READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 8:4-12
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
- St. Luke 19:41-48
Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus, the Christ.
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His
Church, saying:
“And he entered
the temple and began to drive out those who sold”
What right did Jesus have to throw out all these people from
the Temple? Weren’t they doing God’s work?
This is the conundrum we will think about today and it has
to do with Authority in the Church. Whatever the Church’s authority is
determines what is taught. God want’s us to hear this, because there are many
who would lead us away from His Church and want to exert their own authority
over us. We must understand this in order to guard ourselves against false
prophets.
What we have here, in Jesus’s cleansing of the Temple, is a
failure to communicate. Not failure on Jesus’s part as to how and what He wants
accomplished in His Temple, His Body, but failure on our part to communicate to
God how we want things done in His Temple. We want the authority to dictate how
we have faith.
As Jesus said, this was accomplished in the hearts of the
people by the lying pen of the Scribes, heard in our Old Testament reading.
They were supposed to be the authority on God’s Word and yet we see them and
the Word of God at odds. So who or what has authority in God’s Church and where
does it come from?
Two important terms you should remember are Formal Principle
and Material Principle. These two deal with Who’s voice gets to be heard in
Church and what that voice gets to say. When dealing with what you believe,
Formal Principal simply means where your doctrine, or teaching, comes from and
Material Principle means what that doctrine is. Every church has a different
Formal Principle, a different authority on their teaching.
Now you may have just checked out of this sermon, but don’t.
Because what you may not understand is that doctrine is life; what you believe
about something is extremely important. Case in point, all that people are
outraged about in the Olympics, recently. If you believe that men can be women,
your Material Principle, then you are for women being physically abused by
biological males in public. This belief comes from the corrupt world who
desperately tries to be progressive, your Formal Principle.
Hopefully you see how these work?
Let’s return to our Gospel reading with this in mind.
Jesus has revealed the Material Principle of the chief
priests, scribes, and principal men. It is that Jesus’s House will be a den of
robbers. Now how ridiculous to think of God’s things that way and of course
they didn’t agree with Jesus’s assessment, which is why they wanted to kill
Him. But that is the satanic trick. To make sin seem like something good or
even something that God has commanded.
So what is their Formal Principle? The Word of God of
course, just like you. In Deuteronomy 14, the Lord outlines that you are to
bring the proper tithe to the Temple from your own things. However, He makes an
exception in verses 24-26, “if the way is too long for you, so that you are
not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the
place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name
there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and
go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever
you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite
craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and
your household.”
Well, there it is. It was perfectly fine, even according to
God, to be doing what those men were doing with and at the Temple. God’s Word
said so! Jesus is wrong and He will continue to be wrong until we bring Him
before our chief priests and scribes who know the law best, convict Him, and
crucify Him.
Repent! Not only have we pit God against His own Word, but
we will then continue to try and excuse Him by saying something like, the
ruling house in charge of the Temple at the time was corrupt, and that’s why
Jesus got angry. It was just a “at that time” thing and not a permanent thing.
In other words, we become the authority and have no use for Jesus.
Yes, our doctrine, our material principle in our sin, is
that we are the interpreters. We are the ones to say what God says and does on
earth and what He does not. We have experience and reason, which God gave us!,
to use in that regard. And when everyone disagrees, denominations, we’ll then
say that you can’t know God’s will 100% and everyone has to find their own
truth.
In all cases, we abandon God first because He doesn’t make
sense and second because He doesn’t make sense. There is no winning for God in
this world of superior logic and understanding. Since we can understand and
have the knowledge of good and evil, there is no use for God. And this is why
Jesus weeps.
Not just because we reject Him, but because we find solace
and security with the enemy. Jesus is the only medicine and He is not mad, not
sin-sick, like you. Thus He comes to shine the light on this enemy stronghold
and says, “The Scriptures are not for you to wield as a cudgel and excuse any
behavior you choose.” “You search the Scriptures in hopes of finding
self-justification and eternal life, but these are they that speak of me.”
(John 5:39)
The doctrine of the Temple needing to be a den of thieves
comes from the belief that “we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us”,
so said our Old Testament. True belief comes from Jesus and true interpretation
belongs to Jesus. This is why St. Paul can say in our Epistle, “no one
speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say
“Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit” (v.3).
Thus the true and God-sent Formal Principle is Scripture
alone. Not simply Scripture nakedly by itself, as some believe today, but
Scripture Alone that leads to Justification by Faith Alone. That is both the
Formal and Material Principle of authentic Christianity.
Thus, Jesus being angry in the Temple is completely
understandable now. When you enter the House of God, there should be
Justification by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, for Christ’s Sake. In sin,
we reject the Word. In the Gospel, Christ is the Word made flesh.
And Jesus Christ is Lord. In His Unlimited Atonement made on
the cross, He bypasses man’s sinful logic and reason to purchase and win the
ultimate Bible interpretation tool: the Gospel. Not just the 4 gospels, not
just gospel churches, and not gospel singers either. The true Gospel in Jesus
hands alone, that is “the good news that we are freed from the guilt, the
punishment, and the power of sin, and are saved eternally because of Christ’s
keeping the Law and His suffering and death for us.” (LSCE q.84)
And since there is only one Spirit, and since He only
preaches The Christ, and the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, then our
key to correctly understanding the Bible is Christ Crucified. Indeed, in
Jesus’s Day, if the enemies of God had truly heard the Scriptures, they would
have run across Zechariah 14:21, “And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be
holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them
and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a
merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.”
Because the Gospel is free. The forgiveness of sins
and justification by Faith Alone is free. It is a gift of God so that no one
may boast. Only Christ can boast. Boast that He has laid down His life to be
the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices. Boast that He is the Tithe to end all
tithes. Boast that He is the Word come to speak with us and commune with us.
The Word given to Moses, concerning selling in the
Temple, was given as a mercy to those who could not be near. It wasn’t to
outline a proper religious business model. Those don’t show justification. the
Word was given to show God’s mercy and His desire for Joy at the revelation of
His Material Principle of Justification.
Remember that verse ended with, “you shall turn it
into money…And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you
and your household” (v.25-26).
The end goal has always been the same for Jesus. When He
created all things, they were to be a joy for Adam and Eve. Instead, sin made
it a curse. When Jesus gave His Word to His chosen Prophets, it was meant to be
a joy in communicating with God. Instead, Jesus has to continue to purge
corruption of His Holy Word.
The Temple, His Church, and all the yearly celebrations
contained therein, are meant to be for rejoicing. There is no rejoicing in
keeping a law devoid of mercy. Then you just get more laws, permits,
regulations, and jail time all from the mouth of man, not God.
The things that make for peace are what Jesus, Who is both
God and man, came to bring. Peace money-changers! You can have your businesses,
but do not claim God’s authority with what you do to others. Peace chief
priests, scribes, and principal men. You are indeed chosen to lead God’s
people, but do not exceed your jurisdiction.
Peace, you sinners. Where God has made peace, do not cause
strife. For Jesus brings peace, not as the world gives it, as in everyone just
think like me and we’ll get alone. But He brings peace from God and with God.
Meaning we no longer have to strive to make God’s kingdom come into this world
by sacrifice or business. God’s Kingdom comes, hanging on the cross, without
our efforts.
No comments:
Post a Comment