Every Opportunity

Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. . . My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;
You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.  Mark 11:15,17

For a long time this passage was taken out of context and it was practiced and preached that there was to be no selling of any kind in the church. That meant that if there was a musical group or a someone ministering besides the Pastor, they couldn’t sell their at that time tapes, books. It also meant no Church Dinners, Bake Sales, or anything else that could bring money into the church was prohibited. And any church that did so was looked down upon by those who made it taboo.

But the truth is it wasn’t the selling, it was how they were selling it. What they were selling were sacrifices and also exchanging money for Temple money. This was because people came from nations where there were different forms of money. So to make it easier to buy the needed sacrifices, they exchanged their money for a equivalent Temple coins. the problem then was that they were cheating people in the exchange and selling blemished sacrificial animals. The entire thing turned into profit making for those doing the selling and exchanging.

Jesus being just could not allow that to continue in a place where people were to meet with God. The sellers and changers were to be representatives of Him and they were causing people to worship him with inferior sacrifices and some because of the cost not to worship Him at all!

This week our church has an opportunity to do an outreach by parking cars for the Allentown Fair. It gives us also an opportunity to pick a ministry in our area and bless them with a tithe of our proceeds and to give the church opportunity to meet the needs of the church and others in need during the rest of the year. So many have wanted us to raise our price like the other lots around us, but we need to ask ourselves are we being a true representative of God by over charging and the answer is no. It also gives us an opportunity to be the heart and hands of Jesus and operate with integrity and character.

Whether we realize it or not, we are representatives of God and just as He sent Jesus to be His representative to us, now we must be His representatives to world. Sometimes we need to take a quick check to see how we’re doing in showing others the love and grace of God by asking Holy Spirit to show us if there is anything we need to change. If He is showing you something that needs to be adjusted, then also know He’s able to give you whatever you need to make the change. So now let’s go out and show the world our amazing God  Ambassador’s of Jesus Christ!