RENEWING YOUR COMMITMENT (2 CHRONICLES 15:1-19)

 

RENEWING YOUR COMMITMENT

BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 Chronicles 15: 1-19

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Scheduled Teacher: Sis. Liza F. Biado

JANUARY 15, 2022

 

MEMORY VERSE

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

2 CHRONICLES 15:7

 

INTRODUCTION:

What is your response after a lot of work? What is your body’s response after a tiring work? Most of our answers are in the same, we need “rest”. I remember that the attitude of some CBT members before was to rest after a big event happened. I don’t say we don’t need to rest but the attitude of some members was they skipped minor events and also some services just to take rest. After rest or vacation, they went back. I don’t judge them, but the consistency is not there and the fact that you can have your rest while attending the church. There are lot of days to schedule and not Sunday. Sad to say sometimes they took this “okay” and not a big deal. I said this because I asked one of the members why her friend was not with her and she answered, “He’s too tired after the event last time and it’s expected for him to rest and that is fine. All of us need rest you know”. I just kept quiet and left. I realize If all pastors have that attitude, no one will preach on one of the Sundays if all of them get tired from any work.

The situation goes the same with Israel, after the battle with Ethiopians. God helped them with this battle (2 Chronicles 14:11-13). After the battle God spoke to the prophet and reminded the King Asa and the people. In 2 Chronicles 15: 1-3,

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: ² And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. ³ Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. ⁴ But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

God reminded the king and the people the possibility that they forget their God and their covenant. In verse 4 proves that they just approached God in times of trouble. These reminders made Asa, the king of Judah, encouraged the people to renew their covenant. WHAT MADE THEM RENEW THEIR COVENANT?

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  THEY ARE ENCOURAGED THAT THEIR WORK SHALL BE REWARDED (2 CHRONICLES 15:7)

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

Aren’t you encouraged with these words, “for your work shall be rewarded”? What happened to King Asa when he heard these words? In verse 8 says,

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.

Asa took courage with the words came from the Lord and he did amazing works: he put away the abominable idols out of the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim. We can see here the great efforts he did. The next line the verse said, “and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord”. We don’t know what kind of renewal he did to the altar, but we can feel in this verse his heart and eagerness to be with God’s will and his courage to follow God in the presence of his mother who was against God’s will.

 

Does this verse, 2 Chronicles 15:7, applicable if we stop from serving? (allow responses) Again let’s read, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded”. The words, “let not your hands be weak” simply shows that we need not to allow our work for the Lord to stop and encourage us to be strong.

 

2.  THEY SAW THAT THE LORD IS WITH THEIR LEADER (2 CHRONICLES 15:9)

And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

It’s important that you discern that God speaks to you through a leader or a pastor in entering to God’s covenant. You cannot enter to a spiritual covenant by yourself or without God’s word or the people use by God to speak to you. God uses ordinary people to speak to you. The people followed King Asa because they saw God worked in his life. What they did.

·       They gathered themselves in Jerusalem (verse10). We can see that God’s word and with the help of the pastor we can follow God’s will. God’s word moves you and help you enjoy spiritual things like going to church. 

·       They offered unto the Lord (verse11). Giving is not a question if people are enveloped with God’s word. Therefore, if we hear Christians are being complaining about money mothers though the giving in that church is transparent and not questionable then we know the answer for this.

·       They entered into a covenant (verse 12) to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.

 

 

3.  THEY BECAME AWARE THAT GOD WOULD HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE IF THEY FAILED TO YIELD TO HIM (2 CHRONICLES 15:2,13)

The words of Azariah carried a real threat as well as a real promise. Starting well is not always the key to victory—how you end is much more decisive. Twenty years ago, you might have been on fire for the Lord, ready to storm the gates of hell. But, what about today? Are you eager to serve him right now? Are you ready to say “yes” to his call in your life? If not, be ready to face the consequences. Our God will not sit idly back while his children go astray—he disciplines those he loves and will use every measure available which is in line with his character to make sure the prodigals come home.

 

When Judah heard God’s call to commitment, they gave themselves totally to the Lord.

¹⁴ And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.

 

These two verses give us reminders that in giving our commitment to the Lord, we should commit with all our hearts. Their decision made them proud which mentioned in verse 14. They sware with a loud voice which means they openly announced their oath and they did it with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets they are happy and not regretful for the decision we have made. The question is every time we promise to the Lord or make an oath, are we regretful or are happy?

 

CONLUSION:

Swimming the English Channel

Source unknown

It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

The water was numbing cold that day. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her party. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. . . only one-mile from her goal.

Later she said, "I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it." It wasn't the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was the fog.

Many times we too fail, not because we're afraid or because of the peer pressure or because of anything other than the fact that we lose sight of the goal. Maybe that's why Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Two months after her failure, Florence Chadwick walked off the same beach into the same channel and swam the distance, setting a new speed record, because she could see the land.

- John Cochran

HAVE I FINISHED THE WORK? (JOHN 17:1-4)

 

HAVE I FINISHED THE WORK?

BIBLE PASSAGE: JOHN 17: 1-4

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.blueletterbible.org/

 

MAY 08, 2022

MEMORY VERSE

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

JOHN 17:4

 

INTRODUCTION:

John 17 is the prayer of Jesus. He prays on behalf of those he would leave behind before he ascended to heaven. In verse 4 that we have read says, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

If you die tomorrow, will you say this, “GOD I AM READY TO GO HOME BECAUSE I HAVE GLORIFIED YOU ON EARTH WITH THE WORK YOU LEFT ME AND SENT ME?” A pastor said in his preaching, if you can’t say that on your deathbed then you’ve lived a wasted life. Life only matters and has meaning if you can say, “I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK.” You probably would say that the verse is about Jesus, talking to the Father and not primarily for you or for Christians but Paul mentioned also, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”  

The question “HAVE I FINISHED THE WORK?” is hard to answer because we have flaws and shortcomings in this world but like what I said, we should answer that when we are on our way to our deathbed. In the present we are still okay we are not on the brink of physical declining but let’s not wait for that time to come before you realize that there is a work that we needed to accomplish. Here are the two questions we need to consider in doing the work God has entrusted to us.

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  IS GLORIFYING GOD A BIG DEAL IN YOUR LIFE? (JOHN 17:4)

 

How did Jesus glorify the Father? At the birth of Jesus, the angels declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” He brought glory to God through His works:

·       When they brought the man in a cot to Jesus and let him down through the roof, Jesus said, “Your sins have forgiven.” The result of this miracle was when the multitude saw this, they marveled and glorified God (Matthew 9:8)- paralyzed man.

·       When Jesus was sitting on a mountain side near the Sea of Galilea, and they brought to him multitudes of people who were lame, blind, mute, and maimed, and He healed them all, the crows wondered when they saw the mute speaking, and the blind seeing and the maimed being made whole, and they glorified the God of Israel (Matthew 15:31).

·       When Jesus and His disciples came to the city and they met a funeral procession coming out of the city, carrying in a casket the only son of the widow, Jesus stopped the procession and commanded the dead boy to arise, and he sat up and began to speak. We read that a great fear came upon all the people, and they glorified God and declared that a great prophet had risen among them and that God had visited His people (Luke 7: 11 – 16)

·       When Jesus met the woman that was bent double from her waist, when He laid His hands on her, she was made straight, and she glorified God (Luke 13:11-13).

·       When Jesus held the ten lepers, one of them turned back and glorified God with a loud voice (Luke 17:15).

·       At the crucifixion of Jesus when the sky turned dark and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, the centurion glorified God, and declared, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:47)

 

So, you see, Jesus works point to the Father. Personally, we are out of the track of our real purpose. We are sidetracked. Let’s remember that the purpose of our lives is to glorify God. The purpose of our redemption is that we might be to praise of the glory of His grace. How do we glorify God?

·       Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.”

·       Jesus said that the Father is glorified as we bear much fruit (John 15:8).

·       By being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God (Phil. 1:11)

·       By living an honest life before the heathen, that even though they speak against you, that they by your good works that they see, glorify God (1 Pet. 2:12).

 

Paul declares that we are not our own, we have been bought with a price, therefore we are to glorify God in our bodies, and our spirits which are His (1 Cor. 6:20). Sad to say that some live to bring glory to themselves. Each of us live for the glory of God or for our own glory. Jesus spoke of how the Pharisees were seeking the glory of men. Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan, He had the opportunity to receive the glory of the world. Satan had offered it to Him. He chose rather to glorify the Father. Also, Jesus declared, that He didn’t seek His own glory. In the church of Corinth some were saying, I am of Peter, others I am of Apollos, still others, I am of Paul. Paul wrote to them saying, Let no man glory in men.”

We need to be reminded that whether we are eating or drinking or whatever we do we are to do all for the glory of God. DOES MY LIFE BRING GLORY TO GOD?

 

2.   ARE YOU ACCOMPLISHING THE WORK GOD GAVE US TO DO? (JOHN 17:4)

 

When Jesus was just 12 years old, He had a sense of mission. When he was discovered to be missing when the family was returning to Nazareth after the feast, and they sought for Him until they found Him in the temple sitting with the doctors of the law, listening to them and asking them questions. To the scolding of His parents, he replied, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” (Luke 2:49)

·       He later in life said that He did not come to do His own will but the will of Him that sent Him (John 6:38).

·       When Jesus had come to a city of the Samaritans with His disciples and they had gone into the village to buy some food and the women came to draw water, after the episode when the people had finally left, His disciples offered Him some of the food, and He answered, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:32, 34)

·       When the Jews sought to kill Him for healing of the Sabbath day in John 5:17, He responded to them, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

·       Also in John 5 verse 36, He was speaking of how that John the Baptist bore witness of Him, but He declared that He had an even greater witness, and that the works that the Father had given Him to finish, they also testified of Him.

·       In John 9:4, He said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

·       John tells us that while Jesus was hanging on the cross, He cried, “I thirst.” And a soldier dipped a sponge in some vinegar and put it to His lips, and when He tasted of the vinegar, He said, “IT IS FINISHED.”

 

What is the work of the Father that He came to finish?  THE WORK OF REDEEMING MANKIND FROM SIN. The Old Testament sacrifices could not put away sin, they only covered sin. Hebrews 10:4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

The Old Testament saints could not come into the perfected state until the finished work of redemption through Jesus Christ.

Peter said that we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver or gold, form our empty lives, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1Peter 1:18-19).

The work of creation was finished in six days, and on the seventh day God rested from the work of creation, not that He was tired, but the work was finished.

The work of redemption was finished when Jesus cried from the cross, “IT IS FINISHED.” And He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:” and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46)

God has still unfinished business on this earth. The business of God is to bring men to the redemption that has been provided for them through His Son. God has called upon us to help finish his work. He has commission for each of us. The question is…

ARE WE ACCOMPLISHING THE WORK GOD GAVE US TO DO?

 

CONCLUSION:

Let’s read 2 Timothy 4:6-8,

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Paul at the end of his life could write Timothy and declared he had fought a good fight; he had finished his course, and he had kept the faith. May we can say these words at the end of our lives. In additional there’s a crown waiting for those who have finished His work. Keep it up!

 

 

HAVE WE MADE IT A DEN OF THIEVES?

This picture was taken from Google

MEMORY VERSE

MATTHEW 21:13

 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

LESSON BACKGROUND:

Taken from: https://bethelhouseofprayer.com/about/what-is-a-house-of-prayer/

What exactly is a House of Prayer?

The first reference given to a house of prayer is found in the Old Testament in Isaiah 56:7 “For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”(all Nations) parenthesis mine. The next time this passage is mentioned is in the New Testament and Jesus quote the same verse in Matthew 21:12-13 after He entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling and the money changers and Jesus quotes the passage from Isaiah. In Matthew 21:13, Jesus says “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a DEN OF THIEVES.” There are two other times in the New Testament this same verse is quoted and those are found in Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46.

Why would Jesus refer to His the house as a House of Prayer?

First of all, Christ himself was a house of prayer and he was teaching his disciples to become one by modeling this for them when He continually withdrew and was talking with His Father and drawing strength from that intimate relationship He had in heaven. This same intimate relationship is one we can have because of Jesus Christ came and hung on a cross to pay the price for us with his life, a perfect sacrifice shedding His blood for the forgiveness of all of our sins (John 3:16-17) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Remember, the Father in heaven sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be born of the virgin Mary, through the Holy Spirit, as a child to live with a real earthly mother, father and family and experience life as we know it. Think about it this way. As a the child you have an intimate relationship with your earthly father or mother and you want to be around them and you depend upon them for certain things like food, clothing, a home to live in, and all the good things you like and need. Well, even though Jesus had those earthly parents, He came from heaven and longed for the intimate relationship with His Father in heaven. Prayer was the connection of intimacy that He left behind when He came to earth. He was modeling this for His disciples, and for us to follow, He restored the relationship for us with the Father by His death, burial, and resurrection.

There was such a longing in Jesus’ heart for heaven even though he lived as a man on this earth. Philippians 3:20 puts it this way, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence we also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the thing Jesus longed for while He was here upon the earth because He came from heaven and knew He would be returning there upon His resurrection. So, you see, even though we live on this earth and live out our lives here, as we give our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ to become Savior and Lord we then also become citizens of heaven as we are restored to our Heavenly Father.

What is prayer?

Prayer is that longing and intimacy restored and brought back to life which was dead in our sinful state, apart from Jesus Christ. Prayer is that intimate communication with the Father in heaven and the house of prayer is the earthly expression of what is in heaven. And that is why Jesus was so adamant about it in Matthew 21:12-13 when He came into His house and saw what it had become–this house includes two types of houses explained below.

In Luke 11:1 Jesus’ disciples came and asked Him, “Teach us how to pray”. This desire must have grown out of them as they watched and heard Jesus have intimate conversations (read: prayers) with His heavenly Father, which Christ modeled for them day by day. Eventually, that led them to ask Him the above question. We see in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4 Jesus gives them insight and instruction into what He has been praying all along and this has become known to most of us as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Many of us learned this prayer growing up and could recite it at will or could at least enter into it when the congregation was reciting it. This is not the only thing that Jesus prayed but he gave it as instruction or as a “how to.” To Jesus, prayer was a joy and that’s why the scriptures say there will be, “Joy in My house of prayer.”

Defining the House of Prayer

I will attempt to give some definition and expression to the House of Prayer. As I understand, there are two expressions of it, so here they are.

-       YOU ARE PERSONALLY A HOUSE OF PRAYER. After you receive Jesus Christ as Savior, you become the temple of the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 6:19 says, “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?”

-       THE CHURCH IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER. As we assemble together we are the corporate expression of prayer. Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Hebrews 10:24-25 puts it this way, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” 1 Peter 2:5 says it this way, “Ye also, as lively, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

INTRODUCTION:

When we visited our sister and her family in Kentucky, USA my nephew invited me to go to a Christian church to worship. The church was so wide and big. As we went to our destinations, we used the escalators; I don’t know how many escalators we used because I felt dizzy going up. I think we went to the 4^th floor.  Along the way, I saw many things: bookstore, coffee shop, restaurant and many more. I asked my nephew where the church gets, its financial needs and he responded in their tithes. Then I said to myself, “what these stores for?” Maybe the stores are for church members’ business. This kind of environment is hard to be monitored by the pastors who attend the worship service or not. Do they have a schedule so others can attend? Whatever strict the church board members (if they have) are, these situations are prone to the sin of not attending. The people are given distractions.

Jesus began his ministry at the Passover just as he now ended at a Passover. He is just about to cleanse the Temple just as had done on one other occasion three years earlier recorded in John 2:14-16, “And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers doing business. (15) When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. (16) And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!" Now we read in Matthew 21:12-17 how he cleansed the Temple once again and his reasons for doing so. “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. (13) And He said to them, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’" (14) Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. (15) But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant (16) and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?" (17) Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.” As we continue our study of Christ’s Commands the next command we want to examine is found in the 21:13 where Jesus says, "It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’" The command is found in the phrase “you have made” (polite) the command seems to center on what these people have made God’s house into. In verse thirteen Jesus says that they have made the temple into a “den of thieves.”

LESSON PROPER:

This the scenario makes me think the question: how we make the church and ourselves a den of thieves?

    1)   IF WE HAVE MORE TIME IN OUR JOB AND NO TIME LEFT IN PRAYER.

-       We have read that Jesus got angry and clean the temple. Some commentaries explained that Jesus was angry because commerce, that there is buying and selling of anything being done in God’s house. Some use this verse as a defense of denial of allowing anything, at any time to be sold in the church. Yet the provision of animals for sacrifice was in its self-vital for worship as it existed at that time.

-       Personally, I see this scene as also in our present times: we are busy working in our job, sometimes we go to church, but our hearts are not there and possibly we still do something; we’re there but we’re not worshipping and praying.

   2)  IF WE CHEAT AT SOME POINT

-       Other commentaries said that it is not that commerce was being done in the Temple that is the problem but that the people are being “ripped off” in the process. According to Old Testament law, any animal approved by the priests could be offered for sacrifice in the Temple. But the chief priests made certain that animals not bought in one of their franchises would be judged unacceptable.  Annas, the High Priest had sold franchises for the concession stands to the various merchants and money-changers… to the highest bidder. The business enterprises in the outer court came to be known as the “Bazaar of Annas” whose chief priest and associates oversaw the Temple franchises. Merchants would buy the right to sell sacrificial animals, wine, oil or salt, or exchanging money into the proper currency used in the Temple. According to historian Alfred Edersheim, a person would have to pay as much as ten times what an animal normally costs. And when their foreign currency was exchanged they were charged a twenty-five percent fee.

-       Personally, I have seen lessons from these situations. The priests have the wrong judgment regarding the offerings of the people. The people at some point have created God in their tithes and offerings. If we come to worship we make ourselves ready even our tithes and offerings.

   3)  USING OUR POSITION NOT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FROM GOD BUT RATHER TO ACCUMULATE MORE MONEY

-       One other possibility of why Jesus was angry is that if we stop to think that the term “A den of thieves” is not where a robbery takes place but where the thieves live. The godlessness that in the Temple is not so much that money was exchanged or that doves were sold; but rather that He was distressed that the priests were using their position to make themselves rich.

-       Personally, we have all the reasons why we go to church but above all things, we must have that purpose of talking to God and worship Him. We must see that our service in the church is an opportunity for God’s given. It’s worth to worship our God.

   4)  THE SUPPOSEDLY HOUSE OF PRAYER IS FULL OF DISTRACTIONS AND YOU CAN’T REALLY PRAY PROPERLY.

-       They used the OUTER COURT for this Mall. There were four courts in the Temple. The COURT OF THE PRIESTS, which was the inner court, where only the Priests could go. The COURT OF THE JEWS, where only natural-born Jews were allowed. It was this court where they handed over their sacrifices to the Priests. The COURT OF WOMEN, where the women were allowed and could go in no further. The COURT OF THE GENTILES was outside, and it was the large open area that had turned into a shopping mall … or a Super-WalMart!

-       The COURT OF THE GENTILES was a place set aside for those who were not born Jewish … but had converted to Judaism. They had seen that Jehovah God was the one and only true God … and they renounced their pagan ways and turned to the God of the Jews.

-       All this buying and selling was being done in what was called the outer court but it had another name, the “court of the Gentiles.” It was the only area in the Temple into which a Gentile believer could go to worship. Can you imagine trying to worship in such a place?

A pastor from sermon.com shared on how Kent Hughes describes the scene as he imagines it, “The noise of this court of the Gentiles was terrific. Merchants shouted from their stalls to the customers, noisy, haggling, pushy pilgrims jostled one another for the position. The incredible din was heightened by the constant bawling of livestock, the aroma of the livestock, accentuated by the enclosure, made it like a county fair and the Stock Exchange all rolled into one.” [ R. Kent Hughes. Mark: Jesus, Servant, and Savior. Vol II ( Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1989) p. 87] In the end it would have to be said that this was a desecration of the Court of the Gentiles and as such was a massive national sin against God and the lost people of the world. So which of these possibilities is what Jesus was saying about making his house into a “den of thieves.”

Jesus never said, “My house shall be a called a place of preaching.” Nor did he say, “My house shall be called a house of music or singing.” Obviously, those things are good and a part of our worship experience but the Lord said, “My house shall be called a place of prayer.” And I don’t think that he meant by this that prayer was to be a perfunctory thing that we do at the beginning and end of a service. If you examine the birth of the church in the book of acts you quickly see the vital connection between the church and prayer. In Acts chapter four when the apostles were unjustly arrested, imprisoned, and threatened, they did not lodge a protest; they did not look for some political leverage instead they prayed. The early church had this instinct; when in trouble, pray. When intimidated, pray. When challenged, pray. When persecuted, pray. Acts 4:31 records, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

CONCLUSION:

God’s house is to be called a house of prayer. To be a house of prayer, we must be people of prayer and to be people of prayer we must

1. PRAY IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S WILL. We must be desire God’s will in our lives more than our own will. Jesus provides the supreme example in his prayer in Gethsemane where he boldly states, “Not my will, but you will be done.”

2. PRAY CONFIDENTLY. When Christians pray in Jesus’ name we can be confident that our prayers will be answered if they are compatible with his will. There are some things Christians should not ask for and some things that God will not give us. Consequently, we may receive answers we do not want and find things we are not looking for.

3. PRAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT. We have animosity with others it will hinder our prayers.

Have we made the church a den of thieves? Have we made our body, the temple of God, a den of thieves?