And please open your Bibles to John chapter 2, where our focus today will be verses 12 through 17. Again, John chapter 2, verses 12 through 17. Today we're going to examine John's account of Jesus' first cleansing of the temple, which happened early in his ministry, as opposed to his second cleansing of the temple, Toward the end of his ministry, that's recorded in the other three Gospels, there are some differences between the two. I'm going to be reading again beginning in verse 12 through verse 17. After this, that means after the wedding in Cana that we read about last week, sometime after that, After this he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples. And they did not stay there many days. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business. When he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house has consumed me. or has eaten me up as the New King James translates it. Let's pray. Holy Father, we do once again ask that you will bless us with your presence, with the filling of your spirit, with understanding as we approach your word, seeking to hear what it is that you have to say to us today from this passage. Lord, we ask for Faith, we ask for further repentance. Please convict us, Lord, and lead us to repentance where that is necessary. We ask that you would also encourage us, Lord, where that is needed. Please just speak to us what you want us to know and hear today through your Word. We ask these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I'd like to begin this morning by citing a portion of a hymn that was written by Charles Wesley. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child. Pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to thee. Fain I would to thee be brought, dearest God, forbid it not. Give me, dearest God, a place in the kingdom of thy grace. Lamb of God, I look to thee. Thou shalt my example be. Thou art gentle, meek, and mild. Thou wast once a little child. Faint I would be as thou art. Give me thine obedient heart. Thou art pitiful and kind. Let me have thy loving mind. Now, some of you may already be familiar with this old hymn, and it's a fine hymn, so far as it goes. I mean, it's a fine hymn. But I fear that for all too many Christians, it summarizes virtually their whole picture of who Jesus really is. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Of course, there's nothing wrong with believing Jesus is gentle and meek and mild, especially since he said as much about himself For example, remember his comforting words to those who would follow him when he said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. He wants us to know that about him. He's meek and lowly in heart. He is gentle, meek and mild, as the hymns say. But we all too often forget that meekness does not mean weakness. And that the same Jesus who reveals himself as meek and mild also reveals himself as the righteous judge of all men. For example, later in the same gospel, John records these words of Jesus. It's in John 5, beginning of verse 26. He said, for as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. He's talking about a judgment that he's going to execute. Indeed, it was later revealed to John how Jesus would one day return to execute his judgment on the earth. For example, in Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse 11, he says, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in his righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth was a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's Jesus too. So it's important that we see Jesus for who he really is, isn't it? He has not only revealed himself to be meek and lowly at heart, but also as the righteous judge, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who is going to execute one day God's wrath upon the earth. This morning, I think we're going to see a hint of that side of Jesus in his cleansing of the temple, when he reveals himself to be the one who has the right to pass judgment on what the Jews were doing there. And he does so with, as we'll see, considerable force. So let's turn our attention to the text to see what I mean. Beginning in verse 12, after this we read, he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay there many days. Now, although we're going to discover in the next verse that the Passover was approaching, that's why they wouldn't have stayed in Capernaum many days, Nevertheless, John wants us to know that Jesus first went to Capernaum with his family and his disciples. That's the opposite direction of Jerusalem from where they were in Cana at the wedding. So, given that Jerusalem was going to be where they needed to be, why would they be going the opposite direction up to Capernaum? And why does John think it's important that we know this bit of information? Well, he doesn't say why he told us this particular bit of information, except that it happened. But there were probably lots of things they did during this period that he doesn't record. Why does he include this? I wondered as I read it. Again, we don't know why he thought it important to include the information that he has here at this point, but we will discover later in his account that Jesus was known to those in Capernaum. Later in chapter 4, there's going to be a man who comes to Jesus from Capernaum expecting that he can help him. Well, we won't be surprised when we see that because we know Jesus had already been there and spent some time there. Not many days, but some time there. Probably did some teaching there. Maybe did some healing there. And that's why somebody would come from Capernaum and expect Jesus to do something for him. He was known there already. And so maybe one of the reasons he's giving us this information is because later on, people are going to come, someone's coming from Capernaum, he knows who Jesus is, and we won't be surprised by it then. And this bit about the fact that his brothers were with him, you know, that'll come up later too in chapter 7. We'll see that he was traveling with his brothers at least part of the time. And they have ideas about where he should be going and when, and what he should be doing there. We'll discover, well, we won't be surprised that his brothers are around because we already know they were traveling with him early on in his ministry when he went to Capernaum. So perhaps John just wants us to know these facts in advance so that we won't be surprised by what we read later on. He's setting up some facts that we'll need to know for later. At any rate, Jesus didn't stay in Capernaum long, as we've seen, because as the next verse says, He was on His way to Jerusalem in time for the Passover. We read in verse 13 and 14, Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. Now, when John says that Jesus found these people in the temple, He actually refers to the broader temple area. In this case, referring specifically to the court of the Gentiles, because that's where the merchants would set up their tables to do business, and where the money changers would carry on their business as well. And it's against these two groups that Jesus takes action, although his actions are meant to be a message for everyone there, including his disciples, I believe. The first major group referred to here is those who sold oxen and sheep and doves. I think William Lane does a good job of describing the situation created by this group of people when he talks about the second temple cleansing in Mark, but it applies to this situation as well. He writes, the installation of stalls for the sale of animals and of other requirements for sacrifice such as wine, oil, and salt had the effect of transforming the court of the Gentiles into an oriental bazaar and a cattle mart. Can you imagine if you came into our building, maybe not into the area where we do our singing in here, but maybe this entry over here, maybe in the hallway out there, and somebody erected a bunch of tables where people were bartering over selling stuff, and there were animals tied up all along the way, and sheep, goats, and bulls, or oxen. There are doves in little cages everywhere. Can you imagine how noisy it would be? I mean, it would be incredibly noisy. Not to mention the smell that would have accumulated over all these animals being there. We're talking about hundreds if not thousands of animals in this big area of the temple, this outer quarter of the temple. How could this environment possibly have been conducive to prayer and meditation, to worship? Which is what the temple was for. The second group is referred to as the money changers, and again William Lane is helpful in describing the involvement of this group. He writes that in a country where the circulating currency consisted primarily of Roman money, provision had to be made for the Jews to pay the annual temple tax after the shekel of the sanctuary as commanded in Exodus 30. In the first century, all temple dues had to be paid in Tyrian coinage, since the Tyrian shekel was the closest available equivalent to the old Hebrew shekel. To make the necessary exchange, the tables of the money changers were set up. Now, one could argue that these merchants and money changers were providing a valuable and helpful service, couldn't they? to those people who came to celebrate the Passover. Hey, think about it. If you don't have to bring a lamb all the way from your home, maybe 70 or 100 miles away or more, and you can just buy one when you get there, does it make life easier? If you don't have to worry about exchanging money somewhere for this right coinage, it's less of a hassle for you when you get to Jerusalem to just do it there. So again, one could just argue that these people were providing a valuable and a helpful service. Perhaps they were, although Jesus, when he cleanses the temple later on in his ministry, will call them thieves because of the way they were taking advantage of people. Essentially charging them extra money to worship God in the right way. But even if these businesses had been conducted fairly, And they weren't cheating people, but they were doing honest business practices, even if that were the case. And they were actually sincerely trying to offer a service to these worshipers. The point is, they had no business in the temple. That's the point. God had said what should be happening in His temple. And doing business and commercial activities isn't what He said should be happening there. And so they were profaning the temple. This was a place where people were supposed to be able to come in, and particularly the court of the Gentiles, where people who weren't Jews could come in and take part in worship of God. Prayer, meditation. And they made it into this noisy, ancient Near Eastern bazaar. With all this buying and selling and money changing going on. A noisy, hectic place. Worship had been turned into a business that had nothing to do with true worship at all. No wonder Jesus was so angry. We'll see what he does about it in the next verse. Verse 15, it says, When he had made a whip of cords, You can imagine there would be leather straps or cords around there because there were so many animals. It must have taken him a little time to do that. But when he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money and overturned the tables. And here John describes the specific actions Jesus took against those he found doing business in the temple. And there's four actions I see here. First, Jesus made this whip of cords. Now, what's that imply? Just, if that's all we knew, what's that imply? What do you make a whip for? He's preparing to use force. You don't imagine gentle Jesus making mild carrying a whip. Let alone making one. But Jesus is doing that very thing here. We're told, secondly, that Jesus drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen. Now, some people have tried to say, no, he just drove out the sheep and the oxen, not the people. I don't think that's the way it's to be translated. When he says he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, this implies that Jesus did use force both in driving out the people and in driving out the animals that were there. We know for sure in his second temple cleansing he did that. I can't see why he wouldn't have done the same thing here. So he prepared a use for us, then he used it. Now you can imagine when you drive people out of a place with a whip, it may not be pleasant for those people. It might sting a little bit. You got a stubborn ox that doesn't want to move. He might get a little bit of a sting, too, to get him out of there. Thirdly, Jesus poured out the changer's money. Can you imagine? Containers of money being dumped all over the ground and the noise it would make? And now you've got a scenario in which they're probably losing a lot of their money. Because, you know, there's probably a lot of poor people coming in here. And you think they're just going to let that money on the ground just lay there? Probably not. So he's dumping their money out. This is a big place. He went around doing this. This maybe took him a little while. Maybe he only overturned a couple tables. That's not the impression you get. You get the impression he was storming through the place, driving people out, turning over tables, dumping money. And that was the fourth thing. He overturned the tables the merchants and the money changers were using. He made a wreck of the place. Well, actually, they made a wreck of the place. He wrecked their wreck. Now, do you think he probably had everybody's attention at this point? I think no doubt that he did. His actions must have spoken volumes to them, but he also had something to say to them that we'll get to. But I just want to pause here and say, when people think of gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is that the picture they have? What we just read? I doubt it. There's nothing wrong with thinking of Jesus as gentle, meek, and mild. He is. But he's also strong, powerful, mighty, He's not just the God of love. He's also God of wrath. He doesn't just forgive us of our sins and give us the gift of faith and repentance. He also takes out the whip and disciplines us when we need it. Jesus is all these things. And if we don't see Jesus as all these things, we don't have a complete picture of Him. We like to think of Jesus as gentle, meek, and mild. especially because we're sinful. It's a little scary to think of Him as judge. But judge He is. We have to see Him that way. But He didn't just do these things, He also said something. In verse 16, He said to those who sold doves, take these things away. Now, we're told He drove out these other animals, but when it came to the doves, He didn't just go undo whatever they had him tied with or the cages. He told them, you get them out of here. And then he said, do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Now, he singles out the people who sell the doves. And that could have been just because he didn't want to bother with trying to undo these cages or whatever they had them in. Or it could be. that he singles out and speaks more directly to the people who were selling doves because doves were allowed to be sacrificed by the poor. And perhaps he singles out, although he's speaking to everyone and intends for everyone to hear this rebuke, maybe he singles out these particular people and focuses on them because What they're doing is especially egregious because they're taking advantage of the poor. That could be possible. What we do know is he doesn't like what they're doing and he says why. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. The house of God is not the place where you sell things. It's the place where you worship God. I wonder what Jesus would say then about the worship of many churches today. Or about the things that go on in many places of quote-unquote worship today. I fear that in many places he would see a kind of commercialism that reduces the gospel to a product to be sold. The people out there are the people that we want to sell our product to, and we have to tailor it to what they want to buy. Instead of trumpeting it, it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. They tailor it to what people want to hear. Then we have abominations like prosperity gospels around the place. He may not see sheep or oxen or doves being sold, but he might instead see dramatic skits being performed and rock music being played by a band on a stage. By the way, I'm not saying rock music is necessarily evil. I personally like some rock music. I'm a Newsboys fan, you know, fair rock and roll. What I am saying is, church isn't for entertainment, it's for worship. Church isn't for selling, it's for praising God. We don't have a product to sell, we have a God to praise. That's what we're supposed to be doing when we come to worship. And there are many professing evangelical churches out there that don't seem to be able to tell the difference between entertainment and worship. And I suspect that if Jesus walked in and saw what was going on, he might just start making a whip. And he might say something like, my father's house, the church which is a temple of the Holy Spirit, When you come together, it is not to sell something. When you come together, it is not to be entertained, or to entertain other people. When you come together as the household of faith, to worship God, He must be central. You shouldn't profane worship. We're supposed to worship, as I'll say later, in spirit and in truth. So that's what I'm talking about. He would look at a congregation and see people very often focused more on style than substance, expecting to hear what they think they need, rather than what he knows they really need. I suspect, again, he'd busy himself perhaps making a whip. What about you and me and our private lives? The Bible says that we're each a temple of the Holy Spirit. It's not just true that the church collectively is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but we individually are temples of the Holy Spirit. Remember, for example, Paul's words to the Corinthian believers when he said, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. I wonder, do we lead others to worship God by what they see in our lives? It's easy to look back on this passage and say, those terrible Jews in the first century, they just didn't get it. And miss that we might be a lot more like them than we think. Our lives are such that people are in awe of God and what He's doing in and through us. like that, or are they simply filled with the static noise of materialism and commercialism and the stench of worldliness? Martin de Haan offers this helpful illustration of the same point when he writes, A number of years ago, a government investigation discovered that some truckers were hauling garbage in the same refrigerated trucks that were used to transport food. Part of the problem was that trucks making long trips could not afford to return empty. According to the truckers, some considered garbage a dream commodity. They were paid to transport something that couldn't be damaged. During congressional hearings, a food science professor likened the problem to serving potato salad from a cat's litter box. I may have been overstating it a bit. This quote-unquote pollution for profit scandal is nothing compared to the one described in John 2, 13-22. Jesus cast out the money changers from the temple because their schemes for financial gain had desecrated his father's house. But just as that is polluting the temple of our bodies with thoughts and practices that don't belong there. In many ways, he writes, we are no better than those truckers or the temple merchants of Jesus' day. We think it would be more profitable for us to carry the garbage of this world's values in our minds. May God forgive us, cleanse us, and help us to cast out everything that defiled the temple in which he alone has the right to dwell. Well said. Jesus gives us an example of the importance of such lessons, doesn't he? His disciples saw this. They saw his example. Verse 17 says, Then his disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house has consumed me. Actually, the Greek here is a future tense. Will consume me is a better way to translate it. Here we're told that the disciples were reminded actually of something David wrote in Psalm 69. In Psalm 69, David said, Because zeal for your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. We'll find that that part of the verse was reflected in Jesus' life too. Those who reproach God cast their reproaches on Christ. because of this zeal that he had. This fervent devotion, that's what zeal is, for the house of God. And the disciples apparently saw this psalm as a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus. And it actually ends up being one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament. Psalm 69. Here it's cited just to tell us Jesus' pure motive in cleansing the temple. His motivation, again, stemmed from this fervent devotion to God and desire to see Him worship appropriately. And a desire to get rid of the distractions people brought into the house of God to that. We should have that same kind of zeal about worshiping God, shouldn't we? Not just in our daily lives, but for example, when we come to worship on Sunday, Maybe it's a good thing for us to spend Saturday night getting rid of some of the clutter. Or getting up early enough on Sunday morning to pray. And getting rid of some of the clutter and noise of the world. So when we come together we can be prepared to worship God. Because we have a zeal, a fervent devotion to Him. A fervent desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And we take that so seriously that we want to take out the whip on ourselves even, figuratively speaking. I'm not talking about becoming a flagellant like in the Middle Ages or something. You know what I mean. As I conclude, I'd just like to say, you know, God, please fill us with such a fervent devotion to you. Make us different, Lord. That's what I wanted to say when I read this. God, please fill our hearts with a sincere desire to see you worship for who you truly are and as you really ought to be worshipped. Help us to be examples to others of that. These are the kinds of thoughts and prayers I had as I read this. And when we fall short and need for Jesus to take out his whip to correct us, then I would say, God, please help us remember what your word says. For example, the author of the Hebrews, when he wrote to the Hebrew Christians who were suffering, he said, Have you forgotten, or you have rather forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons? My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges, or whips, it says, every son whom he receives. If we might feel whipped a bit this morning, well, let's just remember that gentle Jesus, meek and mild, is a disciplinarian. And he thanks us when we need it, because he loves us. And if we then rebuke even just a little bit today, then let's hear what Jesus also said to that worldly, lukewarm church at Laodicea. He said, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. He said hard things to them, but He wanted them to know it's because He loved them. Therefore, He said, be zealous. and repent. Behold, he said, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me." He's saying, I want you to have fellowship with me. But you're the one who shut the door to that. Through your lukewarm lives and your worldliness, they were a rich church. They had so much more than they needed. And they'd become materialistic and worldly, and that led to them being lukewarm. You remember what he said to them? I'd rather be cold or hot. This lukewarm thing, I can't stomach it. But I love you, he said. And that's why I'm rebuking you. That's why I'm chastening you. It's because I love you. And there's a door that's been closed between us, and I'm knocking on that door. Because I love you. All you have to do is open up by repenting. That's all. I think he was knocking on the door in the temple on this occasion. And sadly, many of them did not open. Let's pray. Holy Father, for those of us who know you, but who have become a little bit too much like these Jews in the temple in the first century, a little bit too much like that church at Laodicea, Lord, please forgive us. We hear your word. We hear you saying to us, I stand at the door and knock. Lord, we're sorry we shut that door in your face all too many times. We're sorry for that. Please forgive us, I pray. Please help us to love you and trust you more and more as our Lord and Savior every day. Please, Lord, help us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Grant us faith and repentance, we pray. to further serve you with fervent devotion, with zeal. Lord, may others, whenever they come to visit our church, as I sensed it this morning in the singing and the praise that was here, may they also sense the zeal we have to worship you. And may you root out of our lives, and yes, Lord, take out the whip if necessary, to drive out of our lives anything that comes between you and us. And Lord, for anyone here today who has not come to know Christ as Savior and Lord, I pray that today you would work in their heart that they would surrender their heart to you. I ask these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.