John 2:13-25
Jesus next travels to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. We know from the Gospel of Luke (2:41-52) that He had made this trip since He was a child. The temple had a large courtyard surrounding it and in that area people were buying and selling to those who had travelled to the event and were taking advantage of them. Jesus was highly offended because He knew their heart.
The real offence, I think, was that many had maintained the ritual but were neglecting the purpose. I remember when we visited the wailing wall in Jerusalem I was disturbed about the evidence of ritual without true meaning. It is just as easy for us to maintain rituals we have been taught without really worshipping our Savior. A couple of areas come to my mind; the first is the practice of communion.
Paul shares with us in I Corinthians 11 the fact that we should practice communion and the method of doing that. We do that to be reminded of the price our Savior paid for our Salvation. He sacrificed his body and blood so that we may have eternal life. We are told that we should take part in communion on a regular basis. Some churches do it as often as weekly. Sadly, it has become a ritual for many and we really don’t reflect on and appreciate its true meaning. We are cautioned in I Cor. 11 to examine ourselves to make sure we are without unconfessed sin in our lives before we take communion.
I’m afraid many have much the same attitude in the area of giving. We are taught from the Bible that we are only stewards of God’s resources and we should freely give to the Lord’s work as He leads us. That applies to giving not only our financial resources, but our time and our abilities as well. So often we think we satisfy this requirement by putting a few dollars in the offering plate, or even tithing. The Bible teaches that God owns it all and we are responsible to Him in the way we handle these resources. We should hold everything with an open hand and let him take what He wants. We are as responsible to Him for the dollars we spend and save as the dollars we give. We are as responsible for the time we waste as well as the time we use wisely.
We need to be careful about establishing rituals in our lives. We need to make sure our actions do not become meaningless, but that our attitudes are correct.
The real offence, I think, was that many had maintained the ritual but were neglecting the purpose. I remember when we visited the wailing wall in Jerusalem I was disturbed about the evidence of ritual without true meaning. It is just as easy for us to maintain rituals we have been taught without really worshipping our Savior. A couple of areas come to my mind; the first is the practice of communion.
Paul shares with us in I Corinthians 11 the fact that we should practice communion and the method of doing that. We do that to be reminded of the price our Savior paid for our Salvation. He sacrificed his body and blood so that we may have eternal life. We are told that we should take part in communion on a regular basis. Some churches do it as often as weekly. Sadly, it has become a ritual for many and we really don’t reflect on and appreciate its true meaning. We are cautioned in I Cor. 11 to examine ourselves to make sure we are without unconfessed sin in our lives before we take communion.
I’m afraid many have much the same attitude in the area of giving. We are taught from the Bible that we are only stewards of God’s resources and we should freely give to the Lord’s work as He leads us. That applies to giving not only our financial resources, but our time and our abilities as well. So often we think we satisfy this requirement by putting a few dollars in the offering plate, or even tithing. The Bible teaches that God owns it all and we are responsible to Him in the way we handle these resources. We should hold everything with an open hand and let him take what He wants. We are as responsible to Him for the dollars we spend and save as the dollars we give. We are as responsible for the time we waste as well as the time we use wisely.
We need to be careful about establishing rituals in our lives. We need to make sure our actions do not become meaningless, but that our attitudes are correct.
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