Is Your Church Safe? Part 1

15 "And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And He was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” ~Mark 11:15-17 ESV

When most people recall the events in the life of Jesus, most remember Him aggressively cleaning out the temple by turning over tables and running the people out who were buying and selling in the temple. Jesus stated His reason for doing so by declaring in Mark 11:17: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus was also referencing Isa. 56:7b and in Isa. 56:8, Isaiah amazingly prophesizes about the salvation for all that was to come through Jesus' sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection:

For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

“I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.” ~Isaiah 56:7b-8 ESV

When you recall this event and picture our Lord and Savior in the Jewish temple picking up tables and kicking out people who were doing commerce, do you believe that this was just an event in the Bible and that there is no correlation to today’s church? Think again…Our church today is in need of the same cleaning out of thieves and robbers. In John 10, Jesus describes Himself as the Door or Gate to His sheep pen, which is the Church. However, Jesus also makes an interesting statement in verse 1:

“I assure you: Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.” ~John 10:1 HCSB

We already know what the motives are of the thieves and robbers who are in the same pen with God’s people, His sheep. Jesus proclaims in verse 10 the motives of the thieves and robbers are that “they come only to kill, steal, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Recall that Jesus called the same people who He kicked out of the temple--robbers. So, what is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching here about the Church and His warning about thieves and robbers coming in to harm and ultimately destroy the Church? I believe the key lesson is that the Church is to be about our relationship with Jesus and others rather than an emphasis on merely religion. It was the Jewish Church leaders who sought to silence Jesus, mock Him, and later kill Him. It was also their empty religion that did not allow them to see that Jesus was their only way to eternal salvation and the only way to having a true and accepted relationship with the Father. Jesus repeatedly calls the Jewish leaders, hypocrites, and He commands His Church not to practice the behaviors of hypocrites:

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ~Matthew 15:7-9 ESV

A hypocrite intentionally hides and pretends to be God’s people, who have a desire to be holy and to keep God’s Word, but the hypocrite’s heart (motives and intentions) are far from God’s ways. The same is true today. We have hypocrites pretending to be at Church on Sundays, Wednesdays, and at any Christian service event but they are not there to expand the Kingdom of God as it is in Heaven. Instead, these individuals in the Church are there to diminish God’s People and prevent the Kingdom from advancing on earth--in your city, county, state, and country. Paul identifies these hypocrites as “enemies of the cross of Christ” in Philippians 3:18:

7 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…~Phil. 3:17-21a

So, who are the modern-day money exchangers and the thieves and robbers who attend our Churches and serve with God’s children with the intention to deceive and to harm them AND how does the Church protect itself against their harmful intentions? It is anyone who is preventing the Church from accomplishing its core purposes that is in the Bible—to pray and worship God, to evangelize by sharing the Gospel with others, to teach God’s Word, to disciple and encourage others to obey and practice God’s Word, and to serve others in and outside the Body of Christ. Every Church in America should have these goals, at a minimum, as its targets. I will provide some examples of robbers that I have experienced in churches that I have attended in my next post and Part 2 of this article. In response to how the Church should protect itself against robbers, I want to encourage you and your Church leadership to pray, address the individual(s) directly, discreetly, and in the love of Christ. In addition, when needed, apply Biblical church discipline in the same way and in the wisdom of Christ Jesus rather than in the ways and wisdom of this world that uses methods of deceit, trickery, gossip, slander, and rejection. See James 3:13-18 for a comparison of Godly wisdom versus earthly, demonic wisdom. I will also explore this second question on how the church can practically safeguard itself from those who want to do it harm in Part 2.

As I end Part 1 of this article, I want to challenge you with the following two questions:

1.Who are the individuals who fit the “thief and robber” label in your  Church in the past and/or currently, and how have you and your church leadership addressed the issue?

2. Do you believe your Church is a safe place?

Making our churches safe and accomplishing the goals that Christ has for both the Church corporately and individually as His Bride is our Christian responsibility because we belong to Jesus! Jesus is definitely coming back, as He promised for His Church, whether you are ready for Him or not. Don’t you want to be counted in the number that is shining brightly as representatives of God’s Kingdom when He returns? I do. Let’s encourage each other to do our part in making our churches safe.