Transcription

Chris
So, Kyle. What’s up? Jeff is out of town today. Yes. So you are the Bible guy?

Kyle
That’s right. Today I’m the Bible guy. Yes.

Chris
Well, you know, in the box office right now, unfortunately, poor Indiana Jones is losing money, and it’s a box office flop. Yes. Uh, well, he carries a whip, right. And there’s a scene in the movie. It’s actually quite funny. Okay. He starts whipping people, and then everybody pulls out guns and it’s really funny. And then he has to put the whip down. Uh, well, anyway, you know, the first person, you know where Indiana Jones got that idea?

Kyle
No. Tell me.

Chris
From Jesus.

Kyle
From Jesus.

Chris
That’s what we’re talking about today.

Kyle
Okay, I am Kyle, this is Chris, and we are the Bible guys. That was a great intro. I like that a lot.

Chris
Well, I was reaching. I was trying to find something.

Kyle
I was like, where we go with Indiana Jones? Hey, quick little, um, side note on Indiana Jones. Um, did you. I saw something recently where they said that the top box office, um, guys, over the past couple months. You know who they are, right? It’s it’s Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington. Apparently. I’m not even sure what movie he’s in. Maybe equalizer 5 or 6 or something like that. And then Tom cruise, which they’re pointing out, uh, Harrison Ford I think is 80 years old. Yeah. Um, Denzel, 65, and Tom cruise is 60. And they’re just pointing out, like, what a funny world we live in right now.

Chris
Well, and it just goes to show you my generation has all the.

Kyle
Money, apparently.

Chris
Yeah. And those are our heroes. Yes.

Kyle
Right. And there’s yeah. Willing to spend the money on the movies.

Chris
And we’re sort of the generation that was mostly invested in, you know, engrossed in the movie, uh, box office and all that stuff.

Kyle
I just thought that was I just thought that was kind of cool.

Chris
Yeah, and none of that. But it also speaks into the fact that, uh, my son always says he’s only 24. Yeah. And he always says, um, uh, there’s not any good movies being made today 100%.

Kyle
And a lot of the stuff that they do a lot of times are, um, a lot of times, you know, the movies that come out right now are remakes that we’ve noticed. Right? Right. But I do find interesting that Barbie movie coming out has created so much hype and buzz, and it kind of surprised me that they haven’t done that sooner. I don’t know if you felt the same way when I saw the. I’m like, I’m surprised they haven’t been doing this for like a I hadn’t thought about this ten years ago.

Chris
To be honest with you, if you really think about the history of movies, uh, television came out, remember, like in the 50s, right. And then and then movies were before that. But we went, you know, somewhere around Silent Screen to, you know, all that jazz and The Wizard of Oz, you know? So that was like the 30s. Yeah. Well, think about it from the 30s until, you know, the 2000, that’s like 70 years. That is only 70 years, which means that, like, just to get to the turn of the century, we’ve used every good idea, right? Yeah. Which is why when something comes out and it’s a brand new idea, we all go, oh, wow, that was original. That was original. Yeah. Like, I really, truly point that out during previews. I said to my son, you know why I like that? It’s an original idea. Or when you’re.

Kyle
Watching a movie and they have a unique twist that you didn’t see coming, you’re like, wow, that’s pretty cool. Yeah. But anyways, okay, so we are talking about Jesus today, but before we get into that really quickly, today is Monday. Yes. And I know people are maybe driving to work or they’re at the gym right now or whatever it may be. And I want to just really quickly talk about Mondays, because I’m sure you have people who are listening to this who Chris
This is our show show sheet segment.

Kyle
Yes, this is our show, our segment right here. We’re talking about Mondays for a quick minute and I want to hear from you. What do you love or dislike about Mondays? Are you a Monday guy or are you not a Monday guy?

Chris
By the way, people from my generation remember the cartoon strip Garfield, okay. And his his motto was I hate Mondays, okay? And and I’ve always sort of felt that way. Uh, but I got to be honest, I, I’ve worked at Heritage Church, you know, we’ve worked together for three years now. Uh, so before that time, I was a pastor for, uh, 29 years and, uh, at four different churches and all different four churches for three decades. I had Mondays off. Wow. Because, uh, you know, you work really hard on Sunday, you come home, you’re drained. Yeah. Uh, during the fall, you watch football and you have late football, you know, and then Mondays you just sort of recoup. And then I’ve actually had Mondays off for 30 years, came to heritage. And I would just mention this before you told me, you’re like, I think it’s just what you’re used to. And I’m like, okay, well, it’s three years later and I still hate the fact that we have that. We work on Mondays. Yeah. So heritage works on Mondays and and so for me I, I, I’m not. So I come in but I’m not at my best. Yeah. So I’m just like I’m a glaze and I’m like uh huh. So any meeting that I have on Mondays, even though we’re technically having them. Yeah, uh, I’m not fully there. I’m not sort of not fully there.

Kyle
You know, the one thing I think about having a Monday off, um, is that when you’re off on Mondays, like no one else is off on Mondays. Right? So that means your oil changes are quicker, your haircuts are quicker. You know, all the random tasks you have to do go a little smoother. Um, I personally, I hear what you’re saying because Mondays can be brutal. I think the one positive of Monday and maybe just me, and I’m sure we probably have some people that are listening that feel the same way. I kind of like a fresh start in general. Like if I’m ever going to start like a new eating habits or whatever the new thing is, it’s usually like on Monday, you know, people always joke like diet starts Monday. Like for me, I’m like, Monday is like a restart. But no, there’s no doubt I do find Mondays to be tough, especially if you had a fun weekend or something energizing or a ministry thing went super late. Yeah, the last thing you want to do is get up early Monday and, uh, yeah, get going at it.

Chris
And of course, we’re both pastors, but most people who are listening are not pastors. Yeah. And so they don’t necessarily work on the weekends. And our schedules are backwards. Right? Yeah. So we work really hard and a lot of times even prep on Saturday. Right. So our weekends are taken up. And when people say, hey, let’s go hang out, we’re like, well as long as it’s during the week. Yeah, right. Not the weekends. Yeah.

Kyle
If somebody plans like a birthday party on like a Saturday night, I’m like, oh, I just got to be home by 930. It’s pretty lame, right?

Chris
But anyway. But I would say most of the world loathes the fact that they have to go back on Monday because I think most of the world works on Monday. Yeah, I think it is different after Covid because so many more people, so many people work from home now. Yeah. And a lot of it’s like sign in when you want to. Yes. So I think that’s it’s less prevalent.

Kyle
Take things a little slower on Mondays. Yeah yeah.

Chris
Yeah yeah. Because Mondays you could sort of ease back into it.

Kyle
Okay. Can you find anything you personally anything good that you like about Monday? Anything. Just throw in anything that you like about Mondays. Um, and I’ll have to remember this.

Chris
Uh, gee whiz, uh, compared to the other days of the week.

Kyle
Yeah, just like Monday.

Chris
Something that is good about Mondays. That is not good. That is better than the rest of the week. Sure. No.

Kyle
Okay. I don’t think so. I was thinking I thought an easy layup like Monday Night Football or something. You know, I know you’re okay.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kyle
That’s something to look forward to I guess. Except it does start late. And that’s kind of annoying.

Chris
To me for like 13 weeks. Right. But um, but I would definitely say, uh, uh, you know, the fresh start thing is something I never really thought of. Yeah. But maybe, who knows? Maybe you’ve helped my Mondays.

Kyle
Okay. Good deal. All right, so we’re going to be reading today. Um, let me see here. Here’s our passage, John.

Chris
Chapter two.

Kyle
John chapter two.

Chris
Verses 13 through 22. Okay. And I mentioned the whip before because Jesus is clearing out the temple. Yeah. And so we’re going to be talking about that. Okay.

Kyle
I’ll get started. I’ll read here starting in verse 13. Yep. NLT version, it says this. It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration. So Jesus went to Jerusalem and the temple area. He saw merchants selling cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifices. He also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers coins across the floor and turned over their tables. Then going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, get these things out of here. Stop turning my father’s house into a marketplace. Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the scriptures said, passion for God’s house will consume me. But the Jewish leaders demanded, what are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us some miraculous sign to prove it all right. Jesus replied, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. What? They exclaimed, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you can rebuild it in three days. But when Jesus said this temple, he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the scriptures and what Jesus had said.

Chris
Yeah, and you know what? Believe it or not, there’s a ton to talk about here. Yeah. Uh, and even though it’s only just a few verses, here’s the first and most obvious one is that most scholars believe that Jesus actually drove out the money changers twice. And by the way, when I read the Gospels, you know, for years and years, I it was a long time before I had heard that most scholars, when they when they take the harmony of the Gospels, so as we know, uh, it maybe most of us know this Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they all write the event about the events of Jesus. There’s 250 different events, uh, about Jesus. And, uh, and the harmony of the Gospels is a compilation of people putting together and actually putting them in chronological order. And then some gospels mention, uh, you know, an event, uh, just in one gospel. And then if it’s really important, it’s in two and then three and then four. Right. Uh, well, in this particular case, this is the only gospel that mentions the clearing out of the temple, uh, in this case. And then there’s three other gospels, uh, Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19 that mention another driving out. And, and there’s different wording. Yeah. So the second driving out, he says, you’ve made my temple a den of thieves. Right. And this driving out, uh, he actually says, you’ve turned my father’s house into a marketplace. In other words, like a place of profit. Right? Now, here’s what’s also interesting is that this place, this this takes place in the Gospels in John chapter two, which is at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. Right? So John two is right after, you know, Jesus had just gotten baptized, uh, you know, he just entered into the wilderness, uh, he’s starting his public ministry. Chris
And, uh, and here in John chapter two and then, uh, the book of John, um, uh, or, excuse me, the book of Matthew, Mark and Luke, they record the event at the end of the Gospels with different wording. And all three of those are consistent. So that’s why most scholars say this happened twice. So at the beginning he says he fashioned a rope. Uh, now, I think it’s also important to know that, um, that, uh, Jesus went from his hometown, which is the North, you know, half of the state or the country of Israel. And then he went all the way down to Jerusalem because it says that it was nearly time for the Passover Jewish Passover celebration. The Passover celebration, of course, was, uh, you know what that is, right? Yeah. So that was the, uh, celebration of the slaves getting delivered out of Egypt. And the Passover was actually just one day. Yeah, but then the rest of the week was the feast of the Unleavened bread celebration. And so then, uh, so it was a week long celebration. And then when Jesus comes down, he sees this. Uh, now, I’ve got a lot to say, but. But what are your observations?

Kyle
First, I do think that, um, you know, at the time, you you kind of wonder when you, when you read this, you’re like, man, why did why was Jesus so angry here? You know, because a lot of times you think, you know, he turned into a marketplace that’s going to make him angry. And then oftentimes, you know, because we are so quick to go to application, what does that mean for us? But I think the thing that we may be missing, or you can miss when you’re not reading or when you’re reading this, is that, you know, in that Passover celebration, people had come, thousands of people would come to the temple to worship. So all these foreign people come into this temple. They’re trying to worship. They’re trying to spend this time before, you know God. And all of a sudden you have all these money changers, you have people selling things. And really what it was doing was actually keeping people out of the temple. And I think that’s ultimately like, that’s actually a metaphor, um, that I think that God wanted to include in here. And Jesus wanted to make sure that that was included, to show that, like, you know, whenever we get in the way of people coming to the house of God or getting or having a moment or an encounter with God, not just in church, but just encounters with God, like, we have to stay the heck out of the way. And I think that Jesus was trying to model that right here. Like, you know, you’re trying to get in the way. And it actually made him very angry so much that he was willing to show, um, this righteous anger because he saw something, something, you know, wrong going on.

Chris
Bill Hybels called it a righteous indignation, which, by the way, is, since we’re talking about the anger part, uh, there’s nothing wrong with getting, uh, having a righteous indignation or having an anger, because, remember, the Bible says in your anger do not sin. So so it doesn’t say that anger is a sin. And in this case, he’s getting angry at sin. Right? So, uh, and by the way, um, uh, the fact that he turned over the money, you know, the money changers tables, uh, you know, really, really is a pretty aggressive at the beginning of his ministry. Oh, yeah. So if you think about, uh, just.

Kyle
Uh, imagine, you know, when you go to, like, a hang out with somebody and then they just blow up and everyone’s just standing around like, huh? Like, you have to imagine there was some of that people sitting around like, what just happened, you know?

Chris
Right, right. And, and, uh, and so Jesus, uh, overturned the money, uh, changers temple, it’s important to know that, uh, people would travel for hundreds of miles. And there’s, like you said, thousands of visitors. And what they would do is they would gather, uh, and Herod’s. Well, it was really the, the rebuilt temple. So let me let me back up and say this. So the history of the temple, people always wonder, like, which temple is this? Right. Well, you know, in the days of Moses, there was the, there was the tent of the meeting place, and it was the tabernacle that eventually became the tabernacle. And that was actually like not a brick and mortar structure. It was a tent structure. And then that existed for years until Solomon built an actual brick and mortar temple, Kyle
Which would have been like a thousand years before this, right? Yeah.

Chris
969 BC is when it was, uh, constructed and it lasted for like 400 years, but then it got destroyed by the Babylonians. And then, uh, what comes along is Zerubabel, which is a really fun name to say, by the way. So Zerubabel comes along and rebuilds the temple, and it was in Second Kings and Ezra, you know, and it was actually smaller. And one of my favorite passages talks about how they wept aloud because it wasn’t as big as the old Solomon’s Temple, but but they rebuilt the temple. And then that lasted from like 500 ish BC all the way till, uh, really, King Herod comes on the scene, the Romans conquer the Jewish people, and then King Herod decides to, you know, he’s charged with keeping the peace, uh, making sure that the Jews were happy. They ruled over the Jews at the time. And so Herod actually, uh, remodeled Solomon’s or, uh, this remade temple and, and actually, um, uh, it was referred to as the Second Temple. And he made it bigger and one of the one of the ways that he made it bigger is that he expanded the courtyards. And so what he did is he added this huge wall on the outside. And then so there was like an outer court. And they called that the court of the Gentiles and the court of the Gentiles. Was anybody who was not a Jew. Yeah, right. And they were the very outer court. There was like a covering on the border. And then there was a then there was the court on the inner, uh, court. And it was sort of the sort of toward the, um, toward the eastern wall. And it was the court of the women, and the women were allowed only so far toward, toward the, uh, the western part, which was the Holy of Holies. Chris
And there was a huge place for the women to come. And then there was the court of the men, which was just a little bit closer. And then there was the court of the priests, which was pretty much right next to the altar where the sacrifices were made, and then which was just outside of the actual temple with the Holy of Holies and all those kind of things. So anyway, all that to say this, um, that, that whole history is a visual of saying that the court of the Gentiles is where the unbelievers were. Yeah. Right. So there was there was a lot of people that went to worship. And, and this is where people would travel hundreds of. Miles, but they couldn’t bring their sacrifice, so they had to buy. Sacrifices there. Well, what they were doing was they were marking it up because supply and demand. Yeah. Now how many times, how many times have you gone in a Ford field. Oh gosh. And you’re like, hey, I’m going to buy a hot dog. And what does it cost you, $8 or.

Kyle
Well, you mentioned earlier movie theater, right. Think about the movie theaters. Yeah, that’s a rip off. Yeah, that’s been a rip off for years. You go there like popcorn and a Slurpee, $15. Right.

Chris
But they have you. Yeah. Yeah, right. They have you. Unless you unless you sneak food in. Yeah. Which I’ve never done.

Kyle
I would never.

Chris
Do such a thing. Never snuck food in a theater in my whole life. Uh, is this.

Kyle
The first time you’ve ever lied on this podcast?

Chris
I’m crossing my fingers. Uh, but, uh, but almost, almost always, I don’t bring anything in there to snack on. Uh, and then I buy. I buy concessions, and so I support the theater that way. And, uh, and it’s always like a rip off. Well, that’s what they were doing. Yeah. And they were actually, like, charging and overcharging. And it was like, just like you said, it was keeping not just people out, but unbelievers. People who have who are the most disconnected. And what a crime, what an offense. And I think it’s a picture of a lot of our churches today, a lot of our churches, uh, you know, we don’t mean to, but we inadvertently, like you said, get in the way. Uh, but but specifically, we get in the way to the outsiders. And that’s exactly what was happening here. Yeah. And so I think that it’s really interesting, uh, this this, this, this holds a lot of lessons. I also want.

Kyle
To ask you, too, because I think a big theme of this is the, um, you know, a tear down this temple. I’ll rebuild it in three days. Yeah. Talk. Just talk about that for a minute, because, you know, that’s another thing that when you first read it, you know, he does. He’s also he’s he’s giving a little bit of a clue into what’s going to happen. But I just want to hear your thoughts on that whole when Jesus makes that claim. Yeah.

Chris
Well, the cool part about this is that we’ll probably get to it eventually. Obviously we will. But, uh, is that nobody understood it. And then and then it says that not until Jesus was resurrected did they remember. Remember this exact phrase. Right. And so Jesus actually says this on two different occasions where he actually makes a prediction. And I love how it says. The reason why he said that is because they demanded, uh, a sign of authority. And they said, If God gave you the authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it. So think about the Pharisees, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the the or the priests. You know, uh, in the area, you know, here’s Jesus coming along with authority. And he has no title. He has no job description in the temple. None whatsoever. Yeah. And he’s flipping over, you know, this this setup system that is obviously supported by and controlled by the people who run the temple. And they’re saying like what is going on? And he says, you’ve you’ve made my father’s house get these things out of here. Stop turning my father’s house into a marketplace. And they’re like, what are you talking about? My father’s house. Like like, who are you to do these things? You know? And by the way, here’s what I believe. I believe that had Jesus done a miraculous sign in that moment, they would have believed. But Jesus doesn’t want to, uh, have us believe that easily. You know, it’s like all he had to do when he was born was, have the clouds open and come in with a with a golden chariot and fly around the world to everybody saw he was born and he could have came in as an adult, right? Chris
Yeah. He doesn’t have us believe that way. Uh, Jesus said, blessed are those who, who, who believe and yet do not see. And he requires us to walk by faith. And so Jesus could have easily think about it. Uh, you know, uh, you know, you did anything you could, you know, putting it up in heaven. And, uh, did you ever see that movie Shazam! Oh, yeah. Remember when he goes Shaquille O’Neal with my hands, lightning with my hands? He was doing it through the eye of the tiger. I don’t remember, I guess lightning with my hands, anyway. Like like like I just pictured Jesus doing something like that, right? Lightning with my hands. And he could have done anything. Yes, yes. You know, he could have had any sign whatsoever. But instead he decides to just plant a seed, and then he requires people to take the journey with him. Yes. Uh, to to believe or not to believe his words. And eventually he gets bolder and bolder with his claims. And he’ll get bolder and bolder with his miracles. Well, and.

Kyle
I do think he’s trying to play the long game. I mean, his ministry was three, you know, two, three years, which we think of as very short. But also the claims he made were very offensive. So I think he knew in that moment when they’re like, show us a miracle. Yes, he could have done one. But I also think it wasn’t like the right time. And we know so often throughout the scriptures that he he even told his mom, you know, he’s like, it’s not my time yet, right? You know, so he he knew when the right times to make those moves were because he was so in line with his father. Yeah. And so, um, I do think this is a really good reminder for us, though, when it comes to, you know, our worship services and even the way we introduce people to Jesus, those who are far from God, that we have to remove any distraction. I really think it’s important for us as Christ followers to follow in the way of Jesus that this is just crazy to think that I can’t think of another time. Were Jesus showed this amount of righteous anger, right? Right. And this is the moral of the story is that like he was so frustrated that these people were doing this work in keeping these Gentiles away from and other and other people, these outsiders from worshipping God, there’s not a single other time that we see that sort of righteous anger, and it’s over that. And I think that’s worth us paying attention to.

Chris
Right? Yeah. The only other time I can think of and it really wasn’t in anger, but it was actually very it was very confronting. Probably would have been when he said, you he was without sin. Cast the first stone. Yep. Right. So sort of flew in the face of all the people who felt like they had the authority to execute things, you know, I mean, he did.

Kyle
Call one of his friends, get behind me. He said, get behind me, Satan. I guess that’s pretty savage too.

Chris
But yeah, that’s right. Kyle
But he didn’t physically do it.

Chris
Yeah. Never and never in act of, uh, you know, I mean, these are these are written with exclamation marks.

Kyle
That’s an aggressive move.

Chris
And flipping over tables. Come on. Yeah, right. Like that’s a physical act of defiance. And again, it wasn’t sin. It was it was, it was, you know, he had the authority. And by the way, uh, there’s a couple more sermons in here. Number one, uh, not everything that Jesus does, uh, you know, is something that we should do. So, like, I just, you know, being a pastor for several decades, uh, I always hear people say, well, Jesus did it. Therefore we should do it. And by the way, I think that that’s probably true for almost everything. Right? So Jesus taught us how to live. He modeled us how to live. He talked about authority being given to us, uh, you know, his authority being passed on the power of the Holy Spirit, like I believe in all of that. So my statement is not about the majority. In fact, I would say almost always that’s true. But there there are a few instances where Jesus was just Jesus and were not. And so like, like like, uh, like for instance, uh, he actually said, uh, I have he actually announced his purpose and he said, I’m doing these signs and wonders and miracles so that everyone will know that I’m the Messiah. Well, you and I can’t claim that, right? Oh, we can do signs and wonders and miracles because of what Jesus did. Well, that’s that’s true. There’s other places that talk about having faith and doing miracles. But at the same time, we have to understand that Jesus lumped every single miracle he ever did into the purpose of letting everybody know that he’s the Messiah. So I believe that we can do miracles and that, well, actually, I should say God can do miracles through us, I believe that, but just let’s just be careful and understand. Chris
So, like, for instance, uh, well, Jesus had a righteous indignation, so we should go into churches flipping tables. Let’s let’s go into the church lobby. Yeah. And let’s hold up signs, you know, which, by the way, I’ve seen before at other churches, uh, we were pulling out of North Point Church in Atlanta, and there’s a huge crowd pulling out, and some guy was standing at the curb, uh, talking about how women are dressed scantily. Oh, gosh, at North Point. And only he didn’t say it that polite. Oh, wow. These women’s are dressed like blanks. Okay. And he’s holding up a sign.

Kyle
Did you have righteous indignation against him?

Chris
Oh, bro. I wanted to go out there and pummel this guy. Right, but he was standing on a public road and all these kind of things, and I don’t think they could really do much about it, but, but but Andy addressed it in his, in his sermon the next week, actually, uh, but he said it indirectly. And it was it was wonderful. It was just it was awesome. Uh, it was brilliant, actually. But anyway, um, but he never called out the incident. He just talked about courage and cowards. It was really good. But but my point is, Jesus is the only one. We can’t say, well, Jesus did this, therefore we can have righteous indignation. Uh, some things are reserved for the authority of God.

Kyle
Yeah. So that’s.

Chris
Good. Um, so anyway. Hey, listen, that’s that’s, uh, that’s probably great. There’s there’s probably a few other sermons in here. Yeah, it was great. That’s probably a good place to wrap up. So, uh, we will see you next time on The Bible Guys. See you.