WHAT DISPLEASES JESUS
A sermon by Evangelist Greg Presley
TEXT: Mark 11:15-19
Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a robbers’ den’.”
INTRODUCTION:
The Choir has sung of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His seizure. What brought Jesus to Gethsemane? What sent Him to Calvary? Probably, more that any other one thing, His action of cleansing the Temple. The wrath of Jesus brought down upon Him the self-righteous wrath of the temple officials.
This display of wrath by our Saviour seems paradoxical to His normal behaviour. How do you reconcile this whip-slinging, angry revolutionary with man’s idea of “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild?”
What could have provoked Jesus to such anger? Surely He had encountered graft before; he had seen dishonesty and cheating. This time, though, it was different. Jesus was angry! Taking a small whip as a weapon, He overturned the tables and ran the money-changers out; He attacked the sellers of doves and stopped the through-traffic. This was radical action!
There is a message for the churches here; it is a message to you as church-members and it is a message to me as pastor. It is a message to church leaders about what displeases Jesus.
I. IT DISPLEASES JESUS WHEN GOD IS TAKEN OUT OF THE CENTRAL PLACE IN WORSHIP.
What should have been aids to worship had become a flourishing business that was the central preoccupations for the people involved. The priests, who should have been servants of the temple became its possessors making the temple and all it stood for to serve them. Thus they replaced God as the central figure.
I have seen this very thing take place in the church; I have seen the pastor become the central feature, I have seen an individual become the central figure; the organist or soloist. I have seen pieces of furniture made the center of attraction. In every instance I know Jesus was displeased.
II. IT DISPLEASES JESUS TO SEE GOD ROBBED OF THE REVERENCE DUE HIS PRESENCE.
The temple was being used as a short-cut into the city. The Mishnah lays it down as law: “A man may not enter into the temple mount with his staff or his sandal or his wallet, or with the dust upon his feet, nor may he make of it a short by-path.”
The church is a short-cut today for many to fulfil their ambitions.
There are those who come to church because they think it will enhance their social prestige; there are others who think it will increase their business. Some come to impress others with their goodness, to show off their affluence, to be seen as someone to be looked up to. Church is not to be a short-cut to some personal goal, it is to glorify God .
Many think that going to church will give them happiness, and it can do that, if the motive is to glorify God and not oneself.
Some believe that the church is a short-cut to heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven.
We must be reverent in God’s presence. To be irreverent is to displease Jesus.
III. IT DISPLEASES JESUS TO SEE GOD ROBBED OF HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS JUDGE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE.
The cleansing took place in the court of the gentiles. Between that court and the inner part of the temple hung this sign: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade. Whoever is caught will be answerable for his death, which will ensue.”
Thus, certain of God’s children declared that the proper worship of Him is only for some people, and that the special people would decide who was worthy!
When Jesus rebuked them, he quoted Isaiah 56:6:
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for ‘mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.’
The church was less than 50 years old when Paul had to write a letter admonishing the people not to be “respecters of persons.” Today the church is still in need of that admonition.
CONCLUSION:
Christ, if He should come to our church, might be angered. Oh, we don’t have the tables out selling doves or exchanging currency; we have, however, replaced God as the center of our worship. The preacher, the singer, the choir, the musicians, the liturgy, the order, the feeling—what is the central figure in your worship? Who is fit to worship with you in your church? Have we really opened the doors of our churches to all of God’s children? Have we distinguished among people according to their race or
social status? Are we judging who is worthy to come with us into the inner circle of the church?
Are we using the church or are we serving the church? These questions confront us: Is Jesus angry with us?
