ENGAGED
All the Church Wants is Money - Part 2
Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
February 18, 2024
#realspringcreekchurch #allthechurchwantsismoney #money #engaged #temple #exploit #vulnerable #Jesus
https://www.springcreekchurch.org/
If you want to know how Jesus feels about those who, in the name of God, take advantage of the less fortunate, there’s an incident, recorded by all four gospel writers that speaks definitively to this issue. The way Jesus responded is a pattern for our engagement with a world full of need. Bottom line, there will always be those who exploit the vulnerable, even in church. But true Christ followers take their stand alongside the vulnerable just like Jesus did.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Review the things you learned about the Temple’s role in first-century finance and the corruption of the priestly class especially the family of Annas. What are some of the ways we see these same practices being played out in society today like unfair loan terms, greedy business owners, practices that prey upon the vulnerable, and exorbitant mark-ups on necessities?
2. Today, there is a new movement that is trying to merge the Christian faith with the State often referred to as Christian Nationalism. What are your thoughts on this movement? What dangers exist within this thinking? How can Christians allow their faith to inform their politics rather than allowing their politics to inform their faith?
3. It is always wrong to shut our hearts off to those who are different from us, of a different ethnicity, who speak a different language, or are from a different place. God’s heart is all-inclusive while sometimes His follower’s hearts are not. How do we make a place of welcome in our hearts for those unlike ourselves? What would you say to someone who spoke or acted in ways that were off-putting to those unlike them? What habits can we engage in on a regular basis that challenge the way we see and treat others?
4. If there is any unmistakable truth taken from the cleansing of the Temple it is this - to take advantage of the poor stirs the anger of God. The hefty mark-ups on sacrificial animals and exchange rates for currency were nothing but profit-gouging off the backs of those who could least afford it. In what ways does society or the church prey off of the most vulnerable? When does a profit cease to be a normal and expected expense and cross the line into exploitation? How do our Christian values regulate how we do business in the marketplace?
5. God has always wanted to dwell among His people. Can you recap his examples from the beginning of the Bible to the end? It’s clear from this explanation that church buildings are not the best parallel with the Temple but you and I are. We are God’s temple today. What does the cleansing of the Temple say to you about your own heart as the Temple of God?