Zeal for Your House

The Pursuit of Life in the Spirit : A Study In The Gospel Of John

What is it like when your life, is not led by a pastor or a church or denomination or tradition, but is led by the Spirit of God? Where the Holy Spirit and you are partners and you're taking it forward with Him. I'm working through John's gospel and looking at situations where the Holy Spirit led Jesus and Jesus and the Holy Spirit worked, and what would He also do with us in our lives if that were the case with us. Very interesting part of the story where Jesus goes into the temple and He finds a lot of nonsense happening. He makes a whip, whips it out and then He chases them all and then He says, zeal for your house will consume me. So, I want to spend some time focusing on that and see where God takes us. 

Alright, John chapter 2 :13-17. The Passover of the Jews was at hand. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple He found those who were selling oxen, sheep, pigeons, and money changers too sitting there, and He, making a whip of cords, drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen too. He poured out the coins of the money changers, overturned their tables and He told those who sold the pigeons, take these things out. Do not make my Father's house a house of trade. His disciples remember that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. 

We’re pursuing life in the Spirit and trying to say, Lord, if Jesus lived by the pursuit, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, if Jesus was led by the Spirit every day of His life, in every purpose of His life, then how much more for me? Life in the Spirit is going to make us intolerant of the things that violate God's purposes. Let that sink in. The Holy Spirit is not going to let you be okay when the purposes of God are being violated. It will even make Jesus pick up a whip. So there is a time to be gracious. There is a time to be patient. There is a time to be intolerant. There is a time to fight for what is right. There is a time to speak up, and there's a time to be quiet. There's a time to be a witness, and there's a time to be a sacrifice. We are led by the Spirit of God, and even the Spirit of God is going to take you to times, places, in the office, in the workplace, on travels, in business meetings, in different situations where the Holy Spirit is going to say, ‘that's a violation of the purposes of God’. ‘Don't allow that to happen, that cannot be allowed in your life’, and that’s the point you have to stop, stand and be immovable. I will not compromise. I will not. There are some things in life that you cannot compromise on, and the Holy Spirit will tell you those moments, give you clear understanding about that. 

Let's break this passage down and then move forward. The Passover of the Jews was at hand. What is the Passover? It is a celebration of an event that happened a long time ago in the history of Israel, when the angel of death as the last plague that came over the people of Egypt, the angel of death passed over and when he was going over the city, every Jewish home had been instructed to put the blood of the sacrifice on their doorposts, and when the angel of death saw the blood of the sacrifice, he passed over them. This was going to be a picture. This was going to be a type of what was coming, that the Lord Jesus was going to take his blood and put it on the doorposts of our hearts, and when the angel of death passes over us, we would be passed over and we would be brought from death to life, and they were brought out of Egypt into the promised land. They were brought through the river. Everything is a picture of the journey of the believer from darkness to light, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. So the Passover is a very important celebration, and you could imagine that at that time thousands had come from all over the place to Jerusalem for the sacrifices. The Passover of the Jews was about to happen, so obviously Jesus also went to the temple. Jesus was an ardent follower of his faith. He lived his faith. He fulfilled all of his rules and regulations. He was a perfect Jew and he came to the temple, and it was not an unfamiliar place. Remember when was the last time he was there? When he was 12 and he said to his parents , must I not be about my Father's business? 

So he comes to the temple on the day of Passover. It was about to happen, and in the temple, note in the temple, not outside the temple, not on the road, on the sidewalk outside the temple, near the temple, inside the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons. This is the economic strata of what people can afford. The rich people could afford oxen. After that came the sheep, and poor people could use pigeons. And money changers were sitting there. So Jesus, what is your problem? It's just good business. I mean, we're helping the believers. We're making it easy. You just have to blinkit. It's right there. You don't have to go looking for a perfect lamb. We'll sell it to you. There will be a markup. There'll be a commission. We'll sell it to you. Oh, you have Indian rupees? You have to change? This is the money changer. Right here. In the church, we have a money changer also. So not only the person selling you the perfect lamb, the perfect sheep, the perfect oxen they're selling it to you at a markup price, think about the convenience. Oh, you don't have the money? Right here. We have credit cards. We have everything. You can change the money right here. Of course, there’s going to be a markup on the exchange rate. I mean, there’s a difference between the rates at INA market and an airport. So you want to get the best rate, but you're here in the temple to make it easy for you. There's a bit of a markup, but imagine in five minutes, you don't have to stand through that line all over again. Easy peasy. Life was good. Business was happening. The best of the best cattle wer being brought in and sold at higher prices. People were coming from all over the world and they had to change the currency. So it was made so easy. Isn't that service? Isn't that love? Isn't that ministry? Aren't we serving the believers and making it easy? 

Jesus, when the Passover was about to happen, he went to Jerusalem and in the temple he found, , those who were selling, those who were buying. Business in a place of worship!!! The congregation, the believers had become a client group. The worship had become a business. And now they don't care. Everything's working fine. The Son of God walks in and he sees this happening in the temple, in his Father's house. So do you get the depth and gravity of what offended Jesus?  Because today nothing seems to offends us. We allow anything in church, anything in our home, anything on TV. We allow anything in the name of tolerance. We are open, we are gracious, we are loving. There are no boundaries anymore and there are no sacred places anymore so that we say, ‘No! Over here, you keep business out, you keep your private affairs out,  over here, we pray, we kneel, Jesus is Lord over here’. There are no sacred places anymore. Even Sunday morning, in churches all around the world, people will gather, people will say they’re worshipping with no loss to their pocket, their time or energy. They will only gain inspiration, go back home feeling good, thinking that they have worshipped. 

So Jesus drove them out. He didn't whip them. He made a whip. He did not whip them. Why? Because He is the one who is going to take the whipping. He didn't come to judge. He came to be the one who takes the judgment of all people on Himself. So He did not pronounce a judgment. He only showed anger. He showed what the Father's heart was all about. He showed what the Son's heart was all about. He showed what He was thinking. He was thinking, how dare you remove prayer and put business in the place where God my Father is to be sought after! So, he made a whip, He didn’t buy it. He made it that would have taken time and attention. He made a whip, and whips were normally used for cattle, not for people. He drove all out of the temple. One man drove the entire lot out of the temple with the sheep, with the oxen. ‘Lord, what's wrong with the oxen and the sheep’? By doing that he meant the business and money everything out! This is going to be a Holy Place of prayer. He goes to the money changers. He pours out the coins of the money changers and overturns their tables, and he told those who sold the pigeons. He didn’t beat them. He didn’t turn over their tables.. They’re poorer people. So he just went to them. He says, take these away. 

In all fo this, I found the whip interesting.. Jesus' act here is a prophetic sign that the temple system was corrupted and under judgment, and Jesus was prophetically and symbolically showing that he’s the one who’s going to judge the temple. He’s the one who’s coming back to straighten out this temple. I mean, this is not the first time.  He was sitting on the sidelines some months ago, sitting with his disciples and watching the rich people go with their big bags of gold, and they were dropping their coins, cha-chang, cha-chang, cha-chang, cha-chang. Listen to the sound of that music of gold coins and silver coins falling into the treasury of the temple. They were giving out of their abundance. But this one woman, she does not have anything. All she had was a… and she was being forced to give that. No, no, no, no. It's not that she was generous to give the last thing. So they made the system such that now they even have to work with pigeons. They have ridden on the backs of poor people, exploited genuine people, people who want to believe, people who want to love God. They have genuinely ridden on their backs, and religion has become a business. Business has become a religion, and we don't know the difference anymore. Jesus has not, this is not, the first time. He has been coming, watching, preaching and exposing the people in the temple. His primary people whom he was exposing were the Pharisees. So Jesus was here as a prophetic sign. The temple system was corrupt and under judgment.

The temple court had become a place of economic exploitation, especially for the Gentiles and the poor people. They don't know the rules. They come looking for Jesus and they would give them a lifestyle filled with rules and regulations . They would start putting expectations on them that they can't even handle. Jesus confronted the systemic corruption, not just individual greed. As a system, it was going down. The whip and the cleansing was a preview of judgment, both on corrupt religion and eventually on the temple itself because a few years later, 70 AD, the temple was razed to the ground. 

Jesus is the new high priest and he's also the sacrifice. You get that picture? Who takes the annual sacrifice for the whole nation into the holiest of holies? The high priest. So in this case, the high priest is also the sacrifice. The high priest goes in and he becomes the sacrifice. So Jesus has every right over the temple. Jesus has every right over the church. 

So the whip was a prophetic sign that Jesus was in the house. Jesus was not having a bad day. He didn't wake up that morning ticked off with something and then it didn't work out and he came into the temple like he always did. And then he saw this and he got mad. The customer service was bad. People didn't talk to him nicely. They gave him a hard time trying to let him in through the gate. No, nothing like that. He was coming to worship. He was coming to do the right thing as a Jew and then he saw this happening. So Jesus has going to the temple all his life, wasn’t this always happening?  This is not the first day it was happening.. So he has been mad for 30 years. He has been upset for 30 years. This is a build-up of watching his Father's house, the church, the ministry being used like a business for the profit of a few people. And he's been watching it. Now what's different? Now Jesus has come into his own. He's come into his role as the chief priest who's going to be the sacrifice. He's come into his whole role as the Messiah who's now taking charge and is going to deliver the judgment in person. His disciples remembered that it was written,  “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 

Jesus started in the temple. He didn't start with the sinners. He didn't start with the Gentiles. He didn't start with politics. He didn't start with the business world. He didn't start with taking down the porn industry. He started in the temple. The first sin in your life, the primary sin in your life is not the evil you do, but the godly purposes that you subvert and replace with ungodly purposes. Why has God created you? Why has God made you? For what has he given you a mind? For what has he given you a connection to the Holy Spirit and to God himself? Why has he given you a Bible? Why has he brought you to church? Why has he revealed to you that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God? What is the purpose of your life? Why were you born now? Why were you born in your family? Why were you born with your nationality? The purposes of God and the violation of the purposes are a greater sin than the indulgences of our life. The fun and the stuff that we indulge in, we think that's the worst. The worst part is when we take a purpose of God and we don't live for that purpose. We don't follow that purpose. We don't give for that purpose. That's when the whip comes out, and Jesus made his point. 

So he went to the pigeon people and he told them, take these things away. And then the second part of that verse says, verse 16 part b says, do not make my Father's house a house of trade. That's ESV. But what we grew up with was, do not make my Father's house a den of thieves. Even there they've made it tolerant!

So, Jesus and his Father's house. The Lord Jesus, at 12, was lost by his mother and father. His mother and father come looking for him. They find him in the temple. They say, what on earth? Why did you do this to us? And he said, must I not be about my Father's business? If you think I'm lost, you should come straight here because I must be here. This is my business. This is my Father's house. I must be here. Did you not know that I must… because that is the problem with the Christian today. There are very few ‘I musts’. There's not enough I musts. Out of conviction, out of passion, out of zeal, there's not enough I musts.

So Jesus came to his Father's house and considered the temple his Father's house. But that is not okay, because no Jew was to call God their Father. To call God their Father, it meant you came from him, which means you are like him, which means you are God, which means you are equal to God. Because a son will eventually grow up to take on everything his father has and then act in his name. Do you not know I must be about my Father's house? His aggression was a protection of the purposes. You say Jesus got angry? Yeah, he did. He made a whip? Yeah, he did. But he was protecting the purposes of the Father. And that is what a Spirit-filled believer will do. A Spirit-filled believer will not find excuses and rationalize when God's purposes are violated. He will aggressively protect the purposes of God and say, no, this is what marriage is for. No, this is what the spirit of God has been given to us for. This is what church is about. This is what the stage is for. This is what the pulpit is for. This is what my quiet time is for. They're going to take the things that are sacred in their life and hold it holy. A Spirit-filled believer will hold it holy and will not compromise. If you want to learn that kind of conviction, look at people of other religions. They'll teach us how to hold something in reverence. Make it sacred. In the name of grace and mercy, we have completely watered down everything to the point where today you can say what you like. You can use my Lord's name in vain. I'll also laugh with you. Oh no! His aggression was a protection of the purposes. And in an age of tolerance, we are immune to the desecration of that which is holy and that which is purposed. We don't even know it, we don't even feel it when something that has broken the heart of God or violated or made God cringe.. It doesn't even affect us. We turn to God and say, come on, be big, man, get over it. They're just kidding.

This is not a New Testament concept. This is an Old Testament concept. Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7, he says, for my house will be called a house of prayer. Jesus wasn't making up words. He quoted the Old Testament, the big guy, Isaiah, and he said, for my house will be, that's an ‘I must’, will be called a house of prayer, not a house of trade. House of prayer for who? For all nations. Make it free.  Make it easy. Make it open. Make it loving. Make it warm. Make it possible for people to come running to you and not be given a whole load of weights. Jesus hated that. It bothered him that every time he saw the nations coming to the temple, he saw people coming to know God the Father, he saw these Pharisees put weights on them. Ten laws were not enough. Six hundred and thirteen laws they had to memorize, so that every day they reminded themselves of how bound they are when in fact Jesus came to set them free. When God wants them to be free, when God wants them to come running to him, they put doors and doors and doors in front so that it makes it difficult. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. That's prayer. 

The Psalmist says in Psalm 84, how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty. My soul yearns for the courts of God. That's the presence. So, the house of God, that's the temple. The temple should be a place of prayer where prayer happens and prayer is heard and the temple should be a place of the presence of God is experienced, the presence of God is felt, the presence of God is near.

Isaiah 56 and Psalm 84. So first, Jesus called in the Old Testament, called the temple his Father's house. Work with me the three steps. First, Jesus called the temple my Father's house. He called it a house of prayer. Okay, so at the dedication of the temple, when Solomon built the temple. It took thirteen years to built the temple and it was grand, it was fantastic. The only thing missing was the presence of God, the Shekinah glory of God. And as they prayed, as they dedicated the temple and the whole nation stood and scripture was read, the Shekinah glory came down in power and might and it came and rested not on but in the Holiest of Holies on the mercy seat and it shuddered and shook the place and the presence of God was with his people. So the nations around would know that God, the God of Heaven, Adonai is with his people. The temple was for the presence of God. 

Second, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down in power and in might and came to dwell in every believer. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit, the Shekinah glory, came down and rested on the temple. In the believer at Pentecost, he comes and rests on the believer. When the Shekinah glory comes and rests on something, that place becomes a temple. What makes it a temple? The Shekinah glory of God. Not the shape, not the form, not the traditions. So first Jesus called that place, the temple, his Father's house. Then in John chapter 2 verse 19-21, he comes up with a new temple. He moves the focus, the camera, off the temple because in 70 AD it's going to be destroyed, and he himself is going to judge it. He moves the camera off that and onto himself, onto himself, and he says the weirdest thing possible. He says to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. I'm going to destroy that temple, and you will never be able to raise it up, but you destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He was not talking about the brick and mortar temple, he was talking about his own body. Now he had shifted the whole focus from going to the temple to coming to Jesus. Now the nations would have to come to Jesus. In Christ, we would have communion with the Father. In Christ, we would have an experience of the presence of God. In Christ, in a person, and that person had come in the flesh to meet you and to shake your hand and to be your height. Destroy this temple in three days, I will raise it up. Jesus began to redefine the temple as his own body, and soon access to God will not come through a building but through him.

And now, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16- Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?. Oh my goodness! You're talking about the grandeur of the Old Testament temple and the Shekinah glory coming down on that temple. Then you talk about Jesus, the Son of the living God, and the Holy Spirit resting on him. Then, me, is God just losing it? Is something going wrong here? That I am now the temple of the living God? No, it's the purpose.. The temple was for prayer for the presence of God. Jesus is the name by which we pray and experience the presence of God. You met me, you've met the Father and now you come to a believer and the believer has everything with him and himself, everything with himself to pray and to be in the presence of God. I will send my spirit, he will be with you, he will be in you, he will lead you into all truth and he will remind you that you are mine. Now, it is the believer. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit, capital S, dwells in you? Wow. So now, who should the nations go to? They should come to us... Before, they had to go to the temple. When Jesus was there, they had to go to Jesus. 2025, it’s you. God is sending them to you. Thank goodness there’s no sacrifices are involved. Thank goodness that all the nations are not coming to you. But whoever does come to you, they should experience two things.

Number one, the presence of God and that it should experience prayer. Your life should be a temple of prayer. Not praise , but prayer. Big difference. Your life should be a place of prayer. When people come close to you, they should feel the heartbeat of prayer. They should feel the sense of communion with God. They should overhear a static. They should overhear some communication constantly going up to heaven. There's this constant connection of back and forth between you and God. And they should feel good to be near you because then they know that they're feeling the presence of God. And if they want to connect to God, they can connect through you. And soon they'll get saved and so on. 

So the Bible says, my body is the temple of the living God. Number one. Number two, my purpose is to abide in him as he abides in me. This is what God wants for you. He doesn't want you to be a follower of Jesus and follow his teachings and then receive from him blessings and go about your daily business, no different from anybody else. He wants you to have the heartbeat of the spirit of God, to be in communion with God constantly. And this is not church. This is not ministry. This is not missions. This is prayer. The prayer is the heartbeat, the breath, the life, the vital signs of a believer's life. The believer becomes God's house. And so, prayer must become central to the Christian life, just as it was to the temple. If you go to a temple and do not find prayer, huh? What? Likewise, you go to a believer, you should find prayer. 

So if I am the temple of the living God, firstly my greatest witness is my intimacy with God, not how good I am, not how holy I am, not how sinless I am. My greatest witness is the fact that I am close to God, that I am in touch with God, that I have immediate access to God. That is my greatest witness. You know God? Okay, you know Him. Oh, you spoke to Him? Oh, He spoke back. Oh, you're living together with God, like you're living in communion with Him. But He's a spirit. How are you doing this? What does it look like? Tell me more.  How can I also live in the presence of God? How can I live in such deep communion with God and the Spirit, how can I abide in God and God abide me? What does this mean? Tell me. Tell me what does this mean? And that becomes your witness. Witness is not, let me tell you that Jesus died for you and you're a sinner, you're going to hell. The rest is between you and God. That is not a witness.  The witness is, you know God personally and live in His presence, the very heartbeat of your life is the presence of God. Not worship and praise, but prayer. Prayer is not something that you say to God. Prayer is the very connection. When you have Wi-Fi, either you have Wi-Fi, or you don’t have Wi-Fi. You cannot have some Wi-Fi. When there is a connection, either it’s connected or you’re not connected. When you’re hanging by a rope, either the rope is connected or it’s not connected. There's no break. Either you are in Christ or you're not. My greatest witness in my end is my intimacy with God. John chapter 15 verse 7. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, I will do it for you. 

Secondly, my greatest flex is that God hears me and God answers me. I was thinking through prayer. I was in a land where there's a particular religion and they have prayer. I studied it. I asked questions. I have found out how they think of prayer and what prayer is all about. I've been thinking about others and religions and people and non-believers, Atheists, everyone. What does prayer mean to them? And how does it all pan out? Jeremiah 33 verse 3 says, Call to me. Call to me, and I will pick up. You call me, and I will pick up. I will answer you. And I will tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. Aha! Oh, oh, okay! So, first of all, call to me. A name has been given. Two, I will pick up. I will answer. And three, there will be a revelation through prayer of what? Great and unsearchable things that you do not know. So, prayer is not just a conversation. Prayer is access to the deepest GI, the greatest genuine intelligence. And from there you get your wisdom and understanding and your gumption to do life. My greatest flex is God hears me and God answers me. 

Your greatest purpose is to make God's presence felt. So, go, go into all the world. Go into all the world. And as you go, make disciples. I'm coming with you, which means the presence of God is going with you. You go to office, the presence of God is right there because of you, because you are a temple. People go to temples, but God wants the temple to go to them. And he sent you. You are the temple of the living God. Your greatest purpose is to make God's presence felt. Prayer, praise, worship, presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. 

A spirit-led believer is going to be led by the same zeal that Jesus had for the purposes of the temple. If Jesus came in with the same Holy Spirit and he said, this house must be called a house of prayer, then you will also say the same thing. You will also feel the same way. So, dear friends, I ask you, has this temple been repurposed? You. What should have been a house of prayer? Is it now a house of trade? Have you sold your soul to the world system, to a career, to an ambition, to a dream, to a pathway, to a religion, to a school of thought, to a philosophy? Have you sold yourself to something where there's a bargain over your life? My Father's house is no longer building. So just as Christ was consumed with zeal for the purity and purpose of God's house, we are called to preserve that same purpose. Meaning, your life needs to be a life of prayer. There's no question about it. There's no negotiation. There's no discussion. I'm not inspiring you to do it. This must be, or the whip is going to come out. This has to be your life. We are called to preserve that same purpose that is prayer.

So friends, I don't know where you are in your spiritual life. Maybe you don't know Jesus personally. Maybe you've been walking with him and have lived in him for many, many years, and you are close to him, and you've been, you know his purposes. I don't know where you are in your spiritual journey, but let's return to prayer. That's why at my church, I start the service with prayer. I want people to walk in while we're praying, into the presence of God. And while they're walking in, some of the others also, whose hearts are united with Christ, they will start praying for people. So chances are when you come in and sit down, already five people have already prayed for you. You tell me, does that sound and look like the temple? Does that sound and look like where the people of God are gathered? Isn't that the right thing to do? That's just one thing. 

What about in your house? What about family prayer? What about personal time? Where do we need to get right? Prayer that is unbroken community... I want us to understand this prayer that is unbroken communication with the commander-in-chief and not a Swiggy order. Swiggy order is like... 16 minutes, coming and suddenly he has arrived. He is at your place. He's waiting. That's Swiggy. Our prayer life is that. Rather than that, our prayer life should be a constant connection, and you are in the trenches with the soldiers, and your constant connection is with the chief, the army chief, or with the commander-in-chief and you are getting constant downloads of what to do, what not to do. When to fire, when not to fire. That, my brothers and sisters, is prayer, not Swiggy orders. Sometimes you can do Swiggy. But for the most part, this is what prayer is. 

Prayers that rise like incense rather than like flares. You know what flares are? I'm in trouble! SOS! Help! Most of our prayers are like that flare. But it should rise like incense where if you're in heaven, constantly, there's this smell of beautiful incense coming, and as long as incense is coming, you know prayers are being offered. That's what prayer is. Prayer is the breathing in and breathing out of God's word. You know the word so well that it's going in, going out. Till we are living by it, you breathe in and breathe out the Word of God. It is the doorway to the eternal life that God has given to us. How am I living? Prayer is that doorway, that vestibule, that portal to move me from my physical life into my eternal life and start living in the eternal. The wisdom and the insight into the purposes of God behind the everyday events of our lives. Why did she do this? Why did that happen? Why did this not come through? God will give us wisdom and perspective as we pray.

Last, the access to power, access to resources beyond this world, beyond all this world has seen. God wants to give you power. Prayer life will connect you and plug you into something so great that it won't be your positive thinking and your positive vibes that gets you through the day. It will be the power of the living God!