Jesus used His authority as the Son of God and cleansed the Jewish Temple of the greedy and unclean practices taking place there. We are called by Jesus to use authority as His disciples and cleanse the church and Christian movement of all its greedy and unclean practices!
JOHN 2:13-25
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” [Psalm 69:9]
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
THINGS THAT NEED TO BE CLEANSED FROM CHRIST’S CHURCH
- Unholy preachers & leaders (1 Timothy 6:10)
- Worship for show and performance (Matthew 6:5)
- Entertainment in the pulpit (1 Chronicles 13:7-10; 15:11-16)
- Charging for conferences, books, and Christian training (Matthew 10:8 & 1 Timothy 6:10)
- Dry, unspiritual, manmade traditions (Mark 7:13)
- Charismatic spookiness (1 Corinthians 14:39-40)
- Compromising messages (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
