House Cleaning
Pastor George Dronen
Midland SDA Church
June 9, 2012
Theme thought: Jesus cleansing the temple of the money changers at the beginning of His ministry is a type of His cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary at the end of His intercessory ministry for us in heaven.
John 2:13-22
13tThe Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus uwent up to Jerusalem. 14vIn the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. (literally set up to do business—they had come to stay awhile)
My wife and I like to go to flea markets. There are booths on all sides of the isles. Everyone has something to sell.
I had the privilege of going to Jerusalem. We were there over Sabbath. We were in our motels and settled before the Sabbath began. Three of us wanted to go to Golgotha where Jesus was crucified. We made it there okay but going back we got lost. We stopped two guys to ask directions. It was obvious as we engaged them in conversation that they had been drinking. They looked at us and then at one another and in a language that is akin to a person under the influence of alcohol they said: “Don’t talk to them it is the Sabbath.”
Jesus at the beginning of His ministry cleanses the temple. What did He cleanse the temple of? Of unholy traffic:
1. Those who had sheep and oxen for sale.
2. The money-changers.
3. Those who sold pigeons.
The temple had become a place of merchandising a place of trading where you bought and sold.
15And 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. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make wmy Father's house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, x“Zeal for your house will consume me.”
The dignitaries of the temple were themselves engaged in buying and selling and the exchange of money. So completely were they controlled by their greed of gain that in the sight of God they were no better than thieves. DA 589 (Text from 1 Samuel 15:22-26 applies to Jews and to us read it.)
Jesus is particular about His temple. He has energy and enthusiasm for His house. It was His consuming passion to be about His Father’s business.
Do we have enthusiasm and energy for God’s house, our church, is it a place that we want to be?
Do we know who we really are? What is this we call our body? We all have a body similar to one another. We have similar tastes, evidence when this service is over and we go to the service center to eat.
We all need rest. We need water, air, clothes, shelter, transportation, which is the basic needs of humankind.
I don’t care if you are male or female, black or white, tall or short, young or old, we all belong to one family. Each of can trace their descendants right back to Noah. We don’t have to go any farther.
But the thought that has been coming to me, We are the temple of the living God. God wants to dwell in humankind. He wants to set up His house in our house. Isn’t that awesome. The Creator of the universe domiciling in us, Is it possible that Jesus wants to come and cleanse our minds.
Is the cleansing of the temple, the driving out of the money changers symbolic of Jesus’ ministry in our behalf?
How does it happen? Think about it with me, each of us has a mass in our cranium called a brain. This is the most fascinating, puzzling, and misunderstood part of creation.
We have enough brain cells to last forever. We have the ability to do whatever. What our mind can conceive and believe it can achieve, how?
Our strength is made perfect in weakness. The more inefficient and unworthy we recognize ourselves to be the greater is God’s ability to use us.
COL 332 Be ambitious, for the Master’s glory, to cultivate every grace of character. In every phase of your character building you are to please God. This you may do; for Enoch pleased Him though living in a degenerate age. And there are Enochs in this our day.
Stand like Daniel, that faithful statesman, a man whom no temptation could corrupt. Do not disappoint Him who so loved you that He gave His own life to cancel your sins. He says, “Without Me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5. Remember this. If you have made mistakes, you certainly gain a victory if you see these mistakes and regard them as beacons of warning. Thus you turn defeat into victory, disappointing the enemy and honoring your Redeemer.
A character formed according to the divine likeness is the only treasure that we can take from this world to the next. Those who are under the instruction of Christ in this world will take every divine attainment with them to the heavenly mansions. And in heaven we are continually to improve. How important, then, is the development of character in this life.
The heavenly intelligences will work with the human agent who seeks with determined faith that perfection of character which will reach out to perfection in action. To everyone engaged in this work Christ says, I am at your right hand to help you.
As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings. COL 333
His biddings are enablings.
Mental Faculties
God requires the training of the mental faculties. He designs that His servants shall possess more intelligence and clearer discernment than the worldling, and He is displeased with those who are too careless or too indolent to become efficient, well-informed workers. The Lord bids us love Him with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and with all the mind. This lays upon us the obligation of developing the intellect to its fullest capacity, that with all the mind we may know and love our Creator.
If placed under the control of His Spirit, the more thoroughly the intellect is cultivated, the more effectively it can be used in the service of God. The uneducated man who is consecrated to God and who longs to bless others can be, and is, used by the Lord in His service. But those who, with the same spirit of consecration, have had the benefit of a thorough education, can do a much more extensive work for Christ. They stand on vantage ground.
The Lord desires us to obtain all the education possible, with the object in view of imparting our knowledge to others. None can know where or how they may be called to labor or to speak for God. Our heavenly Father alone sees what He can make of men. There are before us possibilities which our feeble faith does not discern. Our minds should be so trained that if necessary we can present the truths of His word before the highest earthly authorities. COL 333.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16Do you not know that you1 are God's temple and that God's
Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God
will destroy him. For dGod's temple is holy, and you are that
temple.
19Or pdo you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? qYou are not your own.
21kin whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into la holy temple in the Lord
16What agreement has the temple of God
with idols? For dwe are the temple of the living God;
as God said,
e“I will make my dwelling among them and fwalk among them,
and gI will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
If we are the temple of the living God can we expect that He would dwell in a temple that has trafficking that disrupts the services of worship. Just who are we! Does it ever occur to you that you are someone special? There are special churches that have been built around the world. Russia has churches that are beautiful beyond description. The Catholic church has magnificent structures in England, France, Greece, USA, India. People have a passion to build structures in which to worship, but what kind of worship is acceptable to our God?
John 2:18
18So the Jews said to him, y“What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, z“Destroy this temple, and in three days aI will raise it up.”
Jesus tells us that He is able. Period! But we need to have something or someone to worship. The first four(4) commandments have worship in their context.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
All four of these commandments the world is breaking. The people have no regard for the gods they worship, nor do they seem to be aware that they are worshipping graven images. They take the name of God or Jesus upon their lips and have no regard as to what they are doing. The whole world has forgotten which day of worship the Bible teaches.
When Jesus was 12 years old His parents took Him to Jerusalem for a feast. While in the temple this young Lad becomes aware of the prophecy of Isaiah 53. It came into focus in His mind. He recognized His reason for living. Jesus lived to die.
All the prophecies of the Old Testament looked forward to His coming. Now in the New Testament these prophecies were in fulfillment. In His life He lived out what the prophets predicted. “He came unto His own and His own received Him not, but as many as believed on His name He gave the authority to be sons of God.”
Dear people Jesus came to redeem us, to buy us back, to ransom us from sure destruction.
We read about the daring rescues of people who are kidnapped. Children who are held for ransom are rescued because someone dared to risk their life. Jesus risked His eternal life for you and me.
As we study scriptures there comes over us an overwhelming thought that Jesus loves us. He has done, and is doing everything necessary for our redemption. God loves us so much that He was willing to give up His only Son for us.
In our redemption there was a cost.
There was risk—there was pain—there was separation—there was disappointment—not many accept God’s plan of redemption—most would rather go it there own way, living in sin being deceived by Satan.
For the survival of the universe sin must be dealt with. It could not go on unchecked. It is a malignancy, a cancer, and if not checked will destroy the universe. Sin was quarantined to planet earth.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to you inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
My heart goes out to the people who are living next to us, those who grew up with us, those who used to go to church with us and are no longer worship with us. Do they have to be lost? Does your heart go out to them?
A conference was having an evangelistic effort. The cost was high they spent an enormous amount of money and one soul was won. Someone complained about the cost. Let me ask a question; is it too high a price to pay? What if that one soul was your son or daughter, my son or daughter? All of sudden the price isn’t so high.
20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about bthe temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, chis disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed dthe Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, wwe wish to see a sign from you.” 39But he answered them, x“An evil and yadulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 26:61
61and said, “This man said, x‘I am able to ydestroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”
Matthew 27:40
40and saying, b“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! cIf you are dthe Son of God, come down from the cross.”
What sign will be given us that we may believe?
DA309
The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ’s day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. In all human experience a theoretical knowledge of the truth has been proved to be insufficient for the saving of the soul. It does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness. A jealous regard for what is termed theological truth often accompanies a hatred of genuine truth as made manifest in life. The darkest chapters of history are burdened with the record of crimes committed by bigoted religionists. The Pharisees claimed to be children of Abraham, and boasted of their possession of the oracles of God; yet these advantages did not preserve them from selfishness, malignity, greed for gain, and the basest hypocrisy. They thought themselves the greatest religionists of the world, but their so-called orthodoxy led them to crucify the Lord of glory.
DA 309-310
The same danger still exists. Many take it for granted that they are Christians, simply because they subscribe to certain theological tenets. But they have not brought the truth into practical life. They have not believed and loved it, therefore they have not received the power and
grace that come through sanctification of the truth. Men may profess faith in the truth; but if it does not make them sincere, kind, patient, forbearing, heavenly-minded, it is a curse to its possessors, and through their influence it is a curse to the world.
The righteousness which Christ taught is conformity of heart and life to the revealed will of God. Sinful men can become righteous only as they have faith in God and maintain a vital connection with Him. Then true godliness will elevate the thoughts and ennoble the life. Then the external forms of religion accord with the Christian’s internal purity. Then the ceremonies required in the service of God are not meaningless rites, like those of the hypocritical Pharisees.
Why are so many leaving, why do they turn away and not come back? Do they not see Jesus in us?
A soldier died in war. His father was a great collector of masterpieces of art. One day a soldier showed up at his home. “I have something for you” he told the elder gentleman.
I know that you enjoy art, so do I, your son and I were the best of friends and he had me paint this for you before he was killed. I am not a master painter but I believe you will cherish this portrait of your son.
The father looked at the painting the young soldier unwrapped. It was a beautiful rendition of the man’s son. He treasured it.
As time would have it the father died and as the son was the only heir the house and all its paintings were put up for auction. A huge crowd gathered for the event. Finally the time came. The auctioneer made his way up to the stand to begin the auction. All right lets get started and the first item this afternoon is this painting. It was the painting of the son. The auctioneer began his chant: “Who will give me a $1000, who will start this auction?” No bids, let’s get on with the auction came the call from the crowd. The auctioneer stated firmly this painting sells first. “Who will give me $1000?” No bids, he lowers the price, “then who will give me $100?” Still no bids, finally from way in the back the gardener holds up his hand, “I’ll bid $10 to get it started.” “Sold,” said the auctioneer as he brought the gavel down. “Now let’s get on with the auction,” shouted the crowd.
The auctioneer put down his gavel, stood up and said, “This is it ladies and gentleman, I had strict orders from the executor of the estate that the only item that was to be sold at the auction would be the painting of the son. The stipulation was whoever got the son got everything.” And my dear friends, that is the way it is with God, whoever accepts His Son gets everything.!
I must ask you, do you have the Son?
Maybe this simple little story will help us to understand a little bit of God’s mind.
We so want to do it our way but God’s way is so much simpler.
We don’t have to take a journey to Mecca, we don’t have to go on a pilgrimage, we just must take the Son. And when you have the Son you have everything, and when you have everything you just want to tell the world.
Can you see why they were so excited at Pentecost? They realized that Jesus was now sitting on throne in heaven. This Jesus who just ten days earlier had walked with them, talked with them, cooked breakfast for them, was now in heaven representing them. They had nothing to fear, just tell the world, so what if they kill me, Jesus has the keys to grave, there is no more terror in death Jesus is going to resurrect me. He said He was the resurrection and life. He said, I am He that lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys to the grave.
You can kill my body but Jesus is going to come back and wake me up and I am going to come out of the dusty tomb with immortality bestowed on me by the One who said I am He who lives forever and ever.
That my friends is what Jesus wants to do in our soul temple. He wants us to accept what He offers but first we must make room for Him, that is why our soul temple needs cleansing. Our minds are clogged with the cares of this world, with merchandising, with worry and anxieties, troubles in our home, with our children, health problems, finances. “Come unto Me, Jesus says, I will give you rest.
Come, come, come, the invitation is given in the last chapter in the Bible. I give the invitation to you today.
Did you bring burdens to church today, why not leave it here for Jesus? Open your heart to Him, He wants to cleanse you.