Religious Men Only Serving God for a Salary (Clip) — Zac Poonen

Religious Corruption and Profit in the Name of Religion

And I wonder how did Annas and Caiaphas and the high priests and all allow this? Can you tell me how they allowed it? From today's politicians tell me. They got their commission. It went all the way up to the top.

So they would do nothing. It's the same old thing. I mean, if you have lived in India long enough, you know. So what is happening here? And that's why they got so furious with Jesus. I wanted to kill him.

Nobody disturbed us so many years. This fellow comes along, young 30 year old carpenter and tries to disturb all our profit. It's always been like that. People making profit in the name of religion. And some man of God comes along and they get furious with him.

I want to kill him. But it says here about Jesus. It says he made the scourge of cords. And I picture this in your mind, the disciples coming into the temple, as I told you. And Jesus sits there and says, hey, listen, Peter, James, John, Matthew, all of you, go and get some string from somewhere.

Jesus Prepares to Cleanse the Temple

Anywhere you can find, they go out, they take some time to get bits of string. It's not thick enough. So you just sit down here. I'm going to twist it. And I want to picture this. Jesus twisting it and twisting it.

Matthew, hold that one end of this. Come on. Tie it together and make it really strong. With all the other strings they brought were thin. Got to make it a very thick rope. Now he's got the thick rope.

And the people are wondering, what is he doing? I mean, this is a man who's come anointed with the Holy Spirit. And we saw him do this wonderful miracle just a couple of days ago in Cana, turning water into wine.

Now what's he doing here? Twisting. What miracle is this now? This is the greatest miracle of all. Just wait and see now. He's twisted it all into a rope. And they see him beginning his ministry, going out and whipping those.

Jesus Drives Out the Animals and Money Changers

He didn't whip any human being. It doesn't say he whipped any of those human beings. No, you've got to read carefully. He whipped the sheep and the ox and chased them out and opened the cages of the birds.

And the birds were delighted. They all flew away. And then he saw these people with the money, all the money they'd collected. He turned the tables and all the money went scattering all over and said, get out of here, all of you.

The Father's House Must Not Become a Business

Stop, verse 16, making my father's house a place of business. What a word to hear in our day. Stop making my church a place of business. Stop making my church a place for you to make profit, for you to take advantage of people, for you to exploit people, seek your own gain in the name of Christ, in the name of religion, in the name of brotherhood, in the name of fellowship, in the name of whatever you like to call it, anointing, support the ministry and all that type of stuff.

God will reward you. God will bless you. And all you're interested in is your own profit. You know, I believe if Jesus came to the into the church today, he'd do exactly the same. And his disciples remembered.

Zeal for God's House

You know, these disciples knew the scriptures because they'd heard it for 30 years in the synagogue. And suddenly the Holy Spirit brought to the mind of Peter, James, John, all. Do you remember Psalm 69?

Zeal for your house will consume me. That's the verse I want you to think about. If you want to be like Jesus, zeal for God's house must consume you. Otherwise, you're not like Jesus. You may not be called to turn the money changers tables.

You may not be called to preach like me. That's a particular calling. But zeal for God's house must consume every child of God. Even if our ministries are different, you must burn with anger when you see God's house being polluted, God's name being dishonored.

Hallowing God's Name in the Church

The first prayer he taught us to pray was hallowed be thy name. Our father who art in heaven, in the church, hallowed be thy name. Let the name of Jesus be, let the name of God be respected, hallowed, reverenced.

Yeah, zeal for God's house consumes me. I have many times thought about the businessmen on commercial street who work so hard morning till night to make money. Their whole thought is on money, money, money.

Worshiping God Rather Than Money

Zeal to make money consumes them. I'm sure they dream about how to new ways of making money. And many times I've said, Lord, please help me to worship the true God more than they worship their God. Their God is money with what fantastic devotion they worship him day and night.

They think about that God. They dream about their God. They're thinking of ways to worship this God. Lord, what am I thinking about? Do I have a greater passion to serve the true God or do they have a greater passion to worship a false God?