the temple.

Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus is immediately throwing people out by combining His entry and action in one sentence. Jesus violently drives out the thieves.

Jesus Violently Drives Out the Thieves.

Jesus drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple. He flips the tables and the seats of the money changers. And He possibly even drove them out with a whip He had made of chords. Here we must address a common question. An account of Jesus cleansing the temple is recorded in all four gospels. It is recorded near the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John however, records Jesus cleansing the temple at the start of his account. The first three gospels are called the “Synoptic gospels.” They generally follow the same time table and order of events. Occasionally one will record things at a slightly different time to show a differing emphasis. John however writes things differently. He writes his account in a different order and records different events. So the question has been raised throughout church history, “Did Jesus cleanse the temple once, or twice?” Is John recording the same event or a different one?

My belief is that John is recording the same event. I believe John put it at the beginning of his gospel to emphasize a point. John’s gospel is not a straight narrative. It is not a western book, it is an eastern book. That means it reads in a more circular pattern than a straight line. That being said, it is not a big deal either way. Either way, Jesus cleansed the temple by flipping tables, breaking open dove cages, driving out people, and whipping people.

And Jesus calls them thieves. He says “And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.” Jesus is here quoting two passages from the Old Testament. He is quoting Isaiah 56:7, which says;

“Even those I will bring to My holy mountain

And make them glad in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;

For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

And Jeremiah 7:10-11 which says

10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’⁠—that you may do all these abominations?

11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a robbers’ den in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh.

Jesus is quoting these passages to show what house of God is to be. It is to be a house of prayer for all people and it is not to be a den of robbers. Yet, Jesus says that it has become a den of robbers. But what does this mean? History tells us that the court of gentiles was turned into a market place where exorbitant prices were charged for animals to sacrifice. The rate for exchanging money in order to pay the temple tax was extremely high. The court of the gentiles was to be a place where gentiles could come and worship God. This is why Jesus is so indignant. They had ignored God’s command and sought to do what they wanted with the sacred place. So Jesus drives them out violently.

Next we see Jesus begin to heal the blind and the lame.

Jesus Heals the Blind and the Lame.

After violently driving out the wicked, the lame and blind come to Jesus. Still, the downtrodden and the hurting come to Jesus. And He does not turn them away. Mark’s gospel records that Jesus would not even allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. So one would expect that Jesus would be turning everyone away. But Jesus healed the lame and blind. Again He shows His power and authority over sickness and disease.

But it was not just the blind and the lame that were drawn to Jesus. Children were there. And they began to cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” And the chief priest and scribes were angered by the cry of the children.

The Chief priest and the Scribes are Angered by the Cry of the Children.

The chief priest and Scribes come to Jesus and ask Him if He hears what the children are saying? They are indignant. In other words, they were furious. they were hopping mad. Why? Because they knew what the children were crying out. They were crying out to Jesus as the Messiah. The children had obviously carried this over from the previous day. They heard the adults crying out this phrase during Jesus’s triumphal ride into Jerusalem. Likely they had begun to sing it then and are now continuing it. And the religious leaders are mad about it. They know what this means and they want Jesus to silence them. They want Jesus to silence these children.

But Jesus makes an audacious statement. God prepares praise for Himself in the Mouths of Children.

God Prepares Praise for Himself in the Mouths Children.

Jesus is again quoting the Old Testament. While Jesus has all authority in His words, He instead stands on the authority of Scripture. He quotes Psalm 8:2.

2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

It is interesting to note that Jesus quotes the Septuagint. That is the Greek Old Testament. It is not the Hebrew but the Greek translation. Jesus sees authority in the translation of the Bible. This is a side note but it has encouraged translators of Scripture since the beginning.

Jesus’ words are quite audacious though. He says that God has prepared praise for Himself in the mouths of infants and nursing babes. God will be praised and He has put praises in the mouths of children. What is so audacious about this? Many things, but chief among them is that Jesus is saying this about Himself. He says that the words of these children was put there by God to praise God. Who are the children praising? Jesus. Jesus is saying that He is the author and the object of this praise. Jesus is making the direct claim here to be God. He is the one deserving of this praise. He is the one who authored this praise. He is God.

Jesus then leaves and returns to Bethany.

Transition:

That is what happened. Now let us look at our second question. Why it happened?

Why it Happened?

Why did this happen? Why did Jesus do what He did? What is the larger implication of this familiar passage?

First and foremost, this passage shows that Jesus is our High Priest.

Jesus Is Our High Priest.

In the previous passage, Matthew was emphasizing the fact that Jesus is the King. Jesus is the King. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey to show that He is the true King. And this account is right here to show that not only is Jesus the King, but He is THE High Priest. What does this mean? It means that Jesus has authority over what happens in God’s house.

Jesus Has Authority Over What Happens in God’s House.

Jesus is our High Priest. He has authority over the house of God. He has authority over what is done there. Jesus had every right to throw out the thieves. Jesus had every right to remove the deplorables. Jesus, as the ruler of the House of God did what was right. It was a bold and audacious action. Jesus was violent and mean. But what He did was right. He had authority to throw out those who were thieves and robbers. It was, after all, His house. This is why the chief priest and scribes became so angry. They understood what He did. They understood what was being said. In John’s account they even asked Him by what authority He did this? Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus is claiming that as God, He has authority to do this.

But that is not all that He has authority over. Jesus has authority to make people clean.

Jesus Has Authority to Make People Clean.

One of the jobs of the High Priest was to declare if someone was clean or unclean. Were they whole or unwholesome? The Priest would examine the person and then make a declaration. Jesus, however, is more. He is God. He is the perfect priest. He is the great High Priest. He does not just examine if someone is whole, He can make them whole. This is what we see Jesus do. He heals the blind and the lame. He shows His authority again over sickness. He shows who He is. He is the one who makes these people clean. This was a sign and symbol of the coming greater healing. It was a foreshadowing of the spiritual healing that would come to those who are saved.

This is shown by the cry of “Hosanna.” Jesus is the Savior.

Jesus is the Savior.

If you recall from the sermon on the triumphal entry, “Hosanna to the Son of David” was a shortened cry from Psalm 118:25-29. It meant, “Save us, Son of David.” The children likely joined in when Jesus was riding in and now are carrying it one. It is even likely that they were singing the Psalm to Jesus and Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, knew his audience would draw the association. The singing of the Psalter was taught to all from a young age. We don’t know if this is exactly how it happened, but this is a likely picture and I believe it would be helpful to imagine it. So picture with me, the children are quoting part of Psalm 118. Imagine the scene, Jesus has driven the corrupt men from the court of the gentiles. He has healed the sick and the children begin to shout or sing the following:

25 O Yahweh, save!

O Yahweh, succeed!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh;

We have blessed you from the house of Yahweh.

27 Yahweh is God, and He has given us light;

Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I give thanks to You;

You are my God, I exalt You.

29 Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness endures forever.

This is an incredible picture. Yet, even more incredible is the fact that Jesus is the savior. Jesus is truly God and He has come to save. They are crying out, “Yahweh Save us!” and they were right. Yahweh had come to save them. Jesus is truly God. Jesus Deserves this praise.

Jesus Deserves Praise.

The chief priest and the Scribes were indignant, but they were wrong. They saw this and believed it to be blasphemy. And were it directed to anyone other than Jesus, they would have been right. But it was directed at the right person. It was directed to the God of the universe who was standing right there. God had stepped in and cleansed the temple. God was receiving the praise that He had put into the mouths of children. But the religious rulers were blind. God had blinded them in order that He may be the more glorified. The religious leaders demanded that Jesus silence these children, but Jesus again shows God’s view of children.

Jesus Again Shows God’s View of Children.

Jesus had previously shown us God’s view of children when He said “Let the children come to me.” And again we see the implication of this. God has prepared praise in the mouths of children for Himself. But note, this was not just older children. This was not just children who were old enough to know what they were saying. The passage speaks to children and infants. Infants so young they are still nursing. God has prepared praise for Himself in the mouths of newborn babes. This to me speaks again of God’s covenant. That children of the covenant are seen as part of the covenant. It is the beautiful promise for the children of believers. This passage has brought me great peace with all of Caspian’s troubles. Jesus’ attitude toward the children reminds me of the promise of love that God has towards children of the covenant. God loves children. He loves them so much that He has put praise in their mouths.

Transition:

It is clear that this passage means a great deal and has great implications for the nature of Christ. But there is one more Question we must ask. What do we do with it? How does the rubber meat the road? Here is where we examine the implications of this text and seek to develop them into application. Here is where we move from mental ascent to practical action. What do we do with it?

What Do We Do With It?

This passage does raise questions. I think it is in the application of this passage that many people miss the mark. In our day and age we value niceness above almost all else. It is common to hear Christians say that there is NEVER a place for sarcasm or harsh words in a Christian’s life. If I were to ask, “is there ever a place for violence in the Christian walk?” what would most say? “Is it every apropriate for the righteous to be violent?” I would wager that if I were to ask that question of most evangelical Christians, they would say that there is never a place for that. It is the common consensus of most Christians that it would be outright wrong for anyone to conduct themselves with any form of violence for the sake of God and His glory.

But consider this for just a moment. To say that there is never a place for the righteous to be sarcastic, angry, or violent is to accuse Jesus of sin. Jesus is often sarcastic toward the Pharisees and religiously wicked. Jesus is often angry. Jesus is in this passage violent. He flips tables. He drives people out with a whip. Jesus is angry and violent toward them. So we cannot make the blanket statement that these things are always wrong. We must never make that statement. We must never accuse Jesus of sin. He never sinned. Jesus flipped the tables. He broke open the cages of the doves. He ran people out of the temple chasing them and whipping them. This was a righteous act. Praise God! Jesus was violently angry! It was good, and righteous of Him to do this.

But here comes the obvious second objection. “Okay, Pastor, Jesus did that. But He is God! Of course He could do it without sin! But we must never ever engage in acts like this.” But let us not be so hasty. Before we decide on what is “always” or “never” appropriate, let’s actually think about it. Ought we to flip tables?

Ought We to Flip Tables?

This is a serious question that we must ask in light of this text. Ought we to flip tables and whip people? Again, many will rush in to say “No! We must never do this!” But I don’t believe this is the case. If I were to be seated in the seats and someone rushed in and began to hit people and assault them, ought I to be still and sit there? No! I am your shepherd. I ought to tackle that person and restrain them! I ought to fight them and bring them into a place of blissful unconsciousness. They were attacking members of my flock. Obviously every man in this place would aid me in this task. And that would be a righteous act. So clearly there is a situation where it would be appropriate to engage in violence for the defense of the flock.

Let’s say that I come in late to preach. You have all gathered and already sung songs and all that. A guest has come in to speak. He begins to auction off indulgences. He beings to have you all bid on pieces of paper that would “make you right before God.” Obviously, you all would laugh him out the door. But, I believe that if someone were engaging in that practice here, it would be fully appropriate of me as the shepherd of this flock to walk up to his table with the indulgences on it, flip it over, and tell him to leave.

But let’s say that Tim disagrees with my song choices on a Sunday. He walks up and smashes my guitar and begins to scream in my face. Is that appropriate? How do we determine what is right and wrong in those circumstances? How do we determine when to be loud and bold and flip tables and when to be quite and bring up a conversation later? This is a serious question. We are to imitate Jesus. But when are we to do what?

This was the question I was wrestling with in preparing this sermon. Obviously there is a place for righteous anger and flipping tables. Jesus did it. It cannot be unrighteous. But it is also clearly not always the right thing to do. So when is it right? When is it wrong. On this, I thought that Calvin had the best answer I have ever read.

Calvin says about this, “And yet there is no reason to doubt that he declared himself to be both King and High Priest, who presided over the temple and the worship of God. This ought to be observed, lest any private individual should think himself entitled to act in the same manner. That zeal, indeed, by which Christ was animated to do this, ought to be held in common by all the godly; but lest any one, under the pretence of imitation, should rush forward without authority, we ought to see what our calling demands, and how far we may proceed according to the commandment of God.”

There are a lot of confusing words in there. What does it mean? In short, Calvin is saying that a person ought to act appropriately to the authority God has given them. If they have authority over the house of God, then they must exercise it with bravado. Are they a layman in the church? Then they ought to use the means God has given them. Calvin later specifically says that they ought to use their words for God has given man the right of freedom of speech. That was a revolutionary comment in 16th century Europe.

So here is how to determine this. What is your authority? For most in the church, you ought to pray and use your words. You ought to speak out against the wicked practices in the church. You ought to be bold in the authority God has given you. This mean that should I do something wrong here in this time of worship, you should use your words. Pray for me, and talk to me about it. If I refuse to listen to clear reasoning from Scripture, then bring it to the other elders. They have a God given authority and can act further on it.

For those in authority, use your authority! For myself and the other elders, we have the God given authority to guard, govern, and guide the sheep God has entrusted to us. This means that we have the authority to do more to protect you and the worship of God.

However, though we have different levels of authority, we all ought to have a zeal for the house of God.

We Ought To Have a Zeal For the House of God.

It is true that we no longer worship in the temple. God enacted judgement and destroyed the temple in 70 A.D. And we know that we are a temple not made with hands. The church catholic (universal) is the temple of God. The Spirit of God is in every believer. So we ought to have a zeal for the church. We ought to long for the purity of the Church. We ought to have a zeal to see the church grow and thrive. We ought to have a passion for the growth of the universal and local body of Christ. We ought to long to see more people come to faith in Christ.

But there is more to it than just this. I believe a practical application for us is that we ought to have a zeal for when we come together. Obviously, this location is not the church. We rent this space. It is not ours. But in a sense, we sanctify it through dedicating it to the worship of God every Lord’s Day. We the church come together in this place ever Lord’s Day to worship. We ought to have a zeal for this. We ought to long to gather. We ought to be passionate about gathering together. We ought to be offended when the gathering together is profaned. Jesus is demonstrating a passion for the worship of God. We ought to share this passion. But this is not a blank emotion. Jesus is fighting for the purity of worship.

In the same way, we ought to fight for the purity of the Church.

We Ought to Fight For the Purity of the Church.

If there is one thing this passage shows, it is that God cares how He is worshipped. This theme is all over the Old Testament. God really does care about how He is worshipped. This is why Jesus got so angry. They were profaning the temple. They were desecrating the worship of God through theft within the very temple of God. Even though we have different levels of authority, we ought to all fight for the purity of the Church.

How we fight looks different depending on our standing and status, but we all have a place in the fight. I am the pastor of this church. I have authority over how we worship God here. This is a terrifying honor. But I have no authority over the workings of our denomination. I cannot order our denomination president around. But I can use my words and express complaints when something profane is done.

How we fight looks different depending on our standing and status, but we all have a place in the fight. I am the pastor of this church. I have authority over how we worship God here. This is a terrifying honor. But I have no authority over the workings of our denomination. I cannot order our denomination president around. But I can use my words and express complaints when something profane is done.

So where do you have authority? Wherever you have authority to maintain purity of worship, you have an obligation to maintain that authority. Weather that is by acting or speaking up. You as a Christian have an obligation to fight for the worship of God. We start in our own lives. Where must you flip the tables of your heart. Each of you have authority to do this. Where must you speak up in outside places? And are there any places you must flip tables?

That is one application. But most of all, we must see who Jesus is. This text is not primarily about you. I spent much time on that because I feel it is a common question. But the primary concern of this text is who Christ is. So I want to remind you of that in closing.

Jesus is the King. He is right now ruling. He is seated at the right hand of God. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is King over every ruler. He is King over every government. They are all subject to Him. Because of this, He has all authority over the church too. He has every right to demand how to be worshipped. He has every right to demand what we are to do. And we are to obey Him. He is our King and our High Priest. We ought to be like the children. We ought be crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” This is the chief application. Be like the children first and foremost. Then you’ll know if and when to flip tables.

So if I were to leave you with any one thing, it would be the words of Psalm 118: 25-29.

25 O Yahweh, save!

O Yahweh, succeed!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh;

We have blessed you from the house of Yahweh.

27 Yahweh is God, and He has given us light;

Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I give thanks to You;

You are my God, I exalt You.

29 Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness endures forever.

Amen. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Doxology: