Post by Cindy on Dec 16, 2015 10:20:51 GMT -5
As I was reading this morning about the last time Jesus cleans out the temple,(Mark 11:15–17) it reminded me of what we are seeing once again in our time in our churches.I first began hearing about it on our old site when members would tell me what was happening in churches in their area. It was concerning, but I couldn't imagine it ever becoming something common. Like every evil in our day though, it does seem to have become common. So much so that it's even happening in small rural towns like the one I live in. That really shocked me! Maybe I was more shocked about it because all the other ones I'd heard about were in huge churches that taught a false gospel anyway, so this wasn't a big deal as it was just adding yet more blasphemy to what they'd already done. But for it to happen in a small town church that never saw more then 200 people, and that at lest used to teach the Truth, was incredible to me. (I say used to teach the truth, because I've heard about some false teaching coming out of there as well - if not from the pulpit, from the Adult Sunday schools and mid week meetings.
When I first read this passage many years ago, I didn't see what a big deal it was for them to be selling animals for the sacrifices there. After all, the people had to get them from somewhere, so why not make it easy for them? As I studied it though, I began to understand. First I discovered that the high priest was charging them an arm and a leg for these animals - much more then they would have paid even just down the street. That's not unheard of though, as we're all familiar with having to pay for convenience. Still, it was wrong partly because that extra money was lining the pockets of the priest, and that's why he came up with this whole idea - another way to make money off the people. The animals being sold there also weren't always exactly up to God's standards either, which meant that the priest could make even more money off them since they were paying for a good animal and getting one that wasn't so good. I understood then that God was angry because this was yet another way that His priests were misleading the people and leading them to sin as well, whether the people realized it or not. To me though, that was the lesser of the evils that was happening because of this. By having the market right there in the Temple, which was supposed to be God's House, and according to God was to be a most holy place and a place for prayer for all nations. Now, with the market there, it was no longer holy, it had become common instead. The people went from viewing going to the Temple as going to where God dwelled, going to a most Holy place to be with Him to worship Him in prayer and sacrifice, to not much more then just another duty to perform like going to the office or going to work, like any other thing they did regularly. In other words, it made it easy for the people to little by little get further away from going to worship God in His Holiness in the most Holy temple, and begin thinking of it as just another thing they had to do. They were leaning further and further away from having a spiritual relationship with God, and closer to just going through the motions of rituals and traditions. That's why Jesus didn't just charge them with exploiting the people, but charged them with rebelling against God.
Today the idea of having a market inside the church has become common place. I honestly don't understand it, especially in light of the fact that our Bibles show Jesus as being so very much against it. I've often wondered how the pastor and people in these churches excuse it. Having the market in the Temple didn't cause the people's attitudes to change, their attitudes had begun to change many years before the market was started. The market came about because their attitudes had changed, and served to make it easier for that change to be completed. We know from history that things got much worse in the temple in Jerusalem before it's destruction in 70 AD, and knowing that, I suspect that things will get much worse in our churches between now and when the Lord calls us to meet Him in the air. It's not just that there are now coffee houses and book sellers in our churches, (among other things), it's the attitude of the people and the reason for these things. I feel quite sure that if we were somehow able to hear what the high priest and his cohorts said about their reasoning for the market place in the temple, that what the pastors and people say today would most likely be just about identical. Jeremiah and Jesus told the people that their sacrifices to God meant nothing because their hearts were in the wrong place. They were not faithful to God and did not love Him with all their hearts. Instead other things had taken God's place in their hearts. That makes sense because if God was really in their hearts the way He wants to be, they could have never started up a market. The market was just a symptom showing where their hearts really were and what was really important to them, and it wasn't God.
Worse, the attitude of the people then, and the attitude of the people today is identical in many ways. Look around your church, but most importantly, as the Bible says, examine yourself. When people come into your church, do they appear to be coming to a holy place to worship a Holy God? Do they look like they want to be there, like they enjoy it and look forward to it all week? Or do they look anxious for it to be time to go home, like they want to get it over with? Do they look bored? If there's a market or coffee shop in your church, do the people seem to like going to them more then going into the sanctuary to worship? Or do they simply go to worship as the required prerequisite of being able to go to the market and coffee shop? Do you have a worship team or choir that entertains the people (or tries to) or do the people and the worship team/choir worship God together in spirit and truth? Do the people look forward to the sermon or just endure it? Do the people bring their bibles to church and do their bibles look used or like they're rarely touched? Do the people seem to hurry to get out when the service is over, to either go home or to the market or coffee shop? Or do they linger, talking about the sermon or God or His Word or even their lives and how God is working in them? Or do they linger talking about the weather, their life and what's happening without any mention of God or His Word? How are they dressed? Are they clean and neat? Are they dressed modestly? Or are they dressed the same way they would be to go to the store or the beach, or to clean their house? Does anything about them show that they wanted how they looked to honor the Lord when going to His House of Worship? Of course we need to ask the same questions about ourselves as well.
The Lord told us that all of this would happen, but that doesn't mean that we're supposed to be part of it. We're told about people like this that: “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:5) Instead we should be standing firm for God, His honor and His truth and praying for the church and for all of those who have fallen into sin and leading others into sin. For we know what's going to happen - that things will get worse, and we will most likely be hated because we won't go along with them, but that ultimately, they will be judged and found wanting when the Lord comes and calls us to meet Him in the air.
“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”” (Mark 11:15–17)
“Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 7:11)
“To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”” (John 2:16)
“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”” (Matthew 3:12)
“Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Matthew 13:12)
When I first read this passage many years ago, I didn't see what a big deal it was for them to be selling animals for the sacrifices there. After all, the people had to get them from somewhere, so why not make it easy for them? As I studied it though, I began to understand. First I discovered that the high priest was charging them an arm and a leg for these animals - much more then they would have paid even just down the street. That's not unheard of though, as we're all familiar with having to pay for convenience. Still, it was wrong partly because that extra money was lining the pockets of the priest, and that's why he came up with this whole idea - another way to make money off the people. The animals being sold there also weren't always exactly up to God's standards either, which meant that the priest could make even more money off them since they were paying for a good animal and getting one that wasn't so good. I understood then that God was angry because this was yet another way that His priests were misleading the people and leading them to sin as well, whether the people realized it or not. To me though, that was the lesser of the evils that was happening because of this. By having the market right there in the Temple, which was supposed to be God's House, and according to God was to be a most holy place and a place for prayer for all nations. Now, with the market there, it was no longer holy, it had become common instead. The people went from viewing going to the Temple as going to where God dwelled, going to a most Holy place to be with Him to worship Him in prayer and sacrifice, to not much more then just another duty to perform like going to the office or going to work, like any other thing they did regularly. In other words, it made it easy for the people to little by little get further away from going to worship God in His Holiness in the most Holy temple, and begin thinking of it as just another thing they had to do. They were leaning further and further away from having a spiritual relationship with God, and closer to just going through the motions of rituals and traditions. That's why Jesus didn't just charge them with exploiting the people, but charged them with rebelling against God.
Today the idea of having a market inside the church has become common place. I honestly don't understand it, especially in light of the fact that our Bibles show Jesus as being so very much against it. I've often wondered how the pastor and people in these churches excuse it. Having the market in the Temple didn't cause the people's attitudes to change, their attitudes had begun to change many years before the market was started. The market came about because their attitudes had changed, and served to make it easier for that change to be completed. We know from history that things got much worse in the temple in Jerusalem before it's destruction in 70 AD, and knowing that, I suspect that things will get much worse in our churches between now and when the Lord calls us to meet Him in the air. It's not just that there are now coffee houses and book sellers in our churches, (among other things), it's the attitude of the people and the reason for these things. I feel quite sure that if we were somehow able to hear what the high priest and his cohorts said about their reasoning for the market place in the temple, that what the pastors and people say today would most likely be just about identical. Jeremiah and Jesus told the people that their sacrifices to God meant nothing because their hearts were in the wrong place. They were not faithful to God and did not love Him with all their hearts. Instead other things had taken God's place in their hearts. That makes sense because if God was really in their hearts the way He wants to be, they could have never started up a market. The market was just a symptom showing where their hearts really were and what was really important to them, and it wasn't God.
Worse, the attitude of the people then, and the attitude of the people today is identical in many ways. Look around your church, but most importantly, as the Bible says, examine yourself. When people come into your church, do they appear to be coming to a holy place to worship a Holy God? Do they look like they want to be there, like they enjoy it and look forward to it all week? Or do they look anxious for it to be time to go home, like they want to get it over with? Do they look bored? If there's a market or coffee shop in your church, do the people seem to like going to them more then going into the sanctuary to worship? Or do they simply go to worship as the required prerequisite of being able to go to the market and coffee shop? Do you have a worship team or choir that entertains the people (or tries to) or do the people and the worship team/choir worship God together in spirit and truth? Do the people look forward to the sermon or just endure it? Do the people bring their bibles to church and do their bibles look used or like they're rarely touched? Do the people seem to hurry to get out when the service is over, to either go home or to the market or coffee shop? Or do they linger, talking about the sermon or God or His Word or even their lives and how God is working in them? Or do they linger talking about the weather, their life and what's happening without any mention of God or His Word? How are they dressed? Are they clean and neat? Are they dressed modestly? Or are they dressed the same way they would be to go to the store or the beach, or to clean their house? Does anything about them show that they wanted how they looked to honor the Lord when going to His House of Worship? Of course we need to ask the same questions about ourselves as well.
The Lord told us that all of this would happen, but that doesn't mean that we're supposed to be part of it. We're told about people like this that: “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Timothy 3:5) Instead we should be standing firm for God, His honor and His truth and praying for the church and for all of those who have fallen into sin and leading others into sin. For we know what's going to happen - that things will get worse, and we will most likely be hated because we won't go along with them, but that ultimately, they will be judged and found wanting when the Lord comes and calls us to meet Him in the air.
“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”” (Mark 11:15–17)
“Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 7:11)
“To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”” (John 2:16)
“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”” (Matthew 3:12)
“Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Matthew 13:12)
!!
