Kaleo San Diego Church

Righteous Anger, Lazy Worship

Before we begin this evening, I would like to start by asking you a question.

Q-1. What are you doing here tonight? Why are you here?

Be honest and think about that. If you have been attending Church for a number of years, you may have not asked that question for some time.

Why are you here? Why do you come? What is your motive? What are you looking for? What is your desire in coming? What is it that you want?

Q-2. Second question is this. What did you bring?

So keep that in mind as we study this evening. Continue to ask yourself; “why do I come, and what do I bring when I come?” We will touch on these questions later in the study.

If you have been following along over the last 7 weeks, you know that we are in John chapter 2 picking things up where we left off last week in verse 12.

Last week if you recall, we looked at Jesus first miracle in the Gospel of John where He used ceremonial washing basins, and made 180 gallons of wine at a week long wedding celebration.

So here we move to verse 12 with a stark contrast from Jesus enjoying Himself at a week long feast where He is gracious and kind in concerning Himself with the basic needs for this couple. To a man who’s righteous anger burns against the professional religious establishment.

Verse 12-After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

This is a side note: How many of you here were raised Catholic? You were probably taught that Mary was a perpetual virgin, much to the suffering of Joseph her husband. Great for Catholics, terrible for Joseph!

This is a great verse that clearly shows that he had brothers. The Catholic Church teaches that when the scriptures teach about Jesus “brothers” he means His disciples. Well, this verse destroys that argument. Why would God see that the verse says, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples?

I don’t need to explain how Jesus has brothers, I pray you are smart enough to figure out how the got there.

Verse 13-Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Passover is very important. Passover is the biggest celebration of the Jewish people at this time. It is the day that all that are able, come to the temple in Jerusalem.

This time is a celebration. If we look at the book of Exodus chapter 12 verse 17 it says 'So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.’

This is the day the Jews would celebrate which reminds them of what God had done in taking them out of bondage, slavery, death and oppression in Egypt and setting them free so that they could go out in the desert and worship Him freely.

This is a great foreshadow of what God would do in Christ in setting us, the believer in Christ, free from bondage and slavery to sin. The day we celebrate, that would be comparable, would be Easter.

Passover was that great celebration of God passing over their sin, and forgiving them temporarily, and giving them life instead of death. When God would give them freedom instead of bondage. And He gave them hope instead of despair.

This was a huge day for the religious Jew. They were to celebrate this day the way God established that they should. They would come together as a nation to the temple in Jerusalem on this day.

There are several reasons why Jesus went to the temple on this day. Other than this being a fulfillment of prophecy, which we will see in a moment, if you were a male over the age of 19 and within a 15 mile radius of the temple, you were required to come to the temple with your sacrifice. It was required. It was not an option.

Jesus ultimately celebrates 3 Passovers in the Gospel. This is the first, and the last being the last supper, which we will celebrate when we take communion tonight.

One other thing that the Jew would do in their home before they went to the Passover celebration, would be to take all leaven, or what we know as yeast, out of their home and discard it.

Leaven was the product used to puff up bread. In the Bible, leaven is compared to sin. Sin puffs us up and makes us proud and arrogant.

In Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. In other words, a little sin, makes sinful the whole of the person.

So the Jew would get all of the leaven out of their home and purify their home from the symbol of sin. And they would go the Passover to be a pure worshiper of God.

Part of their worship would be to offer sacrifices for forgiveness of sin. This would be a precursor to what Jesus would do in offering Himself as a sacrifice for the true seeker of righteousness.

In the book of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 the Bible states that, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

Life and death are both contained in the blood. When Adam sinned, the blood of his offspring was tainted blood, no longer pure. Each child that is born as an offspring of Adam (which we all are) has tainted sinful blood pumping through their system.

When Christ was conceived, he was not conceived from sexual union between Joseph (the covenant head under Adam) and Mary. His conception was one without pollution from the representative male, who is sinful.

Jesus was conceived and birthed sinless. With pure blood that would later be shed as a life giving agent to cleanse those that would desire a right standing with God.

Adams bloodline was sinful because it was tainted. Jesus bloodline is pure and Holy.

The only cure for the terminal disease of sin is pure blood shed by God Himself.

Jesus also realizes that it is not simply the homes of the Jews that needed cleansing, but the system, the religious ceremony and the person that needs a complete cleansing.

So here comes Jesus to cleans the Temple of God.

Verse 14-And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business.

This seems as if it is business as usual in the Temple. But this is a tremendous problem.

Jesus goes to the Temple, and it is being made into a livestock auction and currency exchange. It has been turned into a flea market in El Cajon.

People are shuffling animals with their stench, and arguing over exchange rates for their money. There is animals bleeding, there is noise, it is simply chaos!

Most people and commentators look at this passage of Scripture and think, “it’s always bad when religions is used for commerce.”

That is true, but it’s not quite that simple.

The problem here is lazy worshippers. That is the real problem in this entire story.

In the book of Deuteronomy 12:11 "then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD.

They were commanded to bring the offering themselves.

It wasn’t that the animals that were being sold at the Temple were not the right type of animal. It was that the individual was suppose to raise and care for and bring their own animal to be sacrificed.

They were supposed to transport their own sacrifice. This would be a serious burden if the animal was large and you had to trek 50 miles on foot in the heat with an animal to care for.

In their failure to follow the command of God in their worship, their came a need for a business to shortcut the commands of God.

Here comes the first check cashing store. Don’t worry about being out of money, write us a check, we’ll hold it till you get paid and everyone will be happy. Right?

No! There is supposed to be pain when you run out of money. It’s to teach you a lesson to take better care of it.

Here in this time, God commanded that you were to raise this livestock, become close to it, ensure that it is without blemish and spot, carry or travel with it for miles on foot, then give it to God as a sacrifice.

Instead, the lazy worshippers would simply show up without doing any of the work necessary in raising or caring for their sacrifice and they would simply buy it, and save time, money, and inconvenience.

Fast food worship.

This animal was supposed to be an animal that you grew close to from taking such meticulous care of.

Can you imagine a little lamb that you groom and feed everyday and care for. Your children become close to the pet and so do you. And you carry this pet all the way to the altar so that it can be slaughter and it’s blood let to flow.

That’s the point. You were supposed to grow close to the animal. It was supposed to cost you something, both financially and emotionally. This is how God chose to institute this process of true worship and sacrifice.

David said that he would not give anything to God unless it first cost him something.

This sacrifice was to be the best that you had, worth something, it cost you, not just as an inconvenience or duty cost, but really cost you something.

You were supposed to feel a loss at losing this pet. You were supposed to be bothered by having to carry it to the altar, and you were supposed to consider this act and think “why would God have me do this?”

But now, it’s buck wild in the Temple, things are totally out of hand. People no longer care about God’s commands, and more importantly, they no longer care about the reason for God’s commands.

They have simply grown lazy. Just plain lazy.

Q-Have things changed?

In this time we have lazy worshippers, that don’t care about the reasons behind their religious activities. They think instead of the pain and cost of raising this sacrifice and carrying this burden to the altar, they will simply show up with a pocket full of money and let the Priest do the rest.

They want to pay someone else to do what they are supposed to do.

This is the same problem the Church has today.

People believe that whomever is paid and called Pastor, should be the one that makes sure everything gets done that should be in the ministry.

They think “well I pay someone to do my worship.”

That’s what the Jews did then, and that’s what Christians do now.

That’s what drives this whole church/commerce machine today.

It is simply unacceptable and out of control.

There are three problems with this system.

First, People were supposed to bring their own sacrifice and instead they came lazy and wanted to worship God without working. They wanted convenience.

This is the hallmark of our modern Church age. The new movement is 45 minute worship.

Churches are actually proud that they can sing songs, preach a message, collect their tithes and finish with communion all in 45 minutes.

There are Churches competing against each other to see who can meet the needs of the seekers in a more timely fashion. With as little of an inconvenience, with as little cost, so that you can get in and out without a sacrifice.

This is fine for McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell, but not for Jesus Christ!

God does not give us convenience, He calls us to inconvenience and sacrifice so that we know what it is like to be part of the Kingdom of God. Did God sacrifice anything to us in the God-Man Jesus Christ?

The second problem is this, business has now come in to meet the needs that worshippers were supposed to do.

Now as businessman and not worshippers, the rates have become outrageous.

William Barclay, and scholar, said that the cost of a dove was 20 times more than it was suppose to cost when you tried to purchase it from the Temple businessman.

Have you tried to buy a candy and a coke at the movie theater? We went to a movie last night, and for; Raisenets, Goobers, Kit Kat bites, popcorn and three waters, it cost us $27. Can you believe that? $27 dollars? If I were to buy that in a store I would spend 7 dollars. Now I am paying 4 times that amount because I am at the movies.

I willingly walk in and get ripped off and no one says a word about it. We have simply become numb and apathetic. It doesn’t bother us at all. We just pay the price.

Why? Because we are lazy, and commerce has taken over.

That’s what happened in the Temple. They would rip-off and rob the poor and the marginalized from worshipping God.

If you were poor, you couldn’t afford to worship.

You couldn’t afford to pay 20 times the value to worship God. So you didn’t

The third problem, was that the animals had to be tested and approved by someone that worked at the Temple to make sure they were spotless and worthy of being sacrificed.

The idea was, that God was showing us that only a perfect sacrifice would do. Only a perfect sacrifice would be able to be sacrificed. This again was pointing to Christ.

The persons sin was forgiven or not, based on the sacrifice they brought. You would either be forgiven or not, based on perfection of the sacrifice, not yourself.

The same is true today. You are either forgiven or not, based on the sacrifice that you show to God. It is either the perfect, sinless Messiah, or it is your filthy self-righteousness that is a stench to God.

The problem was, these workers in the Temple were making a killing off of selling their own sacrifices. So you would come with your lamb, they would find something wrong with it, then jack you for a ton of cash.

Here we see the first used car dealer.

The guys were con artists. They were crooks. At the expense of true worship to God.

They would deny your sacrifice, sell you one of their own, that looks just like yours, but already approved and tagged.

Then they would even carry it for you so that you wouldn’t be troubled. It helped to streamline the process to get you in and out expediently and without problems.

It was a business.

In addition Jesus sees the exchange of money, where you would bring in your currency, but your currency was not good enough, you needed to trade it in for a “Temple Shekel.” And the exchange rates were horrible.

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country? Ever been given the “American” price. That’s the price you pay for being American, and living in a prosperous land. They see you coming a mile a way, and soon what costs 3 dollars for the locals is now $115 for you.

In order to worship, you had to pay a Temple tax. If you were male and 19 years or older, you would be forced to pay a Temple tax.

Why is that?

How many of you here are male and over the age of 19? According to God, everything and everybody is your responsibility.

Everything. So make sure when you leave here, make sure that everything is taken care of. Everything.

You were responsible for taking care of paying the Temple tax to ensure that the priests were able to care for the Temple year round. The single moms, the widows, the orphans, the gentiles, or other people from other nations, could come and worship.

If you were 19 or older, it is all of your responsibility. All of it! And the men were not doing their job.

So business came in to do the job that Godly men were supposed to. That is to see that the ministry was taken care of because the ministry costs money, it’s not for free. And it is the men’s job to see that all needs are met so that the ministry grows and God’s Word is sent out.

If God’s people don’t come with generous and cheerful hearts, what happens, is you start to find ways to manipulate people to give something that they should be giving with joy.

You want to know how the average Church gets finances for a building project? They hire a marketing crew to get the names and numbers of the congregates and friends of the Church and they hit the phones and mailboxes with calls and letters to make a pledge.

When God’s people worship with maturity and consistency, and when men don’t do their job, then business come in to make up the difference.

At this time, you would have to pay between 27-29% of your income just to the ministry. It was mandatory.

And if you wanted to go to Jerusalem and worship God at the Temple, it would cost you about 2 or 3 days salary. That’s your admission cost just to get in.

But, you couldn’t bring the coins from your nation, because the coins from your nation had the picture of the King on them and you were not allowed to bring these images in because your King was usually worshipped as a deity, and their was not way you could pay your entrance fee to God’s temple with the image of another god. So you had to get special temple money.

Have you been to Chucky Cheese or Dave and Busters? This is what it is, it is special Chucky money.

You would see the money changer, give your 2 or 3 days wages, and they would jack you with the exchange rate and before you were even able to be admitted you were paying 4 or 5 days worth of wages.

Plus your sacrifice, plus 27-29% of your income!

Can you imagine if I said that 1/3 of your money belongs to God and since I am your Pastor, you give it to me.

And, if you want to come to Easter service, it will cost you another $500. But your going to have to exchange that for Kaleo Church money and so you really need to bring $1500 to get in.

And if you don’t like that, well you need to talk to the men. They haven’t been doing their job, and until you do, I need to charge you so that you can hear about Jesus.

That would make my life so much easier if I could get away with that.

But then Jesus would come with a whip and drive me out.

Do you see what’s happening? They need money to pay for all of these needs, and the men are not doing their job! So in creeps the thieves and the business of Church. And what is Jesus response?

Let’s look at verse 15

Verse 15-When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"

Jesus is really, really, pissed.

Anger is justified at times. The Bible says not to sin in your anger. It doesn’t say not to be angry.

There are times when righteous anger is totally and completely justified. This is one of them.

This effeminate Jesus, that’s is meek and mild and is neutered, this Mr. Rodgers that walks around with a smile and a miracle, is not the picture of the Jesus of Scripture. Jesus is a Man.

Here Jesus resembles William Wallace in Braveheart. I like the picture of Jesus, that is bent, angry, with a whip in one hand and flipping tables over and pushing animals and people out with the other.

Money and people are thrown all over the place, and Jesus did it. God in the flesh busted loose and went fight club on the whole crew.

I love the fact that the other men weren’t doing their job and Jesus shows up and declares war on the whole religious establishment, of the Jewish people. Jesus just simply could not put up with it.

All the other cowards allow themselves to be lazy and get ripped off, but not Jesus!

I love that Jesus is so jealous for God’s glory, that He can’t sit back and allow this disgusting act of religious commerce and lazy worship to go unnoticed.

There is a time when anger, righteous anger, is simply justified and it calls you to action.

Jesus disciples also remember what they have been studying.

Look at verse 17

Verse 17-Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."

This is a direct fulfillment of prophecy from Psalm 69:9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

This is the same chapter, in verse 21, that is predicted that Jesus will be given vinegar at His crucifixion.

Do you know what the difference between a consumer and a true worshipper is?

A consumer is someone that thinks that then entire whole of Church is there to service their needs. They think that they have a certain amount of money that they are going to place in a Church, and they want the Churches to compete for their dollar, with programs and services that cater to their felt needs.

So they shop around, being the whore of Christ instead of the bride of Christ, until they find a place that they feel meets their criteria and satisfies them, and then they place their money there.

They want a Church to bend over backwards to give the most to them for the least amount of sacrifice. That is a consumer.

A true worshipper is just the opposite. They think that they should give so that the most benefit, to others, will come from their finances and services.

Where can I give this so that I don’t get anything from this, but giving God glory, so that someone else can get God’s grace, mercy, help, and so on.

A worshipper looks at this and says, “it’s not about me!”

It’s about God and those that don’t yet know God.

That’s the difference.

If you want to be a consumer in this Church. Until you repent, GET OUT! Because I don’t want you here. I am jealous for God’s glory and I want this Church to be the same. And if you are going to detract in anyway, God receiving Glory and sinners coming to Him, then it’s best you and I don’t cross paths.

I’m not Jesus, and I won’t take a cord to you, but I will walk you to the door and open it.

I would rather have 50 true worshippers here, than 5,000 lazy consumers that are nothing more than a liability instead of an asset to God’s Church.

I don’t want Christ to come here with a whip and chase me out because I’m not doing my job telling you the truth, and thus you have become lazy, and you have let business and convenience rule the Church.

This is why we have Churches that are set up like companies and the Senior Pastor acts like a CEO. It’s because they are caving in to the pressures of those lazy worshippers.

And the worst of all of this is the lazy men. Men that refuse to do their God given job in all of this to see that needs of the ministry is handled.

Men that don’t care about single women, children, the poor, the oppressed, and the handicapped, are not men at all. They may be male because of their sexual organ, but they are not Men.

And they certainly are not men like Jesus.

They are consumers that take every dollar and every hour and resource from the Church and they invest it in themselves.

That is called idolatry. It is self-worship. And you know what God does to idolators.

Verse 18-So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"

Here we see the religious establishment feeling threatened because their livelihood depended upon this thievery. They challenge Jesus authority.

Does Jesus give them a sign? What’s His answer?

Verse 19-Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

Jesus gives them the cross as the sign. They are so out of tune with God that they miss the whole point.

Verse 20-Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body

Here we see ignorance of the Jewish leaders in their answer.

And unless a man is in a living breathing, vibrant relationship with God, through Christ, he is also ignorant of God’s words.

God is not going to jump around from demand to demand performing miracles so that you will believe in Him.

God came in the flesh, went to the Cross, and rose again from the dead. If that is not sufficient, all of the miracles that could be performed will not suffice, because you don’t want to believe. You simply love your sin and won’t believe in the claims of Jesus.

It’s not that you can not, it’s because you will not, humble yourself before God and accept these claims as true and move from death to life and be reconciled to the God who made you.

Verse 21- But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

If you are a believer in Christ Jesus and have been forgiven of your sins. You are the Temple where the Holy Spirit of almighty God dwells. How then should you treat your Temple? Will it be full of greed and self-righteousness. Will it be lazy, like the temple in the time of Christ? Or will you have a jealousy for the Glory of God and use it so that you will be a temple that Christ doesn’t come in with a whip.

Why should you do this?

Look at the next verse of 1 Corinthians 6:20

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

Because you are not your own. You were bought with a price. And that price was the price of God’s own blood that was sacrificed on the altar of the Cross.

As God set the nation of Israel free from slavery to Egypt, and this is celebrated by Passover, and Passover represents the sacrifice that is to come in Christ.

So now that Christ has come and washed you with His own perfect blood, you are to celebrate Passover today and for eternity. Your sins have not been temporally forgiven, they have been eternally forgiven.

And as the chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians verse 7 states; “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

Verses 22-25-“Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.” 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

You know what is the worse thing in this entire story?

The worse thing, is the place in which all of this occurred. All of this manipulation, all of the this thievery, and all of this con, happened in the court of the Gentiles.

The way the Jewish temple was constructed. Was that it would have a place where the Holy of Holies glory resided. And only once a year could the priest enter into the Holy of Holies.

Then there was the a place for professional clergy, then a place for Male Jews, then for women, then the court of the gentiles.

The court of the Gentiles was a far away from the Holy of Holies, yet this is the place where people that were from nations far off would visit to inquire about God.

What had it been turned into? How was this a witness to unbelievers?

The most important thing to come away from this evening is this: Jesus Christ, Pastor David, Kaleo Church…I’ts not about you.

It’s not about you. It’s about God and His glory. God being loved, God being thanked and God being adored. That’s what this is about.

It’s not about you.

The whole world is wrong. God’s Kingdom set’s it right. Life is not about you.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 11:36 “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that the Chief end of your existence is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever?

And if you are a man over 19. Every time you think about you, think about Jesus with a whip in His hand!

It’s not about you! It’s about God!

I asked you why did you Come and what did you bring.

If you came to hear God and to give to His Kingdoms work. Great.

If you came to hear me and brought nothing for His kingdom. You will be greatly disappointed because I can’t compete against God, and this Church is not big enough to support your apathy.

If you came with a buck to spend hoping that you will get something back. You won’t!

You might say that that’s a rip-off. Yes it is. If you came to get your felt needs met.

It’s not if you came to give to get nothing but to see God be glorified and others to come to Christ.

We bring money and expect something. That’s pride.

We bring money and expect nothing. That’s Grace!

And God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Since I stand here only by Christ authority, I feel comfortable in telling you that I will actively oppose you if you come with that attitude.

I love you, but got to go, if you don’t care about the glory of God.

I’m not talking about those who don’t know Jesus. I’m talking to those that flatter Him with their lips, but their hearts are from him.

Are you a consumer or are you a true worshipper?

And do you think He notices what we do today? Do you think that Christ won’t come in different ways and bring His whip? I do.

And I pray that God never allow us to get so far away from Him that he comes with righteous anger and chases us out.

If you are not a Child of God, keep your money, I want you to be able to come and hear these words until God so chooses to grant you faith in Jesus. We love you and want you to come and to listen and to ask.

If you do know Christ, consider your worship, whether it be true or false.

From now on, ask yourself these questions every week.

Why are you here? What did you bring?

Let’s pray…

Communion

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