2017-01-15 Luke 19:44-48 Cleansing the Temple

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE (Luke 19:44-48) January 15, 2017 Read Lu 19:45-48 - The maître’d at a plush restaurant was asked what he would do if a streaker showed up. "First," he said, "I give him a tie. No one is allowed in without a tie." That’s what religion does. It gives you a tie, in the form of ritual and says, “Hopefully God will accept you now.” Meanwhile, you are naked as a jaybird because that is not at all what God requires. The Judaism of Jesus’ time were handing out ties right and left – charging for them, in fact. But it was all dead formalism -- an abomination to the God they thought they had bought off. It was a long-term problem. Isa 1:11, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.” But wasn’t it God who defined those sacrifices in the first place? Yes, but their heart wasn’t in it. They were going thru the motions, and sacrifice without faith equals religion, and God hates it. That’s Jesus’ message in cleansing the temple. He did it twice – once at the beginning of His ministry in John 2, and here again near the end. He looked it over the night He entered, then came back with a vengeance the next day. Of course, the people are thinking, “This may be the day. He’s going to attack the Roman garrison at Ft. Antonia overlooking the temple – or maybe Pilate’s home.” But instead of attacking the despised Romans, Jesus attacks the heart of Judaism, the temple. He’s not declaring war on the Romans who have enslaved the people physically; He’s declaring war on the vile religion of Judaism that is enslaving people spiritually and taking them straight to hell. The Jews were in far more danger from their leaders than from Rome. The hucksters and frauds Jesus saw in the temple lit Him on fire. For a few days, at least, the temple was going to be what it was meant to be. The temple was where God met His people based on sacrifice and forgiveness. But the Jews had turned it into a works-righteousness system complete with prosperity-gospel trappings for the leaders who were outwardly pristine, but inwardly rotten. Jesus’ display showed God’s opinion of their religion. Of course, this cleansing was temporary. A new temple was coming -- Jesus Himself. He was soon to be the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate priest and the ultimate temple. Now God comes to us and we to Him thru Christ alone. 1 But we can turn that privilege into a religion just as easily as these Jews did. Religion can hand us a tie and say, “There you go. All is well,” leaving us naked before a holy God. So how do we prevent that? In cleansing the temple, Jesus shows us what defines a true relationship with God. I. Delivered by Christ When Jesus entered the temple that morning it was partial fulfillment of Mal 3:1-2: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” Note 2 messengers here – one who prepares the way, and a 2nd who is the Lord and messenger of the covenant. The 2nd is Jesus who initiates the new covenant of Jer 31and Ezek 36 which provides for forgiveness and cleansing – all paid for by Jesus’s death -- “the new covenant in my blood” (Lu 22:20). But who’s the 1st messenger who prepares the way? Mal 4:5 identifies him as Elijah. But Jesus identifies Him as John the Baptist in Mt 11:7-11. BUT with conditions. Mt 11:13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.” John is the forerunner “if you are willing to accept it.” But in rejecting Jesus, they have also rejected John. So Jesus’ coming to cleanse the temple is not the final fulfillment of this prophecy. It is a preview of coming attractions. There will be another coming and another cleansing that will be final. Meantime, the preview is convincing. Lu says, “45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold.” Matt adds flavor! Mt 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.” The temple was actually a complex of courtyards surrounding the great Holy Place where priests performed sacrifices. Outside that was a courtyard of Jews – men only – then a small courtyard of women – Jewish only – then a large courtyard of Gentiles. That had been turned into a great market to serve traveling pilgrims. At Passover between 1-2 million visitors descended on the temple, most with coins to change and animals to buy for sacrifice. The chief priest and Sadducees have gone into business to supply the need, but in so doing they have corrupted the temple. What should have been a place of prayer sounds and smells like a barnyard and Jesus isn’t having it! 2 Not meek and mild, He is all fury and ferocity as He single-handedly throws out scores of merchants – driving the animals, overturning money tables and creating absolute havoc. He’s demonstrating divine authority! It’s a preview of the greater judgment of His Second Coming, but it’s impressive in itself. This clears space for teaching and returns the temple to its rightful use for a few hours. It also establishes Jesus as the new temple. From here on, God meets man only thru Jesus. And He provides that access in two ways. A. As Mediator (go between) – Jesus’ authority stems from His deity and His payment for sin. In cleansing the temple, Jesus removes the sacrificial animals. Why? Because they are no longer needed. He is about to become the once-for-all, one-and-only sacrifice that matters. He is the ultimate go-between – representing God to man and man to God. Only He can deliver a relationship that only He paid for! I Tim 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” This is unbelievably good news, bc Rev 12:12 depicts the devil as accusing believers “day and night before our God.” And believe me, Beloved, though he is a liar, he doesn’t have to make stuff up for this job. Every day we give him all the material he needs. Given God’s intolerance for any sin, we’d be gone by sunset. Except. Except what? Except for Jesus. I Jn 2:1, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Satan accuses rightly! But Jesus intercedes: “Yes, Father, it’s true. Dave messed up again – but He’s forgiven; He’s cleansed – covered with my perfection. He is untouchable.” Isn’t it good to have a mediator? One student defined a grandmother: “That’s someone who comes to visit and keeps your mother from spanking you.” Great mediators, right?! But nothing like Christ. He stills forever the judicial hand of God because He took the punishment we so richly deserve. Judgment can never fall on the believer. It would be double jeopardy. Discipline as a parent? Yes. But never judgment. B. As Master – Do you see Jesus asking permission to clean out the temple? No! When He comes to the temple, make no mistake, He is in charge. He is rearranging the furniture, and the only one who can rearrange the furniture is the one who owns the house. He acts like He owns the place – because He does. He acts like God – because He is. And there is only room for one God in the temple, and there is only room for one God in every life. 3 So, if you think you can invite Jesus in as Savior and go on living any old way you want, I have bad news. You are not saved. He comes all or nothing – Savior, King, Lord. Rom 10:9, “Because if you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus doesn’t show up and say, “Let’s negotiate! How do you see my commandments? Which do you accept, and which are outdated? And if you can’t at least tithe, well, what could you do? You want Sundays for yourself because you work hard all week? Well, could you make church once a month? You think that’s how it works? Really? That’s using Jesus’ name in vain. Let’s call it what it is. Self-deception! When the real Jesus comes, He transforms, He changes, He rearranges the furniture. Otherwise, you have no relationship; you just have an active imagination! Good luck with that. Alain C. Enthoven was one of Robert McNamara’s “Whiz Kids” in JFK’s Defense department. Young and cocky! He once visited US Air Force Headquarters in Germany. He was met by an assortment of generals with decades of experience, yards of ribbons. Enthoven, baby-faced and youthful, listened impatiently as the number one general outlined plans for a briefing. At that point, Enthoven interrupted, "General," he said, "I don't think you understand. I didn't come here for a briefing. I came here to tell you what we have already decided." That’s just how Jesus moves in. He does say in Mt 11:30, “30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” But make no mistake, it is His burden; His mission; His calling; His script for your life if you invite Him in, not yours. His is infinitely better, but you must accept it or no relationship – just you standing naked with only a tie for cover. II. Devoid of Hypocrisy That was not the case with these scoundrels. As Jesus drove them out He commented: “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” (46). This combines 2 OT passages. The first comes from Isa 56:6-7 which speaks of foreigners, non-Jews, who want to meet Jehovah in prayer and worship at the temple. But now the Jews have turned the Gentile courtyard into a commercial enterprise to fatten their own wallet. It is an inexcusably arrogant abuse of God’s whole intention. Equally bad is the 2nd quote referencing the fact they are charging exorbitant prices to exchange money and sell animals for sacrifice. It’s from Jer 7:11: “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.” It’s a rhetorical 4 question, Folks. “I already know the answer; I’ve been watching.” Back up to Jer 7:8-10 you’ll see what He saw: “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?” God has seen the Israelites will worship any idol, participate in any sin, cut any corner, cheat any rival and then come to temple and think that wipes the slate clean. God says, “Yeah! I see you on Sabbath – but I also see you all the other days of the week living like pagans. You’re a bunch of hypocrites, and it will not play.” Jer 7:15, “And I will cast you out of my sight.” In fact, He says in v. 16, “BTW, don’t bother to pray for these folks. I won’t hear you.” Hypocrisy may be a little deal to us, but it’s a big deal to God! If we think we can pursue our pleasure and our way all week in exchange for giving God a couple of hours on Sunday, we are tragically mistaken. A couple of men went fishing one Sunday morning, One said, “You know, I feel guilty being here on Sunday morning. We probably ought to be at church.” His friend said, “Well, I couldn’t be there even I was home. My wife is sick and I wouldn’t feel right leaving her.” That’s hypocrisy. You don’t even see it. But hypocrites have no relationship with God. We have to realize we’re not going to answer to the pastor or church friends, or fellow hypocrites one day. We’re going to answer to the Lord. Those who know Jesus avoid hypocrisy like the plague. They get accountability, and they love Jesus more. III. Devoted to Truth After Jesus cleansed the temple, for the next 3 or 4 days, peace reigned. No commercial activity. No cheating the people. Jesus moved in and took over. It was, after all, His Father’s house. He left each night. With Passover coming, people were camped out everywhere and there was no room in the city. He’d go to Bethany for the night and be back teaching next morning. 47 “And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” Mark 11:18: “all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.” It was the Word that led them to God. Want to know God? It doesn’t happen by visions and dreams and feelings and emotions. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing thru the Word of Christ.” What Jesus was teaching, we have recorded in the Bible, and it should be as astonishing to us as was Jesus’ teaching to these people. 5 Why were they astonished? Because Jesus spoke with authority about things beyond human comprehension. He spoke truth about heaven, hell, judgment, God’s love and other things that can’t be tested in laboratory but can only be revealed. Jn 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” That’s why astonishment followed Him. He told them things they could learn in no other way. He revealed God to them, just as His Word does now. And if that Word is accurate about things that can be tested (archaeology, history, prophecy), which it is; then surely it can be trusted for its revelation of things outside the realm of physical confirmation. Relationship is built on communication and God’s communication is the truth of His Word. How do two distant young people fall in love? Used to be they wrote letters; then they phoned; now they text – but it’s all words. And that’s what we have here – God’s permanent, exclusive, gift to His people. You can’t bypass it if you want to know Him. No shortcuts. No excuses. I Pet 2:2, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” That means more than reading – that means deep dives, digging, meditating, being absorbed in the Word. Like the college student going thru the checkout line at the grocery store. He had a bunch of ingredients for cookies, but also a bag of cookies. “So, are those in case the homemade ones don’t turn out?” The guy answered, “No, they’re for me to eat while I wait for the others to bake.” That’s hunger! – the way we must be about the Bible. Our relationship with God will be only as good as our devotion to His Word. Conc – So Jesus is the new temple – the new place where God meets us and we Him. The Jews had turned Relationship into Ritual; Ritual into Religion; and Religion into Retail. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple teaches that a true relationship with God is Delivered by Christ (as Mediator and Master), is Devoid of Hypocrisy and is Devoted to Truth. A renowned British minister Dick Lucas once imagined a conversation between an early Christian and her neighbor in Rome. The neighbor says, “I hear you are religious. Where is your temple?” The Xn replies, “We don’t have a temple. Jesus is our temple.” “No temple? But where do your priests do their rituals?” “We have no priests. Jesus is our priest.” “No priests? But who offers your sacrifices to obtain God’s favor?” “We don’t need a sacrifice. Jesus is our sacrifice." The neighbor sputters, “No temple, no priests, no sacrifices? What kind of religion is this?” It is no religion at all. It is Jesus Christ. Religion is like wearing a tie with nothing else. To be in Christ is to be fully clothed in His righteousness. Let’s pray. 6 7