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Sermon Text: John 2:13-22
Let us rise for the reading of this morning's Sermon Text
recorded for us in John's Gospel
where we read from Chapter 2, beginning with Verse 13:
WHEN IT WAS ALMOST TIME
FOR THE JEWISH PASSOVER, JESUS WENT UP TO
JERUSALEM. IN THE TEMPLE COURTS HE FOUND MEN
SELLING CATTLE, SHEEP AND DOVES, AND
OTHERS SITTING AT TABLES EXCHANGING MONEY.
SO HE MADE A WHIP OUT OF CORDS, AND DROVE THEM ALL
FROM THE TEMPLE AREA, BOTH SHEEP AND CATTLE;
HE SCATTERED THE COINS OF THE MONEY CHANGERS AND
OVERTURNED THEIR TABLES. TO THOSE WHO SOLD DOVES
HE SAID, "GET THESE OUT OF HERE! HOW DARE YOU
TURN MY FATHER'S HOUSE INTO A MARKET!"
HIS DISCIPLES REMEMBERED THAT IT IS WRITTEN:
"ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME."
THEN THE JEWS DEMANDED OF HIM, "WHAT MIRACULOUS
SIGN CAN YOU SHOW US TO PROVE YOUR AUTHORITY
TO DO ALL THIS?" JESUS ANSWERED THEM,
"DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND I WILL RAISE IT AGAIN
IN THREE DAYS." THE JEWS REPLIED,
"IT HAS TAKEN FORTY-SIX YEARS TO BUILD THIS TEMPLE,
AND YOU ARE GOING TO RAISE IT IN THREE DAYS?"
BUT THE TEMPLE HE HAD SPOKEN OF WAS HIS BODY.
AFTER HE WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD, HIS DISCIPLES
RECALLED WHAT HE HAD SAID.
THEN THEY BELIEVED THE SCRIPTURE AND THE WORDS THAT
JESUS HAD SPOKEN. This is the Word of our Lord.
Let us pray:
Glorious and gracious God, may the words of my mouth and
the meditation of each of our hearts be acceptable in Your
sight, our only source of hope and comfort. Amen.
[Text taken from THE HOLY BIBLE:
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, 1973, 1978, 1984,
used by permission of
Zondervan Bible Publishers]
Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ:
Growing up and going to Sunday School every once in a while,
I loved and longed to hear this story.
For me it was one of the most exciting
stories on the pages of Scripture.
How Jesus got all worked up
about what was going on in the temple.
How important it was for Him
when He looked at what was going on and saw
it was so far from what God had intended
that He took a bunch of cords
and He drove those animals out.
Then He went from table to table and
flipped them over. And there were coins and money
flying everywhere in this mass scene of
chaos that I am sure ensued with
those people who wanted that money ... who were
exchanging that money. And the people that were there
tending those animals and Jesus' disciples
looking on. The drama of that moment
as a child always captured my attention.
I seemed to just love it.
It was such an exciting story.
Maybe it's because part of it was: Here's my God
going down and reaping vengence on people who
were doing evil. God takes His stand
and goes out and really shows people
what it's all about.
And I think that's exciting and it's a great thing,
but as I mature I realize
that Jesus comes to me sometimes
in that same manner.
And He looks at my heart.
And He looks at my heart and says:
What's in there?
What's important to you?
What are you spending your time on?
Do you have zeal for the Lord's house?
If it's important ...
of utmost importance to you to be hearing
the Word of God.
Are you concerned about the place that proclaims that
Word of God? Jesus comes right
into each of our hearts and each of our lives
and He looks to see what's going on.
And that's frightening!
That has to concern
each and every one of us. Because we know
that from the first of those commandments: "YOU SHALL
HAVE NO OTHER GODS ... " that we read through
this morning, that we do not always
keep that commandment.
There are other things that we will put
before God. There are other activities
that we will make for ... [make] time for in our day
ignoring studying God's Word
or worshiping Him.
Or praying to Him.
There are other things that we will do and make all kinds of
excuses for not doing what God
has asked of us. And Jesus comes to us
with that Law to remind us that
we ARE sinners. That we
need Him.
That He is our Savior. And the only
place that we are going to find and hear
comfort is in the Word of God.
It's exactly what Jesus proclaimed to those Jews
who were demanding: What gives You the right
to come in here and do all of this? How dare You
drive away our cattle and our sheep and make us
release our doves? How dare You turn over those tables?
Who gives You this authority? By what authority
are You doing this?
And Jesus said to them: You destroy this temple and
in three days I will raise it from the dead.
The temple
of His body. The Jews there
didn't understand it because they were so focused
on what was temporal; on what was earthly.
The thought of someone dying and raising
from the dead was foolishness to them;
they didn't understand it. Yes, they wanted a miraculous
sign and Jesus said: I will give it to you
and here it is and you should be looking for that.
You should be watching for that because
when I die, I will be raised
to life.
And it is exactly what happened. And we're told in
John's Gospel that when it happened, the disciples
remembered this event. Through the eyes of faith
they understood it, and
they believed it. How important it was for them
to have that knowledge to go back and
pour over the life of Jesus. And then record it
so that others in the future may hear and
see what Jesus did. Just as they had those
Old Testament Scriptures that when
Jesus was doing all of this they realized He was the One
who was prophesied that zeal for God's house
would consume Him. Would consume
the Messiah. The WORD is all-important.
It is ONLY in the Word that we find out
that there is a God who has loved us and has sent us
His Son as our Savior.
To save us from hell.
To forgive the sins that we do.
Who loved us so immeasurably
more than we loved Him.
Because He made us His top priority
to save and to bring back to Himself.
In love,
He created a plan
so that all people would be saved.
Through the Messiah ... through Jesus Christ.
That that Gospel would be proclaimed.
So that people would hear that the Holy Spirit
would come into people's lives and
give them comfort, and the knowledge that Jesus
is their Lord and Savior. And that has happened to us!
We rejoice in that
wonderful news.
But we also have to realize that we
can't ignore it. We can't take it for granted.
That we always are
in the Word learning more.
Discovering new things that this is our zeal.
It's just like when we come across some new author
and we read one of their books
and we think: This is really good. I can't wait
for the next one to come out.
We have people who line up at bookstores at midnight
to buy the next volume.
Zeal consumes them.
And we have that Word in our hands ...
in our homes.
And it is there for us to study. It is there for us to learn.
And there we find our joy.
There we find our hope.
It reminds us that that is our proclamation. We
preach Christ crucified.
Because there is our hope.
And there is our strength.
And we come together as a congregation of
believers to do that here ...
in this building. From this building.
From this pulpit. From the lectures
in our classrooms. From the tables that we gather around
at Sunday School classes, and confirmation classes.
That is, and should be, what
consumes our lives. And sometimes
we also need that reality of how are we
treating this house of God?
Is it a concern of ours? And are we
doing anything about it?
Jesus came in and was appalled
that people had turned God's house into a
marketplace. And He took the matter into His own hands and
He cleaned; He cleansed it out.
When Jesus comes and looks at
our house of worship,
what does He see that we need?
Have we neglected it?
Have we treated it as if it didn't matter or
it wasn't a concern?
This is where God's name is proclaimed.
This is where the Truth is taught.
And it is a reminder to us
that we have been given a trust.
A responsibility ... of this building.
To maintain it as best we can.
To preserve it. To put our
best foot forward. To give to God first and foremost
of our offerings.
To support this building. To support
the work that is done here. That all of those things
go together when we talk about the zeal for our Lord.
And how easy and quick we are
if there is something that we want to see ...
whether it be a sporting event or a concert or
a theatrical event and it comes and we look at the
price of those tickets and we think: I can make this
work.
Because maybe I just don't give
my offering that week.
Or I'll just juggle some other things around.
Do we think that way when we see the needs
of our own congregation?
And the work that needs to be done here.
It's not so easy, when Christ
comes into our hearts ...
and our lives reminding us to
stay on track.
To get our zeal back.
To be concerned about the proclamation of His Gospel.
To do that in the best way that we can
with the best resources that we have;
with the best of who and what we are.
And we know that we have failed. We know that we have
sinned at times. But we know that the Lord promises
to be with us.
To bless the proclamation of His Word.
To bless the fact that we
preach Christ crucified. He has brought us all together
as the Body of Christ ... with differences and talents
and abilities to be used
in His Church.
And we continue to work at that as the
Body of Christ working together.
For we ALL have received that wonderful news ...
that Jesus IS our Lord and Savior.
May zeal for Him
consume us.
Amen.
Let us rise.
Now may the peace of God which goes beyond all of our
understanding, keep your hearts and your minds and
especially your lives, in the one true faith unto life
everlasting. Amen.