Jesus Got Mad

Jesus got mad. He hung out with the lost, the sinners, the murderers, prostitutes, liars and thieves. He didn't get mad at them. He taught large masses of people who ended up not wanting his words but his free lunches. He didn't get mad at them. He was approached by people he was not sent to, who were not the chosen people, who asked him for favours. He didn't get mad at them. No, he got mad at those who turned the temple into something it wasn't suppose to be. He got mad at the religious.

Read John 2 and see the account of the incident.

Jesus,who tolerated so much in the world to bring the good news to the people who needed to hear it, would not tolerate what the religious had allowed to happen in the temple, a place of prayer. I think there is a great lesson here that we are ignoring, an elephant in the room. We've got it backwards.

We spend a lot of time judging and accusing the world of what is only natural for it to do. They are a lost people, blinded to the truth, who exist by instincts that are twisted by rebellion. In many ways they do not know better. They need a message of compassion and truth. They need to know that despite it all, God is still reaching out to them with mercy and grace. They need to hear the words of hope that Jesus brought to us.

We seem to ignore the words of instruction that came through Apostle Paul:

Why should I judge outsiders? Aren’t we supposed to judge only church members? God judges everyone else. The Scriptures say, “Chase away any of your own people who are evil.” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13)

How easy it is for us to point fingers at the world, accusing them of what comes natural. Paul says such judgement comes from God, not us. However, we are responsible for tending to the Church. It is here that we have to be hard on ourselves and yet it is here that we say very little.

Don't get me wrong, there is lots of judgement, but of the wrong sort. There is a lot of behind the back accusation and finger pointing but very little correction. There is also a tolerance of things that God has rejected. I see so much from my vantage point, so much that people accept as right when God has called it wrong.

These people, who I believe are sincere in their love for God, have also pursued their own interest. They twist and turn the Word of God to make accommodations for themselves. They accuse those who follow God's Word of being narrow minded. And I am speaking of much more than homosexuality.We stretch the truth to allow for what our hearts desire for ourselves.

Homosexuals are not the only ones who say they cannot change so God must have made them this way. Whatever our interest, or "pet" sin, the thing we can't or won't let go of, we make our excuses and live with it. There are those who love God but can't stop the lying. There are those who love God but continue to have sex with who ever is open to it. There are those who love God who can't stop the attraction to pornography. There are those who love God and can't stop stealing. There are those who love God who can't stop drinking or doing drugs or any list of things that God has rejected and called unacceptable for his children. But we excuse it, accommodate it and call it good.

It is what got Jesus mad in the temple that day and provoked him to action and it is what Paul said we have a responsibility to take care of:

In my other letter I told you not to have anything to do with immoral people. But I wasn’t talking about the people of this world. You would have to leave this world to get away from everyone who is immoral or greedy or who cheats or worships idols. I was talking about your own people who are immoral or greedy or worship idols or curse others or get drunk or cheat. Don’t even eat with them! (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)

There's the tree in the eye again.

It's great we are talking about the prophetic and using all kinds of wonderfully descriptive words and using a worship that moves our emotions but until the Holy Spirit moves our hearts back to a desire for holiness, it's just a bunch of words. We need to allow the real love of Jesus to provoke us to evict what does not belong in this temple of the Holy Spirit. We need to get mad that we have allowed such things to occupy us. Sexual immorality does not belong to this body any more, it does not belong in the Body of Christ. Either does drunkenness, lying, stealing, gossiping or any other perversion of God's children.

Of course we have no power to evict anything or to change ourselves. The power only comes from Jesus but he gave us his authority so we can speak to those things in us. It is not by will power but by God's power. Just as a person who is drawn to the same sex cannot stop themselves, either can someone who can't stop having affairs or a person who can't stop lying or a person who can't stop stealing, or drinking or taking drugs. But that is the beauty of Jesus, who restores us to what God has designed us to be.

If we choose to hold on to our sin because we like it, we in turn are rejecting God. You cannot have both sin and Jesus. Sin is a very attractive thing and is powerful. It is why we have been slaves to it for so long but when we accept the sacrifice of Jesus, all of that changes. We are transformed. We have the power and authority, Jesus' authority, over sin and we must use it.

We have to stop tolerating sin in our lives and in the Body of Christ. It is better to deal with it now before the time of forced separation is upon us. The sheep and goats, wheat and weeds will be separated. It's not what we say is right and wrong but what God says. Let's stop pointing fingers at the world and get back to the desire for holy living. Let's get mad about sin in God's holy temple.

Absolute Truth Exists, It Is Not A Fairy Tale

Whatever you want to do and whatever you want to think, you can find an app for that. You can find anything you want on the Internet, to back up anything you want to believe. So many of us think that the Internet is a great source for trusted knowledge on all sorts of things, but it isn't. It is a great source of opinions, thoughts and ideas, but it doesn't mean that any of it is true.

As Jesus stood before Pilate, Pilate asked the rhetorical question, "What is truth?" Pilate had experienced many different cultures and knew well the inner workings of his own government. He was a man who had become cynical of all things so it was difficult for him to see Truth even though he stood right in front of him. It is the same way for many of us who have become overwhelmed by the choices of opinion that are available to us every day. The thing is, there are not many choices but an actual absolute truth that exists.

Absolute truth flies in the face of what our society has decided to embrace. There is no right or wrong any more. We adjust to accommodate every form of belief and practice and we are getting to the point of outlawing the ability to speak against certain beliefs. It is no longer a matter of tolerance; we now have to actually agree. Careful Christians, the last days are upon us.

In instructing Timothy to stay faithful to the correct teaching from the Word, Paul warned him:

The time is coming when people won’t listen to good teaching. Instead, they will look for teachers who will please them by telling them only what they are itching to hear. They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Welcome to the end. These days are upon us. They have been for a long time but now we live in an age when technology is speeding up the process. People can easily access what their itchy ears want to hear. People can believe what they want, they have that freedom, but it doesn't change the truth. Let me remind you, we are speaking of the Church here and not the world. It is beginning in the Church that to present the truth is going to cost the presenter. Paul charged Timothy:

But you must stay calm and be willing to suffer. You must work hard to tell the good news and to do your job well. (v. 5)

To present the truth in our world today is going to cost more than at any other time. Truths of God's Word are on the verge of being outlawed. You can speak anything else you want but don't present the truth. When you do, watch the barrage of attacks you get because it is no longer enough to tolerate, you must actually agree with sin (not that we were ever permitted to tolerate it). But Paul said we must be willing to suffer to bring the truth. It is hard work and not an easy thing but we have the responsibility to teach it and live it.

Are you willing to lose it all, even your life, to bring the good news to those who are condemned by choice?

Do You Really Want To Know?

Do you want to know who you are? Do you really want to know? Sometimes we say we do; sometimes we say we want God to show us, but we don't really want to see. We are too afraid. I think we are afraid because we already know that it's pretty ugly. Come on, if we are really honest with ourselves we all know that it's not a nice place in our heart. It's the whole reason we need Jesus.

If you want a true test of your character, of who you are, ask yourself how quick you are to forgive. I don't just mean the words you speak but the thoughts you hold on to. Do you make it your purpose to decide to forget offences. I mean to never bring them up again; ever! I mean to act as if it never happened. That's what forgiveness is. It is not a "putting off" but a throwing away, to be forgotten.

How are you with loving people who don't fit into your acceptable column? I don't mean just tolerating them but calling them friend, hanging out with them, inviting them into your life? Think of some people who annoy you in your church. Did you know that love means you work through that annoyance; you act as if it doesn't exist and you love them all the more. Love is not always so easy. Jesus said it is nothing to love those who love you. But he called you to a greater love; one that shows kindness to an enemy and prays for those who persecute us. If this is said of an enemy, how much more someone who is united with us by the same Spirit?

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13)

At the foundation of our life in Jesus is the fact that we no longer belong to ourselves, but we were purchased at a great price. We belong to Jesus and as such we take on the character of our Master. Obviously we can't change ourselves but the power of the transformation gives us the authority to make decisions. We have to make the decision to forgive and then the Spirit gives us the power to make it happen. We have to make the decision to love and then the Spirit gives us the power to see if flourish. We can't make the mistake of thinking we are going to get zapped with something and all the hurt and pain is going to disappear. We have to submit that hurt and pain to Jesus, just give it over to him as our Master, and decide to forgive. We will soon discover the power is there to make it happen.

Remember, we don't belong to ourselves any more which means no one can offend us. They may offend our Master but Jesus will take care of that. We cannot take offence because we died. Only someone alive can take offence. We died and were brought back to life, but not life in ourselves again; we are only alive in Jesus. We no longer live for ourselves.

We can't be satisfied to stay where we are. The transformation has taken place and is taking place every day. We have to know and act in the character of Jesus. If there is prejudice and unforgiveness found in us then we do not understand who we are in Jesus. We are a new creation and these things do not belong to us. Because we have received forgiveness, we forgive. Because Jesus bared with us and went to the cross for us, we can bear with each other, laying down our lives for one another. His power in us makes it possible. This is what we should see when we ask the Lord to show us our heart. It is what should occupy us. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.