{"id":2018,"date":"2013-03-25T12:12:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T12:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=2018"},"modified":"2013-03-25T12:12:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T12:12:38","slug":"monday-morning-rewind-a-passion-for-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/monday-morning-rewind-a-passion-for-the-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Rewind: A Passion for ‘The House’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n The following is from my message yesterday at The Gathering<\/a>. \u00a0You can watch video on Demand here<\/a>.<\/p>\n What is your attitude towards “the House”? \u00a0I’m talking about the Church. \u00a0Not the building…the people; the Body for which Christ died?<\/p>\n Over the years, the church has been largely defined by individuals or groups who have led it…or been active in it. For some, by using manipulation and threats, church leaders could get people to act the way they wanted and so it has been used as a tool to control people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For others, it is a means of great gain, with so-called “ministers” using their pulpits to woo members to make a $1000 vow and pay it or to buy the minister a new Mercedes so he can make hospital visits in\u00a0style, or give very large percentages of their income regardless of whether they knew where the money was going or not.<\/p>\n Politicians throughout modern history have used church membership in order to demonstrate their upstanding community status and improve their electability. Conservative political parties have “courted” the Christian vote in order to further their political agenda while liberal political parties have done the same to liberal Christians in order to rubber stamp policies that stand starkly against the clear instruction of God’s Word.<\/span>yle, or give very large percentages of their income regardless of whether they knew where the money was going or not.<\/p>\n It seems so many people use and abuse the Church in such a way that, rather than being held up and protected as the beautiful Body and Bride of Christ that she is, she is mistreated and turned into a pleasurable commodity up for sale to the highest bidder, whored out as nothing more than some cheap, special interest group who can win over the populace or earn a buck under the guise of religious interest.<\/p>\n What does God think about this? Do you think it bothers Him when people fail to understand the nature of the Church and mishandle the very thing that Christ died to establish?<\/p>\n I think the clearest picture we get is what happened after Jesus entered into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, the week before He gave Himself up to be crucified on the cross. I’m framing it like that because I want you to see the connection between how He came as the suffering servant contrasted with His attitude towards those who abuse the Holy things of God.<\/p>\n Look at Matthew 21:12-13:<\/p>\n \u00a0Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13\u00a0He said to them, \u201cIt is written, \u2018My house shall be called a house of prayer,\u2019 but you make it a den of robbers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In this statement, Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 56\u00a0Thus says the Lord:<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cKeep justice, and do righteousness,<\/p>\n <\/a> w<\/a>for soon my salvation will come,<\/p>\n <\/a> and my righteousness be revealed.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 2\u00a0Blessed is the man who does this,<\/p>\n <\/a> and the son of man who holds it fast,<\/p>\n <\/a> x<\/a>who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,<\/p>\n <\/a> and keeps his hand from doing any evil.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 3\u00a0Let not y<\/a>the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cThe Lord will surely separate me from his people\u201d;<\/p>\n <\/a> and let not the eunuch say,<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cBehold, I am z<\/a>a dry tree.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 4\u00a0For thus says the Lord:<\/p>\n <\/a> \u201cTo the eunuchs x<\/a>who keep my Sabbaths,<\/p>\n <\/a> who choose the things that please me<\/p>\n <\/a> and hold fast my covenant,<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 5\u00a0a<\/a>I will give in my house and within my walls<\/p>\n <\/a> a b<\/a>monument and a name<\/p>\n <\/a> better than sons and daughters;<\/p>\n <\/a> c<\/a>I will give them an everlasting name<\/p>\n <\/a> that shall not be cut off.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 6\u00a0\u201cAnd y<\/a>the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,<\/p>\n <\/a> to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,<\/p>\n <\/a> and to be his servants,<\/p>\n <\/a> everyone x<\/a>who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,<\/p>\n <\/a> and holds fast my covenant\u2014<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 7\u00a0d<\/a>these I will bring to e<\/a>my holy mountain,<\/p>\n <\/a> and make them joyful in my house of prayer;<\/p>\n <\/a> f<\/a>their burnt offerings and their sacrifices<\/p>\n <\/a> will be accepted on my altar;<\/p>\n <\/a> for g<\/a>my house shall be called a house of prayer<\/p>\n <\/a> for all peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 8\u00a0The Lord God,<\/p>\n <\/a> h<\/a>who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,<\/p>\n <\/a> i<\/a>\u201cI will gather yet others to him<\/p>\n <\/a> besides those already gathered.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n By quoting Isaiah 56, Jesus is foreshadowing the very salvation He came to establish <\/span>and not for the Jews, alone<\/b>: (7b) “my house shall be called a house of prayer <\/span>for all peoples<\/i>“. Keep in mind here that He is not talking about Universalism (all people will be saved), but all <\/span>peoples<\/i> as in “people groups”. This is in keeping with Revelation 5:9-10,<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a> \u201cWorthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10\u00a0and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jesus has just walked into Jerusalem to prepare to be slain in order to establish for Himself a people from every nation on earth, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:16-18 where God said to Abraham following his near sacrifice of Isaac:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a> \u201cBy myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17\u00a0I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18\u00a0and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This song in Revelation, sung by the angels, is from the future looking back on the events of this week of Jesus’s passionate mission coming to a head. On the other hand, both the passage from Isaiah and the promise from Genesis are looking forward<\/i> at this week centuries before they happened! This is the week! This is when it’s all coming to a head and salvation will either be secured for all peoples or it will not. Jesus is focused and He is passionate! It’s clear in His response to those who were abusing the Temple.<\/p>\n We see it also in the second part of Isaiah 56:<\/p>\n <\/a> all you beasts in the forest.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 10\u00a0His watchmen are blind;<\/i><\/p>\n <\/a> they are all without knowledge;<\/p>\n <\/a> they are all silent l<\/a>dogs;<\/i><\/p>\n <\/a> they cannot bark,<\/p>\n <\/a> dreaming, lying down,<\/p>\n <\/a> loving to slumber<\/i>.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 11\u00a0The dogs have a mighty appetite;<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> they never have enough<\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/a> But they are shepherds who have no understanding<\/span>;<\/p>\n <\/a> they have all turned to their own way,<\/p>\n <\/a> each to his own gain, one and all<\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> 12\u00a0<\/span>\u201cCome,\u201d they say, \u201clet me get wine;<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a> let us fill ourselves with strong drink;<\/p>\n\n
9\u00a0All you beasts of the field, come to devour\u2014<\/a><\/h3>\n