EASTER SERIES 2010
Sermon #1
Do We Have A Clean House This Easter?
Matthew 21:12-15
Matthew 21:12-15 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'" 14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
Matthew 21:12-15 (KJV) 12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
I. THE CHARACTER OF GOD’S HOUSE
a. Twice the Lord has had to intercede concerning the quality of activity going on in the house of God
b. God desires a pure temple
i. It is to be a place set apart for praise and worship
ii. It is a place to be set apart for prayer
iii. It is to be a place set apart for meditation and contemplation
c. The basis for cleansing the temple
i. The written Word of God
Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.
1. When we think about the character of our church this Easter, are we a den of robbers?
a. Jesus goes even further to say that we are active in this activity – “are making it”…
2. Are we robbing the ability of other to worship in our midst?
3. Are we robbing ourselves of the ability to worship in the midst of God’s people?
a. What is our attitude when entering God’s house?
i. The wrong attitude internalized prohibits me from worshipping God – I rob myself!
ii. The wrong attitude verbalized hinders others from worshipping God – I rob others!
b. To this the Word of God declares that we have turned his house into anything but what it is intended for.
c. Understand the consequence of that activity – God will clean house – more than once if necessary!
ii. The pre-eminence of spiritual activity
Isaiah 56:7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
1. Jesus brought about cleansing because the primary activity within the temple was no longer what it was suppose to be
a. God’s house had been desecrated
b. God’s were hindered from worship
c. What activity was happening was happening without a heart for God!
d. The veil of religion brings great indignation from God
II. THE CHAUVINISM OF GOD’S PEOPLE
a. Those in the temple were to be above all else the people of God!
b. The activity of the temple priests was regrettable (to say the least).
i. They abused activity for which there was justification
1. There was justification for having sacrifices there to sell
a. People would have to come from long distances in order to worship at the temple.
b. People would have to come to the temple more than once a year in order to present a sacrifice.
2. There was abuse of what was justified
a. The prices of the animals were scalped!
b. Those who chose to bring their own sacrifice almost always had their offering declared unclean, and would have to buy from the merchants anyway.
c. The temple tax could only be paid in specific currency, and as such, local currencies were exchanged at extreme rates.
3. Even the poorest were exploited
a. “doves” is a direct reference to the offering of the poorest of people.
b. Those with the greatest need were taken to the cleaners.
Matthew 25:40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
c. Are we guilty of spiritual chauvinism?
i. Do we have a predetermined set of values in order for someone to come and worship with us?
ii. This was the mindset of the religious leaders of the day. They would use this verse to justify prohibiting the lame and the blind from temple entry!
2 Samuel 5:8 (NIV) On that day, David said, "Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those 'lame and blind' who are David's enemies." That is why they say, "The 'blind and lame' will not enter the palace."
2 Samuel 5:8 (KJV) And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.
iii. What is our mindset today?
1. Do they have to wear the right clothes?
2. Do they have to speak the right way?
3. Do they have to be the right political party?
4. Do they have to smell nice?
5. Do they have to live in the right part of town?
6. Do they have to have the right past?
d. Spiritual chauvinism is:
i. Not looking past the person in order to see the spiritual need!
ii. Not discerning the reality of consequences as distinct from the forgiveness of sin.
III. THE COMFORT OF GOD’S SON
a. The cleansing of the temple declared to all what God’s house should be.
b. The cleansing of the temple declared that the house of God is open to all.
c. The cleansing of the temple declared that the house of God is not focused on things but on the least, the last, and the lost.
NOW, WE ARE LEFT WITH TWO CHOICES AS GOD CONTINUES TO CLEAN HIS HOW. We will either say wonderful, or become indignant.
I am asking you to pray that God would work in your heart in order that you might become one who is concerned for the house of God, that it is a place of Worship, Prayer, and Meditation.
I am asking you to have the Spirit of God search your heart and mind, and convict you of “robber activity”; have done something internal, or external that has robbed yourself or another of full participation in God’s House.
I am asking you now (because our own bodies are the temple of God -- 1 Corinthians 6:19 (KJV) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?) to clean our own house, lest Jesus clean it for us.
Spend a few moments pouring yourselves out to God in preparation for communion.
