Jesus The Iconoclast
February 20, 2022
“The human heart is an idol factory.” Those are the words of the great French Pastor and Reformer, John Calvin. And his words still ring true today. We don’t talk much about idols today, because when we think of an idol, we usually think of some kind of lifeless physical object that ancient pagans worshiped. So, I want you to listen to how Timothy Keller takes this same phrase and expands on how idolatry works in our hearts. He says, “The human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.” Timothy Keller
Another way of identifying an idol in your life is that it becomes so essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. As such, an idol has such a controlling influence in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources on it without a second thought. So, an idol can be family and children, or career or making money, or achievement and critical acclaim. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty, or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in ministry. You see, an idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” So, our Idols give us a false sense of being in control, but in reality, they control us.
Whatever controls us is our Lord; is our Master. And anything that becomes more important and nonnegotiable to us than God actually enslaves us. That is why when it comes to our relationship with God, God does not tolerate idols in our lives. And there’s no better picture of that then in the passage we’re going to explore today. For today I get to introduce you to Jesus the Iconoclast. Jesus the idol breaker. Listen to this description of Jesus that we’re going to see today: “Jesus was the true iconoclast. Icon means image or idol. Clast means to break. Every word Jesus said and act that he did smashed the spiritual, religious, traditional and pop idols of his day.” This is the Jesus we are going to see today from John 2:13-25as Jesus comes to the spiritual center of Israel, the Temple Courts in Jerusalem. And as he does, we will see Jesus respond to the idols of our hearts in three different ways. So, if you’ve found John 2, let’s look at the first way Jesus refuses to tolerate the idols of our hearts. And that first way is this: 1. Jesus Cleans House Listen to how John describes what happens when Jesus comes to the Temple courts: When it was almosttime for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So, he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:13-17
Now let me give you a little context to what’s going on here: This is the first of three Passovers mentioned by John. Passover was a week-long festival – the Passover was one day, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasting the rest of the week. The entire week commemorated the freeing of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. And in John’s Gospel, Jesus makes it a point to show up at each of these feasts. And each time he does, he does so to reveal something about himself as the Messiah. Now there’s one other thing we most make note of. Each year at Passover every Jewish male was expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. And if he’s over the age of 19, he is required to pay a temple tax.
Here’s how these requirements came about: Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you. Deuteronomy 16:16-17
So here now is the scene: Crowds of Jewish men have come to the Temple empty handed. The Jews had bowed to the idol of comfort: They had bowed to the idol of convenience. No longer did you have to go through the work of raising a lamb for sacrifice; you could simply purchase one right there. Now you could just show up, exchange your money, buy an animal or dove, and fulfill your religious duty. Worship was no longer personal. Worship no longer cost you anything. So, worship was no longer honoring to God.
On top of that – the entire area that was being used as a marketplace – was originally a place reserved for all the other nations to gather for worship and prayer. In making worship convenient for the Jews, the Jews had excluded Gentiles from access to God. To Jesus this was intolerable. No wonder He went ballistic! He overturns their idols of convenience, exposes their sin, and drives them out. He cleans His Father’s House!
Now what is Jesus teaching us from this encounter? Why did John give us this picture of Jesus the Iconoclast cleansing the Temple? There are at least two applications we need to see here. And he first is this: If worship doesn’t cost us something it’s not really worship God had a point in having Jewish families chose a lamb from their flocks to be sacrificed. They had to raise it, feed it, protect it, and bring it safely to Jerusalem. In doing so, their worship of Yahweh was connected to everyday life. Everyday someone had to feed and water the lamb. Every day the family was reminded that this lamb was to be given to God as an act of remembrance for what He had done in delivering them. So then when they would bring this lamb to God in worship, their sacrifice meant something – it meant they were giving their best to God. Which leads to a second observation:
Jesus cannot stomach worship that cheapens God’s reputation! By making worship so convenient, the religious leaders had trivialized God. By making it easy for everyone to fulfill their duties they had created a climate of complacency. Their actions simply said that God WASN’T WORTH THE EFFORT! By purchasing their sacrifice, they were defaming God’s name. The very act that was supposed to honor God actually had the opposite effect: Their complacency dishonored God.
And it made Jesus angry that the very people who were supposed to honor God in worship were making God look like a joke with their worship. That’s why John writes: His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus had such a passion for His Father’s glory that the way the Jews trivialized their worship ate him up. That’s why Jesus cleaned house.
And I wonder today, if seeing Jesus’ heart for His Father’s reputation speaks to our hearts? Jesus had such a passion for His Father’s glory, so much so, that it was killing him on the inside to see God’s people give less than their best for Him. It ate him up that they had made worship convenient. It didn’t cost them anything. It’s like they’d forgotten what God had done to deliver them, and they were just doing their religious duty. They were doing just enough to get by.
So let me say this: Let’s not fall into this trap. Let’s not bow to the idol of convenience. Let’s not be a people who are just going through the motions. Let’s not be a people who forget what God has done for us. But let us have a passion for the Father’s glory. Let’s worship Him with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength. Let’s make the effort to glorify His name every day. You see worship isn’t reserved just for Sunday mornings at 9:00 am in this ballroom. God has given us seven days a week to honor His name – to live for His glory. May his passion become our passion seven days a week, so that Jesus never has to clean house with us.
Now, Jesus doesn’t always respond to our idols in such dramatic fashion. Sometimes he responds in ways we don’t expect. That in what happens next as Jesus responds to those who had made power their idol. How does he respond to them? Jesus Responds in Riddles Then the Jews demanded of Him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple He had spoken of was His body. John 2:18-22
What I love about this is that The Jews did not dispute the rightness of Jesus’ actions, but demanded he authenticate his actions: They saw clearly that this Temple worship was wrong, but they also knew that cleaning the Temple was something the Messiah would do. This Temple Clearing was predicted by Malachi: “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty… But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” Malachi 3:1-2 They recognized that what Jesus did here was a Messianic act. So, by demanding a sign, they were demanding Jesus to prove that he is the Messiah!
However, Jesus refuses to play their game. These religious leaders are so caught up in their own authority, steeped in protecting their own power, that they now lord their position of authority over Jesus. They tell Him what they want Him to do.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone throws their weight around like that with me, the last thing I want to do is comply. We all know what it’s like when someone abuses their power. Their aim is to use you to further their ends. They don’t really care about you. And in Jesus’ case, they’re not really looking for Jesus to authenticate his authority. They simply want to humiliate him to make themselves look strong, to make themselves look superior, to make themselves look good and Jesus look bad.
Again, God hates this kind of idolatry. Jesus doesn’t tolerate this kind of idolatry. So, what does He do? He gives them a riddle they can’t comprehend: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” He uses a word play. When he says, “Destroy this temple,” he doesn’t use the common word for Temple. He uses the word that means “dwelling place of God” and so he’s actually referring to himself. But they don’t get it.
They asked for a sign; Jesus gives them a sign. But the Jewish leaders miss the sign. Instead, they get frustrated with Jesus, because Jesus will not do what they want him to do.
Of course, John in writing this narrative helps us hear their frustration, but in the process also reveals the truth behind Jesus’ riddle: The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple He had spoken of was His body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. John 2:21-22
So, the sign Jesus speaks of in his riddle is the sign of His resurrection. After the Jewish leaders have torn down his body on the cross, Jesus himself would raise his body three days later. So, here’s the key to his riddle: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate sign of His authority. Therefore, if Jesus has authority over death, then he has authority over the temple.
Now again, we must ask ourselves, what might Jesus have us learn from this encounter? If I understand Jesus’ response correctly, it is this: When someone demands proof of Jesus’ authority over our lives, they are coming from a place of unbelief. In this case, these leaders didn’t want to believe in Jesus, but prove that Jesus was in the wrong, because they didn’t want to lose their power. For them to admit that Jesus was the Messiah meant losing their place of influence, losing their power. So, Jesus told them the truth and their response revealed their unbelief. Jesus only responds to faith, not to the demands of unbelievers.
How does this work out for us in practical terms? Simple. If anyone ever asks for evidence of why they should believe in Jesus, our response is to tell them about the cross. To tell them how Jesus went to the cross to give His life for the sin of the world. To tell them that Jesus allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be spilled out, so they could be forgiven and reconciled to God. And the proof that Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient to provide forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God, is that after three days in the tomb, Jesus rose from the grave. And now because Jesus has defeated sin and death, He has the authority to forgive your sins once and for all. That’s the sign of Jesus’ authority. It’s the sign of His resurrection.
Now, it’s obvious that the religious leaders didn’t get this. But they didn’t reprimand Jesus, nor arrest him. They simply walked away in their unbelief. But you know, there were plenty of others who saw what was going on, and they had a different reaction to what just happened. However, they too had an idolatry problem. What was their idol? A misplaced hope. They thought they had Jesus all figured out. So, they actually believed in Jesus, because of what they believed Jesus could do for them.
But once again, Jesus wouldn’t have it – Jesus Won’t Be Put in a Box Let’s read the text: Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs He was doing and believed in His name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for He knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man. John 2:23-25
What’s going on here? People were starting to put their faith in Jesus. John says that they believed in His name when they saw the miraculous signs. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them. What gives? Like I said just a moment ago: They had a misplace hoped. People were believing in Jesus because of what they believed He would do for them.
Here’s the problem: They put their faith in the signs. They put their faith in the spectacular. These people were longing for their Messiah. They knew that when he came, he would do signs just like these. So, when Jesus overturned these tables and drove out the money changers – they put their trust in Jesus because this is what they were hoping for: Israel was hoping that their Messiah would overturn the authorities of Rome and drive them out of Israel. But Jesus would not be put into the box of their expectations.
Why? Because Jesus calls people to trust in Him for who He is, not because He passes some test we set for Him. Jesus will not be put in a box. So, Jesus walks away because people were believing in him for the wrong reasons – they were believing in him for what they thought they could get from Him, not for who He truly was.
In fact, if Jesus were to entrust himself to them at this point in his ministry, he would CONFRIM their MISTAKEN understanding of him. At this point they only knew what THEY wanted. They did not really know who Jesus was. They had no idea that His mission WASN’T to overthrow the Romans and deliver them from oppression, but it was to overthrow their heats and deliver them from their sin. So, he walked away.
Here’s the point: God will never allow you to put Him in a box of your own making. He won’t be used to meet your expectations. He’s not come so you can treat him like a cosmic genie or a get out of jail free card. He’s not come to give you the life of your dreams. No, He has come to give you mercy that wipes away every sin. He has come to set you free from judgment and shame. And He has come to give you life with Him – a life full of joy, a life with meaning, a life where you can be fully known, fully accepted, and completely loved by the One who created you and rescued you to be with Him now and forever…
So NO, Jesus won’t be put into a box of our false hopes, He won’t become an idol of our own making. And the reason why is because he knows us. He knows we are easily distracted. He knows we can be deceived. He knows our hearts are prone to wander. And He knows what we really need – and it’s not miracles, not the spectacular, and it’s definitely not a bunch of tests we set for him. Because he knows, that as soon as he fails our tests, we’ll walk away from Him.
Jesus won’t be put into a box of false hopes. For He has come to give us real hope, a lasting hope that’s found in Him who proved His love for us by dying in our place on that cross so we might have the hope of eternal life with Him…
So, there you have it. We have just witnessed Jesus the Iconoclast: Jesus is not neutral to the idols in our lives. He will not tolerate our idols but seeks to remove them. But first, we’ve got to trust Him for who He really is, and not for what we want Him to be. And when we can do that, then we won’t need any more idols. For when Jesus is your Lord, then your heart will find satisfaction in Him, you’ll rest secure in His love, and you’ll find a life worth living.
I don’t know about you, but if Jesus needs to remove the idols that keep us from experiencing this kind of life with Him, then let’s ask Him to remove the idols of our hearts, so our hearts might be belong to Him.
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