A Time for Calm and Anger Matthew 21:12-17

The False Jesus of Popular Culture and the Real Jesus of Scripture

That is easily answered when you look at the book, but is often blurred because very few people in the world know the Bible. The Jesus talked about in mainstream America and the Jesus talked about in many false churches is not the Jesus of the Bible.

You often hear people say that they don't like Christians, but they like Jesus. This is what Gandhi said when he was living. He said, I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

While there is an element of truth in what he is saying here that when Christians sin, we are not living up to the standard of Christ and we do sin every day as we walk with Christ. There's something wrong in this statement.

Is he talking about the one found in the pages of scripture? That's the question. Gandhi was a Hindu, a teaching that is completely out of step with the Bible. And he was also a well-known pacifist. A pacifist is someone who does not believe in responding to a threatening situation with force.

I wonder if Gandhi knew about the passages of the gospel where Jesus used force that we will see this morning. The false portrait that people have of Jesus is that his whole goal was to make people feel good and to bring peace and harmony to the world.

We hear this in our society at every turn. Love is love. And people think that this was the way of Jesus. But Jesus as God tells us what love is. Love is never divorced from the truth. Jesus was not one who just wanted everyone to get along.

He knew that because of him, people would not get along. This is why he said in Matthew 10, verse 34, I have not come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. What he is saying is that he will divide families.

If one person in a family follows Jesus, counting the cost, and another does not, what is inevitable is friction. When people say things like Gandhi did, that I love your Christ, but not your Christians, the question that arises is what Jesus are people talking about?

The secular Jesus is not the real Jesus, but rather a Jesus of the world's own making. The Jesus that our world has created is a Jesus who is always gentle, who never tells others that they are wrong, that always wants perfect peace and harmony.

With the truth, have you ever been wrong? That gives you no importance. Our society has created a Jesus that always turns the other cheek, but never, out of righteous indignation, puts evil people in their place.

To know who Jesus truly is, is to see his character displayed in the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is in the gospels that we find out who he truly is. The things that he does and the things that he says sometimes surprise us when we see Jesus say and do something that surprises us what it does is train you and I to learn what true righteousness is many situations in life call for gentleness but there are some situations that call for shouting they call for strength against evil opposition and we need the wisdom to know how to respond in any given situation.

This morning as we continue our sermon series through Matthew Jesus is going to show us who he is and who he calls you and I to be as you navigate this world. So this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 21 we will be looking at verses 12 through 17 and if you're using one of those red Bibles in the pews is on page 982 and the sermon is titled a time for calm and anger and I will begin by reading the text Matthew 20 verses 12 through 17 21 and Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons he said to them it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of robbers.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests of the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple Hosanna to the Son of David they were indignant and they 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 infants and nursing babies. You have prepared praise and leaving them he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. Here's a big idea what this text is calling you to do.

Learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple. Learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple. We're gonna see three ways how in this text. But before we jump in let me give you a little little recap of where we were one Sunday ago we looked at the arrival of the King into Jerusalem.

The city of Jerusalem is the place where Christ will reign in glory in the future. The preview of that was Jesus riding on a donkey through the city of Jerusalem as the people proclaimed Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest. What Jesus showed was his humility as he rode into the city not only on a donkey but a young donkey as the text as a cult of a donkey his whole ministry on earth was one where he humbled himself for the sake of others.

He did not ride into Jerusalem on a chariot like other kings did but rather he rode in in a very unglamorous way in humility as he rode in on a donkey later that week Jesus would humble himself the ultimate way and that is through his death on the cross.

At Jesus first coming he humbled himself and was humiliated on the cross for our sake for our sins. But at his second coming he will come in power to reign. What we also saw in this episode is that while the people hailed him as king they did not really believe this shortly after the accurately described Jesus as king and Messiah all they could say when asked by the people in the city who is this.

All they could say was that this is a prophet from Nazareth so they instantly demoted him. This shows the response that Jesus often received during his earthly life the man who he really was the suffering Messiah the Jews did not want and most of the world does not want.

But he is the only one who is truly worthy of worship and may we in our lives give him the praise that he is due now. This leads us to our text that we've already read but now we're gonna zero in on it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple as King and High Priest

And I'm gonna begin by zeroing in on verses 12 and 13 where the text tells us that Jesus enters the temple and he drives out all who sold and bought in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold his pigeons and he said to them it is written my house should be called a house of prayer but you make it a den of robbers.

Now last week we saw Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. As I just told you Jerusalem is the city where the great kings lived and it is the city where the Messiah would reign from in the future.

So Jesus entering the city is enormously significant. What you learn from Scripture is that Jesus is not only king and prophet but he's also a priest the high priest. Psalm 110 predicted that the Messiah would not only be a king but also the high priest and he would be king and high priest forever.

So last week we saw the focus on him as king. But this morning with the temple in focus the focus is on him as not only king but also high priest. The temple is the place was the place where the high priests and all the priests carried out their ceremonial duties in the history of Israel.

Before the temple there was the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent. They went with the people of Israel wherever they went. It was the place where the priests would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people.

The priest did this in the tabernacle until the temple was built under Solomon in the 10th century BC. At that point the priest ceremonial duties continued in the temple in Jerusalem. The whole point of the temple is that people were sinners and God is holy and the only way for God's presence to be with the people of Israel there needed to be a continual payment for sin.

As long as the sacrifices were made God's presence would remain in the temple in Jerusalem. All of these sacrifices however did not accomplish what many of the Jewish people thought they accomplished.

As Hebrews 10 for says it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. But Hebrews 926 describes what the sacrifices pointed ahead to head to. Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The purpose of the temple becomes obsolete once Christ was sacrificed on the cross. This is why after Jesus death Matthew 2751 records that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. The temple was the shadow that pointed ahead to the once for all sacrifice of Christ.

What I just gave you was a 30 ,000 foot overview of the temple. The temple was the holiest place in Jerusalem. It was the place where God temporarily dwelt where he or he would display his presence. When Jesus was 12 years old he called the temple my father's house.

The temple was a holy place. The law of Moses gives instructions that only certain people the priests were able to be in the temple. The people of Israel could only go to certain places in the exterior of the temple.

When they were around the temple they were to carry themselves with the greatest of honor with the greatest respect with the greatest of reverence. They were to come to this place of God's dwelling to worship.

The temple was a place where the people of Israel came to worship and pray. It was a holy place where the ordinary activities of life were not intended to take place. What we see in verses 12 and 13 is that the people are doing things on the temple grounds that were forbidden.

The temple was a holy place where priests sacrificed and people worshipped. It was not a place for ordinary activities like buying and selling were supposed to occur. But that is precisely what is going on in our text.

As Jesus came into Jerusalem he saw things happening in his father's house. They were unspeakable. People were buying and selling in this holy place. The temple grounds turned into a marketplace. What was holy was made common and by making a mockery of the holy place the people were blaspheming the name of God.

When one sees this egregious activity what is the appropriate response. Jesus gives us the appropriate response. Verse 12 tells us what he did when Jesus entered the temple. He drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

Jesus is furious. Remember the scripture makes it clear that Jesus never sinned first. Peter 222 says he committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. If Jesus did sin we would all be doomed forever because Jesus needed to be a perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins.

What Jesus is doing here is righteous. Sometimes you hear people say that a man or woman showed righteous indignation towards something that was evil. Many years ago my dad did something that I wrote in a pastor's day recently that I would be best described as righteous indignation.

In 1993 my father Dave Brickley was at the center of something that happened in the mound. In the mound school district where I'm from we had a pastor in our church whose daughter was assigned a book to read called Lords of Discipline.

This is back in 1993. This book contained a 750 efforts and it was also demeaning toward Native Americans. The great irony of this is that only a few years later they changed the name the school mascot from Mohawks because it was offensive to White Hawks.

But apparently this book was just fine. Our pastor told my father about it and he was filled with righteous indignation. He and another man in the community decided to run for school board. They thought if this school district is allowing this to happen what else are they allowing to take place.

My father ran a campaign to remove this book from the school with the goal of setting the school on a better path. The election came and it was the highest turnout in the history of a mound school board election.

My dad said that all of his votes came from three evangelical churches in the community that that was his base let's go let's turn out. And they turned out but he didn't win. He lost the election but it was not a lost fight.

Eventually because of the great controversy they removed this book from the library. This experience drove my father to be angry and his righteous anger drove him to act. This was righteous indignation.

There is no better example of righteous indignation than what Jesus is doing right here. As people read this they might think that he went mad that he lost it and went off the rails in a rage but that is not what is taking place.

Jesus is doing precisely what needs to be done. He is effectively saying you do this to my father's house and this is what I am going to do to you. I am driving you out. This is what he does. He forces people out and he doesn't just force people out.

He also overturns their tables and those who sold pigeons he overturns their seats. What Jesus does in verse 13 is shout to them a passage from the Old Testament. Once again he says it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you make it a den of Roberts.

Wow. So this is what he does. And this is what he quotes. This quotation is from Isaiah 56 7 where the Lord proclaims through the Holy Prophet Isaiah these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people's. What Jesus quotes from Isaiah is what the Lord's temple is intended to be.

And yet the people are profaning the temple by making it Main Street. It's a marketplace. At the end of verse 13 Jesus tells them that you make it a den of robbers. In ancient times thieves used caves to hide their wealth that they stole from others.

Jesus compares the people doing business here to thieves. It would be bad enough if fair business were being conducted here. But it's much worse than that near the temple. There needed to be money changers on site because Roman currency was not accepted on the temple grounds only Hebrew currency was so the people would exchange their Roman currency for Hebrew.

When this exchange took place the money changers would charge the people excessively. That's how they made money. But not only that those selling goods also charged excessively. So what is taking place on the grounds of the temple is robbery.

These people have not only turned the temple into a marketplace but they are also striving to take advantage of the people who are coming to the temple who have to come to the temple because the law in the Old Testament commands them to come to this place.

So this is a strategic location. This display rightly makes Jesus angry. They're conning people in the temple and this sets him off. The John account records in John 215 that he prepared a whip of cords driving people out with it.

He also overturned the tables of the money changers and those who sold pigeons their seats. Now you might be looking at this and say why didn't Jesus exercise self-control. Isn't that a fruit of the Spirit.

Matthew 5 22 and 23 tells us it is when we have righteous anger toward something we want to display self-control. Yes that's true. Most times rage is not appropriate. But what Jesus shows us is that there are certain circumstances where this is the appropriate response.

And these are rare circumstances. Let me give you an example of this. God has given the responsibility for men to protect their families. If a family is walking down the street and a suspicious man threatens your family what is the man of the house to do.

It is not to turn the other cheek. It is not to be a nice person in that moment. It is not to gently tell the person to leave. It is to confront the person with firmness until he leaves. The Bible calls people to defend their own.

It is the appropriate response. What Jesus is doing in the temple is defending his father's house and these evil people conning others in the temple are confronted by Jesus. He makes a scene that they would never forget.

It would have been inappropriate for Jesus to look the other way. It would have been inappropriate for him to deal gently with them. What they are doing is defaming his father. So there is only one thing that is right to do that is to drive them out and even overturn their tables and the seats of those who were selling pigeons.

This is a moment where showing self-control is not the right response but making a scene is now there are times to follow Jesus example in this. But we better be sure that we know when that time is mostly when you have righteous anger.

It should be controlled. When we see the evil in the world around us we rightly get angry and there are things we can do. Some small things we can do. What we should do should be controlled. We are able to be controlled with our anger because we worship a God who will make everything right.

One day every Christian in our righteous anger must hold on to the promise of Romans 12 verses 19 and 20 which says beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine.

I will repay says the Lord. The Lord will right every wrong and we need to leave justice to him and use wisdom on how we fight against evil. When we see evil we should say something. We should do something like my father did.

And on rare occasions there's a time to make a scene in order to protect those in your care and to honor God's holy name. You need to trust the spirits leading to know how to respond in any given situation.

I remember hearing the story of a pastor he was on the subway and this guy in his conversation said the words God Jesus hell Jesus Christ. Even you know the pastor turns to him and says I'm a pastor and I can't even get all those names in a sermon.

And you just did in the last five minutes you know. So he he was he had up to here with the guy because of how he was defaming the name of God and that was the appropriate response. I believe to learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple.

The first way how is by displaying a righteous angle anger as evil crosses your path. The second way how you were to learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple is by knowing when to show kindness.

We'll see this in verse 14. This is a much shorter point here now after Jesus drove out the evil practices that were taking place in the temple his demeanor immediately changes as he stands in the temple.

Some people come to him. Let's read what he does in verse 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Wow that's changing on a dime. Jesus changes from angry to compassionate in a moment.

It is not that he lets his anger out on the blind and the lame as he still fumes from what just happened. No he changes as he is approached by the blind and the lame. This sudden change of Jesus demeanor occurs because of who he is around.

Over the last several months and our Wednesday night Bible study we did a study titled Christ conversations. What we looked at is how different Jesus is based on who he's talking to. When he's with children he's gentle always gentle.

When he's with false teachers he's never gentle. He's firm and pleasantries go out the window. We need to learn this from Jesus. To follow Jesus does not mean always being nice. And I've been wrestling this with my own life.

I want to be a nice guy who doesn't want to be a nice guy. But being a nice guy does not equal godliness. Now most of the time we should be but not always. We need to wrestle with that. As we just saw him driving out the money changers and those selling.

He wasn't a nice guy not even close. But in verse 14 he's approached by the blind and the lame but he does not drive them away. Just as he was compassionate with the two blind men at the end of chapter 20 he is also compassionate and has pity on the blind and the lame.

Here what he does as the end of verse 14 tells us is he heals them. This is the pattern we have seen throughout the gospel of Matthew. Jesus is firm and forceful with the dangerous and and those who are incredibly wicked.

And he's gentle with those who are weak. He's even gentle with those people who wear sin on their sleeves. That's interesting huh. As Matthew chapter 9 verses 10 11 tells us he ate with tax collectors and sinners.

This is a pattern that you and I are to follow as well. At this time in which we live we need wisdom. It can be hard to know how to carry yourselves around different people as we live in a confusing time as we ponder how to talk to different people Jesus is our guide most of the time.

Be kind and gentle especially with the weak. But know those times when you are to be firm Jesus was tough and tender. And this is also the call for every Christian. The example that I'm about to share will embarrass him but I'll do it anyway.

Mark Brooks will love him at this church. My kids love Mark enormously. Isaiah has said from the day he started to talk that Mark is his best friend. And I think I think Mark is one of the first 10 words you ever learned to Ed Laurie as well.

But you don't want to threaten those in Mark's care. He's great with kids but you don't want to cross him the wrong way because he's a man because he's gonna protect the weak. And Mark is a great example of one who is tough and tender as Jesus was during his ministry.

And I'm afraid a nice I mean I in the Evangelical Church in America I just see I see these people say oh this guy's a good brother. This guy's a good brother. This guy's a good brother. I keep on hearing people say that and it's like well the evidence does not suggest that be nice all the time is not the should not be the course of action.

I mean look at what the person has done. I mean give people the benefit of the doubt. But when people go far beyond that your job is not to be nice at that point but to say we got to be concerned about this guy this person is dangerous.

What he's teaching is wrong. That more of that needs to happen within the church. We need to be tough and we need to be tender and mature followers of Christ. Follow Jesus example in this. So learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple.

And the second way how is by knowing when to show kindness. The third way how you are to learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple is by praising Christ as he gladly receives it. And we'll see this in verses 15 through 17 as Jesus goes from firm to gentle.

The Jewish leaders notice what Jesus does to the lame and blind. But let's see their response in verse 15. But when the chief priest and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple Hosanna to the Son of David they were indignant.

So we see here is that the chief priests and scribes see what he is doing and what they see is that Jesus miraculously heals the blind and the lame right in their midst and you would think that they would bow down and worship him as he does these miracles.

But they don't do that. Of course what we have seen throughout Matthew is that the message that Jesus preaches and teaches is far different from the message of the Jewish leaders. Jesus has opposed them from the start and if he is right then that means that they are wrong and they can't have that.

So they always oppose him even when all the evidence is right before them that he is the Christ that he is the long-awaited Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. And what you'll notice at the end of verse 15 is that they are angry at Jesus.

They were indignant. Verse 15 tells us they are angry for two reasons for healing the blind and the lame. And also for what the second half of verse 15 says because the children were crying out in the temple Hosanna to the Son of David.

The term children is translated from the Greek word that means boys. So male little ones. And they're not super little ones. These are teenagers. Probably we know that because there would've been some young boys who would've been present this is Passover week and and this would've been their first Passover because they had just passed their bar mitzvah.

So why are they angry that Jesus healed. And these young men are crying out Hosanna to the Son of David. Earlier in Matthew the Jewish leaders attributed Jesus miraculous power to being empowered by demons.

They said this in Matthew 1224. And what we learned from the Gospel of John chapter 9 is that anyone born blind was born that way because their parents sinned or the baby somehow sinned in an egregious way in the mother's womb which I don't know how that happens but that's what they said.

It was also believed that one was blinded because of an egregious sin that one committed earlier on in their life. So the Jewish leaders believe the blind and the lame are getting what they deserve. They're being punished by God and Jesus healing them is going against God's will for their life.

They're supposed to be punished. They're blind and they're lame. There's a reason they're that way. But the Jewish leaders are also angry because of what these boys are saying. They're crying out Hosanna to the Son of David.

The Jewish leaders are angry because they hate Jesus. And these teenage boys are shouting that Jesus is the Messiah. As the Jewish leaders are angry they turn to Jesus and they say this to him at the beginning of verse 16.

Do you hear what they are saying. So what they're saying is why don't you correct them. They're calling you the Son of David. They're calling you the Messiah. Why aren't you correcting them. And this is how Jesus responds in the second half of verse 16.

In the number read verse 17 as well. Jesus said to them yes you have never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies. You have prepared praise and leaving them he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

What Jesus does according to verse 17 is that after he approves of what the Jewish boys are saying he walks off the stage and he heads to Bethany. And they were to think about what he said. What Jesus quotes is Psalm 8 2 out of the mouths of babes and infants you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger.

Now in the song these two Hebrew words babes and infants are referring to children under the age of three. The Jewish leaders were troubled that teenage boys were calling Jesus the Messiah. And what Jesus is doing by quoting Psalm 8 is saying that the smallest of children are prepared by the Lord to praise him.

And if the smallest of children are prepared to do this then there's no problem at all. The teenage boys are proclaiming him as Messiah. In Matthew 3 8 John the Baptist said that if God can't find Israelites to praise God then he'll find stones to praise him.

In that passage is not referring to literal literal stones but the Gentiles who were considered no better than stones by the Jewish people. In a parallel passage in Luke during the triumphal entry as the crowds proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah the Pharisees told him to correct them.

But in Luke 19 40 Jesus said I tell you if these were silent the very stones would cry out. Now in this passage he's likely referring to literal stones. In other words God's creation is going to praise God.

Whether people praise him or not is that amazing. And we think about as you go through your day you see the beautiful sunset sunrise before that you see the green leaves and the sparkling water. We live in a beautiful area and you see the glory of God displayed every see the starry night at nighttime creation is praising God.

It's all. 91 says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies above his handiwork. I remember I was reading a book one time where this guy was saying that you know that there was these aliens who came.

Okay bear with me here. There was these aliens who came from a different planet and when they arrived their whole reason they came here was because they wanted to see God's image bears these special creation the pinnacle of God's creation.

And they arrive and they see people passed out and pathetic as God's creation. So how are you doing as God's image bear creation does. What creation does they fulfill their purpose. Beavers glorify God.

Dear glorify God. Fish glorify God. Most humans do not glorify God. And humans are the pinnacle of God's creation to the tragedy of that. But God will get praise. He will. And here is the weakest who are praising him as these Jewish boys.

And this prophecy in the Psalms is saying babes are going to praise him. It's so often works this way in life. Those not considered the extraordinary in the world the weak the common the unspectacular are the followers of Christ while the smartest the most talented and the strongest are often not his followers.

Remember C .S. Lewis once wrote that we will be tempted to worship the glorified humans because glorified humans one day are gonna be beautiful. Yeah now obviously we won't be tempted because there's no sin.

What he's saying is if a glorified human is to come into this world you would you would you would feel the desire to fall in worship because it's that glorious. This is who God's children are going to be in the future glorious creatures.

And those who are praised those who are worship the stars of our world the athletes the musicians the people in Hollywood most of whom do not know Jesus Christ they will be in hell in the future. They will be hideous in the future as they have a body that will not be able to die but will suffer forever.

But this is this is so often how it works out. The weak are the ones who praise him. So ask yourself are you praising God with your life as a believer you can praise him more. And if you're here today and you do not have a relationship with Christ understand that this is the meaning of life it is to give the father and his son Jesus the praise that they are doing.

If you're not doing that you're not doing what God created you to do. And what you will discover is that following this path is the only path of true joy where we decrease and Christ increases and he gets the worship.

And what's amazing about it is that it's the only path where one has true joy as he gets all the praise. As John the Baptist said he when when Christ took over and all the people were following Jesus after John's ministry he says this joy of mine is now complete.

He must increase I must decrease. That should be our attitude. If he gets praise that should be our greatest joy to learn from Jesus behavior as he cleanses the temple. In this text we have seen three ways how.

The first way how is by displaying righteous anger is evil crosses your path. The second way how is by knowing when to show kindness. The third way how is by praising Christ as he gladly receives it. In this text we learn from the perfect one.

He is tough and tender and rightly receives the praise that he is the Messiah. As you follow Christ's example you will look like him. And you will make it a regular pattern in your life of giving him the praise that only he deserves.

And we read earlier in the call to worship 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 you turn into one degree of glory to another as he as you are made more like Jesus. That's what we want to be right. We want to look like him.

We want to talk like him. We want to behave like him. We want to do what he does. So by the power of the Holy Spirit may that be our our story. Now next Sunday we will see Jesus perform another miracle.

And from this miracle he teaches you a lesson that you and I need to know to be most effective for Christ during our time on earth. And I look forward to looking at that with you. But this time let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father thank you for Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God. Everything he did during his earthly life was holy and he saves a people with the purpose of making people holy. That's our purpose. Lord so help us through your spirit.

It's not easy. It's a it's a hard road but help us to grow in holiness. And in the way that we grow in holiness is by talking the way Jesus talked. Give us wisdom to know how to talk to different people that we are around in our lives.

And may you be glorified through how we live in Jesus name Amen.