October 4, 2018
Dear friends,
If you have read this blog recently, you know that I have looked at several factors involved in motivating believers for missions: to be converted, to be convinced that Jesus rose from the dead, to be confident that the Bible is the Word of God, to be committed to obey the Word of God, to be clothed with the belt of truth, and to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. The final factor that I will look at is to be consecrated to serve the Lord.
What are people looking for? In general, people want truth and peace. We seek truth in relationships, in the work place, and in politics. We long for peace in the world, in our family, and in our own life. The Lord Jesus talked to His disciples about peace before He went to the cross: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
In our men’s study group on Tuesday, we discussed a different side of the Lord Jesus than is often portrayed: the righteous anger that Jesus showed on two occasions when He overturned the tables of the money changers (please see John 2:14-17 and Luke 19:45-46). In his Study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah writes about these events: “At the time of Jesus’ visit to the temple, the high priests were ruthless, greedy, evil men who used their position to extort money from the people. Jewish law required every family to bring their own sacrificial animal to the Passover, and some of them traveled from great distances. The high priests, knowing this, started to sell animals that could be used for sacrifice at the temple – but sold them at exorbitant prices. In this way, the corrupt priests used their power to establish an unjust system.”
Dr. Jeremiah continues: “Also, during the time of the Passover, the law dictated that every Jewish man age 20 or older was required to pay a half shekel temple tax. Since the Jews lived in an area controlled by the Roman government, their coinage was of Roman origin. On the face of the coins was an image of Caesar. The Jews were not allowed to take image-bearing coins into the temple, so the priests of the day set up tables in the courtyard where visitors could exchange their everyday coins for Tyrian half shekels. However, the priests would again charge exorbitant fees – even as much as half a day’s wage – in order to do so.”
In reading John 2, I noticed something interesting about the words “jealous” and “zealous”: there is only one letter that is different. Jesus demonstrated His holy jealousy to protect the sanctity of the temple of God by acting swiftly to stop the money changers from continuing to corrupt the place of worship. His zeal fulfilled the prophecy recorded in Psalm 69:9. As Canadian Thanksgiving is approaching, may we remember the Lord’s many blessings and dedicate ourselves anew to serving Him!
Scripture for the weekend: “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” Colossians 1:3-5 (NKJV)
Thought for the weekend: “The knowledge that Jesus could return at any moment should not lead Christians to a life of idle waiting for His coming, but it should produce diligent, obedient, worshipful service to God and urgent proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers.” – John MacArthur (from his book “Because the Time is Near”)
By His grace,
Steve