Here is todays devotion from my brother, Brian Means. If you would like to be added to the daily list just let me know. God Bless!!! Laurie Magee, Melissa Middleton, Ashley Simmons, Toni Warren, Emmett Keyes, Heather King, Tammy Sullivan, Karen Tubbs, Karen McAlpin Westbrook, Glenda Gunter, Holly Faulk Tina Lynn Ainsworth Bynum Ellen Wheat Garner, Anthony Dean, Adam McKenzie, Donna Kennedy, Shirley Floyd Swindle, Katie Beard Magee, Brad Magee, Jared Beard, Brittany Hart Street, Trusie Eubanks, Karen Karyn Folse Turnage, Jane White Cockrell, Sherry Jones-Gandy Good morning! 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, Take these things away; stop making My Fathers house a place of business. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME. -John 2:13-17. Many people misunderstand this account of Jesus actions in response to the animal vendors and money changers in the temple. Perhaps a bit of historical context would benefit us all. First of all, the selling of animals and converting of currency was not evil in and of itself. Actually, these were both necessary according to the Jewish religion. The Passover was celebrated on the 14th day of the lunar month of Nisan. During the night of the feast, a sacrificial animal (a lamb) was slaughtered between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. This was performed for every Jewish family in celebration of the Passover of the death angel during the plagues of Egypt which ushered in the release of Israel from slavery (Exodus 12:23-27). Every Jewish family from all over Israel, as well as other parts of the Roman Empire, traveled to Jerusalem to participate in the celebration. Because it was hard to transport the sacrificial animal over that long of a distance, many purchased their sacrifice in Jerusalem upon arrival. Also, every devout/religious Jewish male over 20 years of age paid an annual temple tax (Exodus 30:13-14; Matthew 17:24-27). However, this tax had to be paid in Jewish or Tyrian coins due to the high purity of silver contained in these selected currencies. The money-changers would convert the travelers foreign coins to these exceptable forms of coinage for a steep fee. Both the animal vendors and the money-changers set up shop in the outer courts of the temple to take advantage of the annual opportunity to turn the worship of God into a means of personal gain. The question that we must all ask ourselves is this, Am I doing the same as these merchants? Now, obviously, there are probably none of us who are selling sheep in Sunday school or standing in the church foyer charging people to cash their pay checks so that they can give in the offering plate. However, we must honestly evaluate the reasons that we go to worship. Some, if they were to be honest, attend worship services, perhaps regularly, because they see an opportunity for personal gain. Now, of course, this could mean financial gain. I personally know someone who goes to church consistently because they need the money that the church gives them in exchange for the services which they render every corporate service. This is obviously unacceptable worship. Many of the people reading this may not fall into that exact same mold. However, how many of us go to church for the social aspect of attendance? Be honest, if all of your friends stopped going to your church and all that filled the sanctuary were, now, total strangers, would you still attend regularly? If yes, then would you attend joyfully? How many of us attend church out of social expectations? Again, be honest. If there would be no social backlash whatsoever...if nobody would call and ask if you were sick, if nobody would think less of you, if nobody would gossip about you if you did not attend worship, would you still attend? Would you attend joyfully? What if there were no more pretty banners announcing upcoming church-wide celebrations? What if the pastor was not certain to feed you a watered down gospel that is easy to hear and easier to abide by? What if your youth group did not play cool games before or after every Wednesday night service? What if your senior citizen group did not take a trip to the Grand Ole Opry Museum every year? What if their were no cute singles your age at your church? What if the worship music style was not your flavor? What if worship was no longer ALL ABOUT YOU? I want to pause for effect and let that sink in. You see, worship that is about you or me is not Godly worship...it is idol worship (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7). We may not see it this way, but God does (Proverbs 21:2). In Matthew 21:13, Jesus said that these money changers and peddlers had made His Fathers house a den of robbers! Well, who were they robbing? It was not their patrons. They had the opportunity to not do business with these gentlemen. The patrons were paying the stupid tax for poor planning, but these were not illegal transactions. Everyone involved knew the score here, and they participated willingly. The One who was being wronged was God. The glory of the Temple of God was being diminished somewhat by the commercialism and consumerism being demonstrated therein. This was irreverence toward God because the place designated for worship was being used by some to fulfill selfish pursuits...worship of self instead of God in Gods temple. Is that what we are doing today? You see, I keep putting the word WORSHIP in quotation marks. The reason being is that, what we do in our corporate church services is not actually our true worship to God. Oh, yes, it may be part of it, but nowhere near the whole of true worship. You see, temple worship was destroyed via the death and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27:51; John 4:21) and was restored in the hearts of those who have been and are being built into the Church. This is the spiritual temple of God (Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Corinthians 6:19). In John 4:23-24, Jesus tells us, 23But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth., and in Romans 12:1, Paul says, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. You see, God is not so impressed or glorified by what we do on Sunday mornings as He is by the way that we worship Him with our motives and with the totality of our lives. When we attend church service, Christian retreats, 5th quarters, etc...for selfish motives, then we do not have to wonder how God responds to this. Jesus showed us with His response to the money changers. He is deeply and justly offended by such lukewarm (Revelation 3:15-16) actions and motives. I am sure that we have all been guilty of worshipping God for selfish motives before. May we all check ourselves daily to make sure that we do not persist in such actions. Rather, may we all pray that God, Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:12). May we turn all of our focus back on God in His holiness ( Isaiah 6:1-4; Exodus 33:18-23) and the pursuit of Him via obedience (Psalm 15; John 15:10). If we live our lives with our focus being on God and the obedient pursuit of Him, our lives will not be mundane nor will our worship be obligatory. If this be the sum of our motives, to love God and to increasingly know Him, then our lives, including our joy, will be full (John 10:10; Matthew 22:36-40; John 15:11). To answer our question which was posed earlier, What if worship was no longer ALL ABOUT YOU?, I believe I have the Biblical answer. If worship is no longer about us, but, rather, about God, then...it has become actual WORSHIP instead of robbery (Philippians 4:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Hebrews 13:15). May we all examine ourselves so that we worship God in spirit and in truth today.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:43:48 +0000
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