July 30, 2008 · 7:17 AM
John Chapter 2, since this is a blog post, I am only going to center my thoughts on one area. This will also be speculation but hopefully I can show you through scripture how I came to this thinking.
JOHN 2: 13-17
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15And He made a scourge of cords, and 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; 16and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”
In my own thinking the whole idea of business is to make a profit…but no profit for man should be made in the House of God. Why were they able to set this up? my guess is the same as today..supply and demand. GOD ordered them to bring something to sacrifce to HIM to show their repentance and then HE would forgive. Somehow it looks like they made it kind of cheesy, they didn’t need to bring thier own..they could just buy it there..no long walk with your best sheep or whatever your household could afford..no long walk with the animal, pondering on why you were doing this, or preparing your heart for a repentance..just merely ritual..sort of like-God wants us to do this, so here we have done it. Just my thinking…and pondering…But what about the doves/pigeons…they were the sacrifce called out in the very beginning for the ones who were very poor, destitute, and surely they could set out to catch one or two for a sacrifice…now they can just buy one..with what? and it really looks like someone has been taken advantage of the poor.
Maybe not, there are other reasons for bringing doves/pigeons..
In the following list is just the tip of the iceburg for scripture pertaining to sacrifice;
Leviticus 1,5,12,14, 15/Numbers 6/Luke 2:24
I appears to me that by selling this at the temple, none of it is any longer the best of what one has, or spottless or remotely close to what GOD had requested, its what I could get on the way(last minute thinking)..they like us have given in to convience, even at our own cost…they allowed it.
So, what was the house of GOD to resemble?
-a house of prayer (Luke 19:46/I Kings 8,9)
-a meeting/dwelling place for God(KING)(I Kings 8,9/I Corinthians 3:17)
DId they know what wrong they were doing? Absolutely! they were not only taught it from birth, but they were also the leaders and teachers of the Holy Script…Can you say “open bold face defiance”? I think to bring it closer to our hearts..and into our life application…think..I am going to walk into my house, where it is just like I want it to be…but when I get there…cow crap on my floor, it looks like a barn and smells like one too…where is the incense smell I insist on…How long would it take you to start throwing it all out the door? GOD’s house..requiring respect for a HOLY KING, or one HOLY whoopin is on the way!
Now, we are that temple, HE lives in us, …..that is another post another time! 🙂
**don’t forget to go and check out the other posts on this chapter all are listed on my blogroll, a section for the Bible Study group…Carl, and Joe have already posted and they are worth taking a look and leaving a comment, thanks!**
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ponderings of a princess... 
Sometimes i think we miss what worship is all about. It is really all about our relationship with him – not all the legal aspects we tie to it.
Amen Papa! Its all about HIM, and somethings HE has spoken clearly how they are to be done…I know I don’t want to be on that whoopin end 😯 been there – no fun- still carry the scars. 😉
Man Papa you stole my point…;)
Darla you hit the nail on the head. How often do we go into church check of Worship on our list and walk out?
God loves it when we worship with reckless abandon, and give it all up to him. Good thing he loves us even when we don’t .
As I sit here and think a little longer on this worship…another question arises…
Does GOD call out or state how we are to worship? Isn’t it a life 24/7 thing, in our daily life? Yes HE does love us all the time..although HE does love me when HE disciplines me for my defiance…all in love of course.. 😉
Actually Darla & Carl – worship is just a thing we do when we go to church. When we are not at church we do not have to have an attitude of worship. I mean just because the first four of the ten commandments are all about HIM doesn’t mean we have to take that seriously. we just need to fit worship in our lives some where – like Sunday mornings at 11AM.
I don’t think we need to go to a building or a tent to worship always.
I have a strand of beach that I use.
My temple of God is what I look at in the reflection in the mirror (before the add ons).
I go to my church, serve there, and learn there.
But where I worship is where my heart is at that moment. 24/7!!!!
Papa- are you messing with me? I need to say..Read Romans 12 and note that words..living sacrifice..and spiritual act of worship…just kind of go to gether…I am sure you were just calling me out.. 🙂
Heidi- agree, I have a special place that over looks the river and I love climbing out on the rock and just sit with GOD and my thoughts..Its been my church since I was 17, LOL even when I didnt think I went to church! I always retreated there when I was confused, or hurt, or just angry…I always came back ready to try again. Did I tell you today that “I ♥ you!?!
Mess with you ??? My daughter ??? Nawww, never – heh, heh, heh!
Actually the last two days have been filled with worship – I love his abiding presence and my heart sings & rejoices all day long!
hahahahha I thought..that is just my papa being ornery, and checking to see if I am reading comments.. 😆
Great perspective Darla…I love how you zone in one something…LOL
“sort of like-God wants us to do this, so here we have done it. ” Ouch! That really hit…how many times to we get into our Holy ritual week after week and become so familiar that we forget the purpose. Yes, I’m speaking to me…..
Love you, and thank you for this….Geez…I need to step it up a notch for Friday…LOL
His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
Do you ever wonder how Christ’s zeal for his Father’s house would be expressed if he walked into one of today’s ‘churches’. We’ve all been there. . .looks like part of a business park (or the whole business park), Starbucks just outside the ‘sanctuary’, maybe along with other things for sale, the ‘non-sanctuary’ devoid of anything that might remind the ‘seekers’ who might get uncomfortable with open reminders of God. . .endless, doctrinelesss elf-help sermonettes . . .anyone?
I have thought about that. After working through some of it in my recent past…I am at this conclusion..I don’t have a problem with coffee shops that are outside of the sanctuary, I do have a problem when the profits are not put into things that further the kingdom. That is where I think GOD has a problem..we need to always be consciencious that our efforts are for the kingdom and not how we can make a buck.
Y’all have said it…and Ladies’ Bible study this morning is still on my mind…I was thinking about the call that we are to be a sacrifice, a fragrant aroma for Him. We are now the temple, the body of Christ…how do we smell?
Love you, Darla. Meant to say that. Time for to get prepared for tomorrow’s post… 😮
I once read an essay by muscician Michael Card on this passage. He said he was walking through a “vendor booth area” at a Christian publishers and music convention and was watching all the vendors using God to hawk their wares. He got a picture of Jesus coming into that place and over turning the tables.
Another musician–Keith Green–used to give his albums away for free to anyone who could not afford them. How did he know if they couldn’t afford them? He didn’t. Therefore many people would take stacks of albums that could have afforded to purchase them.
Not too long ago, my wife volunteered to help at a women’s conference at the church we were attending. They charged her $50 to come to the conference, which she missed because she was working the snack table the whole time, and they charged her $15 for the t-shirt she had to wear showing that she was staff!!!
Maybe Jesus needs to cleanse the church the way He did the temple huh?
Great post Darla! Kudos for digging into the mosaic law! Your post really made me think…if the temple had merely become a business, then the religion itself had become a business; that is, it was no longer this life giving relational thing…just something they did…a habit.
Instead of raising giving a goat to the Lord that had been raised from birth (the best, like you said) they just go to the temple court and purchase their atonement.
Great thoughts Darla!
Darla,
“I don’t have a problem with coffee shops that are outside of the sanctuary, I do have a problem when the profits are not put into things that further the kingdom.”
The difference is where the profits go? Did Jesus differentiate between the ones selling sacrifices for profit and not for profit? You missed the point – it’s not just coffee shops. It’s dishonoring God in a variety of ways.
Joe, Well said!!!!!!! And I remember Keith Green. . .and the 2nd Chapter of Acts, who only took love offerings and refused to charge admission fees for their concerts.
My Hubs band does the same thing..they give away cds, and play at the Mission and give homeless people cds to give away if they have no player, and then they can come back and get another…
Dan I do hear what you are saying..and honestly only Jesus knows their hearts and intentions…I really think the difference with the tables being overthrown in the temple was what they were selling was not what God told them to do in the first place, and they made the sacrifice meaningless…not to mention HIS temple ( the one that was built to his blueprint) was defiled.
I do agree man should not gain from what God has ordained…
Michelle- thier is a post on the subject you mentioned smelling good, on my old blog.. Princess overcomer…if you want to go there, it should be easy to find… Love you!
Joe- love ya man! I am enjoying your thoughts as well, and you do provoke some good digs for me!
Nate- I hear you! I love to dig in the Mosaic and see what is the culture and what are they taught, and it makes more sense to how Jesus responded to the Pharisees…love it!
darla, you still miss the big picture. It was about the Son’s love for His Father and dishonoring the house of God. Try this, from John Gill’s commentary:
This passage, so far as it is cited, agrees exactly, word for word, with the original text in (Psalms 69:9) , wherefore it is very strange that Surenhusius F6 should remark a difference, and give himself a good deal of trouble to reconcile it: he observes, that in the Hebrew text, it is read, (hwhy) (tanq) , “the zeal of the Lord”, in the third person; whereas it is there, (Ktyb tanq) , “the zeal of thine house”, as here, in the second person: indeed, the word (yk) , “for”, is left out, as he remarks, there being no need of it in the citation; the evangelist only historically relating the accommodation of it to Christ, by the disciples; whereas in the original text, the words contain a reason of the reproach and shame which Christ endured, and was put to by the Jews on account of his zeal for the house, honour, and worship of God; and the latter part of the text is not produced at all, being not for the present purpose, though very applicable to Christ; and is cited, and applied to him by the apostle, in (Romans 15:3) . Such was Christ’s regard to his Father’s house, and which was typical of the church of God; and such his concern for his honour, ordinances, and worship, that when he saw the merchandise that was carried on in the temple, his zeal, which was a true and hearty affection for God, and was according to knowledge, was stirred up in him, and to such a degree, that it was like a consuming fire within him, that ate up his spirits; so that he could not forbear giving it vent, and expressing it in the manner he did, by driving those traders out of it. Phinehas and Elias were in their zeal, as well as other things, types of Christ; and in the Spirit and power of the latter he came; and Christ not only expressed a zeal for the house of God, the place of religious worship, but for the church and people of God, whose salvation he most earnestly desired, and most zealously pursued: he showed his strong, and affectionate regard to it, by his suretyship engagements for them, by his assumption of their nature, by his ardent desire to accomplish it, and by his voluntary and cheerful submission to death on account of it. And such was his zeal for it, that it eat him up, it inflamed his Spirit and affections, consumed his time and strength, and, at last, his life: and he also showed a zeal for the discipline of God’s house, by his severe reflections on human traditions; by asserting the spirituality of worship; by commanding a strict regard to divine institutions; and by sharply inveighing against the sins of professors of religion: and he discovered a warm zeal for the truths of the Gospel, by a lively and powerful preaching of them; by his constancy and assiduity in it; by the many fatiguing journeys he took for that purpose; by the dangers he exposed himself to by it; and by the care he took to free the Gospel from prejudice and calumnies: and it becomes us, in imitation of our great master, to be zealous for his truths and ordinances, and for the discipline of his house, and not bear with either the erroneous principles, or the bad practices of wicked men.
I will ask again:
Do you ever wonder how Christ’s zeal for his Father’s house would be expressed if he walked into one of today’s ‘churches’. We’ve all been there. . .looks like part of a business park (or the whole business park), Starbucks just outside the ’sanctuary’, maybe along with other things for sale, the ‘non-sanctuary’ devoid of anything that might remind the ’seekers’ who might get uncomfortable with open reminders of God. . .endless, doctrinelesss self-help sermonettes . . .anyone?
Do not the above dishonor God? It’s the same principal.
I have to agree with Dan. I heard a pastor say that the reason we “must” have coffee shops, etc. at our churches is because we are “trying to compete with what the world offers people.”
WHAT???!!!
Since when is the church of the living God in competition with the world? What are we trying to do here, grab market share?
The the church should just BE the church. Let’s preach the truth, love God and others, and do good in our world. We can leave it to God to bring the people in just like He did in Acts. (“and GOD added to their number daily…”)
This may be a whole other post or conversation, but I think our desire to make the church more like what the local mall is offering our “target audience” (I am being sarcastic there), comes from seeing the church as a business or institution that we must maintain and the ministry as a career in which we must be successful which is defined by numbers.
I could be wrong…it wouldn’t be the first time and it certainly won’t be the last.
Darla – LOVE YOU TOO!
There was not suppossed to be a smiley face there. I hate it when that happens.
Dan- I am not disagreeing with you. I am agreeing with you..will HE be happy walking in the door of our churches…NO I don’t think HE would…although a number of churches are working on getting back to what it is all about–meaning doing the will of God. I also don’t think HE is pleased with the church shooting the church..it all falls under judgemental, and prideful..no one is there in my opinion, and we all need work in this area…I did warn you in the beginning of this post that alot of this is speculation. This my life lesson for today. I could get up in arms about coffee shops and do alot of things different in the church, but this is not the only issue I have with the church of today.
Praising God that HE continues to show me people who do get it, and who are willing to get out of thier comfort zone and do the will of God. Honestly, I am more concerned that I am walking in the will of God, I really have to answer for me. I only try to point back to HIM with my life…not just a church service…worship is from within..and should mirror in all I say and do..including my attitudes…that is also within God’s will for me.
Joe you make me smile! 😆
Isn’t HE already in the churches? walking in inside of me..inside of other believers…HE is telling me to love and pray for some..and trust HIM to take care of the rest. Unless of course HE calls me to speak out or to make a move…I don’t do anything with out HIM.
I ♥ u!
Deb- you got to go visit scotts blog..too funny!!! hahahaha love how he defends me..hahaha totally off the wall!!!
WOW… I missed a lot…
I have said many times, that as followers of Christ it is more important to be the Church where ever you are to whoever is in front of you.
Attending or having a church with a coffee shop, good thing bad thing? Don’t know. The church I attend has one…GASP. I know kick me out of the kingdom. It just doesn’t matter.
What matters is each individuals heart and the relationship they have with Christ.
I wrote a bit more about it here on my other blog. http://tinyurl.com/5r8e7t
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Darla,
I just wanted to thank you for posting this little bit of John 2. Yesterday I suggested that the point of the whole ‘turning over the tables’ thing was about the Son’s zeal for His Father’s House. That seemd to be starkly clear due to the disciples having suddenly ‘remembered’ the OT reference to the Messiah tp cpme and what He would be like.
That’s kinda like the religious leaders, when they couldn’t understand their zeal and boldness on the streets of Jerusalem, ‘remembering’ that they ‘had been with Jesus’. When I read those words, I tend to pay a bit closer attention, because there’s somethin’ comin’ my way that has SERIOUS spiritual implications.
Having said all that, why I am I thanking you, since I am not sure you got that point (based on your comments about where the profits went)? Seeing that one statement again, caused me to think and point the old forefinger at myself and ask:
“Self, are you consumed for the Father’s House?” followed by the requirement to try and define what that little question means. I might just have to post the results of that little exercise over at my place.
Hi Darla 🙂 One thing I was reminded of, reading your study, was that God is deserving of excellence in our worship, and in our lives as worship. Not what’s convenient, or second-best, the very best!!
We still friends?
Princess….I’m going to so invade your blog if I don’t hear from you soon…..me misses da princess!!! 😦
Hey, Darla! Been praying for you…hope you’re curled up with a good book or THE Good Book.
♥ ♥ ♥
I’m sorry… did you know that I love you more today than yesterday and less than tomorrow??
There are the Protestant Bible study programs but not very many Catholic ones. Felipe Oxen