Monday, March 29, 2010

When Something Blocks the Path to God - Apples of Gold - March 29, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for March 29, 2010

“When Something Blocks the Path to God”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

This was the calm before the storm.

He took one cord, then laid it on top of another. 

He wrapped it around and – what was he making?

One cord after another his creation began to take shape.

Finally, with one strong tug he cinched it all into place, and there it was.

He turned and headed for the crowd, and there it was, hanging at his side but firmly in his grip.

A whip.

Jesus the gentle, the meek, the “lowly in heart,” was now wielding a whip.

What brought that on? 

Well He saw something He didn’t like.  It went directly against His grain and He wasn’t going to sit back and let it continue.  He was going to set it straight, right now.  And the whip was a tool to help Him do it.

What did He see that got Him so riled up?

We read the story in John chapter two.  Jesus had just begun His public ministry.  He had just turned the water into wine, and right after that it was time for the Passover in
Jerusalem. 

So Jesus went to Jerusalem and He walked into the temple.  And here is what He saw that turned His stomach – massive amounts of business being done right there in the outer courts of the temple complex. 

What kind of business?

The Passover brought tons of out-of-towners into Jerusalem.  They were supposed to have pure animals to sacrifice, but it was hard to make a pilgrimage like that with animals, so a lot of people just bought their animal right there at the temple.  Plus, what if you brought your own animal and a priest decided it wasn’t pure?  Then you would have to go buy one anyway.

So there they were, in the temple, selling sheep and oxen and doves.  Just imagine the chaotic scene – the noise and smell and people yelling – nothing you would not expect from a bustling marketplace.

Problem was, it wasn’t supposed to be a marketplace.  This was the house of God, the temple.  Inside was the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God.

And the outer court was to be a place of prayer for the Gentiles, but can you imagine trying to pray in that mob scene?  Instead of a holy hush, the place was a mad house of merchandise.

And don’t forget the money changers.  A bunch of foreigners means a bunch of foreign currency.  To do business you need a currency exchange, so there they sat, the money changers.  They would take your money and swap it out for a different kind of money, and charge you for the service. 

For Jesus, this was over the top, so He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple, including the animals.  He scattered the changers’ money, and He dumped over the tables.   

He basically cleared the place out, and we are left with this one quote from the whole affair.  To those who sold doves Jesus said, “Take these things away.  Do not make my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”

It made His disciples think of Psalm 69:9, “…zeal for Your house consumes me.”

That was a good description for Jesus as He took the whip and cleared out the temple.

As written in the book of John, Jesus did that at the beginning of His ministry.  Then in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke we read that He did it again just before His crucifixion. 

The second time was similar, but no whip is mentioned, and Jesus said something different.  This time He said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

Now what can we glean from this story?  Well here’s something to think about.  The temple was to be a house of prayer.  It was a place where people could go and do business with God. 

Everyone working in the temple should have aided that process.  They should have been paving the way for people to draw near to God.

But right there at the gateway to God, they threw up a massive, chaotic roadblock. 

In a separate incident, in Matthew 23:13, Jesus pronounced a woe upon the Jewish leaders for shutting the kingdom of heaven right in men’s faces.  He said, “You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

Perhaps that’s one reason why Jesus finally drew a big line in the sand and physically drove them out of the temple.

And it’s something we need to examine in our own life and our own church.  Are we helping people enter the kingdom of heaven, or are we impeding them?  Are we making straight the way of the Lord or are we making it more difficult?

Well if we look and we find a roadblock, we can follow the example of Jesus.

We can take decisive action, clear the roadblock, and get back to the business of helping people into the presence of God.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

-vi-

No comments: