RESET: Where is our focus? Matthew 21:1-14

Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Matthew 21: 1-14

The Word Of Our Testimony

How many love being vulnerable? One of the things the Lord has been challenging me on personally is being willing to be more transparent with where I’m at emotionally when I teach and when I share, which I think is awful. I prefer to write it out, lock it down, share it, and be done. 

The Lord took me to a passage in Revelation where it says, the people of God, overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, not loving their life even unto death. 

I had always viewed that as this weird martyrdom style of verse, which I think for some that were murdered, that’s probably what it meant. They were overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. 

But what is testimony? Testimony is our journey with Him. I think that when we’re willing to be vulnerable with our journey with Him, no matter what risk it places us in, that’s what it means to not love our lives even unto death. We’re willing to get gut-level honest. Why? Because all of us believe that the way He’s handled us is useful for somebody else. 

How many could say the way He’s handled me would help somebody? If you can’t say that, you haven’t assessed the way He’s handled you. You haven’t considered that He wants to use your life to shape others around you.

For me, I felt this deep challenge. When you take time off, how many of you think about how much you can’t wait to go back to work? We know that sometimes time and rest cause us to get a little bit more introspective, which causes us to think about where we are going in life. Are we are we heading in the direction we want? It’s this natural reset process. 

Belinda and I just got back from a couple of months away on sabbatical. It was great. But one of the consequences of time away is I start to consider my navel. I think about the future, whether I am where I want to be, and whether I am going where I want to be. 

I felt like the Lord began to whisper a verse that has been historically something He used in my life. When we started Vintage, within the first year, I had a dream. We’d already started at Coyote Ridge Elementary School, we were doing portable church, and I had a super vivid dream one night. 

In the dream, it was pitch black. We were in the gymnasium at Coyote Ridge Elementary School, which is down in south Fort Collins. In the dream, I’m crying out, “Glory, glory, glory!” But it wasn’t a cry like I was seeing something; it was a cry like I was craving something. Like I was super hungry for the Lord. 

In the dream, I was weeping, and I woke up, and my ears were full of tears. I had been sobbing in my sleep. There’s Solomon’s life in which we understand for sure that God is not the God of only the waking hours. He’s also the God of the sleeping hours. In that dream, I felt like the Lord was pouring something into me. 

I came out of that with this incredible conviction that we have to be a house of prayer. So, we began our trajectory. I’ve told you before my deal with God and sabbaticals — I don’t want to think about church. Leave me alone. Let me rest. That lasted about nine days. 

The Lord took me to this verse, and I want to share a few things that He showed me in this passage. It’s a familiar passage in Matthew chapter 21. For context, I want to read verses one through 14, which say, “As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, and Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ‘Go into the village over there,’ He said, ‘and you will see a donkey tied there with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. And if anyone asks what you’re doing, just say the Lord needs them and he will immediately send them.’ So this was done to fulfill the prophecy. ‘Tell the people of Israel, look your King is coming to you. He’s humble, riding on a donkey, even a donkey’s colt.’ The two disciples did as Jesus said, they brought the animal to Him and threw their garment over the coat, and He sat on it. Most of the crowds spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. He was in the center of the procession, and all the crowds all around Him were shouting, ‘Praise God, for the Son of David, bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Praise God in the highest heaven.’ The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as He entered. Who is this? They asked. The crowds replied, ‘It was Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, in Galilee.’ So Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers in the stalls of those selling doves. And He said, ‘The Scriptures declare My temple will be called a place of prayer. But you’ve turned it into a den of thieves.’ Then the blind and lame came to Him and He healed them there in the temple.” 

Let’s pray. 

Holy Spirit, as we step into these verses, we ask that You bring revelation, illumination, and show us what’s in this passage for us. Lord, I feel like this is a word for this house. I feel like it’s a word for this moment. We ask that You would impart to us what You want us to know today. We love You, in Jesus’ name, amen. 

There are some things I want to highlight in this passage. We’re going to deal with Jesus driving out the money changers and turning over tables. The first thing I want to highlight here is that I think this is a time-sensitive word for us. Not every time I stand up and teach do I think, this is a word for the moment for this church. I think this is. It has been stirring in me for three months. 

I don’t know that I’ve ever worked harder to prepare a message and felt less prepared for one, which isn’t how it’s supposed to work. You’re supposed to be able to walk back and forth in your office, try to memorize it, and get your monologue down. Then you stand up, and it’s easy. This one has been really difficult to process. 

Jesus’ Expectations For His House

The first thing I want to highlight is when Jesus comes into the city. Most scholars believe this was His first movement coming into Jerusalem. This is not the first thing He does in this passage. It’s the first thing He does to begin His ministry proper. 

He comes into Jerusalem, and He goes to the temple. I think it’s important that He goes to the temple. I want to highlight it for one reason. I think Jesus went to the temple to see the status of the temple. I believe it reveals a level of interest. Being the first thing He did means it was on His mind.

It should cause us to pause and consider the reality that our King is very interested in the goings on of his house. What’s going on with His people matters to Him. Scripture said He entered the temple and began to clean house.

When we clean house, why do we clean house? It’s dirty. It’s not correct. We fix it. We’re putting it back into its condition. Often, we look at this passage and focus on what was being cleansed in the temple. We see who He was kicking out and what they were doing. We’re paying attention to the money changers and we are paying attention to what class of people they were from and all of that. We tend to make it about the details. 

If you, like me, grew up in church, most of the teachings on this passage had something to do with the fact that the church is in the business and we shouldn’t allow people to sell candy bars in the lobby. There’s this sense that we don’t want to have business intersect with the spiritual reality of the church.

I don’t think that’s necessarily a wrong caution. I think it’s incredibly important, because it’s all too simple, specifically in North America, for the church to become a business. The church is a family, and just like your home, you have a business system in your home because you’re an organism. 

The church is a living, breathing organism. It’s a family, and families have to have budgets if they expect to do well fiscally. They need to have a budget, they need to live within their means, all those things. In the church, the family of God is like that. But this isn’t about business. 

The point lies hidden in what He says, “My house will be called a house of prayer.” He has a standard for what He expects to be happening in His house. He has a value set for the purpose and function of His house. 

What I think we see here is Jesus making a very strong statement about the culture of His people. If my house isn’t up to my standard, I will clean it. Then He begins to teach what that standard is. 

My house will be called. It’s always challenged me that He puts a declaration on the temple with the phrase, “My house.” It’s a living reminder of who was intended to dwell there. If you come to my house and you come into my kitchen, and you begin to reorder my pots and pans, and you decide to put them in different places in my kitchen, I will stop you. Because in my house, I have a way that I want things done. There’s an ordinal. There is a place where things go.

We had some friends when we first moved in — and they thought it was fantastically helpful — while we were upstairs, they started to unpack the kitchen and put it away for us. Now, in my mind, I’m like, you just cost me twice the amount of time because now I have to rip everything out so I can know where it’s at. It took two years to figure out where some things were. It’s my house, and I have a way I want it to run. That’s the privilege of having a house. 

This phrase is a reminder of whose authority makes the rules. If we simply read it for what Jesus says, not adding any additional weight to the phrase, we would understand Him basically saying, the place I dwell will be like this. 

The word “called” here means to be known for something. It’s an identifying word. He identifies what that word is: a place of prayer. The simplest understanding of the word used for “prayer” here is a picture of an upturned face. Upturned towards heaven. The word specifically means “prayers directed to and addressed to God.” 

It’s the idea of this conversation, this trajectory, or this focus. The focus has to be on God, on Him. The direction of the conversation, the purpose of our function together, is always to be on Him. What Jesus does with this simple phrase is He calibrates what every aspect in His house is to aim toward: Him. Every single aspect of what His people are to do is to be about Him, towards Him. Not only would He be in the room and we’d kind of ignore Him, but we’re in His house, and the function of His house was to be aimed towards Him. 

This is where it gets interesting. He says, “but you have turned it.” So the whole narrative takes a shift. The phrase “turned it” means to make or fashion into something or to be the author or cause of something. What He reveals in this is that His people are both capable of and responsible for the shaping of the culture of His house. He gives the agenda, but our behaviors, attitudes, and actions are the shaping agents of His house. 

Now, clearly, in this passage, Jesus is not a fan of what’s going on. He doesn’t seem specifically excited about the way they’re handling the house. I want us to see a clear warning that He evaluates His house. If He was willing to do it then, I would love to submit that He’s still willing to do it now.

Our Responsibility In The House

We must also see this as a clear warning that there’s a responsibility given to the sons and daughters of God to maintain the proper station of His house. We could say it this way. It is incumbent upon us to make sure His house is about what He said it was to be about. 

We also must consider what this teaches is it’s possible for us to be in His house, dwelling in His house, hanging out in His house, and make it about the wrong things. Just by showing up, we are not making it about the right thing. Our being in the house doesn’t define the trajectory of what the house is for.

When does He evaluate how we’re doing? We see here that the first thing He does when He comes to Jerusalem is go to the temple to evaluate. We cry out for revival, we cry out for a move of God, we cry out for His presence. How many would say those are familiar cries? I’ve heard those be prayed out, sung out around here. How many have, with your own language and in your own way, cried out for more of the Lord to be released and for Him to come to dwell wherever you’re at? I love that. It’s beautiful. But I’d love to submit a simple idea. When you cry out for that, you are inviting the visitation of the Lord. When you invite the visitation of the Lord, you’re inviting the evaluation of the Lord.

He visits and evaluates to see, just like He did in Jerusalem. He visits to see if His house is aimed at the right thing. I think our cries draw Him, but He evaluates and inspects what He sees when He shows up. Now, I could be wrong. Here’s my perspective on it. I think there’s a movement in the Lord that looks a lot like this.

I think He’s so compassionate and so kind that when His people cry out for more of Him, He makes this step. But why doesn’t it dwell? Why doesn’t it linger? Why don’t we see a supernatural encounter of a geographic dwelling of the Lord at such a level that people walk in, and they literally can’t stand in it? Perhaps the people of God aren’t aimed at the right things.

He goes on and says, “You’ve turned it into a den of thieves.” This is where He began to challenge me the most privately. The word here simply means “robbers.” We’ve always made it about money. He’s not talking about simply doing business in the church. Yes, that may be held within some context of what He’s talking about. But that’s not the language He uses. The word is “robbery.” It means someone who removes from someone else what belongs to them.

I think we’re familiar with the idea of theft. Consider what He says His house is to be about. My house is supposed to be about the upturned face. What is that? It’s honor. It’s attention. It’s the adoration of Him.

Paul makes a statement in Colossians 1: Christ must be preeminent. It’s a big word. It means He must be first in ordinal. He must be ahead of the next thing we want to put. He has to be in all ways in our lives first. There’s no aspect of our life that He’s comfortable with being second. It’s not that He’s insecure in any way, shape, or form. It’s just simply that He is God all by Himself. He doesn’t have to ask. He doesn’t have to give permission. He doesn’t care what your thoughts on Him as God are. The answer is He’s God, and if the entire world rejected Him, He’s still God. He’s first.

So what, then, is robbery? Anything that we allow to remove our focus from Him. When we allow other things to consume our attention, we become complicit in the robbery of His house. 

Coming Back To Prayer

Now we get down to the nitty-gritty. I began this passage thinking about our systems and how, in the history of Vintage, I’ve always felt this dynamic tension of, we’ve got to be a house that prays more consistently. I feel like that’s just part of what matters to Him. We’ll go through different iterations where there are times when small groups are happening, or different events are happening. So we’ll pull back on prayer. 

My first reaction was, we’ve got to dig in and make prayer a priority. I think that’s a valuable and important movement. Now, this isn’t about announcing prayer. We’re just going to return to our foundation with prayer every Wednesday night. That was my first thought. I feel like the Lord is digging in on coming back to prayer. 

How many know that when you keep staring at the passage long enough, sooner or later other things come out? When I stepped into sabbatical, I was deeply fatigued. Let me go a little more vulnerable, I was really irritated and angry. To the point where in my own time with the Lord, I would say things like, “Churches drive me crazy.” He kept saying this phrase, “It’s not the church, it’s you.” To which, we quit talking about it.

How many have ever dealt with residual irritation, as it sits in the middle of you and it comes out everywhere? I’m sitting on a beach in Hawaii. I had this bizarre bout of health during my sabbatical. I had three sinus infections in a row. I don’t want any medical advice, please don’t send it. I’ve already gone to my doctor. 

Can you imagine you finally get a break and you go to Hawaii because you’ve been wanting to go for 10 years, and one of the medications they put you on, you can’t be in the sun? I had a lot of shade time. So me and Jesus talked a lot in the shade. It was great. Belinda read a book. She was stoked. I just kept mulling this over. I couldn’t shake this verse.

He whispered, ‘You’re disconnected.” How many men know what it’s like to not be present in a room? It’s our default mechanism. We are good at disassociating from circumstance. We go numb. We know how to do our jobs. We know how to function. We know how to withhold our hearts. I think it’s just how we’re wired at some level. 

I sat one morning with the Lord, I couldn’t sleep, and I sat there and I wept. I was saying things like, “I’m so tired of the church, tired of the wounds, tired of dealing with finance.” I was pouring it out saying, “Lord, I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to do this. I’m tired. Tired of watching the church divide over politics. I’m so tired.” 

Putting The Focus On God

We, for some reason, think anything other than Him was ever going to unite us, so we keep constantly looking for a group of people that feel copacetic because we’ve lost sight of the one that was supposed to unite us.

He whispered this in this verse and said, you are guilty of robbery. I got so mad. My first response was not, God, forgive me. My first response was absolutely not. He said you’ve let people leaving draw your attention. You let finances draw your attention. You let the way to decisions draw your attention. You quit staring at me. That’s robbery

The one that killed me the most is He said, “You are letting yourself believe whether or not you want to do this or not matters. That’s robbery.” The truth is, last time I checked, we are all disciples under the tutelage of a King. He gets to say, this is what I want you to do, and we say yes, sir. It’s not about me. It’s about You. 

I am crucified with Christ, yet I live this life I live. I no longer live according to the flesh. Now I live it according to what You want. Every word that proceeds out of Your mouth, that’s how I’m going to live. It doesn’t matter how we feel, it doesn’t matter what we think, it doesn’t matter how hurt we are, or how offended we are, it doesn’t matter. We can lay all that stuff down and say, because of Him, I don’t have to pay attention to that.

It is difficult to do. Anything that removes our focus from Him. I think some of us have let ourselves get offended towards others. We let that division and that offense rob our view of Him. Some of us have let political leanings consume our minds. Earlier, a friend said, “You know what, I can’t even watch the news anymore because I just get spun up.” That’s a great decision. 

Fast from it if you can’t handle it. Some of us are like, I don’t know if I care anymore. I want to remind us what we’re contending for. As the people of God on the earth, we’re contending for His move, His visitation, and His heart to be released in the geographic location we’ve been entrusted with. That is the call of God on every group of people of God. 

Every city and every region has the same responsibility. That is to learn how to worship and pray with such fervency that they pull heaven into a geographic location to learn how to walk in the fear of the Lord in such a way that it changes the landscape of the region to learn how to carry the dynamic authority of heaven so they can lay hands on the sick and see them recover. So they can rebuke demons. 

We are supposed to be people so infused with Him that everywhere we go, it affects the Hingdom. I hope that when we cry out for the move of God, and He comes to visit, He finds people who’ve laid down all those other things in us. People who could say, “We will never let our circumstances trump You. We will hold You. We will focus on You. 

I’d love to lead in a house where when we say, we’re going to pray on Wednesday night, and the place was packed because we were excited for prayer. Let’s get to business. Let’s go. Prayer is the most talked about and least practiced thing in the Kingdom. 

Prayer and worship are driven by intimacy. Exodus 32 tells a story about a golden calf. Hidden in this story is a reality. Israel decided intimacy’s not for us, we’ll make a god. So they take all their earrings and their jewelry and they fashion a calf. They put the calf up and they call it Yahweh. 

Here’s the danger. If you and I don’t push into intimacy and be people who have an upturned face, we will replace Him with something else. I don’t know what that something else would be. There are a lot of good things that aren’t the right thing. Just because your activity is not a sin doesn’t mean it’s the right place to focus. He has to be preeminent. 

Here’s my request. I’m asking you to assess your own heart. Is He first? Is He my priority? Does He get all of me? If the answer is anything short of yes, it requires repentance, which is an adjustment of lifestyle. 

We are the people that will shape the culture of His house. I know the risk of saying something that strong. We live in the 31 flavors of church option. People will say, I don’t want to hear that, I’m going someplace else. 

I sat with the Lord all weekend. He said, “I want you to make sure you communicate this with My heart.” Church, the heart of God is that He wants to visit Fort Collins. He wants to land on this region. He’s not angry. He so longs to release a move in this region. But it requires the people of God to build the house His way. Would you stand with me, please?

This isn’t one of those right now respond. This has got to be a prayerful consideration. Paul admonished the Bereans because they left when he talked, and they went and thought about what he said. For me, this is the reset button, that we have to become a people that are so consumed with His house and Him that it goes over the top of all of our lives.

Some of you are in sin patterns, and the answer is, you stopped focusing on Him. That’s how the enemy works. If he can just move you five degrees off target, that’s all he cares about. Some of you might be living in the sweet spot. Praise God, and keep going. Be encouraged, don’t stop.

Would you put your hand on your heart with me? 

Lord, we stand before You in all humility. All I want for this house is to be a place where Your visitation and your inspection find You excited. Where it causes You to say, look, look at My sons and My daughters. I’m all they care about. Holy Spirit, would You do what only You can do? Would you assess our hearts? Would you delve into the aspects of our person, our psyche, our minds, our beliefs, everything? Once you begin to draw out of us a pure devotion that would be fixated on You, surrendered to You, with no excuses. That it could be said of us that in our day and in our time we were a house of prayer that gave You the honor that You are due. We love You, Jesus.