Money_Worship

Money and Worship
9/17/06
George Poulo

And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went
Up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that
Sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of
Money sitting: and when he had made a scourge of
Small cords, he drove them out of the temple, and the
Sheep and the oxen; and poured out the changer's money,
And overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves,
Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house
Of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was
Written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Jn2:13-17

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
Of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God,
Him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which
Temple ye are. 1Cor3:16-17

Jesus took a whip of cords and drove the money changers and their ware out of the temple. 'Zeal for My Father's house consumed him,' The house of God was to be a holy place and the moneychangers had defiled it. It angered Jesus so much that he became violent and overturned the tables and drove them out. Now what Jesus did to the temple in Jerusalem he wishes to do in us. Why would he want to do this? He wants to do this because the moneychangers represent privilege, prerogative, prestige, and power. Those four qualities are an obstacle to true worship and entrance into the kingdom of God. They are an immense distraction and a form of idolatry that those who practice them are in danger of hell. Jesus states quite clearly: "he who saves his life will lose it, and he who loses his life will save it."(Mt10:39) and "one�s life does not consist in the abundance of the things one possesses."(Lk12:5) 'We can not serve God and mammon (riches) for either we will hate the one and love the other or else hold to the one and despise the other.' (Mt6:24) To establish the right relationship to things we must first rid ourselves of those spiritual qualities that can be attached to those things. Let us look at them in turn.
Money gains for us privilege. I can get what I want at any cost. I can go where I want because of the influence of money. I can buy people, places, and things. I think because I have money I can buy my way into the kingdom of God. So Jesus took a whip of cords and drove out the moneychangers.
Money represents prerogative. Prerogative is that state that says because I have money I am right. When Jesus preached the kingdom he said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mt5:3) and the poor in spirit do not maintain right as prerogative over truth. The need to be right, to justify oneself is an offense to God (For all have sinned Rm3). So Jesus took a whip of cords and drove out the moneychangers.
Money represents prestige. Because I have money I am better than you are. I have a name and a reputation and therefore I am a superior person. It is to be a respecter of persons which the book of James says is sin. So Jesus took a whip of cords and drove out the moneychangers.
Finally money represents power. Instead of our faith resting on God and the authority of his word, we put our trust in our money, in horse and chariot, and not in God. So Jesus took a whip of cords and drove out the moneychangers.
To have true prosperity one must be well spiritually, in his soul, his body, his relationships, his environment or home, and his finances and in that order. To have one of the pieces missing is to have lack. To truly be prosperous money must take its rightful place in the kingdom. Only when we have removed the riches of the world from our temple can we worship properly and use money properly. Besides, to have a great abundance of money and to be dying of cancer is certainly not true prosperity; at best that person is a poor man with money. To preach financial prosperity as an end in itself at the expense of the spiritual or faith, to preach financial prosperity before the seed of God's word enters the good ground of the heart is dangerous to the soul because the lust for money and the lust of other things choke the word (Mk4) before it can produce the 30, 60, and 100 fold gain. It is a danger to preach the money piece of the pie too much because God does not want it in the temple where true worship belongs.
Jesus drove out the moneychangers because their desire for money was too close to the center of worship and the love of money is the root of all evil (1Tm6:5) Riches are a sign of prosperity but unless one is poor in spirit, those riches will destroy us. They will keep us from the freedom of worship and entering into the kingdom of God. "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1Tm6:6) and "Godliness as a means of gain is an evil" (1Tm6:5). Those who use godliness for material gain are in danger of hell. True prosperity is shalom: wholeness, soundness, completeness. It is to worship in Spirit and Truth. One sign of wisdom is realizing the place of money in the scheme of God's kingdom. That place is far from the temple. Amen.