Title: Purify the Temple
Contents
Bible Text: Matthew 21:12-17 (Matthew)
Sermon Title: Purify the Temple
What is the purpose of my faith in God and attending church?
Aren't I relying on God for the fulfillment of my body and going to church for happiness?
The reason we come to church and offer repentance/ hymns/ offerings/ worship is so that we can fully come before God. In other words, worship is to glorify God by becoming a living sacrifice.
However, if our faith does not glorify God but rather goes to church and prays for the happiness of our bodies, it is like a person who sells (seller) at the temple.
Also, if you give your offering with the mindset that it is conditional, you are like a person who wants to make a profit by exchanging money. Those who come out without preparing with prayers, the Word, and offerings before coming to church are like those who come to the temple and buy/sell livestock with money.
This is the unprepared one. A person who goes to church and does no service/ A person who seeks only comfort like a Jew who was buying a chair at the time.
I hope these churches and believers remember that Jesus beats them with a whip and drives them out of the glory of God.
Then, what should the church and the temple of our heart do?
1. It must be a place of prayer.
The light of prayer must always be lit in the church and the temple of the heart.
Just as the light of the candlestick in the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament is always on, the church should be overflowing with prayers, hymns, and cries of worship, and my temple should be overflowing with songs and prayers.
2. It should be a place to heal the blind and the sick.
Like the pool of Bethesda, the church should always be open with love and compassion for the marginalized / sick in spirit and body. The water must be frozen so that they can run to the pond at any time. And it has to be a place that helps you get in.
It should be a place to share pain with such people, weep together, and rejoice together.
3. It should be a place of praise.
The church and the temple of heart should always be filled with thanksgiving and joy with the presence and help of the Holy Spirit, giving praise and showing the glory of God.
4. It must become a temple that longs for the Lord (John 2:17).
The church and the temple of heart must be the church and us who fully carry and follow my cross, which he left for us, remembering the love of Jesus who shed his blood on the cross to save us forever.
5. It must be a place where the Lord’s commands are fully carried out (Acts 1:8).
The church and the sanctuary of the heart must be a place where the mission is fully fulfilled.
In order for us to remember the love of the Lord who came to this earth in human form, suffered and died on the cross to save us during Lent and the coming Holy Week, in order for us to fully carry out the mission left for each of us, we must first become the body of the Lord. The church and the temple of the heart where the Holy Spirit is present must first be cleansed, and I pray that you will prepare the prayers and the Word before you are purified.