Message

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A HOUSE OF PRAYER

Luke 19:45-20:8

Key Verse:19:46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

  We respect and honor Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America, but not many of us know that he was a man of prayer. There is a book about Mr. Lincoln’s prayer life titled “A president who made the White House into a house of prayer.” In fact, Lincoln’s secretary, Mrs. Pomeroy, often heard the president praying aloud in his oval office. Even after finishing his inauguration speech, he came back to his office, knelt down and prayed to God aloud. Abraham Lincoln, who made the White House into the house of prayer, changed the history of the world. Like him, those who kneel down before God and pray change the world. In the book “Kneeling Prayers”, there is saying, “We can do many great things for God by preaching the word, serving others, building churches and so on. However, God can do greater things through those who kneel down and pray.” How about ‘making your house a house of prayer’?  How about ‘making this church to a house of prayer for all nations’?

  In today’s passage Jesus clears the temple and teaches the religious leaders about spiritual authority. I pray that God may make all of us men and women of prayer with spiritual authority and power. Amen.

First, my house will be a house of prayer (45-48)  Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. He entered the temple area because he wanted to visit his Father’s house first. The temple is the holy place where God dwells. It is the place we praise God, worship Him and meet him. It is the place we have a deeper relationship with God and have rest and peace in him. However, it was not such a place when Jesus entered. It was like a busy and noisy Walmart during the holiday seasons. People were buying and selling animals in the temple courts. Selling animals in the temple courts was permitted for the convenience of travelers who wanted to offer sacrifices to God during the Passover. However, Jesus saw inward corruption behind the outward trading. Under the umbrella of the high priests, the religious leaders acted unjustly by turning the temple into a market.  Jesus saw greed, injustice, and impurity in these people’s hearts. This evoked Jesus’ holy anger.

  Out of rage, Jesus began driving out those who were selling. In John’s gospel, Jesus made a whip out of cords, and drove both sheep and cattle from the temple area. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. (Jn 2:15) And Jesus said “It is written, “My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (46) Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7, which says, “…for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” In modern terms, a temple is a church. Church should be a house of prayer for all nations. Our prayer should reach to all peoples of all nations. We Christians, according to Jesus’ command, should pray not only for ourselves, but also pray for peoples in Africa, in China, in North Korea, and in the Muslim world. That is why we pray for world missions every Sunday through representative prayers.

  Not only a church but also each family should be a house of prayer. How many of you pray together with your children before they go to bed? Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.(Mk 1:35) Do you have your own place where you kneel down and pray to God every day as Jesus did? Do you have your own Garden of Gethsemane where you struggle with God? How many of you build an altar of prayer every morning? Or do you compromise with your physical weakness?

  The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians  6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” We should pray so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in us. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  In order to receive the Holy Spirit we should pray. In order to receive the Holy Spirit we should repent. Sometimes we don’t understand ourselves. I mean that we are easily tempted and troubled by our sinfulness, such as by anger, hatred, jealousy, fear, sorrow, lust and so on. Just as Jesus drove out all the greedy merchants and money changers, we also should drive out all our sinfulness. Repentance is confessing our sins and making a decision to change, to change from myself to God.  As long as anger is in us, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in us. As long as lustful desire is burning in our hearts, the Holy Spirit cannot abide in us. But as long as we pray, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and purifies us from all unrighteousness.

  Let us make our church into a house of prayer for all nations. Let us pray for all our continental directors, missionaries and shepherds in every mission field. Let us pray that God may open the door of N. Korea and send missionaries there. Let us make each family a house of prayer, to pray for children, for this nation and for this world. As I mentioned before, those who pray change the world. Those who pray see God’s vision and accomplish His will. Those who pray receive power and the Spirit from above. May God make St. Louis UBF a house of prayer for all nations as well as all campuses in St. Louis. Amen.

Second, Jesus’ teaching at the temple (47-48) Look at verses 47-48. “Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.” Jesus was teaching the word of God at the temple every day. Unlike Matthew or Mark, Luke used the past progressive tense verb “was teaching” in order to emphasize Jesus’ teaching ministry.(Mk 11:18, Lk 20:1) Jesus taught the word of God and preached the gospel wherever he went. People gathered around him and hung on his words like thirsty deer panting for water. Jesus provided the living water for their thirsty souls, taught the way to be born again to Nicodemus, and called the directionless tax collector Levi to the kingdom of God.

  When we pray, we should also study the word of God. Prayer and the ministry of God’s word should be balanced together. Our church should not be a house of seeking emotionally highs, but a house of seeking the truth and sharing the gospel with others. We need deep personal Bible studies. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Let the word of God dwell in you richly. Last week I ordered the entire Bible CDs through the internet in order to read the entire Bible this year. My friend Carl Joerger made a New Year resolution to read the Bible in a year. How about you?  I hope all members here will read the Bible even more this year.

  Not only should we study the Bible, but also we should teach the word to others as Jesus did. Last Friday, I received a text message from Kit, a reaching out partner, “Are you ready at 3:00 pm?” He asked me if I was ready to go and reach out at Wash U by 3:00 pm. I answered “No”, because I was not ready. But Jesus was ready to teach every day. It was the first day of his last visit to Jerusalem. He knew that in a few days he would be arrested and would suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. Still, he taught at the temple. Jesus was ready to teach and preach in season and out of season. (2 Tim 4:2)

Third, John’s baptism-was it from heaven, or from men? (20:1-8)  One day as Jesus was teaching the people  in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?” (1-2) While Jesus was still teaching in the temple, all the members of the Sanhedrin, a Jewish ruling council, came and asked him, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus’ clearing the temple not only defied the authority of the Jewish leaders, but also damaged their monetary profits. They gathered their evil forces and ideas to challenge Jesus by bring up the issue of authority.

How did Jesus reply?  Look at verses 3,4. “He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism-was it from heaven, or from men?” John the Baptist was foretold by the prophet Isaiah as the voice of one calling in the desert to prepare the way for the Lord. (Is 40:3)  John prepared the way for the Lord Jesus by preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk 1:4) The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mk 1:5)

  John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Before he was born, the angel of God showed Zechariah what his child would be. “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk 1:14-17)

  John’s message had power and authority because it was the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. It was not easy to deliver the message of repentance of sins. People like to hear the message of blessing, the message of success, and the message of prosperity, not the message of repentance.  However, John delivered the message of repentance, even to King Herod who had committed adultery. John was not afraid of people. He did not withdraw from the threat of human authority. He only lived before God. He feared only God, not men. John believed that people could prepare their hearts for Jesus through repentance. He baptized anyone who would repent and prepare to receive the Lord Jesus.

  Baptism by John is the cleansing of sins and the washing away of iniquities. It is also a declaration of new life with the Lord. But John taught the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Mark 1:7,8 he said, “And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is for regeneration. In other words, it is for making a new person with a new heart and with new desire. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” It is amazing news that Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. We need power to do God’s work. We need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord. Jesus will baptize each of us with the Holy Spirit. Amen

  How did John live as a man of God? He lived in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey, and wearing clothing made of camel’s hair. (Mk 1:6). In America we have many foods which cause eating disorders and diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high-blood pressure and so on. But John ate healthy food and wore simple clothes. I mean that John lived a pure and God-centered life. Spiritual authority comes from a pure, holy and God-centered life. His life was faultless. His message was powerful and soul-penetrating, not because of his persuasive words, but because of the power of the Spirit. (1 Co 2:4) How do we live as men and women of mission? Are we free from anxiety and fear in the land of freedom and the land of abundance?  John the Baptist lived a God-centered life because he knew who he was. He knew that he came from God and that his mission was from God.

  John the Baptist reminds me of Rev. Billy Graham. Last summer, Dr. Peter Chang, the Europe UBF director asked me. “What does America really need today and in the future?” I answered, “America needs great spiritual leaders who will change America and influence the world like Jonathan Edwards, D. L. Moody and Rev. Billy Graham.” Now Dr. Graham is 94 years old. His mission is almost over. There should be someone else who takes over his mission and his vision. His son Franklin? Maybe. How about you and me? America needs men and women of God like John the Baptist who will preach the baptism of repentance.  This generation calls for those with power and spirit who will turn the hearts of people to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you ready? Are you willing to respond to God’s calling?

  Jesus gave his disciples such authority. Today Jesus gives his authority to everyone who listens to him and obeys his great commission. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus said, “…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus promised to give his authority to all of us. We don’t need licenses to teach the Bible. We don’t need certificates to evangelize campuses. This is because Jesus gave us authority. This authority came from heaven, from Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

  Now we need power. Jesus promised to his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Ac 1:8) We must pray in order to receive the Holy Spirit. We must repent of our sins in order to receive the Holy Spirit. We must obey Jesus’ world mission command in order to bring his kingdom to this earth.

Look at verses 5-7. Jesus’ response frustrated their evil scheme. They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.” The religious leaders lived a miserable life because they lived before men, not before God. We should live before God, not before men. We should side with the truth, not compromise with this world. Look at verse 8. Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” Jesus meant that his authority came from God. Jesus is God himself.

  In today’s passage we learned the importance of prayer. We need deep Bible study. We need the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that God may raise many men and women of power and spirit like John the Baptist for this generation, who can make America a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Amen.

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