You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Turn with me again this morning to John's Gospel, second half of the second chapter.
Jesus has just announced the fullness of life that he brings as he turns water to wine at
a wedding feast.
But this morning, we find him not setting tables, but upsetting tables.
He's not celebrating.
He's angry.
This is the story of Jesus cleansing the temple.
You may think of it at the end of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem on his way to the cross, and it's
certainly possible that John has taken that incident at the end of Jesus' life and moved
it up front in his account for theological reasons.
Could be.
I am in the minority who sees this likely as one of two similar instances when Jesus cleared
the temple.
This one at the beginning of his ministry.
Either way, as you listen to this passage this morning, I want to invite you to come in your
mind with me to Jerusalem, the week of the Passover feast.
Everyone's there.
You are a 10-year-old child.
Your legs are aching from the long trip.
You and your family have gone miles and miles, walking some of them, riding on a donkey some.
Then you had to get back down.
You're exhausted.
And you hit the city, and suddenly you're surrounded by millions of people.
Jews from all around the world have come in, and you're just amazed.
And you look up, and you see this huge, beautiful temple at the center of all of it.
All the hustle and bustle circling around the temple.
And as you squeeze your way into the temple, you start to smell the sacrifices that the priests
are making.
And you squeeze your dad's hand tight so you don't get lost in the crowd.
And you're struggling to hear his voice over the noise of sheep and oxen and pigeons over
there.
And people exchanging money.
And families looking for a place to stay for the night.
And merchants selling animals for sacrifice.
It's getting a bit overwhelming, isn't it?
And then all of a sudden, the animals start rushing towards you right there at the gate.
And here they all come, and you hear tables being flipped over and animals making noises
and people chasing after them.
And you look up, startled, to see the one man towering over all of them, driving them out.
Jesus has shown up.
John 2 at verse 12.
After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples,
and they stayed there for a few days.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
And in the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the
money changers sitting there 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.
And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away.
Do not make my father's house a house of trade.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me.
So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?
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?
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 they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw
the signs that he was doing.
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed
no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Pray with me.
Jesus, you know what's in us.
You know how easy it is for us to honor you with our lips, while our hearts are far from you.
We do not want that.
May that not be true for us this morning.
Would you, by your spirit, so help our hearts that we would hear your voice, that we would
be soft and heed your correction, that we would, above all else, love you more.
So work in us, Holy Spirit, for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
It's vital for us, as we consider this remarkable story, that when we hear temple, where all
this is taking place, we hear God's house.
This is where God lives among his people, right?
It's where they come to pray to him.
It's where they bring their sacrifices to him through the priest.
It's where they can't go in some of the rooms because the glory of God lives there.
You can't go in.
It's his house, right?
Kids, if you have seen the movie Peter Rabbit, it's a great classic movie.
You may have read the book, but you will probably remember the scene where the animals take over
the house and throw a party.
It looks kind of like this.
There are pigs swinging from chandeliers and rabbits dancing on mantles and deer and badgers
sliding down the dining room table.
They just take over the place, right?
It's quite funny, isn't it, kids?
Imagine, though, if that was your house, how funny it would be.
If you came home tired one day and needing the refuge of your bed or your favorite comfy chair
where you go to relax and there was a muddy pig in it and other crazy animals dancing around
all over the place, you would run them out as fast as you could, wouldn't you?
Because it is your house, not theirs.
Now, some of you may like your house to be a zoo or a circus.
I get that.
I don't, but you might.
The temple, though, is God's house.
Where he wants, what he wants to happen in his house is for his people to come meet with him.
Remember that he made us for relationship with him, that we would know him and love him.
So in his house, he wants us to talk with him, to consider the seriousness of our sins
and to rejoice in the provision of sacrifice for us so that we can be forgiven, so that we can know him.
But here when Jesus shows up in the temple, that's not what's happening.
The chaos of Passover week in Jerusalem has overtaken the house of God, hasn't it?
Jesus is not having it.
He has a zeal, a burning passion for his father's house,
that it be a place of refuge for anyone wanting to pray,
a place where sin and sacrifice and forgiveness are deeply contemplated,
a place where the importance of being near God is never overlooked or undervalued.
So the animals for sacrifice and the money for the temple tax are necessary.
Most Jews coming from long distances couldn't bring the sacrifice with them.
Many of them needed to exchange their coins to be able to pay properly in the temple.
Jesus does not tell them they're doing wrong things just in the wrong place.
Notice here that Jesus doesn't go into the dark alleyways of Jerusalem and start flipping over tables, does he?
He's in the temple.
God's people are making God's house a house of trade and emporium is the word, a marketplace.
But Jesus has come precisely so that the presence of God can be with his people.
So he cleanses God's house.
He cleanses the temple.
Take these things away.
Get them out.
With remarkable authority.
Can you imagine one person coming into this huge area?
He drives animals and people trying to make a buck out of the temple court.
And it's that authority that gets called into question, isn't it?
Hold on, the Jews say.
Who put you in charge of the temple?
Show us a sign to prove that you're in charge of the house of God.
Are you the owner?
Jesus responds, own the temple?
I am the temple.
He's not quite that direct.
He tells them what?
To destroy the temple and he will rebuild it in three days.
Now that would be quite a sign.
Can you imagine this huge building, bigger than this one, right?
That it would be wiped out and then he'd just bring it back in three days.
It takes longer than that for a lot of people.
John says Jesus means even more than that.
He means the temple of his body, which would be raised from the dead three days after being destroyed by these people.
Jesus is saying he is the new temple.
He is God's house, the place in which God lives among his people.
It's Jesus.
See, back in the garden, just a little history on God living with his people.
Back in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, the whole thing was a temple, right?
Because God walked there with his people.
That's what makes it a temple.
God lives there with his people.
That is the glorious way that God designed it to be.
But we messed that up.
When we messed it up, we were separated from God because of our rebellion.
We were banished, kicked out.
We couldn't live like that near to God without being destroyed, right?
But God moved back toward his people who'd been sent far away from him.
He moved back toward them in the tabernacle where he lived while they traveled.
Then they settled in the promised land.
Jerusalem was established.
And King Solomon built the temple for God's house where he lived among his people.
It was the center of life for the Jews, the focus of everything.
And now, now, Jesus says, that's me.
I am the temple.
The word became flesh.
Remember chapter one?
And tabernacled among us.
He is where God is known.
What's he really like?
How do we know?
He's the one who shows how God is worshipped.
How do I live with him, come before him?
The temple's veil is ripped at Jesus' death.
So we come through him into the very presence of God.
So that in the new Jerusalem, we're told there is no temple.
Oh, no.
Oh, hold on.
No temple because its temple is God Almighty and the Lamb.
God no longer needs a house with rooms that you can't go into.
He lives himself right in the midst of us forever.
Amen?
Jesus makes that a reality.
Once again here, Jesus is making an exclusive claim that he's the one connecting us to God.
He's not only cleansing God's house, he does that.
But he's also saying, the way you know God is to know me.
I'm in charge of the temple and I am the new temple.
Now I want to stop there before we go into applying these things to our lives and start to meddle a little bit.
And I want to acknowledge that for some of you, that makes no sense.
It is an assumption for many in our society today.
You would even say it's just an obvious truth that every religion is equally valid.
That all roads lead to God.
That no one can claim to have the way to connect with the God.
So when you hear Jesus say, I am the temple.
The way to know God.
The place to live with him.
You may be saying this morning, no way.
You're the only way.
I mean, that's interesting.
It's spiritual sounding.
But I've got my own way.
There are other good ways to live.
Every sincere religion is equally valid.
Everybody knows that.
Now I want you to know that's quite an exclusive claim itself.
Because if that is true, that every religion is equally valid, then either God does not exist,
and therefore every way to him is equally useless.
Or if God does exist, he doesn't care how you know him, what you believe about him,
the way you live in relationship with him, how you worship him.
He just doesn't care.
And that is a very specific view of God.
It's a view of God that excludes not only the God of the Bible,
but also almost every Eastern view of God or traditional view of God.
It's a very narrow, very specific view of what God is like.
And I'm saying when you say that, you're asking everyone else
to assume that that very specific view of God is true.
I'm not saying this to prove you wrong, if you say that,
or to prove that Jesus is right when he claims to be the way to God,
but rather just to show that Jesus can't be dismissed merely for being exclusive
without the one dismissing him also being dismissed on the very same grounds.
Do you see?
Those are very exclusive statements.
And we actually get to deal with Jesus.
What does he say?
The one who turns water into wine and then turns over the tables of religious people
who are missing God in their self-serving busyness,
he's saying that you can know God through him.
So let's listen to him.
See what he's like.
See what he says.
Because God is telling us in stories like this that he exists
and that he does care deeply about how we know him,
how we worship him, how we live with him,
and most importantly, that Jesus is the way we know him.
So if that's true, if anything distracts you from Jesus,
take it away.
Get it out.
Turn over the tables.
Something's got to change if anything is keeping you from being near to Jesus.
That's where I want us to think about our own lives here for just a few minutes.
Jesus has authority to turn over tables in the temple.
Do we acknowledge his authority to turn over tables in our lives
so that we can draw near to God?
I'll be honest with you before we start,
because it does get a little bit pointed.
I prefer the Jesus who turns water to wine,
who provides all this fullness to meet my hunger,
who graciously satisfies me,
the Jesus that we talked about last week who's so graciously good.
I prefer that one to the Jesus who starts turning tables over.
But it's the same guy,
the same one who's coming so that we can know fullness of life
in relationship with our God,
so that we can taste and see that he is good,
so that we can live near him.
That's his heart in both of these cases.
But sometimes, because that's his heart,
it means driving out some distractions to us seeing him
and coming near to him.
And he loves us enough to do that.
I see three specific tables Jesus turns over in this passage.
If Jesus is turning tables over
because they're keeping people from being properly near to God
and connecting with him in his presence,
then I'll call these three paths away from God.
One last warning before we talk about them.
These are tables, remember, that belong to God's people.
They have lots of good religious things on them.
They look very nice to us.
So don't go pointing the finger outside.
Jesus is cleansing in here today.
Okay?
He's talking to us.
First one is our self-determination and control.
It's the very fact that these people want to treat God's house
as their house,
where they can use it for whatever they want.
Whatever is convenient or comfortable for them,
of course God would want that, right?
I mean, he may not have said it exactly this way,
but I mean, after all, he wants us to be comfortable.
Isn't that the heartbeat of our culture?
Doesn't that seem right to you?
I can do and be whatever I want.
Be who I want.
Don't restrict me.
21st century American Christians
prefer the gracious Jesus who meets our needs
to the holy Jesus who contradicts our preferences
because far be it from anybody
to contradict our preferences.
Amen?
Amen.
Thank you.
It's not an either or.
These aren't two different Jesuses.
I think many of us like that control, don't we?
Or at least the illusion of control.
I'll marry whomever I love
and I'll divorce her whenever I want
without asking what God's word would have me do
in either case.
I'll call myself a Christian,
but I'm not going to be found very often
in a church service
because there are a lot of ways, really,
to live as a follower of Jesus.
Lots of other ways to live with God
besides the ones he lays out in his word.
I want my church, when I do show up,
to have the music at just the right volume,
my coffee at just the right temperature,
and the sermon at just the right length,
and you're over it already.
And what's especially wrong, y'all,
this is the, it's not so much
that we just like our consumer Christianity.
It's that when those things don't happen,
I'll be frustrated enough
that I won't be able to worship God,
that I won't hear from him,
that I'll stop listening to his word
because it's not coming to me the way I want it.
I won't draw near to him.
Y'all, may that never be
that you're kept from God
by something you want your way.
He wants you near him.
I'll be a pastor
who's only excited about what God's doing
when it's my plan on my schedule.
God, forgive me.
Where in your life
are you refusing to give up control to God,
to let his priorities overrule your preferences?
Might Jesus be turning over a table in your heart today
as he is in mine?
Another table that keeps us from drawing near to God,
I think Jesus seems to be saying this
when he pours out the coins,
when he criticizes the house of trade
that the temple has become,
is a love of money and possessions.
Is there any chance that's keeping you
from nearness to Jesus?
I didn't say how much do you have.
I said, is there any chance
it's keeping you from being near Jesus?
Do you walk in here on a Sunday morning
or wake up every other morning
so consumed with your business
that you can't pray for a few minutes
or worship for an hour
without attending to that business,
at least in your mind?
It's always that.
Are you checking a lot of Christian boxes
like the rich young ruler?
But if Jesus asked you to sell your possessions
and give the money to the poor
and come follow him,
you'd walk the other way?
Sad?
Can I ask you about your heart?
This is hard.
I want to ask you
what you're excited and passionate about.
Do you find yourself sometimes
going through the motions with God,
just kind of,
here's the thing we do.
And what you really sense yourself
getting excited about,
it would be fair to say
you're consumed with zeal
for your next money-making adventure
or for your next shopping purchase.
Don't really have time,
pastor,
to consider loving my neighbor,
praying for him,
pointing her to Jesus,
but if I'm honest,
I always seem to have time
to shop for shoes online.
When we start depending on our resources,
when we start finding life and joy
in our possessions,
it is a pathway away from abiding in Jesus,
knowing him more deeply,
trusting him more fully.
What are you clinging to
that's keeping you from clinging to Jesus?
Take these things away,
Jesus says.
Nothing between you and me.
Get anything else out of the way.
One more that thankfully won't apply
to any of us.
A life of busyness and chaos.
I'll be quick because I know it's not you.
How often does this keep us
from real nearness to God?
Is your time booked with activities?
Your mind in every down moment
distracted by your phone?
Your heart so wearied from all of this
that it's actually resistant to rest anywhere,
especially in God?
Have you become so conditioned
to navigating chaos
that that's just the way of life?
So meditating on God's word,
listening to someone in your grace group
share what he's been teaching her,
regularly gathering to feast
on the body and blood of Jesus
as your source of life.
It just doesn't seem to happen.
Even though you keep saying you want it to
and you want it to feel different,
you want life to go at a different speed
and it just doesn't.
Could it be for some of us
that more church meetings,
teaching another class,
even giving of yourself
to love someone else
and spend time with them
is something you're using
to avoid actually experiencing
the love of God,
deeply savoring
the wonder of God's daily grace,
really connecting with him
in prayer.
It just doesn't seem productive enough.
I don't feel active.
Don't forget,
this passage shows us
that even right things
like those
at the wrong place
or the wrong time
can keep us
from God.
And when that's happening,
Jesus says,
get them out!
You can run a wonderful 501c3.
You can parent
and even foster children.
You can lead a Bible study
and all of those
without the sacrifice
of Jesus being necessary.
But for you to draw near to God,
for you to live in relationship
with him,
for you to know him
truly and personally,
Jesus had to die.
There was no other way.
He died
to give you
that relationship.
Don't neglect that gift.
I'm gonna trust
somewhere in your heart
Jesus is
turning over a table
this morning.
Yours may just be wobbling.
It may have crashed
a few minutes ago.
What do you do about that?
There's one path
back to God
for all three paths
leading us
away from him
in this passage.
Jesus turns over the tables,
drives out the things
distracting us
from being with God
and now we have two options.
Either we set them back up
and carry on with life
just as we were.
Please don't.
Don't be merely hearers
but not doers.
Don't see your heart
in the reflection
of God's word
and then just go on
living just the same way
moving on with your life.
Don't do that.
Or,
second option,
repent of them
and turn
to the new temple.
See,
the path back
near to God
from self-determination
and control
is not
deciding that
I'm going to stay
in control
but you know what?
I'll be a better Christian.
I'll just
choose to be
who God wants me
to be now.
The path back
near to God
from the love
of money
and possessions
is not striking
a bargain with him
to give 10% more
next year.
The path back
near to God
from a life
of busyness
and chaos
is not
piling up
good religious duties
so that you are
just as busy
and chaotic
as ever
maybe more
than before
but in six
Bible studies.
You read through
the Bible
every month
not every two years.
You listen to
Christian radio
while you wash dishes.
You sleep only
three hours a night
so you have
more time to pray.
It's not the path
back.
There's one path
back to God.
Repent.
Leave the table
down
where Jesus
turned it over.
and trust
Jesus.
The glory
of this passage
is that
as messed up
as the temple
has become
when Jesus
shows up
the solution
is not
a big repair
job
on the temple.
It is what?
A new temple.
The new temple
has come
right into the
midst of the old one
right here.
The risen Jesus
is with you
now inviting you
in relationship
with him
into the deepest
closest
most life-changing
encounter with God
that you can imagine.
He's saying
you find it in me.
And yes
as you enjoy
the goodness
of delighting in him
what will happen
in your heart
is you won't want
anything else
to distract you
from him.
He'll help you say
get out
to all sorts
of things
bad things
and good things
in the wrong place.
So over time
you likely will
end up
giving more money
away.
Reading more
of his word
even sacrificing
sleep at times
to pray
that'll happen
but don't think
all those things
are earning your way
back near to God.
No, no
the beauty
the glory
the grace
of this
is that God
comes near
to you
and then calls you
not to miss out
on that relationship
and all the ways
you can enjoy it
and savor it
and drink deeply
of him.
It's the fruit
of nearness
with him
as he comes
to you
and keeps
drawing you in.
Jesus has come
through his life
and especially
his death
and his resurrection
to bring you home
so that he
the new temple
God's house
is actually
your home
that's where
life is.
You actually
live day by day
moment by moment
where are you
at home?
I'm at home
with Jesus
walking with God
abiding in Jesus
led by his spirit
so I'm eager
to draw near to him
I'm confident
in his forgiving grace
when I mess up
I'm excited
to tell others
where life
is really lived
in the new
holy place
with Jesus.
Friends
it's time
to come home
you may be
realizing this
morning that
somewhere in
your life
you're a runaway
maybe you came
in this morning
on the run
you're stuck
on one of these
paths away
from God
a lot like
the prodigal son
who wanted to
do things
his own way
to have all
his money
and spend it
as he wanted
to fill his life
with everything
that he thought
would really
make him happy
and where
did he find
himself
distant from
his father
and from
everything that
he wanted
his life
to be
only to find
that as soon
as he looked up
and turned
to come home
there was
his father
not frowning
not waiting
running
to embrace
him
he's running
to you
this morning
Jesus
loves you
too much
to leave you
in the pigsty
far from
the father's
house
he loves you
too much
to leave
those tables
untouched
in your heart
that would keep
you from him
he is turning
them over
not to run
you off
but to
welcome you
home
it's time
to come
home
Jesus
will welcome
you into
the presence
of God
forever
he will show
you who you
were made
to be
he will provide
for you
what you
truly need
he will show
you how to
live with
great purpose
and deep
rest
come home
Jesus
help us
Jesus
forgive us
for the
things we've
welcomed
into our
lives
maybe
intentionally
seeking to
avoid you
maybe not
realizing how
they would
keep us
from you
but we
feel it
we know
what it's
like
to feel
distant
and to
know you
haven't
moved
thank you
that indeed
you have
moved
to chase
after us
God you've
sent your
son
that we
might be
welcomed
back
into your
family
to your
table
into relationship
with you
so help
us
Holy Spirit
up turn
the tables
and don't
let us put
them back
let us
cling to
Jesus
turn from
those things
and run
to rest
in him
thank you
for chasing
after us
we love you
for that
we worship
you
we ask
that our
lives would
be living
sacrifices
to praise
you for
what you
have done
in Jesus
name
amen
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