Church Sermon - March 23, 2003

THE WORK OF THE SON

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Old Testament Lesson; Exodus 20:1-17
Sermon Text; John 2:13-22

Usually when we think about the work of the Son (that is the work of Jesus, the Son of God), we immediately think about His crucifixion, death and resurrection. And, certainly that is proper for us to do so. But there is more to the work of the Son, than just that. Jesus also lived a perfect life for us, as our substitute. And, He shows us our errors, and corrects us in our errors, through His perfect example, during His lifetime and through His Word. Today’s text is one such example.

Our sermon text for this morning happens at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He is 30 years old and it was soon after He performed His first miracle by turning water into wine, at the wedding in Cana. Now, He and His disciples leave Galilee in the north and travel to Jerusalem, where we read the words of our text recorded from John 2:13-22.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!"

His disciples remembered that it is written:

"Zeal for your house will consume me."

Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

Jesus answered them "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

These are your words Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your Way is truth. Amen.

Imagine you pull into the church parking lot on Sunday morning, and it is a beautiful day like this. You are full of anticipation! You have had a good night’s sleep and you have a pressing desire to come to church and hear God’s Word. You are ready to enter the church building and join your brothers and sisters in Christ, for worship and in song. You look forward to singing hymns and to speaking to God, in prayer. You have your offering in your pocket and a desire to hear God’s Word.

But as you pull up, the parking lot is crammed full. You can’t even find a parking space. But that doesn’t stop you. You park down the street and end up walking a few blocks, to get to the church.

As you try to enter the building, there is a long line. So, you get in line and wait your turn to enter church. As you finally make it to the entrance you notice that there are tables set up, at every entrance. Someone is sitting at one of the tables. That person is a moneychanger. People are writing checks and putting down cash at that table, and then getting coins in return, to place in the offering plate. You see, the money that is used inside of the church is different from the money that you have in your pocket. When you finally make it to the table, you are told that you need the currency, which the church uses, in order to make an offering. So you place a $20.00 bill on the table and get a $10.00 church coin, in return.

You finally make it through the entrance, only to find the halls very congested. Booths are set up throughout all of the hallways. People are selling the official hymnbooks at two of the booths.

There is so much commotion and commerce going on that you realize that you might not be able to hear the pastor, during the worship service.

If you can imagine an experience like this, and how frustrating it would be, then you can understand what it was like inside the temple courtyard, during the time of Passover, when Jesus came to worship. The same thing had happened to the temple. It had been turned into a market place.

Today as we look at our text, we see three things about Jesus, as we look at the work of Jesus the Son of God. First of all, He cleanses the Temple.

To clarify what this section of scripture is saying, we need to understand this. Every Jewish male was commanded, in the Law of Moses, to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for the weeklong Passover celebration.

People would be coming, from hundreds of miles around. These people from throughout the world, who had traveled to Jerusalem, needed the cows, sheep and doves for sacrifices. And certainly they would not be expected to carry their cow with them, on their back. Nor would they be expected to carry their sheep, or doves with them.

Think about all the different nations that these people were coming from. Think about all the different currencies that they would have in their pockets, as they came to Jerusalem. And since there were dozens of nations and currencies, the money changers were doing a service by exchanging the foreign currency, so that those travelers could purchase their sacrificial animals and pay the required temple tax.

So what was taking place with the moneychangers and what was taking place with the merchants wasn’t all bad. After all, those merchants were providing a service for those individuals, who had come to Jerusalem, to worship. They were providing for them the sacrifices that were needed. And, they were providing for them the proper coin that was required to pay the temple tax. So, what they were doing was not all bad. And yet there were three problems with what was taking place in the temple during those days, which angers our Savior. Think about this for a moment.

First, it is likely that the merchants were charging excessive prices for the sacrifices that they offered. They were making a profit on them. And, it is likely that the exchange rate that was being offered was exaggerated, so the moneychangers were not doing a fair exchange, either.

Second, the temple was never intended to be a market. There were plenty of other places in and around Jerusalem where these merchants and moneychangers could have set up shop.

Third, think about what all of this meant for the temple. Think about all of the pens required for the hundreds of head of cattle and sheep! Think about all of the cages that would have been in the temple courtyard, for all of the doves! And, think about all of the tables that would have been in the temple courtyard, for people to exchange their money. Think about how all of the commerce and commotion was distracting for the Gentiles and God-fearing worshippers, in their praying and worshipping.

It was early in the week of Passover, when Jesus and His disciples come into the temple courts. The large court around the outside of the temple is the Court of the Gentiles. It is where God-fearing Gentiles and converts to Judaism could come to pray and offer sacrifices. As Jesus made His way through the gate and into that courtyard, the sight He saw was unbelievable. It probably smelled and sounded more like a livestock auction than a temple. Men were selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others were sitting at tables exchanging money. Just imagine all the mooing of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep, and the sound of people bartering with their money. Certainly that wasn’t an atmosphere for worship. And, so that is what drove Jesus, in His righteous anger, to make a whip out of cords and drive those merchants and moneychangers out of the temple.

Not only did Jesus, in the work as the Son of God, cleanse His temple that day, but Jesus also brings a warning to us, today.

I am going to step back for a moment from the account of Jesus in the temple and share with you the defilement of the tabernacle, during the lifetime of Samuel the prophet.

When the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, they encountered a nation known as the Philistines. After the Israelites were defeated in battle, the Israelite soldiers asked, "Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies." And so they took the Ark of the Covenant from the tabernacle into battle, as a "good luck charm". They were greatly defeated and the Philistines captured the Ark of God. And, the Bible tells us that the glory of God departed from Israel.

In Jesus’ day, the merchants and moneychangers defiled the temple. And, in Samuel’s day, the tabernacle (the traveling temple) was defiled by the elders and soldiers, as they took the Ark of the Covenant into battle, as a "good luck charm".

Today, we also unfortunately defile God’s temple. Not with cows and sheep, not with a misuse of the Ark of the Covenant, but with coveting and greed, when we want to do what is best for us first, and what is good for God second. I Corinthians 6:19 says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"

Sad to say, such idolatry is done among us today. It occurs when we allow ourselves to become work-righteous. It occurs when our act of public worship, private prayer, gifts, and activities in the church no longer is a joyous response of faith to God’s grace in Christ, but has become a matter of staking a claim on God’s favor. All our religious activity comes out to this: God, I will do good works; then you pay me back!

When that happens, we take false comfort from our church building and build a false security on it. We say, "You should see our beautiful church" instead of, "You should hear what God tells us at church."

When that happens, we aren’t even aware that we have lost the truth for which the church building exists:

God’s grace in Christ,

for wretched sinners.

We also then lose sight of one of the main missions of the church:

bringing the gospel of Christ

to our fellow men,

near and far.

In our text for today not only does Jesus cleanse His house, He also warns us.

"How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!" Do we heed God’s warning when He speaks or do we disregard Him, as the people in the temple did when they asked Jesus, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" In other words, " What gives you the authority to do this?"

Do we, as members, ever speak to our pastor, "Pastor, who are you, to tell me how to live?" Or those of us who are students in a classroom speak to the teacher, "Teacher, who are you, to tell me what to do?" Or maybe those of us who as children speak to our parents, "Parent, who are you, telling me what to do?"

What gives you the authority to do all this? In answer to their question, Jesus doesn’t provide them with a miracle on the spot, but rather speaks of His death and resurrection. "Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it again in three days." Jesus was speaking on a spiritual level and the listeners were hearing at an earthly level. We can see the misconception that the Jewish leaders had when they said, "It has taken 46 years to rebuild this temple, and you are going to raise it in 3 days?" They had no idea what Jesus was talking about, and we know from the text that even Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand Him either. "After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."

Finally, Jesus not only comes to cleanse His Church, as a part of His work as God the Son. Jesus not only warns us in His Church of our sins and error, but the great and glorious thing that Jesus does for us in His work as God the Son is to give us a great and glorious hope.

Jesus did not come to be a magician. But Jesus did come to be our Savior. He didn’t come to perform miracles every time one was requested. And, yet we know that Jesus did perform many miracles during His lifetime. And, every miracle He did perform was to show who He was. He was the Son of God. He is the Son of God. He came to bring salvation to us. He came to say who He was, God’s Son. Near the end of John’s gospel he spoke of those miracles that Jesus did during His lifetime. He simply said, "Jesus did many other miraculous signs during the presence of His lifetime, in the presence of His disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And, that by believing you may have life in His name."

Today He makes reference to that when He said, "My Father’s house. How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?" He was showing who He was.

Jesus, in His work, has come to cleanse us. He has cleansed us of our sin, as we defile our body with our greed and our coveting that can lead to so many other sins. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Jesus’ death on the cross has forgiven us of our sins.

Jesus also warns us of our sins. He points us to Himself, who is our Savior. The Bible tells us that the blood of Jesus cleanses us of every sin.

And finally, as we see what Jesus has done for us, we look to the greatest hope. We see how Jesus completed for us our salvation through His death and through His resurrection.

Today, may we not to be superficial in our worship, as the people in the temple had become. Rather, let us remember that He gives to us the greatest hope! He lived the perfect life for us, and shows us our sins, so that we look to Him for our forgiveness and for our salvation. The work of the Son was completed with His death and resurrection. Now we can look to Him for the greatest hope of life everlasting in Heaven! And, that is the work of God the Son!

Amen.

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