Luke 19:45-48 ~ He entered the Temple

The Shepherd, by Greg Olson

Luke 19:45-48

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45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

In the book "They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations" by Dan Kimball. It has a good basis- 70% of Church-going college students quit going to Church after 2 years, with a large percentage of 20-30 year olds having nothing to do with the Church & don't think it's relevant.

This passage speaks to us in the Church and those just loving Jesus without the Church. Many people, like the Essenes, had fled from the 2nd Temple due to the climate - it was being politically correct as a tool of the government/establishment. So, Jesus came from an era finding the Temple insufficient.

Jesus said that we, in our bodies, are the Temple, yet it came with a caveat:

1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own

Jesus went into the Temple (not just His Body, but the physical location) at least 26 times, recorded in the Gospels; And Jesus entered Synagogues at least 12 times. Every day, Jesus acknowledged a problem with the system and with the "religious" but He didn't feel as He was above the difficulties.

To us, already part of the Bride of Christ, this passage brings up other situations, the religious are using God's House for their own interests:

We ignore the regulars in order to get more people in the door. Robbing the richness of community. We become a business and not a house of prayer.

We are known, today - this generation, to speak down to Non-Christians. Or to make sweeping generalities as judgment. We act as the judges seeking to destroy.

We ignore everyone who isn't already a friend. We act as the Principal Men - too important and comfortable to reach out.

We work the crowd to increase our business. We rob God of our worship.

We work the crowd to increase our friendships. We rob God of our love.

We worship control over contribution. We seek to become chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people.

After some harsh words, it is good to remember - the Un-Churched are waiting for the Light of Christ. The Non-Church-Going shouldn't throw stones. The Church should not act as the world. And know this - we all have earned God's judgement, but Jesus never threw the first stone.

It would seem to be impossible to move the Non-Church-Going into part of the solution. It would seem impossible to move the Church into being the Body of Christ. And then, in our goal-orientedness, we have forgotten. We do not worship the Temple, we worship the LORD. When all seems without hope, it is because we have focused on man being the solution. We need to hang on His Words.

Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Philippians 2:1-11
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that ..... Jesus Christ is Lord! To the glory of God the Father!

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