Luke 19:45-48: Jesus and the church.(please click here for todays passage)

Jesus knows what is going on in the ‘temple’ that is His church, and He has the right to rearrange things so that they are in proper order. He cares about the purity of His church far more then we do, even in our best moments. But because Jesus speaks the truth and acts in accordance with it, the world hates Him and wants Him out of the way. ‘Religious’ people in churches can be most violent in opposing real works of God’s Spirit (47).

The Lord Jesus is particularly concerned that the local church should be governed by what ‘is written’ (46a). There are Biblical ways to be the church just as there are non-Biblical ways. May the Lord keep us true to revealed truth, so that we ‘hang’ on all His words (48).

A Bible-governed church will be a prayerful church. It may be a local church but it will not be parochial in its outlook. The people will live ‘on a world map’. They will have a vision as wide as God who ‘so’ loves the world (John 3:16). Anything that impedes the church from fulfilling its calling as ‘a house of prayer for all nations’ (Mark 11:17) must be driven out. This sacred vision of the true calling of the church can so easily be lost.

Prayer: Lord God, pour upon your church the Spirit of prayer