Skip to content Making Room for People - You Belong Here, Part 3 Jan 29 · 49 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:00 You belong here part 3. I wanna talk to you on the subject of making room for people. Making room for people. That's what this is about. That's what this whole week is about. That's what0:11 our prayer is about. That God will use us as a church to make room for people. The kingdom of God is about bringing people back to God.0:23 That's what it's about. It's not about who could preach the best. It's not about who can have the biggest building. It's about who can have the greatest ministry. It's about bringing people to God. And listen, God uses0:34 all kinds of different churches to do that. We are not the best church. We're just a different kind of church. But we're gonna be the best version of ourselves that we can be so that God can use us to bring our friends0:45 and family to Jesus. That's why we're here, that's why we're praying, and I'm so excited for it. John chapter 2, take out your bibles. We're gonna pick up right where we left off last week. Before we get to the0:57 text, I wanna ask you a simple question. What is your favorite subject? What subject do you have no problem talking about? I mean, once somebody asks you about it, you1:08 just start rattling off facts and figures. You don't have any problem discussing it. I got I got an answer for you because I I know what your favorite subject is because it's my favorite subject too. Here it is. My1:20 favorite subject, your favorite subject is myself. I like talking about me. Now I don't like talking about my facts and my figures. I I like talking about things that interest me. You like talking about1:32 things that interest you. Right? Somebody brings up your, I don't know, trade, your hobby, and you just rattle things off. Somebody brings up something about your history, may may maybe I don't know something that you1:43 went through or a discussion of something and and you can just go off for about 30 minutes about that something. No problem because you've been through it and it's near and dear to your heart. Or maybe you're a parent,1:53 you love talking about your kids. Maybe your grandparent, you love talking about your grandparents. I don't know who I'm talking to. Maybe Have you ever met someone, maybe you're 1 of these people, please don't be2:02 offended but you ever meet somebody that just loves to talk to you about all their ailments? They just don't They always have something wrong. And and it's not about an age thing. It's not an age thing. It's just a it's2:14 just a mindset thing. They're always telling you, oh, I got this thing in my back now. I got this thing in my knee now. And you know, and maybe it is a little bit of an age thing because the more older that I get, the2:23 more I am talking about those things. What's not working anymore again because the older you get, the more injured you feel. But the fact of the matter is, no matter who you are, there's always something that you have2:35 no problem talking about and there's always something that you love to talk about. Well, I I know what God's favorite topic is. I know what God's favorite topic is and I want you to write it down because I've read the2:46 bible and I know it now absolutely certain on this. God's favorite topic is bringing people to himself. He loves to discuss this. He is all in on this,2:58 by the way. He doesn't just love talking about it. He loves doing it. He loves bringing people who don't know him, who might doubt him. Hey, he even likes bringing people who hate3:09 him to himself. Just ask Paul the apostle about that when he was Saul of Tarsus, and he hated God. And God came and got him and brought him back to himself. This is God's favorite topic.3:22 The whole of the Bible is about God bringing people to himself. That's what the story of the scripture is. Sin separates us from God.3:34 God doesn't leave us in our sin. Thank you, Jesus. He sends prophets. He sends priests. He sends kings. And in Jesus Christ, he's got the final priest, the final3:46 prophet, the final king, all 3 in 1 and Jesus even laid down his life for 1 purpose, John 3 16, so that those who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting3:58 life. And when you when you lay down your life for something, you know you're all in on that thing. Amen? Amen. God was willing to do that for us. That's the heartbeat of the4:10 church, and that's the heartbeat of our church. That's the heart of John's gospel, believe it or not. John's gospel has a point. You know, every book has a purpose. Why am I writing this book?4:22 Well, John's gospel tells us why John the apostle wrote the book of John. It's actually at the end of the bible it's at the end of the book. John chapter 20, the key verse, verse 30, it says this, Jesus did many other4:34 signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written Somebody say the next 2 words. So that these things in4:45 other words, I wrote this down so that you you might what? Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that4:57 by believing, you may have life in his name. I I love when the gospel writer tells us why he's writing. And this is 1 of those places. This is 1 of the few books where it's absolutely5:09 clear, this is why I'm writing to you. And John's purpose is crystal clear. All of this has been recorded so that you might know. Well, who's the5:21 you? Anybody. Whosoever will believe. Anybody. The the worst sinner in the world and the most holiest saint in the world who thinks he's5:33 he's perfect. Everybody in between that they might know that Jesus is the Christ and might have life in his name. And a good church, listen to me very carefully,5:45 a good church always wants to champion God's favorite topic. We're not here for ourselves, amen? We're not5:57 here just because we wanna feel like we're good people going to heaven. We're not here we're not here just to have potlucks and cookouts and chili cook offs. We're here for people.6:09 We love to say in this church, we'll say it again, we are here for those who are not yet here. That's why we're here. And so that's what this series is about, and that's what John's gospel is about, and that's what6:21 Jesus' mission is about. Now we're gonna talk about a place in the bible where it seemed like Jesus was kicking people out of the church, but he wasn't. He was cleaning house, and he was cleaning house for a6:33 purpose. It's the cleansing of the temple, and we're gonna go there, we're gonna read it, let's stand together for the reading of John chapter 2 verse 13 to 20, right to the end of the chapter 25. Here's what it says.6:44 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 of6:55 cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the 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 things7:07 away. Do not make my father's house a a house of trade. And 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 for7:19 doing these things? Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I will raise it up. The Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in 3 days? But he was speaking7:30 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. Now when he was in Jerusalem7:41 at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when he saw the when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people, and he needed no 1 to bear7:53 witness about man for he himself knew what was in man. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Father, we approach this word with8:04 openness in our hearts, and we ask God for even more openness. Open our hearts that we might receive the truth of your word, the seed that goes into the8:16 heart that germinates, that sprouts from our innermost being and changes how we live. May we receive what you want for us to receive and may we8:28 see Jesus, him and him only. In his mighty name we pray, and everybody said, amen. God bless you. Have a seat. Cleansing of the temple8:40 is 1 of only 3 events that appears in all 4 gospels. You know that there are 4 accounts of Jesus' life in the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke,8:52 John. 4 accounts of Jesus' life, all 4 of them, only 3 events of Jesus are in all 4. So these are significant events. The first event is this 1, the cleansing9:04 of the temple. All 4 gospels, and we will talk about what all 4 gospels bring to this story at the end of this message. But the second event is the feeding of the 5000, and the third9:15 event is the death, resurrection death, and resurrection of Jesus. And so this moment is huge because the tabernacle, the temple was the most9:27 significant building in ancient Israel and in Israel still to this day. God called Abraham 3500 years9:39 ago to follow him. 3500 years ago. And about 400 years later, he raised up a guy named Moses to deliver them from from Egypt and to give them a land of their own.9:51 And the first thing he says is, listen, this is what I want you to do. I want you to build a temple, a a place for us to meet together. In the ancient world it's called the tabernacle. This is a picture of the tabernacle10:01 there. It was a very simple structure. Humble. Made out of sheepskins and goatskins and Achaia poles and and and and priests. And there was there was no throne. There was no10:13 statue in God's tabernacle. Why? Because the the second commandment prohibited the making of images in the likeness of God. We don't do that as Christians, Jews do not do10:25 that. And so there was just this temple with a place to sacrifice and present blood to God in a way to come back to God. And so the tabernacle was built and erected by Moses in the wilderness.10:37 About 3 or 400 years later, David says, I wanna build a permanent structure. This is too this is too humble. This is too this is too little for our great God. And so he gets in his heart to build a a10:49 permanent glorious temple, and God says, no, David. You're not gonna do it, but your son will do it. The son of David will build a permanent structure. And so Solomon comes along and he builds, and this is an artist10:59 rendering of Solomon's great temple that was erected about 900 BC. And it stood for maybe about 200 years in peace. And then eventually,11:10 Israel kind of forfeited their opportunity, forfeited their God calling to worship God and to be God's people because they followed the pagan practices of the nations around them. And God brought judgment11:22 where? On his temple. This is incredible. You gotta think about God destroyed God allowed Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to come in and destroy the temple. And so in 5 86 BC, Nebuchadnezzar comes11:34 in, burns the whole thing down, starves out the people, takes their best and brightest young minds captive into Babylon. Some of them you know. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Yeah? You know those11:46 names? Those are they were draw they were dragged up. And as they were leaving the city of Jerusalem, that's the last thing that they saw. Their temple being burned. God's temple being burned. And about 70 years11:58 later, God speaks through a pagan king named Cyrus. How many know God can use pagan kings? He's not restricted by whether or not you believe in him, he could use12:10 anybody. That king was named Cyrus. He was the king of Persia and in 5 17 BC he lets the Jews, he decrees that the Jews can go back to their land and rebuild the temple. This12:22 is an amazing amazing gift to the people of Israel and it was to show them that God, their God, was always in control. It didn't matter if he had a temple that was standing or a temple that was demolished. He12:34 was God of gods and Lord of lords and king of kings, and he can use anybody to accomplish his purposes. Remember that when the next election comes around. Amen somebody. So so they12:45 come back and Zerubbabel, a a a king descended from David comes back and leads the people to rebuild this temple. And in this picture you see is I found this on the internet but this is a drawing of what12:57 it was like when they rebuilt the temple and you'll see some people are excited and praising and some people are weeping and crying because they remember the glory of the old 1. And it's not the same. It doesn't look as13:09 good. And look look at it look at how bad it is compared to Solomon's temple. But but God was faithful and he showed up in that temple and and that temple lasted maybe in peace for about, oh I don't know, 100 years out13:20 of 400 years. And then Jesus goes into that temple. But before Jesus goes into that temple there's a king, a great king in Judea who was not really Jewish and to secure the favor of the13:31 Jews this guy said I'm gonna do them a favor. I'm gonna I'm gonna make this temple as glorious as it can be. His name was Herod the Great. And in a and in BC 20,13:43 he started this temple. Now this is actually a picture of what Herod's temple looked like. We have accurate records from Josephus and other historians as to what it was like and the size of it. And this is a13:55 picture of a replica that stands about 300 yards away from the remains of Herod's temple today in Jerusalem. I I I've been here. I've seen this little miniature14:06 picture, but Herod's temple was ornate. It was glorious. It was gorgeous. The Jews loved him for it. They celebrated Herod the Great. He died in,14:18 AD 6 shortly after Jesus was born. You know the last thing he tried to do was kill Jesus and then God killed him. Amen. That's how it goes. And then God Then the Jews and and and the14:30 Judeans worked on Herod's temple and it wasn't completed until a d 64. Even when Jesus cleanses this temple, it was still being finished. So it wasn't even completed until14:42 a d 64. And that's significant because once it was completed, it lasted exactly 6 years. 6 years, and the Roman general Titus14:54 marched into the city of Jerusalem in AD 70 and destroyed the temple again. This thing has been destroyed and built and destroyed and built and destroyed and built. And15:05 if you go to Jerusalem today, you will see the last remaining segment of wall of this temple. This is the remains of Herod's great temple. Still15:17 stand. The last 1. It's called the wailing wall and I was This is a picture that I took in Jerusalem with some pastor friends there. There's a men's side, there's a women's side and you can't go across.15:29 Right? They don't believe in that stuff. Amen. They're old school. Praise the Lord. And to this day people go in and they stuff little papers in the crevices of those bricks. And to this15:41 day the Jews travel from around the world, and Christians too by the way, travel from around the world to pray and to weep over that temple. This is15:53 the most significant building you could say in the world. The Eiffel Tower has got nothing on this temple. The Statue of Liberty has got nothing on this temple.16:04 3500 years. Now here's what I share share all that history for. It's been around 3500 years since Moses. And out of that 350016:15 years, you have approximately 3 to 400 years in which it stood in peace. Now I don't know about you, but if you spend 3500 years16:27 building something and you only get about 300 years of peace living in it, how many know you wanna think something's wrong with that with that building? Something's maybe I'm in the wrong16:38 business. Maybe God is not interested in the temple. No. No. No. No. No. No. He's absolutely interested in the temple. Here's what he wants though. He wants the temple to do what it was16:50 meant to do. And when it doesn't do what it was meant to do, God has no problem bringing judgment on his17:01 temple. This is significant for us because what you have to understand as the church of Jesus Christ, first Corinthians chapter 6 tells us that we17:13 we are the temple now. God does not dwell in buildings made by men. This building in Apollo Beach, those buildings up in New England and in Guatemala, those are17:25 just buildings. When when you leave the building, I got news for you. God does not sit around here waiting for you to show up next week. He lives inside of you. He goes with17:37 you. You and I are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are here to do what this building, to do with that building was supposed to17:49 do. What was that supposed what was that building supposed to do? It's supposed to bring people back to God. The people and and and the reason why God the reason why God brought judgment on the temple so often was17:59 because the people forgot what it was for. I want you to write this down so I know you're getting it. The people who love the temple often forgot the purpose of the temple, and here was the purpose, bringing people to18:09 God. Over and over and over again, God says to the to the ancient Israelites, he says, when you come in and come before me in the temple in other words, we're gonna have a18:21 house. We're gonna have a little place where we meet together, me and you. God and people. That was the purpose of the temple. And Jesus walks into the temple that day in John chapter18:33 2. Because once again, the people who loved the temple often forgot the purpose of the temple. You know, we could do18:45 that in modern Christianity too today. I I don't know if you ever been to a church where it was impossible for the pastor to change anything with regards to the building.18:57 You know what I'm talking about? The guy changes the carpet and somebody freaks out. My great grandmother paid for that carpet. And the pastor's like, yeah. And it smells like your great19:08 grandmother. That's why I needed to go. Amen? Or if he changes the venue or he changes the building. Oh, look. It's just a building, friend. It's not about the bricks and the mortar. It's not about the stone. It's not19:19 about the carpet. It's not about the curtains. It's about Jesus. Amen. That's what this place is for. This place is here. This building is here so that the temple can come in and gather together, and we can be a place19:29 where people far from God can meet with our God. And if we forget that, if we forget that, man, watch out. Then Jesus has gotta do what he's gonna19:41 what he's gonna do in this text. He's gotta come clean our house again. So let's take a look closer at the text, see how it goes down. Verse 13 says this, the Passover. Somebody say Passover. Passover. Passover of the19:51 Jews was at hand. Let me tell you about Passover. Passover for ancient Israel was the day in which God made them a people, delivered them from Egypt, delivered them out of their slavery. Remember the story? If you've if20:02 you've seen the movie, the 10 commandments, you know this. Right? Put the put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost and the lintels of your house, and when the death angel comes through, I'm gonna kill the firstborn of20:11 every house, but if I see the blood, I will I will pass over you. This became an annual festival. God commanded them to remember this. This was kind of their New Year's Day. It was also kind of like their Super Bowl.20:23 We're a couple of weeks away from that. Super Bowl comes around and all of America focuses on a little box in their house. Well in ancient Israel, they would come together in Passover and they would focus on a little20:35 lamb in their house and they would raise that lamb for 5 days in their house and then they would kill that lamb and they would eat it and they would celebrate that God made them a people through the death of a lamb,20:47 pointing to Jesus, the final lamb. And so he comes in and the place is packed because Jews came from all over the world to celebrate Passover. You couldn't watch20:58 Passover on your big screen TV. They didn't have them then. So you had to go. You had to travel. Some people traveled up to 800 miles across the ancient world to come and celebrate the Passover.21:10 Jesus goes into the temple and he finds people selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers. And there's a problem here that we're gonna unpack why he gets so angry and does what he does in the next verse. But21:22 let's read the next verse first. It says he made a whip of cords. I don't know about you but 1 of my favorite passages in the bible is is right there in John chapter21:34 2 verse 15. You ever think about that our savior made a whip? I've never made a whip. Have you made a whip? I mean this is this was not This was21:46 a functional whip too. This was not a whip for him to sell on Etsy. I mean he wanted to put this to work. And he did. He he wove it together. Jesus wove it together, went into the21:57 temple and started driving people out of the temple. Look some of you some of you have got a half one-sided vision of who Jesus is. You you've got the meek and mild Jesus22:09 down. You you you love that Jesus. He he's the Jesus with the flowing robes and the Swedish haircut. He's the Jesus who puts the little baby lamb on his shoulders22:21 and he walks around and it almost is like he's not even taking steps. He just kinda floats everywhere he goes and he's meek and mild and he's kind and he's compassionate and let me tell you, man, that's 100 percent22:31 accurate. Jesus is meek, he's mild, he was gentle. By the way, you know who he's most gentle with? The worst sinners. He's gonna be gentle in 2 3 chapters with a woman at the well who's been divorced 5 times.22:44 Amazing how hard we are on divorced people when Jesus was absolutely gentle with her. He he he's gonna be divorced he's gonna be gentle with the woman caught in the act of adultery.22:56 They're gonna they're gonna throw her down and say, let's kill her. And he's gonna say, no. No. No. Who's got who's got no sin? Go ahead. Start. Gentle. He's gonna be gentle on the cross23:08 with his mother as she watches his her own son die. He's gonna be gentle there and say to John, you take her now into your home. She's now your mother. He's now your son. And Jesus is gentle with Peter23:19 who denies him, isn't he? He's gentle with the when he restores Peter, he says, Peter, do you love me? Gentle Jesus is absolutely true. But there's also righteously angry Jesus. So23:31 you gotta get this. He has a holy anger, and he was absolutely angry on this particular day, and he made a whip, and he went23:43 into the house, and he drove them out. He flipped tables. Man, I've been a pastor for 25 years. I've never flipped a table in my life. Kind of thinking, am I doing it right? Maybe23:55 I should. He flipped table the scripture says, he took the coins out of the money jars And the literal the literal Greek here is he threw the24:07 money on the floor. Just scattered it. I mean, is our Jesus. Angry, livid. Why? Well, I'm gonna explain why. Like I24:18 said, it was Passover. And and the city of Jerusalem had an ancient a first century population of about 100000 people, about 100000. When Passover came around, the24:30 population ballooned to 4000000 people. Now that's a lot of people for a city to suddenly have, you know, zone in on that 1 little geographic spot. Right? Well, Herod's temple24:42 had a couple of places for different kinds of people, and I wanna put this up to show you. This is an artist rendering of Herod's temple, again, second temple on the temple mount. And you'll see that in the24:54 middle of the area, there is the main structure which was the temple, which is where the priests and only the priests could go. So this is the priest section right here.25:06 This section was the women's sex. Jewish women could come this far. Priests could go this far, and men could come and they could also offer their sacrifices in the temple through the priests.25:18 On each side of the temple there were these huge areas, these open areas, and I'm gonna highlight them in this next image so you can see how big they were in comparison to temple, almost about the same size of the25:30 temple area on each side. These were called the Gentile Court. Now what is a Gentile? A non Jew. Anybody who's not Jewish,25:42 good news, you're a Gentile. Okay? Italians, Hispanics, all the other ones, we're all Gentile except for25:54 the Jews. These are so Jew and Gentile. And there was 2 big areas on each side of this temple for for Gentile. And here's another definition of a Gentile, someone who is far from God.26:07 And the Lord wanted this space on each side of the temple so that people far from God could come and know the God of the Jews. So26:19 that strangers could come in. So that there would be room for people who were not like them. Are you hearing this? When26:31 Solomon built the temple, he prayed specifically for that purpose over the temple. Look what he says. Look what it says here in first Kings, chapter 8 about the temple. Solomon praying,26:43 when a foreigner who is not your people Israel comes from a far country for your name's sake for they shall hear your great name in your mighty hand and outstretched arm. When he comes and prays toward this house here in26:54 heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel and that they may know that this27:04 house that I have built is called by your name. Ladies and gentlemen I want you to understand how groundbreaking this was in ancient times. I mean, if we think we have racial27:16 hostility now, we've got nothing on the ancient world. These people hated each other. And the size of your temple dictated the size of your God in comparison to other gods.27:28 And you never shared your God with other nations. In fact, you used your God to destroy other nations. And what Solomon is doing here is groundbreaking. It is world changing. And he's saying, here's what I want. Here's27:39 what God wants for this house. He wants this house to be a place not to dominate other nations but to invite them in. Not to not to crush other people but to care for them and27:50 bring them to the 1 true God of heaven and earth. The temple's purpose was always for people far from God to come and know this God. And by the way that was the purpose of28:02 Israel because God says in Isaiah chapter 42 he says, look I will keep you and I will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the what? What was Israel's purpose? To be the light28:14 for other nations. By the way, Jesus will say about the church, he'll say, you are the what? You're the light of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, some of you work in a dark place. You work in a dark business. You work in28:25 a dark office. You work in a you just wonder why am I surrounded by these pagans all day. You are there as a light for people to know that they don't have to walk in darkness anymore. You are there28:37 on purpose. God has placed you. You might know not know why he's placed you there, but God in his infinite wisdom said, I need to put a light bulb on in that dark room. And even if you shine just a little bit,28:49 at least they know there's someone with some peace in their heart because the prince of peace reigns in their heart. That's who you are. That's who I am. That's what we are here for. That's what ancient Israel was here29:00 for. So now let's put the piece of the puzzle together. I already talked about those 2 big wings on each side of the temple. That was for the Gentiles. When the population29:12 of Jerusalem exploded at Passover and 4000000 people flooded into the city, it was alright to have money changers because here's the deal, people came with different kinds of currency. The the problem was29:24 not that the the money changers were there. You needed exchange coins so that they could come in and and do business and economics in the proper manner. And it was also not a problem for the oxen and29:36 the sheep and the pigeon sellers to be there. It wasn't a problem. Do you know why? Because some people travel, like I said, from 800 miles away, and to come and travel 800 miles away in the ancient world was was near29:47 impossible. Now imagine traveling that far with all of your animals you got to sacrifice when you get up into Jerusalem. I mean some of you is how many of you are like me? It's it's29:59 incredibly hard to travel 90 miles by car with kids. Imagine traveling 800 miles with30:10 horses and donkeys and then bringing your oxen only to sacrifice. So so listen, they made what what they were doing is they were trying to help people. Like, don't worry about traveling with animals. We got them for you.30:22 Change your money. Buy the animals and then sacrifice. It wasn't that wasn't the problem. It wasn't that they were there. It was where they were.30:34 And as the Jerusalem population exploded during Passover, 4000000 people descending on the city. You know what you'd do if you know what happened in that day? The money changers are like, there's no room outside the30:44 temple. Here's some nice open area where the Gentiles come. They don't matter. Let me move my shop in on that space. And what30:55 got Jesus so angry that day was that they were using a place for people to come to know God as a31:07 place for them to do business. They believed their business was more important than God's business. They believed that they should take the space that31:19 was reserved for people who were far from God. And and and it was like, if I could do it in a modern analogy, it's kind of like Black Friday. I I hate Black Friday.31:31 I don't know about you, but I avoid stores on Black Friday on purpose. And what I really hate about our country is it seems like Black Friday is like this monster that keeps moving more and31:43 more to overtake Thanksgiving. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Now in New England, they have blue laws where it's not allowed, but I I don't know if it's here allowed, but in some states, it's allowed for stores to31:54 open on Thanksgiving. I think that's disgusting. Like we can't even be thankful for 24 hours before we get greedy again. This is the image of Jesus in that temple that32:06 day. They have they were taking consumerism and pushing it into a place of sacred space for people to meet with God. Here's what Jesus32:18 was doing. He was declaring, my father's business is the most important business on the face of the earth. And that business is bringing people back32:30 to God. Point number 1, if you're taking notes, write it down. The business of God is to make room for people far from God. That that that's why Water Church Apollo32:41 Beach, faithful faithful God fearing people up in Massachusetts decided to put money toward planting this location. You are here because they32:53 were there. They you are here. This building is here because they said, let's make room for 1 of the most fastest growing states in the country so that there are33:05 gospel preaching churches in that area. When when the rest of the nation escapes, whatever they're escaping to come to the freedom of Florida, let's make sure that they don't just find political freedom, they find the33:15 freedom that is in Jesus. Yeah. That's why we're here. Amen. But that's why we'll also go to multiple services in our churches. Why we'll always be on a33:27 building campaign and looking to build for another church, another locate why? Because we wanna be in the business of God and the business of God is to make room for people far from God. Verse33:39 17 says that it was written zeal for his house will consume him. Jesus is zealous for this. He wants us to make room for people far from God. Now when he when he tips over all those tables,33:50 the Jews got questions. Rightly so. And verse 18 tells us their question. They say, hey. What sign are you gonna do to show us that you're allowed to do this stuff? Now you have to understand that the34:02 Jews believe that when Messiah showed up, he would perform miracles and signs. And so they're saying, okay, are you the Messiah? If so, do some. Show us the sign. And I love Jesus' answer. Here's what he says. Here's the34:13 sign you're gonna get. I'm gonna destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I'll raise it up. Now they respond, it's taken 46 years to build this town. Are you nuts? Who34:25 who do you think you are? But but I love what John says in verse 21. Just to make sure that we're clear from our perspective, he says, but the But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Now you gotta know34:37 something about the word temple in the English 10 translation. Our English bibles fail us here in this chapter. Because in the original language, the Greek language, there are 2 words for temple. There is the first word34:48 that shows up, it's called Hiron, which refers to the whole temple structure, and that's in verse 14 and 15. And then there's this word in verses 19 and 20 and 2135:00 that refers to the neon. That is the inner structure where God and man met in sacrifice. And so Jesus here is referring to the inner sanctuary, the the inner temple35:12 structure where God and man met. And he's now saying, I'm taking this place. Now the place where people will meet with God is not a structure built by men.35:23 It's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm gonna put it in the ground, and I'm gonna raise it up again, and that is gonna be the sign that shows you that I've got the right to do this. I'm taking35:35 charge over what you have failed to do and I'm gonna make it possible for people far from God to come close to God because there's only 1 mediator between God and man. And35:47 it's not the Republican party, and it's not the Democratic party, and it's not our senators and legislators, it's Jesus Christ. And everybody is 1 person away from God the Father. Jesus35:59 is that way. I love that. You know you know that you have just as much opportunity to pray to God as I do. You know that right? Like let's get some let's36:11 get some work done for this morning. Alright? You can pray to God and be heard by God just as much as I can. That's the priesthood of all believers because36:23 you don't come in the name of Tim Hatch. The name Tim Hatch does not resonate in the halls of heaven. God knows my name, but he doesn't act because of my name. He acts on my name's36:35 behalf because I am in the name of Jesus his son. Jesus is my media. He's your mediator too. You got 1 mediator, 1 name, 1 temple through which all people come36:47 and you could be a prostitute and come and you could be a politician and come and sometimes you could be both and still come. And how many know you can do that on a regular basis in this country?37:01 It doesn't it's not about the building now. It's about the person and this is what Jesus came to do. Point number 2, the business of God is to change the hearts of people who draw near to God.37:14 So we put out in our, South Coast location and outside here in our Apollo Beach location, big sign. Big sign that says what? Come as you are.37:26 Come as you are. It's been a theme of our church from day 1, but it's come as you are, but it's not stay as you are. Some of you like, well, loves me just the way I am.37:38 No. No. No. No. That's a rock song. That's not the gospel. He loves you in spite of the way you are.37:51 And he loves you into the house because in the house, you get changed. It's come as you are so that god can change38:03 who you are. Look, you all know you need change. It's January. You've already given up on New Year's resolution. So that that issue's been settled. You know you're messed up. You know things need to change. It's just38:15 you don't know what needs to be changed and in what order it needs to be changed. I got good news for you. Your architect, your builder and maker is God Almighty and he knows exactly what area of your life to work on38:27 and he's got a plan and a purpose in the pain, in the problems, in the difficulties, in the questions, the confusion. He's got a plan right now and he's working out all things for your good so that you might be38:39 conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. There's a little curious passage here at the end of John 2. Seems out of place, but it's not. Jesus has just cleanShow more
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.