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Today people are consumed with many pursuits.
The drug of choice, if you will, varies from individual to individual. For some it’s weight loss and health issues, for others it’s a relationship, yet many others are out chasing careers and pursuing ways to make money with get rich schemes or obsessed over details.
Life is filled with pursuits which seem to consume the mind, our energies and our efforts. Some drain us while others fill us up.
What consumes your thoughts? What do you obsess over? What do you go to bed planning, wake up thinking about and drive along in your car dreaming of? What eats at you?
When I was younger we called it being ‘eaten up’ with it. That’s exactly what describes it best. Being consumed with something is like having it eat at you from the inside with a constant gnawing, demanding time and attention be focused on something or someone which often leads to acting on the obsession.
This is not always a negative process. There are some things which should to consume us, just like some things consumed Jesus.
Lets read our text for today and see if we can identify what was eating at Jesus and why.
John 2 NKJV
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to
14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business.
15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.
16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!"
17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."
What consumed Jesus? Where is this written? We read it in our:
Key Scripture: Psalms 69:9 For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me. (KJV)
The Young’s Literal Translation says: “For zeal for Thy house hath consumed me, And the reproaches of Thy reproachers Have fallen upon me.”
Psalms 69 is a testimony of David and also written prophetically about our Lord and Messiah, Jesus, who would suffer shame and rejection while looking only to do good to those who gave Him no pity, no comfort in return.
In this Psalm we see the unmistakable footprints of the Messiah throughout. No portion of Old Testament scripture is quoted more often in the New Testament than is Psalms 69.
Psalms 69 NKJV
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2 I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.
5 O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You.
6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children;
9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach.
11 I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.
16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
17 And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily.
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Verse 9 reveals what was that driving factor of Jesus’ life, thought and actions. He was consumed with zeal for the House of God. This made Him an odd person, misunderstood and made fun of.
Psalms 69 describes a person who is hurt, almost in depression due to being misunderstood, wrongfully accused and without the comfort of friends all because he is consumed with zeal for the House of God, the Church.
It seems that people will understand the person who is consumed with a quest for riches, or focused on the pursuit of an education or a relationship and even those who are driven and controlled by addictions are accepted in society, but let someone be just a little too religious, too interested or involved in church or mission’s work or bible studies and they can become outcasts, persecuted, unaccepted.
2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
But, if we are to be more like Jesus we need to be consumed with zeal for the Church. It is the Body and Bride of Christ … the Family of God in the earth. Even if there is a price to pay for being odd, strange, not normal or eat up with Church, that should not sway us.
You see: Christ died for the Church … Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ so loved the Church that He gave Himself for her. He did this both in life and in death.
And, Jesus is coming back for the Church, the House of God!
The Church is the blood bought, word washed, Spirit led, faith filled Body of Believers in Jesus Christ as God’s Son, our Savior, Messiah and Lord of all creation.
The Church is the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ and the Family of God in heaven and in the earth.
The Church has a mission …
To go into all the world and make disciples …
Matthew 28:18-20 The Great Commission
The Church has a ministry …
The ministry of reconciliation …
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 The Ministry
The Church has a mantle …
The power of the Holy Spirit
Acts 10:38 The Anointing
The Church has a mindset …
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us
Philippians 2:5 Let Jesus’ mind be in you …
1 Corinthians 2:16 The mind of Christ
The Church has a motive …
We are not willing that any should perish …
2 Peter 3:9 All should come to repentance
Mark 16:16 People are saved or damned
1 John 5:12 Have the Son – have life …
John 3:16 People Should Not Perish
Jesus is all about the Church … in fact, He is consumed with zeal for her … how about you? What are you consumed with?
Ephesians 3:21 To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Perhaps this morning you would consider going to God in prayer and asking Him to help you with your addictions, your obsessions, your preoccupations … maybe you are willing to trade them in for something that will last an eternity and really pay off in this world and in the world to come. He can help and He will …
Mark 10 NKJV
29 So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,
30 "who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
31 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Won’t you pray right now? Ask God to give you a new burden for His House, the Church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ His Family.
Then get involved and watch God fulfill your life like never before.
As you care for His family and future … He will care for yours.
