John 2:13-17 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."

 People are so interesting.  One of the things that I find so interesting
about people is the old idea of the double standard.  You know what I
mean.  The husband who demands such and such from his wife but doesn't
even come close to being that way himself.  The parents who chastise
their children for bad language and yet that's where the children learned
the language from!  I think if we all thought about it, we could come up
with even more such examples.
 Of course, from my perspective, the area that bothers me most is the
double standard that many people display in spiritual matters.  Let me
share with you what I mean.
 If you went to a mechanic to get your car fixed and that mechanic was
persistently dishonest, I'm going to guess that most of you would not go
back nor would you recommend that mechanic to your family and friends.
Now I want you to pay attention to what I said.  I said that this
mechanic is persistently dishonest.  I say that for a particular reason.
 Since we are all humans and are prone to making mistakes, I would think
that occasionally a mechanic is going to make mistakes.  He or she may
not torque the bolts as tight as they should or perhaps while changing
the oil they forgot to put the oil cap back on.  You find these mistakes
infrequently.  These mistakes are simply a part of our human makeup and
the honest mechanic works hard to not do them.  I can live with that.
 But what happens when the mechanic persistently makes mistakes or is
proven to be persistently dishonest?  When you discover that the tune up
you took your car in for wasn't really done, that instead of replacing
the spark plugs, something you were charged for, they only cleaned the
old ones off...what would you do?  Would you go back?  Or if you went in
for an oil change and all they did was replace the oil
filter...seriously, just think of all the things that could be done wrong
by the dishonest mechanic.
 Apply this thought to any business or service you receive.  Mechanic,
banker, CPA, butcher, hardware, baby sitter and on and on.  When you
discover that you are not getting what you should, then what?  Or if you
discover that others are being shorted by that person, then what?
 I believe that most of us would stop doing business with those that were
shown to be dishonest whether it was to us or just to others.  I believe
we would be that way because we treasure and want to uphold the highest
of standards for ourselves and for those around us.  Working to keep the
world honest and truthful is to the benefit of everyone.
 What I don't understand is how we can have such high standards when it
comes to our everyday lives but the lowest of standards when it comes to
our spiritual lives!  People will go to churches even when what that
church teaches and does is clearly contrary to God's Word.  You have
churches that teach the falsehoods of millenialism but deny the simple
power of baptism.  You have churches that emphasize time and time again,
right living and moral integrity and yet deny the very atonement of
Jesus.  You have churches that teach that Jesus is Lord and yet deny that
the Bible is the very Word of God?  Why do people keep going to false
churches and those who deny and reject the clear and concise words of
Scripture?
 Is it because instead of basing our faith on God's Word and what it
says, we tend to base our faith on our feelings, emotions and what is
convenient?  Yet our faith is to be based on God's Word and what it says.
 Or do we inadvertently buy the lie of Satan that there are so many
different ways to interpret the Bible and actually begin to think that
God didn't give us a Bible that is clear, concise and exactly to the
point?  Our faith is to be based on God's Word.  One of the great places
to learn this simple truth is in the lesson that is in our text.  Jesus
demonstrates zeal for the Lord's House.  Let's learn what that means for
us.  Our theme will be: ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE.  1st. Zeal for the right.
2nd. Zeal for Souls.  3rd. Zeal that brings Salvation.
 Do be aware of the fact that in his life Jesus actually cleanses the
Temple two separate times.  He does so at the beginning of his ministry
and he does so again on the Monday of Holy Week.  Our account today is
that cleansing that took place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and
yet please note that the end result of both cleansings was the simple
realization by the disciples of Jesus that what he did was done in accord
with God's Word.  Prophecy had declared that the very attitude of the
Messiah would be: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
 What exactly does that mean?  I think we can grasp that the word "zeal"
combined with the verb "consumes me" is clearly a phrase that speaks of a
drive, a purpose, an enthusiastic interest found in the heart of a
person.  In this case the person is Jesus and his zeal, his drive, his
consuming purpose is "Your house."  It is rather clear that Jesus has the
drive and purpose of God in mind.  As we look at the actions of Jesus I
think we can boil that zeal down to three separate points.  The first we
will call: zeal for the right.
 When we talk about zeal for the right, we are talking about zeal for the
right cause and reason.  Jesus actually gives us that cause and reason
when he states, "How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"  In
other words, there was something wrong with what was going on in the
Temple of God.
 Please remember that the Temple of God had been built as a place of
worship and praise to God.  The Temple was to be the focus and heart of
the Jewish faith.  Yet it was not the rituals, the building or the other
peripherals of religion that were to be important.  It was the Lord God
that was to be important.  It was the promises of God, the revelation's
of God, the salvation that God had promised these people that was to be
the focus.  The Temple was simply to be the place where God was
encountered, where God was promoted and where God's absolute truth was to
ring out among the people.
 The problem we have here is that it was not God's Word ringing out in
the Temple.  It was the sound of animals, clinking coins and business
that was ringing out.  I believe Jesus perceived things correctly as the
Son of God.  Jesus realized that selling, marketing and profiting had
become the center of attention.  In other words, what was going on in
that Temple was not the business of God but rather the business of men
pretending God's business.  God's house had been turned into a market and
it just wasn't right!  Jesus by his actions points this out.
 Now to be honest with you, God had given the rituals of sacrifice to the
Jewish people.  In other words, the sacrifices that were taking place
were indeed commanded of God.  Yet God had given those rituals to help
souls keep the focus on what their faith was to be about.  Every
sacrifice was to be a remembrance of what the Messiah would do.  Every
ritual was to point to the wonder and marvel of what God would do for his
people, indeed for the whole world.  But the focus of those rituals, the
purpose behind the worship had been lost.
Over the centuries it was the Jewish priesthood that had brought this
problem about.  It was the priesthood that came up with the idea of
making available sacrificial animals for the convenience of the people.
It was the priesthood that determined that the only money acceptable at
the Temple was the Temple shekel and so they provided the money changers
who would provide that shekel for a small fee.  I believe the priesthood
did these things to help the people in their worship life but as the time
rolled by, the business of worship became more important than the souls
the worship was to serve.  The souls were not hearing the message of God.
 The souls were not being served with God's love and grace.  The souls
were being fed the law, the rituals and work righteousness.  Worse yet,
the souls were ripped off by the very people who were to guide them in
all truth and wisdom!
Can you imagine the impact that such business had on the worship of
hearts?  Because of the business allowed in the Temple structure itself
worship and the service of souls had been compromised.  I have no doubts,
that if those businesses had been left outside the Temple, left in the
streets surrounding the Temple that Jesus wouldn't have had a single
complaint.  Yet the business moved into the place where the prayers,
worship and Word was to be found with the end result that souls were
hurt.  Jesus cleansed the temple because he had a zeal for souls.
All one has to do is take a look at the very life of Jesus to see his
care and compassion for souls.  Jesus worked hard to help people see that
religion wasn't just a matter of the ritual's of worship or the works of
right living.  Religion, God's religion is one of the heart.  Think of
how Jesus expressed that again and again.  In Matthew 15 Jesus says,
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me."  In Matthew 6 he said, "But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not
break in and steal.  For where you treasure is, there your heart will be
also."  In Mark 12 he says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength."  In Luke 16 he says, "You are the ones who justify yourselves
in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.  What is highly valued
among men is detestable in God's sight."
Even the disciples of Jesus spoke in the same way.  Romans 10 says, "For
it is with your heart that you believe and are justified."  1 Tim. 1
says, "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart
and a good conscience and a sincere faith."  The love spoken of there is
the love we know in Jesus.  Clearly God's Word shows that God's zeal is
for our souls, for the things found in our hearts, the faith that holds
Jesus Christ as Lord.
Yet one more type of zeal in Jesus.  I call it a zeal for salvation.  Can
you imagine the courage it took to go into the Temple and chase out all
those that the religious leaders had put there?  Can you grasp the motive
of Jesus in opposing what the priesthood had put in place and declared
good?  In Jesus is the motive for our salvation.
I especially think this as I consider the passages that say things like
are found in 1 Corinthians 3.  We hear there, "Don't you know that you
yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?  If
anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is
sacred, and you are that temple."
Jesus was zealous for our salvation.  Jesus had the purpose of bringing
us into the temple of God, or making us the very spiritual bricks and
stones of God's house.  He did this by keeping his purpose.  He offered
himself in our place.  He took our punishment and paid for our sins.
What is more, Jesus then gives us of himself.  He forgives our sins.  He
forms us as the bricks and stones, the living house of God.  1 Peter 2
says, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual
house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ."
The zeal of Jesus is for you!  It was his love that lead him to come and
life the perfect life.  It was his love that lead him to love us even
unto death.  It was his love that caused life to reign again in his dead
body, resurrected that we might know the victory of redemption, the
saving of our souls.  It was his love that sent the Holy Spirit and the
Holy Bible.  It was from beginning to end the love of Jesus for souls
that moved him to zeal.  Zeal to bring about our salvation.
Jesus had such zeal, zeal for the right, for our souls, for our salvation
that He gave his all for us.  That zeal that he had can be seen at both
the beginning and the end of his ministry.  We thank God for our Savior.
We thank Jesus for zeal.  We rejoice together as the spiritual house of
God.  A house joined together for the praise and worship, the glory and
honor of Jesus, a house filled with the same zeal Jesus had.  A spiritual
house built to serve the Lord.  God help us in this.  Amen!