From the Pulpit: Purity matters to God

To be unhinged means to be out of touch with reality. Have you ever met someone like this? Just a little out of touch with what is going on? This is the person that screams at the barista for making her coffee wrong or has a temper tantrum because his French fries are cold.

We look at these people and think they may have gone a little crazy. Did you know that there was a time where the disciples of Jesus may have thought he was going a little crazy? It’s true. Don’t take my word for it, take Luke’s. ‘When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.’ (Luke 19:45-48).

Some believe that this was actually the second time that Jesus had done this, the first time being in John 2. In that rendition of the story, we are told that Jesus sat down to braid a whip?

Can you imagine being a disciple of Jesus, the Messiah, watching him braid a whip? The questions that would be going through your head. Not only that, but the time it would have taken Jesus to do this, He would have had plenty of time to think about whether or not this was the best route to take. And yet He does it. Again, some say twice within his three-year ministry.

Maybe, like me, you wonder why? Why would Jesus braid a whip, walk into the temple courts and begin to overturn tables and drive people out? One word. Purity. Purity matters to God. In this moment, Jesus was not out of touch with reality. In fact, He was more in touch with reality than anyone else. There were people in the temple of God who were charging an exuberant amount of money for animal sacrifices. In short, they were cheating people. They had taken the temple of God and flipped it for a profit. As I read this story, I am reminded that purity matters to God. The purity of our hearts, the purity of our actions, the purity of our motives.

As we conclude, I invite you to reflect on this question with me; is there anything in my life that I need to allow Jesus to drive out? I’ve got some things. How about you? The good news is that we serve a gracious God who is willing and ready to redeem and cleanse us at a moment’s notice. All we have to do is ask. I’ll leave you with one final prayer; ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Psalms 139:23-24)  taken the temple of God and flipped it for a profit. As I read this story, I am reminded that purity matters to God. The purity of our hearts, the purity of our actions, the purity of our motives. As we conclude, I invite you to reflect on this question with me; is there anything in my life that I need to allow Jesus to drive out? I’ve got some things. How about you? The good news is that we serve a gracious God who is willing and ready to redeem and cleanse us at a moment’s notice. All we have to do is ask.

I’ll leave you with one final prayer; ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Psalms 139:23-24).