Pastor: Eugene P. Harder * John 2:13-24 * Mar 5\00

There is one action that leaves a hollow feeling in my gut, that is getting ripped off. Our house has been broken into three times and our car twice. When that happens there is a feeling of being violated.

The most violated I have ever felt was when a church ripped me off. I designed and built their building and they ran out of money. They had problems and the pastor quit so I told them to pay me when they got their feet on the ground.

A year passed and a new pastor came and I requested payment of my account. The new pastor said, "You haven't sent a bill for six months therefor you have abandoned your claim, we refuse to pay. If you don't like that then sue us."

There is no way that I would violate scripture and sue the church. There are always going to be unscrupulous spiritual leaders who feel justified in using, abusing and ripping people off.

Our Bible lesson today is about Jesus taking action against people who were ripping others off. "When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." (John 2:13-25 NIV)

The picture of Jesus with the whip is an awe inspiring sight. The sight of religious leaders ripping off the Jewish pilgrims moved Jesus to anger. The Passover was the greatest of all the Jewish feasts.

Every adult male Jew who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem was bound to attend it. It was the dream of every Jew scattered around the world to celebrate at least one Passover in Jerusalem.

Every Jew over nineteen years of age was required to pay the Temple tax of almost two days' wages paid in Galilean or Temple coinage. Foreign pilgrims were required to exchange their foreign currencies, hence the need for money changers who ripped off the pilgrims by charging exorbitant exchange rates.

Jesus was angered when He saw pilgrims who could ill afford being fleeced by the exorbitant rates of exchange of the money-changers. It was a shameless social injustice being done in the name of religion.

Add to the money-changers the sellers of animals and birds for sacrifice. They charged up to 19 times more for a pair of doves in the temple court than outside the temple grounds. This was bare-faced extortion at the expense of poor and humble pilgrims. No wonder Jesus was moved to flaming anger.

From Jesus' perspective what was at stake? God's house was being desecrated by worship without reverence. Mark records Jesus as saying, "My house shall be called the house of prayer for all the nations" (Mark 11: 17 ).

The Temple consisted of a series of courts leading into the Temple proper and to the Holy Place. There was first the Court of the Gentiles, then the Court of the Women, then the Court of the Israelites, then the Court of the Priests. The buying and selling was going on in the Court of the Gentiles which was the only place into which a Gentile might come and pray.

Beyond that point, access to Gentiles was barred. The Temple authorities made the Court of the Gentiles into a noisy bazaar where no person could pray.

Slip on the sandals of the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem from North Africa. For years you had planned and saved for this trip of a life time. Your pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a reality, a dream come true. You arrive in the court of the Gentiles and are horrified to see what looks and sounds like a big bazaar.

Your first order of business is to exchange your Alexandrian currency. You are shocked and dismayed at being ripped off with the blessing of the temple leaders. Next you buy a pair of doves for an offering and that is a big rip off.

You think to yourself, "What's happening to my dream of a spiritual pilgrimage?" That night you have a difficult time sleeping. The thought keeps passing through your mind, "Is my religion only about money, about taking advantage of people?

Is that experience 2000 years old. Is there anything in the life of New Hope, a snobbishness, an exclusiveness, a coldness, a lack of welcome, a tendency to make the congregation into a closed club, an arrogance which makes the seeking stranger feel ripped off?

People come with the expectation that they will be accepted and loved. That is a legitimate expectation because we say that we are Christians who live and operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

People come to be touched in their spirit by the praise and worship, the prayer and share time, the communion and the message. If we who lead these events live worldly lives and do not properly prepare our hearts the night before, we come with a stone in our hand instead of bread.

We abuse and rip people off when we offer them a stone instead of bread . Jesus is angry with those who make it difficult for the seeking stranger to make contact with God.

Being ripped off cuts two ways. There are times when God must feel like we have ripped Him off. The following verses indicate that we are prone to promise God much and deliver little.

"Now while he (Jesus) was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man." (John 2:23-24 NIV)

The Living Bible gives an interesting twist to verse twenty-four. "But Jesus didn't trust them, for he knew mankind to the core. No one needed to tell him how changeable human nature is!"

The question John is answering here is—if there were many who believed in Jesus right at the beginning, why did He not openly declare himself? The answer is that Jesus knew human nature only too well. There were many to whom he was only a nine-day wonder, they were attracted to Him by His miracles.

If Jesus talked to them about service and self-denial and self-surrender to the will of God, many would have left him on the spot. Jesus did not want followers unless they clearly knew and definitely accepted what was involved in following him. He refused—in the modern phrase—to cash in on a moment's popularity.

Jesus knew the fickleness and instability of our hearts. He knew that we can be swept away in a moment of emotion, and then back out when we discover what living for Jesus really costs. Jesus wants disciples with determination who will follow Him to the end.

I am amazed by the solemn promises we make to God and one another. When difficulty strikes we walk away from that promise. Society suffers from a Determination Deficit. There is a lack of resolve to accomplish God's goals in God's time regardless of the opposition.

Majestic trees of righteousness have a holy determination to stand against life's hurricanes. The hymn writer wrote, "I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world's delights. Things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight."

More than 125 years ago Philip Bliss was inspired by the determination of that Old Testament prophet named Daniel who was determined to be true to God even if it meant being thrown into a den of lions. Mr. Bliss wrote, "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.

The faithfulness and determination of the people of New Hope is characterized in nature by that amazing bird, the Arctic term. Every year at this time the tern leaves the bottom of the world and the desolation of Antarctica. It begins the 17000 km flight to the Arctic and the top of the world.

It flies along the Western coast of North and South America or of Africa and Europe, covering an average of 240 km per day. One of the wonders of this bird is that nothing stops it from reaching its goal. Wind, rain, sleet, snow, fog or predators will not keep it from achieving its objective. With determination it keeps trucking on.

That's the way it is at New Hope. With holy determination you keep on faithfully doing the things that God has called us to do. Our doors are still open because faithfully every month you keep on giving your tithes and offerings and attending on Sunday. Your faithfulness and determination to obey Jesus has kept our doors open.

This week I said to the Lord, "Lord you might have felt ripped off by the fickleness of the crowd in Jerusalem, but God, that's not New Hope. These people have a determination to be true to You and serve You in the spirit of the Apostle Paul's words to young Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7 )

Sixty years from now I'll be in Heaven playing a big keyboard with the granddaddy of all synthesizers of the universe and someone will come running to me with a note that says, "Another one is arriving from New Hope."

After you've checked in you'll come and give me a big hug and speak these beautiful words, "Eugene I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

And I'll say, "Praise God for your holy determination, you didn't rip off God by using Him to get on your feet and then live for the world. You didn't rip off God's people by using them for your own purposes. You helped make God's love real to others and you delivered what you promised. Praise God, another New Hope Tree of Righteousness has finished life well.