Thursday Night Fellowship
February 2, 2006
Play John Video Chapters 1-2
Introductory Questions
What year was Jesus born?
Possibly 3 B.C. The Jewish leader in our passage tonight said it took 46 years to build the temple. According to the history books this temple was started in 19 B.C. Which would put the completion date at 27 A.D. There is discussion on whether or not Jesus cleared out the temple at the beginning of his three year ministry or at the end.
What was the historical context? What was the big deal?
Passover – annual celebration held in Jerusalem, began with Moses and the 10th plague in Egypt
People would travel from their homes to Jerusalem during the Passover celebration. Part of the Passover celebration was the sacrificial lamb. Most families may not have been able to transport their animal all the way from home to Jerusalem. So these smart businessmen created a store where you could purchase your animal sacrifice, that is if you had the right currency (they didn't accept the Roman Express credit card). So they setup a partnership with the money changers. The money changers would take the people's money and give them the local currency minus a fee. Basically these businessmen were making profit off of the people who had travelled days to worship the Lord and participate in the Passover celebration. They weren't merely making a profit they were extorting the people and hindering their ability to worship the Lord. Does this sound bad to you? Bad enough to make a whip and start tearing up the place?
Here's what the situation might look like today:
You walk in to church next Sunday and you see people out front with hymnals for rent for the service. It costs $10 a hymnal for one church service. Then next to him there's a guy selling subscriptions to the church bulletin. It's $25 a month for one bulletin a week. It's $35 a month for two bulletins a week. I guess people will learn to share. When you get inside you see the pews are roped off. There's a lady standing in the narthex selling tickets for pew seats. $5 a person, $10 a couple, or $35 for a family pass. Children two and under can sit for free on a parent's lap. So now that you finally have your seat, bulletin, and your hymnal it's time for the offering. One of the men of the church get's up to pray, but there are no offering plates to pass out. You look down and see an ATM machine has been installed in the pew in front of you. You slide your ATM card and make your offering; of course there is a $2.50 fee for using the WPC ATM machines. So it could cost you up to $70 to come to church each week and another $2.50 if you give an offering. Something has gone wrong. I think people would stop coming to Westminster after the first week. Someone would probably eventually start getting upset. Maybe Dr. Masoner would come back from California to visit, see what's happening, and bust in throwing the pews all over the place!
Let's look at how Jesus related to the people in this passage.
First Jesus encountered the merchants, moneychangers, and the Jewish leaders. Jesus didn't deal too kindly with these people. Have you ever seen Jesus deal harshly or violently with anyone you know? Maybe even yourself? Sometimes for the sake of God's own glory and for the sake of his own children God will act in harsh ways. Sometimes we can be so steeped in sin that we need a wake up call from God. Jesus will do that because he loves us, but more importantly his name is at stake. Don't mess with God's children. Don't hinder them from serving the Lord.
* Sometimes Jesus doesn't act the way we think he will or should. We cannot understand him completely, but he will do what is best.
* Jesus' highest concern is for his own glory, as should be ours. (Our highest concern for be for Jesus's own glory.)
* Sometimes Jesus will use extreme measures to chastise us if our hearts become so hardened.
* We should be careful not to reject the words of Jesus when we don't understand them or if it doesn't make sense. We must all submit to Jesus' word as the final authority in our lives.
How does Jesus deal with the crowds of people in the last two verses of this chapter?
He doesn't entrust himself to them. They are all excited about these miracles, but yet Jesus doesn't trust them. Why? Because he knows how fickle people can be.
* Jesus knows what is in our hearts. He loves us in spite of and because of who we are.
* Jesus knew when not to trust people. It took great wisdom. These people believed in Jesus, but they had their own plans in mind. We too should be careful of whom we trust. Be wary of those who flatter and may want to use you for their own selfish purposes. Choose your friends carefully. Pray about your relationships.
Action Point:
Read John 3 thrice this week.
Spend some time this week praying about your friendships.
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3 comments:
When we were talking about why JEsus didn't know what was going to happen in the future, I had this thought. Could it be that the reason that JEsus didn't know the future on earth was because He chose not to. He could definately know what was going to happen; in the upper room he said "One of you will betray me this night." and to Peter he said "Be fore the rooster crows twice, you will betray me three time." So JEsus could and id know some of what was going to happen, but He chose not to know every thing, He chose to be in the dark about the future, though He didn't have to. Do you see what I am saying?
I can see that I introduced a lot of problems and questions. My goal is not to shake up what you believe about Jesus. Remember the main point was that we cannot fully understand God's ways, nor can we completely understand how God became man. What we can know was what was revealed to us in the Scriptures.
See Philippians 2:1-11. It says in verse seven that Jesus although being fully God emptied himself and became man. The Greek word there is Kenosis. (See many, many sites about this.)
This passage is debated back and forth as to what it meant for Jesus to empty himself. Some say Jesus gave up his "omni" powers (e.g. omniscient, omnipresence, omnipotent). Obviously he had to give up his omnipresence to be a human. In addition Hebrews tells us that Jesus was as human as we are. The answer must lie within the Holy Spirit. Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without measure See John 3:34. Jesus was able to perform miracles, teach, preach, and know certain things because the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Holy Spirit empowered him to do so.
My point is not to instill doubt about the deity of Jesus Christ, but to actually instill a great awe of who He is. We need to see Jesus Christ as bigger than just the person who died on the cross. His sinless life on earth is what made his sacrifice on the cross effective and acceptable to God the Father. We need to see how Jesus lived through this study; from His example we can learn to live life abundantly.
You made a very good point, and we can't know anything more about Christ than what is in the Bible, and I find that many of us, including me try too hard to try to figure out everything about Jesus and argueing about who is right, when the scriptures are the only thing that is absolutely correct. We should focus on what the Bible says, not what we say. I, unfortunately haven't been doing that.
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