The Importance of Bearing Good Fruit 9/17

When Jesus Got Mad

Dr. Larry Thorson
October 12, 2008

Last week in my sermon I talked about risk taking missions being a characteristic of a fruit bearing congregation. Risk taking mission is when we can step out in faith to share the gospel knowing that only God can provide what we need. A characteristic of a fruit bearing church then is one that’s secure enough to take not careless risks but managed risks believing God will provide.

In that sermon I also said that a church whose members were emotionally secure were more likely to lead a church into risk taking missions than a church that lived with criticism. The key to becoming a risk taking mission church is to not criticise those who we don’t perceive as competent as us in areas. Each negative criticism is like shooting a crippling arrow at someone. While one arrow may not stop the person, it weakens them emotionally until their hopes, dreams and boldness for our Lord are damaged. Church is not the place where those arrows need to be shot.

After that sermon two women going out the door were curious how I dealt with Jesus’ critical action when he turned the tables over in the temple courtyard. How supported did those merchants feel after he did that?” That sparked me to take a closer look at what Jesus actually did in that courtyard and why. Let’s read the story now from John 2:13-17.

13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!" 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."

In those days after an Israelite woman had given birth, if she wanted to obey God’s laws, Leviticus 12:6-8 would have instructed her to bring a sacrifice to the temple, preferably a sheep. But if she was poor and could not afford the price of a sheep, she could take two doves or two pigeons for the sacrifice, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering.

But she would have a problem if she had to travel a distance to the temple in Jerusalem. She’d have a baby to carry and two pigeons. That could be a little cumbersome. So to facilitate people traveling a distance they set up a little shopping area within the courtyard of the temple where money changers could exchange your foreign money and provide, sheep, doves and pigeons for the sacrifice. It would be kind of like the shopping malls at airports. In London Heathrow airport they have a huge, fully equipped shopping mall. But what characterizes places like that? High prices. I always call those merchants “rip off artists”. When I was growing up my family would never buy food inside Disneyland because it was so expensive. We always went outside the park for dinner. It’s called supply and demand.

One of the Jewish writings of the day, the Mishna states, that because of the merchants greed, those who were selling birds raised their prices so much that the poorer woman of the community could not afford them. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel the Elder, a leading rabbi of his time took immediate action to lower the market price. It was a constant struggle to regulate the greed.

What started out as a service to help people worship God correctly went astray. As hard as this is to believe, left to our own devises we will manipulate even God’s work to our advantage. That’s why the Presbyterian Church has a system of checks and balances. In other kinds of churches the pastor controls the finances. He says where and how the money is to be spent. In the Presbyterian Church your elected elders decide how church money is to be spent. I can use my strategic influential platform of the pulpit to sway things but the elders can always use their strategic right to vote.

The U.S. government was modelled after the Presbyterian Church form of government. The President can come up with plenty of dandy ideas but if it involves great amounts of money, he must have Congress’ approval. If the senators want something expensive they must have the approval of the House of Representatives and the President. It’s called checks and balances and it was put into affect because the founding fathers, many of whom were Christians who knew the Scriptures that say “For all have sinned and fallen short of God” (Romans 3:23). They knew that if given the chance we’ll steal, cheat and sin. That’s exactly what we’re seeing in the news everyday right now.

As I was getting ready to prepare this sermon I came across a news story on Yahoo about insurance executives at AIG who had planned to spend something like $440,000 on an exotic golfing retreat in southern California weeks after government tax payers spent 85 billion dollars to bail out their company. Thursday I read where they cancelled the retreat but only because of the poor publicity it was bringing them. Further testimony before Congress last week revealed that Brian Sullivan, the CEO who led AIG to billions of dollars in losses, last year told his board of directors to ignore the losses in figuring executive bonuses and received a five million dollar bonus himself as did the other executives.

A few weeks ago someone went online and tried to order almost $600 in merchandise from Staples using our church’s Staples credit card number. Last week we discovered someone got the church’s Home Depot credit card number and purchased $1,700 worth of merchandise throughout the Inland Empire with it. I don’t expect we’ll have to pay the charges. We filed a police report and are challenging the charges. Hopefully we won’t have to pay those.

I see a comparison between the merchants in the temple courtyard, the executives at AIG and the person or persons who stole our church’s credit numbers. They’re thieves. What thieves do is steal not only our money, our goods but also our trust. The goal of the enemy is to destroy any trust you might have developed over time.

Much of our economic system is built on trust. One of the hallmarks of the Reagan economic revolution of the 1980’s was the deregulation of corporations because President Reagan believed very firmly that if corporations are given a chance to compete without government intervention the economy and the country will blossom. I believe that he was right to a point but human nature is greedy and if given a chance we’ll take a fair opportunity and work it to our advantage whether legally or otherwise. That’s why we have to have government regulations. I just hope we don’t go overboard with government regulations as a result of the abuses we’re experiencing.

So don’t be offended when I say that you’re a dirty, rotten sinner because you are and so am I. Don’t be offended when you hear that Americans are not basically good, honest people because we’re not. Read what the Bible says about us. If given the opportunity we’re going to cheat.

I used to really struggle when I heard or experienced born again Christians demonstrating dishonesty. I thought that when one comes to Christ they are a new creation, the old things have passed away and they are new. That is true but it denies our sin nature which doesn’t disappear overnight.

There are a lot of angry Americans right now. I’m one of them. I don’t blame our President nor our Congress. Neither was as sharp as I had hoped they were. I’m angry because Countrywide Mortgage gave a loan to a family across the street from me in 2005 that they knew and I knew in no way they could afford. They lost that house in an auction earlier this year and in the process helped bring the value of my house way down. Years of building equity with 15 year loans wiped out. I’m angry with corporate America but they didn’t hold a gun to my head and make me buy my house.

I’m angry with the person or persons who has been trying to steal from our church. They’re stealing from God. What nerve. I’m angry with the same thing Jesus was angry with, our sin. Sin needs to be confronted. As I said last week I hate confronting sin but it has to be done.

What we have to distinguish is the difference between sin and a disagreement. Last year we considered selling our Family Center gym and we were deeply divided over the issue as a congregation. That was a vision issue not a sin issue. Some didn’t believe we could afford maintenance of the building. Others wanted us to get out of the sports ministry area and buy property elsewhere to establish a satellite campus. Others wanted us to use the building to reach people through sports.

Those were conflicting visions, not sins. A vision would have been sinful if the reason for selling the Family Center was to get away from ministering to the people who live in this neighbourhood because we thought they were economically or socially below us. That’s pride and the Scriptures regularly preach against that kind of attitude.

Jesus didn’t have a conflicting vision with the temple merchants. He wasn’t saying it was wrong to provide sacrifice materials at the temple. He was saying that it was wrong to be dishonest. It was wrong to take advantage of poor people. He wasn’t mad at people’s different political views. There were Pharisees and Sadducees. He didn’t get mad over people’s personal preferences. He ministered to teachers, carpenters and prostitutes. What he always got mad over was when someone’s sin kept someone else from fully experiencing God’s presence. That’s why he said whoever made a child stumble in the faith it would be better if they had a millstone tied around their neck.

We live in a day when we’re taught that sin is relative, it’s whatever you make it out to be. If you struggle with alcohol, drinking alcohol is a sin to you. There’s some truth to that. But there are certain basic sins that are sins no matter what culture you find yourself in. Read the Ten Commandments. Stealing is a sin whether you do it at Home Depot or you do it at AIG insurance. Stealing is a sin whether it’s withholding money from God’s work or taking from the offering plate. There’s nothing relative about that. Sin is sin and it separates us from God.

I say we hate the sin but love the sinner. I say we not confuse a difference of vision with sin. Be angry not because someone has a different way of looking at something but be angry with old fashioned Ten Commandment sin wherever you see it. I say let’s be so angry with sin in our self that we not only confess it to God but we put our self in a position where it’s harder to do it next time. If stealing is your weakness confess to those affected and take yourself out of a position to do it. If pornography is your weakness make sure you schedule your days to never be alone where it can affect you. If lying is your weakness then quit talking.

Get mad at the sin but love the sinner. That’s what Jesus did. Treat each other with the respect that being made in the image of our creator God requires. Look for the image of God in everyone whether you agree with their vision for life or not. If we can see people as being made in the image of God no matter what stinky thing they’re involved in then we can see the mission before us.

There is much sin to be angry about in the news these days. Take an inventory of your anger. Look at where it’s channelled. Don’t turn it inward because that only leads to depression. Don’t turn it outward because that leads to self righteous indignation. Instead turn it into positive action for change. Make the change that you can make. Do what you can do.

Remember that Jesus with his protest didn’t stop the money changers in the temple for very long but he did what he could do with the limitations his physical body at the time. Later he did what no one else could do and that was gave us forgiveness for our sins.

Hate the sin. Love the sinner. Do something positive that brings at least a little bit of change for the moment. That’s the essence of the gospel. God hated our sin but loved us sinners. God did something positive by allowing his perfect son to die for our sins. Only if you recognize that you really are a sinner will you receive this free gift of Jesus Christ and his eternal life. If you receive this free gift of Jesus Christ then your calling is to hate the sin, love the sinner and do something positive that brings at least a little bit of change for the good.

What are you going to do?