Lesson for June 3
FAMILY BIBLE STUDY:
Beware exchanging the sacred for the secular
___ Matthew 21:1-17
___By Bobby Dagnel
___First Baptist Church, Nederland
___A little girl returning home from her first trip to the circus was overcome with enthusiasm. In telling her grandmother about the performance she had just witnessed, she cried with great excitement, "Grandma, if you ever went to the circus just once, you would never be satisfied with church again."
___Having made his triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple and was not at all satisfied with what he observed. During the week of Passover, an influx of more than 1 million pilgrims arrived in Jerusalem to worship and offer sacrifices at the temple. It was within this context that Jesus, upon witnessing the abuses taking place in the
house of God, exploded in the temple's outer court. Giving further consideration to the text, we may discern that as disgusted as Jesus was by what he saw, he may have been just as disturbed by what he did not see.
___The house of God is to be a place of purity. Those who enter therein are to be void of any secondary motivations. Some expositors argue the motivation behind the driving out of the money changers, v. 12-13, was Jesus' disgust as he witnessed the exploitation of visiting pilgrims. Vendors provided such services as exchanging monies for the required temple currency and selling doves or other items that would be used to offer sacrifices to God. Through price gouging and extortion, greedy vendors took advantage of travelers.
___While this was certainly a scandalous practice being carried out in the name of religion, I believe it is only a symptom of the real issue. The disease that infected the temple and threatens the church today is the ease at which the sacred is exchanged for the secular. The temple area mentioned in verse 12 was the outer court, the only area where Gentiles were allowed to worship. The place of worship and transformation had been turned into a place of work and transaction.
___What Jesus was contending for was an attitude pure in thought and motivation. Jesus still would ask us today, "What is your motivation for going to church?" Business? Civic duty? Entertainment?
___In a narcissistic culture, consumed with self-gratification and self-centeredness, I am fearful the church has been all too willing to give it what it wants. Many church leaders have been forced by popular, secular thought to sacrifice a biblical theology of worship for one that is seeker-sensitive. The trend of the day seems to be orchestrated toward the worshipper--my needs, my wants, my thoughts and my feelings. We spend so much time focused on ourselves, no wonder we are bored in worship.
___Seekers should be made to feel welcomed and wanted but, at the same time, should they not feel out of place, that they are missing something vital, that those sitting around them are engaged in something so important that it takes time to learn. It could be argued that the height of seeker insensitivity is to exchange the sacred for the secular.
___Maybe it is true that we never will get people to come to churches unless we make our activities attractive and appealing to them, but what have we accomplished if in so doing we get a building full of people duped into believing the Christian faith is innocuous, easy, upbeat, convenient and compatible with their present lifestyles? The life of faith is none of these and is instead a life of discipline, sacrifice, humility, service and an altogether different worldview. The argument can be made that what Jesus is warring for is the purity, sacredness and exclusiveness of that place where God's people gather in worship. It requires worshippers who are pure in heart and free from all other motivations.
___Pure hearts enable one to truly praise God, v. 15-16. Throughout Scripture, God is praised for a variety of reasons--his goodness to Israel and people of righteousness. He is praised for his attributes. Scripture reveals an irresistible urge among God's people to praise their creator. The psalmist writes, "How blessed are those who dwell in thy house! They are praising thee," Psalm 84:4.
___God is praised in a variety of ways--singing, praying, the reading of Scriptures and the proclamation of his word. Beyond the words that roll off our tongues, a greater testimony of praise we can offer is a life sacrificed and committed to his service.
___An elderly gentleman expressed it this way: "Oh Lord, we will praise thee with an instrument of 10 strings. We will praise thee with our two eyes by looking unto thee. We will exalt thee with our two ears by listening only to thy voice. We will extol thee with our two hands by working in thy service. We will honor thee with our two feet by walking in the way of thy statutes. We will magnify thee with our tongue by bearing testimony to thy loving kindness. We will worship thee with our heart by loving only thee. We thank thee for this instrument, Lord; keep it in tune. Play upon it as thou wilt and ring out the melodies of thy grace. May its harmonies always express thy glory."
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