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28 March 2021

Series: Eternity - Miision Week Outreach with MTC

James Boardman

Bible Passage: John 2: 13-22

Introduction:

“She was not amused.”
This is the Queen’s reported reaction to Megxit
Harry and Meghan’s decision to go their own way
To quit royal life
Clearly, the two parties don’t see eye to eye
But there’s something else that makes this conflict so raw
It’s the relational element
This isn’t boss vs employee
It’s Grandmother against Grandson
From the Queen’s perspective, the betrayal by family really stings.
Today’s passage we see a similar dynamic
We see God the Creator and King of the World
Stung by the betrayal of his people
Yet God is a God of love
A God who is willing to suffer death
Even death on a cross
To win back his people
So the big idea for today is
Know the God who restores eternal relationship

Point 1 Understand broken community

Our relationship with God is broken
This is the point of the first half of the passage
Know our relationship with God is broken
Have a look at verse 13
Our narrative starts in the context of the Jewish Passover
The Passover festival celebrates God wanting a relationship with his people
Pharoah, king of Egypt had enslaved the Israelites
His heart is against God
We call this hard-hearted
So God pours out his judgement on Pharoah in ten plagues
The tenth plague is the worst
The firstborn son of every household in Egypt was to die
But God offered an escape for the Israelites
They could sacrifice a sheep or goat and paint the blood of this animal on their doorposts
The animals acted as substitutes
The angel of death would see the blood and pass over the house
The death of the animal had satisfied God’s judgement
God takes the Israelites as his own people and he becomes their God
God rescues his people to have a relationship with them
God wanted to celebrate this festival each year with his people.
So God commands his people to only celebrate the Passover in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
This is later revealed to be the Temple in Jerusalem.
Into this context strides Jesus
Here is Jesus
Fully God and fully man
He’s going to the festival to celebrate with his people
It was going to be a joyous occasion.
So you’d expect people to be excitedly planning for the festival
But what does Jesus find when he arrives?
These merchants probably thought they were being helpful.
God’s law commanded each household to sacrifice an animal from their flock to celebrate the Passover.
As a reminder of how God rescued the Israelites
But Jerusalem is a long walk for most Israelites
It was a dangerous walk
Full of natural hazards and robbers
It was quicker and safer to buy an animal at the Temple for sacrifice
This practice was permitted per God’s law
So Jesus’ next action is surprising
Have a look at verse 15
Meek, mild Jesus
You can imagine the scene
Coins scattered all over the floor
Animals spilling out into the streets
The authorities shocked!
But this wasn’t an explosion of anger
It would take a while to make a whip out of cords
This was a deliberate act
But why did Jesus’ do this?
Have a look at verse 16
The Temple should be a place to meet with God
The place people could come to ask God for forgiveness for all the wrong they had done
It was God’s dwelling place among his people
Where eternity met with our world
It was a sign
A sign of God’s desire to live with his people and rule the Earth through them
Instead, it had become a place to make money
But how is this the case?
Weren’t the moneychangers just complying with God’s law?
Weren’t they providing a good service to their fellow Israelites?
Well Jesus can see their hearts
Their motivation isn’t to enable the worship of God
It’s to make money
Their actions were right by the law
But Jesus also cares about the motivation

Illustration

Imagine watching an archer on TV
You watch them carefully ready the arrow
They carefully aim
Whack a perfect bullseye
You think what a good shot!
But then the camera pans back
They’ve got a bullseye
But it’s on the wrong target.
The shot looked amazing.
Yet because it hit the wrong target, it doesn’t count.

This is true of the moneychangers
Their actions look good on the outside.
But they are aiming at the wrong target.
Their actions do not honour The True Creator God
They are not worshipping him
Their hearts reveal what they truly worship, money
Instead of celebrating the relationship with their God
They try to make money out of it
The Temple had ceased to be the symbol of God’s rule
It now symbolized the rule of money over Israel
Like Pharaoh the moneychangers hearts are hardened against God
This is humanity’s first problem
But there’s a second problem
God’s wrath
God was angry at Pharaoh’s hard heart
Jesus was angry at the money changers hard hearts
God is angry at our hard hearts

Doctrine of God’s Wrath

How do you feel about God’s wrath
My experience is most people today are not comfortable with God’s wrath
We like merciful, loving Jesus
But we shy away from the Wrath of God
Yet the Wrath of God is mentioned 375 times in the OT
The first half of the Bible
And prominent characters like Jesus, John the Baptist and Paul all talk about God’s wrath in the NT,
The second half of the Bible
God’s wrath is described as terrible
Inspiring dread
Bringing punishment
And destruction

I don’t think we like the Wrath of God because it seems unloving
But hear this quote from Joseph Scheumann

“God’s wrath is his love in action against sin.”

God is just
He must punish evil and bring justice
Bringing justice is loving
We get this instinctively don’t we
We get really upset by injustice
We protest when someone is shot
Or when lewd acts are performed in Canberra
We want to see evil stopped
We want to see a restoration of what is lost
We want to see justice
Well if we’re honest, we want to see justice done to others
But we don’t like it when people shine a light on us
When our bad deeds or sins are exposed

Application

This passage has shown us two reasons why our relationship with God is broken
1) Our hearts are hardened against God (problem of sin)
2) Because we have sinned, God is rightfully angry (problem of God’s wrath)
This passage cuts against our world’s beliefs doesn’t it?
The belief that everyone apart from bigots, murderers, Hitler and Stalin are good people
Here is Jesus angry at a deed that looks good
God cares about our hearts as well as our actions
It doesn’t matter how many good deeds we do
It doesn’t matter our political opinion
It doesn’t matter whether the world thinks we are a good person
What matters is whether we treat God as King all the time
By this standard, we have all betrayed our King!
Our relationship is broken
God’s angry with us
To God we are all Harry and Meghan <pause>
As Christians this motivates us to warn others about God’s wrath

Illustration

The Bible teacher Richard Coekin asks us to imagine if our neighbours house was on fire
You see that they are still inside asleep
Wouldn’t you do everything to wake them up
Bang on the door
Scream loudly
Yell get up get up
Wouldn’t you keep going until they were safe?
Wouldn’t that be the loving thing to do?
Isn’t it equally loving to warn others of God’s wrath?

Application

So if you’ve been invited by a Christian today
It’s not out of hate
It’s out of love for you
It’s a warning about a very present danger
The wrath of God
To the Christians here
Keep going
Keep telling others what Jesus has done for you
Keep sharing your testimonies with others
They’re very powerful
We have all been so encouraged by you this week
And we praise Jesus for the work he is doing here among you

Point 2 – Know it’s God who restores eternal relationship

So we have seen our relationship with God is broken
We have betrayed God as king
We have two big problems
1) Our sinful hearts aren’t aligned with God’s
2) God’s wrath is on us
So how do we escape God’s wrath?
How can our sin problem be dealt with?
How can our relationship with God be restored?
Have a look at verse 17
The disciples are remembering Psalm 69:9
Jesus’ is laser focused on restoring man’s relationship with God
God restores eternal relationship
This is our second point
Know its’ God who restores relationship
But did you notice what that focus would result in? <Pause>
It would consume him.
Jesus’ zeal for God’s house, God’s temple, would eat him up.
It would result in his death.
To have eternal relationship with God, Jesus would have to die.
The remaining verses attest to this.
Have a look at verse 18
The Jews respond to the disturbance
They ask for a sign that Jesus has the right to do this
The Temple bore God’s name
Any changes to the temple required divine authority
Jesus tells them the sign of his authority in verse 19
Now the Jews have heard the word Temple
They immediately think about the building.
Have a look at verse 20
But Jesus isn’t talking about the building
Have a look at verse 21
Jesus is effectively saying destroy this body, and I will raise it again in three days
This tells us two things
Firstly it shows Jesus is God
Only God can give life
So Jesus raising his body to life shows he is God.
Secondly, Jesus is the place where humanity could come to meet with God
Jesus claims to be the new temple
The place where people could come for forgiveness of sins
But how could people come to Jesus if their hearts were hardened against God?
These hard or sinful hearts would not accept Jesus as king
And there was a second problem
God’s wrath against sin had to be satisfied
These two problems still separated man and God.
The solution can be found in the Passover
Substitution
Jesus would become our Passover lamb, our substitute
He would take our sin and God’s wrath on himself
He died in our place
Because he paid the price for our sin we can find forgiveness in him
Instead he gives us his perfection
God looks on us and sees Jesus’ perfection
He does this so we can enjoy eternal relationship with God
Jesus restores eternal relationship with God
But how do we know it was effective?
Have a look at verse 22
This verse provides the evidence.
Jesus was raised from the dead
This showed he is God.
Secondly, look how the disciples reacted to the resurrection
They believed God’s word and the scripture
They trusted it.
That trust shows their hearts had aligned with God.
They were saved.
A second Passover had occurred
God’s anger had fallen on Jesus and not the disciples
This is God’s saving gospel
Jesus is God
Jesus saves
People respond by trusting him
God restores eternal relationship

Application

Jesus is the new Temple
He has restored eternal relationship between humanity and God
There may be some people here today who feel God is distant
Let this passage assure you
Jesus has provided access to your Heavenly Father
He is close
There may be some of you feeling weighed down by sin this morning
Let this passage assure you that Jesus loves you
He died for you
He paid the price for your sin
If you trust in Jesus your sin is gone
It’s forgiven
“As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgression from us.”
Let that comfort you this week.
There may be some people today who want to explore Christianity further
This passage shows us that being a Christian is principally about relationship.
A relationship with Jesus
You may be wondering how can I know more about Jesus?
Where can I go to hear Jesus speak to me?
Primarily through his Word, the Bible.
It is here where you will meet Jesus
It is here where you will hear Jesus say “I love you.”
If you want to explore Christianity, is there anyone you can read the Bible with?
If no one comes to mind speak to Matt afterwards and he will find someone for you
For the Christians here, who can you invite to read the Bible with you?
There may be some people who are ready to respond to Jesus today
To come to him and say I’m sorry
I’m sorry for not always treating you as King
To say I’m ready to call you my King
And I trust that you have saved me
If that is something you feel led to do we’d love to pray with you afterwards.
To celebrate this new life you are starting