Vision

Lent, 2021 • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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John 2:13–22 ESV

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

Introduction

Many of you know that about a month ago there was an announcement made that after 140 years of service to the Church, Concordia College, Bronxville is closing its doors at the end of this academic year. The property is being sold to Iona College, and the college that our church has supported over the years will be no more. Of course this is a shame and, as an alumnus, this breaks my heart.

But the signs were there that this would happen a long time ago. So much so that I had a discussion or two with staff members and with our previous district president about my concerns. The concerns centered around Concordia losing her mission. For over a century, Concordia was a place that trained Lutheran teachers, and prepared other Lutherans seeking ordination into the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for the rigorous academic and spiritual life that they would encounter when the entered the four year journey through seminary.

But that stopped a while ago. The Church service track at Concordia has been virtually non-existent for well over a decade. For instance, when I started at Concordia, we had 30 guys in our Freshman class that signed a “declaration of intent” to become pastors in the LCMS. Out of that 30, there were 10 of us left in the program by the time we were seniors. Five became Pastors in the Church. That’s 1/6th. When I returned for a choir concert in 2014, there was only one student in the program. As of late there has been no program. Chapel services were the highlight of the day, each and every weekday, with Communion each Wednesday. But over the past several years, there was no such thing as chapel. The Lutheran Teacher program, likewise was decimated.

This had a trickle-down effect. Because church service was the primary reason for Concordia’s existence, and since they all but ended the Church work preparation programs, many Congregations began to withdraw their support. There were congregations up and down the Eastern Seaboard who supported the mission and ministry of the college. They stopped giving. Millions of dollars of revenue dried up. Philanthropists who also supported people in ministry stopped giving, or greatly reduced what they contributed. While the college did its best to exist by offering other programs to bring in revenue, they lost their vision. They lost their mission. And the end result is what is taking place this May.

I tell you this story, not just to inform you, but to prepare you to better understand what was going on in the Temple when Jesus drove out the money changers. Their error was so ingrained that Jesus had to do this twice— in John, at the beginning of His ministry, and in the Synoptics, the week before He was crucified.

Jews had lost their vision

You see, the Jews had lost their vision about the purpose of the Temple.

One of the requirements of all of the healthy Jewish people was that they were to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem four times a year. One of those times was the Passover, which was the setting of our text.

Of course, one of the things that faithful Jews did when going to the Temple, was to offer sacrifices for various reasons to the Lord. Sacrifices offered on Yom Kippur would take away their sins. Sacrifices made at the purification of a woman— like Mary at the Presentation — were made to ceremonial clean her from childbirth so she could return to worship. Grain offerings were made in thanksgiving for the harvest.

There was a practical concern. Some people traveled great distances to meet this requirement to show up at the Temple four times a year. Not only would they need to get themselves there, but they needed to bring provisions. Food and clothing for the journey. The toiletries of the day. Perhaps they had an elderly family member that they would need to assist on the long walk. And then, on top of all of that, they would need to bring an animal for sacrifice.

There were those at the Temple who came up with an idea— perhaps a good idea: To provide animals for sale at the Temple for sacrifice so that the people would not have to schlep their sacrifices along with the rest of the things they needed to bring. It was a convenience. At first, it was a great idea.

But the worst possible scenario occurred. They turned the outside courts of the Temple into a marketplace. It got to the point where no longer was the worship and prayer the main focus of those who were there, but getting the best deal, making lots of money, and perhaps, even cheating and extortion.

Their vision and mission had changed from the initial intent— to worship God, into commerce. On this basis a lot of churches forbid the sale of items, bizzares, fairs, and the like because these things can, and often do, interfere with the true purpose of the Church for God’s people. The Church always must be supported by tithes and offerings, never by fundraising.

Because the Jews lost their mission, Jesus makes a correction. He drives them out of the Temple with a chord of ropes, turning over their tables. They not only had lost their mission, but they had lost their souls. A grave situation. Get out of here! Because they lost their mission, like Concordia, the Temple would be no more. Instead of selling it, it was destroyed, never to be seen again. But that wasn’t the worst part. These people, at least many of them, were lost forever. When Jesus drives you out, that is a very, very bad thing.

Have You Lost Your Vision?

So the question before you today is have you lost your vision and mission?

Let’s start with you.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Has your mission changed?

God’s will for your life is summarized in the Ten Commandments which we heard read as our OT lesson. Breaking one breaks them all. Often, we choose the way of the money changers. If someone or something is more important to you than God, then your temple needs to be destroyed. If you enjoy the Long Island medium, occasionally say O My God, your temple needs to be knocked down. If you fail to worship, you’ve missed the point of life and your temple needs to be knocked down forever. If you disregard authority, aren’t appalled by abortion, think that love is love, disregard others property, gossip, and are jealous, you have no standing before God and your temple is coming down. Jesus is there with the whip, turning over the tables of your lives, and knocking you out of His kingdom. Gone before Him like Concordia, like the Temple.

This text slams us against the wall, beloved.

And what about the Church?

Has it lost its mission? Humanly speaking— all the time.

There is only one reason we are here, beloved, and that is to worship Jesus. Everything else— including our fellowship events, our administration, our decisions on the building and property, all stand in service of worship. But that isn’t how it appears.

A little story. I don’t usually tell you about some of the things that I have run into, or the patients I have treated in my 45 years as an EMT and Paramedic. But I’m going to break this silence— only for a moment, to illustrate and important point in church.

One day I was dispatched to a call for an elderly gentleman who had fallen on the sidewalk. His cane got hung up on a crack and it lunged him forward. He wasn’t able to hold out his hands to break the fall, and he basically took out his face. He was bleeding. He had a bad head injury. And it was late November, and it was freezing cold outside. I had a paramedic student with me that day that I was training. He and I immediately sprung into action with this man. We controlled the bleeding and did a full assessment on the sidewalk. I began to worry about his body temperature. As paramedics we respond in a rescue truck, not an ambulance. The volunteers man the ambulance. The pager kept activating. They needed a crew. No crew was calling in. Now I’m starting to worry that this man may survive his head injury but die of hypothermia. While we had him covered with a blanket, the ground upon which he lay was freezing cold— the puddles were all ice. The pager kept going off and going off. Until finally the dispatcher routed the call to another agency. But that agency was 45 minutes out. We couldn’t move the man because of his injuries, and there he lay for another 45 minutes— well over an hour on the ground. When the call was over, I found out that there was a member at our headquarters the entire time who was qualified to drive the ambulance. But since he had a board meeting that night he had to “get his paperwork done.” He had grossly forgotten and neglected his mission. Everything that agency’s board did administratively was for the sole purpose of getting an ambulance on the road immediately when called. He failed. The patient expired. Oh, but the bills got paid!

I’ve seen the same thing here. When we had our last Chicken BBQ, I was asked to cancel our Saturday Evening Service. I would not allow that. Do you see the problem with this? When we have weekday services, people are at Church working but don’t attend. When we need to be focusing on unity and staying together— particularly in this very hostile climate being created within the government against the faith and particularly against Christians, we fight, we are anything but unified, we negotiate our own way, trying to compete with others who have done things in the past that have made us jealous, and we don’t even say that Jesus is whipping us. We just continue down the same path. Jesus whipping in our Gospel is our wake up call today!

If it were left to us, our church will crumble and fall, like Concordia, like the Temple. But worse, so will each of us before God.

Jesus Restores our Mission

But Jesus doesn’t leave it to us. He takes it all on Himself. The key is in His answer to those who demand of Him what kind of authority He possesses to do what He did.

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But 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.

His Temple would fall. The Temple of His own body. Not for His sin— He had none, but for our disunity, jealousy, hatred, self-centeredness, egocentric nature, and all of the rest. He fell. And great was the fall of it.

Destroy the Temple, they would. Not just the Israeli edifice, but their Creators. The temple falls in a most unexpected way.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Oh, the Temple fell, beloved— both the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Temple of Jesus’ body.

It took Forty Six years to build the Temple in Jerusalem.

But it only took three days to rebuild the Temple of Jesus’ body. And in those three days, look what happens:

Jesus dies for your sins

Jesus goes to hell for you

Jesus is buried for you

Jesus descends into hell and announces His victory over the Devil for you.

Jesus charts the way through death for you.

Jesus is raised from the Dead for You.

I am Baptized into Christ.

God Has remade me into His temple. It will fall, just like the Temple in Jerusalem, Just like Concordia Bronxville. But unlike these two, your Temple will be raised. Your mission has been restored. The Cross has covered it all so that you may live.