The Cleansing of the Temple (John 2:13-25)

Daniel L. Arter

The Gospel according to John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

John 2:13–25

Prophecy

Resurrection

Cleansing of the temple

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Scripture Reading

Psalm 100:1–5 ESV

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Introduction

This morning, we’re continuing in our study of the Gospel according to John and we’re in a section of John 2:13-22 that honestly might be very familiar to you and I’m almost positive that if you’ve spent any significant time in a church, you’ve heard multiple sermons about it. This morning, we’re studying a section of Scripture that concerns one of the handful of times that Jesus was legitimately angry about something during his lifetime and then him doing something to remedy the situation that he was angry about.

Because it’s probably familiar to you, I’m going to ask that you act like this is the first time you’ve ever read the passage that way we look at this with fresh eyes that aren’t colored by our own opinion and we can properly understand the passage.

Let’s Read John 2:13-22.

John 2:13–22 ESV

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to take it in two parts (1) Vs. 13-17, Jesus cleansing the temple, we’ll talk a little bit about why he cleansed the temple, what he means by “not [making his] Father’s house a house of trade.” and we’ll take a few minutes to talk about the point of giving and the difference between giving tithes and offerings in contrast to what was happening in the temple and (2) Vs. 18-22, we’ll talk about Jesus’ prophecy concerning his own crucifixion and resurrection, how people misunderstood the prophecy initially, but his disciples remembered the prophecy afterwards, and we’ll talk a bit about how we can apply this prophecy today.

Let’s pray for the illumination of the Spirit as we study the Word of God.

Give thanks for the Word of God, give thanks for the privilege that we have to read the Word of God in our language

Pray that we never take for granted the ability that we have to read the Word of God

Pray that the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds as we seek to understand the Word of God, internalize it, and apply it to our lives today.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple (13-17)

John 2:13–17 ESV

What we find in the first five verses is that Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Jews—Passover was the Jewish feast that commemorated the passover mentioned in Exodus 12, in which the Israelites were to spread the blood of an unblemished lamb over their doorpost and then when the Lord descended on Egypt he would pass over the homes with the blood over their doorpost. In Exodus 12, God gave them the command to do the first passover and he states they would keep it as a memorial day, as a feast to the Lord.

Passover, obviously then is of huge importance to the Jewish people and since Jesus was Jewish, he did celebrate the Passover—in fact, John records three different Passovers, one each year, that Jesus celebrated (John 2; John 6:4; John 11:55, 12:1, 13:1, 18:28, 39; this final one is the one recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well).

And because Passover is such a huge event for the Jewish people, it makes sense that there would be several hundred or maybe even thousands of Israelites who all would come into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and worship God.

So, hundreds (maybe thousands of people) including Jesus all travelled to Jerusalem and Vs. 14, “in the temple [Jesus] found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there,”

Let’s take a moment and discuss what the oxen, sheep, pigeons, and money-changers were for.

The Jewish people were following the Old Testament law and in the law, they were prescribed certain sacrifices that they were required to make to gain atonement for their sins—so the oxen, sheep, and pigeons were intended to be sold for people to utilize as sacrifices in the temple—pigeons as a cheaper sacrifice for a sin offering of the poor (Leviticus 5:7) and the oxen specifically for burnt offerings (Numbers 7). The selling of animals were for the convenience of the people coming to worship for Passover. What about the money-changers?

The money-changers did exactly what their name said—Each Israelite was expected to provide a half-shekel offering to the temple (Exodus 30:13--”Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.”) Notice in Exodus 30:13, it states that the half-shekel is according to the shekel of the sanctuary. Which means, that in order for the Israelites to give to the temple they have to utilize money that is approved by the temple—which sounds a little odd, but it had to do with the fact that foreign currencies typically contained symbols and images of false gods and images of the emperors; and it had to do with the fact that the different types of coins utilized in the ancient world all had different amounts of gold and silver in them—which means that a Roman denarii would be worth a different amount than a shekel.

Now we don’t know for sure, because this particular passage doesn’t say this, but the common thought is that the selling of animals and the money-changing had become corrupt. Instead of offering this as a service of convenience for the people coming to worship God, the common idea is that the animal sellers were drastically overcharging for the animals and the money-changing had become shady in their dealings; but again, we don’t know that for sure because the passage doesn’t say that.

Rather, the real issue that Jesus calls out is the fact that this is occuring in the temple.

D.A. Carson points out that “at one time the animal merchants set up their stalls across the Kidron Valley on the slopes of the Mount of Olives.” So, at one time the selling of animals and the money-changing respected the boundaries of the temple and the selling and money-changing all occurred across the valley on the next mountain.

But at this point in time, the selling of animals and the money-changing was happening in the temple, which was disrupting true worship and corrupting the worship of God in the temple.

Vs. 15-16, then tells us Jesus’ response to the money-changing and the selling of animals--”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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

This moment, Jesus’ response to the issue at hand, is one of anger—and you might be thinking, “but the passage doesn’t say that Jesus was angry.” So, let me give you some evidence as to how I know that he is angry

From a purely logical and possibly subjective standpoint: Would a happy person make a whip to drive people out? Would a happy person dump all of the money-changers money out and flip over their tables? Does it make sense to think that Jesus did this with no anger whatsoever? No, of course not, someone who is angry makes a whip and drives people out of a building; someone who is angry pours out the coins and flips over their tables.

In addition to this, Vs. 17, John writes that “His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” We don’t use the term zeal very often, but the idea is that the person is filled with “great energy or enthusiasm for a cause or objective.” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary) The Easton Bible Dictionary states that it is “an earnest temper” and the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary states that “Zeal is behavior motivated by the jealous desire to protect.”

The fact that Jesus is described as being zealous in the temple, gives us insight that he’s doing these things in a high energy, probably anger-filled way.

And that probably makes you feel uncomfortable, because you more than likely have heard people state that anger is sinful.

So, let’s talk about that for a little while before continuing. Is anger a sin? or Is being angry a sin?

And I think the best way to discuss this is by looking at Ephesians 4:26-27, 29-32 In Ephesians 4, we see Paul specifically giving the Ephesians some key ideas of what it means to walk like a Christian and to not walk like an unbeliever. In Ephesians 4:26, he makes this statement, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” It is vital for us to notice that he doesn’t say, that anger is a sin here, he says “Be angry, yet do not sin.” So it is possible to be angry without sinning. (NASB)

Paul continues in Ephesians 4:29-32 by stating, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (NASB)

What exactly does this all mean?

It is possible to be angry and not sin. However, when we are angry, we need to settle the anger quickly before the devil uses that anger as an opportunity in our lives to cause sin.

And in our anger, we shouldn’t be unwholesome with our words and we shouldn’t make it a practice to be filled with bitterness, wrath, and anger.

So really, what this tells us is that it is possible to be angry and not sin and the concept of being angry and not sinning lies in what we do with that anger and what motivates our anger in the first place.

In the case of John 2, what is motivating Jesus’ anger? We’re told that “Zeal for [God’s] house will consume [him].” He is angry because of what people had done to the temple. He’s angry because of his concern for God’s holiness and the worship of God.

In Mark 3, Jesus goes into the synagogue and and as he enters the synagogue there’s a man with a withered hand. And the Bible tells us in Mark 3:2, that “[the Pharisees] watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’ 4 And he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”

In Mark 3, Jesus was angry with the Pharisees because of their hardness of heart which resulted in them believing that adherence to the Sabbath meant not helping someone in need.

The Bible tells us that God is angry over sin and we see numerous times, particularly in the prophetic books, that God is angry at the oppression of the poor, the abuse of spiritual authority, and improper and hypocritical worship.

And in each of these examples of anger that is exhibited by God, it is anger that is motivated by sinful behavior. And this type of anger is typically termed righteous anger or righteous indignation.

As believers, we can exhibit anger if it is motivated by sinful behavior—we can be righteously angry or we can exhibit righteous indignation. Some examples of things that should make us angry—the oppression of the poor, sex trafficking, spiritual leaders who abuse their position, and people who teach false doctrine.

The key is that the anger isn’t because someone slighted you or it isn’t motivated due to petty arguments—it isn’t selfish.

The anger that God exhibits and the anger that we should have towards wrongdoing is motivated by sinful behavior and true injustice—and that anger is not filled with corrupting talk, bitterness, wrath, clamor, and slander. We are still to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving—even in our anger.

God-honoring anger is motivated by sinful behavior and injustice, it is properly controlled, it has a proper duration that doesn’t turn into bitterness, and it is always meant to try and accomplish God’s will.

Any other anger that is rooted in improper motivations or for selfish reasons is sinful.

Now there is one other point that needs to be made before we move to Vs. 18-22, and it is focused on the sentence that Jesus says, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” And we have to talk about this, because occasionally it’s misused as a proof-text to prove that churches shouldn’t take up tithes and offerings, but here’s the issue: When you utilize one verse to prove your point without taking into consideration the verses around it and the other passages of Scripture which talk about your point, you will almost always end up misunderstanding that passage.

In the Old Testament, Jewish people were required to give a tithe and offering to the temple—the first mention of a tithe is in Genesis 14:18-20, in which we’re told that Abraham gave a tenth of his possessions to Melchizedek, who is the king of Salem and a “priest of God Most High.”

The concept of giving a tithe for the purpose of the furthering of the worship of God, is expounded on in the Law, particularly in Leviticus; and the idea of giving a tithe continues all throughout the Old Testament. In fact, because the Jewish people were commanded to give in the Law, by the time you get to Malachi 3, God makes the accusation against Israel that they were robbing him—and when they asked, “how have we robbed you?” God responds by stating that they have robbed him of his tithes and offerings.

In the New Testament, we can take a look at 2 Corinthians 9, in which Paul is writing about a love offering that he’s collecting from the Corinthians for the Christians in Jerusalem and in 2 Corinthians he writes, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

And we can look at other New Testament passages that teach about giving, like Jesus teaching that when we give, we should give secretly in order to not be hypocritical in our giving. We give in secret, and our Father who sees in secret will reward you, in Mark 12:41-44, Jesus speaks of a poor widow who came and put two small coins into the offering box and he praises her because “out of her poverty [she] put in everything she had.”

So clearly, the Bible doesn’t condemn churches taking up an offering, it rather encourages this practice.

We as believers are instructed to give cheerfully and then the church is to utilize that giving for ministry-related purposes including helping the poor, outreach, the internal cost of functioning, and whatever else is necessary to keep proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the community.

This verse isn’t talking about the temple offering, this verse is talking about the people who sold animals in the temple and the people who were exchanging money in the temple. This isn’t speaking about the tithes and offerings that were taken by the temple in order to function; this is speaking against the people in the temple subverting worship and taking advantage of people in the temple.

Which means that this verse cannot be utilized to talk about offerings and tithing, but it can be utilized to speak against people intentionally making a profit off of the temple and in our modern-day era to speak against people intentionally and quite possibly maliciously making a profit off of the church.

Giving is a good and righteous thing that we worship God through, but the church is to be focused on worship; and not on making money for the sake of making money.

So, what we’ve seen so far is Jesus acting decisively and utilizing righteous anger to make a whip of cords to drive out all of these people in the temple who had taken the purpose of the temple—which was to worship God and subverted its purpose in order to make a profit. They made the temple about being a house of trade or put differently, they made the temple all about making money and with zeal, Jesus cleanses the temple.

Now, obviously, when someone does something as drastic as what Jesus did, the Jewish leadership will step in. We should expect them to step in and they do. They step in and they ask him a question, let’s read John 2:18-22.

Jesus Prophesies his Resurrection (18-22)

John 2:18–22 ESV

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.

The Jews ask him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

Now, in this context, when they say sign they aren’t seeking for a sign to believe like the other signs that John keeps mentioning. They’re looking for proof or evidence that Jesus has the authority to make the statements that he made.

Or put another way, they don’t actually believe that Jesus has the authority and power to make such decisive statements and actions in the temple because they don’t actually think that he is God.

When they’re asking for a sign in this context, they’re literally asking for his credentials, is he qualified to make a statement like this in the temple. And as the Son of God, he absolutely is able to make any demand that he wants in the temple—remember that Jesus and the Father are one, so let’s be honest, its really his temple; but because these Jewish people refused to believe, they demanded evidence of his authority.

And Jesus answers by claiming the ultimate authority, but no one actually understands what he means, not even his disciples at first. He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”

Instead of giving the Jews a “miraculous proof,” immediately, he makes this amazing prophecy concerning his future resurrection, but at this particular point in time, no one actually understands what he means.

Now, John is particularly highlighting the lack of understanding because remember, his key theme is belief and the best way to highlight belief is to highlight unbelief—and in this verse he’s contrasting what it is like to believe in Jesus Christ and what it is like to not believe in Jesus Christ.

The reaction of the Jewish people in Vs. 20, is that of unbelief. “The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’”

They weren’t thinking in terms of Jesus’ body being a temple to be torn down and rebuilt because they didn’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Because of their lack of belief, they thought purely in terms of the physical object of the temple that they were standing next to.

And in all honesty, the building that they were standing next to was utterly impressive.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “The temple erected by the [Israelite] exiles on their return from Babylon had stood for five hundred years, when Herod the Great became king of Judea. The building had suffered considerably from natural decay as well as from the assaults of hostile armies, and Herod, desirous of gaining the favour of the Jews, proposed to rebuild it. This offer was accepted, and the work was begun (B.C. 18), and carried out at great labour and expense, and on a scale of surpassing splendour.”

(Image of Jerusalem) Obviously, these images are all reconstructions, but if you take a look at this image, this is the city of Jerusalem during Jesus’ life. The conservative estimate is that during Jesus’ life, about 60-80,000 people lived in Jerusalem and the temple along with the temple mount takes up ALL OF THIS SPACE (point to screen) (Image of Temple)

So when Jesus claimed that he could rebuild the temple in three days, they automatically assumed he was speaking of the building that they were standing in that took decades to build. But in actuality Jesus was referring to himself and thus was referring to his resurrection, which gives him the authority that they’re seeking, in fact, in gives him ultimate authority over all things—we know that from Matthew 28:18 in the Great Commission, just before actually giving the commission, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

And yet, since they didn’t believe in him as the Messiah, they completely missed the prophecy of his resurrection.

Now, there’s one last point that I want to make about this passage before jumping into application and it has to do with Vs. 21, “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.”

There are two significant points that I need to make concerning this last verse:

“His disciples remember that he had said this”—the only way they could’ve remembered what Jesus said is by first hearing what Jesus had said.

This is the second instance in this passage in which we’re told that they remembered something after the fact. Vs. 17, says, “His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’” and now in Vs. 22, “His discipled remembered that he has said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

This shows us not only did they hear the words of Jesus and remembered them after the resurrection, but that they saw what Jesus did in the temple and they remembered the words, “Zeal for you house will consume me.” Where did they remember that from? The Scriptures.

What this tells us then, is the seriousness of studying Scripture to the point that we remember it. The Bible speaks over and over about the concept of internalizing God’s Word.

Joshua 1:8--After the death of Moses, when God commissions Joshua, God says, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

Psalm 1:1-2—a familiar passage for a lot of people, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Psalm 119:97, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all my day.”

In the New Testament, we’re told in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

And even Paul’s encouragement to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed.” And before Timothy can even ask, Paul explains how Timothy can present himself to God as one approved, by” rightly handling the word of truth.” The only way that Timothy can rightly handle the word of truth is by reading it, studying it, meditating on it, internalizing it, and living it.

They remembered what Jesus had said and they remembered that “Zeal for [God’s] house [would] consume [him]” because they read Scripture, they studied Scripture, they meditated on the words of God, they internalized it, and then they lived the words out.

“And they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

Because they had seen the resurrected Jesus, they remembered everything that had been written and spoken and they believed. Now I understand that we haven’t seen the resurrected Jesus in a physical sense, but there are plenty of reasons for us to believe the words of Scripture and for us to believe in the God who wrote the words in the Bible and I don’t have a tremendous amount of time to talk about this, but just to give you a few examples:

First off, we have what is called General Revelation, which is creation. Even secular, unbelieving scientists regularly point to the complexities of our universe—the amazing intricacies in a single strand of DNA is simply unfathomable and it is clear that if a single strand of DNA is damaged or changed in any way, catastrophic changes would occur to the being of which that DNA belongs to. Scientists have argued that even the combination of elements (Oxygen, Nitrogen, etc.) in our atmosphere, if changed would make the earth uninhabitable for human beings. We live in an absolutely amazing universe that all point at God, we simply have to believe.

Secondly, we have what is called Special Revelation, and this comes in the form of the Bible itself. The Word of God is special revelation in that God spoke these words for us to hear from him. And while there are unbelievers who regularly try to disprove the Bible, what has always happened in the past, is that while trying to disprove Scripture they end up proving it—for instance, secular and liberal scholars have debated the historicity of the Tower of Babel for decades.

They argued that since the biblical account of the tower of babel didn’t have other source materials, that it could not have actually occured, but rather it was a fictional story to explain the different languages in the world.

In the 20th century, they found what they’ve creatively termed the “Tower of Babel Stele” A stele is essentially a stone marker that they would utilize to commemorate an event or a person (in modern times, think of something similar to a grave marker or a memorial).

And on the stele, it records a story of a united humanity in the generation following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward. At the land of Shinar, there they agreed to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven.

There’s an artifact called the Tel Dan Stela, which is the same thing as a stele, which was the first piece of historical evidence of King David outside of the Bible.

Findings such as the Dead Sea scrolls confirmed that our copy of the Hebrew Old Testament has remained the same for thousands of years, which authenticates the words that we do have.

In reality, while attempting to disprove Scripture, time and time again archeologists have proven what the Bible says.

Now, there are many of other examples that I could give as evidence for why we should believe, but our time doesn’t allow for it. What I can say is this, there is sufficient evidence internally and externally that God exists and really what it comes down to is whether or not you actually want to believe in God or not—unbelievers can always find an excuse to continue in their unbelief.

These disciples, because they witnessed the truth and the resurrected Lord, they believed and what I’m calling us to do is to consider the fact that everything the Bible has already said has been proven true, which means that everything that the Bible prophesies will also happen. We can have assurance of that fact. We can believe the prophecies that will happen in the future, that includes:

The future, physical return of Jesus Christ, the great and somewhat terrifying events that are to occur according to the book of Revelation during the tribulation period, judgment on those who reject God, and the literal thousand-year reign in Revelation 20.

That also includes the defeat of Satan, the new heaven and the new earth promised to those that accept Jesus Christ, the death of death and hades, no more sorrow, no more pain, and the New Jerusalem with its stunning beauty and its streets of gold.

This means that believers, those that repent of their sin, turn to Jesus Christ, call on his name as their Lord and Savior can be confident that the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us is a real place.

And thus, we can truly have hope.

Now, before we run out of time, let’s look at how we can apply this passage to our lives today:

Application

Jesus Cleanses the Temple (13-17)—in verses 13-17, we looked at how Jesus came into the temple and cleansed the money-changers and those who sold animals and we really looked at two different issues before determining what the actual point of the passage is: we looked at the issue with anger and we looked at the issue of misinterpreting this passage to imply that churches shouldn’t take giving, and then we looked at what exactly this passage is talking about—that the point of the temple, and the point of the church is for worship.

Concerning anger--I explained that anger itself is not a sin, however, what you do with your anger can be sinful.

So my encouragement and advice to you when it comes to anger, is to do what James 1:19 says, “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

What this means is in every situation, always listen to the other person first. Truly, listen to what they have to say, listen in order to understand what they mean. This means, you will need to bite your tongue in order to hear what they have to say.

This also means, that instead of being the first to speak or having to have the last word—slow down, make sure you have all the facts first, and allow the other person to speak before you speak.

Doing this alone, will help you to be slow to anger—it won’t necessarily stop you from being angry, but it will lessen the likelihood that you sin because of unrighteous anger.

Now on the flip-side, when it comes to actual, righteous anger—anger at sin, anger at social injustice, anger at the exploitation of the defenseless or the poor.

By all mean, be angry; but don’t sin in your anger—this means that even though you are right in your anger, you cannot act by insulting, degrading, tearing down, slandering, or destroying other people—even the person that is in sin, even the person who is perpetrating social injustice or exploiting the defenseless or poor.

Instead, utilize your anger in right ways—speak up about sin, seek to end social injustice through legitimate means, pray for the exploitation of the defenseless or poor. Use your anger to act righteously about these issues.

Concerning giving--I explained that giving to the church is a good and righteous thing, in fact, it’s commanded by God as a part of our worship.

First things first, and this is always awkward for a pastor to talk about because it seems somewhat self-serving, but be sure that you are giving.

I’m not going to give you a certain percentage to give, the church doesn’t operate under the Old Testament law, so you don’t need to give 10% of your income to the church. Rather, I would argue for what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

That means, that if in your heart and between you and God, you’ve determined that you ought to give 10%, then give 10%. If in your heart, you’ve determined that you should give much more than that, then give more than that. And if you conscience tells you to give less than that, give less than that.

What you give is between you and God, just know that God expects you to give and God expects you to give cheerfully.

Now practically, you might be thinking, “how do I give to this church?”

So, let me explain just briefly what’s going on with that. As of right now, we can only take cash offerings and that is simply because we’re waiting for Pennsylvania to finish the paperwork for us to open a bank account. Once the bank account is opened, we’ll be able to accept checks and debit/credit cards; my hope is that we’ll be completely set up by next week.

In addition to that, I do want to make it clear that everything that is given here goes to doing whatever we can to reach the communities around us for Jesus Christ—to worship Jesus, equip believers, and make disciples. This means that, we have an annual budget and through the annual budget, you can see where everything that you give goes.

Concerning the purpose of the church—my argument is that the purpose of the church is found in Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Which means that any local church needs to primarily focus on: (1) teaching the word of God, (2) developing the community of believers, (3) communion with God, and (4) prayer.

Which means, that a local church needs to intentionally make everything that they do about teaching the Word of God, developing the community of disciples, communion with God, and prayer.

The church is not a social club and it is not a place of entertainment, it is a place for believers to learn from the word of God in a community set aside for the purpose of people developing their relationships with God.

Everything the church does, needs to be in light of this truth—we exist to make mature believers of Jesus Christ.

That’s a lot of things that the local church needs to do, so let me help you with what you as an individual believer should do:

Make sure that every pastor and teacher of your church and every pastor and teacher that you listen to outside of church, teaches and preaches nothing but the Word of God—we don’t need philosophy, we don’t need speculation about different prophecies and how they line up with the world today, we don’t need story-telling and joking around, we need teaching and preaching from the Word of God. If they don’t teach and preach the Word of God, don’t listen to them.

Be sure that whatever local church that you decide to attend, that they aren’t just a social club—churches are more than just a gathering of people, churches are a place for believers to learn and grow. If the church doesn’t help you grow in your faith, find a church that will

If the church stops trying to make mature believers of Jesus Christ—maybe they’ve turned into what’s called an attractional church, where their primary concern is getting people to come into the building, then my recommendation is to go to a church that specifically desires to make mature believers.

And then keep your pastors and your leaders accountable for doing these things and if the pastors and leaders of a particular local church refuses to teach the Bible, disciple believers, and make new disciples; find a new church or do what our church covenant says, if none of the churches are doing these things, start a new church.

Jesus Prophesies his Resurrection (18-22)—In the final five verses, we studied about this prophecy that Jesus makes concerning his resurrection. I explained the fact that no one at the time understood what he meant when he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” but when Jesus was resurrected, his disciples remembered him saying it and believed. I explained that they could only believe because they had taken what they had learned through the Scriptures and through what Jesus said and meditated on the truth—they internalized the Word of God; and then I explained that even though we haven’t seen the physical resurrected Jesus, we do have sufficient evidence to believe in Jesus Christ and because we can believe in Jesus Christ, we ought to internalize and meditate on his Word and believe that what His Word says about the future will actually come to pass.

Concerning studying, meditating, internalizing, and living the Word of God—I think you guys have gotten accustomed to the fact that one of my primary application points almost every single week is to read the Word of God. The reason why I emphasize it so much is because our entire faith is based on this one book and learning from it once a week, for an hour is not enough. To properly study, meditate, internalize, and live the Word of God, we need to be regularly in the Word of God—every day if possible; at least 4-5 times a week. Only then can the Word of God truly transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Concerning the hope of the future—one of the beautiful aspects of Christianity, is that our hope in Jesus Christ doesn’t end after our time on this earth. We have a future hope in what Jesus has promised us—a place prepared for us in a new heaven and a new earth. Allow this truth to give you hope in the one who can truly give you hope.

In short, (1) Be sure that your local church is sticking to what it ought to be doing—it focuses on teaching the Word of God, developing the community of believers through discipleship, communion with God, and prayer or find one that does; (2) support your local church; (3) study, meditate, internalize, and live the Word of God; and (4) have hope in the future because God has kept his promises and God will continue to keep his promises.

Pastoral Prayer

Pray that as a church, we purpose to always focus on the teaching and preaching of the Word of God—that if at any time we err from the word, that God does everything possible to direct us back to his word

Pray that we, as a church intentionally develops believers through discipleship

Pray that we develop a stronger desire to commune with God and that we seek to deepen our prayer lives

Pray that we take seriously the Word of God, that we study it; meditate on it; internalize it; and live it.

And pray that we find comfort and hope in the promises of God and his ability and desire to fulfill those promises.

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