An Encounter with Jesus: Jesus loses it in the temple

Good morning everybody. Good to see you. I'm Sean, and really it's the joy of my life to be a part of this church and to I'm the family Life pastor here and it's really the joy of my life to be an encouragement to you. And hopefully as we have had relationship with each other, you have felt encouraged. And so it's your turn to encourage me today, right, So I need you, I need to feel your energy, and uh yeah, thank you, thank you. Well we have been It's okay to have fun in church, right, all right? So I have been. I was given like a six month ramp up to this message, and so I have been studying this. I have so much information and I just don't have time to share it. So I have loaded up though What's next page with so much stuff. It was fun for me to learn, and it's fun to learn, right. The Bible is, you know, there's some sometimes we read we read a story and we see it for what it is, but there's so much more that we can learn from that. And as we've gone through this Encounters with Jesus series, that has been the case. We see these stories, but there's always more that we can learn. That's not on the surface, right, Okay, So I'm gonna have fun with you today. I hope that's okay. Do you love your pastors? Man? What a you know? They will only be gone a few weeks, but we feel their absence. And what a great church. It's it's fun to be a part of what Jesus is doing here atd Ventures. So thank you for your faithfulness, and man, what a joy it is to be together. We're gonna read a story that in your Bible it might be it might the heading might be Jesus clears the temple or Jesus flips the tables. Are you guys familiar with the story? Were you guys curious or like, we've got this big teddy bear up here who was curious? Like where is Sean going with this message? Yeah, if you're not nice, I might just snuggle up with this bear for some moral encouragement. But you're gonna be good, right man? All right? So when we hear about these encounters with Jesus, we often think of these stories like Peter walking on the water or a man being healed by the pool, you know, who was crippled, these really positive encounters, and then we read this story and we're like, Hm, what's going on? What is does Jesus just have a really bad day that he would come into this temple and just like lose it? Has anybody wondered like, Okay, there is on the surface what Jesus is doing, but there is more to the story. So this story is unique in the fact that it's shared in all four of the Gospels. Do you guys know what the Gospels are? The first four books of the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are four of jesus disciples and they all tell this story from a different perspective. So what I'm gonna do this morning, which might be unusual for you, is rather than just reading the story from once from one book, I'm gonna do what's called harmonizing the scriptures. I'm going to take verses from each of these stories and we're going to read it in sequence to get a really good picture of what's happening. Are you ready? All? Right? Here we go. So before we read, I'll just say this, when when does this happen? So we've all heard the story of the Passover and Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, remember that. And the people were shouting his name, and they were shouting, Hosannah, God save us. Say it with me, Hosannah, God deliver us. We did that on Palm Sunny And that's a really fun, fun message that Pastor Brandon brings every year. So here we are. Jesus has just rode into Jerusalem and he goes to the temple. So we read. As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you even you had only known on this day, what would bring you peace? But now it is hidden from your eyes. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve the next day. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove them all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, He said, get these out of here, stop turning my father's house into a market. As he taught them. He said, and this is from Isaiah, the prophet. Isaiah said, this is it not written? My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. And then he quotes Jeremiah in saying, but you have made it a den of robbers. The blind in the lane came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priest and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple courts Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. The chief priest and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they heard him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. This is a crazy story, right, and it seems very uncharacteristic of Jesus, who we see doing these miraculous things and having these really positive encounters with people. So today's encounter seems a little bit uncharacteristic of Jesus. You guys may or may not know this about me, but I tend to be dramatic. I laugh a lot, I'm the guy who's not afraid to cry in the movie. Do you guys remember a Little House on the Prairie? Oh my word, I cried like every episode of that. I'm like, I'm just a crazy guy. So you would come to expect nothing less than for us to not just tell the story, but to illustrate this story for you today. Can I get a hand? Come on? All right? So I have some friends who are gonna me on screen. But first, let's set the scene first, like, oh, here they come. Let's set the scene. We've got the temple. Can we get the temple boom? All right? We have some men that are coming in, great looking men. Somebody are going to be exchanging exchanging coins. Some of them are going to be I'm really sorry, but these animals are for sacrifice. Cute. You didn't know? This is all we had available, friends. They were out of doves at Walmart. So so we have these poor victims, and you know, I want to share some things about the temple today. Is it okay if I teach you something today? All right? So this is a picture of the temple, and we see in the very middle, like the holiest place. There's several rooms in here. That are really significant. And then right outside of this, this bottom part here is called the temp or the courtyard of Women. Nice to know there's a place for women in the church, right, come on, yes, And then we've got this large area on either side, and this is actually called the courtyard of the Gentiles. Did you know that gentiles went to the temple to worship. I didn't know that. I learned that. And then this building over here is called the Royal Stoa or the Royal Colonnade, and this is likely where this took place. So imagine the chaos and the things that are going on inside the temple with people selling, exchanging coins and selling animals. And you know, have you guys ever been to the fair and walked through the cow exhibit or the bird exhibit? Like those places don't smell good, So imagine that's what's happening on in here. So here we have people exchanging money. And something that's really interesting to know is there are three mints. There were three mints in the area, and only one of them made a Tyrian high quality Tyrian silver. So levitical law. I'm going to explain what levitical law is. Please pay attention paid no attention to These are not paid actors, good men, but terrible actors. So people would travel from all over the area and they would bring their money because there was a tax that was required to go into the temple, and this was part of the vitical law. But there their silver may not have had the right quality, and so the Pharisees thought it was really really important to follow the law of Moses Moses really closely. So they had money exchangers that would trade this foreign currency for the right currency so that when you paid your temple tax, you weren't short changing the temple. Pretty interesting, right, It was very practical. And so these guys are selling silver and they're they're they're yelling to get people's attention. They'll say things like get your tearrian silver, Oh yes, give it up for our yes, thank you, all right. And then we have people that are selling animals for sacrifice, and they would be things like doves or cattle or sheep. Today we don't have those things, but uh, what would the what would the uh these salesmen be yelling. You know today we're having a sale on animal sacrifices by one get one half off. Oh oh, lovely. That's so good. It's improv here today. And then out of nowhere comes the man of the hour, Jesus. He comes in the temple. He forms a whip out of things that he finds around. And what does he do? He turns over the tables of the coin coin changers. Oh, and he chases off the cattle, and he chases off the men that are selling the animals. There you go, yes, And then what does Jesus do? He sits down and he'd be gains to teach and to heal people. Let's give it up for our actors today. Thank you, thank you. You know. I built these tables last night in my garage. Though their garbage like, they don't say wow. They are barely standing up as it is. All right, where am I here? Again, what we see on the surface of this story is not the whole story. Clearly, like something's going on here, but we need to go a little bit deeper in order to understand what Jesus is doing here. So we've already set the stage with the temple. But today I'd like to talk about the cast of this story. I'm looking at my directors here. I'm gonna play here in a couple of weeks and my directors are here, so they're critiquing me everything I do. We're gonna take a look at the cast, and first we're gonna start at the lead role of Jesus. So what do we know about Jesus that's pertinent to this story. Well, first, we know that Jesus was a Jew okay, and so Jesus not only believed in following thevitical law, but he taught his disciples to do the same, the laws of sacrifice, the laws of the temple, tax and sacrificing of animals. This wouldn't have been a surprise to Jesus, so something else must be going on. Secondly, Jesus was familiar with Jewish festivals. So from a very young age, I really loved the Book of Luke because Luke was a physician, and he writes from a position of someone that might have interest in someone from a very young age, how do you guys have little kids like and you kind of grow up your kids grow up with the same doctor. And so Luke's this physician and he tells the story in Luke chapter two that it says this, when the time came for the purification rights required by the law of Moses. Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and then a few verses later, it says every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover. Jesus wasn't surprised about what he was seeing with the selling of animals or the exchanging of money, because he had seen this throughout his entire life. It was all part of Jewish custom. So again, something else must be happening to draw this kind of reaction from Jesus. He was familiar with Jewish festivals. Jesus loved the Temple. He not only learned in the temple, but the Bible says that at a very young age he had discernment and he would understand the scriptures. Luke two forty two. Just after what we just read, there's a story of Jesus in the temple with Mary and Joseph, and then they leave and start heading home, and then a day and a half later they realized that Jesus isn't with them. This is like losing your kid in Walmart, but losing them for a really long time. Right, Imagine a day and a half. So they realized Jesus isn't with them. They travel all the way back to Jerusalem, and where do they find him. They find him in the temple. Jesus loved the temple. He was passionate about keeping the temple holy. And Jesus was not okay with the level of corruption that he saw in the temple on this day. And we'll talk about that corruption in just a minute. Jesus was also really passionate about people encountering God. He certainly was not okay with these the gentiles, or anyone coming through the temple being distracted in their worship. And we'll give a little bit more context to that in the middle a little bit. But Jesus loved the temple. It's where people practiced obedience, and it's where people encountered and received forgiveness from God. So this was really important to Jesus. Jesus was always teaching. Have you noticed that everywhere we read in the Bible, Jesus was always teaching. In fact, I think in this story Jesus is teaching a master class on the illustrated message. Like I'm doing a subpar job today. But Jesus was great at an illustrated message. He was always talking in metaphors like I am the vine, I am the you know, I am the light of the world. Jesus talked in metaphors and he also taught in parables, and we see this throughout the Gospels. He was always saying telling stories about like the seed sore and he's speaking to his audience, right, like know your audience. Jesus was really good at that. And in this story, Jesus was teaching. You know, I kind of think that it's okay for me to think. I think that the night before when Jesus came to the temple and then he remember he didn't stay long because it was late. I kind of think like Jesus was thinking to himself, Yeah, the crowd isn't here that I want to teach to and what lessons do I want to tell any teachers in the room. Like I feel like this was Jesus's time to like prepare his lesson plan for the next day. What am I going to teach when when my class is actually here. I like thinking about things like that. So, whether Jesus is in a crowd or whether you're speaking one on one with his disciples, Jesus lived a life of instruction, and I believe Jesus was teaching in this moment. Sometimes Jesus speaks with a feeling of peace. Right, we love that, that feeling of peace. But sometimes Jesus needs to turn some tables over to get our attention. OU how many guys like the peace part? Yeah? I like that way better than Jesus teaching us through correction. So Jesus plays the lead role here, and we know that he was teaching. Do you guys remember we taught Maybe you haven't been here long enough, but a few months back, Pastor Brandon taught on the Book of Daniel and there was an image that Ai had created of the statue that King nebu Kinzer had created. Do you guys remember that beautiful statue? Kind of like brought it to life. So we asked Ai, what would it look like for AI to create an image of Jesus flipping over the tables, and this was what we came up with. I love that AI doesn't always get it right, friends, So I want to teach you. I want to show you four different people, or four different groups of people that had four totally different encounters with Jesus. In this very story. So first I want to talk to you about the Pharisees. Do you guys know who the Pharisees are. You've heard them, you've heard their name. I always thought the Pharisees like kind of got a bad rap or like I had this negative feeling about the Pharisees. But what I've learned is that the Pharisees were actually middle class, really spiritual leaders, and they really cared about obedience to levitical law. Now I mentioned levitical law, and for some of you that might be new. So just really quickly, when Israel was escaping from Egypt, God had passed down laws to Israel through Moses, and part of those laws was to construct a temple which would travel along with them. And then a point men called that were called the Levites, and the Levites were responsible for making sure that the temple was set up correctly, that the temple tax was implemented correctly, correctly, the animal sacrifices, everything surrounding the temple and sacrifice was the responsibility of the Levites. Okay, so when we talk about levitical law, that's what we're talking about. So the Pharisees really honed in on making sure levitical law was followed, so providing the exchanging of money so that people could have the proper, proper coinage to worship, right having the animals there to sacrifice. They would have been credited for these types of practices as the priests and the leaders of the temple. So what was their encounter with Jesus in this moment. I believe that they would have been in support of jesus action because what was Jesus doing. Jesus was honoring the temple. He was honoring the fact that people had to pay these taxes, the temple tax, and they had to offer sacrifices in order to have relationship with God. And these provisions were being corrupted, and we'll talk about that again. So these God fearing leaders would have been pleased to see Jesus stand up for what they believed, that the temple was to be kept holy. In addition, the Pharisees would have known because they're teaching about prophecy. They believed in prophecy, so they believed in the prophecy of the Messiah. So there they are, and in front of them is this man that many were claiming to be the Messiah. In fact, that people were just chanting God save us, Hosanna. People were declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. So they knew this, And so now here in front of them is this man who claimed to be the Messiah, the Savior, who they had been learning about for their entire lives. Here he was in front of them, performing miracles, teaching and fulfilling the prophecies. But it was up to them whether they were going to believe that he was the Messiah or not. Some did believe. In John chapter three, we read about Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee who followed Jesus and believed that he was the Messiah. So Jesus in this moment was illustrating to the Pharisees that he was their long awaited Messiah. So what can we learn from the Pharisees today. The Pharisees loved the church, they loved God's word, they loved God. Yet when the Messiah was right in front of them, they missed him. Friends, I don't want to be a part of a church. Let me say it this way. I don't want to be a Christian that comes to church where God is moving and miss Jesus. Amen. So what we can learn from the Pharisees is listen, listen. Jesus is always moving, He's always doing something, and we want to be a part of it. We don't want to miss it. Can I get an amen? All right? So that's the Pharisees. They had an encounter with Jesus that was a point of decision. So think remember that Pharisees had a point of decision when they encounter Jesus. The next we have the Sadducees. Somebody say, Sadducees, just a little engagement here. Remember you're my encouragement today. Stay with it. You're doing a good job. These were upper class political leaders that were in cahoots with the Romans. Okay, so these guys were making a lot of money off the temple operations. Levitical law gave permission for there to be an up charge on the exchanging of money, did you know that? But that up charge went to the temple right or the selling of animals. There was a there was a fee, and that fee was to be used by the temple. But the Sadducees were in cahoots with the Romans, and they were gouging the people that were coming to worship. Think about this. These are men and women that are coming from all over the place, and rather than bringing animals with them, they would buy animals at the temple. It's been said that buying a dove inside the temple would be twenty times more expensive than outside the temple. So these guys were gouging. And then on the exchange of coins, they were gouging on that making so much money. And it would be it would have been the Sadducees that moved these practices from outside the temple to inside the temple, and Jesus, these are the people that Jesus was really trying to correct in this moment. So unlike the Unlike the Pharisees who believed in the prophecies of the Messiah, this wasn't even on the raidar of the Sadducees. They didn't believe in prophecy, they didn't believe in the Messiah. So Jesus would have only been a thorn in their side. He was a threat to their political power, he was a threat to their financial influence. The Sadducees were not a good group of dudes. So I would say this, how do we apply what happened with the Sadducees. Well, let me go back and say this, just to give a little practicality to who the Sadducees were. We read that it was these types of things that drove them crazy, like Jesus drove these men crazy because he was threatening their power. And we read that two men, in particular Caiaphas in Annis, they were Sadducees. And we know that it was they were. They played key roles in the trials and the execution of Jesus. So, now bringing it home, how can we apply the encounter of the Sadducees to our own lives? I'll say this, I think we all can have a little saddacey in attitude. Sometimes we all can have the tendency to desire success. We all can have the desire for power or influence, and we certainly can relate to the idea of having more money. So this, this attitude goes in direct contrast to Jesus being the lord of our life. So this isn't a message about money or power influence. But I will say this, if wealth or power or influence becomes so dominant in our lives that it becomes an idol or even a god. We've become a little bit too much like a sadducey. So this morning, perhaps that's you. Maybe you've been chasing after something so fiercely, and I just want to remind you that Jesus in this moment he was turning over the tables in this temple to remind these sadducees guys, you're getting it wrong. You're getting it wrong. So this morning, let the Holy Spirit speak to you. If that's you, come on, we're here to have some life change. Amen. Amen. All right. So that's the sadducees. The final group that we're going to talk about or groups, are the Jews and the Gentiles. These are the people that were visiting the temple. What was their experience? What was their encounter with Jesus? And we're going to land the plane here, so's hang with me. You doing good? Okay, there's some really cool things I want to share with you. Let's look at the Jewish crowd first. These are people that are devoted and obedient to visiting the temple year after year. They buy their sacrifices, they pay the temple tax. So what was their encounter, the Jews encounter with Jesus. One, they would have been aware of the mistreatment of the temple and the corruption that was going on. Two they were familiar with Jewish festivals, including the Festival of unloven Bread. And this is one of those golden nuggets that I kind of had to dig for with the help of some friends. So the Festival of unloven Bread. Do you guys remember when Israel was about to escape from Egypt and they had passover where they're creating a meal in haste and they're baking bread in haste, and so they couldn't have leaven in their bread. They had to make the flour quickly and bake it and eat it right. So the Festival of unloven Bread is when Jewish people, in remembrance that of the Exodus, sweep their houses of all leaven and leven is what we know is yeast, okay, So they're sweeping their house of leaven and levin represents sin. So think about this. Jesus shows up to his father's house and he sweeps the temple of leaven. He's sweeping the temple of sin. Isn't that cool? What a cool illustration of what Jesus was teaching to the Jews in that moment. Thank you for saying wow, it was a well moment for me too. The Jews were familiar with the Jewish festivals and what Jesus was teaching in this moment. The Jews would have been happy at the change that Jesus was trying to bring. Did they see Jesus as the Messiah? Maybe some did, we know that, but others maybe Jesus was just the guy at the gas pump who was mad that he was paying too much for gas, right, Like, certainly that was happening. So some Jews, I mean, I wasn't there so to put myself in their mind. Maybe some people just thought Jesus was a radical. Certainly that's true. But others they would have had the choice to decide if Jesus was the Messiah, and they would have been familiar with Jesus. He after all, he was in the Temple his entire life, and many of them just cheered for him as he came into the city. So Jesus was speaking volumes to the Jews. He was speaking up for their mutual honor of the Temple and the levitical law. He was certainly displaying himself as someone that could be the Messiah. And he was quoting the prophets by saying, you've turned my father's house into a den of robbers. And when he said this temple will be a temple for all nations, meaning Jews and Gentiles alike, these weren't just clever things for Jesus to say. So the Jewish worshipers, their encounter with Jesus was extremely vivid for them. The Jews, this encounter was a point of fulfillment for those who chose to believe. Finally, let's talk about the gentiles. That's you and me. There might be some Jewish people in the room. I don't know. I didn't realize before studying this that gentiles were actually worshiping in the temple. I thought was another cool little nugget that I learned in this. And you remember in the temple, that largest area that we saw was called the courtyard of the Gentiles. Now, in hindsight, we know that Jesus died, he rose from the grave, and he ascended into heaven. Right, we know that we've read about that, But think about these gentiles in this moment before Jesus was crucified. Unless they had spent time in the temple learning, they wouldn't have known that there was a promise messiah. What would they experience with Jesus here have been. They probably would have just seen him as a radical. They would have been happy to see him standing up for something they knew that was corrupt. Let's think about the gentiles experience here for just a minute. You travel from far away. You're not God's chosen people, but you're making the choice to worship God, and you're following the examples of the Jews. So you show up with a temple and you expect to exchange your money, and it costs you twenty times as much as you planned. And then you go and buy your anim aimal sacrifice, and it costs you twenty times more to buy the animal sacrifice. And then you walk in and it smells and it's loud, and people are yelling. Have you ever been to a vacation spot and people are yelling to get your attention? You know what I'm talking about. Imagine if that was your experience today, adventure. You walk in, it smells like a farm, not nothing against farms, and people are yelling to get your attention. In order to worship God, you have to buy some merchandise. We're not selling merchandise here so that you can encounter God. There's no restriction there. But imagine their encounter in that moment. What was the gentile's encounter with Jesus. From a practical standpoint, they were victims of greed, just like everybody else, and they would have been happy that someone stood up for them, standing for something they knew was right. There they were making the effort to have a relationship with God. A few days later, some of them might see Jesus carrying his cross through the town and people yelling at him, and then they see him hanging on a cross and they think, oh, that was that man. That was radical. I guess it kind of makes sense he was radical, so he's dying for that. But then people started yelling there he is the king of the Jews, and they might think king. I didn't know this guy was a king. Or there he is claims to be the son of God and he can't even take himself off the cross, and then their minds are thinking son of God, I don't get it. So then Jesus dies he's taken off the cross and buried, and the Gentiles go home. What's their encounter with Jesus. Well, we know now that Jesus didn't stay dead. He rose from the grave. He made himself, He presented himself to his disciples and hundreds of other people. And before Jesus ascended back to heaven, he instructs his disciples tell people about me that I died for them and I rose for them so that they can have not they the Jews, but they all people could have an encounter with God and have a relationship with Jesus. So then the disciples out of obedience, think about this for just a minute. You're a gentile. You're at home, minding your own business, and here comes Paul, or here comes one of the disciples, and they say, remember Jesus, that guy that stood up for you in the temple, who stood against corruption, he did something even more radical for you. Come on, isn't that so amazing? And now the picture might start to come clear for them. Oh, those sacrifices that I made, Jesus came to fulfill that for me. Guys, what Jesus did for the gentiles has been impacting millions of people for thousands of years, and people like you and me are lives that were separated from God, destined for separation from God and hell now are written in the Lamb's Book of Life held in the hands of Jesus. Come on, that's amazing. The gentiles encounter with Jesus was remarkable and it can be your encounter as well. The Gentiles, it was a point of realization, but it wasn't in this moment. It would have come later in the story as the Gospel was presented to them. Isn't that cool? Let's wrap this up. I believe that Jesus might just be crossing some of your paths today. We talk about that a lot here. We're just a group of people that at the right time, Jesus crossed our path. We've talked about the experience of the Pharisees who Jesus crossed our path and some believe, but some missed it. So maybe that's you today. Maybe you'd say, Sean, I know that Jesus is moving, I know that Jesus is here, but I don't want to miss it. Maybe some of you are like the Sadducees today a little bit, maybe with some misplaced affection, let me a little too much love of money, a little bit too much love of success, or maybe you're like the Jews or the tiles today realizing today that Jesus is the hope of the world. Will you stand with me? This is a doozy of a story, isn't it. On the surface it doesn't look like much. But Jesus is always teaching, right, Jesus is always teaching, And sometimes he teaches us through peace, and other times he starts flipping over some tables in our hearts to get our attention. Let's close our eyes just a little private moment here. If that's you today, If you feel like, yeah, Sean, Jesus is here, and I don't want to miss what Jesus is doing, will you just raise your hand? I think I should be all of us right. I don't want to miss what my hand's up. I don't want to miss what Jesus is doing. Okay, And now I'm going to close my eyes as well as everyone here. And if you just feel like Sean, I've just been I've got some few things that are distract acting me. My focus has not been in the right place. I'm going to invite you to raise your hand and I'm not even looking. I want you to just have that between you and Jesus. For those of you who want to encounter a relationship with Jesus for the first time. This church, we do things as a family. So I'm just going to say a prayer and I ask you to just repeat this after me. Everybody say, Dear Jesus, thank you for crossing my path. Thank you for making a way that I can have relationship with God. I believe you are the son of God. I believe you died for my sins and you live now. Will you come into my heart forgive me of all of my sin. I receive you as my Lord. Amen. Amen. Guys, God is so good. Isn't it fun to have an encounter with Jesus? Amen? Amen,