INTRODUCTION:

Last night we enjoyed together our Spring Festival, and we were reminded of the fact that spring has actually come! Springtime is always a time for people cleaning out their homes. It seems that we all get this sudden burst of energy, and we clean out the cupboards, wash down the walls, wash the windows, and of course our gardens get special attention as we see the signs of new growth and new life.

I want to suggest to you today that it is time for us to have a good spring clean of our own hearts and lives. Somehow or other our lives become cluttered with things that hinder us in our spiritual lives, and we need to clean them out once and for all. I remember in the Sunday School we used to sing a little song which went like this:

"Root them out, get them gone,

All the little bunnies in the fields of Corn

Envy, jealousy, malice, pride

They shall never in my heart abide"

What is it that needs to be thrown out in our lives today? We shared from the Word of God of how Jesus came to the Temple in Jerusalem one day to find that there was need for cleansing there. Our bodies are the temple of the living God, and as such, the Lord Jesus comes today – and maybe as he examines your life and mine, there is a righteous anger that he feels when he sees what is going on in our lives.

An old eastern story is told about a snake that lived along the path to worship, and the snake would often bite people with his poisonous bite. One time a swami was on his way to the temple, and the snake jumped out to bite him. Before the snake could actually perform this deed, the swami put the snake into a trance and ordered him to stop biting people.

"It is not right for you to bite people with your poisonous bite" the swami told him. "From now on, you shall not bite anyone".

A few months later the swami was passing that way again, and he noticed the snake lying in the grass beside the path. The snake was all cut and bruised and was in an awful state.

"Whatever has happened to you, my friend?" the swami asked.

"Since you put your spell on me," the snake explained, "I have been unable to defend myself. Give me back my bite!"

"You foolish snake," the swami said. "I told you not to bite anyone. But I never said that you couldn’t hiss!"

Jesus got pretty angry when he saw what His Temple was being used for, and what was going on in the place that should have been a place of prayer. I guess he kind of hissed, and the people and the animals scattered.

I want us to look this morning at the things that were thrown out of the temple by Jesus, and I want each of those things to symbolise something in OUR lives that may need to be thrown out too! The first thing was the animals for

1. THE SACRIFICES:

The temple was the place where people would have to go and offer sacrifices to God. That was in accordance with the Law of God, and I am sure that Jesus had no problem with that. Sacrifice was and is an important component of the life of faith. Sacrifice reveals the depth of our sincerity, it shows that we put God and what He asks of us ahead of our own needs.

The law of Moses stated what kinds of sacrifices needed to be made at the temple, and I am really glad that I was not around in those days! The smell of flesh and the sight of blood were common things! Parts of the flesh of the animals sacrificed would have been offered wholly to God, other parts would have been given to the priests to support them and to provide resources for the poor and needy of the community. In the old rural days this would have been easy for the people to provide such sacrifices. But in Jesus’ day, people did not always have sheep and goats and pigeons on their property, and so they had to come to the temple and buy what was needed for the sacrifice. The sacrifices had to be perfect, they had to be of a certain quality, and the people who made those decisions were in cahoots with the merchants. Obviously, only those animals that were sold in the temple court yard were good enough for the offering.

I want to say that what they were doing in offering the sacrifices were good in themselves. They were required by law to offer the sacrifices, and they were being obedient in what they were doing. But the sacrifices were getting in the way of the real worship. When that starts to happen, we have to have a serious rethink.

I want you to bring it into the temple of your life. What sacrifices are you making in your life for God? Financial, time, family, talents or your abilities? Sometimes these things can become an end in themselves, and the whole purpose for which they were originally instituted has gone out the back door. Sometimes the sacrifices that we hold up before the Lord are our greatest downfall.

Let me give you a simple example. Think about your garage. The purpose of a garage is to house your car – am I not right? Slowly, but surely, the things pile up in the garage and the car eventually gets pushed outside. Anybody have that problem? A cleansing or a sorting out of the garage has to be done in order for the original purpose of the garage to be restored. You and I were made to be obedient to the Lord, to be instruments through whom He can work. We were created to praise. We were created to glorify God. Sadly, as time has gone on, we have brought in this and that into our temple, into our lives, and the whole purpose for which we were made, gets pushed out the door! Yes, sacrifices have their purpose, but when the legalistic carrying out of sacrifices takes over our relationship with the Lord, it is time to do some spring cleaning!

There was something else going on in the temple. The merchants who sold the animals for the sacrifices insisted that the money that was used to buy these sacrifices all had to be Temple currency. So, what was provided in the temple was a wonderful:

2. SERVICE:

I think that was really kind of them. They were making things easier for the people to be able to offer their sacrifices. In every church we have people who are there to make things easier for others. I think in our own Corps, we lay on a meal on a Wednesday for those who want to attend the Alpha Course. On Fridays, we give the children something to eat in between practices and the JC Club – to make things easier. Providing acts of service is wonderful – if the motives are all right.

What had happened in Jesus day? The merchants and money-changers viewed the temple court as an opportunity for financial gain. Yes, they did provide a service. But where it was provided, and how it was provided – taking advantage of peoples from distant lands, made a stench. In mark 11:17 Jesus says that turned the temple into a den of thieves. All this was tolerated. No one objected. Anything was acceptable! But this building was intended for something else, something spiritual. The money changers were actually causing a hindrance to the spiritual, to worship and prayer, and so they had to go. They thought that it was their temple to do as they saw fit. They were so wrong – it was God’s house, intended to be a house of prayer for all nations.

Listen to what 1 Cor 6:19,20 says; "You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honour God with your body" Your body and my body is the temple of the Living God. What did we say earlier? We were created to praise. We were created to glorify God. We were created to have uninterrupted fellowship with God. Then what happened? Slowly the trash and the stench of sin was hauled in, load after load – nothing bad intentionally! We started doing this and that – and our original purpose for living has become obscured.

There is a third thing that was happening in the temple. The word is not actually used in the text, but being South Africans, we are pretty good at trying to get the best bargain. You don’t want to pay the price that is marked, and we try to bargain with the one who is selling things to us. So let us look at this idea of:

3. BARGAINING:

Someone was telling me the other day that our new Territorial Commander has got the South African trend right. He came to Pretoria to buy a Zulu shield, and he bargained and bargained until he was able to purchase the shield for nearly half of the marked price.

I wonder if we are ever guilty of bargaining with the Lord. Lord, if you do this for me, I will do that! If you make me better, I will serve you. If you answer this prayer of mine, I will become more involved in your service. If you …then I will. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. I want to tell you today, that that kind of thing has no place in the temple. God wants our unconditional love, our unconditional service. In the words of that chorus which we sing:

When there good times or there bad times

When the rain falls or the sun shines

When you test me or you bless me…

I will love you, come what may….

CONCLUSION:

We have three bedrooms in our home. One belongs to Marieke and I, one belongs to our eldest daughter, Alison, and the other room is shared by Terri and Lauren. It is in that room that everybody goes to play. It is in that room that every toy, puzzle, doll, you name it, is there. Marieke does a famous job of keeping it clean. Children will go into that room, and in 2 minutes will rip everything apart – the puzzles get tipped out, the dolls and their clothes get strewn all over the floor, the duvets even get pulled off the beds – man, a total mess. Marieke then has to go in, and pack it all away again. I say – get rid of the stuff, and we won’t have that problem. She says: "The children have got to have something to play with!" Guess who wins!

But in our spiritual lives, we have to do a thorough spring cleaning. It is pointless putting all the wrong things in our lives on one side, ready to bring out again when we feel we want them. We have to get rid of them completely. How do we do that? Can we do it ourselves? Maybe we can picture Jesus coming into the temple of our lives with his whip, removing, chasing out all those things that are a hindrance to our true worship and to our relationship with God. David was recorded as saying; "Create in me a clean heart O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me!" The problems on the outside will be solved when the inside is sorted out. I want you to allow God to convict you of what needs to be cleaned today, and replace it with what god requires of you.