A Passion for His Work - Zeal for His House

As we were singing I was thinking about the fact that, I guess picturing it in my mind that there is a continuous flow of blood for the redemption of man. There's enough blood that was spilled to redeem me, but enough blood to sustain me. And there is enough blood to reach those who are unreached in the far corners of the globe and those who are unreached down the street from our homes. There's enough blood to form us and mold us and make us into the church that God wants us to be. And that's nothing more than a total work of grace and I'm thankful for the blood. That's good stuff. Thank you, Keith.

I'll take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the Gospel of John. John chapter 2, and we are back in our series, "Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live." I know that we've taken a little break from our series because of Vacation Bible School and looking at the parable of the prodigal out of Luke 15 last week. But I'm very glad to be back in our series in John. I was looking forward to it and I have been really since we departed. We're going to be in chapter 2. We're going to be in verses 13 through 17 this morning.

And most of you have a Bible where there is a little title above, a little heading above verse 13, and you will probably see the first Passover cleansing the temple. And we're going to be in those verses this morning. Now, from our verses this morning, we have a little bit of a controversy. What I mean by controversy, many times there are varying opinions on interpretation and understanding of the Scriptures. And there's no man who fully understands all of the Scripture. Only the Lord Jesus could and would. But there's a little bit of a controversy in these verses. There are some that debate how many times Jesus cleans the temple.

Now, the synoptic Gospels, that would be Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The synoptic Gospels have Jesus cleansing the temple at the end of his earthly ministry while John has Jesus cleansing the temple at the beginning. Some commentators say that John writes his account out of chronological order. Those Bible commentators say that he only cleansed it once and Jesus just went back and he grabbed that and he put that, or John just reached and grabbed that and he put that at the beginning of his account. But that's not the case. Jesus cleans the temple at the beginning of his ministry. That's where we are this morning.

And again, at the end of his ministry, that would have been what's called the Passion Week, the end of his earthly ministry right before the cross. And the synoptic Gospels give us those that account. We see that in Matthew 21, 12, Mark 11, 15, through verses 18, Luke 19, starting in verse 45. Now, why do I mention this? I'm not trying to bore you with factual information. Those of you who are studious, and I encourage you to be, you would notice that it's here in John, this beginning of his ministry and cleansing the temple, and you would notice also that the other Gospels have it at the end. And it might be a source of confusion for you.

Because remember, at the beginning of this series, when we looked at the who, the what of the Gospel of John, I explained to you that there's a lot of information that John gives that the others don't give. This is one of them. Jesus cleansing the temple at the beginning of his ministry. So what do I want you to see here? John records that Jesus really explodes on the public scene in clearing the temple. Now, I want you to notice the act of the time of this act. It's almost riotous to be honest with you. Verse 13, if you look, shows us that Jesus does this at what is called the Passover or the Passover celebration or Passover feast.

Verse 13, "And the Passover of the Jews was at hand." And that's very interesting for you to see. It's very important for you to see. Now, a question for you. What was the Passover? Some of you are students of the Scripture, and you know that. But some of you are less studious or maybe less experienced in the Scriptures. And you might not know the significance of the Passover. Now, the Passover was one of the Jewish feasts or celebrations. The Passover was the first of all the annual feasts and was immediately followed by the feasts of the unleavened bread. Many times they will be combined in some of the terminology.

Now, the Passover feast was the most important for historical and spiritual reasons. Historically, the feast commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery and the establishment of Israel, the Jews, as a nation. We find this in Exodus 12, Chapter 12, and the remaining chapters, few chapters after, that God does this work. God judged Egypt. And if you have your Bible knowledge at hand, God judged Egypt with 10 plagues. And in the last of the plagues, God judged the Egyptians with the plague of death of the firstborn.

In his plague, in this last plague, it was God himself that killed all of the firstborn of Egypt from Pharaoh's house all the way down to the slave girl who would have been at the meal. But God would pass over the homes of the Israelites, those who were obedient to what God commanded them to do. God commanded them to take blood from an innocent lamb and to literally apply or smear that blood on the doorposts and the lentils of their doors. And they were to be behind that blood. And the death angel would pass over them. That's where the name of the feast comes from.

And so spiritually, this was none other than the doctrine of the substitutionary death, an innocent lamb for the firstborn of the Jews. So in a nutshell, that's what the Passover is. It was an important, one of the most or the most important festival or celebrations in the life of the Jews. And according to Exodus 23, verses 14 through 17, they were to celebrate this feast annually. And this was to be the most important celebration on the Jewish calendar. Passover would bring thousands of people from all over the known world, and they would come to Jerusalem to celebrate and to worship this Passover feast, this Passover celebration.

This is the context I want you to see. This is the backdrop of Jesus clearing the temple, this great Passover celebration, the most important festival for the Jews historically and spiritually. And see, some of this might read over the beginning of verse 13 and just miss the significance of the timing of Jesus cleansing or clearing the temple. Now, the title of the message this morning is, it's rather lengthy and I want you to be patient with me. It's a passion for his work, zeal for his house. A passion for his work, zeal for his house.

We will hold on to that first portion of the title, a passion for his work when we continue next week from verses 18 on down to verse 24. But we see a passion for his work and in verses 13 through 17 we see a zeal for his house. Now Jesus, he comes, he goes up to Jerusalem, he goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. I don't know if you know it, but he was obedient to the Jewish law. It was the rules and the regulations of the religious leaders that he broke frequently. But he never did break the law, the law that was instituted by Moses and he went straight to the temple and when he goes to the temple, what do we see?

For me, I posed it in a series of questions. What did he find? What did he do and what did he say? And those are the questions that we're going to ask from the text this morning. So I trust that you're taking notes. You should be taking notes for your own personal study so that you can get all that God wants you to get this morning. So let's go to the verses together. Let's read them and then we're going to dive into the text. Verse 13 of chapter 2, "And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus, he went up to Jerusalem, and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated.

And he made a scourge of cords, some translations say a whip, and he drove them out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers, and he overturned their tables. And to those who were selling the doves, he said, 'Take these things away. Stop making my father's house a house of merchandise.' His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for thy house will consume me.'" And that is a quotation from Psalms, and we will get there Psalm 69 verse 9. I've already given you the main truths that we're going to explore this morning. They're in the form of a question, or questions.

So let's look at number one, what did he find? What did Jesus find? Go back to verse 14, and he found in the temple. Verse 13 says he goes to Jerusalem, he goes up to Jerusalem, many of you don't know it is a mountainous city, so he goes up to Jerusalem and he goes straight to the temple. And what did he find? Verse 14, he found the temple, and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen, they were selling sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting there exchanging money. So this is what he found. As he entered the temple, he found those selling animals, those exchanging money. Now, question, what was the temple?

What is the significance of the temple? Again, some of you might not know the ins and outs of some of what John is giving us. The temple was at the heart of Jewish worship, and it was in the heart of Jerusalem. Now, the temple is not to be confused with the synagogues. The synagogues were scattered all throughout the land. If you know your Old Testament, there were three temples. There were Solomon's Temple and Ezekiel's Temple, and then there was Herod's Temple. And this was Herod's Temple, and it was the most sacred place, it was the most holy site to the Jews, and it was central to their worship.

It was the Holy of Holies in their mind and in their eyes. So Jesus, he goes to this most sacred site, the temple, and what does he find? Let's break this down, and I want you to see what he found. First, he found those selling animals. That's obvious out of verse 14, but I want you to see that this was a legitimate service to those who were traveling great distances. There were some pilgrims that traveled thousands and hundreds of miles, and it would have been impractical for them to bring animals such a great distance to make the appropriate sacrifices. We see listed here the doves. The doves were for sin offerings for the poor.

While the sheep are a goat, goats aren't listed here, they were a more expensive animal for the sin offering. We have listed here the oxen. They were for the burnt offerings, which are listed in Numbers chapter 7. Now, John's not being exhaustive in listing all of the animals that were sold, but what is he showing us? They were those who were selling animals right there in the temple. And again, this would have been a legitimate service for those who were traveling a great distance.

But if you know your history, if you do a little studying, you'll find out that although this was a legitimate service for those who were traveling to worship, because see, every Jewish male, 21 years old and older, would have to come and pay a temple tax according to Exodus 30, therefore the money changers. But the tax could not be paid with a foreign currency. All of these pilgrims would have been coming to do what? To make the appropriate sacrifice.

But if you do your study and you do some historical background, you will find that originally they would set up shop across the Kidron Valley near the Mount of Olives and not in the temple complex. So what do we see? He found those selling animals and then also he found those exchanging money. This also was a legitimate service for those traveling from such a great distance. Like I said, every male, 21 years and older, they had to pay the temple tax as well as make the appropriate sacrifices. But see, the tax could not be paid with foreign money. Their coinage had to be exchanged for the appropriate money. And so what do we see?

Jesus comes into the temple at the most holy time on the religious calendar and he finds the temple full of those selling animals and exchanging money. Now, these had begun as legitimate services for the worshippers. But by Jesus' day, this service had become a system of profit and horrible corruption, which even included the chief priests and the religious leaders. This was none other than exploitation of those who were coming to worship the one true God at the most sacred and significant feast of the year. I ran across a quote by John McCruthory. It really paints a picture. I kind of like it.

He said, "The sound of heartfelt praise and fervent prayers had been drowned out by the bawling of oxen, the bleeding of sheep, the cooing of doves, and the loud haggling of vendors and their customers." I don't know if you've ever been in a barnyard. I don't know if you've ever been to a livestock sale, but it is full of noises. I thought about that this week when I was doing studying as I was reading, and I ran across this quote. That is exactly what had taken place. The sound of worship had been drowned out. It had been muddled out by this great sound that has been brought into the temple by the selling of animals and exchanging of money.

See, this was a terrible sin against God. But not only a terrible sin against God, it was a terrible sin against the Gentiles. Because most Bible commentators believe that they set up shop in the temple and the court of the Gentiles. See, those of you who are familiar with the construction of the temple, there was the court of the Gentiles, the court of the women, and then there was the court for the Jewish men, and so on. But most Bible commentators believe that they had set up shop in the court of the Gentiles. So not only was it a sin against God, it was a sin against the Gentiles themselves.

Because there were many Gentile proselytes who came to worship the one true God. And this was an awful sin. I guess an application I would have to ask you a question. This is a loaded question. What do we find in churches today? I have seen behavior such as this. Now, when I make this comment, by no means am I acting like I've traveled worldwide. By no means do I act like I've traveled extensively in our country. But in my limited experience, I have seen behavior such as this. I've seen church leadership. He refused to pray. But they loved high-price entertainments in the life of the church.

I've seen people hungry for God's Word to be preached, but yet in the pulpit, they would be jokesters and hypocrites and money grabbers. I've seen ministers fed well and paid well, but yet the people of God starved for leadership and starved for true preaching of the Word of God. I've seen church leaders and deacons fighting and lost people hearing and seeing everything done. What am I showing you?

If we're honest with ourselves and we have had even a limited amount of experience in this thing called the life of the church, we can see that the sounds and the activities of true worship have been drowned out by those who have brought things in the life of the church. But what about here? If Christ were to come, what would he find? He should find the Word of God preached and the Word of God taught. That's on my heart. No matter what, I think you know by now I'm striving to preach the Word Sunday morning, to preach the Word Sunday night.

Even in our Bible and our prayer time on Wednesday night to have a Bible study time, we must get the Word. We need a healthy, balanced diet, consistently of the Word. It is the Word and anointing of the Spirit that is going to change you from the inside out. It is my heart's desire to teach you to pray, to move us to be a church of prayer. We have many prayer burdens that are on our heart that we've been carrying for well over a couple of years and we're going to continue to carry those prayer burdens. I would hope that the Lord would find true teaching, true preaching, true prayer.

I would hope that the Lord would come and find us loving sinners. Remember, we learned about the Father, the heart of the Father out of Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal. It's God the Father who loves sinners, who runs to sinners, who embraces sinners and who forgives sinners. And it is our heart's desire to love sinners like God loves sinners. It should be our heart's desire to take the gospel to the nations from the Nola community to your community all the way to India and wherever God would open up doors.

I would hope that the Lord Jesus would find people working hard to become strong and mature Christians, strong men, strong women, strong husbands and wives, strong families and strong young people. See, the Lord Jesus, he came to the Passover, he came to the temple and what did he find? The church was full, it was cluttered, it was bound up by things that should not be. And I'm afraid that there are many churches and you know them. They spend so much time and effort and energy doing things that should not be. Let's move on to the second question number two. What did he do? In verse 15, what did he do?

And he made a scourge of cords and he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and he overturned their tables. Now it's obvious from this verse that Jesus did cause a big scene. It was almost riotous to be honest with you. Notice that he made a scourge, the new American standard, a scourge of whips. The King James reads the same but yet all of the modern translations that you have say that he made a whip. And that is a more modern word and translation of the original text.

Now the other gospel accounts that we have do not have Jesus taking a whip in the latter cleansing of the temple. But a question. What did he do with this whip? The verse tells us, first we see that he drove out all of the merchants. What does it say? And he made this whip and he drove them all out. The construction of the language shows that he drove out those who were selling. The text clearly says those who were selling animals and those who were exchanging money, he drove them out of the temple.

Second we see that he drove out all of the animals and he made this whip and he drove out, he drove all of them out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen. See he drove out not only the merchants, not only the ones selling, but he drove out the animals as well. And he drove them all the way out of the temple the scripture says. And all the translations we use say that he drove them out of the temple. Now this can be translated cast out, but the language clearly teaches that he took a whip and he drove them all out. And this for me demands a question. Was Jesus cruel? Was he inhumane? Another question, did he violate any of the law? No.

He did not sin in his action. Jesus did not sin in any way, but the text makes it clear that Jesus used a whip to drive out people, to drive out animals. Jesus was forceful enough to drive them all out of the temple, but he was not so riotous to alarm the Romans who would have most definitely been on high alert at this time. So what do we see? He held nothing back and he drove them out. And for us, I think that we need to look at a warning. I need to issue a warning.

When we see those in our day and time, when we see those abusing the church, we do not have a right to fashion a will on our own and to start driving people and things out of the life of the church. Remember who Jesus was. He was the son of God. What did he say? Upon this rock, I will build my church. And it was his father's temple. It was his right and place. He was perfect in every way. But what should we do? When we see this kind of behavior take place, what should our first reaction be? We should let that drive us to our knees. We should become people of prayer. We should pray. We should fast.

And we should ask God to do what only God can do. And that is to raise up people to reform and restore the church to its proper place. Now who should do this? The elders of the church. The leaders of the church. God's men. God called men. Those that he has raised up. And I want you to remember this. It is impossible to move around God's appointed leadership. Now God can move through them and over them and around them, but you can't. Remember the story of Saul, King Saul? Remember he was disobedient. And what did Samuel say? Samuel said the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands.

And even though the kingdom was torn out of his hands, and even though Samuel had anointed this young boy, this young man named David, Saul was still in the position of the king, was he not? But what was David's attitude? What was David's heart? David would not touch King Saul. As a matter of fact, when he slipped up behind him in the cave and he cut off the corner of his robe, proving that he was not out to get Saul, he even repented for cutting off the corner of his robe. What's the point? David did not have the right to out King Saul. It was God's job. And see in the life of the church, there are two errors that people make.

A lot of times people will become complacent and apathetic, and they will just settle for the church to be shipwrecked and out of place and out of joint with the scripture. But yet some will take up a whip on their own, and they will seek to clean up and fix up the church when they don't have the right and they've not been called. See, there is a strong warning here. God will not work around and God will not work over his people who he has in that place. Now, in time he can get them out. In time he can use them. But our job is to pray, our job is to fast, our job is to have a broken heart and bring the situation to him.

And then if God raises us up, praise the Lord. I've been in these predicaments before. I've served in churches where it was difficult. The leadership were not doing things that were biblical and right. And it was not my job to try to fix it. It was my job to bear the burden that no one seemed to care and to pray and to fast and to weep and to have a broken heart because men were shipwrecking the church. I think about a good example of a situation like this. And it should help us because when we look at church history, we have a tendency to elevate those in church history a little too high. Some of you are familiar with Jonathan Edwards.

He was one of the greatest theologians that our country ever produced. You need to study. I would encourage you to study about Jonathan Edwards. I'll have some of his works. I'll have a biography. It's very good. I will be glad to loan it to you. You'll have to overlook my dog years from my reading of the book. But Jonathan Edwards, some of you might not know, was dismissed from his own church in 1750. Now you've got to remember, this is one of the most famous, the most successful men of God in his day in his time. But why was he dismissed? There were some little things going on behind the scenes.

History tells us there was some fighting going on about his salary. That sounds very current, doesn't it? There was a conflict that he had within a family of the church. But the biggest issue, the biggest reason why he was ousted from his church was, he tried to rework the church admissions policy and the policies concerning who could partake in the Lord's supper. And they were set in place by his grandfather who pastored the same church for over 50 years.

And it seems like Jonathan Edwards took a little bit of a whip to the situation when he might have, should have taken a little more prayer and a little more fasting and a little more patience. But see, on this side of history, you know, we have that 2020 vision, do we not? What am I trying to show you? I'm not trying to show you that we can say and tell what Jonathan Edwards did wrong. It's just that when you take upon yourself to clean the temple, it's not always easy. Let's move on to the second or the third question. What did he say out of verses 16 and 17? What did he say?

And to those, now notice from verses 13 to 15, he's not said a word, a lot of action, but not a word. And to those who were selling the doves, he said, "Take these things away. Stop making my father's house a house of merchandise." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." Now up to this point, he had been very silent, but yet very active. Now all of the translations, King James, English Standard Version, read the same. I like how the Holman Christian, it just puts it, this is the words of Jesus. It says, "Get these things out of here.

Stop turning my father's house into a marketplace." Very current language, but very accurate with the original. But I want you to notice first, he renounced their sin. He renounced their sin. What does he say? "Take these things away. Stop making my father's house a house of merchandise." They had made the temple a marketplace. They had made the temple, which was his father's house, something it was not supposed to be. It was not that they were involved in dishonest business that he points out, but we know they were. It was that they had done what the text did not allow them to do.

They had brought merchants, they had brought animals, they had brought money changers in the temple of God. He renounced their sin, he declared their sin, and he did it forcefully. But the second thing I want you to see is that the disciples, they pronounced his zeal. Go back to verse 17. His disciples remembered it was written, and they're quoting Psalm 69 verse 9. "Zeal for thy house will consume me." What am I showing you? The disciples pronounced his zeal. I want you to notice Jesus had zeal. I like what Vincent's word study says.

It says, "This zeal is a jealousy for the honor of God's house." The Amplified reads, "I will be consumed with jealousy for the honor of your house." Jesus had zeal, but Jesus' zeal, notice it consumed him. The King James reads, "It had eaten him up." Vincent says, "The fervor of love for thine house has eaten me." This zeal had consumed all of his attention and all of his affections. You get that? Because what we see is Jesus renounced their sin, and he declared it, but the disciples pronounced that which was in his heart. Jesus said a lot, but his disciples said a lot about him as well.

Jesus pronounced his disgust at the condition of the temple, his father's house, but the disciples spoke of, now listen, Jesus' heart in the matter. They spoke of what they saw, not just what he said and what he did. He was jealous for the honor and the true purpose of God's house, the temple, and this jealousy consumed him. Again, for us, what would Jesus say about us? What would Jesus say about our approach to our church, Nola Baptist Church? We should have a zeal, we should have a jealousy for the church, and what it should be. Now let me pause here for a minute. There are two errors that people make.

Many people get off to one side and they're just apathetic, and they accept things the way they are, and they're too complacent, and they accept the church in a sick and distorted state. That's wrong. But yet some people come over here and they might have a little unreal expectation. Now I'm not trying to lower the standard. The standard should always be the scripture. But what I'm trying to show you is the church is always going to be sick. The church is always going to have problems because it is comprised of people like you and me. We are sinners saved by grace. We have our problems, and the enemy is going to attack.

The enemy is going to bring lost people in. We're always going to be fighting what? The flesh. The church will never be perfect on this side of glory. And see, studying someone like Jonathan Edwards shows me that a great man of God and a wonderful church used by God still had problems. But what do we see? We should have a zeal. We should have a jealousy for the church to be all that it should be. And listen, we should be consumed by that zeal. We should be eaten up for that zeal. We should be eaten alive every day of our life for a zeal for the church as the scriptures say it should be.

But see, the problem here is that most people do not know what the New Testament says the church should be. And even those who know what the New Testament says, they will just move on and accept things the way they are when they should not. And see, we should be eaten up with a holy jealousy, a holy zeal. It should consume our lives that the church would be all that God wants it to be. And listen, we must go where the Bible goes, but we must stop where the Bible stops. The Bible, the Word of God gives us, now listen, it gives us the model, the manual, the template for the church.

But see, sometimes people will impose things on the church that are scriptural. And then sometimes people will leave things out that are. It's always that balance of being right on the razor's edge of the church and you might say, of the scripture. And you might say, why would you call us to have this type of zeal, this type of consuming zeal for the church? Do you realize it's the church that Christ is coming back for? Do you realize the church is the center of God's activity here on earth? Do you realize the manner in which God manifests Himself on earth is in and through the church?

It is the church that He desires to use and He is called to use to evangelize the nations and form the saints. And we must, listen, be consumed by this zeal, this jealousy. We must have a life-consuming desire to see the church be what it should be and be a part of that church. Now as I begin to close, we're going to move away from the text. I ran across something that a Bible commentator, I've used him for years, his name is D.A. Carson. I was turned on to him in my seminary days, as a matter of fact taking a class on the Gospel of John. And I want you to listen close to what he says concerning this text.

He says, "Jesus cleansing the temple, testifies to his concern for pure worship, a right relationship with God at the place supremely designated to serve as a focal point of the relationship between God and man." Now that can be said of the temple, but that also can be said of the church. Let me add to that. This is me adding to Carson's quote. "Jesus is concerned for His church, for pure worship, a right relationship with God at the place supremely designated to serve as a focal point of the relationship between God and man." God doesn't dwell on the temple anymore, people. God dwells in the lives of His people whom He has called.

What did Jesus say? "Upon this rock I will build my church." That word, "church" in the original, is the ecclesia, the called out ones. And when He saves lost men and women, when He saves black and white and brown and all colors in between, and rich and poor, those who are educated and ignorant, He calls them together to be what? The church. And in Jesus' day, the center of God's activity is in Jerusalem, in the temple, in Judaism, but now it's in the church. And what does He say? This is this quote, my quote, His quote.

"Jesus is concerned for His church, for pure worship." Listen, we should desire pure worship, a right relationship with God. We should desire that we all have that right relationship with God in the place supremely designated as a focal point. Now, there's nothing magical about this building. There's nothing magical about this property.

But you know, when you study church history and you look at the work of the church, whether there are people who are assembled in a fine stately building, whether there are people who are assembled in an older building, whether there are people who are assembled under a thatched hut, whether there are people assembled in a house church, when it is a true church, a Bible church, it is, now listen, the focal point of God's work. And when we come together as the church, we should desire pure worship, a right relationship with God, recognizing that this is God's designated focal point to work. Now listen, between Him, self, God, and man.

And what do we see? What do we see? Jesus, He had a passion for the Father's work, and He had a zeal for His house. Now, as I move away from even my notes, I was reminded in studying and even preparing last night, God infused supernaturally that zeal for His house, the moment God saved me. Y'all have heard my testimony? I was saved on a Saturday night. I was not a churchgoer. A team of wild horses couldn't get me to go to church, but yet the Spirit of God could, because when God saved me, the very next day I had my heart's desire to go where?

To go to the church, it didn't matter how big it was, it didn't matter the architectural style, it did not matter the music. Listen, when I went to church that very next day, I walked right into a Sunday school class, and there were people in that Sunday school class who I went to high school with that I ridiculed. And I had a zeal that consumed me as a lay person for what? His house, His work, His worship. And listen, we have so much to learn, because look, the church has been entrusted to us. The work of the church, the care of the church, the function of the church. Now we all have different roles.

You know my role, you know Brother Keith's role as elders, but yet the work of the church has been entrusted to you, it's been entrusted to us, and what can we learn from the example of Jesus clearing the temple? We must have zeal, an all-consuming zeal for this work. Because listen, one day, we, all of us, will give an account for what He has given us here today. Let's pray. Lord, I thank You for this zeal that we see in the text, we see in the life of Your Son Jesus. I thank You for this example that we can follow. Lord, I pray that You will help us today, because so many of us have been hurt by the church, and disappointed by the church.