back to indexBerean Community Church Passion Week Devotionals 4/3/2023
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It's always a privilege for us to gather and then tonight we're going to take time to remember the events of Passion Week and to appreciate all the steps that Christ took to ultimately go to the cross. 00:11:40.000 |
Tonight also we're going to be able to hear a personal testimony from our sister Judy Kim. 00:11:45.000 |
So after the beginning worship set, she'll come up to share with us. 00:11:49.000 |
Please bow your heads now as we begin with a time of prayer. 00:11:55.000 |
>> Lord God, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 00:12:00.000 |
God, we thank you each day and we thank you for your provision. 00:12:05.000 |
But this week and what it represents and what we're remembering, we ultimately thank you for the incredible sacrifice you have made. 00:12:14.000 |
I pray that in order to thoroughly appreciate and understand, help us to take a long look at all of the suffering, all the events, and the steps that you took in your dedication to accomplish what we could not. 00:12:32.000 |
And so would you bless us as we hear your word, as we fellowship, but also Lord, we long to bless you with words of praise and our adoration. 00:12:41.000 |
We thank you God it's in Christ and we pray, amen. 00:13:04.000 |
Behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the king. 00:13:25.000 |
In our longing, in our darkness, now the light of life has come. 00:14:28.000 |
Christ the great and sure fulfillment of the law. 00:20:15.000 |
He shouts and sings adore your holy, holy, holy name. 00:21:39.000 |
My name is Judy Kim, and I have been attending 00:21:41.000 |
the seminary for the past one and a half years. 00:21:46.000 |
to share my testimony in remembrance of Christ's death 00:21:49.000 |
and resurrection and his everlasting provision 00:21:53.000 |
Growing up, I was gripped with a kind of tension 00:22:01.000 |
and this fact always threatened the harmony of my family. 00:22:06.000 |
and financial instability threatened my parents' 00:22:08.000 |
marriage, divorce was always this looming option. 00:22:11.000 |
My eldest brother was kicked out of the home at 18 years old. 00:22:20.000 |
My other brother unfortunately turned to drugs 00:22:23.000 |
No status was guaranteed, not wife to husband, 00:22:32.000 |
had a hold on all of us, and we continued to threaten 00:22:43.000 |
I was aimlessly striving for some sort of control and peace, 00:22:48.000 |
Because I grew up going to church with my mom, 00:22:50.000 |
sometimes when I needed God, I would run to him. 00:22:53.000 |
However, my flesh was unwilling to fully surrender 00:23:03.000 |
until God made clear to me how truly ugly sin was. 00:23:06.000 |
It wasn't that life was just hard and painful 00:23:10.000 |
but I was a wretched sinner living in a fallen world. 00:23:16.000 |
when my mom became sick with a chronic illness 00:23:18.000 |
called lupus that would cause her heart and kidneys to fail. 00:23:24.000 |
for a kidney transplant, but I see it as God's mercy 00:23:27.000 |
that my desperation for a lasting hope was intensified 00:23:30.000 |
by the reality that I am helpless in my own efforts 00:23:35.000 |
That even a kidney or good health was not deserved, 00:23:38.000 |
but I have grown to understand that this does not 00:23:40.000 |
compromise God's character, but only further proves 00:23:46.000 |
Trying to wrap my head around God's sovereignty in my life 00:23:49.000 |
always leaves me in awe of God's perfect faithfulness, 00:23:56.000 |
God has graciously redeemed so many aspects of my family 00:24:02.000 |
it often feels foreign to me when I look at my family today. 00:24:05.000 |
It is also amazing to me how God used and still uses 00:24:12.000 |
and that my family is held together beautifully 00:24:17.000 |
Though I am so grateful for God's merciful goodness 00:24:28.000 |
I am fully convinced that my hope and salvation 00:24:32.000 |
that my never-ending brokenness is a reminder 00:24:38.000 |
But in my human resolve, I felt most love for my achievements 00:24:49.000 |
that can restore a sinful soul to a perfect God. 00:24:53.000 |
When I turn to scripture, I am reminded again 00:24:55.000 |
of the sovereign nature of God and come to full faith 00:24:58.000 |
and assurance that God's character is impeccably consistent 00:25:03.000 |
So good that the Holy God did the unfathomable thing 00:25:09.000 |
to pay the cost of my sin, dying the death that I deserve. 00:25:16.000 |
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:19.000 |
"According to his great mercy, he has caused us 00:25:23.000 |
"through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 00:25:25.000 |
"to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, 00:25:31.000 |
For those who repent and believe in the gospel, 00:25:33.000 |
this union that we have in Christ is a truth of permanence. 00:25:44.000 |
or amount of money, validation, and accolades can offer that. 00:25:54.000 |
These absolute truths bring me great peace and comfort. 00:26:02.000 |
that all things are from him and through him, 00:26:06.000 |
that my entire life be of worship to him and to him alone. 00:26:09.000 |
I would like to end with a verse that encourages me a lot. 00:26:14.000 |
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 00:26:16.000 |
"'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 00:26:19.000 |
"'He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, 00:26:21.000 |
"'and God himself will be with them as their God.' 00:26:23.000 |
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, 00:26:28.000 |
"Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, 00:26:30.000 |
"nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." 00:26:44.000 |
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony, Judy. 00:26:49.000 |
At this time, we're going to walk through again 00:27:01.000 |
we know that several things happened on the Monday, 00:27:09.000 |
but mainly that there was a clearing of the temple. 00:27:12.000 |
By way of introduction, I would like to show you a map. 00:27:15.000 |
And the reason why I'd like to show you the map 00:27:22.000 |
I get a little confused, like, "Wait a minute. 00:27:24.000 |
"Where were they here, and when were they there?" 00:27:28.000 |
is that Christ has come to Jerusalem on Sunday, 00:27:34.000 |
And Bethany becomes, in many ways, like a home base. 00:28:00.000 |
And the reason why that's important is because 00:28:04.000 |
first, Jesus, on the walk over, curses the tree. 00:28:08.000 |
I'll read a passage for you from Mark 11, verse 12, 00:28:12.000 |
and it says, "On that next day, when they had left Bethany, 00:28:20.000 |
he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. 00:28:23.000 |
And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, 00:28:29.000 |
He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!'" 00:28:36.000 |
Now, not to be confused, but what happens is, 00:28:42.000 |
they go back to Bethany, and on the next day, Tuesday, 00:28:44.000 |
he explains to the disciples, as they wonder, 00:28:48.000 |
because today on Monday they see it in full bloom, 00:28:56.000 |
Now, the conviction that comes from that story, 00:28:59.000 |
I'm going to leave, but the conviction is very obvious. 00:29:02.000 |
You can have something that looks like it ought to have 00:29:17.000 |
He's going to look at the temple where worship is happening. 00:29:26.000 |
the disciples themselves, even though they probably grew up 00:29:29.000 |
looking at this temple, they can't help but wonder and gaze. 00:29:51.000 |
But what does he see when he goes into the temple? 00:29:55.000 |
Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21, 00:29:58.000 |
and the primary text that we're going to be spending to reflect today 00:30:02.000 |
is going to be here, Matthew 21, verses 12 and on. 00:30:11.000 |
that should to the human eye look like it's in full leaf, 00:30:18.000 |
Take a look, and it says, "Jesus entered the temple 00:30:21.000 |
and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple 00:30:29.000 |
and the seats of those who were selling doves. 00:30:41.000 |
Pause there for a moment and meditate with me on that question. 00:30:45.000 |
As you think about Christ walking from Bethany to the Mount of Olives, 00:30:54.000 |
the question is what does Jesus see as he walks into this temple? 00:31:00.000 |
I made it the longest point that I've ever written, 00:31:04.000 |
The Lord Jesus saw a temple full of people in traditions. 00:31:09.000 |
They were there because every year they were required to come. 00:31:32.000 |
He didn't see the kind of worship that God desired from his people. 00:31:44.000 |
what he saw was a commercialization of the temple. 00:31:48.000 |
And what's crazy about it is one would wonder, 00:31:54.000 |
that you have people who are selling products to each other, 00:32:00.000 |
I'd like to highlight to you that they are depicted in this picture, 00:32:05.000 |
both merchants who are selling sacrifice items. 00:32:08.000 |
There were individuals who were selling doves. 00:32:15.000 |
what was normally expected was a lamb or oxen. 00:32:18.000 |
But if you were poor, God gave you a provision 00:32:31.000 |
There were people who were maybe living in foreign lands, 00:32:35.000 |
They had to exchange their Roman coins, their Greek coins, 00:32:51.000 |
I guess you could say backwards commercialization 00:33:03.000 |
Is it just over time that these things happen? 00:33:06.000 |
Is it possible that a local gathering of believers 00:33:13.000 |
Is it possible that the church becomes more commercialized, 00:33:16.000 |
that the church becomes a place of some kind of goods and services, 00:33:21.000 |
a lot like maybe even what the world has to offer 00:33:23.000 |
when it comes to psychiatric services, community services? 00:33:29.000 |
Can the church become something to that degree? 00:33:37.000 |
is that repeatedly in almost cyclical pattern, 00:33:58.000 |
God would say, "You have incredible instruments. 00:34:03.000 |
One of the passages I'd like to highlight for you 00:34:15.000 |
Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings 00:34:22.000 |
And I will not even look at the peace offerings 00:34:29.000 |
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps, 00:34:32.000 |
but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness, 00:34:42.000 |
was that it would become a place for everyone 00:34:48.000 |
In other passages, like the book of Mark chapter 11, 00:35:06.000 |
and at the center of his temple was the mercy seat. 00:35:13.000 |
was a place that was completely flipped upside down. 00:35:27.000 |
Let's read again in Matthew chapter 21, verse 12, 00:35:38.000 |
He overturned the tables of the money changers 00:35:41.000 |
and the seats of those who were selling doves, 00:35:48.000 |
but you, you are making it a den of robbers.'" 00:36:19.000 |
He also overturned those who were selling doves, 00:36:25.000 |
but in Mark chapter 11, the corollary passage, 00:36:40.000 |
You can imagine him running here and running there. 00:36:46.000 |
now none of the things that I'm going to mention 00:36:51.000 |
Meaning, if I give the example of you couponers, 00:37:07.000 |
let's just say Pastor Nathan or something, right? 00:37:09.000 |
Pastor Nate comes over and kicks your bicycle. 00:37:14.000 |
And he notices Justin over here serving hard. 00:37:18.000 |
He says, "Everybody come pay for the retreat!" 00:37:26.000 |
And then somebody's coming over here buying coffee, 00:37:28.000 |
and he's trying to take it into the sanctuary, 00:38:01.000 |
In everybody's eyes, Jesus was the one ruining, 00:38:13.000 |
In their eyes, they were doing what was normative, 00:38:17.000 |
and Jesus was the one ruining their comfortable, 00:38:21.000 |
perhaps even the services they have within the temple. 00:38:37.000 |
I know we normally don't think of human Jesus 00:38:59.000 |
he's literally turning over tables and pushing people. 00:39:06.000 |
we know that our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:39:26.000 |
And yet here, those individuals who had the audacity 00:39:49.000 |
what that tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ 00:39:53.000 |
His turning over the tables and getting angry, 00:40:05.000 |
First, in Mark chapter 11, verse 15 through 19, 00:40:17.000 |
but you have made it a den, a robber's den.'" 00:40:47.000 |
And for a point of devotion and conviction for us, 00:40:51.000 |
is that vision also a point of conviction for us? 00:41:05.000 |
where it fulfills God's vision for his glory, 00:41:13.000 |
early on when Jesus previously cleared the temple, 00:41:22.000 |
Stop making my Father's house a place of business." 00:41:25.000 |
And his disciples remembered that it was written, 00:41:42.000 |
it's going to grant to us a willingness to say, 00:41:53.000 |
Because that's not what I was trying to do anyway. 00:43:06.000 |
to a commercialized place of goods and services 00:43:22.000 |
it shows his heart and his zeal for his father. 00:44:07.000 |
is that from the moment Jesus is arriving on scene, 00:44:26.000 |
The son of David is a very unique loaded term 00:45:02.000 |
is that this instance of Jesus cleansing the temple 00:45:19.000 |
it says in a strange, almost weird transition 00:45:28.000 |
He drove out the people who were selling doves. 00:45:33.000 |
"The Lord's house will be a house of prayer." 00:45:36.000 |
And then a bunch of people started coming to him 00:45:59.000 |
but everybody else feeling incredibly threatened. 00:46:10.000 |
I mean, think about something like provoking. 00:46:15.000 |
When he entered into the scene on Palm Sunday, 00:46:19.000 |
in some sense, the people were just watching. 00:46:22.000 |
And the Pharisees, the opposition, were thinking, 00:46:31.000 |
But here and now, he is completely going directly at them. 00:46:57.000 |
Jesus' actions were on tier of like terrorist stuff, right? 00:47:09.000 |
it says, "When the chief priests and the scribes 00:47:14.000 |
"and they saw the children who were shouting in the temple, 00:47:18.000 |
"they became indignant, and they said to him, 00:47:22.000 |
"'Do you hear what these children are saying?' 00:47:25.000 |
"And Jesus said to them, 'Yes, have you never read, 00:47:29.000 |
"'out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies, 00:47:34.000 |
"And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany 00:47:39.000 |
So there you conclude this strange, strange scene. 00:47:50.000 |
People who are still in need coming to Christ for healing. 00:48:05.000 |
that the chief priests and the scribes heard this, 00:48:12.000 |
For the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. 00:48:15.000 |
When evening came, they would go out of the city. 00:48:36.000 |
And as we come to this last week of his life, 00:48:41.000 |
the rejection of Christ is hitting a pinnacle point. 00:48:49.000 |
were looking for an opportunity to destroy Christ. 00:49:07.000 |
to eventually cater to the desires and wants of man, 00:49:18.000 |
we're going to need Him to get out of the way. 00:49:27.000 |
and we see our desperate need to go to Him and say, 00:49:32.000 |
You're the one who has forgiveness and grace for me." 00:49:45.000 |
at a certain point, Christ Himself will become 00:49:51.000 |
It's the way that God has already predicted it. 00:50:33.000 |
from top to bottom, from the leadership down, 00:50:38.000 |
How could the Messiah come with works of miracles? 00:50:49.000 |
humility, knowing God that without the Spirit, 00:51:03.000 |
desiring to cleanse, make holy, and sanctify. 00:51:13.000 |
and though You could have judged then and there, 00:51:27.000 |
And Lord, together, as we're gathered tonight, 00:51:44.000 |
Help us never to lift up to You worship like that, 00:56:01.000 |
God, we do truly thank You for the sanctifying work that You do in our lives. 00:56:07.000 |
Thank You for truth that washes and renews our minds. 00:56:11.000 |
Thank You, Father God, for the ministry of the Spirit. 00:56:14.000 |
And through that, God, we truly do want to lift up to You worship 00:56:22.000 |
And God, we don't want to give to You tainted worship 00:56:25.000 |
where we're just busy doing our own thing, taking care of our own business, 00:56:32.000 |
We also want to pray that You help us that we do not offer up to You worship on Sundays, 00:56:42.000 |
And Lord, help us, God, that we would not lift up to You the scraps of our time, 00:56:46.000 |
whatever only we could afford here and there, 00:56:49.000 |
but rather that it would be the forefront priority of our lives. 00:56:53.000 |
God, that when we're gathered together, we're truly giving to You our heart's best. 00:56:58.000 |
And in that way, God, we want to lift You up. 00:57:01.000 |
In that way, God, we want to truly regard You as the greatest treasure in our lives. 00:57:06.000 |
We thank You again. It's in Christ's name. Amen. 00:57:11.000 |
And as you do, just as a couple of brief announcements, 00:57:14.000 |
number one, the Cafe Ministry team, we're really thankful for them. 00:57:19.000 |
They're going to be opening their doors each evening at 5.30 p.m. on devotion nights. 00:57:24.000 |
So you can come early, and in that way, you're never late to the devotion time. 00:57:29.000 |
Also, as you guys know, the parking-wise, it is a little bit different in that this back one here 00:57:35.000 |
and the far one, which is the Fitch building, that those two are closed, 00:57:39.000 |
but everything else is open here and then the normal sites. 00:57:42.000 |
On the Facebook, we put a map, and we'll just send it out again. 00:57:46.000 |
And so just please make sure you kind of pay attention to that. 00:57:52.000 |
You guys are free to go, and then we're going to close the place up around 9.30 at the latest 00:57:57.000 |
so that we can go to our work and businesses and come back the next day refreshed.