“In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And He told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house will consume Me.’” John 2:14-17
Devotional Thought For The Day
The institutional church is in the world and has to conform to certain worldly standards. Bills have to be paid. Inspections have to be performed. Codes have to be conformed to. All of this requires a budget, including the income side of the equation. So, does this make our Father’s house a house of trade? Certainly not, in itself! However, I suppose that if this becomes the central concern, and people are taught to think of the life of the church as a kind of “trading” of offerings for services rendered, then this would tend to turn the church into a house of trade. Sadly, many congregations, when struggling to survive challenging financial concerns, may be tempted to do just this – with the result that individuals may come to think of the church as principally a business which needs to be run as a business. Such people then believe that their offerings earn them the right to indiscretions and omissions and spiritual sloth. Often such people come to think that if their offerings are large enough they should be the CEO and call the shots. This supplants God and His Word, and turns what should be His house into a mere house of trade. The results are almost always spiritually disastrous.
There are many who enter into full time church work with the thought that this is a fine profession – as opposed to a calling from God that is received by His grace, a wondrous privilege. Certainly pastors do a great deal of good for individuals and for society as a whole, and at times are respected and honored for this. However, looking at church work as a “profession,” one that has prerogatives, rights, and privileges, and a career which can provide for upward mobility, turns the ministry into a “trade” proposition. It makes the ministry primarily a “performance” based endeavor, and ignores the reality that it is Jesus Who builds His church by the power of His Word and the gift of His Spirit. The individual “gifts,” “talents,” or “skills” of the one bearing His Word to others is of fairly minimal importance in comparison to what God does through His Word. In fact, the pastor’s status and privilege is really of no importance compared to the task of building Christ’s church. Using the gifts and abilities that God has given us to the greatest degree possible is not a matter of performance and earning merit [or other selfish advantages], but rather a matter of gratitude to God for all of His gifts of love and an eagerness to serve Him and others in love [without any thought of return]. Ideally, everything that is done within the church, the preaching, teaching, leading, giving of offerings, supporting and engaging in acts of love, should flow from “zeal” for the Father’s house, not selfishness or pride.
It is this “zeal for the Father’s house” which moved and compelled everything Jesus said and did, including His great self-sacrifice for the sin and guilt of the world in His crucifixion and death. This alone enabled the house of God to be built, the holy Christian Church. This is the only foundation for peace and fellowship with God, His gracious mercy and forgiveness earned and provided for us in the sacrifice of atonement made by the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This alone can produce within us, when grasped by faith, true and genuine love for God and zeal for God’s house, the kind of zeal which moves people to selflessly pour out their lives to make disciples and to build up faith and love in God’s people. None of this exists when God’s house is turned into a house of trade; the prevailing principle in such a house is selfishness and self-interest, which Jesus sought to drive out of the temple. So if we are to be disciples of Jesus, His followers, we too need to allow Him to drive selfishness and self-interest out of our own hearts, and learn to live in His love and out of His love, that we also have zeal for our Father’s house.
For Jesus, zeal for the Father’s house “consumed” Him. It was His sole love, devotion, and commitment. How about for you? We are human, and we remain distracted by many things in this world. That is a sad reality that disciples of Jesus should contemplate, a failure in our following Jesus. And when we look at the struggles of our congregation, of our national church body, and of the church at large in the world, we should recognize that much of this results from our having too little zeal for the Father’s house. Our zeal is eroded and destroyed if we allow our relationship with the church to be one of “trade” and “business,” rather than centered in the cross of Christ, our redemption, and the zealous love of Jesus. It should be apparent to us that there is far too little true and genuine zeal for Christ within the church today. Can we come to a point where zeal for God’s house also consumes us? Would that be a good thing? Are we of the mind that more zeal for God’s house would be a good thing? If so, are we willing to grow in that zeal – even if others are not willing to hold up their fair share, even if it is not a matter of trade but of love? We will be willing and even eager, the more we allow Jesus to warm and reshape our hearts and minds, and the life and health of the church will benefit. This is still Jesus’ zeal for the Father’s house, and for us!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, forgive us for our lack of zeal and fervor for the things of Your kingdom, of Your precious church, the Father’s house. We cannot explain our selfishness and distractions, but must confess them to You. We pray that Your sure and certain love, Your gracious mercy and forgiveness, would continue to draw us closer to You and into Your love and zeal. We pray that zeal for the Father’s house would increase in us and in all the church, that it remains viable and healthy to continue pouring Your great love into hearts and minds. Amen.