April 8, 2010, John 2

Key Verse:

To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

(John 2:16)

Central Truth:

You can’t earn it. You can’t buy it. It’s a Gift.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

Jesus didn’t seem to get angry often. So when He stops what He’s doing to braid a whip… um, yeah- this has my attention! Whatever set Him off, I want to make sure I don’t ever do THAT!! Ok, I understand that we need to respect God’s house. This seems simple enough. And I don’t think Jesus has anything against business itself. So what, exactly, was so offensive?

Ever pay six bucks for a coke at a college football game? They don’t allow you to bring your own, so they exploit that. They can pretty much charge whatever they want. But that’s ok, that’s capitalism. If you don’t like the price, either don’t buy the coke or don’t go to the game. You have a choice. But what if someone did that at Church? What if someone made obstacles to your connection with God, then charged you a high price to get around them?

One problem with the market in the Temple was exploitation. People had to travel from far away to worship at the Temple. Then, they were supposed to sacrifice a pure, clean animal to God. But what if you got there and your pigeon had developed pink-eye or maybe a weird spot on its wing? You give the pigeon-guy your bird, and he says “Whoops! Sorry dude, your pigeon’s no good. No time to run home and get another one, so I guess you’ll have to buy one of my pure pigeons. That’ll be six bucks.” Sound familiar sports fans?

The good news for us, since we are now under the new law of love and grace, is that our pigeons don’t have to be perfect anymore. This rocks. This means I am justified in the sight of God, even though I’m imperfect.Jesus paid the price already. By accepting Christ as your Savior, you receive justification as a gift- and there’s nothing you could EVER do to earn it. Nothing. So why do we run around struggling to meet quotas of good deeds, like Boy Scouts earning merit badges? Why do we worry and fret about whether we are performing Christianity good enough? “Am I giving as much money as that guy? Have I accumulated enough volunteer hours this month to buy God’s approval for another thirty days?” It sounds silly, but it is SO easy to slip into that mindset without realizing it.

You can’t earn it. But the more you realize how much God loves you, how much of His acceptance, mercy and grace you have already received- then the more you will WANT to take risks, move out of your comfort zone, and give your life to God. Not because you have to. Not because you feel obligated and pressured to keep pace with the Christian next-door. But -because you love Him so much - you truly WANT to bring glory and honor to the One who set you free.