THE ZEAL OF THE LORD

Introduction

-I appreciate the Gideons because they have a zeal for the Word of God—to get it into the hands of those who most need it, and that the gospel is shared throughout the world. That is a zeal that all Christians ought to share.

-We all have a zeal, a passion, for something in life—something over which we obsess. Some have a zeal for their job such that it consumes their every waking moment.----For others, there is a zeal for sports such that they watch it all the time, talk about it all the time, and study all the ins and outs and learn all sorts of strange stats that they are able to just throw out there in a conversation.----Still, others have a zeal for watching TV, playing video games, and/or staring at their phone all day long.

-But as a Christian, have you ever asked yourself: What does Jesus have a zeal for? What is it that Jesus Himself is passionate about?

-During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated a zeal for the honor of God among men, and this passage shows in what areas this revealed itself.

-And today, as we learn about the zeal of the Lord, my prayer is that we would imitate this same zeal.

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.

-First we see that:

I) Jesus had zeal for unhindered worship (vv. 13-17)

-The festival of Passover that celebrated God’s powerful work in releasing Israel from Egypt was a required festival for all Jewish men to come to Jerusalem to celebrate.

-Part of the festival included the offering of sacrifices to God, and the giving of temple tax money for the priestly and Levitical work of the temple.

-For Jewish men coming from a great distance, it would be impossible for them to bring their own offering, so markets were set up in the Court of the Gentiles in the temple complex to buy animals for their sacrifices.

-Also, the normal currency in the Roman Empire was unacceptable at the temple, so Roman coins would need to be exchanged for the acceptable coinage. All of this occurred in the only place where non-Jews could worship God. Gentiles were not allowed in the temple proper, so they could only come that close to the temple. But the hustle and bustle of the activity made it impossible for proper worship to occur, obstructing the very purpose for which the temple existed.

-On top of that, the merchants would obviously jack up the prices of their products and services (a typical example of supply and demand), thus they turned the worship of God into a money-making enterprise.

-Jesus sees that the worship of God is being hindered from occurring properly, so he makes a whip and drives the merchants out. By turning the temple into a place of business, they took honor and glory away from God.

-Now, I want us to think this through to see how this might apply to us.----For too long, many have equated a church building with the temple. Because a church building is a place where people gather to worship, they say that this means that the building is to be held sacred, so don’t let guest speakers or musicians sell their product, don’t let the building be used for anything other than services, etc.

-But think this through----where is the temple of God now according to Scripture?----Now, remember, Jesus Himself told the Samaritan woman that there would come a day when people wouldn’t worship on one particular mountain, but worship would occur in Spirit and truth everywhere. So worship is no longer tied to a place.

-Paul said: 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

(1 Cor. 3:16-17 ESV)

And then: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own (1 Cor. 6:19 ESV)

-Paul is telling us that we ourselves, who are born again believers in Christ and have the indwelling Holy Spirit, are the temple of God, and that as a group of born again believers the church (which is the people) is the temple of God.

-The place of worship is not as important as the person of worship, so Jesus wants unhindered worship from your heart and soul. So the question is what is going on in your heart and mind that is hindering you from worshipping God? What does Jesus need to drive out of you and out of the church so that nothing prevents God the Father from getting the glory He deserves?

-Maybe there’s an idol in your life that needs to go—something that takes your affections away from Him. Maybe there is a care and burden you need to lay down at His feet and leave there instead of constantly picking it back up again. Maybe there is a sin in your life you need to let go of and never return to.

-Jesus has a zeal for unhindered worship of God so that He is honored in our lives.

-But not only that:

II) Jesus had zeal for divine authority (vv. 18-22)

-The religious leaders, who probably got a cut of the action from the vendors, were none too happy that Jesus drove off this source of income. They ask Him for a sign to demonstrate that He has authority to do what He was doing.

-What they are doing is demanding that He perform some sort of miracle that proves that God is with Him, because if God does a miracle through that person, then they assume He can claim to have some sort of authority from God.

-Jesus refuses to give them a miracle at the moment, but He points to a miracle in the future that when His bodily temple is destroyed it will be resurrected from the dead. No greater miracle could occur, that death is overtaken and conquered.

-Thus, through the resurrection Jesus would prove that He has the authority of God behind what He does and what He teaches.

-Now, Jesus Himself was divine, being God the Son, but He submitted Himself to the authority of the Father, so that when He acted He acted out of that authority. Jesus elsewhere says that He speaks the words He hears from the Father, and still elsewhere He says that He does the works that He is given by the Father.

-Jesus demonstrated that we are not to act or speak of our own accord, but to only act and speak while under divine authority, for that is what honors God.

-So often we like to do our own thing, speak our own thing, believe our own thing, but it is not of God. So often we like to equate our own ideas and opinions as some sort of substitute for God’s ideas and thoughts and words, placing them on a level playing field.

-But our opinions are merely that: our opinions. There is no authority behind them, because we in ourselves have no authority. Jesus had a zeal that He would place Himself under God’s authority and it was God’s authority by which He acted and spoke, and that is the authority that we are under, and we are not to go beyond that.

-But where do we now find God’s authority—we find it in Holy Scripture. Scripture is our authority—it determines what is right or wrong, sacred or defiled. It determines our belief and our practices.

-That is what I respected about Billy Graham. He placed his preaching under the authority of Scripture. Billy didn’t preach the newspapers, the latest trends, the latest scientific studies, the latest philosophical musings—he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ as it was found in the Bible—unchanged and undefiled.

-The question for us is if we have placed all of our life under this authority or not. Do we do our own thing and then excuse it, or do we see what Scripture has to say and then do that? May we share in the zeal Jesus had of placing ourselves under divine authority.

Finally,

III) Jesus had zeal for genuine faith (vv. 23-25)

-Jesus had done some signs which the people of Jerusalem had seen, and it says that they believed in His name. That would not appear to be a problem in and of itself, but there must have been a problem because Jesus would not entrust Himself to them—there was something going on in their hearts that Jesus knew about that demonstrated that they did not have genuine faith.

-It would seem that since their faith came based on the signs He performed, that they had faith that He was a prophet, and they may have had faith that He was the Messiah according to what they thought the Messiah should be like, but they did not truly believe in Him as He revealed Himself.

-They believed in Him enough to think that He might be able to help them out in their troubles, but they did not believe that He came to die for their sins, rise again from the dead, and then have the rightful claim as Lord in their life.

-They wanted just enough of Jesus to make their life easy and comfortable, but not enough of Jesus to repent of their sins, take up their cross, and follow Him. And sadly so many are sitting in churches today across our nation who want enough Jesus to get what they want, but not the Jesus of Scripture that rightfully makes demands on their life.

-Jesus has a zeal that people would have a genuine faith in Him. A faith that goes beyond mere head knowledge, but instead a faith that entrusts oneself unto the Lord as He has revealed Himself. Jesus is looking for a faith that, according to the next passage in John, seeks to be born again, not merely get enough religion to feel good about oneself.

-Jesus is looking for a faith that says JESUS CHRIST IS LORD to the glory of God the Father. A faith that knows that Jesus is the only way, only truth, only life, and without Him you will not get to God, you will not get to heaven, and you will not truly be His.

-If all you want is someone to follow who can give you what you want, then you do not want Christ. Jesus gives you what you need in the forgiveness of sin, not the comforts of luxury.

Conclusion

-If you have never had a genuine faith in Jesus Christ, I invite you to come forward during the invitation and place a genuine faith in Him alone.

-Maybe as a Christian, your zeal and fire for the things of the Lord has grown cold. Come to the altar and ask God to stoke within you a renewed passion and love for the honor of God.