WEBVTT 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:06.019 Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season, 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.640 we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.140 and uncovering what His story teaches us about 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.919 loving God and others. Here on Love & Context, 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.059 we're all about having real conversations about 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.140 how to live out that love in practical, everyday 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.199 ways, and understanding the Bible in its full 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.839 context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:28.870 into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to the 00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:34.219 Love and Context Podcast. All right. Yeah, that 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:37.119 was like, you know. He's going to be having a 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.740 poll soon where you guys can actually go into 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:43.280 a survey and check which one of his jingles is 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.840 the best. Listen, you can actually, you don't 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.240 even have to wait for the poll. You can comment 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:49.420 on our videos and you can just say not this one. 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:54.079 I will accept that comment. Oh, man. It is good 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:58.920 to be back in recording room, studio. We'll call 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:01.200 it studio. It's kind of a studio. You guys can't 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:02.850 see this because you only see this. This is actually 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:04.530 the prayer room at our church and there's like 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:09.290 a foosball table over there. There's a. You just 00:01:09.290 --> 00:01:11.290 confuse so many people by saying, this is a prayer 00:01:11.290 --> 00:01:12.909 room in our church, and there's a foosball table 00:01:12.909 --> 00:01:17.049 over there. Listen, do you not pray when you 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:20.709 play foosball? It is a prayer room, though, and 00:01:20.709 --> 00:01:22.810 it has the couches for people to pray and different 00:01:22.810 --> 00:01:24.310 things like that, so it's used for a lot of... 00:01:24.310 --> 00:01:26.810 I should say it's a prayer room with multi -purposes. 00:01:26.969 --> 00:01:30.109 Yes. Ironically, we're going to be talking today 00:01:30.109 --> 00:01:31.609 about the cleansing of the temple, and Jesus 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:32.969 is going to say something about a house of prayer. 00:01:33.189 --> 00:01:35.909 Yeah. So, yeah, there's my transition. Perfect. 00:01:36.170 --> 00:01:39.269 Definitely meant to do that. Yeah, so we've been 00:01:39.269 --> 00:01:41.769 walking through the life of Jesus in season three. 00:01:41.829 --> 00:01:43.609 Today we're going to be talking about the cleansing 00:01:43.609 --> 00:01:46.950 of the temple. It's typically how it's sub -headed 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:50.609 in the Bibles. Before we jump into this, there 00:01:50.609 --> 00:01:52.590 is some conversation that has to happen about 00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:55.700 this. in the gospel of john this happens at the 00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:57.900 beginning of the gospel in matthew mark and luke 00:01:57.900 --> 00:01:59.819 it happens at the end of the gospel so there's 00:01:59.819 --> 00:02:01.400 this conversation where people go did it happen 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:03.739 at the beginning and at the end is this the same 00:02:03.739 --> 00:02:05.819 account and john put it differently in the chronological 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:10.430 uh part of the of the you know, gospel. And I'm, 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:12.990 and my answer to that is we're not going to talk 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:14.689 about that today. Cause that's not really the 00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:16.710 point of what we're getting at. Is that fair? 00:02:16.849 --> 00:02:19.590 Yeah. Um, now chronologically, I want us to kind 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:22.509 of put this at the end. Um, this, this particular 00:02:22.509 --> 00:02:25.050 one at the end, because Jesus is going to have 00:02:25.050 --> 00:02:26.449 some conversations that are going to be have 00:02:26.449 --> 00:02:27.969 bearing on the next couple of weeks with the 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:30.370 Pharisees, especially these conversations about 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:32.810 talents and like whose inscription is on what 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:35.229 thing, um, this is going to be a kind of a thing 00:02:35.229 --> 00:02:38.270 that's going to come up later, but. I just wanted 00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:40.050 to head that off before anybody emails us and 00:02:40.050 --> 00:02:42.129 is like, well, what do you think? And I was like, 00:02:42.169 --> 00:02:44.469 I think that you should read the story for what 00:02:44.469 --> 00:02:47.349 it's supposed to be telling you. And know the 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:49.710 context and the audience to which the author 00:02:49.710 --> 00:02:52.469 is writing to. Yeah. So could Jesus have done 00:02:52.469 --> 00:02:55.210 it twice? Yep. Could he have done it at the beginning 00:02:55.210 --> 00:02:56.650 of his ministry or at the end of his ministry? 00:02:56.810 --> 00:02:59.030 Yep. Could he have done it five times and it's 00:02:59.030 --> 00:03:02.039 only recorded twice? Yep. Yep. Yeah. So we don't, 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.780 we don't know. So with that being said, we're 00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:07.060 going to be in John chapter two and we're going 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:12.719 to start in verse 14. You got that? All right. 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:16.060 In verse 14 in the temple area, he saw merchants 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:18.900 selling cattle, sheep, doves for sacrifices. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.139 And he also saw dealers at the tables exchanging 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:25.340 foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some rope 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:27.800 and chased them out of the temple. He drove out 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.199 the sheep, the cattle scattered the money changers, 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.419 coins all over the floor, turning over the tables, 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:36.740 then going to the people who sold doves, he told 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:39.840 them, get these things out of here. Stop turning 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:43.819 my father's house into a marketplace. Then his 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:47.280 disciples remembered this prophecy from the scriptures, 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.419 passion for God's house will consume me. But 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:53.840 the Jewish leaders demanded, what are you doing? 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.900 If God gave you the authority to do this, show 00:03:56.900 --> 00:04:00.099 us a miraculous sign. All right, Jesus replied, 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.719 destroy this temple and I will raise it up in 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:05.639 three days or in three days I will raise it up. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.939 What they explained, it's taken 46 years to build 00:04:08.939 --> 00:04:12.199 this temple and you can rebuild it in three days. 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:16.399 But when Jesus said this temple, he meant his 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:19.220 own body. After he was raised from the dead, 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.180 his disciples remembered he had said this and 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:26.759 they believed both the scriptures and what Jesus 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:31.000 said. So real quick on that next verse, one of 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:32.279 the things I do like here right before it gets 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:33.939 in here, it says, now while he was in Jerusalem 00:04:33.939 --> 00:04:35.720 at the Passover festival, many people saw the 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:37.540 signs he was performing and believed in his name. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:39.959 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:41.899 he knew all people. He did not need any testimony 00:04:41.899 --> 00:04:43.939 about mankind for he knew what was in each person. 00:04:44.139 --> 00:04:47.899 So the Jewish leaders go, can you give us a sign? 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:49.740 And he's like, yeah, I'll build this temple again 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:53.160 in three days. And then they're like. it literally 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:54.680 took 46 years what are you talking about bro 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:58.000 um and then he goes off and he's at the passover 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.920 festival and he does a bunch of signs i just 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:02.040 think that's funny like they're like give us 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:06.060 a sign he's like all right weird uh statement 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:07.720 about being able to build a temple in three days 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:09.459 and then walks off and works with other people 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:12.810 and delivers a bunch of signs Well, I don't think 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:14.709 it's as weird as we think because, like, Jesus 00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:16.889 is a rabbi. He's a teacher at this point. But 00:05:16.889 --> 00:05:20.529 he grew up a tecton. Yeah. Right? Like, so he 00:05:20.529 --> 00:05:22.389 grew up, like, he would have known how to do 00:05:22.389 --> 00:05:24.589 these things. Yeah. He would have known how to 00:05:24.589 --> 00:05:28.269 physically build a temple. Yeah. And so. Incidentally, 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:30.129 if you do not remember from our episode, a tecton 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:32.029 is somebody who works with stone or really any 00:05:32.029 --> 00:05:35.230 sort of art crafting material. It would be kind 00:05:35.230 --> 00:05:37.269 of like a jack of all trades. Given that they're 00:05:37.269 --> 00:05:38.850 in Israel, it's a lot of stone, but you would 00:05:38.850 --> 00:05:41.980 be able to work with wood. Yeah. Yeah. All right. 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:44.920 So real quick here. So at the beginning of here, 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:46.540 it says when it was almost time for the Jewish 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:49.920 Passover. So if you don't remember in the book 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.600 of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, they talk about 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.050 the festivals. And this is one of the three festivals 00:05:55.050 --> 00:05:56.550 that they're supposed to go to the temple for, 00:05:56.670 --> 00:05:59.470 right? They actually pilgrimage. They all come 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:01.170 to this one. There's this Shavuot and one other 00:06:01.170 --> 00:06:03.509 one that I forgot. So somebody is going to be 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:06.290 like, I can't believe you forgot. And I was like, 00:06:06.329 --> 00:06:07.769 you know what? I love that for you. We're only 00:06:07.769 --> 00:06:10.350 human. Yeah. But this is one of the ones that 00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:11.610 everybody's going to come. So that's why he's 00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:15.290 in Jerusalem for this. And now the merchants 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:17.910 and the money changers provided needed services 00:06:17.910 --> 00:06:20.800 here. So they're actually there on purpose because 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:23.319 you're only supposed to have a temple minted 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:24.860 money there. You're not supposed to have foreign 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:28.100 money there. Right. Um, but the issue here is 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:30.319 that commercialization has now filled the temple 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.920 courts and this, uh, and, uh, the bigger issue, 00:06:33.939 --> 00:06:35.199 and I'm like, we're going to kind of pull this 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:36.959 out a little bit is this is going to take place. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:39.399 Uh, if you ever actually, um, actually, if you're 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.279 listening. If you can pause, go and Google an 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:45.459 image of Herod's Temple. Herod's, the Jewish 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:47.560 temple in Herod's time. And you're going to see 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.779 this building that's the Holy of Holies. Then 00:06:49.779 --> 00:06:51.240 you're going to see this courtyard that's called 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.339 the Court of Women or Court of Men. And then 00:06:54.339 --> 00:06:56.040 there's like, and then outside of that, there's 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:58.480 this massive area called the Court of the Gentiles. 00:06:58.779 --> 00:07:01.240 Right. And the Court of the Gentiles is where 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.399 even in the setting up of the temple in Exodus, 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:06.319 this is where the Gentiles are supposed to be 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:09.660 able to come, hear about the word of God. engage 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:12.459 and worship Yahweh, even when they're not Jewish. 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:20.089 And so Jesus comes and he sees. Animals being 00:07:20.089 --> 00:07:22.670 sold, money being interchanged, and there's an 00:07:22.670 --> 00:07:25.189 implication that's going on that there's some 00:07:25.189 --> 00:07:27.670 shyness going on in this transition too during 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:31.629 this time. But this entire place that's supposed 00:07:31.629 --> 00:07:34.410 to be dedicated to the worship of Yahweh, and 00:07:34.410 --> 00:07:36.470 it's a place for all nations to come and gather, 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:41.250 is now a place of commerce. because it's filling 00:07:41.250 --> 00:07:42.930 up the entire, the court of Gentiles, which by 00:07:42.930 --> 00:07:44.850 the way, go back to that image. It's massive. 00:07:45.389 --> 00:07:47.970 And this whole thing is being filled. Basically 00:07:47.970 --> 00:07:50.709 we're saying Gentiles, the only thing that you're 00:07:50.709 --> 00:07:52.970 important for is being able to buy and sell. 00:07:55.250 --> 00:08:00.660 Yeah. And when it comes to sacrifices. for atonement 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:03.439 and things like that, um, you were supposed to 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.680 bring the best of what you had. And so this negates 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.819 that too, right? Right. This negates that in 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:10.639 the sense that you are going and you are purchasing 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:13.120 from somebody else and you're saying, okay, well 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.040 I need, I need a sacrifice for whatever reason 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:18.079 to fulfill an old Testament law. So I'm just 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:19.899 going to go get some animals from here and then 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.060 go do it. Right. Yeah. You're not actually bringing 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:24.639 the best of what you have. Correct. Yeah. So 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:26.079 there's a couple, there's a couple of different 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:27.699 things going on there. And, uh, when I, when 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:29.360 I said like the temple tax and the things that, 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:31.160 on there. It's supposed to be paid in Tyrian 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.639 silver. So there should be money changers there. 00:08:33.740 --> 00:08:35.759 So it's not like they're not supposed to be there, 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:38.360 but they're not supposed to be the focus of what's 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:40.340 going on there, which is what's happening. And 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:42.320 Jesus is going to call a quote from two different 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:46.279 places. Isaiah 56, 7 says this, these I will 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:48.740 bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:50.940 my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:52.980 sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:54.919 people will be called a house of prayer for all 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:57.059 nations. And this is talking about the Gentiles 00:08:57.059 --> 00:09:00.980 being welcomed in. Jeremiah 7 -11, which is, 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:05.000 by the way, not where the all -night gas station 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.500 got its name. Not from Jeremiah 7 -11. But that's 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:10.980 a terrible joke that makes no sense. Okay. Anyways, 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:13.179 somebody out there, probably Matthew Nunley, 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:14.860 is laughing his head off when he heard me say 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:18.720 that. It says, Has this house, which bears my 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.500 name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:25.090 been watching, declares the Lord. And these are 00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:27.250 the exact verses of Jesus' quotes. It's actually 00:09:27.250 --> 00:09:28.850 going to show up in the Synoptic Gospels in Mark, 00:09:28.909 --> 00:09:30.669 and then it's alluded to in the Gospel of John 00:09:30.669 --> 00:09:33.850 as well. So Jesus' anger was not about the fact 00:09:33.850 --> 00:09:36.690 that commerce is taking place, because there 00:09:36.690 --> 00:09:38.470 is something that needs to take place here, but 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:41.210 commerce is now the focus. Commerce is now the 00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:43.289 focus of what's going on in the temple. The temple 00:09:43.289 --> 00:09:45.409 is no longer about worshiping God and about bringing 00:09:45.409 --> 00:09:47.250 people to this place where heaven and earth intersect. 00:09:47.629 --> 00:09:50.570 It's now become this place of... buy and sell 00:09:50.570 --> 00:09:53.269 it's just like churches today when they charge 00:09:53.269 --> 00:09:55.830 you for coffee instead of just give it away i'm 00:09:55.830 --> 00:09:57.730 sorry i'm sorry that was that analogy that was 00:09:57.730 --> 00:10:00.610 a joke you know he says this but outside of our 00:10:00.610 --> 00:10:02.850 coffee things he has a little thing to donate 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:04.970 to young life for the coffee so it's not going 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:14.049 to me yeah oh man that's so good so um So this, 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:15.950 uh, this part where we are, this is, this is 00:10:15.950 --> 00:10:17.389 always the interesting place that people talk 00:10:17.389 --> 00:10:22.950 about. Um, this, this image of Jesus gets kind 00:10:22.950 --> 00:10:26.950 of abused. Um, because Jesus, uh, first of all, 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:29.129 when people say, well, Jesus is meek and mild 00:10:29.129 --> 00:10:30.509 and never confronts people. I was like, well, 00:10:30.529 --> 00:10:32.710 clearly you didn't read the gospels. And then 00:10:32.710 --> 00:10:34.750 when they say like, well, Jesus got angry. So 00:10:34.750 --> 00:10:36.309 I can get angry too. I was like, well, you're 00:10:36.309 --> 00:10:37.950 also not the son of God. So maybe calm down. 00:10:38.190 --> 00:10:43.049 Yeah. Right. That's terrible. Um, So the next 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.409 part of it, he says he made a whip of cords and 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:48.070 drove them from the temple courts, both sheep 00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:49.950 and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money 00:10:49.950 --> 00:10:52.350 changers and overturned the tables to those who 00:10:52.350 --> 00:10:55.149 sold doves. He said, get these out of here. Stop 00:10:55.149 --> 00:10:58.710 turning my father's house into a market. Now, 00:10:58.909 --> 00:11:02.590 I read a number of commentators and you are welcome 00:11:02.590 --> 00:11:04.649 to disagree with this, but a number of commentators 00:11:04.649 --> 00:11:08.210 and scholars have the opinion that the cord is 00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:10.200 not for hitting people. It's for driving out 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:13.000 the animals, that the animals are driven out 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.419 and he's kicking the people out. And then you're 00:11:16.419 --> 00:11:19.039 probably wondering, you're like, why is nobody 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.860 stopping Jesus? Well, he's a rabbi and rabbis 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:25.259 will teach through dramatic expression sometimes. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.200 Prophets will also give a message in very dramatic 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:32.899 ways. If you think about Ezekiel, when he's given 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:34.620 his message and he's like, you have to lay on 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:37.000 your side for X amount of years and your food, 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:39.600 you have to cook over the dung of animals. Like 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.340 he has to put his life on like a very dramatic 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:44.539 display or Hosea. He says, Hey, you're going 00:11:44.539 --> 00:11:46.399 to go and marry a prostitute and you're gonna 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:47.519 have kids with her. And then you're going to 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.419 name them like very depressing names, you know? 00:11:51.179 --> 00:11:54.539 Like this is like prophetic imagery is, is not 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:56.539 a, is not an uncommon thing. So when a rabbi 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:58.039 is going and doing these things, it's not actually 00:11:58.039 --> 00:11:59.779 going to be super out of the norm because it's 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:03.039 a teaching thing that's going on. Yeah. Yeah. 00:12:03.729 --> 00:12:07.070 And this ties into Beatitudes as well, or not 00:12:07.070 --> 00:12:10.370 Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount as well. When 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:13.149 they say, hey, turn the other cheek. We take 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:14.690 that as like, okay, we need to be meek, we need 00:12:14.690 --> 00:12:16.830 to be mild. And actually what you're doing is 00:12:16.830 --> 00:12:18.769 you're, we've talked about this, but you're bringing 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:23.529 injustice on display. Yeah, you're standing right 00:12:23.529 --> 00:12:27.090 up against it. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and if you 00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:28.669 guys, that's not what we're here to talk about. 00:12:29.110 --> 00:12:30.649 We're talking about this story. So if you want 00:12:30.649 --> 00:12:32.860 to learn more about that. Yeah, I believe that 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:34.100 we actually talked about it in our Sermon on 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:35.820 the Mount series. So you can go back there and 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:40.059 talk about that. But Jesus is not, he's not, 00:12:40.179 --> 00:12:45.899 turning the other cheek is not about not addressing 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:47.340 things. It's about addressing things through 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:49.600 nonviolence, but standing directly in front of 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.039 things and pointing out the injustice, right? 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:53.840 So what does Jesus do? He's not whipping the 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.480 people. He's driving the animals out. He's flipping 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.100 over the coins. He's telling them to get the 00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:02.320 doves out of here. What are you guys doing? What 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:06.419 are you doing? This place, you have cattle and 00:13:06.419 --> 00:13:08.899 you have money and you have doves. You know who's 00:13:08.899 --> 00:13:13.100 not here? Gentiles. Right? The people that are 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:16.000 supposed to be here aren't here. What are you 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.500 doing? It's supposed to be a house of prayer. 00:13:18.620 --> 00:13:20.279 It's supposed to be a house of connection. It's 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:21.659 supposed to be the place where heaven and earth 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:23.899 meet. And you as a kingdom of priests are going 00:13:23.899 --> 00:13:26.059 to distribute my justice and my goodness and 00:13:26.059 --> 00:13:28.600 my, my message through the entire world. And 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:30.340 now all you're doing is selling a bunch of stuff. 00:13:30.460 --> 00:13:33.940 Yeah. You're going through these religious exercises 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:38.659 and not actually doing anything. Yeah. Um, Psalm 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:41.559 69, nine, they quote, they quote for, uh, the, 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:44.639 the disciples remember back. It says, uh, For 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.440 zeal for your house consumes me and the insults 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:52.399 of those who insult you fall on me. Right. Right. 00:13:52.539 --> 00:13:54.480 I like the way yours, yours translated. It says 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.820 with passion. Right. Uh, I think sometimes like 00:13:57.820 --> 00:13:59.879 zeal is kind of a lost word. We know what it 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:01.980 means, but like it kind of sounds, but no, with 00:14:01.980 --> 00:14:06.659 passion, with like, yeah, like you're so overcome 00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:10.200 by what you're seeing that you're like, ah, uh 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:16.159 huh. It's like, it's like that, uh, if you've 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.039 ever gone to a place where you just see something 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:19.899 so wrong that you're like, I got to intervene. 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:23.620 Yeah. Right. I got to step in. Right. It's, it's 00:14:23.620 --> 00:14:25.519 that type of feeling that's going on right now. 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:28.159 It's that, it's that like feeling where you're 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.940 like, this has to be resolved. This has to be 00:14:30.940 --> 00:14:34.279 taken care of. Yeah. Right. And I'm intentionally 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:36.159 leaving that vague. I'm not trying to go into 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:37.899 specifics because I know everybody's situation 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:40.240 is a little different on that. Right. But, but 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.399 when you have that feeling of like, man, I know 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.960 this is not where I'm supposed to be or that's 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.500 not even good. I know that's, I know this is 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:50.539 not where I usually am at. Right. But I have 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:54.279 to intervene in this way. Yeah. Right. And I 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:57.639 had a good, a good mentor of mine. He, he once 00:14:57.639 --> 00:14:59.019 told me, he's like, yeah, when you see something 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:02.440 that you should deal with, just. don't think 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:04.519 about it. Just deal with it right away. Like 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.100 he was like, maybe you need to take a moment, 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:09.080 just like calm yourself or go deal with it. But 00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:10.799 he's like, just deal with it right away. Like, 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:12.279 don't be like, okay, I'll get to that in a week. 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.179 Right. He's like, cause what that does is he's 00:15:15.179 --> 00:15:17.460 like, it actually is better for you and the other 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:19.399 person involved that you're dealing, that you're 00:15:19.399 --> 00:15:21.679 dealing with because it doesn't let anything 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.000 linger longer than it needs to be. Yeah. And 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.440 so, you know, Jesus could have gone into the 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:28.019 temple and he could have been like, all right. 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:31.700 guys, we need to talk about why this is bad and 00:15:31.700 --> 00:15:33.600 stuff like that. And when Jesus said, he was 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:34.960 like, Nope, this needs to be dealt with right 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.360 now. This is the house of the Lord. This is where 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:40.159 outsiders are supposed to come in and get to 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:44.139 know God. Yeah. Right. This is, um, it's also 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:46.480 the biggest part of the temple for that reason. 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:48.820 Yeah. Right. And if you guys are thinking, well, 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:51.340 Jewish culture is kind of exclusive. Go read 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:53.059 the old Testament. It's not supposed to be. It's 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:55.379 not, it's not, um, all the way back to the Exodus 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:59.019 when, uh, When the Hebrews came out of Egypt, 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.519 a bunch of Egyptians went with them and they 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.980 were welcomed in. And also the reason that the 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.019 Israelites were even chosen wasn't because of 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:08.259 their strength. It was actually because of their 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.600 weakness. And God said, I'm going to take you 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.379 and I'm going to tell a story through you. Right? 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:17.080 Yeah. So Jesus sees something that is blocking 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:18.960 the outsider from hearing the good news about 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:21.820 God. And he says, we're going to resolve this 00:16:21.820 --> 00:16:24.480 and we're going to open this back up so people 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.340 can hear about. the goodness of God. Yeah. There 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:30.759 is, there's a three old Testament pieces that 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:32.860 I think are really, really fun that I found to 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:35.159 connect into the story. Yeah. The first talking 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:36.379 about the purification of the temple. If you 00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:38.159 actually look in Malachi three, one through three, 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:41.539 God says, then suddenly the Lord you are seeking 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:45.500 will come to his temple. He will sit as a refiner 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.639 and a purifier of silver. What's he doing? Purifying 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.639 the temple, right? So then Jesus appears and 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:53.980 he is coming through and cleansing it. Also in 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:57.460 Zechariah 14, 21, it says, and on that day, there 00:16:57.460 --> 00:16:59.919 will no longer be a merchant in the house of 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:02.200 the Lord Almighty. Yeah. Right? So he's driving 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:04.259 the merchants out, right? So by the way, same 00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:07.119 scripture that all the Pharisees and Sadducees 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:09.359 and the Jewish ruling council, they have access 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.099 to these scriptures too, right? Yeah. And then 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.839 the last thing is the word drive out. If you 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:16.240 look in the Septuagint, the same word is going 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.420 to be used in the Exodus when it says that God 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:22.740 is driving out the gods of Egypt. So it's the 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:24.599 same word that's going to be connected to driving 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:28.440 out of the gods during the Exodus that Jesus 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:30.460 is coming and driving out the things that are 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:32.539 keeping people from God. Yeah. Right. Which I 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:36.650 just think that's fun. Because there's somewhere 00:17:36.650 --> 00:17:38.670 I wanted to go with something you said that connects 00:17:38.670 --> 00:17:41.049 to modern church, but I want to pause real quick 00:17:41.049 --> 00:17:42.670 and talk about one last thing that Jesus says 00:17:42.670 --> 00:17:44.690 here, this conversation between the Jews and 00:17:44.690 --> 00:17:49.029 him at the very end. They say, what sign can 00:17:49.029 --> 00:17:50.650 you give to prove your authority to do all this? 00:17:50.809 --> 00:17:52.769 And he answers them, destroy the temple, and 00:17:52.769 --> 00:17:54.829 I will raise it again in three days. They replied, 00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:57.170 it has been 46 years to build this temple, and 00:17:57.170 --> 00:17:58.650 you are going to raise it in three days. But 00:17:58.650 --> 00:18:03.099 the temple he had spoken of was his body. This 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:06.720 is the last piece of the story. Um, they, uh, 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:08.839 like I said, they, they're used to prophetic 00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:12.619 theater, but then they're like, okay, what sign 00:18:12.619 --> 00:18:14.519 are you going to give that shows that you had 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:17.880 the authority to do this? Yeah. Right. What sign, 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:21.259 what sign are you going to give? Yeah. And I 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:23.640 love that Jesus gives them a sign that there's 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:27.299 no way in the, like they're okay. If they're 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:29.339 really thinking temple, there's no way in the 00:18:29.339 --> 00:18:32.920 world they're going to destroy the temple. And 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:34.619 then watch him raise it in three days. Yeah. 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:39.640 No way. Except they're about to destroy the temple 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.619 and he's going to raise it in three days. Right? 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:45.640 Like that's, that's so beautiful. It's like, 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:47.079 it's like, I'm going to take a thing that you 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:49.059 think there's no way in the world you would destroy. 00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:52.420 You're absolutely going to destroy it and I'll 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:54.920 raise it in three days. It's just not the thing 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:58.259 you think it is. Yeah. You know? So why, why 00:18:58.259 --> 00:19:01.259 is Jesus so upset? Because there's exploitation. 00:19:02.139 --> 00:19:06.380 There's the profaning of a holy space. There's 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:09.140 exclusion of the nations, right? There's corrupt 00:19:09.140 --> 00:19:11.400 leadership and there's a loss of purpose, right? 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.119 These five things are what's happening in this 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:19.619 story. And Jesus sees us and he goes, no. Yeah, 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.660 we're not going to do that. I liken this to like 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:25.019 you have a kid and you ever walk into a room 00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:28.660 and there's absolute chaos and you go, no. I 00:19:28.660 --> 00:19:31.440 have no idea what you're talking about. That's 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.819 not true. I have been at your house when something 00:19:34.819 --> 00:19:36.720 like that happens. It's not like my house is 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:39.279 a constant state of remodel and my kids are high 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:44.400 energy crazy. And sometimes because we're not 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.400 perfect, sometimes we handle it well and sometimes 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:49.079 we don't. But when you're handling it well and 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:50.359 you come in and you're like, no, this is not 00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:53.240 what we're doing. You're not mad, but you are 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:56.200 going to set the situation right. You're like, 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:58.589 nope, we're not going to do that. Change, change 00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:00.650 directions. We're, we're changing this. Yep. 00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:04.769 Um, sorry. I was just, I was nevermind. I was 00:20:04.769 --> 00:20:07.529 thinking about so many things right there. Children, 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:10.869 man. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, like when I see the 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:15.470 story, I see, I see the story of something is 00:20:15.470 --> 00:20:18.849 getting in the way of the gospel being proclaimed 00:20:18.849 --> 00:20:20.930 to where the gospel needs to be proclaimed. Yeah. 00:20:20.990 --> 00:20:24.450 Right. And Jesus says, nope, we're going to remove 00:20:24.450 --> 00:20:28.599 that obstacle. And, and to me, that's a little 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:31.039 bit of a relatable thing. Oh yeah. Right. Yeah. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:34.460 Modern church. Yeah. Right. Right. Um, by the 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:36.180 way, just reminder for everybody, if you're like, 00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:38.839 you're like, well, but that's the temple in the, 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:40.640 in the, uh, in the new Testament, old Testament. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:42.420 I was like, okay. First Corinthians three 16. 00:20:43.079 --> 00:20:44.740 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:48.200 temple and that God's spirit dwells in your midst. 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:51.079 So you could take this on a couple of different 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.400 levels. Like you could take it, let's just talk 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.460 about it at a church level first. And then you 00:20:56.460 --> 00:20:58.640 can also take it on a personal level. But talking 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.099 about it at a church level, like what are things 00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:03.220 at your church that are potentially getting in 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:05.539 the way of you effectively proclaiming Jesus? 00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:08.720 And that is a question that often church leadership 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:13.089 will ask, but often they don't as well. Well, 00:21:13.150 --> 00:21:15.769 and, and, uh, you know, I've heard people use 00:21:15.769 --> 00:21:17.869 a story. They said, well, when Jesus saw injustice, 00:21:18.190 --> 00:21:21.589 he went and flipped tables. So I saw X, Y, and 00:21:21.589 --> 00:21:24.009 Z, and they're not things about justice. They're 00:21:24.009 --> 00:21:26.950 things about preference, right? Where they're 00:21:26.950 --> 00:21:28.950 like, well, for example, um, I grew up in a, 00:21:28.950 --> 00:21:30.789 in a church where you remember that, uh, that, 00:21:30.849 --> 00:21:33.890 that, uh, not grew up in a church. I said that, 00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:36.829 but I did not mean that I went to a church. Um, 00:21:37.630 --> 00:21:40.109 Early on in my, in my married life where, you 00:21:40.109 --> 00:21:41.970 know, those tables that say this do and remembers 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:44.230 to me, nothing wrong with those tables. Right. 00:21:44.769 --> 00:21:47.190 Um, but we had some people in our church who 00:21:47.190 --> 00:21:49.210 said that that church that belongs on the stage. 00:21:49.210 --> 00:21:50.490 And if it's not on the stage, it's disrespectful 00:21:50.490 --> 00:21:54.730 to God. And, uh, and they were willing to flip 00:21:54.730 --> 00:21:57.549 the entire church over to have this conversation 00:21:57.549 --> 00:22:00.089 because if this wasn't there, then we couldn't 00:22:00.089 --> 00:22:06.359 properly preach the gospel. Now. And sometimes 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.859 people say things and I'm not even sure where 00:22:08.859 --> 00:22:10.579 to begin having a conversation. And that was 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:15.500 one of those times, right? Where, where like 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:18.339 a personal preference or a tradition has now 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:21.859 become our gospel. Yeah. That's problematic. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.660 One of the things that we have to do, and it's, 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:27.740 it's a really reoccurring theme in churches, 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:30.799 but it's not something that we actually. Spend 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:33.259 a lot of time like making sure is bred into our 00:22:33.259 --> 00:22:36.259 identity is that we actually preach, live and 00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:40.460 and speak the gospel. Yeah. The kingdom of heaven 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:42.740 is here ready for you to interact with it. It's 00:22:42.740 --> 00:22:44.240 accessible through the life, death and burial 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.980 resurrection of Jesus. Yeah. Right. This is the 00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:48.720 gospel is that those on the outside are being 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.839 welcomed in because Jesus made a way. Yeah. Right. 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:54.359 Thank goodness, because we're Gentiles. Otherwise, 00:22:54.519 --> 00:22:56.440 we wouldn't be there. That core to the Gentiles, 00:22:56.500 --> 00:22:59.079 that's for us. Right. And this is another area 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.160 where I'm trying not to get too specific, because 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:03.920 I think each church is unique in its own right. 00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:06.200 Yeah. Right. It's got its unique set of people, 00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:10.460 unique town that it's in. And so we could take 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:12.319 this and we could say, here are blanket things 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:15.579 to watch out for in your church. And I really 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:18.589 hate that conversation because. you're trying 00:23:18.589 --> 00:23:20.130 to, you're trying to create this balance in church, 00:23:20.269 --> 00:23:21.710 right? You're trying to create this balance of, 00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:24.869 we want people to feel welcomed in so we can 00:23:24.869 --> 00:23:27.269 share the gospel with them. But sometimes we 00:23:27.269 --> 00:23:29.150 can take the things we're doing to welcome them 00:23:29.150 --> 00:23:31.829 in and turn that into a showboat. Yeah. Right. 00:23:32.730 --> 00:23:36.200 Right. And, um, And to where it's actually distracting 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:38.059 from people actually hearing the good news of 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:40.460 Christ. Right. And so there is this balance. 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:44.039 There's this tension. Right. And well, and there's 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.480 also different liturgies according to your tradition. 00:23:46.619 --> 00:23:50.960 So, for example, like a Lutheran liturgy is going 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:52.759 to be a much more traditional, you know, like 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:54.420 the way that they do their services are going 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:56.420 to be much more traditional. And that doesn't 00:23:56.420 --> 00:23:58.160 mean they're not proclaiming the gospel. Right. 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:01.880 Yeah. They just have a different like. Home button. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.319 Yeah. Right. And like a Pentecostal church is 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:06.900 going to be have a very different liturgy than 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:08.579 a Lutheran church. What are you talking about? 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:12.720 You know, and so there's like so those aren't 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:14.759 the things we're talking about. It's when when 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:16.759 the collectively when you're stepping in there 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:19.519 and you're compromising your church's ability 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.359 to love God and love other people and preach 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:24.410 the gospel like. It's probably about time that 00:24:24.410 --> 00:24:26.750 your tables get flipped. So I served at a church 00:24:26.750 --> 00:24:29.950 for a while where the leadership of the church 00:24:29.950 --> 00:24:33.970 at the time, they were very much like, they very 00:24:33.970 --> 00:24:35.789 much, and they openly said this, they're like, 00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:38.869 if the gospel is not being proclaimed on Sunday 00:24:38.869 --> 00:24:41.369 and people are not hearing it on Sunday, then 00:24:41.369 --> 00:24:43.269 we are not proclaiming the gospel correctly. 00:24:43.869 --> 00:24:47.559 And I pushed back on that and I was like. And 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:49.460 I was like, okay, what if we did something on 00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:51.839 a Monday or a Wednesday or a Thursday or whenever? 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:54.420 I was like, because reality is, is we don't live 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:56.859 in a Monday through Friday, nine to five world 00:24:56.859 --> 00:24:58.759 anymore. There's people who work on the weekends 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:01.839 and different work schedules. People, some people 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:04.859 early morning, late at night. And, and I was 00:25:04.859 --> 00:25:06.519 like, so what if we created something that where 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.779 we are proclaiming the gospel on a different 00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:10.599 night where we could invite a whole different 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:13.119 subset of people? And yeah. And the response 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:18.579 I got was that is not how church works. Right. 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:21.319 And so this church, they even shouldn't laugh, 00:25:21.460 --> 00:25:23.099 but sorry, that's just, that was essentially 00:25:23.099 --> 00:25:25.740 the response I got. So they took Sunday and they 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:28.960 said, and they said, this is the only day people 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:32.019 can hear about Jesus. Yeah. And they were, and 00:25:32.019 --> 00:25:34.140 so they took Sunday and they actually elevated 00:25:34.140 --> 00:25:36.099 what we need to do on Sunday. And the stuff they 00:25:36.099 --> 00:25:37.740 were doing on Sunday was good. Don't get me wrong. 00:25:37.819 --> 00:25:41.880 Right. But they elevated that above going out 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.400 and sharing the gospel. Yeah. Um, I can't remember. 00:25:45.460 --> 00:25:46.920 I think there's a guy, I think his name is Hugh 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:50.599 Halter. He wrote a book called, um, I think it's 00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:53.640 like gather and scatter. Yeah. Um, now I don't, 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:55.720 I'm not completely on board with everything he 00:25:55.720 --> 00:25:57.259 talks about in his book, but one of the things 00:25:57.259 --> 00:25:58.839 he talked about is that we gather for the purpose 00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:01.640 of scattering, um, that real like discipleship 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:03.980 and, and growth and the proclaiming of the gospel 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:05.859 and loving people and the kingdom work happens, 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:10.119 uh, after we scatter. Right. Um, but gathering 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:12.700 is important. It's very important. Yeah. But 00:26:12.700 --> 00:26:14.980 it's, it's, it's motivation is to go and scatter. 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:17.059 In fact, actually, uh, this last Sunday, um, 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:19.000 I was preaching with Matt, Matthew Nunley, who, 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.259 um, podcasters are aware of because he's been 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:23.980 on a couple episodes and we, uh, as we were closing, 00:26:24.099 --> 00:26:27.119 we were talking, uh, we did a thing where we 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:29.339 prayed and we asked about God, like one person 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:32.539 that we can go and encourage. I asked every person 00:26:32.539 --> 00:26:34.200 in the church to do that, to write down a name 00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:36.019 when we prayed through and asked him what word 00:26:36.019 --> 00:26:37.519 he has for him. And then I said, now you need 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:40.220 to go share that this week. Right. Uh, because 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:42.500 it's not enough to just be the church. You have 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:44.359 to like, not, not enough to just go to church. 00:26:44.380 --> 00:26:47.099 You need to be the church. Right. Like we go 00:26:47.099 --> 00:26:49.140 and we encourage and we grow and we disciple 00:26:49.140 --> 00:26:52.140 and we proclaim. Right. We, we, you can't be 00:26:52.140 --> 00:26:53.799 a witness to something if you don't go tell what 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:57.299 you saw. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Um, that's a terrible 00:26:57.299 --> 00:26:59.720 witness if they never tell what they saw. Exactly. 00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:03.240 Um, so yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say, 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:05.319 no, you know, you go ahead. No, I've talked plenty. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.059 So please, please. I was going to say, um, The 00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:10.599 other thing to think about is this on a personal 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:13.079 level, right? What are the areas in your life 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:15.440 that need to be cleared out? Yeah. So that you 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:19.259 can be the light for Jesus. Yeah. Right. What 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:22.400 are, what are those areas? And again, I can't 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.599 speak to you. I, because chances are, I don't 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.920 know you who's listening. I can't speak to those 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:32.640 areas in your life, but. there's probably something 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:34.059 in your life that you're like, you know what, 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:36.420 this is getting in the way of me effectively 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:39.200 proclaiming Jesus to the world. And this is getting 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:41.279 in the way of me having a healthy relationship 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:45.700 with Jesus. Yeah. You know, and, and I think 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:48.700 there was a few years back, um, I always thought 00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:50.519 like, Oh God, you know, he'll, he'll take the 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:52.099 bad things and he'll replace them with, you know, 00:27:52.099 --> 00:27:55.079 these, God's also in like the last couple of 00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:57.160 years, he's taken things that are good because 00:27:57.160 --> 00:28:00.700 he needed to put the things that were best. Yeah. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:02.559 And I'll say that again, because he had to take 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.640 the things that were good because he had to put 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:08.319 in the things that were best. And sometimes we 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:10.460 have a hard time saying no to good things because 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:12.400 God needs us to do the best things that are for 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:16.259 his kingdom. Right. And the best is different 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:17.700 for everybody. God calls us all to different 00:28:17.700 --> 00:28:19.779 things. You know, Moses was supposed to lead 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:22.319 Israel, but David had to be a king. Yep. Right. 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:27.559 It's really hard. That's a discernment piece 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:29.579 that you that's a road you get to go down. Right. 00:28:29.980 --> 00:28:33.880 Right. And I mean, you've listened to Ben and 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:36.500 I talk before. We are very different people. 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:43.019 And and so one of the things. Yeah. So anyways, 00:28:43.220 --> 00:28:45.480 we're not going to go down that road. I was about 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:47.220 to go down Big Rabbit Hole. I'm going to go talk 00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:49.460 to you about how how different Ben and I are. 00:28:49.619 --> 00:28:52.750 I was about to go down Big Rabbit Hole. but we're 00:28:52.750 --> 00:28:54.890 different people. And if I was trying to implement 00:28:54.890 --> 00:28:57.609 everything in Ben's life into my life, it probably 00:28:57.609 --> 00:29:00.549 wouldn't go well. No. Right. Um, and vice versa. 00:29:00.809 --> 00:29:03.690 Yeah. Right. And so, uh, I'll give you one. I'd 00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:05.369 watch a lot more Seattle cracking games. That's 00:29:05.369 --> 00:29:08.789 for sure. Watch more hockey. Yeah. Um, and, but 00:29:08.789 --> 00:29:10.650 like to give you, I'll just give you one example. 00:29:10.849 --> 00:29:13.589 Uh, Ben, the other day was talking about swimming 00:29:13.589 --> 00:29:14.789 and he's like, yeah, I listened to the whole 00:29:14.789 --> 00:29:18.230 book of Proverbs. Yeah. Right. And that is how, 00:29:18.269 --> 00:29:20.950 that is Ben's like, that's how Ben does scripture. 00:29:21.049 --> 00:29:24.190 Right. It's like, I'm going to listen to 34 ,000 00:29:24.190 --> 00:29:28.670 chapters at once. Um, and, and, uh, and I am 00:29:28.670 --> 00:29:30.490 very much like a listener. We know that there 00:29:30.490 --> 00:29:32.390 are not 34 ,000 chapters. Please don't correct 00:29:32.390 --> 00:29:34.990 him. I'm making fun of him. I'm teasing Ben a 00:29:34.990 --> 00:29:37.069 little bit. Okay. I can do that. Uh, and then 00:29:37.069 --> 00:29:38.710 I'm the type of guy where I've been doing a very 00:29:38.710 --> 00:29:40.829 slow walk through the gospel of Mark right now, 00:29:40.869 --> 00:29:45.049 like two, three verses a time a day. Right. And. 00:29:45.609 --> 00:29:47.109 There's not one that's right. There's not one 00:29:47.109 --> 00:29:49.369 that's right. So like we often will hear people 00:29:49.369 --> 00:29:51.230 say like, this is how you have to exactly do 00:29:51.230 --> 00:29:53.650 it. It's like, no, like I don't care what translation 00:29:53.650 --> 00:29:55.910 Bible you read. Pick up a Bible and read it. 00:29:55.970 --> 00:29:57.250 But you should read one. But you should read 00:29:57.250 --> 00:29:59.289 one. Right. I don't care if you read 10 chapters 00:29:59.289 --> 00:30:01.930 a day or two verses. Yeah. You should read something 00:30:01.930 --> 00:30:04.670 and do it in a way that connects with you to 00:30:04.670 --> 00:30:07.029 where the Lord is speaking to you. Yeah. Right. 00:30:07.190 --> 00:30:09.769 I have a friend who does really well, like has 00:30:09.769 --> 00:30:11.670 a really hard time reading physical books, but 00:30:11.670 --> 00:30:13.690 does really well with his audio Bible going on 00:30:13.690 --> 00:30:18.180 walks. Yeah. Great. Love that. Right. I have 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:19.759 another friend who hates listening to things 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:22.839 and like wants the, the NIV study Bible and that's 00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:24.400 how they do it at their desk with their coffee 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:29.019 every day. Cool. Love that. Yeah. Everybody's 00:30:29.019 --> 00:30:31.039 not the same. And so like the, the thing isn't 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:33.779 like, Oh, you need to overturn your life to look 00:30:33.779 --> 00:30:36.210 just like somebody else. No. The only person 00:30:36.210 --> 00:30:38.809 you need to look like is Jesus. Yeah. And find 00:30:38.809 --> 00:30:41.430 like you find time that works for you. Right. 00:30:41.970 --> 00:30:44.809 Right. Like in my life right now, my wife and 00:30:44.809 --> 00:30:46.750 I work at the same school. She has to be there 00:30:46.750 --> 00:30:49.369 half hour before I do. So I get half hour in 00:30:49.369 --> 00:30:54.730 the car diving into scripture and praying. That's 00:30:54.730 --> 00:30:56.250 the time that works for me. I like to use the 00:30:56.250 --> 00:30:58.809 word diving because I'm swimming. So yeah. Yeah. 00:30:59.470 --> 00:31:02.970 And I have another friend who he has his own 00:31:02.970 --> 00:31:05.900 like little. office space in his house where 00:31:05.900 --> 00:31:09.259 he like lights a prayer candle, does like, like 00:31:09.259 --> 00:31:12.079 does like smoothing aroma style music. And then 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:14.059 he's like, this is, he's like, this is my time. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:17.180 Right. Do it in a way that works for you. So 00:31:17.180 --> 00:31:18.779 what, what are, what are these, what are the, 00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:20.220 when we're talking about disciplines and we're 00:31:20.220 --> 00:31:21.460 talking about like those types of things, reading 00:31:21.460 --> 00:31:23.579 your Bible, praying, finding ways to integrate 00:31:23.579 --> 00:31:25.980 your life with God, uh, getting rid of the bad 00:31:25.980 --> 00:31:28.039 things in inner, inner interjecting the good 00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:30.079 things, getting choosing between the good and 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.079 the best. Right. These are all ways that you 00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.140 cleanse individually, Temple. By the way, this 00:31:36.140 --> 00:31:37.720 is the same thing that you're doing individually, 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:40.519 you do as a church. There are things that we 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:43.319 do as a church that are good things. That doesn't 00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:47.829 mean they're the best things. And I'm not going 00:31:47.829 --> 00:31:49.670 to say anything specific because it matters to 00:31:49.670 --> 00:31:52.450 the church. There is a, for example, this, this 00:31:52.450 --> 00:31:53.769 is something like, this is a personal thing. 00:31:53.809 --> 00:31:55.150 I don't love Sunday school, but there's a ton 00:31:55.150 --> 00:31:57.750 of people who do. And I remember there's a church 00:31:57.750 --> 00:32:00.049 in Texas that we had some missionaries come up 00:32:00.049 --> 00:32:03.069 from and their church went from like 50 people 00:32:03.069 --> 00:32:05.109 to like 2 ,500 people because of their Sunday 00:32:05.109 --> 00:32:07.309 school program. And there it's where they do 00:32:07.309 --> 00:32:08.910 discipleship. They've had people be baptized 00:32:08.910 --> 00:32:11.230 at a Sunday school. Like it's, it's a massive 00:32:11.230 --> 00:32:12.769 thing for them and it's connected with them and 00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:14.829 it's grown and it's been wonderful for them. 00:32:16.009 --> 00:32:18.609 I can't just go and try to be them. We have to 00:32:18.609 --> 00:32:22.470 be who we are and who God wants us to be. God 00:32:22.470 --> 00:32:25.809 doesn't typically, there is a format, yes, but 00:32:25.809 --> 00:32:29.019 there's also not a format. You know, the Bible 00:32:29.019 --> 00:32:31.380 teaches us how to live, but not exactly what 00:32:31.380 --> 00:32:34.000 to do. And before you guys jumped down our throats 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:35.839 with the first Corinthians, like this is what 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:38.779 Paul said, order of churches. He also at the 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:40.839 end of that, this is a Spencer paraphrase version, 00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:45.279 but he also at the end of that, he basically 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:51.440 said, this is an example, structure it in a way 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:54.680 that works for you. I think some of the things 00:32:54.680 --> 00:32:58.099 that we can take away from the story is like 00:32:58.099 --> 00:33:00.359 in the modern church is because we're the temple 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:02.779 and Jesus is going to come into our presence 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:05.079 and he's going to overturn the tables that need 00:33:05.079 --> 00:33:06.900 to be overturned. One of the things that we can 00:33:06.900 --> 00:33:10.200 do proactively to work with Jesus on this is 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:12.240 we guard against commercial faith. Yeah. Right 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:13.880 now, commercial, you're immediately going to 00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:16.099 go to money. I'm using this because of what was 00:33:16.099 --> 00:33:18.299 going on in the temple. Please insert anything 00:33:18.299 --> 00:33:23.170 that applies there. Right. We guard against commercial 00:33:23.170 --> 00:33:25.549 faith, but we have authentic faith. In other 00:33:25.549 --> 00:33:28.230 words, the point of our faith is not to accomplish 00:33:28.230 --> 00:33:30.930 something other than the kingdom of God, right? 00:33:31.130 --> 00:33:33.130 It's not to build our platform. It's not to build 00:33:33.130 --> 00:33:36.009 things that we want. It's only to build the kingdom 00:33:36.009 --> 00:33:37.769 of God in the way that God wants us to minister 00:33:37.769 --> 00:33:39.329 to our communities. You're talking commercial, 00:33:39.470 --> 00:33:41.670 like just add some clarification. Commercial 00:33:41.670 --> 00:33:45.789 in the sense of usually people do like give you 00:33:45.789 --> 00:33:47.349 a bunch of commercials to sell you stuff you 00:33:47.349 --> 00:33:50.099 don't need. Correct. Right. And so we're not, 00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:51.720 we don't want to take a faith we don't need. 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:54.200 Yeah. Right. We just want to take the faith that 00:33:54.200 --> 00:33:57.460 is between you and Jesus. And if you're focused 00:33:57.460 --> 00:33:59.660 on the next point, which is welcome the outsider, 00:33:59.819 --> 00:34:02.579 finding the people who are outside and bringing 00:34:02.579 --> 00:34:04.960 them in, having a space for the people who need 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:08.320 to hear the gospel, being intentional at a place 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:11.059 for them to be. Yep. then you're probably not 00:34:11.059 --> 00:34:12.719 going to lean into that commercial side because 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:14.460 you're focused on how do we get the outsider 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:15.719 here? Because if you're focused on commercial, 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:17.099 you're not going to have a place for the outsider. 00:34:17.239 --> 00:34:19.360 But if you're focused on the outsider, the commercial 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:23.500 is never going to be able to enter. But the last 00:34:23.500 --> 00:34:25.639 piece of that is that we also sometimes need 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.099 to embrace prophetic cleansing. That it's not 00:34:29.099 --> 00:34:30.960 a bad thing if Jesus comes and flips our tables 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.920 because now we have a clean temple. Yep. Once 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:35.079 in a while, he's going to have to come flip your 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.349 table. Amen. He's going to have to drive out 00:34:37.349 --> 00:34:39.610 your cattle. Yep. And he's going to have to remind 00:34:39.610 --> 00:34:42.250 you that his house of prayer is for all nations. 00:34:42.809 --> 00:34:48.170 Not just you. Yep. It's a good story. Yeah. The 00:34:48.170 --> 00:34:50.150 next couple of weeks, they're going to unpack 00:34:50.150 --> 00:34:51.570 this a little bit. He's going to have this conversation 00:34:51.570 --> 00:34:53.869 where they're going to ask about the inscription 00:34:53.869 --> 00:34:56.789 on the coin. Remember that, that you have to 00:34:56.789 --> 00:34:58.449 have a specific kind of coin when we get to that 00:34:58.449 --> 00:35:03.869 story. Because... Jesus is doing some mental 00:35:03.869 --> 00:35:06.210 jujitsu in that story and I love it. Yep. That's 00:35:06.210 --> 00:35:09.110 great. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, until next 00:35:09.110 --> 00:35:16.599 time. Bye. Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. 00:35:16.699 --> 00:35:19.019 This season, we're exploring the life of Jesus, 00:35:19.179 --> 00:35:21.500 step -by -step, and uncovering what His story 00:35:21.500 --> 00:35:24.539 teaches us about loving God and others. Here 00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:26.460 on Love & Context, we're all about having real 00:35:26.460 --> 00:35:28.519 conversations about how to live out that love 00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:30.639 in practical, everyday ways, and understanding 00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:33.099 the Bible in its full context. We're so glad 00:35:33.099 --> 00:35:35.559 you're here. Let's dive into Season 3 of Love 00:35:35.559 --> 00:35:36.380 & Context.