THE CHURCH IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER
INTRODUCTION
"Then Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out all the merchants, saying to them, ’It is written: My house is a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves.'’ (Luke 19:45-46)
One of the things we need to do is to learn to make priorities (what comes first) in this life. If we do not prioritise the things that are important, then we will easily fall into the temptations and offers of the world that will destroy ourselves. Learning to prioritise means that we learn to always orientate our lives in the right direction.
CONTENTS
‘My House is a House of Prayer’. This statement of the Lord Jesus teaches us about:
The Lord Jesus reminded the Jews that the main thing (top priority) with the existence of the temple was to be a facility for all people to pray to God, not to sell and seek personal gain.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus demonstrated that when He entered the temple, He taught God's Torah with passion, so that all the people were attracted to Him and wanted to listen to Him. The main function of the temple had been reestablished by the Lord Jesus, so that everyone who came to the temple could learn God's law and pray to God.
When the Lord Jesus wanted to restore the main function of the temple, there were some people (‘scribe of the Law and ‘chief priests’) who were displeased with Him.
They tried to arrest and destroy Christ. However, the Lord Jesus remained consistent in making the temple a place to hear God's Torah and pray to God. This condition reminds us that when we try to prioritise the truth in our lives, there will be people who are not happy about it. But keep prioritising the truth in our lives.
CONCLUSION
We, His people, are also called the house of prayer, so this is the sign that many people can see: ‘PRAYER’.