Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to the
Love and Context Podcast. All right. Yeah, that
was like, you know. He's going to be having a
poll soon where you guys can actually go into
a survey and check which one of his jingles is
the best. Listen, you can actually, you don't
even have to wait for the poll. You can comment
on our videos and you can just say not this one.
I will accept that comment. Oh, man. It is good
to be back in recording room, studio. We'll call
it studio. It's kind of a studio. You guys can't
see this because you only see this. This is actually
the prayer room at our church and there's like
a foosball table over there. There's a. You just
confuse so many people by saying, this is a prayer
room in our church, and there's a foosball table
over there. Listen, do you not pray when you
play foosball? It is a prayer room, though, and
it has the couches for people to pray and different
things like that, so it's used for a lot of...
I should say it's a prayer room with multi -purposes.
Yes. Ironically, we're going to be talking today
about the cleansing of the temple, and Jesus
is going to say something about a house of prayer.
Yeah. So, yeah, there's my transition. Perfect.
Definitely meant to do that. Yeah, so we've been
walking through the life of Jesus in season three.
Today we're going to be talking about the cleansing
of the temple. It's typically how it's sub -headed
in the Bibles. Before we jump into this, there
is some conversation that has to happen about
this. in the gospel of john this happens at the
beginning of the gospel in matthew mark and luke
it happens at the end of the gospel so there's
this conversation where people go did it happen
at the beginning and at the end is this the same
account and john put it differently in the chronological
uh part of the of the you know, gospel. And I'm,
and my answer to that is we're not going to talk
about that today. Cause that's not really the
point of what we're getting at. Is that fair?
Yeah. Um, now chronologically, I want us to kind
of put this at the end. Um, this, this particular
one at the end, because Jesus is going to have
some conversations that are going to be have
bearing on the next couple of weeks with the
Pharisees, especially these conversations about
talents and like whose inscription is on what
thing, um, this is going to be a kind of a thing
that's going to come up later, but. I just wanted
to head that off before anybody emails us and
is like, well, what do you think? And I was like,
I think that you should read the story for what
it's supposed to be telling you. And know the
context and the audience to which the author
is writing to. Yeah. So could Jesus have done
it twice? Yep. Could he have done it at the beginning
of his ministry or at the end of his ministry?
Yep. Could he have done it five times and it's
only recorded twice? Yep. Yep. Yeah. So we don't,
we don't know. So with that being said, we're
going to be in John chapter two and we're going
to start in verse 14. You got that? All right.
In verse 14 in the temple area, he saw merchants
selling cattle, sheep, doves for sacrifices.
And he also saw dealers at the tables exchanging
foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some rope
and chased them out of the temple. He drove out
the sheep, the cattle scattered the money changers,
coins all over the floor, turning over the tables,
then going to the people who sold doves, he told
them, get these things out of here. Stop turning
my father's house into a marketplace. Then his
disciples remembered this prophecy from the scriptures,
passion for God's house will consume me. But
the Jewish leaders demanded, what are you doing?
If God gave you the authority to do this, show
us a miraculous sign. All right, Jesus replied,
destroy this temple and I will raise it up in
three days or in three days I will raise it up.
What they explained, it's taken 46 years to build
this temple and you can rebuild it in three days.
But when Jesus said this temple, he meant his
own body. After he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered he had said this and
they believed both the scriptures and what Jesus
said. So real quick on that next verse, one of
the things I do like here right before it gets
in here, it says, now while he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover festival, many people saw the
signs he was performing and believed in his name.
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for
he knew all people. He did not need any testimony
about mankind for he knew what was in each person.
So the Jewish leaders go, can you give us a sign?
And he's like, yeah, I'll build this temple again
in three days. And then they're like. it literally
took 46 years what are you talking about bro
um and then he goes off and he's at the passover
festival and he does a bunch of signs i just
think that's funny like they're like give us
a sign he's like all right weird uh statement
about being able to build a temple in three days
and then walks off and works with other people
and delivers a bunch of signs Well, I don't think
it's as weird as we think because, like, Jesus
is a rabbi. He's a teacher at this point. But
he grew up a tecton. Yeah. Right? Like, so he
grew up, like, he would have known how to do
these things. Yeah. He would have known how to
physically build a temple. Yeah. And so. Incidentally,
if you do not remember from our episode, a tecton
is somebody who works with stone or really any
sort of art crafting material. It would be kind
of like a jack of all trades. Given that they're
in Israel, it's a lot of stone, but you would
be able to work with wood. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
So real quick here. So at the beginning of here,
it says when it was almost time for the Jewish
Passover. So if you don't remember in the book
of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, they talk about
the festivals. And this is one of the three festivals
that they're supposed to go to the temple for,
right? They actually pilgrimage. They all come
to this one. There's this Shavuot and one other
one that I forgot. So somebody is going to be
like, I can't believe you forgot. And I was like,
you know what? I love that for you. We're only
human. Yeah. But this is one of the ones that
everybody's going to come. So that's why he's
in Jerusalem for this. And now the merchants
and the money changers provided needed services
here. So they're actually there on purpose because
you're only supposed to have a temple minted
money there. You're not supposed to have foreign
money there. Right. Um, but the issue here is
that commercialization has now filled the temple
courts and this, uh, and, uh, the bigger issue,
and I'm like, we're going to kind of pull this
out a little bit is this is going to take place.
Uh, if you ever actually, um, actually, if you're
listening. If you can pause, go and Google an
image of Herod's Temple. Herod's, the Jewish
temple in Herod's time. And you're going to see
this building that's the Holy of Holies. Then
you're going to see this courtyard that's called
the Court of Women or Court of Men. And then
there's like, and then outside of that, there's
this massive area called the Court of the Gentiles.
Right. And the Court of the Gentiles is where
even in the setting up of the temple in Exodus,
this is where the Gentiles are supposed to be
able to come, hear about the word of God. engage
and worship Yahweh, even when they're not Jewish.
And so Jesus comes and he sees. Animals being
sold, money being interchanged, and there's an
implication that's going on that there's some
shyness going on in this transition too during
this time. But this entire place that's supposed
to be dedicated to the worship of Yahweh, and
it's a place for all nations to come and gather,
is now a place of commerce. because it's filling
up the entire, the court of Gentiles, which by
the way, go back to that image. It's massive.
And this whole thing is being filled. Basically
we're saying Gentiles, the only thing that you're
important for is being able to buy and sell.
Yeah. And when it comes to sacrifices. for atonement
and things like that, um, you were supposed to
bring the best of what you had. And so this negates
that too, right? Right. This negates that in
the sense that you are going and you are purchasing
from somebody else and you're saying, okay, well
I need, I need a sacrifice for whatever reason
to fulfill an old Testament law. So I'm just
going to go get some animals from here and then
go do it. Right. Yeah. You're not actually bringing
the best of what you have. Correct. Yeah. So
there's a couple, there's a couple of different
things going on there. And, uh, when I, when
I said like the temple tax and the things that,
on there. It's supposed to be paid in Tyrian
silver. So there should be money changers there.
So it's not like they're not supposed to be there,
but they're not supposed to be the focus of what's
going on there, which is what's happening. And
Jesus is going to call a quote from two different
places. Isaiah 56, 7 says this, these I will
bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in
my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and
sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my
people will be called a house of prayer for all
nations. And this is talking about the Gentiles
being welcomed in. Jeremiah 7 -11, which is,
by the way, not where the all -night gas station
got its name. Not from Jeremiah 7 -11. But that's
a terrible joke that makes no sense. Okay. Anyways,
somebody out there, probably Matthew Nunley,
is laughing his head off when he heard me say
that. It says, Has this house, which bears my
name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have
been watching, declares the Lord. And these are
the exact verses of Jesus' quotes. It's actually
going to show up in the Synoptic Gospels in Mark,
and then it's alluded to in the Gospel of John
as well. So Jesus' anger was not about the fact
that commerce is taking place, because there
is something that needs to take place here, but
commerce is now the focus. Commerce is now the
focus of what's going on in the temple. The temple
is no longer about worshiping God and about bringing
people to this place where heaven and earth intersect.
It's now become this place of... buy and sell
it's just like churches today when they charge
you for coffee instead of just give it away i'm
sorry i'm sorry that was that analogy that was
a joke you know he says this but outside of our
coffee things he has a little thing to donate
to young life for the coffee so it's not going
to me yeah oh man that's so good so um So this,
uh, this part where we are, this is, this is
always the interesting place that people talk
about. Um, this, this image of Jesus gets kind
of abused. Um, because Jesus, uh, first of all,
when people say, well, Jesus is meek and mild
and never confronts people. I was like, well,
clearly you didn't read the gospels. And then
when they say like, well, Jesus got angry. So
I can get angry too. I was like, well, you're
also not the son of God. So maybe calm down.
Yeah. Right. That's terrible. Um, So the next
part of it, he says he made a whip of cords and
drove them from the temple courts, both sheep
and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money
changers and overturned the tables to those who
sold doves. He said, get these out of here. Stop
turning my father's house into a market. Now,
I read a number of commentators and you are welcome
to disagree with this, but a number of commentators
and scholars have the opinion that the cord is
not for hitting people. It's for driving out
the animals, that the animals are driven out
and he's kicking the people out. And then you're
probably wondering, you're like, why is nobody
stopping Jesus? Well, he's a rabbi and rabbis
will teach through dramatic expression sometimes.
Prophets will also give a message in very dramatic
ways. If you think about Ezekiel, when he's given
his message and he's like, you have to lay on
your side for X amount of years and your food,
you have to cook over the dung of animals. Like
he has to put his life on like a very dramatic
display or Hosea. He says, Hey, you're going
to go and marry a prostitute and you're gonna
have kids with her. And then you're going to
name them like very depressing names, you know?
Like this is like prophetic imagery is, is not
a, is not an uncommon thing. So when a rabbi
is going and doing these things, it's not actually
going to be super out of the norm because it's
a teaching thing that's going on. Yeah. Yeah.
And this ties into Beatitudes as well, or not
Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount as well. When
they say, hey, turn the other cheek. We take
that as like, okay, we need to be meek, we need
to be mild. And actually what you're doing is
you're, we've talked about this, but you're bringing
injustice on display. Yeah, you're standing right
up against it. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and if you
guys, that's not what we're here to talk about.
We're talking about this story. So if you want
to learn more about that. Yeah, I believe that
we actually talked about it in our Sermon on
the Mount series. So you can go back there and
talk about that. But Jesus is not, he's not,
turning the other cheek is not about not addressing
things. It's about addressing things through
nonviolence, but standing directly in front of
things and pointing out the injustice, right?
So what does Jesus do? He's not whipping the
people. He's driving the animals out. He's flipping
over the coins. He's telling them to get the
doves out of here. What are you guys doing? What
are you doing? This place, you have cattle and
you have money and you have doves. You know who's
not here? Gentiles. Right? The people that are
supposed to be here aren't here. What are you
doing? It's supposed to be a house of prayer.
It's supposed to be a house of connection. It's
supposed to be the place where heaven and earth
meet. And you as a kingdom of priests are going
to distribute my justice and my goodness and
my, my message through the entire world. And
now all you're doing is selling a bunch of stuff.
Yeah. You're going through these religious exercises
and not actually doing anything. Yeah. Um, Psalm
69, nine, they quote, they quote for, uh, the,
the disciples remember back. It says, uh, For
zeal for your house consumes me and the insults
of those who insult you fall on me. Right. Right.
I like the way yours, yours translated. It says
with passion. Right. Uh, I think sometimes like
zeal is kind of a lost word. We know what it
means, but like it kind of sounds, but no, with
passion, with like, yeah, like you're so overcome
by what you're seeing that you're like, ah, uh
huh. It's like, it's like that, uh, if you've
ever gone to a place where you just see something
so wrong that you're like, I got to intervene.
Yeah. Right. I got to step in. Right. It's, it's
that type of feeling that's going on right now.
It's that, it's that like feeling where you're
like, this has to be resolved. This has to be
taken care of. Yeah. Right. And I'm intentionally
leaving that vague. I'm not trying to go into
specifics because I know everybody's situation
is a little different on that. Right. But, but
when you have that feeling of like, man, I know
this is not where I'm supposed to be or that's
not even good. I know that's, I know this is
not where I usually am at. Right. But I have
to intervene in this way. Yeah. Right. And I
had a good, a good mentor of mine. He, he once
told me, he's like, yeah, when you see something
that you should deal with, just. don't think
about it. Just deal with it right away. Like
he was like, maybe you need to take a moment,
just like calm yourself or go deal with it. But
he's like, just deal with it right away. Like,
don't be like, okay, I'll get to that in a week.
Right. He's like, cause what that does is he's
like, it actually is better for you and the other
person involved that you're dealing, that you're
dealing with because it doesn't let anything
linger longer than it needs to be. Yeah. And
so, you know, Jesus could have gone into the
temple and he could have been like, all right.
guys, we need to talk about why this is bad and
stuff like that. And when Jesus said, he was
like, Nope, this needs to be dealt with right
now. This is the house of the Lord. This is where
outsiders are supposed to come in and get to
know God. Yeah. Right. This is, um, it's also
the biggest part of the temple for that reason.
Yeah. Right. And if you guys are thinking, well,
Jewish culture is kind of exclusive. Go read
the old Testament. It's not supposed to be. It's
not, it's not, um, all the way back to the Exodus
when, uh, When the Hebrews came out of Egypt,
a bunch of Egyptians went with them and they
were welcomed in. And also the reason that the
Israelites were even chosen wasn't because of
their strength. It was actually because of their
weakness. And God said, I'm going to take you
and I'm going to tell a story through you. Right?
Yeah. So Jesus sees something that is blocking
the outsider from hearing the good news about
God. And he says, we're going to resolve this
and we're going to open this back up so people
can hear about. the goodness of God. Yeah. There
is, there's a three old Testament pieces that
I think are really, really fun that I found to
connect into the story. Yeah. The first talking
about the purification of the temple. If you
actually look in Malachi three, one through three,
God says, then suddenly the Lord you are seeking
will come to his temple. He will sit as a refiner
and a purifier of silver. What's he doing? Purifying
the temple, right? So then Jesus appears and
he is coming through and cleansing it. Also in
Zechariah 14, 21, it says, and on that day, there
will no longer be a merchant in the house of
the Lord Almighty. Yeah. Right? So he's driving
the merchants out, right? So by the way, same
scripture that all the Pharisees and Sadducees
and the Jewish ruling council, they have access
to these scriptures too, right? Yeah. And then
the last thing is the word drive out. If you
look in the Septuagint, the same word is going
to be used in the Exodus when it says that God
is driving out the gods of Egypt. So it's the
same word that's going to be connected to driving
out of the gods during the Exodus that Jesus
is coming and driving out the things that are
keeping people from God. Yeah. Right. Which I
just think that's fun. Because there's somewhere
I wanted to go with something you said that connects
to modern church, but I want to pause real quick
and talk about one last thing that Jesus says
here, this conversation between the Jews and
him at the very end. They say, what sign can
you give to prove your authority to do all this?
And he answers them, destroy the temple, and
I will raise it again in three days. They replied,
it has been 46 years to build this temple, and
you are going to raise it in three days. But
the temple he had spoken of was his body. This
is the last piece of the story. Um, they, uh,
like I said, they, they're used to prophetic
theater, but then they're like, okay, what sign
are you going to give that shows that you had
the authority to do this? Yeah. Right. What sign,
what sign are you going to give? Yeah. And I
love that Jesus gives them a sign that there's
no way in the, like they're okay. If they're
really thinking temple, there's no way in the
world they're going to destroy the temple. And
then watch him raise it in three days. Yeah.
No way. Except they're about to destroy the temple
and he's going to raise it in three days. Right?
Like that's, that's so beautiful. It's like,
it's like, I'm going to take a thing that you
think there's no way in the world you would destroy.
You're absolutely going to destroy it and I'll
raise it in three days. It's just not the thing
you think it is. Yeah. You know? So why, why
is Jesus so upset? Because there's exploitation.
There's the profaning of a holy space. There's
exclusion of the nations, right? There's corrupt
leadership and there's a loss of purpose, right?
These five things are what's happening in this
story. And Jesus sees us and he goes, no. Yeah,
we're not going to do that. I liken this to like
you have a kid and you ever walk into a room
and there's absolute chaos and you go, no. I
have no idea what you're talking about. That's
not true. I have been at your house when something
like that happens. It's not like my house is
a constant state of remodel and my kids are high
energy crazy. And sometimes because we're not
perfect, sometimes we handle it well and sometimes
we don't. But when you're handling it well and
you come in and you're like, no, this is not
what we're doing. You're not mad, but you are
going to set the situation right. You're like,
nope, we're not going to do that. Change, change
directions. We're, we're changing this. Yep.
Um, sorry. I was just, I was nevermind. I was
thinking about so many things right there. Children,
man. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, like when I see the
story, I see, I see the story of something is
getting in the way of the gospel being proclaimed
to where the gospel needs to be proclaimed. Yeah.
Right. And Jesus says, nope, we're going to remove
that obstacle. And, and to me, that's a little
bit of a relatable thing. Oh yeah. Right. Yeah.
Modern church. Yeah. Right. Right. Um, by the
way, just reminder for everybody, if you're like,
you're like, well, but that's the temple in the,
in the, uh, in the new Testament, old Testament.
I was like, okay. First Corinthians three 16.
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's
temple and that God's spirit dwells in your midst.
So you could take this on a couple of different
levels. Like you could take it, let's just talk
about it at a church level first. And then you
can also take it on a personal level. But talking
about it at a church level, like what are things
at your church that are potentially getting in
the way of you effectively proclaiming Jesus?
And that is a question that often church leadership
will ask, but often they don't as well. Well,
and, and, uh, you know, I've heard people use
a story. They said, well, when Jesus saw injustice,
he went and flipped tables. So I saw X, Y, and
Z, and they're not things about justice. They're
things about preference, right? Where they're
like, well, for example, um, I grew up in a,
in a church where you remember that, uh, that,
that, uh, not grew up in a church. I said that,
but I did not mean that I went to a church. Um,
Early on in my, in my married life where, you
know, those tables that say this do and remembers
to me, nothing wrong with those tables. Right.
Um, but we had some people in our church who
said that that church that belongs on the stage.
And if it's not on the stage, it's disrespectful
to God. And, uh, and they were willing to flip
the entire church over to have this conversation
because if this wasn't there, then we couldn't
properly preach the gospel. Now. And sometimes
people say things and I'm not even sure where
to begin having a conversation. And that was
one of those times, right? Where, where like
a personal preference or a tradition has now
become our gospel. Yeah. That's problematic.
One of the things that we have to do, and it's,
it's a really reoccurring theme in churches,
but it's not something that we actually. Spend
a lot of time like making sure is bred into our
identity is that we actually preach, live and
and speak the gospel. Yeah. The kingdom of heaven
is here ready for you to interact with it. It's
accessible through the life, death and burial
resurrection of Jesus. Yeah. Right. This is the
gospel is that those on the outside are being
welcomed in because Jesus made a way. Yeah. Right.
Thank goodness, because we're Gentiles. Otherwise,
we wouldn't be there. That core to the Gentiles,
that's for us. Right. And this is another area
where I'm trying not to get too specific, because
I think each church is unique in its own right.
Yeah. Right. It's got its unique set of people,
unique town that it's in. And so we could take
this and we could say, here are blanket things
to watch out for in your church. And I really
hate that conversation because. you're trying
to, you're trying to create this balance in church,
right? You're trying to create this balance of,
we want people to feel welcomed in so we can
share the gospel with them. But sometimes we
can take the things we're doing to welcome them
in and turn that into a showboat. Yeah. Right.
Right. And, um, And to where it's actually distracting
from people actually hearing the good news of
Christ. Right. And so there is this balance.
There's this tension. Right. And well, and there's
also different liturgies according to your tradition.
So, for example, like a Lutheran liturgy is going
to be a much more traditional, you know, like
the way that they do their services are going
to be much more traditional. And that doesn't
mean they're not proclaiming the gospel. Right.
Yeah. They just have a different like. Home button.
Yeah. Right. And like a Pentecostal church is
going to be have a very different liturgy than
a Lutheran church. What are you talking about?
You know, and so there's like so those aren't
the things we're talking about. It's when when
the collectively when you're stepping in there
and you're compromising your church's ability
to love God and love other people and preach
the gospel like. It's probably about time that
your tables get flipped. So I served at a church
for a while where the leadership of the church
at the time, they were very much like, they very
much, and they openly said this, they're like,
if the gospel is not being proclaimed on Sunday
and people are not hearing it on Sunday, then
we are not proclaiming the gospel correctly.
And I pushed back on that and I was like. And
I was like, okay, what if we did something on
a Monday or a Wednesday or a Thursday or whenever?
I was like, because reality is, is we don't live
in a Monday through Friday, nine to five world
anymore. There's people who work on the weekends
and different work schedules. People, some people
early morning, late at night. And, and I was
like, so what if we created something that where
we are proclaiming the gospel on a different
night where we could invite a whole different
subset of people? And yeah. And the response
I got was that is not how church works. Right.
And so this church, they even shouldn't laugh,
but sorry, that's just, that was essentially
the response I got. So they took Sunday and they
said, and they said, this is the only day people
can hear about Jesus. Yeah. And they were, and
so they took Sunday and they actually elevated
what we need to do on Sunday. And the stuff they
were doing on Sunday was good. Don't get me wrong.
Right. But they elevated that above going out
and sharing the gospel. Yeah. Um, I can't remember.
I think there's a guy, I think his name is Hugh
Halter. He wrote a book called, um, I think it's
like gather and scatter. Yeah. Um, now I don't,
I'm not completely on board with everything he
talks about in his book, but one of the things
he talked about is that we gather for the purpose
of scattering, um, that real like discipleship
and, and growth and the proclaiming of the gospel
and loving people and the kingdom work happens,
uh, after we scatter. Right. Um, but gathering
is important. It's very important. Yeah. But
it's, it's, it's motivation is to go and scatter.
In fact, actually, uh, this last Sunday, um,
I was preaching with Matt, Matthew Nunley, who,
um, podcasters are aware of because he's been
on a couple episodes and we, uh, as we were closing,
we were talking, uh, we did a thing where we
prayed and we asked about God, like one person
that we can go and encourage. I asked every person
in the church to do that, to write down a name
when we prayed through and asked him what word
he has for him. And then I said, now you need
to go share that this week. Right. Uh, because
it's not enough to just be the church. You have
to like, not, not enough to just go to church.
You need to be the church. Right. Like we go
and we encourage and we grow and we disciple
and we proclaim. Right. We, we, you can't be
a witness to something if you don't go tell what
you saw. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Um, that's a terrible
witness if they never tell what they saw. Exactly.
Um, so yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say,
no, you know, you go ahead. No, I've talked plenty.
So please, please. I was going to say, um, The
other thing to think about is this on a personal
level, right? What are the areas in your life
that need to be cleared out? Yeah. So that you
can be the light for Jesus. Yeah. Right. What
are, what are those areas? And again, I can't
speak to you. I, because chances are, I don't
know you who's listening. I can't speak to those
areas in your life, but. there's probably something
in your life that you're like, you know what,
this is getting in the way of me effectively
proclaiming Jesus to the world. And this is getting
in the way of me having a healthy relationship
with Jesus. Yeah. You know, and, and I think
there was a few years back, um, I always thought
like, Oh God, you know, he'll, he'll take the
bad things and he'll replace them with, you know,
these, God's also in like the last couple of
years, he's taken things that are good because
he needed to put the things that were best. Yeah.
And I'll say that again, because he had to take
the things that were good because he had to put
in the things that were best. And sometimes we
have a hard time saying no to good things because
God needs us to do the best things that are for
his kingdom. Right. And the best is different
for everybody. God calls us all to different
things. You know, Moses was supposed to lead
Israel, but David had to be a king. Yep. Right.
It's really hard. That's a discernment piece
that you that's a road you get to go down. Right.
Right. And I mean, you've listened to Ben and
I talk before. We are very different people.
And and so one of the things. Yeah. So anyways,
we're not going to go down that road. I was about
to go down Big Rabbit Hole. I'm going to go talk
to you about how how different Ben and I are.
I was about to go down Big Rabbit Hole. but we're
different people. And if I was trying to implement
everything in Ben's life into my life, it probably
wouldn't go well. No. Right. Um, and vice versa.
Yeah. Right. And so, uh, I'll give you one. I'd
watch a lot more Seattle cracking games. That's
for sure. Watch more hockey. Yeah. Um, and, but
like to give you, I'll just give you one example.
Uh, Ben, the other day was talking about swimming
and he's like, yeah, I listened to the whole
book of Proverbs. Yeah. Right. And that is how,
that is Ben's like, that's how Ben does scripture.
Right. It's like, I'm going to listen to 34 ,000
chapters at once. Um, and, and, uh, and I am
very much like a listener. We know that there
are not 34 ,000 chapters. Please don't correct
him. I'm making fun of him. I'm teasing Ben a
little bit. Okay. I can do that. Uh, and then
I'm the type of guy where I've been doing a very
slow walk through the gospel of Mark right now,
like two, three verses a time a day. Right. And.
There's not one that's right. There's not one
that's right. So like we often will hear people
say like, this is how you have to exactly do
it. It's like, no, like I don't care what translation
Bible you read. Pick up a Bible and read it.
But you should read one. But you should read
one. Right. I don't care if you read 10 chapters
a day or two verses. Yeah. You should read something
and do it in a way that connects with you to
where the Lord is speaking to you. Yeah. Right.
I have a friend who does really well, like has
a really hard time reading physical books, but
does really well with his audio Bible going on
walks. Yeah. Great. Love that. Right. I have
another friend who hates listening to things
and like wants the, the NIV study Bible and that's
how they do it at their desk with their coffee
every day. Cool. Love that. Yeah. Everybody's
not the same. And so like the, the thing isn't
like, Oh, you need to overturn your life to look
just like somebody else. No. The only person
you need to look like is Jesus. Yeah. And find
like you find time that works for you. Right.
Right. Like in my life right now, my wife and
I work at the same school. She has to be there
half hour before I do. So I get half hour in
the car diving into scripture and praying. That's
the time that works for me. I like to use the
word diving because I'm swimming. So yeah. Yeah.
And I have another friend who he has his own
like little. office space in his house where
he like lights a prayer candle, does like, like
does like smoothing aroma style music. And then
he's like, this is, he's like, this is my time.
Right. Do it in a way that works for you. So
what, what are, what are these, what are the,
when we're talking about disciplines and we're
talking about like those types of things, reading
your Bible, praying, finding ways to integrate
your life with God, uh, getting rid of the bad
things in inner, inner interjecting the good
things, getting choosing between the good and
the best. Right. These are all ways that you
cleanse individually, Temple. By the way, this
is the same thing that you're doing individually,
you do as a church. There are things that we
do as a church that are good things. That doesn't
mean they're the best things. And I'm not going
to say anything specific because it matters to
the church. There is a, for example, this, this
is something like, this is a personal thing.
I don't love Sunday school, but there's a ton
of people who do. And I remember there's a church
in Texas that we had some missionaries come up
from and their church went from like 50 people
to like 2 ,500 people because of their Sunday
school program. And there it's where they do
discipleship. They've had people be baptized
at a Sunday school. Like it's, it's a massive
thing for them and it's connected with them and
it's grown and it's been wonderful for them.
I can't just go and try to be them. We have to
be who we are and who God wants us to be. God
doesn't typically, there is a format, yes, but
there's also not a format. You know, the Bible
teaches us how to live, but not exactly what
to do. And before you guys jumped down our throats
with the first Corinthians, like this is what
Paul said, order of churches. He also at the
end of that, this is a Spencer paraphrase version,
but he also at the end of that, he basically
said, this is an example, structure it in a way
that works for you. I think some of the things
that we can take away from the story is like
in the modern church is because we're the temple
and Jesus is going to come into our presence
and he's going to overturn the tables that need
to be overturned. One of the things that we can
do proactively to work with Jesus on this is
we guard against commercial faith. Yeah. Right
now, commercial, you're immediately going to
go to money. I'm using this because of what was
going on in the temple. Please insert anything
that applies there. Right. We guard against commercial
faith, but we have authentic faith. In other
words, the point of our faith is not to accomplish
something other than the kingdom of God, right?
It's not to build our platform. It's not to build
things that we want. It's only to build the kingdom
of God in the way that God wants us to minister
to our communities. You're talking commercial,
like just add some clarification. Commercial
in the sense of usually people do like give you
a bunch of commercials to sell you stuff you
don't need. Correct. Right. And so we're not,
we don't want to take a faith we don't need.
Yeah. Right. We just want to take the faith that
is between you and Jesus. And if you're focused
on the next point, which is welcome the outsider,
finding the people who are outside and bringing
them in, having a space for the people who need
to hear the gospel, being intentional at a place
for them to be. Yep. then you're probably not
going to lean into that commercial side because
you're focused on how do we get the outsider
here? Because if you're focused on commercial,
you're not going to have a place for the outsider.
But if you're focused on the outsider, the commercial
is never going to be able to enter. But the last
piece of that is that we also sometimes need
to embrace prophetic cleansing. That it's not
a bad thing if Jesus comes and flips our tables
because now we have a clean temple. Yep. Once
in a while, he's going to have to come flip your
table. Amen. He's going to have to drive out
your cattle. Yep. And he's going to have to remind
you that his house of prayer is for all nations.
Not just you. Yep. It's a good story. Yeah. The
next couple of weeks, they're going to unpack
this a little bit. He's going to have this conversation
where they're going to ask about the inscription
on the coin. Remember that, that you have to
have a specific kind of coin when we get to that
story. Because... Jesus is doing some mental
jujitsu in that story and I love it. Yep. That's
great. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, until next
time. Bye. Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context.
This season, we're exploring the life of Jesus,
step -by -step, and uncovering what His story
teaches us about loving God and others. Here
on Love & Context, we're all about having real
conversations about how to live out that love
in practical, everyday ways, and understanding
the Bible in its full context. We're so glad
you're here. Let's dive into Season 3 of Love
& Context.