John 2:13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” 19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover and saw a temple area filled with cattle, sheep, and doves and the they were being sold as sacrifices. Jesus proceeds to run them out of the temple area with a whip made from ropes. I can see Him moving the cattle along and also the sheep and then He moved to the tables where money was being exchanged for sacrifcial animals and turned them over and said the following in verse 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!
If you know me very well, you know that I am not for religion in any form because I believe the relationship is where God meets His people. When I go by a building that has a church sign I don't say "Oh look, a church!" I usually say, "Oh look, a building where a church meets." It is not in the building, but in the ones. meeting there and who they are meeting to worship that makes up a church. If Jesus is not the one we are worshipping, we are just meeting in a pretty church-like building. I do not agree with an institutionalized religion at all. I agree with Solomon when he built a temple and palace in honor of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 2: 1 Solomon decided to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord, and also a royal palace for himself. 2 He enlisted a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 men to quarry stone in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen.3 Solomon also sent this message to King Hiram[c] at Tyre:“Send me cedar logs as you did for my father, David, when he was building his palace. 4 I am about to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God. It will be a place set apart to burn fragrant incense before him, to display the special sacrificial bread, and to sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon celebrations, and at the other appointed festivals of the Lord our God. He has commanded Israel to do these things forever. 5 “This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?
When Jesus had knocked over tables and run the animals out of the temple, the Jewish leaders said, "What are you doing? Then they told him if He was the authority to run these people out of the temple, then do some kind of miracle to prove it. Jesus saw the real temple, and it was Himself. Jesus told the Jewish leaders about the temple of God. 19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. You might say the Jewish leaders missed the point like so many churches miss the point today by putting God in a box (or church building) when Jesus tells us to "go out and compel them to come in." God cannot be housed in a building, and the Jewish leaders were just not getting beyond their impressions of where God is located. God was standing right there in front of them, and they missed Him. Perhaps we are missing God also because when we are born again, God is IN us, and His righteousness is present in our soul. When we received Jesus, we received God because Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit, who is God, is now in control. Our problem is SUBMITTING to the Holy Spirit, which is why there is a misconception about where God's people meet. When God's people meet together, we are meeting as "the church", no matter what location. We get in trouble when we try to manipulate the worship of the church with worldly means. Tozer wrote Worshipers never leave church...we carry our sanctuary with us wherever we go.
The Jewish leaders in the above verses missed that the temple Jesus was speaking of was not an architectural building but a spiritual building. So, what Solomon said was true. God cannot be contained in buildings, but as Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. Jesus gave His life on the cross and defeated death, hell, and the grave to ensure we will be resurrected and live in paradise for eternity. Jesus established His church upon a rock of faith as He said to Peter in Matthew 16:15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock, I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
When we meet as "the church," prayer needs to be a significant part of that meeting as we worship the Lord in the church. In Matthew 21, Jesus cleansed the temple area again, and this time, He showed us that His house was Matthew 21:13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’
It is time for the church to come alive and quit hiding behind the walls of a building. The church needs to go beyond its walls and influence our world, not the opposite. We must get worship manipulation out of the church building and turn it into a place of power, which is a place of prayer. We need more Holy Spirit and less worldly influence. Worldliness in the church? Get That Out of My House, Jesus says.
Today's Message
David Warren
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