========================================================================
  A TEMPLE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS
  by Max Hougham
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon reflects on a temple encounter where Jesus
challenges the religious elite, teaches the common people, and offers
insights on love, giving, and the kingdom of God. It emphasizes the
importance of understanding the simplicity of the gospel, the joy of
living in love, and following the example of Christ in daily life.

Topics: "Love", "Simplicity of the Gospel"
Scripture References: Luke 4:17, Leviticus 19:18, Psalm 110:1, Micah 6:8, 1 Corinthians 1:27, Matthew 22:37, 1 John 4:7, Philippians 2:5, Mark 12:41, Mark 12:28

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon reflects on a temple encounter where Jesus challenges the
religious elite, teaches the common people, and offers insights on love,
giving, and the kingdom of God. It emphasizes the importance of
understanding the simplicity of the gospel, the joy of living in love,
and following the example of Christ in daily life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Father in heaven, thank you for this morning and for a chance to meet
together and worship and strengthen each other, try to prepare each
other again going out and being a light to the world and sharpening each
other. Father, I just pray this morning that you would open our hearts
and hear and apply things in your word. Help me father as I try to share
some thoughts on this, let them be yours and anything that isn't that
what it just fade away.

I also want to pray father for the people around us that we have
influence on that are in our proximity. I think father of a man named
Brian Collins who is still suffering the aftereffects of an accident and
I just pray father that you would help him to be able to have a sound
mind and provide for his family. We think father of John James down in
Arkansas, I just pray Lord that you would help him with his pain, help
him to get stability and most of all Lord help him to be encouraged.

I also want to pray father for Rick's neighbor Darlene Young, her sister
Susan with cancer. Father, we pray for your will in that but we thank
you Lord for some healing and most of all that they might turn their
hearts to you and also think of brother Harvey kind of stuck in limbo
down in Honduras. Let his time be profitable down there father, the
extra time that he didn't plan to spend and I also want to lift up to
you in prayer brother Atlee's neighbor John Gripka and help them God to
be made aware of you and search you out in a new way if they haven't
done that already.

God have mercy on us and be with us this morning and bless the message
that's coming after. Thank you God for loving us in Jesus name. Why
enjoy expository teaching, I think it's good and I also really enjoy
topical teaching.

I think that's really good too. Both of those I think kind of have
different pitfalls. I guess in expository teaching I think I think there
can be a tendency sometimes or at least I have especially oh especially
several years ago some of the different teachers that I would listen to
would really dig the meat out of you know two or three verses and it
would take them an hour an hour plus going over two or three verses and
breaking it down in the Greek and the Hebrew.

I think there can be some value in that but I think that's kind of like
that's focusing on the micro of a passage you know there are two terms
the micro and the macro. Micro is really small and macro is a big
picture and I feel like sometimes if expository teaching just kind of
creeps along and just tackles two or three verses and and you know
drudges through a gospel that way you kind of miss the macro. In fact
you can miss the whole big picture looking at the micro and also on the
other hand if you go too fast with expository teaching I feel like you
miss some of the micro you know you get a nice overview of the whole
passage but you miss some of the little details that that could be dug
out.

So I feel like from my own experience I've often missed the macro thrust
of a message especially maybe early on. I remember back in 2014 when I
when I started really studying the Sermon on the Mount I had previously
studied it in just little snippets at a time but but you have to
remember that the Sermon on the Mount was was preached all at once. It
was given as one teaching all at the same time and and somehow like when
that clicked for me it it felt like it gelled the whole message of the
Sermon on the Mount together in a way that it didn't before when I when
I was sitting under teaching where you just get a little a little nugget
of it at a time and and the rabbit trails that would come through that
like just kind of made you miss the whole big picture of what Jesus was
trying to talk about.

So that was that was like a big that was a big uh epiphany for me I
guess you know as I as I listened to teachings and anyway recently there
was a passage that I read with my family and Mark and that's what I
wanted to read today and I feel like it's it's well served I'm sure in
both ways to look at the at the little details but also the bigger
details but I wanted this morning to just give you a bigger overview of
it and it's it's Mark starting in chapter 11 and and it's a whole temple
encounter from start to finish. He walks into the temple and everybody
who meets him and challenges him and throughout this this is again one
of those passages that I think I've I've heard talked about in little
segments but but not generally looked at it as a whole and I think there
are probably several reasons for that one is uh chapter breaks in the
scripture which kind of divide up this this one continuous event which
makes people naturally especially when people are just standing up and
reading scripture stop at the end of a chapter but really the account
continues on so that's why I'm starting in kind of an odd spot it's Mark
chapter 11 verse 27 and I'm just going to read through it and then kind
of share some thoughts as I go and they came again to Jerusalem and as
he was walking in the temple the chief priests and the scribes and the
elders came to him and they said to him by what authority are you doing
these things or who gave you this authority to do them Jesus said to
them I will ask you one question answer me and I will tell you by what
authority I do these things was the baptism of John from heaven or from
man answer me and they discussed it with one another saying if we say
from heaven he will say why then did you not believe him but shall we
say from man I'm sorry I missed something here he will say why then did
you not believe him but shall we say from man they were afraid of the
people for they all held that John really was a prophet so they answered
Jesus we do not know and Jesus said to them neither will I tell you by
what authority I do these things and and just when you look at this
passage just this little section here it's interesting to me one theme
that I see throughout the Gospels that I've been noticing lately is that
the scribes and the Pharisees were afraid of losing their power their
power rested in the ability to control the people who were under them
that's where any ruler's power comes from and so on one hand they had
this ditch that Jesus set before them and they could say uh if they say
that he that he came from God Jesus would challenge them why didn't you
believe him like everybody else why didn't you choose to repent but but
if they said he was from man now they're going to start losing some of
their control over the people that are under them and of course they
couldn't answer Jesus question so they had to tell him we cannot tell
because they're stuck between this rock in this hard place which was
very deliberately created for them by Jesus first uh chapter 12
beginning of chapter 12 and he began to speak to them in parables a man
planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the wine
press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another
country when the season came he sent a servant to the tenants to get
from them some of the fruit of the vineyard and they took him and beat
him and sent him away empty-handed again he sent to them another servant
and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully and he sent
another and him they killed and so with many others some they beat and
some they killed he had still one other a beloved son finally he sent
him to them saying they will respect my son but those tenants said to
one another this is the air come let us kill him and the inheritance
will be ours and they took him and killed him and threw him out of the
vineyard what will the owner of the vineyard do he will come and destroy
the tenants and give the vineyard to others have you not read this
scripture the stone that the builders rejected has become the
cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes
and they were seeking to arrest him but fear the people for they
perceived that he had told the parable against them so they left him and
went away have you ever considered why jesus used parables from a macro
perspective i think it's really interesting i think there are kind of
three things that happened when jesus spoke in parables for one uh
there's kind of a paradox like these these word pictures these
illustrations that jesus used that are woven through his stories were
something that the common people could wrap their minds around and they
could grasp a little truth about god or a big truth using these word
pictures using these illustrations that's why i think today that
storytelling it with all the media that we have this just my opinion
here like all the media that we have all the different ways that you can
that you can soak something in you know watching them watching a video
listening to audio there is nothing so captivating or so riveting that
can really sink something into you in a way that you remember than a
than a spoken story and i think jesus understood that and used that
medium to the end of being able to teach the common people truth about
himself so here's the paradox on the other hand the religious elite
often missed his main point they would miss it but they understood
enough to know that they ought to be offended they they could hear
enough of what he was saying to know hey hey he just he just like he
just put us down he just shamed us and and so they understood that
within these parables oftentimes just like this one that i read there
was a rebuke for them in there that they could catch but they could miss
the overarching truth and then there were times and this is kind of a
third thing about parables as i was reflecting on it there are times
when nobody seemed to understand what he was talking about the disciples
the common people or the religious elite and i feel like those in a way
benefit us because we have hindsight we have the hindsight that his
audience right now didn't have we we have the hindsight of knowing that
there was a crucifixion and that there was a resurrection and that then
he came and and charged his disciples that they ought to or at least
further illustrated and revealed to them what the kingdom of god was
that he was talking about all this time and and then with that benefit
of hindsight even they could look back and say that's what he meant you
know when he was talking about about this parable anyway just a thought
on parables keep reading here okay all again still the same account
still the same time spent in the temple and they sent some of the
pharisees and some of the herodians to trap him in his talk and they
came and said to him teacher we know that you are true and do not care
about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances but truly
teach the way of god is it lawful to pay taxes to caesar or not should
we pay them or should we not but knowing their hypocrisy he said to them
why put you why put me to the test bring me a denarius and let me look
at it and they brought him they brought one and he said to them whose
likeness and inscription is this they said to him caesars jesus said to
them render to caesar the things that are caesars and to god of the
things that are gods and they marveled at him so again he kind of he
kind of stops them and and gives them an answer that they can't that
they can't easily refute or can't refute at all and sadducees came to
him who say that there is no resurrection and they asked him a question
saying teacher moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and
leaves a wife but leaves no child the man must take the widow and raise
up offspring for his brother there were seven brothers the first took a
wife and when he died left no offspring and the second took her and died
leaving no offspring and the third likewise and the seven left no
offspring last of all the woman also died in the resurrection when they
rise again whose wife shall she be for the seven had her as wife this is
this this instance that they put before him i feel like still happens
today in the contemporary but not maybe necessarily about the
resurrection there are physics of this world that we understand how
relationships work how you know somebody who's present over here cannot
also be present over there simultaneously and our minds get caught up in
the physics of this world that god created and therefore when we're
presented with an idea about god we try to make it fit the mold of the
physics of this world as we have it as we understand it and i feel like
that's what these men were trying to do they were like jesus look here
they obviously don't believe in the resurrection it's no secret jesus
probably knows this and they're saying look look how absurd this is
here's a woman she goes through seven brothers they all die and they
leave no offspring look jesus how could it be possible in the
resurrection that this woman could be the wife of all of them we all
know that's wrong like it defied the system that they understood and
from jesus perspective they were missing the entire point it's not about
the physics of this world it's about becoming a celestial body and
here's his answer jesus said to them is this not the reason you are
wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of god for
when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in
marriage but are like angels in heaven and as for the dead being raised
have you not read in the book of moses in the passage about the bush how
god spoke to him saying i am the god of abraham and the god of isaac and
the god of jacob he is not god of the dead but of the living you are
quite wrong jesus is saying that just about this little this little
segment here he's saying what i hear him saying here is what you're
proposing about god being a god of the dead is preposterous because when
god speaks about his relationship to those who have been and are no more
on this earth he speaks about it in the present tense this is something
that exists right now i am the god of abraham and the god of isaac and
the god of jacob also i mean think about it in the in the
transfiguration and of course the jews didn't have access to this but
there were people who had been having fellowship or communing with jesus
and the disciples that he brought to see to see his glory revealed um
there are some mystery here that i really don't quite understand and i
wonder um i wonder about the resurrection and i wonder like how you know
prior to jesus crucifixion did men and again this is not something i'm
dogmatic on it's thoughts that i've had but but prior to the crucifixion
when people died like were they were they resurrected into god's
presence or just like just their spirit was resurrected into god's
presence um you know there's a place called sheol there um jesus refers
to abraham's bosom being like a place with a great divide in it um the
parable of lazarus and the poor man and and somehow these people their
state of mind their consciousness still exists even if not in bodily
form in this place and and i really don't quite know like how how then
that translates into the new testament like the new covenant that jesus
has does that mean like like i would tend to believe that that when we
that when we cease to be here on this earth like our consciousness can
have fellowship with god however it is possible too that that like it
like the scripture says it's like falling asleep and then at the
judgment not only is our body raised but also our spirit our
consciousness and we're united to face the judgment of god now how that
all works i just i don't know and i guess i for safety's sake i don't
know for the sake of not having a real clear understanding of it i won't
go in there any further but i'd like to hear your thoughts maybe
somebody has it more figured out i'll keep reading here okay so i get
this picture and it's going to continue here that as jesus as jesus is
in the temple one group after another who who tend to have clout in the
in the religious world being religious elites come in they're
challenging him one after another and i i have to wonder as he's doing
that that there is a little crowd of people gathering and starting to
watch this thing happen this debate in public that's the picture i get
and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another
and seeing that he answered them well asked him which commandment is the
most important of all jesus answered the most important is hero israel
the lord our god the lord is one and you shall love the lord your god
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength the second is this you shall love your neighbor
as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these and the
scribe said to him i'm sorry the scribe said to him you are right
teacher you have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides
him and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding
and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much
more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices and when jesus saw
that he answered wisely he said to him you are not far from the many
more questions so the challenges have largely come to an end during this
temple encounter people are are no longer approaching him they don't
want to get stuck in the trap that they've seen others get stuck in and
now it's his turn and so he gives if they were coming up trying to stump
him now it's his turn to give them something to think about and to stump
them and this is what he says and as jesus taught in the temple he said
how can the scribes say that christ is the son of david david himself
and the holy spirit declared the lord said to my lord sit at my right
hand until i put your enemies under your feet david himself calls him
lord so how is he his son and the great thong throng heard him gladly
think again about the sadducees challenging jesus about the resurrection
because it didn't fit the model of what they understand as a husband and
wife relationship and furthermore they didn't understand what happens to
people when they enter the presence of god eternally and so he gives
them something else that's going to to challenge their understanding of
the world around them that won't fit the model of how we understand
human relationships in saying something that sounds totally
contradictory the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i put
your enemies under your feet david himself calls him lord so how is he
his son um this is going to be a descendant of david's and david is
calling him lord and and he just lets them think about it and this is my
favorite part right here so so this picture that i get in my mind of the
people gathering around watching this temple encounter it says this and
the great throng heard him gladly they were like ah that's that's the
way to think that's the king james i actually like better it says in the
common people heard him gladly i just i really like that i like that
picture um he was the people's man the people's champion verse 38 and in
his teaching he said beware of the scribes who like to walk around in
long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best
seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts who devour
widows houses and for a great pretense make long prayers they will
receive the greater condemnation so up until this point jesus has had
somewhat veiled criticism of these men in the temple talking about being
the cornerstone that was rejected that will how did he say it the stone
that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the
lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes and it's not a direct it's
like an indirect criticism of the chief priests the scribes and the
pharisees now here he is on their turf in their realm offering a very
direct rebuke and a direct criticism i just think that's really notable
um i i was thinking as i as i sat there this morning reading over this
and just kind of organizing my thoughts about it it's no wonder like
like there have been times when we we have done it a little bit um
although i can't say i myself ever have but but sometimes you know if
you set up preaching right outside of somebody's event or or come into
their church to try to have a discussion it is it it shifts to
immediately hostile why because you're on their turf you're threatening
them just by your presence and just the fact that you would come in and
dare to challenge them and here jesus is in the temple on their turf
challenging uh their authority and calling them out as hypocrites and i
just i just think that was a very bold thing to do and i i also think
that because of because of the territorial nature of people it was
probably really really offensive if for no other reason that he was
challenging them right there in the temple okay then then we get to the
widow's offering here all all the same from what i can tell all the same
time spent in the temple and i uh just before i read this i and maybe
several of you kind of heard this thought from me before and someone
years ago gave me this this idea and i think i think truly like god
would honor he does honor giving above and beyond somebody's means but
on the coattails of everything he just had to say about the scribes and
the pharisees devouring widow's houses think about think about the
pressure that this woman could have experienced from from the elite to
give and and think about jesus words in that light and i also think and
i also want to say i don't think that takes away from the fact that her
giving was was honored before god and he sat down opposite the treasury
and watched the people putting money into the offering box many rich
people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two small
copper coins which make a penny and he called his disciples to him and
said to them truly i say to you this poor widow has put in more than all
those who are contributing to the offering box for they all contributed
out of their abundance but she out of her poverty was put in has put in
everything she had all she had to live on and as he came out of the
temple one of his disciples said to him look teacher what beautiful
stones and what wonderful buildings and jesus said to him do you see
these great buildings there will not be left here one stone upon another
that will not be thrown down and then he goes on to explain what he
meant but that concludes the temple encounter and i just wanted to look
at it as a whole story because i appreciated it that way and and present
it that way the macro view of the whole of the whole picture it was one
temple encounter he walks into the temple his reputation precedes him
and all the religious elite approach him and set traps for him and and i
i believe quite possibly in front of a crowd of people he turns their
traps back upon them and then they they are unable to answer their stump
uh and after he stumps them he holds court with the common people and
teaches them on their turf and then openly and directly rebukes them and
uh it's no wonder it's no wonder they wanted to kill him and that they
were they were scheming his end anyway i hope that was a blessing and i
just wanted to say god bless you yeah that big red part that he said uh
you know the common people heard him gladly yeah do you think that means
they understood what he was doing or just that there was well do you
think they understood what he was what he was saying what he was trying
to tell them i don't know that they necessarily did i can't i can't say
that they did but they liked they liked what they were seeing and i
don't know that i can't say that i know what it was they were liking
other than they there must have been some kind of truth about what he
was saying that they could pick up on i guess i would like to believe
they weren't so vindictive that they enjoyed watching him grill the
scribes and pharisees but i don't i mean i have an opinion about it yeah
i think it just points to a disconnect between the elite and the common
people yeah like i don't know if i would have called it vindictive but
just that this was the system uh they had had probably some respect that
they they knew the system but when they saw someone challenge it they
were like yeah maybe not understand what he was doing but they saw that
these elitists were being challenged and it wasn't unwelcome yeah i
think that's a good point um anyway god bless you and i look forward to
further comments or corrections thank you brother max you said a lot of
uh saving points outstanding points points that i never thought of it
good i think you're really good let me just comment on brother leroy's
comments first uh the common people heard him gladly well i believe they
rejoiced because they understood uh they're not theologians they
rejoiced because they understood i see in my opinion very nicely they
heard him gladly they reduced because they understood when jesus started
his ministry he said the spirit of the lord is upon me they preach the
gospel to the poor and to the uh the lame or the the captives and etc uh
luke 4 isaiah 61 luke 4 17 like that and so i think it's they heard him
gladly it's because they understood him who's gonna who's gonna rejoice
if he didn't understand uh anyway that's lee boy you can comment on that
in a couple of minutes i just uh i like that i don't a small point that
i you brought in brother max was uh when jesus said show me a denarius
and i've heard other people say well certain coins didn't have steven's
image on it but i noticed when you read that and i looked and it said
and they brought him a denarius and peter not peter but jesus told the
disciples when you go take no money take no silver gold only take one
tunic of sandals so he didn't even have he didn't even have much you
know he didn't even have a denarius at day's work i i turn your point i
could be corrected in that but they didn't even have uh the money he had
to get from the pharisees or the sadducees to get a denarius just to
show him uh you know he didn't carry that much cash with him and as we
all know the widow's might it's not she gave it all it's the question is
how much did she have left zero uh how do you say uh zero in german i
don't know how do you say zero in german okay okay that's right it's not
important but you know nothing uh zilch zilch right okay but it makes
more emphasis out there but anyway not really but um that you know that
denarius was something and uh you quoted the two verses you quoted it's
uh yeah are the two most common verses quoted taken from the old
testament into the new love your neighbor as yourself that's six uh
that's 10 times quoted in the new testament taken from the old leviticus
and then the other one the lord said to my lord that's the the most
quoted verse in the old testament in the new about the lord said to my
lord uh psalm 110 it's trivia but when you said when you read that and i
said hey this is how those two verses in the most common old testament
verses repeated in the new testament loving neighbor as yourself in the
lord said to our lord my lord but anyway my last thought is this and i
did this with brother duane yesterday and it's on topical versus
expository preaching and um as i love the early christians in reading uh
david bestow is a great teacher i think for for that he's read the whole
so many volumes and he has a criticism on origin origin who's a martyr
and he loves him he thinks he's a great uh martyr for the faith origin
origin started in the second century the first catechism class and
catechism and so he was quote the first theologian not the common people
heard him gladly and so the seminarians today and others they point to
origin as their well you know this is good you know you know hebrew the
greeks out in the carmen let's go for it origin started but bristowe
criticizes them because origin would take every verse and say okay this
isn't milk there's meat in this verse okay there's meat and and and
matthew you know serving them out there's meat in it it's not just milk
and then the meat and then the morn and then the he he origin on every
verse he expounded so that everything is a theologian and there isn't
anything for the common person to understand and most of the common
people were uneducated and unlearned and they were the ones the blood
they were the truth they were the models of our thing it's not the
theologians who were studying hebrew and greek and all those things no
it's putting into action as we know the simple teachings of jesus bless
your brother max and leroy and all these i just that that was freshened
my mind about origin and topical speaking but uh no just the simple just
say it so plain and simple how does paul say the simplicity of the
gospel the simplicity it's not meant for college educated people okay
the lord be magnified foreign is stars and angels Mountain, from the
metal-matching sea, Canning bird of glowing mountain, Call us to rejoice
in thee. From our giving and forgiving, Everlasting, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean dance of happy rest.

Thou the Father, Christ our Father, All who live in love are Thine.
Teach us how to love each other, Gift us with a joy divine. Mortals,
join the mighty chorus, Which the morning stars began.

Father, love is reigning o'er us, Brother, love binds man to man. Ever
singing, march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music
lives us onward In the triumph song of life.

I'll try it. All right, I'll try it. Salvatore, O mortuosus, O nobis
pacem, O nobis pacem, Dei nobis pacem, O nobis pacem, Elders, be strong,
the world still goes on.

Hearts, be of Israel, called to rest. Peace, heaven, and earth, all
through our days. Then to Gloria, our dear and dear old, To save our
lands of old, dear old and new.

Hearts, be of Israel, dear and dear old, Despues nos enredar el hogar.
Quiero en mi vida ser compartido Mi hermandad, madre, por tu hogar. Paz,
Dios, Cristo, Código Eres, Misericordia con tu poder.

Then to Gloria, Padre bendito, Tu semelhanza quiero tener. Dios hermoso
vas a vivir Sempre tu visto, siempre leas Misericordia con tu poder.
Paz, Dios, Cristo, Código Eres, Misericordia con tu poder.

Then to Gloria, Padre bendito, Tu semelhanza quiero tener. Hoy moriré en
mi casa donde llaman Con fuego santo de tu altar. Que desayane todo malo
Para que tu nombre a su sal.

Paz, Dios, Cristo, Código Eres, Misericordia con tu poder. Then to
Gloria, Padre bendito, Tu semelhanza quiero tener. Sweet are the
promises, kind is the word, Dearer far than any message ever heard.

No longer was the mind of Christ sinless, I see, The upright example is
the pattern for me. When I need it, I'll follow, Follow the Lord every
day. When I need it, I'll follow, Follow Jesus every day.

Sweet is the tender love Jesus has shown, Sweeter far than any love that
mortals have known. Kind to the every one faithful is He, The upright
example is the pattern for me. When I need it, I'll follow, Follow the
Lord every day.

When I need it, I'll follow, Follow Jesus every day. Listen His loving
words, follow to Him, Weary, heavy, lame, embarrassed, sleepless, free.
Trust in His promises, faithful and sure, Lean upon the Savior and thy
soul is secure.

When I need it, I'll follow, Follow the Lord every day. When I need it,
I'll follow, Follow Jesus every day.

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Ull4J7qAuLM.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/max-hougham/a-temple-encounter-with-jesus/
========================================================================