A House of Prayer

Matthew 21:12–13

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (NIV)

The first thing Jesus does after coming into Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion is to clear the temple. If our temple is not functioning as God designed, we are easily distracted and quickly fall into temptation.

The temple was a place designed to form the spirit of Israel toward God. From the architecture of the building, the furniture, and the rituals, everything had meaning. The people were not simply to go through the motions, but to meditate on what they were doing and to allow the architecture and furniture to draw their attention to the character of God, that they might see His love for them so their hearts are opened in love to Him. But by the time Jesus entered into the temple, it had become a profit machine that primarily benefited the religious leaders who controlled the temple system.

It has been taught for many years that nothing should be sold in the church, including fundraisers or church t-shirts. Even if these were intended to benefit the elderly of the church who need help with home repairs or children who can’t afford camp, for years this was considered sinful. However, this is not the lesson to be learned.

In Jesus’ day, the priestly families were getting rich by overcharging the people for items necessary for worship and giving them a bad exchange rate on the denomination of money needed to pay the temple tax. It was exploitation. Churches should always function to benefit the people of the church and those who live nearest to the church, even if they are not believers. The benefit should be spiritual first, then expressed through meeting tangible needs, especially for the poor. When churches become exploitative for the sake of profit, the church works to beat down the people, not lift them up.

But we are also the temple of God. Our lives should not prioritize excessive profit for the sake of personal pleasure. Though the Lord does call some to a vow of poverty, God wants people to have money. He wants them to enjoy life, but mainly He wants them to be able to care for their family, fund the ministry of the church, bless the people around them, and support the poor. It’s not how much money a church brings in, how much a pastor is paid, or how much money an individual Christian makes that matters. What matters is whether those resources are being used to form people more fully into the likeness of Christ.

Prayer

Lord, cleanse the temple of my heart. Remove anything that distracts me from You or distorts true worship. Teach me to live in a way that honors You, blesses others, and reflects Your love. Amen.