Living Temples
John 2:13-25
Living Temples
Joh 2:13-25 Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace." The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, "My love for your house burns in me like a fire." The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and he would not let them have power over him. No one had to tell him what people were like. He already knew.
Let’s look first in 1st Kings 8 at what was the original intention of the temple in order to fully understand why Jesus responded the way he did . We see in this chapter that Solomon built the temple of God to house the Glory of God (1 Ki. 8:11), for it to be a place of prayer (1 Ki. 8:28-38), for the name of God to be known to all nations (1 Ki. 8:41-43), to show mercy (1 Ki. 8:48-52), and to walk in His ways. What the temple had become was nothing different than the marketplace, just a place to buy and sell. How would you feel if you went away and left your house in someone’s care and upon return it is nothing like the way you left it? Jesus responded the way any of us would, He drove the violators out and cleaned up His Father’s house.
Jesus now proclaims that the temple that took forty six years to build would be destroyed in three days, which caused questioning, but Jesus of course was talking about His own body. For he was now stepping out of the old covenant and talking about the new covenant. For devout Jews under the Old Covenant the temple was the center of activity under the New Covenant believers are living temples and their life is the center of God’s activity. God is no longer concerned about what man has made out of bricks but about what He has brought together Himself. The dwelling place of God is no longer in a building it is in the lives of those who have surrendered to Him.
2Co 6:14-8 Stay away from people who are not followers of the Lord! Can someone who is good get along with someone who is evil? Are light and darkness the same? Is Christ a friend of Satan? Can people who follow the Lord have anything in common with those who don't? Do idols belong in the temple of God? We are the temple of the living God, as God himself says, "I will live with these people and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people." The Lord also says, "Leave them and stay away! Don't touch anything that isn't clean. Then I will welcome you and be your Father. You will be my sons and my daughters, as surely as I am God, the All-Powerful."
See the Old Covenant was just a shadow of that which is to come, the New Covenant is the real thing. The Old Covenant was the preparation age the New Covenant is the ruling age. Man had to realize that apart from God they were nothing, that no rules or regulations could create true righteousness, that only through relationship with God alone could this confer. The lesson of the Garden had to be learned. That any pursuit whether good or evil apart from relationship with God is sin and separates us from Him. God created man for fellowship, He created the earth to extend His kingdom through partnership with His creation in joint rule. The Old Covenant was our school master to prepare us for ruler ship in the here and now.
In the last few verses of this chapter it mentions how many came to follow Jesus in Jerusalem because of the miracles they had seen, but Jesus knew their hearts were far from Him. Mat 15:8 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Under the curse man is born sinful, our nature is selfish, we are all about ourselves. No matter what appearance we may have of righteousness it is for our own gain. Religion is based on works, on rituals and observances in order to please God, it is separate from relationship and therefore still all about self. It is man’s methods to get something wanted. Yes, there is a desire to escape hell, but not at the price of laying down one’s life. Many have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof (2 Ti. 3:5). The life and therefore power of God the creator of the universe is only seen in the exchange of the life of another. God is not going to rent out our temple, He is not going to partly own it, He must have it all, for us to truly be His.
Rom 9:31-3 But Israel, going after a law of righteousness, did not get it. Why? Because they were not searching for it by faith, but by works. They came up against the stone which was in the way; As it is said, See, I am putting in Zion a stone causing a fall, and a rock in the way: but he who has faith in him will not be put to shame.
We want to go to heaven, we want to be blessed, but we want it in our own terms, God refuses to be played, we are either His or not. The Pharisees used their titles and their prestige for their own gain, while the people suffered, they were made rich. They added laws and rituals to the laws of Moses, so that the people could never come close to believing they were righteous, while trying to make people believe that they did. Look at how Jesus responded to their hypocrisy in Matthew 23.
We as church leaders today sometimes operate in the same manner. Taking the gifts God has given us and using them for our own gain. We get more caught up in selling our prophesies and teachings than just giving them freely. We will only speak at another church or conference etc. if the price is right. It is not about the will of God, it is about our own business. It is about what we can get. We hold our titles of Apostle, Bishop, Prophet etc, over others, expecting them to do whatever we ask since we are God’s chosen ones. We compete with the churches around us, comparing and trying to better ourselves than everyone else. Using advertisement and seeker friendly methods to draw in a crowd rather than the person of the Holy Spirit Himself. Woe unto us, Pharisees, vipers, hypocrites, we have trampled on the grace of God for our own gain. We are operating in old traditions and not in he spirit of life that is available in the new.
It is not what is happening in the church building that God is concerned about, it is what we individually as each member of His body is doing in regards to His will. Are we about the Father’s business or our own? Are we putting on our Christian bumper stickers, trying to have an appearance of something, but we deny Him access into our heart? It is no longer about the outside that matters, God works from the inside out. The world does not find God through our religious institutions they find God through His life being seen in our own.
Jesus was grieved at how the temple, God’s house was being used for people’s personal business and not as a house of prayer. So He cleaned house. This same Jesus is still cleaning house, but He is cleaning house in you and me. He wants His body to represent His Father. How would we feel if we entrusted our home in someone’s care for a time and when we returned it was nothing like it was when we left.? God wants His house in order, and He is cleaning it from the inside out. We are the temples of God, we are no longer our own, we have no rights, we are to be holy as God is holy. Our business now is the Father’s, whatever we do it is to the glory of God.
Luk 2:49 And He said to them, Why did you look for Me? Do you not know that I must be about My Father's business?
Joh 5:19 Jesus told the people: I tell you for certain that the Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing, and he does exactly what he sees the Father do.
God is more concerned about the interior of the house than the outside of it. He cleanses us from the inside out. But as God changes our heart and desires, the way we dress, our addictions, food, drink, behavior etc., should change with it. For we are the temple of the living God and we represent Him. God wants order in His house. He wants us to have room set aside for Him, then our family, our ministry, and everything else. The temple must be in rightful order for God to be clearly seen. We must only allow that which is of Him to come in and out of His temple.
Application: Let’s examine our business are we about our own or His? Let’s repent for our shortcomings, and make a deeper commitment as God’s partners, His holy temples, to do or say nothing unless it be His will. Let’s examine what we allow in our body and what we allow our body to do and how in line it is with His will.
Living Temples
Joh 2:13-25 Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace." The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, "My love for your house burns in me like a fire." The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and he would not let them have power over him. No one had to tell him what people were like. He already knew.
Let’s look first in 1st Kings 8 at what was the original intention of the temple in order to fully understand why Jesus responded the way he did . We see in this chapter that Solomon built the temple of God to house the Glory of God (1 Ki. 8:11), for it to be a place of prayer (1 Ki. 8:28-38), for the name of God to be known to all nations (1 Ki. 8:41-43), to show mercy (1 Ki. 8:48-52), and to walk in His ways. What the temple had become was nothing different than the marketplace, just a place to buy and sell. How would you feel if you went away and left your house in someone’s care and upon return it is nothing like the way you left it? Jesus responded the way any of us would, He drove the violators out and cleaned up His Father’s house.
Jesus now proclaims that the temple that took forty six years to build would be destroyed in three days, which caused questioning, but Jesus of course was talking about His own body. For he was now stepping out of the old covenant and talking about the new covenant. For devout Jews under the Old Covenant the temple was the center of activity under the New Covenant believers are living temples and their life is the center of God’s activity. God is no longer concerned about what man has made out of bricks but about what He has brought together Himself. The dwelling place of God is no longer in a building it is in the lives of those who have surrendered to Him.
2Co 6:14-8 Stay away from people who are not followers of the Lord! Can someone who is good get along with someone who is evil? Are light and darkness the same? Is Christ a friend of Satan? Can people who follow the Lord have anything in common with those who don't? Do idols belong in the temple of God? We are the temple of the living God, as God himself says, "I will live with these people and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people." The Lord also says, "Leave them and stay away! Don't touch anything that isn't clean. Then I will welcome you and be your Father. You will be my sons and my daughters, as surely as I am God, the All-Powerful."
See the Old Covenant was just a shadow of that which is to come, the New Covenant is the real thing. The Old Covenant was the preparation age the New Covenant is the ruling age. Man had to realize that apart from God they were nothing, that no rules or regulations could create true righteousness, that only through relationship with God alone could this confer. The lesson of the Garden had to be learned. That any pursuit whether good or evil apart from relationship with God is sin and separates us from Him. God created man for fellowship, He created the earth to extend His kingdom through partnership with His creation in joint rule. The Old Covenant was our school master to prepare us for ruler ship in the here and now.
In the last few verses of this chapter it mentions how many came to follow Jesus in Jerusalem because of the miracles they had seen, but Jesus knew their hearts were far from Him. Mat 15:8 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Under the curse man is born sinful, our nature is selfish, we are all about ourselves. No matter what appearance we may have of righteousness it is for our own gain. Religion is based on works, on rituals and observances in order to please God, it is separate from relationship and therefore still all about self. It is man’s methods to get something wanted. Yes, there is a desire to escape hell, but not at the price of laying down one’s life. Many have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof (2 Ti. 3:5). The life and therefore power of God the creator of the universe is only seen in the exchange of the life of another. God is not going to rent out our temple, He is not going to partly own it, He must have it all, for us to truly be His.
Rom 9:31-3 But Israel, going after a law of righteousness, did not get it. Why? Because they were not searching for it by faith, but by works. They came up against the stone which was in the way; As it is said, See, I am putting in Zion a stone causing a fall, and a rock in the way: but he who has faith in him will not be put to shame.
We want to go to heaven, we want to be blessed, but we want it in our own terms, God refuses to be played, we are either His or not. The Pharisees used their titles and their prestige for their own gain, while the people suffered, they were made rich. They added laws and rituals to the laws of Moses, so that the people could never come close to believing they were righteous, while trying to make people believe that they did. Look at how Jesus responded to their hypocrisy in Matthew 23.
We as church leaders today sometimes operate in the same manner. Taking the gifts God has given us and using them for our own gain. We get more caught up in selling our prophesies and teachings than just giving them freely. We will only speak at another church or conference etc. if the price is right. It is not about the will of God, it is about our own business. It is about what we can get. We hold our titles of Apostle, Bishop, Prophet etc, over others, expecting them to do whatever we ask since we are God’s chosen ones. We compete with the churches around us, comparing and trying to better ourselves than everyone else. Using advertisement and seeker friendly methods to draw in a crowd rather than the person of the Holy Spirit Himself. Woe unto us, Pharisees, vipers, hypocrites, we have trampled on the grace of God for our own gain. We are operating in old traditions and not in he spirit of life that is available in the new.
It is not what is happening in the church building that God is concerned about, it is what we individually as each member of His body is doing in regards to His will. Are we about the Father’s business or our own? Are we putting on our Christian bumper stickers, trying to have an appearance of something, but we deny Him access into our heart? It is no longer about the outside that matters, God works from the inside out. The world does not find God through our religious institutions they find God through His life being seen in our own.
Jesus was grieved at how the temple, God’s house was being used for people’s personal business and not as a house of prayer. So He cleaned house. This same Jesus is still cleaning house, but He is cleaning house in you and me. He wants His body to represent His Father. How would we feel if we entrusted our home in someone’s care for a time and when we returned it was nothing like it was when we left.? God wants His house in order, and He is cleaning it from the inside out. We are the temples of God, we are no longer our own, we have no rights, we are to be holy as God is holy. Our business now is the Father’s, whatever we do it is to the glory of God.
Luk 2:49 And He said to them, Why did you look for Me? Do you not know that I must be about My Father's business?
Joh 5:19 Jesus told the people: I tell you for certain that the Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing, and he does exactly what he sees the Father do.
God is more concerned about the interior of the house than the outside of it. He cleanses us from the inside out. But as God changes our heart and desires, the way we dress, our addictions, food, drink, behavior etc., should change with it. For we are the temple of the living God and we represent Him. God wants order in His house. He wants us to have room set aside for Him, then our family, our ministry, and everything else. The temple must be in rightful order for God to be clearly seen. We must only allow that which is of Him to come in and out of His temple.
Application: Let’s examine our business are we about our own or His? Let’s repent for our shortcomings, and make a deeper commitment as God’s partners, His holy temples, to do or say nothing unless it be His will. Let’s examine what we allow in our body and what we allow our body to do and how in line it is with His will.
