The Church, a Place of Business

Matthew 21:12-13 ESV

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers.’”

Also referred to as “a house of trade,” “a marketplace,” and “a place of business.” (see John 2:16 in various translations)

So, today the temple of God is no longer a physical building, but now it is the body of Christ comprised of all who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23). We are the temple of God, his church, his body. And God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, dwells within us. And we are to worship God in spirit and in truth regardless of physical location.

The true church, and there is only one, is not a physical building or a church denomination, nor is it a corporation of the state, although that is what many have turned the church into. And it is not to be run like a business being marketed to the people of the world just like any other business, but that is what is happening today here in America, anyway. So many gatherings of what are called “church” are just businesses of men being marketed to the people of the world via worldly means and methods.

And in order to attract the world to their gatherings, they are diluting the message of the gospel, and they are altering the character of God/of Christ in order to make them more attractive and appealing and acceptable to the ungodly of this world, which includes many false believers in Jesus Christ. And so many are teaching or implying that we don’t have to forsake our sins and we don’t have to follow Jesus in obedience in order to have eternal life with God and heaven as our eternal destiny. But…

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)

And so this is what they are doing exactly. They have turned everything inside out and upside down, and now they are treating the truth of the gospel as though it is a lie, and they are treating the lies being taught as the gospel as though they are the truth. So, if we are teaching what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, that we must die to sin daily (in practice), and that we must follow our Lord in obedience, we are being accused of teaching “works salvation” or “Lordship salvation.”

But read Ephesians 2:10, for it says:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

And then they are teaching that to believe in Jesus all you have to do is to accept his affection for you, or to accept his grace, or to just acknowledge who he is and what he did for us on that cross, or to make a one-time profession of faith in Christ and now all your sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed you when you die regardless of how you live or how much or how often you deliberately and habitually and even premeditatedly sin against the Lord and against other humans. But that is a lie from hell!

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

And by marketing the church to the world, they are inviting the world into the gatherings of what is called “church.” And to get the world into their gatherings they are making much in the way of compromises of truth and righteousness. And so they are blending truth and lies together, but the lies are superseding the truth. And they are unequally yoking together the ungodly with the saints of God. And they are patterning their gatherings after the world to attract the world, and that is against the Lord’s will.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“’I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

    and I will be their God,

    and they shall be my people.

Therefore go out from their midst,

    and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

    then I will welcome you,

and I will be a father to you,

    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty.’” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

So, instead of mixing with the world and compromising truth and righteousness in order to attract the world, we are to be people of God who stand on truth and righteousness, who have forsaken our lives of sin, and who are following our Lord in obedience, and who do not put up with false gospels of men in their deceitful scheming in order to draw in large crowds of people into our gatherings. But we are to come out from among such gatherings as this and to be separate and be sharing the truth with others.

The Church, a Place of Business

Video Talk

May 7, 2023

https://youtu.be/yi9o8bCihVU

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Full Release  

An Original Work / April 15, 2012

Walking daily with my Savior 

brings me joy.

Loving Father; precious Jesus; 

He’s my Savior and my Lord.

Gently leads me; follow Him.

I’ve invited Him within.

Now abiding in His presence, 

oh, what peace.

From my self-life 

He has brought me,

By His mercy, full release.

Hope and comfort, 

peace and safety Jesus brings

When I daily bow before Him;

Obey freely; do His will.

Follow Him where’er He leads.

Listen to Him; His words heed.

Now obeying his words fully, 

oh, what love

That He gives me 

through salvation,

By His Spirit, from above. 

Loving Father; precious Jesus, 

He’s my friend.

With my Savior, by His Spirit, 

I will endure to the end.

Share the gospel, tell what’s true.

Witness daily; His will do.

Tell the world of how their Savior 

bled and died.

On a cruel cross He suffered 

So that we might be alive. 

https://vimeo.com/115169203