30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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LUKE 19 45-48 JESUS THE TEACHER 03 The sabbath rest
📖 Luke 19:45-48
30Jan2021 - *The sabbath rest* - _Luke 19:45-48_ - JESUS THE TEACHER 3 – Bible reading: _Exodus 20:8-11_
JESUS THE TEACHER was teaching daily at the temple and the people were attentive to hear Him. Jesus taught the people on the basis of what He did at the temple.
The temple was His Father’s house of prayer for all nations but the things that were happening in the temple were totally contrary to what should have been the setting of the temple. This was why the Lord took action against all that was going on.
The temple had also become a den of thieves.
_Luke 19:45-46 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, (46) saying to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE IS A HOUSE OF PRAYER,' but you have made it a '*DEN OF THIEVES*.' "_
The Lord also said, “Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!”.
_John 2:14-17 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers 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!"_
Work, business, enterprise and all other forms of human activity are good and needs to be done in a manner, glorifying God. _I Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God._
We are to be people of excellence in all that we do. The reason being, we do it to glorify God, who is glorious, full of majesty, power, wisdom and light.
As much we gather as the church, we are also to be the scattered church. We are called to be in the world to demonstrate the glory of God, in all that we do. We are there to be salt and light.
Yet… we need to, regularly, come to the presence of the Lord and there we put away all of our ‘merchandise’. We are in His presence, to gaze at Him and adore Him.
The temple was a place where all merchandise was put aside and it was to be a place of the sabbath rest with the Lord. It is necessary for man to have the sabbath rest with God. If we don’t have this rest with the Lord, it is to our own peril.
_Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? (2) For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: *On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word*._
This was the principle that the Lord longed for Martha to appreciate, for she was so distraught with Mary for not helping her with the serving of the guests.
_Luke 10:40-42 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." (41) And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and *Mary has chosen that good part*, which will not be taken away from her."_
What Martha was doing was important and was needed to be done but there was the place, where she needed to put aside her work and sit at the feet of Jesus.
Haven’t we become like Martha? We are so busy that we carry our busyness even into the presence of the Lord and there we are anxious and troubled about many things. This has affected our health, our family life, our relationships, our finances and all other areas of our lives.
The people had made His Father’s house of prayer for all nations into a place of merchandise. The emphasis that this was the place to be in the presence of God and put all human activity aside, was forgotten.
This is also the reason the Lord instituted the Sabbath day of rest into human society. _Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labour and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is *the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work*: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. (11) For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore *the LORD blessed the Sabbath day* and hallowed it._
Coming into the temple was amounting to coming into the Sabbath of the Lord, whereas what was happening there in the temple was against having this Sabbath rest with God.
Consider, friends, the past year of the pandemic. We had been busy and we had no time to be at the feet of the Lord. This busy lifestyle had affected all of us. The Lord allowed this crisis and because of this emergency, we were compelled to slow down our pace. This predicament gave us the needed rest, to spend time in the presence of the Lord.
As we look ahead, are we looking to get back into our busyness or will we put in place the sabbath rest with the Lord as a non-negotiable element in our life?
*Thought to ponder*
```It is our restedness in Lord that we carry into our workplace and not the other way around.```