Tag: Christianity

Radical Disrupts Place of Worship

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Life, Uncategorized

No this isn’t a recent headline from the New York Times. It’s likely what the Jerusalem Daily Gazette would have published the morning after Jesus cleared the Temple.

There is so much we can learn from this passage, but it so rarely gets brought up in churches. Questions about this passage always pop up. “Why would Jesus do such a thing?” or “Doesn’t Jesus love everyone? Why would he cause such a scene in a place of worship?”

There are two accounts of this happening in the Bible. One recorded by Matthew, the other by John. Today we’ll look at John’s account of this event.

John 2:13-17 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Clears the Temple
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

When I was growing up, I would hear someone reference this passage the moment a fundraising catalog entered the church building. But that’s just not the context for what Jesus is reacting to here. So if you don’t want to buy that stale popcorn, you may have just lost your scriptural basis for doing so. To fully understand what Jesus was so outraged about, we have to look back into history and take a look at what it took to worship at the temple.

Ever since the temple was rebuilt by Ezra and Nehemiah, it was the national place of worship for all Jewish people. As many as 2.5 million Jews would travel vast distances to worship God in His temple on holy days! And as we all know, there’s always cost involved when traveling.

Besides the cost of travel, a Jew wishing to worship would also have other monetary demands put upon them as they arrived at the temple. The “Temple Tax” offset the cost of maintaining the temple, and was equal to 1 day’s wage. If you were traveling with a foreign currency, you must exchange your money at a rate of 2 days wages. If you brought your own animal to offer as a sacrifice, there was a fee of 1/2 days wage for someone to inspect the animal. If you failed inspection, or couldn’t afford to travel with your animal sacrifice in tow, you could normally purchase doves at the cost of 2 days wage. But in the temple courts prices had been raised to nearly 40 days wages!

If you calculate the cost in modern day figures, it would cost anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 just to worship at the temple!

These services that Jew’s had set up as a convenience to traveling worshippers had instead become a roadblock preventing the poor from being able to worship God in his temple, all the while lining the pockets of the religious leaders. No wonder Jesus was upset!

It’s stunning to think that something which started out so noble by aiding God’s people in worship turned out to be just the opposite. God’s people lots sight of what they were doing, and what they were causing to happen around them.

Question: What sort of things stand in the way of worshippers today, and what can we do as the Church to remove those obstacles?

Actions

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Christianity, Financial, Uncategorized

I saw a sign recently at a school that made me stop and think.  So much so that I had to take a picture.

“Do your actions reflect what you say your goals are?”  That’s a great, and very deep question that applies to many areas of our lives.  It also raises so many more questions that I have to ask myself from time to time.  I thought I’d take a minute and share a few with you.

Spiritual: Am I walking daily as Christ calls me to?

Matthew 7:15-20 –  15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

This passage always gets me wondering…do people view me as a good tree, or a bad tree?  How does God view my fruit?  After all, he is the chief fruit inspector.  Do my actions always show others I am a Christian?  If a film crew followed me around for a day without me knowing they were watching, would those viewing the tape know I was a Christian from my actions?

Professional: Is my career where I truly want it to be?  If not, what can I do to make my goal a reality?  Am I working toward my dream job/professional goals, or am I endlessly spinning my wheels while claiming that I’m “trying” to reach them? (Thanks Tyler for the heads-up on “trying!”)

Relational: Am I truly doing the things I need to do every day to be a good friend to others?  Am I constantly working to improve my relationship with my wife?  Am I working toward being a better husband? A better friend?  A better co-worker?

Financial:  Am I sticking to my financial plan? Am I managing my money in a way that honors God, provides for my family, and plans for my future?  Am I constantly making frivolous purchases while there are still financial commitments that need to be met?  Am I truly doing all I can to get out of debt and change my family tree?

There are many other topics and questions that I could mention, but I won’t do that here.  I can’t say that I answer all of these questions perfectly all the time, but they are questions that constantly run through my mind to help guide my decisions.  The tricky part isn’t asking the questions, or really answering them.  It’s making adjustments and corrections as needed once the answers have been given.

“Do your actions reflect what you say your goals are?”

What are some of your goals, and how can you change your actions to accomplish them?

December 7th, 1941

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Christianity, Politics

December 7th, 1941 – A day that too many have forgotten.  As you read this blog you may still have no idea that on this day 70 years ago Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii.

On that quiet Sunday morning our world was literally shaken and the scope of history changed forever.  Still, so many have forgotten this day.  I asked a class full of 6th grade students if they knew anything about this infamous day, or FDR’s speech.  None of them really did.

Maybe if we take a moment to educate our children on the history of this great country and the struggles and attacks it has overcome, then just maybe when they grow up they’ll appreciate all the blessings our country has to offer, and the brave men and women who fought and died so you and I can live here in peace and freedom.  If we teach our children about the history of our great country perhaps they will grow up and not join the growing ranks of those who seek to destroy our founding father’s intentions, destroy our freedoms, remove God from our founding documents, and spit upon everything this country has stood for since those brave men stood up against the tyranny of King George III, or since those men and women we know as Pilgrims sought to start a free Christian nation when they landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Why have we become so enamored with the present, and completely ignored our past?

Deuteronomy 32:7 – New International Version (NIV)

 7 Remember the days of old; 
   consider the generations long past. 
Ask your father and he will tell you, 
   your elders, and they will explain to you.

If we continue to allow our future generations to completely ignore the past of our country, to be ignorant of what truly makes the United States of America great, then our country will lose its greatness.  And if we continue to allow God to be removed from our society, pretty soon there will be nothing left  of our great nation.

Deuteronomy 8:18 – New International Version (NIV)

18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

May America bless God, and may God bless America.

“Casual Christians”

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Christianity

I received an email containing an article that I’d like to share with you.

From the Barna Update 6/15/2009 – “Casual Christians, spiritually middle-of-the-road, perhaps even ambivalent about their faith, represent 66% of the adult U.S. population, according to Barna Research. Pollster George Barna describes this “tribe” as “faith in moderation.” It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low-risk, predictable proposition for this tribe and provides a faith perspective that isn’t demanding. A Casual Christian can be all the things they esteem: a nice human being, a family person, religious, an exemplary citizen, a reliable employee—and never have to publicly defend or represent difficult moral or social positions or even lose much sleep over their private choices, as long as they mean well and generally do their best. From their perspective, their brand of faith practice is genuine, realistic and practical. To them, Casual Christianity is the best of all worlds; it encourages them to be a better person than if they had been irreligious, yet it is not a faith into which they feel compelled to heavily invest themselves.”

I feel that a big reason that churches all across this country are struggling with worship practices, remaining true to the Bible’s teachings, reaching out to their communities, and carrying out mission work oversees is that 66% of all adults in the US are content to be Christians in NAME ONLY!  It’s apathy at its worst!  They say they want X,Y, and Z, yet when it comes around to actually working for it…well, they’re content to just sit back and not “invest themselves.”  John wrote about such a group of Christians in Revelation 3, specifically, the church in Laodicea.  Here’s John writing the words of Jesus:

Revelation 3:15-17 – 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

1 John 3:16 – This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Does it sound like we’re called to simply be “Casual Christians?” NOT AT ALL!  Churches that are filled with this type of attitude will end up like the church in Laodicea…so despicable to Jesus that we make him want to vomit?  Is that what the church is called to do?  Christians must shake off the “lukewarm” attitude that we’ve developed and once again serve Christ faithfully!  We must be fully committed to Christ!!!!

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of  Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Pleasing to God

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Christianity

A friend of mine who works as a teacher was recently telling me about a conversation she had with several of her band students about the Bible.

One student recently started to look closely at the Bible and indicated he wanted to make some changes in his life. Although I was not part of that conversation, from what I understand, a group starting talking because the young man was reading some passages that teach about how we should live and how to deal with things that are not pleasing to God. He was reading to see how his life measured up to the life a true Christian should live.

I do not recall the exact passage or the exact command from the Bible this young man was talking about, but the dialogue went sort of like this, following.

“Wow, so God really doesn’t want me to do that? Well, what about this other thing? I mean, it is really similar to what God states He does not want me to do, but it is not specifically stated as being wrong. So, am I okay if I do this other thing?” There were several people involved in the conversation. Some more discussion took place. Someone spoke up and made this point, saying, “You know, it may be okay or it may not be okay. But honestly, why would you want to split that hair? If there’s a chance of something not being pleasing to God, then why take that chance?”

I think there may be many times that we, as Christians, find ourselves in that student’s shoes and similar feelings or situations. We want to see just how far we can go. We want to know exactly what is wrong so we can get as close to it as possible without going over the edge. Why do we try to push God’s boundaries? Why not limit our actions to doing what we know is definitely pleasing to God and not was is if-y or on the edge?

Galatians 5:22-26 is a good scripture to provide some guidance or guidelines to pursue. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

If we focus our daily living on pleasing God, instead of simply avoiding punishment or living on the edge of wrong, then maybe we’ll have more success at remaining faithful. Remember, please don’t just try to stay out of trouble; aim to please God in all you do.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.