Bible Study Romans Part 53-Do You Plunder Sacred Things

Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel.

God's Word is supreme in chapel ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we host, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There's truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

We are currently at verse 18 of the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans.

We've been working our way slowly but surely through this incredibly important section of the New Testament.

And yes, I do think every section of the New Testament is incredibly important.

Let me read verses 17 and 18 together just to get us started.

I read out of the King James.

Please follow along in the Bible that's in front of you.

If you find that you're getting a little bit lost because of the differences between the way these translations look, just check the screen and you can catch back up with us.

Romans 2, 17, out of the King James.

Behold, thou art called the Jew, and rest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law.

Paul is addressing his fellow Jews.

He's trying to get them to see that they've lost their focus.

They're not pleasing God as they should.

They're privileged in so many ways, and yet they treat those privileges not as tools to use to glorify God, given them, given to them by grace, but rather as excuses to be prideful.

Paul is pointing out their arrogance and the damage it's done to their relationship with God.

But if, it says, behold in my Bible, but that's not really the best translation, but if thou art called a Jew and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, you're well taught, my fellow Jews.

You have a good working knowledge of what God expects out of those he's chosen, verse 19, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide to the blind, a light of them which are in darkness.

In fact, you see yourselves as accomplished experts in this field, and you feel you have a lot to offer those pig dogs out there who aren't as fortunate as you are.

Why, yes, yes, Paul, of course.

I do still thank God that I'm not as like these other men.

But listen, if they need anything, all they should do is feel free to ask.

Paul is buttering them up, he's reeling them in, and he's about to spring the trap.

Verse 20.

One more, and he's almost got them.

An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

Paul, I gotta tell you, I thought you were going to be rough on us.

That's your reputation.

But I can see you're being really nice, and you're very accurate, of course.

You're spot on, you're very astute to recognize how superior we Jews really are.

Well, says Paul, you know, I'm one of you.

I was born a Jew.

I'm a Pharisee of the Pharisees.

I've mingled among you, my fellow Jews, all my life.

So I think I know what I'm talking about.

But I have a few questions for you, my brother in Abraham.

Go ahead, dear Paul, ask away.

Thou therefore, there's that therefore word that Paul loves so much.

Thou therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?

Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

How'd you mean?

I'm not following you, Paul.

Thou therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?

Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

Do you practice what you preach?

I mean, you go around telling everyone that God said do this and don't do that.

Have you ever stopped to think about your own example?

Do you swipe things that don't belong to you?

Of course I don't.

Well, you know, nothing serious.

A little cheating on my taxes, maybe.

I did get one of those devices that gets me free cable.

I hooked that up.

Now I can see any TV I want for free.

Occasionally I may forget to scan one or two items at the self-checkout lane at the grocery store, you know, forget.

Little things like that.

No big deal.

Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?

Hey, she came on to me, man.

Besides, my wife and I were arguing that week.

I thought we were going to divorce court.

Thou that aborest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

This is a sneaky one.

You know, most people would categorically deny that they worship idols.

But how do you spend your Sundays from August to February?

Are you in church after kickoff ever?

You're being a little picky here, aren't you, John?

I just want you to tell me where God lies in your priorities.

That's really what we're talking about here in modern times when the subject of idols comes up.

Of course, no one is going out and worshiping a totem pole in their backyard.

No one praised to Zeus or Apollo or Aphrodite.

That's ridiculous.

But that doesn't mean we've thrown away our own personal idols, does it?

We may be too enlightened to call on Ashtaroth or Moloch, but that doesn't mean we won't bow down to gods of our own making.

And that's the difference, isn't it?

We worship whatever tickles our fancy, whatever serves our purposes.

We advocate for, we evangelize anything that appeals to our senses.

In the past, even pagan worship was spiritual in nature.

Spirituality has all but disappeared in our modern society, but that hasn't stopped our natural inbuilt drive for adoration.

The biggest house of worship the world has ever known is social media.

In fact, it's the modern pantheon.

It's the place where all of our idols hang out, isn't it?

In our phones or on our tablets, we can find any manner of object we want to worship, except God, of course.

In fact, if we fancy being a bit of a God ourselves, that's the place we can find an almost inexhaustible supply of willing worshipers, as long as we play by their rules and do as they demand.

But let me warn you before you get started, you had better figure out a way to silence your conscience, because the things you're going to have to do to get worshiped by that crowd will go against even the tiniest, quietest sense of decency you have.

And I know these sorts of comments make me sound so boomer, but no matter, what's right and good never goes out of style.

It only appears to be for those who've given themselves completely over to the world.

Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?

Thou that abhorest idols, thou that detest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

Now, I have to keep reminding you of Paul's original intent, but every time I do so, I have to be careful lest you fall into the same trap.

This letter is directed squarely at the Jews.

And even though I don't want you to think you're off the hook, it's important for you to remember who these passages were meant for so that you can get to the heart of what Paul is communicating.

In order for you to learn the total lesson, you have to understand the context.

Now you get the point about adultery.

That's not too hard to figure out, but it's the second half of that statement that really stings his audience, believe it or not.

Listen, they'd rather, they'd much rather be called a cheating husband than an idol worshiper.

Throughout their entire history, the Jews, the Jewish people were strikingly unique.

In fact, that's what was God's intent.

He intended for them to stick out.

Deuteronomy 7, 6.

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God.

Holy, in a sense, means set aside.

For thou art set aside unto the Lord thy people.

The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

That's what God wanted for his people.

He wanted them to stand out.

And one of the most obvious, unique characteristics of their nation was the way they worshiped.

Listen, in ancient times, religion was a cultural marker.

In other words, interwoven into every aspect of a nation or a civilization was their religion.

Just as important as their language, their literature, their art.

The way they related to their higher being was among the ways they identified themselves.

How they went about expressing their relationship with their gods was integral to who they were.

Certainly no different for the Jews.

Since the very founding of their nation, listen, they worshipped only one God.

Now, they didn't always stick to that.

There are many infamous examples of their disobedience along those lines, but let's deal with one disobedience at a time.

Their monotheism became their identity.

It was what made them stand out.

Their religion, their system of worship had only one God.

And though we can't really grasp this now, but for thousands of years, they were practically the only civilization that worshipped that way.

Polytheism was the de facto standard for their neighbors for dozens of centuries.

And before long, no doubt due to their human nature, the Jews actually began to express pride in this uniqueness as if they deserved it, as if they earned it, as if it was a uniqueness based on their own qualities.

They were boastful about their beliefs.

And one, they these beliefs that were what they lorded most over their heathen neighbors.

In fact, they hated those on the outside for their innumerable foreign gods, their fleshy foolishness, their spiritual ignorance and wickedness.

They pridefully chastised the nations around them for worshiping wood and stone idols.

They proudly proclaimed that their God was true and mighty and alone.

So this comment by Paul was an especially insulting inference.

Thou that abhorest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

You say you detest idol worshipers, but can you say safely and honestly you're free from such accusations?

Now, most scholars agree that this verse could just as easily be rendered, do you plunder sacred things?

Thou that hates idols, do you plunder sacred things.

In fact, the original Greek word is also found over in Acts 1937, and there it's translated, robbers of churches.

Of course, Paul isn't hinting at that sort of thing, but it's obvious that he's accusing his own people of an almost criminal disrespect for that which God considers holy.

Though I could easily apply this same condemnation to our own society for the moment, let's stick with Paul's target market.

We all, of course, remember our Lord's angry reaction in the temple, don't we?

Wait, Jesus got angry?

He sure did.

Let's read it.

This is sort of a rare story in that it's found in all four of the gospels.

That's not something that happens too often.

You see, each gospel writer purposely focused on a disp different aspect of the life of Jesus.

This has given us an incredibly rich and diverse view of the short time we had him here with us.

But apparently, all four writers thought this was a moment that communicated a very crucial, crucial message.

Now, let me just give you a disclaimer here.

Some say that the reason this story is in all four Gospels is because it's actually reporting two separate incidences of a similar nature.

Now, that's not important to my point, but I did want to mention it.

There are always smart people out there who might want to point out a mistake they think I've made.

So let's go ahead and read this from the Gospel of John.

I think that version is the one that sort of best captures the purity of our Lord's raw emotions in this famous moment.

Chapter 2, starting at verse 13, John 2, 13.

And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting.

And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables.

He's mad, and said unto them that sold doves, take these things, hence, make not my father's house and house of merchandise.

This is precisely what Paul was referring to.

Verse 13 of the above passage from the Gospel of John says that Passover was at hand.

This would have been a very busy time in Jerusalem and especially at the temple.

Passover was one of three out of the seven feasts that all Jewish males were required to attend.

There are seven feasts, three of which all Jewish males had to go to Jerusalem to celebrate.

That means that if you were male and you were Jewish, you went to Jerusalem.

The only place on earth the Passover at that time would be celebrated in full.

Needless to say, it was a golden opportunity for the religious propiteer.

Now, quickly let me cover this just to give you an idea of one type of plundering of sacred places, what one type of plundering of sacred places looks like.

Remember, this is what Paul meant by sacrilege.

For those with hearts sensitive to God's holiness, such as Paul, this sort of thing is painful and shameful.

The temple at Passover was busy and bustling.

Men from all over the region are in Jerusalem preparing for the feast.

Then as now, Judaism was an international religion with adherents coming in from far and wide.

As you probably know, Passover at that time was centered on animal sacrifice.

Well, it's not convenient nor safe nor practical to travel from, say, Alexandria, Egypt, all the way to Jerusalem with a bullock in tow.

So some enterprising business mind conceived of the idea.

This is true, this is truly what happened.

They conceived of the idea of selling animals for sacrifice right there nearby to the ultimate destination, which was the altars of the temple.

It was a great help for these long-distance travelers, a convenient way to avoid the fuss and bother of cattle driving over the many miles between the international centers of Judaism and Jerusalem.

But it also became a temptation for the locals.

I mean, why bother raising your own animals when someone else can do it for you?

J.

Vernon McGee says that this is making religion easy.

And unfortunately, we're all susceptible to that temptation.

And of course, as with anything whose existence is entirely a matter of convenience, this was expensive, which means vast profits were earned.

No doubt price gouging was common.

And listen, no one was innocent here, the lazy celebrant nor the greedy merchants.

A sacred celebration brought down to an ugly human level.

And perhaps the most grievous offenders of them all in this plundering were the religious leaders who looked the other way, maybe even for a cut of the action.

Now, there's nothing in these stories that explicitly says these men were complicit, but it does make you wonder how the jackals got away with their trickery.

Just quickly, these biblical accounts tell us that the profiteering wasn't limited to the ones selling the animals.

The story also mentions money changers or changers of money.

Shared in this sacrilege circus?

Think about it, all that foreign currency flowing into the city, it had to be converted into the local denomination, or at least into the form of money that would be accepted by the various entities.

The assorted merchants would most likely want to accept only one type of currency, preferably the local one.

Even if the merchant wasn't local, they no doubt would want currency they could use while in town.

But perhaps more importantly, foreign money would not be accepted as payment for the so-called temple tax paid at that time by all devout Jewish males above the age of 20.

The only currency accepted for this important tax was what was referred to as Tyrian coins, so named because they were minted in the city of Tyre.

Now, the reason these coins were the only option was because of their high silver content.

The temple tax, also known as the half-sheikl or the sheikl of the sanctuary, it was also known as redemption money, and it had to be in silver.

Now, no time to go into the details, but that was the requirement.

Redemption money must be silver.

You see, silver in the Bible is always a symbol of redemption.

As you chapel regulars know, the tabernacle in the wilderness was literally surrounded with silver.

Now I want to park here, but I have to move on.

Let me just say that all that currency exchange did not come cheaply.

The money changers must have charged exorbitant fees to do all that conversion.

The entire process was rife with fraud.

Now I think it's entirely possible that Paul knew of this event from Jesus' life and may have even been thinking about it when he said, Thou that abhorest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

And listen, even if Paul didn't know about the cleansing of the temple as described above, he used to be an insider.

He used to be a part of the Jewish leadership, and he knew plenty.

He knew all about the dirty business of religion.

And I suspect that's why he was the constant target of the Jewish elite.

He knew where the bodies were buried, as they say.

He was aware of what went on in the background.

And the leaders of the temple made it their personal mission to silence him on everything.

So back to this letter to the Romans.

Paul continues, verse 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonorest thou God?

Listen, the gloves have come off.

He's not hinting around anymore, is he?

Paul is coming right out with it.

He's on the attack and moving against their blatant hypocrisy.

Oh, how they used to love to tell people that God gave them the law and no one else, all the while completely disregarding what the law demands, and in so doing, bringing dishonor and shame on God who chose them as his own people.

One of the most hated, recurring characters in literature is the spoiled ingrate child, the one who's lived off his generous, kind parents all his life, but is the first one to turn on them at the tiniest whim, greedily demanding more than the good father and mother can provide, and in return showing them nothing but disrespect and contempt, right?

We hate that type, don't we?

Well, that's what Paul is saying the Jews were.

Now, this was a bit of a shocker for his audience, as it is written.

I'm fairly certain they'd not heard that sort of rebuke before.

You see, I've as I've told you, the Jews revered their scriptures, still do.

It's the very source of their national pride.

They like to point out uplifting and boastworthy passages like Isaiah 42, verses 6 and 7.

Isaiah 42:6

I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thy hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

There are many similar examples scattered throughout their sacred writings.

They like those sorts of things.

Who wouldn't?

But now Paul is inferring, he's saying that also written in that beloved book, there are passages that do not paint them in very positive light and that are not designed to puff them up or shine them up or give them cause to stand up tall.

And listen, that sort of thing is not going to win Paul any points.

If he's trying to win friends and influence people, this is not the way to go about it.

To the Jew, the Bible is nothing more than a repository of wonderful things God has to say to them.

They think it's a love letter where God's declaring his deep affection for his people, telling them of his unending mercy and extowing their peculiar value to himself.

But here Paul is saying that's simply not true.

Well, it's not entirely true.

The Bible also contains truth that's not so pleasant and not so flattering.

Look, I've parked here for a few minutes because this is not at all so foreign among God's people today.

And I'm not talking about the Jews.

Yes, of course, present-day Jews are guilty of this as well, but I want us, the church, to consider Paul's chastisements.

Are we living up to the privilege God has bestowed on us?

All right, how about I leave that with you to contemplate?

Let's call it a day, and we'll pick it up right there next time.

See you then.

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