WHEN LOVE GETS ANGRY
Face to Face with Jesus #2
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, May 4, 2025
“Healthy anger drives us to do something to change what makes us angry; anger can energize us to make things better. Hate does not want to change things for the better; it wants to make things worse.” –Lewis Smedes, Forgive and Forget, p 21
(John 2:13–25, NLT) “It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said. Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.”
1. JESUS’ ANGER TEACHES ME
a. Some things demand a response
b. What is acceptable to culture is not always acceptable to God
2. JESUS CLEANSED THE DISTRACTIONS FROM WORSHIP
(Psalm 69:9, NASB) “Zeal for your house has consumed me…”
“The core problem is not that we are too passionate about bad things, but that we are not passionate enough about good things.” –Larry Crabb in Finding God. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 3
Life Application: God is patient with me. That doesn’t mean tolerance of my sin
3. GOD IS CONSUMED WITH ZEAL FOR MY HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS
(Malachi 3:1–3, NLT) “He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross.”
“Your religion is what you do with your solitude.” –William Temple
Life Application: God doesn’t put me in the furnace to cook me, but to refine me
4. SEE THE HEART OF JESUS
(John 2:17–18, NLT) “Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
(1 Peter 4:13, Message) “Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”
(1 Peter 2:15–17, Message) “It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.”
Life Application: Live out God’s will
GROWTHWORK
- Does the thought of refiner’s fire scare or excite you?
- In refiner’s fire you discover who God is and want to know him more.
- What does Jesus need to cleanse from my life?
- How can I develop my zeal for God’s temple?