Oh well, hello and welcome. It's a real honour and a privilege to be here. My name is Adam Kersis.
I'm afraid I was actually introduced slightly wrong because I'm not from Tunbridge Wells, I'm from Royal Tunbridge Wells.
! So we've got to get that right. Please do keep your Bibles open as we'll be referring to it throughout the talk.
But to start us off, let's just have a bit of poetry from Dylan Thomas.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had fought no lightning day.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last way by, crying how bright.
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight and learned too late.
They grieved on its way. They grieved on its way. Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men near death who see with blinding sight. Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height.
Curse, bless me now with fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Oh, those are some beautiful words from Dylan Thomas, aren't they?
And to my shame, I have to admit, I only actually know them because of the film Interstellar.
A call to rage against the dying of the light.
To fight for every breath, every moment.
Because once it's all over, then off we go into that eternal night.
Do you feel that thing called upon you?
To not waste a second.
Because soon, it will all be over and done, this thing we call life.
Is this all life is?
A moment? A blip?
Is that all we can expect?
Is that all we can hope for?
John writes his entire letter, spiralling in on this topic of life.
And he claims that if we recognise that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and believe it,
then we can have life in his name.
A life that will last for longer than a moment, than a blip.
A life that will have purpose, and joy, and satisfaction.
And right here, right at the beginning of John's letter,
he focuses in on a false religion that will rob you of life.
And he gives you a glimpse of a radical relationship that will give life to you.
And he does this in two points.
Firstly, a false religion turns a temple into a marketplace.
So, a false religion turns a temple into a marketplace.
So, Jesus lived in the first century Israel.
And John's letter tells us of a time when Jesus was celebrating the Passover.
The Passover was this great feast,
remembering when the Jews were saved from Egypt.
A divine rescue.
And if you were a first century Jew,
then there is one place that you want to be during the Passover.
You want to be in Jerusalem.
And if you're in Jerusalem,
then there's one place you definitely want to be,
if you're there during the Passover.
You want to be in the temple.
The temple, that's the place to be during the Passover.
The temple, it represents the very heart of the Jewish faith.
The Jerusalem temple was the Mecca for the first century Jews.
At the temple, people could come,
and they could meet with God.
But at the temple, God's physical location was symbolically found.
At the temple, sacrifices for sin could be made.
At the temple, that's where it's all going down.
Now, the temple, it worked a little bit like an onion,
or if you like Shrek, like an ogre.
It had layers.
That first layer,
now that layer was the furthest any Gentiles,
so non-ethically Jewish people,
could come into.
Then the next layer was the furthest any Jewish women could come.
And then the next layer,
and then the next layer,
the furthest the Jewish men could come.
Until finally you hit a barrier.
A barrier which only the high priest could pass.
And in this outer limit,
in this outer courtyard,
this layer,
the courtyard of the Gentiles,
this is where our verses,
our story is set.
So please sit down with me again,
verse 13.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the temple he found those
who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeon,
and the money changers sitting there.
Now, it's not particularly unusual
for you to get money changers
near the temple.
Because there's a certain type of currency
which they would have used in Jerusalem,
and that the temple would have been using.
And actually people who travel far away
just wouldn't really have had that,
that sort of money.
So you need money changers.
Again, it's not particularly unusual
for you to get people selling oxen
and sheep and pigeons
near the temple.
Because again,
if you've travelled from Spain
or from Italy
to get to this famous temple
in Jerusalem,
you're probably not going to bring along
an oxen with you
that would just slow you down
and make it a costly venture.
However, what was unusual
was to have them in the temple itself,
in the very court of the Gentiles,
its outer layer.
Because how could the Gentiles
come and meet with God?
Come and offer their sacrifices for sin?
If all around them is this noise
and this hubbub
and the shouting
and the bleating
and the selling
and the bartering
and the mooing
and the smell
and the stench
of a busy, thriving,
dirty marketplace.
And Jesus,
he's not happy about this.
He's not happy about it at all.
Let's continue reading.
Verse 15.
And this is Jesus here.
And making a whip of cords,
he drove them all out of the temple
with the sheep and the oxen.
And he poured out the coins
of the money changers
and overturned their tables.
And he told those
who sold the pigeons,
you can imagine,
he would have said this
pretty loudly,
take these things away.
Do not make my father's house
a house of trade.
His disciples remembered
that it was written,
zeal for your house
will consume me.
This is a highly charged,
like emotional response
to the temple becoming
a marketplace.
And it caused,
it caused the disciples
to remember from Psalm 69,
zeal for your house
will consume me.
Jesus, he's consumed
from his father's house.
This is,
this is God's house,
his home.
This is where God
should be honoured,
where he should be worshipped,
where he should be praised.
This is where people
from all over the world
can come in reverence
and awe and fear
and meet with God.
This should be a place
of prayer and petition.
This should be a place
where people can
acknowledge their sin
and offer up to that sacrifice.
This house,
it is so important,
it is too important
for Jesus not to act.
He is filled
with this emotional zeal
to drive out all those
who would rob
his father's house
of its true purpose.
Jesus is not
weak and mild.
He is consumed
with zeal
for his father's house
because it matters,
because it's important,
because these market traders
and these money lenders
and the priests
who put them there
in the first place,
they are peddling
a false religion.
A religion that cares
more about profit
than it does about faith.
A religion that cares
more about money
than it does
about atoning sacrifice.
A religion that cares
more about consumers
than it does
about the king
of the entire universe
having a relationship
with his people.
Jesus,
he wants nothing to do
with this fake religion,
with this false religion.
Jesus,
he wants this religion
out,
gone.
If you fill a diesel car
with petrol,
it's not going to go anywhere
because that's not its purpose.
And if you fill a temple
with a market,
then it's not going to achieve
its purpose either.
What do you do
with a diesel car
fueled with petrol?
You drain it.
And what do you do
with a temple
filled with a marketplace?
You drive it out.
False religion
turns the temple
into a marketplace.
False religion
needs to be driven out.
The Jews put the market
over the temple,
the money over the magnificent,
the immediate
over the mattress.
They were so focused
on what was right
in front of them
that they lost sight
of the most amazing thing
of all.
Meeting with God.
They were peddlers
of a false religion.
And we've got to ask
the question,
are we peddlers
of a false religion?
Do we get distracted
by the immediate,
by the things
that are right in front of us,
that we can feel
and that we can touch
and that we can see,
that actually we forget
that we were made
to know our maker.
We were made as humans
to know God.
We were made as humans
to meet with God.
Do we squander
our chance
to experience
the magnificent,
the miraculous?
Do we squander
our chance
to meet with God?
Because we're so focused
on the now,
on the immediate,
on the things
which are right
in front of our eyes.
It's a false religion
when a temple
becomes a marketplace.
Jesus burned
with zeal against it
and he will burn
with zeal
against any similar
attitudes now.
Have you noticed
what this also tells us
about Jesus?
Jesus, he's no man.
Jesus is no simple
human being.
Jesus, he's like you
and he's like me
but he's also totally
different to you and me.
Jesus is the Son of God
and thus he cares
passionately,
frantically,
zealously
for his Father's house.
So do we realise
who this is,
who John is telling us about?
Do you realise
that the very consequences
of these words
God became a man
and now the world
has changed.
So false religion,
it turns the temple
into a marketplace.
But God didn't come
to earth as a man
just to tell us
what was wrong
but to start
a radical relationship.
So that's my second point.
The second point
John makes here.
The way to a radical
relationship
is through Jesus
the temple.
The way to a radical
relationship
is through Jesus
the temple.
So let's look down
at verse 18.
So the Jews
said to him,
what sign do you
show us
for doing these things?
Now,
it's already
interesting though,
isn't it?
Like,
they're not
challenging him
ethically.
Why do you send
these market traders
away?
Like,
supposing it's
morally wrong.
No,
they challenge
his authority
to do such a thing.
They want to see
a sign.
It's like they
already know
that actually
what they are doing
is wrong.
So they try
to change the subject
away from the action
and onto his authority.
Let's continue reading,
continue looking down.
Verse 19.
Jesus answered them,
destroy this temple
and in three days
I will raise it up.
The Jews then said,
it has taken 46 years
to build this temple
and you will raise it up
in three days.
So the Jews then
didn't get it.
They think,
Jesus,
he's just a little bit crazy.
It took them 46 years
thank you very much
to build this temple
and this Jesus guy
thinks he's going to
destroy it
and then raise it
in three days.
That's just rubbish
to them.
That's just
inconceivable.
Let's continue reading,
verse 21.
But he was speaking
about the temple
of his body.
When therefore
he was raised
from the dead,
his disciples remembered
that he had said this
and then believed
the scriptures
and the word
that Jesus had spoken.
These verses,
they're absolutely huge.
They're absolutely massive
because Jesus,
he is claiming
to be the temple.
Jesus is claiming
to be the temple.
See,
it'll be a little bit
like me maybe today
coming up here
and telling all of you,
see,
I want you to forget
everything that you've
ever learnt about rugby
because actually
everything you think
you know about rugby
you sort of got it wrong.
It'll be a bit like
me coming up here today
and saying actually,
actually you've got to
understand,
me,
Adam Curtis,
I am Wembley Stadium.
It's in me
that you get the excitement,
that you get the thrill
and the energy.
It's in me
that you get to come
and watch
and see beautiful rugby
hopefully take place.
It's in me
that rugby is fulfilled
and understood
and seen.
Now if I came up
and did that today
and said these things
that I am Wembley Stadium
and you've got to see it
through me,
then there's probably
only two ways
really to react.
Firstly,
I think you'd be like,
this man is crazy.
This man is literally
out of his mind.
This is ridiculous.
Or probably the only
other option,
if you weren't going
to take that one,
is you'd have to
then believe what I said.
So you are going to
assume I'm crazy
or you've got to
believe what I said.
So this is what
Jesus is doing here.
He's saying something
equally as radical
or more radical.
The Jews,
they put so much
religious significance
into the temple.
It's so important to them.
It's where they meet God.
It's where they offer
their sacrifices to him.
And Jesus is saying
that his body
is now the temple.
All this religious
significance
can now be found
in his body.
It is found
in Jesus.
Once you used to
find God in the temple,
now you find God
in Jesus.
Once you used to
meet God in the temple,
now you meet God
in Jesus.
Once you used to
offer sacrifices
to God in a temple,
now you offer them
in Jesus.
Jesus is the temple.
And because Jesus
is the temple,
we no longer need
to go to a geographical
location to meet God.
Because Jesus
is the temple,
we can now have
a radical relationship
with God.
We can find God
in Jesus.
We can meet God
in Jesus.
We can offer
a sacrifice
to God
in Jesus.
But the disciples
only understood
the significance
of Jesus' work
that he is this temple.
Once they'd actually
seen him rise
from the dead,
as we saw
in verse 22,
only then did they
see how Jesus
was the temple
that was destroyed
when he was nailed
to a cross
and then rebuilt
when he rose
from the dead
after three days.
It's important
to note that
this is why
Jesus had the
authority to clear
that temple
in the first place.
Remember the question
the Jews asked him
in verse 18?
What sign do you
show us for doing
these things?
Well, the resurrection
of Jesus,
that is the sign
and the proof.
It's because Jesus
has the power
to defeat death
that he has the
authority to clear
the temple.
Jesus does not
just say crazy
things,
I am the temple.
Jesus does
crazy things.
He defeats death.
This is why
the disciples
trusted him
and this is why
we too are able
to trust him now.
The way to a
radical relationship
with God
is through Jesus,
the temple.
When I was a lot
younger and a lot
smaller,
a little kid,
we went on a
family holiday
with my cousins,
my aunts,
my uncles
and we did
loads of canoeing.
Now one day
my older brother,
Jamie,
my older sister,
Becky,
my older cousin,
and so they
wanted to canoe
up the river
towards the sea.
So they crossed
over the river
in their canoe
to the other side
and then they
started going
up towards the sea.
And they just
went on and on
and on until
actually eventually
they just got a bit
tired and decided
they wanted to
turn back.
But as they
started to row
back up the river,
they started to
row against the
current.
And it didn't
matter how hard
they rowed,
they hardly made
any distance
until.
Until they
got to the
point of
just sheer
exhaustion.
And they had
to call my
mum and dad
and our aunts
and uncles
and tell them
that we're
stuck.
We can't
get ourselves
across the river
to the other
side,
where you guys
are,
and we can't
move any further
up the river
towards you either.
Now I must
admit at this
point as a
little boy,
my mind is a
bit fuzzy.
All I remember
is grown-ups
chattering.
And from
what I've
heard over
the years,
it would be
fair to say
that my
parents were
pretty panicked.
And they
ended up
calling the
Coast Guard.
But this bit
I remember
with crystal
clarity.
My brother,
my sister,
my cousin,
who got
themselves into
this stupid
situation by
themselves,
they got
airlifted by
a helicopter
from their
side of the
river,
and they were
brought over
to our side.
I was so
jealous.
They got
rescued by
a helicopter,
and all I
got was this
dull afternoon
of sitting and
waiting for them
to return.
Outrageous!
My brother,
sister,
and cousin,
they were on
one side of
the river,
and my family,
we were on
the other.
And these two
separate groups,
they needed to
become one.
So they needed
that helicopter.
We're separated
from God,
and in the
temple,
we can meet
with him.
Jesus then,
he's a little
bit like that
helicopter.
Which enabled
my brother,
sister,
and cousin,
to be reunited
with my family.
But you know
what?
Jesus being
in a helicopter
is just a
rubbish
illustration.
Because Jesus
isn't not just
a helicopter,
that's not
strong enough.
It doesn't
stay good
enough.
It would be a
little bit more
like if you
had my stupid
lost teenager
relatives here,
and my family
over here,
and then just
the river
between.
And a better
picture of
Jesus would
be him
sucking all
that water
up,
and then
just spraying
it away.
And then
the ground
literally
folding together
until the
two sides
pertain
one.
Until they
could meet.
That's a
truer image
of what Jesus
has done
when he
becomes the
temple.
Because it
represents how
radical this
relationship is.
it is world
transforming.
It changes
everything.
The other
day I was in
the pub,
chatting to a
mate of mine,
and he asked
me why I was
a Christian.
And I waffled
on a bit,
trying to give
him a well
reasoned answer.
And yet this
passage actually
explains it
perfectly and
beautifully.
I'm a Christian
because in
Jesus the
temple, I have
a radical
relationship with
God.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who made me.
who knitted
me together
in my
mother's womb.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who sustains
me, who
gives me breath
for each day
and energy
to keep on
going.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who loves me
so passionately
and deeply
that he would
send his son
to die for me
on a cross.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who gives
life purpose,
who gives
joy in the
struggle and
deep satisfaction
which nothing
else can compare
with.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who gives
me life.
Not just in
the past and
not just in
the present, but
in the future
too.
In Jesus, I
know a God
who will give
me life which
will last
forever and
ever and
ever.
Do you want
to share in
that life?
Wonder
that end?
Will you
come and
meet Jesus?
Will you
come and
meet with
God?
Will you
come to
Jesus'
temple and
will you
start a
radical
relationship
with the
God who
knows you
better than
you know
yourself?
Will you
come and
call on the
name of
Jesus now
and tomorrow
and the
day after
until the
end of
time itself?
A false
religion, it
cares more about
the immediate
than the miraculous
and it turns
the temple
into a
marketplace.
Jesus is
having nothing
to do with
that because
he is his
father's son
and he wants
people to
come and
meet with
God.
Jesus offers
us the chance
to have a
radical
relationship
with God
by becoming
the temple
enabling all
who call
in his name
to meet
him.
So should
we rage
against the
dying of
the lights?
No!
That is a
waste of time,
a philosophy
of pointless
shallow
immediate
obsessed
life.
No!
We should
recognise who
Jesus is
the Messiah
and the
Son of God
and we
should call
on his
name and
know that
if we do
we will
have life
in all
its fullest
and all
its glory
now and
then for
all
eternity.
Why don't
I pray?