Barrier Breaker

I want to start today by showing you a photograph that I think is my personal favorite photograph of any American president. It's a photograph of John F. Kennedy. He is at work behind his desk in the Oval Office and peeking his head out from underneath the desk is his three-year-old son, J.F.K. Jr. Isn't that a beautiful picture? This is part of a series on John F. Kennedy that was done in Look Magazine in 1963 and I love this picture because I love to imagine how difficult it was to get into the Oval Office, right? You probably had to wait for weeks to even get an appointment and then he had to go through barriers and walls and lines of security but this three-year-old is able to get right into the inner sanctum. Why? Because he is the President's beloved child.

Well that's a picture of what Jesus does in the story in the Bible that we're going to look at this morning. You'll see how Jesus takes you past all the barriers that religious people tend to put up, past all the security, past any lines that you may put up in your own imagination and he brings you into someplace that's even more exclusive than the Oval Office, into the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God and he says you belong here because you are the Father's beloved child. This is quite a story. Grab your message notes that look like this. We call a brand new message series from now until Easter 77 and there is a very deep spiritual metaphorical reason we call it 77 because that's the number of days between Super Bowl Sunday and Easter.

So during those days we're doing this series on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and here's why we're doing this. It's my observation that Easter shows up and first of all many people are surprised by Easter. It's Easter already and part of Easter is Passion Week, Good Friday and everything and not only does it surprise us in our schedules it surprises us in terms of what is this really all about? Why did Jesus suddenly end up on a Roman cross and then in a tomb for three days and then resurrected? Why in the world did the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ end this way? Who would ever want to crucify Jesus? All he did was go around preaching about niceness, right? And he kissed babies and he loved puppies and he adopted animals and he was just Mr. Rogers in a row. Why would anybody ever want to crucify him?

And so in this series what I want to tell you is something maybe you have never understood before and that is the plot line that led to the murder of Jesus. Really what we're talking about in this whole series is a murder mystery. Who killed Jesus and why? And if you think you know the answer to that question you may be surprised by the time we get to the end of these 77 days. Now we saw the conflict begin last week when we launched this series. John the Baptist shows up on the scene. He's kind of this wild guy. He's preaching out in the wilderness clearly seeing himself in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets and at one point the leaders of the Jerusalem temple, the religious leaders of the whole country come out to confront John and they want to ask him by what authority is he doing? They were very concerned about authority because they were the religious authorities.

They didn't want anybody grabbing their authority and John looks up and he sees them coming and he points to them and he says, "You brood of vipers!" I mean not a way to win their favor and they just turn around and go right back to their headquarters at the Jerusalem temple and then the very next day he looks up to the same road he sees Jesus coming toward him and he says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." So right there in those two days you see a foreshadowing of the two main figures in the plot line of Jesus Christ. You've got the status quo religious leaders in Jerusalem and you've got Jesus and John looks at both of them and basically says out with the old and in with the new and if you're part of the status quo is this threatening? Of course! Is this alarming? Absolutely!

And so each week we're going to establish another chapter in this story to show you how this conflict keeps developing in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Now before we go on in this series I want to make something very very clear and this is so important. If you were looking down at your notes or checking you know golf scores or you were making coffee if you're watching at home I want you to look up here for just a minute. John the Baptist and Jesus, though they spoke out against the temple leadership in Jerusalem, were not anti-Jewish in any way shape or form. Nothing anti-Semitic can ever be justified from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ even though unscrupulous Christians have done so throughout history tragically.

But look at what Jesus said to clarify this even in his day. He says do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets and the law of the prophets that's the Mosaic law, the Jewish prophets, the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, what Jews call the Torah. He says I haven't come to abolish and then he says it again he says it twice I have not come to abolish them but to what? Fulfill them. He was there to fulfill the law and the prophets not to abolish them he was there to complete a direction that the law and the prophets were already going. He was there to conclude a story the law and the prophets had started telling and here's the story that they had started telling.

If you do not understand what I'm about to say in the next few minutes it's basically really impossible to fully understand the ministry of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ was telling the last chapter of a story the law and the prophets had begun. So listen up here's the story they started about 900 years before Jesus the people in Jerusalem built a temple to worship God but very rapidly the temple became all about the rituals I go through at the temple instead of the relationship sort of as long as I go to the sacred place and do the sacred rituals with the sacred people that I'm covered and I can live however I want to live and religion can easily turn into that can't it kind of if I do the sacred religious ritual then God kind of owes me then he's obligated to answer my prayer because I did the religious ritual at the temple.

Now the Jewish prophets were very quick to condemn this attitude I want to give you just a sample but at the end of the Old Testament the end of the Hebrew Scriptures there's there's a bunch of Jewish prophets and their one consistent theme is God is disgusted with what has become of the temple worship what's happening at the temple has deteriorated into nothing more than almost pagan worship and they're very critical of this let me give you a sample for example the prophet Isaiah this is this is in the old this is the Hebrew Scriptures these are the Jewish prophets this is in the Torah says what makes you think I want all your sacrifices says the Lord who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony in instead give up your evil ways you can't think it just because you come to the temple to do your rituals that that you're okay you got a change in your heart.

Another example the prophet Amos God says I reject your religious festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies even though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings I will not accept them why not the whole book of Amos is about this the temple worship has become a sham but one prophet in the Torah more than any other spoke against what the temple had deteriorated into and it was the prophet Jeremiah and I want you to see what the prophet Jeremiah says because this is the story that Jesus is finishing the prophet Jeremiah God says through him don't trust the lies lies of the people who say this is the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord you must change your lives and do what's right don't you yourselves admit that this this temple which bears my name has has become a den of thieves and then he saves the most astonishing pronouncement of judgment against the table temple for this I don't know if you're ready for this next verse God says I will destroy this temple that bears my name this temple that you trust in for help God says I'm gonna reboot the whole system I'm gonna wipe the slate clean and start over I am actually going to press restart on the whole temple thing.

Why? That last line in this sentence is key that temple that you trust in for help group answer time here these aren't trick questions if you know the answer shout it out with confidence who are we supposed to trust in for help you did not read the answer is God you didn't really say that with enthusiasm all right who are we supposed to trust in for help God exactly according to the Bible who were these people trusting in or what were they trusting for help the temple when I trust in anything other than God for help what is that called idolatry? Listen the temple of the Lord had become an idol.

Now some of you are distracted so let me repeat that because it's a mind-blower according to the Torah the temple of the Lord had become one giant idol ironically the people became distracted from God by religion they were trusting in the temple the building the tradition the rituals instead of in God wait wait wait wait wait wait wait stop stop is it possible for even good things to become idols is it possible for even good religion to become an idol let me make it more personal is it possible for this church with all of its activities and all of its buildings to actually distract you from a relationship with God instead of lead you to God is that possible of course it is in fact a consistent theme of the Bible is that the biggest enemy of faith can be religion.

I don't know what your past experience with religion has been like but that sentence on screen right there right now is liberating some people in this room and watching online if you've ever felt like well I love God and I really want to follow Jesus but I don't know about religion I mean religion has pressed people hasn't it and and maybe even you're thinking I've been hurt by religion you have got to know right now there is not a single ancient book more critical of religion than the Bible the Bible is not all yeah just be religious that's good no and it continues with Jesus what do you think Jesus Christ spoke against more than anything else what did he kind of take his stand against?

Did Jesus kind of take a stand against the horrible Roman oppression that was going on in his day? Did he take a stand against political corruption? Did he take a stand against personal sin? More than any other thing Jesus spoke against bad religion that was kind of his deal that was his issue because bad religion is poisonous it poisons everything else in life bad religion can be oppressive and judgmental and abusive it can drain you of joy it can drain you of life it can put up all kinds of barriers to God and so with all this as context with all this as the story the prophets had started writing what happens for the 400 years before Jesus is no more prophets because they'd continually been speaking against the priests and speaking against the Kings and in ancient Judaism there were three kind of people that led the country there was prophet priest and king and the prophets always spoke truth to the power of the priests and the Kings spoke truth to the abuses of the priests and the kings until finally the priests and the kings had had enough and they killed all the prophets and for 400 years before Jesus there's priests and there's kings there's no more prophets until clearly John the Baptist and then Jesus saw themselves in the tradition of those Jewish prophets speaking truth to the power of the priests and the kings.

And with all that as background Jesus and the spirit of Jeremiah and Isaiah and Amos he strides into Jerusalem and walks up the steps to the temple and picks up where the last prophets left off see in his day King Herod had remodeled the temple into literally one of the wonders of the ancient world it is amazing people love this place in fact archaeologists are now finding carvings of Herod's temple in the ruins of first century synagogues and houses mosaics of Herod's temple on the floors of rich people's homes they put pictures of the temple on their money they sang songs about the temple they told stories about the temple they made pilgrimages to the temple it was a symbol of their national pride and their religious life.

Here's the thing the temple was controlled by operated by the high priests and guess who the high priests were controlled by guess who in Jesus's era actually selected and appointed who got to be the high priest of the temple was it a vote of the Jewish people? No. Was it the other priests got together and selected a worthy person? No. Was it a vote of the Jewish elders? No. You know who selected the Jewish high priest? The Roman Caesars. So the high priest although they were they were the high priest the temple the Jewish people they got their power from the Roman Caesar and that meant they were untouchable they were in control of the center of religious life and national pride in their country and they basically if anybody dared to threaten their power they well there's first century records of how they were basically the religious mafia they would literally send people to beat up their opponents and this almost total power corrupts them almost totally.

The Jewish Talmud from the first century the high priestly families are described as full of quote greed nepotism oppression and violence so this is a complaint not just in the Bible about the temple high priests a lot of the common people have this complaint about the leadership of the temple the problem was there was nothing the people could do about it they loved the temple they just didn't like what was happening to it.

So with all that background Jesus visits this place in John 2:13 starting in verse 13 he strides up into this hill in Jerusalem into those temple courts and it says when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem Passover still celebrated a day as the seder of course that's when Jewish families have their traditional meal they sit down with their families and eat the Passover lamb.

Now in those days they would make a pilgrimage to the temple to sacrifice the Passover lamb but then they would take it back to their homes and eat it together remembering how their ancestors excuse me their forefathers were delivered from slavery in Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb. Now they had to go up to the temple to sacrifice these lambs ritually up there at the altar on the temple in those days how many people are we talking about that would come for this annual week-long festival? Well historians say get this picture this during Passover Jerusalem would swell from a few thousand people to two and a half million people.

So what did it look like up there on the Temple Mount? Picture the biggest gathering you've ever seen on TV or on the internet like a march on Washington Times Square at New Year's Eve Mecca at the Hajj lots of people are crowding this place shoulder to shoulder and they're there to witness the incredible scene that's about to come down it says in the temple courts he found Jesus found men selling what cattle sheep doves there's barely room for all these people what what are cattle sheep and doves doing up there and others sitting at table exchanging money like exchanging money?

Here's what was going on in those days at Passover you also had to pay an annual temple tax but you couldn't pay it in your normal coin because Roman money had pictures of the Caesars on it just like our money has heads of the presidents and the temple priests said well that's technically idolatry and so you've got to exchange the Roman coin for temple coins which are only good up on the Temple Mount and then you've got to pay your temple tax and the temple coin and the money changers always charged an extra convenience fee for the transaction kind of like when you buy concert tickets or other event tickets on StubHub and they charge you a seven buck convenience fee and it's super like you're you resent it to this day but I digress anyway this is what happened there I'm not bitter but there's more.

Everybody of course had to offer the sacrifice at the temple to Passover lamb or if you were poor a dove and the animal had to be without blemish no imperfection now you could bring a little lamb or a dove from your own farm your own home but what happened was you had to stand in a long inspection line now there's two and a half million people coming in about five days so you can imagine how long these inspection lines were and you know your your lamb is bucking or you know you're you're there with a birdcage and you get to the front and historians say that 80 percent of the animals were rejected because they found some kind of a minor defect in them and so most people just bought the convenient pre-approved unblemished temple animals that were available from stalls right there at the temple and that's why Jesus saw all of these animals.

But these animals were wildly expensive in fact there's a record of one first century rabbi who actually sued the temple merchants in court because he was charged for a dove 100 times the market rate that's not in the Bible that's in the historical record so this is an extortion thing going on up there now let me show you where all those temple animals had to be kept because this really helps you understand the point of the story this is an overview of the temple courts they were massive and within this there were several inner courts that got tighter and tighter and more and more exclusive first you entered the court of the Gentiles that's the first thing you got to as you went up the stairs now this is as far as the Gentiles the non-Jewish people could go this was about four football fields in size though and then the court of the women that's as far as Jewish women could go then the court of the Israelites which is where the men could go and then the altar which is where only priests could go you can go to the altar yourself and finally the Holy of Oles the inner office the presence of God the Ark of the Covenant was there and only the high priest could enter there and what you're not even seeing here are the masses who couldn't even get this far if you had leprosy or a number of other diseases or you were any one of a number of occupations if you were a tax collector if you were a shepherd or if you were a eunuch or many other things you weren't even allowed up the stairs to get to all these barriers in the first place so one barrier after another.

Now back to the court of the Gentiles in Jesus day this was the biggest space at the Temple Mount and this is where the animal vendors and money changers set up their stalls and tables thousands and thousands of animals were up there for all those pilgrims one Roman governor actually did a count of how many lambs were sacrificed one Passover in the first century and he counted 256,000 lambs and so there's this constant bringing more and more thousands of lambs up here to the Temple Mount imagine the noise the smell of the chaos I mean I'm sure the architect wanted it to be this beautiful open space inspiring prayer and instead it looked like a flea market and so Jesus walks up into all of this and what does he do next next verse so we made a whip out of cords and the whip wasn't for people I want to make this clear it was for wrangling the animals out of there and drove all from the whole temple area both sheep and cattle and he scattered the coins of the money changers and he overturned their tables and to those who sold doves he said get these out of here how dare you turn my father's house into a market and his disciples are watching this and remembered that it was written that this is will be a characteristic of the Messiah zeal for your house will consume me.

But again see what it says they're not against Judaism it's a zeal for your house not against your house he's doing this in the spirit of the Torah and in the spirit of the prophets Jesus didn't want his people to become less Jewish in any way he wanted them to rediscover what it truly meant to be Jewish in other words specifically to be the covenant people in a covenant relationship with God who brought the light of that one true God to the nations.

Now I love this story that's the story but what does it mean to us? Well for one thing it shows Jesus and what he is so passionate about and I love that this shows that Jesus wasn't some weak soft guy you know like he usually is in the movies this is kind of my pet peeve here's Jesus from one of those Jesus movies you see every year at Easter I call this low blood sugar Jesus this guy couldn't overturn a leaf let alone a table can you imagine I can't do it no no you see this guy and you do wonder why would they crucify him he's not a threat the Jesus in the story is a threat and I love what you see in the story is kind of the look in a mama bears eyes right when she's protecting her cups or the look in this cheetah's eyes as she protects her babies this fierce look kind of like staring down the aggressor saying don't you even think about hurting my little ones and I think Jesus has that look in his eyes in this story because he loves his people he loves his children and this is threatening his babies this is keeping his little ones away from a relationship with their father.

Jesus is making a point here this is a public demonstration about what he stands for and to really understand this story I think we need to ask three questions about this episode first what was Jesus really so upset about this is always a key to understanding somebody psychologically right what kind of pushes their buttons what gets them going well first clearly the temple leadership built obstacles to God at so many levels so many barriers so many lines oh you can't get in here without paying your temple tax get in that line okay oh I'm sorry sir after you've waited an hour and a half you can't be your temple tax with that kind of money you need to exchange it get in that other line okay well I brought my sacrifice I've got to wait in that other line to get it approved it wasn't approved oh gotta wait in that other line to buy one of ours and what was meant to be a spiritual experience became a TSA security line on the worst possible day of your life right what was meant to be a cathedral at Christmas became the post office at Christmas because of all these barriers and even worse they were completely off message off message how so?

Now watch this in the Gospel of Mark it gives us an interesting extra detail after he cleanses the temple Jesus says is it not written my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations but you've made it into a den of robbers in this sentence he's quoting two of those Old Testament prophets and when you look at the broader context for both of them you understand clearly the point Jesus is making because first the first line he uses here is from Isaiah where he says my house shall be a house of prayer for all nations that's part of a longer passage in Isaiah 56 watch this in Isaiah 56 God says don't let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say the Lord will never let me be part of his people no I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord who love him and serve him and love his name my temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations for the sovereign Lord who brings back the outcasts of Israel says I will bring others to besides my people Israel.

In other words the temple was meant to be a gathering place of worship of the one true God for all people it was meant to be a bridge to the world not a series of barriers to God and then Jesus quotes the prophet Jeremiah but you have made it a den of robbers you've squeezed ironically you've squeezed the Gentiles out of the one part that you allotted for them the Gentiles can't fit into the court of the Gentiles anymore because of all your animal stalls and all your money transactions you're so far off message here this place was meant to be a light for the nation's not a barrier to the nation's.

Okay then the next question I've got to ask is if this is what Jesus is so upset about I hope the obvious question is how am I part of the problem how do I contribute to the same problem you've got to understand this is not just about the temple leadership forget about them for a second ask what about me what about you what about us I need to ask myself am I putting up unnecessary obstacles for other people to get to God now listen carefully I'm not talking about necessary obstacles you know Jesus is Lord that's a pretty big obstacle for some people to say that but there are so many unnecessary obstacles I'll never forget a woman walked up to me right after church one morning right in front of this church stage and she said for years she did not attend church here at Twin Lakes Church I said well well why not I'm glad you're here now why not she said well I didn't have nice enough clothes I said well why in the world would you ever get that impression you know how she got that impression from one of us someone invited her to come to church and when she went to pick her up years and years ago now she looked her up and down and said you're not wearing that are you and this woman told me it was not immodest it was just plain and believe it or not for years she didn't come to church because her clothes weren't nice.

I think we'd all agree that's an unnecessary obstacle but now let's get into more sensitive areas I've actually had people tell me more than once I can't go to Twin Lakes Church I'm not a Republican now I don't know where they get that impression maybe cable news or something but I just want to assure you maybe you haven't dared to come you're watching on video somewhere we do not card you for your political affiliation at the door the ushers do not have a scanner Republican okay check move along Democrat okay green party step to the side please sir we have a situation you know where do people get that idea I don't know but I guarantee you based on this story it would really upset Jesus if we didn't make it clear that people from any political affiliation we look at the people Jesus chose as disciples people from one end of the political spectrum to the other you're welcome here.

In fact there's two questions you and I need to ask ourselves am I complicating the simple message am I complicating the simple message of Jesus Christ one of the things we need to learn from the story is there's something about us humans we all tend to do this these people took a wonderful thing the temple and over complicated it incredibly and you and I can take a great ritual or a great symbol even something from the Bible and systematize it and idolize it and fetishize it and depersonalize it until it becomes about the ritual instead of the relationship we can complicate anything memorizing Bible verses that is a very very good habit obviously I recommend it but it can turn into this quid pro quo temple thinking if I memorize a bunch of verses like God wants me to then God will love me more and give me whatever I pray for with this quid pro quo idea or coming to church if I do not miss a week of attendance in like the first three months of the year then I'm getting better than those other people and God will love me more and then he'll hear my prayers and then he'll give me good luck or something and there are many many more subtle ways that this happens.

And then also I need to ask myself am I distracting from the simple message and there's all kinds of ways I can be distracted from the simple message of the gospel I love this verse by the Apostle Paul look this one of my favorite verses of the Bible but it's super obscure I just this is so good the Apostle Paul says but I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning you may somehow be what distracted from your simple and pure devotion to Jesus religion can distract me from Jesus but also just busyness can distract me from Jesus my worries can distract me from Jesus keep your faith simple and pure and focused on Jesus.

But let's not leave this story thinking about us let's turn our eyes back to Jesus what can I learn about Jesus from this fascinating story this is in all four gospels so what is this teaching me about Jesus what is Jesus saying about himself through this there's three themes that you're going to see again and again as we continue to unravel the plot that led to Easter in this series so jot these down three things about Jesus first Jesus is a barrier breaker here he's literally a barrier breaker right he's toppling all these tables people keeping people from God and throughout his ministry he does it again and again reaching out to prostitutes reaching out to people who are living with people who are they're not married to and multiple divorce and tax collectors and and all kinds of people that the religious people are like oh we don't talk to them Samaritans all kinds of people who would have been persona non grata up on the temple and this continual barrier breaking continually reaching out to people that religious people were uncomfortable with becomes part of the theme of the Jesus story.

And you know what that means listen if you have been hurt or excluded or pushed away by religious people in your past I can promise you that that would make the eyes of Jesus burn like a mama bears eyes when she is protecting her little ones and I promise you that he would topple tables to get to you and hold your head in his hands and try to get you to see that God loves you and welcomes you and came here to reach you and he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of you and he came to give his life for you.

And then second in this story I see that he is a man of authority he's saying I have the authority to clean this place up you know I'm taking names and kicking tables this place doesn't belong to you this is my father's house and of course this alarms the leadership especially when they realize Jesus is saying he is starting something new that is going to supplant what they are doing up there and this is where I want to go back to he quotes Jeremiah and that's part of a much longer passage where Jeremiah is saying this temple has become such a den of robbers God's gonna press restart he's gonna destroy it and then Jeremiah says and something new is going to eventually take its place.

Jeremiah says the time is coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt this is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time I'll put my law on their minds and write it on their hearts for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more they're not just covered for a year till next Passover they're gone the Lamb of God will take away the sin no more need for any more sacrifices that's gonna be over and more on that later in this series but talk about disruptive you know you can see how this would cause tension between Jesus and the people who were in charge of the status quo.

And then finally you see Jesus here is a simplifier he turned overturn stables and gets those animals out of there because all of that is complicating the issue of how to approach God he's simple he's always simplifying what religious people make so complicated and you'll see in this series he keeps stunning people by his ability to simplify spiritual truths really think of that system on top of the temple that complicated system with all of its barriers for who got to approach God and all of its rules and all of its rituals and he takes all of that complication and turns it into this sentence come to me all who are weary and burdened by all this religion and I'll give you a rest do you want to be in a relationship with God just come to Jesus he is standing there with open arms.

You know one of my favorite books I probably quote from it once a year is called children's letters to God and it's actual handwritten letters to God from little kids and they start so beautifully thank you for giving me my dad and mother and their children and dog and fish thank you for giving us the nice world to live in and eyes to see it and what we eat and brains to think thank you for everything love Maxine or God I didn't think orange went with purple till I saw the sunset you made Tuesday that was cool Eugene but it's interesting how quickly just like the temple deteriorated they deteriorate into that kind of quid pro quo temple thinking like this one dear God well I wrote you before do you remember well I did what I promised but you did not send me the horse yet what about it we all slip into that I did the sacrifice so where's my blessing in contrast here's the last letter in the book dear God count me in your friend Herbie just keep it simple.

Listen I believe the spirit of Jesus is here right now with open arms extending his hand to you would you like to come into the very presence the very center of his power and grace no more hoops no more barriers no more walls just come to him as his beloved child. Let's pray together Heavenly Father thank you for this story we confess that there's oftentimes that we put up barriers barriers for other people and barriers in our own minds and thank you that Jesus is a barrier breaker and Lord I pray that if anybody here right now has felt like I'm unworthy to come to God or religious people have told them that they can't have a relationship with you for whatever reason I pray that right now they would dare to pray Jesus I don't understand it all but as much as I understand it I want to be a Jesus follower the kind of Jesus I'm learning about that's the kind of leader I want to follow and so today I choose to follow you and make you my Lord and Savior thank you Lord amen.