This past weekend in our family devotions, we looked at the story of Jesus clearing out the Temple. Of course it was under the "Agents of Smash" study I am doing with the kids, however, the words "Zeal for my Father's house consumes me!" jumped out at me. Mainly because I have been feeling this zeal and sense that it is consuming me.
You see, Jesus saw something that really pissed him off!!! I know, people say Jesus used "holy" or "righteous" anger, and I understand the seeming need to defend Jesus from any possible connection with sin. However, there is no need to sugar coat this story. To cover the "Jesus did not sin" part, we simply have to see that the action was not anger or reaction due to self preservation, but rather he acted in anger and frustration for God's Glory and on the behalf of the people of Israel! That covers that topic!
Now for the realness of the situation! IF you had been there that day and watched this seen unfold, I bet you would have had this thought, "That Jesus is a crazy man!" Come on! Be real! You know if a guy did something like that at a local mega church, aka, "God's House", you know you would be calling for the police to arrest the man! That is exactly what people watching Jesus was surely thinking, "Where are the soldiers? They need to throw this man in jail!"
Lets also not sugar coat what Jesus was doing! He was literally beating men, animals, and anything in his path with a whip of cords! He was tossing tables, shoving bodies, dumping money, driving animals! In this seen, on that day, he appeared to be a mad man who needed to be restrained. Looking at the scene, one might even ask, "Where were the restrainers at? Why did no one hold Jesus back? What were his disciples thinking?" There may be a lot of unanswered questions, but there are plenty of facts written for us to know, Jesus was one PISSED off dude and he did not "hold it in!"
So I ask, Why? Why did Jesus suddenly let loose? What drove him to have this moment of seeming insanity take over? Why did he act like a mad man and literally "whoop some tail" and clear out the courtyard of the Temple? What was his driving force?
The answer to that is in his words, "You have turned my Father's house, a house meant for prayer, into a den of thieves!" Which reminded the onlooking disciples of the verse from Psalm 69:9, "Zeal for my Father's house has consumed me! And there is two reasons why it consumed him.
1. The temple was built as a place that God could come and dwell amongst his people. Since Genesis 1, God has been working to redeem his people unto himself so that He could once again "walk with them in the garden." That has been his purpose and goal and that was the reason for the temple. It was a place people were suppose to be able to come and be close to God!
2. The people needed to be close to God. Only when His people are able to abide with him can they experience the real joy and meaning of this life. When separated in the Garden by the disobedience of Eve and Adam, the people desired a way to be close to him again. They longed to walk close to him and fellowship with the maker of the Universe and their souls. The temple provided them a place where they could come and enjoy that closeness once again.
However, those who were placed in a position to protect the very gateway for God and his people to commune with each other had made it impossible. God was being kept away from the people because the leaders had made it so hard for the people to come in. They assumed the role of "go between" and made a way to profit on it. That is why their were animals and money changers in the courtyard. Because it cost so much for people to enter, most had to simply no longer come, therefore, the poor, whom God has always had deep affection for were no longer able to come. Thus God was deprived by the traditions of men from being able to commune with his people.
Also, the people who were able to "pay to pray" could no longer enjoy quiet communion with God because of all the noise surrounding them. The cows bellowed and the sheep made noises and the birds flew and chirped and the money changers were loud and obnoxious. So once you paid to get in, and you had to pay, your quiet place to speak to God and hear him, no longer existed. Both God and his people were being kept from each other because of the greed and ignorance of man. Their traditions had come between the most needed relationship of all time, the relationship between God and his bride.
So Jesus literally LOST IT! He was overwhelmed with a passion to see this barrier removed. (BTW, this story is mentioned in all 4 gospel accounts. Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 2. Must mean it is pretty important.) So he did what any MAN would do, he welled up in a fit of rage and cleared the courtyard and temple of all the barriers and distractions that were between his Dad and Jesus' Bride!
So how does this apply today?
Well, I literally have felt a "monster" inside me growing in strength and anger (much like the Hulk) against the very same thing Jesus started smashing things for. Today, God desires to walk with his people, that is why Jesus died to provide permanent redemption for his people. That is why jesus was willing to face all the trials of this world and three days of separation from his dad. He so wanted his dad, himself, and his bride to be ONE again, he sacrificed it all. Yet here we stand again, in a world with more technology and opportunity than ever before, and we are farther from God than we could ever imagine. And so many of those who were given the role as "protector" and "provider" of this opportunity for intimate communion have lost site of the reality of what they were meant to do. They write books about how their way is the way and their church is the church to model after. They oppress the people by either overloading them with legalistic rules and regulations or they go to the other ditch and make it a "party" to be with God. Lights, camera, action, watch me all over the world (and by the way, send in some money so we can keep this ministry up!) Then there are those trying their best to balance it all out by mixing the two. They have the "holy rules" and try their best to have the "show" without going overboard! Sadly, it is still focused on what they are doing instead of the point, having a "Father's house of prayer!"
So, I am getting that frustrated feeling! I have just about erupted a couple of times and probably would have looked like the lunatic that Jesus did for that short window of time. But folks, the time has come. God desires to be with his people and his people desire to be with Him. It is time for the tactic of "pay your tithe and He will bless you" which is code for "pay to pray and we will all live nicer lives if you do!" has come to an end. It is time for the noise to stop and the legalistic traditions to be set aside. God wants to be with His people and His people want to be with him.
I recent read a book given to me by a pastor friend and it was another pastors attempt to answer the question "Why should I come to church?" He gave his best answers from a pastors point of view whose income is based on you agreeing with him (sorry that is a little hulk coming out in me) and he totally missed the point. It is not that people do not want to be a part of THE Church, the family of God, it is just here in America, we have followed the path of those Jesus drove out! We have made it impossible for God to draw close to his people because we have made it so expensive ( huge mega million dollar buildings that require a great personality who requires a large income to keep the people coming and GIVING so the buildings, expansions, and programs can be paid for) so people literally can't afford to get close, or, we have grown the distractions so large that even if you can pay to pray, it is so loud once you get in, you cannot be intimate with Him. It has all become a show or it has become so burden with rules that neither God nor his people can enjoy communion.
Like it or not folks, the Agents of Smash are rising up and the tables will be turned over and the people driven out. The question is not "Why should I go to church?" or "Why aren't people going to church?" or even, "Should we go to church?" What we should be asking is "How can I again enter into my Father's house of prayer and help others come in too?"
Our God is amazing and wonderful! He is mind blowing and marvelous. And what he desires more than anything is to walk with us in that same intimate fellowship He started in the Garden of Eden! And I want it so much too for myself and all those who long for their Father like I do!
No comments:
Post a Comment