Zeal for the LORD'S House

Here we are again this morning still not starting our messages on David, but I saw something this last week that really bothered me, and I have been struggling all week with it. So, here we are. I titled this mornings message Zeal for the LORD’S house. Over the last few months you all have heard several sermons about the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in or should be engaged in. How many of you know what the Dove awards are? It is a Christian music awards show put on by the Gospel music association. Why are we talking about a music awards show, and spiritual warfare. I watched a video by Matt Walsh he is a right wing political commentator, you could say he is a conservative. He also made a documentary called “What is a Women” where he challenges the current mainstream idea of gender. In this post he was objecting to a so called Christian artist Derek Webb who attended the dove awards on October 17, 2023 with his good friend and drag queen “Flamy Grant” while himself also wore a dress. Here is why we are talking about this today, Matt Walsh had a question when speaking about this issue, he wanted to know why someone outside of the church like himself was bringing attention to this, and not the church. He also wanted to know why this man and his friends dressed in dresses were allowed into the awards show and not asked to leave. I think this shows us a glaring problem that we are facing today.

This is the picture Webb posted on social media it said “Dove awards here we come” How are we supposed to handle things like this. We are going to be looking at John 2:13-17 this morning. We will read all the verses and then dive in one at a time.

Context

Here in John we see Jesus just beginning His earthly ministry. He had just performed His first miracle at the wedding in Cana. Now we find Him in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The similar account of what we are looking at this morning can also be found in Matthew 21 and Mark 11, and Luke 19. John puts this cleansing at the beginning of Jesus ministry, the other three gospels put just after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem before His death. These do not contradict each other two temple cleansings is highly probable. The problem is made very clear by Jesus’s words.

John 2:13–15 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.

John 2:16–17 ESV

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.”

John 2:13 ESV

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

Jesus being a Jew had to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Instructions for the Passover can be found in Exodus 12:1-28. All the devote Jews would travel to Jerusalem for this celebration.

John 2:14 ESV

14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

These opportunistic people were taking advantage of those who had to travel great distances for the Passover. They knew of the inconvenience bringing your own sacrifice was, so they would sell animals to them. There was also the tax that all Jewish males 20 years and up had to pay. It could not be paid in a foreign money, so they would exchange it for the proper currency at a price. They had made a lucrative business off of God’s commands. As Mark records Jesus said they had “made it a den of robbers.” They were making a mockery of God’s house. What did we learn last week, about the temple, we don’t worship there anymore, we worship in Spirit and truth. I know some may say that this is a stretch, but I don’t believe it is, in our world today people are allowed to attend an event full of Christians, and make a mockery of it, in my mind they might as well have done the same thing to a church. It shows the udder disrespect for God, whether it was a church or an awards ceremony. As Christians this is something that should infuriate us.

John 2:15 ESV

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.

What Jesus had seen in the temple had infuriated Him to the point of making a whip and driving them out of the temple. This is what we call righteous indignation. What these people were doing to God’s house, they were not just dishonoring the temple, but God himself. When we see people thumbing their nose at God, doing things to dishonor Him, it should also infuriate us. But what are we doing about it, are we getting out there in the battle standing up for what is right. It is my fear that the church as a whole has become to tolerant, are we to love others yes, but are we to stand idly by while they disgrace the living God NO.

John 2:16 ESV

16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

Jesus anger and frustration with the peoples lack of respect for the Lord’s house is made very clear. He told them not to make God’s house a house of trade, I think of like a swap meet. They were dishonoring God, and that made Jesus angry. The same should be true for us, we should be angered when our LORD is dishonored.

John 2:17 ESV

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Here what His disciples are remembering is Psalm 69:9

Psalm 69:9 ESV

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

Zeal has a couple of different meanings. 1) earnest concern, deeply devoted. 2) Jealousy, envy, resentment 3) extremely, intensely, fierce, raging.

John 2:17 ESV

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

There are many people who say well if God is love and Jesus is God how can He get so angry and do such a thing. But I would argue that spinless love is not love at all. People think of Jesus as this feeble weak man, this is not the case at all.

Zeal for the LORD’S House

Should the things going on in our world today make us angry (if it comes from our heart, and is not self-serving). YES. But what do we do with it. Are we engaging the enemy or are we just standing by watching and waiting. You know part of loving our neighbor is sharing the truth, and guess what sometimes the truth stings, sometimes people don’t want the truth. But we must be standing up for what is right in the sight of God, not man. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:28 to not fear those who can only kill the body, but to fear the One who can destroy both in hell. Elijah told the nation of Israel to stop straddling the fence either they served God or they served Baal. We need to stop straddling the fence, remember there are no grey areas. There is right and wrong, darkness, and light. As Christians and as the church we need to be turning over tables when we see things that are not right according to our Lord and Savior.

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