Cleaning out the Temple

If you have your bibles please open to John Chapter 2. Last week we saw Jesus first sign in the gospel of John. It was not a big spectacle where many people believed, but it was an event that changed the disciples lives forever. This week we see Jesus entering the temple, and causing a great scene, during an important time of year, this is the first recorded act of ministry to a wider audience in this book, and let us see what happened during this great event. John 2:13-22 says this.

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.

John 2:13–25 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. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

If you are taking notes or following along in your bulletin this morning the main point I want you get is this… Jesus actions and words in the temple prove that he is the Christ.

There use to be a big movement among Christians that wore this bracelet that would say WWJD what would Jesus Do, and if you ever get in the internet you would see memes of this event, and one popular meme that I put on the facebook page this week says, If anyone ever asks you what would Jesus do? Remind him that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities.

I find that funny because to often we find ourselves putting people especially Christ in this box that he is only one thing. Jesus had passion for the things of the Lord, and what was going on in the temple, and this led him to have some righteous anger. And he acted accordingly to what was going on in the temple. He acted like he owned the place, which in reality he did.

Im not recommending this to anyone that is listening, but you have to remember who did this, and that is Christ. He showed this zeal for God when he cleared out the temple.

Jesus is zealous for proper worship. And his actions proved that very thing.

The time was the passover the first of possibly 3 or 4 passovers mentioned in the Gospel of John. It was a requirement for all those who were 20 or over to attend this passover if they lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem. And they would be required to pay a temple tax when they came. This 15 mile limit did not limit people from coming all around the known world to worship the one true God. People from all over would come and worship him through giving and through sacrifice.

For those coming from far away it would be less likely for them to bring animals to sacrifice to God, and in a place that was meant for proper worship something else was going on. There were venders in the temple. Selling oxen, Selling Sheep, Selling pigeons, and not only that but there were money changers sitting in there as well.

The place that was meant for worship, had become something like a walmart, and bank in our own day.

Why was this going on? Because people needed sacrifices to offer up to God. But they were turning a place meant for God into a house of trade. You don’t use the temple for unholy things, and that was what was going on.

They were selling animals, and exchanging money. Most Scholars I read this week said that this money changers charged these high rates to exchange money in order for people to pay the temple tax. If you have ever traveled and tried to exchange money in a foreign place you get practically robbed. Its never a fair exchange if you do it in there country, and this was happening in the temple as well.

We can sum up of what was going on as a place that was meant for worship had become a place of greed. A place that was meant for worship had become a place of greed.

Listen to what one man said, “In this house men would come to worship him, and sacrifices were offered to him. This house was built to display his glory.But the sounds of confession have been replaced with the sounds of commerce. Gone are silent prayers to God. They have been exchanged for the angry chorus of men haggling over the price of bulls and sheep. The cooing of doves and the stink of manure now occupy the place that used to be reserved for men to humble themselves and worship God. Jesus levels a charge, but the charge is not unethical practices. They have twisted the purpose of the temple. Jesus is denouncing impure worship. The holiness and gravity of worship have been lost. People have forgotten why they come to the temple in the first place.”

Jesus was not going to let this continue to happen. HE in this event showed his authority by what he was able to do. He had a righteous controlled anger and look what he did.

He made and a whip and He drove them all out of them temple, with the sheep, and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and he overturned tables, and he told those who sold the pigeons. Take these things away.

What a sight that must have been. He took action to make his Fathers house a place of worship again.

Seems to me that Jesus was pretty fired up. To be zealous means, to be marked by a fervent partisanship for a person, a cause, or an idea. Jesus was fired up.

Jesus was not going to let them pervert God’s house. He said it was his fathers house, not a house of trade.

Notice he did not say it was there fathers house but his fathers house. Because if it was there fathers house they would not have made it a place of trade. They are not acting like God’s children. They only cared about themselves, and what they could get out of others worship.

One man said, “If you come to worship God each week, and all you think about is yourself, how can you profit from religion, what you like or dislike, what you want or don’t want, and what bothers you or satisfies you then you may not be a child of God. God’s people are in awe of him. God’s people worship him. Coming to God in faith requires turning from self-worship to true worship. If each Sunday is a narcissistic activity of self-worship, then you are walking in the footsteps of the temple merchants.”

When Jesus cleaned out the temple he was creating a place where someone could worship the Lord without distractions, and focus on him alone.

God’s place of worship should be honored. And Jesus wanted to make this possible. And by driving out these people he was purifying the temple. Later on the disciples would remember Psalm 69:9 “9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.” Jesus had a passion for his fathers house, just like David and this passion was a staple of his very life.

When Jesus drove these people out of the temple you dont see them questioning what he did rather what authority did he have to do such a thing. What gave Jesus the right to do that very thing. By what authority was he doing these things.

And rather than them yelling at Jesus or asking him a bunch of questions he asks the people what sign do you show us for doing these things? Jews are big with signs. They always wanted a sign to back up something, especially if that thing is from God. If you are familiar with Paul in 1 Cor 1:22 “22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,”

The funny thing about them demanding a sign is Jesus already gave them one by driving the merchants and animals out of temple. But instead of him saying this he says something profound.

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The greek could be better translated to You will destroy it. Interesting. They probably did not think Jesus was referring to himself, but to the literal temple.

They would not thought Jesus was the temple. Would not think he was talking about himself, but a physical place, and there reaction proves that very thing.

Listen to what they say to Christ. It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days.

Now its important to know what is going on here during that time. Around 16 to 17 BC Herod the great began to restore the temple, 46 years later the temple was not even fully restored. It would not be full completed ironically tell 63 Ad and in AD 70 when it would be destroyed again by the Romans.

This response by Jesus really perplexed them. They were thinking in human terms. Maybe they knew he was a carpenter and had some real skills but even if that was the case Jesus could not rebuild this temple in three days.

Imagine the amount of workers it would take to cause such a thing to happen. And Jesus himself would raise it up? Now remember, what they originally asked what sign do you show us for doing these things?

The ultimate sign he was going to show them was he was going to be raised from the dead on the third day. After the Jews themselves would kill him.

Church what I am about to say is important for us to understand. Jesus represents his own crucified and resurrected body as the replacement of the Jewish Temple. Jesus represents his own crucified and resurrected body as the replacement of the Jewish Temple.

And what this means is that when the temple is long gone which at the time of John writing it was, Jesus death and resurrection would allow people to worship him outside of a temple that was made with human hands. Because of the work done by his hand.

Now in John he often adds his own commentary to clear up any confusion the reader may have and he makes it clear in this text so no confusion happens. That when therefore he was raised from the dead, and his disciples remembered all that he had ever said. His disciples at his resurection remembered what he had said.

Our faith is rooted in the death and resurrection. This time of year we often focus on the birth which is a wonderful thing. We sang about it this morning, but we dont come and gather together as a church just because he was born, we come to church each and every week, because he was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for our sins,

but the good news is that he did not stay dead, he did not have to be built up again like the temple, he did not need restoration like the temple, he rose from the dead! and because he rose from the dead his disciples and we in turn believe as well. Jesus actions and words in the temple prove that he is the Christ.

They saw his authority then, but see it even clearer when he rose from the dead, because every thing he promised in the scriptures came to pass.

Jesus Christ is not a God of one liners, he is a God full of amazing truth after truth, and the greatest truth is that he is risen, and in him we can have life. AMEN

Now we can apply this text in several ways, but I have two for you this morning the first is this.

Jesus demands pure worship.

Because he is the Christ he can make such demands.

What was going on at the temple was an abuse of its original intention. Jesus was truly concerned about how they were going about there business. It was not a bad thing that they were offering animals to sacrifice, and the exchange of money so they could pay the temple tax, the root issue is that the place that was intended for worship had been overtaken with commerce. Overtaken with trade. Overtaken with greed.

Imagine those who were truly seeking the Lord in worship only to come to a place that was more like a marketplace than a place of worship. Think about coming to agape and walking into a place that was selling animals for sacrifice, and exchange your money so you could worship the Lord. The distractions alone would make it hard to focus on the Lord.

I am fearful that when we come to church we have our own distractions that keep us from worshiping God properly.

See what Jesus did when he made his whip is he drove everything out of the temple that need to not be there.

This in itself has two applications. One do we have anything in this church that should not be here, that if Jesus walked in today would he himself drive us out because we are making a place of worship into something it should not be. ( IF you think of anything lets talk about that later after the sermon, or later in the week.)

Secondly, In your own lives are there things that are keeping you from faithfully worshiping the Lord. And for every single one of us in this room listening online the answer is a clear yes. Part of growing in Christ is removing all the things that prevent us from following the Lord in pure worship.

We have talked about Idols in here and what not, but truly ask yourself is there anything in this church, or anything in my personal life that if Jesus walked in he would take out a whip and drive them out.

A second application is this.

Jesus death and resurrection gives us freedom to worship God outside of the temple.

For the Jews they had to go to the temple to worship the Lord. It was a place to offer up sacrifices day in and day out, year in and year out, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross, was he made it possible for someone to worship Christ fully without having to go to the temple. Without having to sacrifice to God over and over again.

Jesus made a new way of life that changed everything.

The sign that he eventually showed the Jews allowed them to properly worship God without the temple.

Think about this church there are several other religions throughout the world that are built on the concept of works righteousness, and up until that point many Jews banked on there works to save them, even though they were always saved by faith.

One example would be Muslims they have to follow 5 things and even then there may not be salvation for them, because they dont have a savior like we do that deals with the issue of sin. Muslims have to have faith, they have to pray daily, they have to give, they have to fast, and have to go to mecca. Just for a chance to be with God forever, but as Christians we know even there best cant save them, only a right relationship with Christ can.

Christians dont have to make a trip to the Holy Land all they have to do is believe, to have genuine saving faith. we can worship the Lord in a pure way because the Lord was pure for us. We dont have to use our frequent flyer miles or book a ticket to go see him, because he came and seen us.

Believers in Christ can worship the Lord freely because his death and resurrection. We do come together every week to worship him, but we could do that across town or another state, or country all because he died on the cross.

R.C. Sproul says, “Christ is the temple, and all men are commanded to come to Him in order to worship and serve the one true God.”

Long gone are the days where we go to a physical place in order to encounter Christ. Though we are commanded at the same time to meet together, it does not have to be in the Temple in Jerusalem.

We don’t worship at a place to be near to God, we worship Christ, who because of his death and resurrection makes it possible to worship him anywhere.

If you dont know him today you can know that because of his death and resurrection you can have eternal life. You dont have to go to the temple to know him, because he came to us, we celebrate that reality this week, but he not only came, he lived the life that we could never live, and died the death we deserve, and the temple may not be physically standing anymore, but Christ is reigning in heaven, and if you repent of your sins, turn away from them, and trust by faith alone that he can save you, and then you can worship him freely without a temple made with physical hands forever. Believers in Christ always have a place to worship him, because of what he has done.

Remember that Jesus actions and words in the temple prove that he is the Christ. You dont have to look in further he is who he says he is, and because of that you can trust in him today and always.

What is God calling you to do today? If you have a decision for the Lord, whether you want to know what it is like to know him by faith, or get baptized, or join this church or just need prayer pray, we have people in our church right now that need prayer let us lift our voiced the Lord right now. Let us pray..