It’s My House

It’s My House.

Mark 11:15-18.

Mark 11:-1815 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

Matthew 21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

Luke 19:47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 and could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

Introduction.

Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once near the beginning of his ministry and once near the end. See John 2:13-16 for the first cleansing. Jesus made “a scourge of small cords” to drive out the animals, the moneychangers, and the merchants. He poured out the money and overturned their tables. He commanded the doves be taken from the house of God. Some 18 years earlier (cf. Luke 2:42; 3:23) as a youth of twelve Jesus spoke in the temple of “my Father’s business.” Here he speaks of it as “my Father’s house” being made into a house of merchandise.  The reference to “my Father” is a claim of his Messiahship.

Jesus had the authority (and power) to cleanse the temple.

• My house. Jesus said, in effect, “It’s my house,” thereby making himself equal with God (as the Jews said of him at the feast in Jerusalem (John 5:1, 18).
• The Old Testament tabernacle was called the house of God (Judges 20:18) and the house of the Lord (1 Samuel 1:24); the Old Testament temple was called the house of God (2 Chronicles 3:3) and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 3:1). It was the Lord’s by right of pattern (his design) and possession (his ownership). Though the chief priests were offended, they could not stop him. Neither could the moneychangers, the merchants, or their clientele. They were driven out by one man, the God man. “It’s my house, and I’ll cleanse what I want to, when I want to.”
• Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? Ecclesiastes 8:4. ...none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Daniel 4:35.

Jesus had a reason for cleansing the temple.

• The house of God served as a place of religious worship. “for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:17).
• The house of God had become a place of uncontrolled commerce and uncontested crime. “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:11)

Jesus had results from cleansing the temple.

• The chief leaders were enraged by his actions at the temple (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47). They should have been the very ones guarding the integrity of the temple. The house of prayer divides the true and the false.
• The people were attentive to hear him at the temple as he taught (Luke 19:47-48). The house of prayer is a house of teaching.
• The blind and lame were healed at the temple (Matthew 21:14). The house of prayer is a house of healing.
• The temple needed cleansing. The cleansing brought division or separation, some hating him, some hearing him, and some healed by him.

Application.

The cleansing occurred at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus made it clear, “It’s my house.” But what shall we then say to these things? We are not Jews in Jerusalem. We are Christians in the church age. We have no temple. Or do we? Of what today might Jesus say to us, “It’s my house”?

• There is the temple of the human body. The Bible speaks of the temple of the body (John 2:21). We dwell in an earthly tabernacle of clay (2 Corinthians 5:1), indwelt by the Holy Spirit. As God inhabited the temple by his Spirit, so the Spirit of God dwells in the temple of our body. Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
• There is the temple of the church body. The gathered church is the body of Christ, and his Spirit dwells in them. 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. See Ephesians 2:19-22. Jesus did not come to overthrow the Roman government, but he did overthrow the false religious system of the Jewish world (Matthew 21:43).

When I was a child, an American singer named Lesley Gore sang “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.” We have continuously revised that somewhat innocuous phrase of teenage self-interest so that by the twenty-first century we have, “It’s my body, and I’ll kill my baby if I want to,” “It’s my body and I’ll claim whatever gender I want to,” “It’s my body and I’ll sell it if I want to,” “It’s my body and commit adultery if I want to,” “It’s my body and I’ll worship what I want to.” But hear the word of the Lord. He says, “It’s my body!” “Ye are not your own…ye are bought with a price.” “All souls are mine.” He owns all, our bodies and souls, even the gold and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

Others go on to say, “It’s our church and we’ll do what we want to,” “It’s our church and we’ll use any Bible we want to,” “It’s our church and we’ll use any worship style we want to,” “It’s our church and we’ll observe the ordinances the way we want to,” “It’s our church and we’ll preach salvation like we want to.” But hear the word of the Lord, “It’s my body!” For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17).

• The temple needs cleansing.
• Our Lord has the right.
• There will be results.

The Lord’s house of prayer reaches out to all people, the lame and blind, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, male and female, Jews and Gentiles, calling out to every one of the thirsty. Isaiah 55:1 “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. May the Lord’s house truly be a house of prayer, a house of worship and praise, to which all may come, without money and without price.” He determines the rules of his house. “It’s my house,” saith the Lord.