The Church Needs a Reset
"He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers." – Matthew 21:13
When Jesus walked into the temple during the final days of His earthly ministry, what He saw shook Him to the core. What was meant to be a holy place had turned into a marketplace. Tables lined the area where worship was supposed to happen. Greed and personal gain had replaced reverence and prayer. So Jesus took action. He flipped the tables, drove out the sellers, and declared what the temple was always meant to be. It was His house, and a house of prayer.
This moment was not about anger. It was about alignment. Jesus was not acting out of frustration; He was acting with purpose. The temple had lost its way. What was sacred had become self-serving. What was meant to help people connect with God had turned into a system for exploitation. And that is why Jesus had to make it clear that the house belonged to Him. It was not theirs to repurpose. It was His to restore.
That same message still applies today. We live in a time when it is easy for churches to get busy with activities, plans, and personalities, all while slowly drifting away from the very reason they exist. The church does not exist to entertain people or to simply preserve traditions. It exists to create space for people to experience God, grow in His presence, and be sent into the world with purpose. When the focus shifts away from that, we are no longer functioning as His house.
Jesus made it clear that He is determined to build a church that the gates of hell cannot overpower. That means He is not building something weak or watered down. But for that to happen, the people in the church must be willing to let Him lead, not just in name, but in practice. It means putting God’s priorities above personal comfort. It means welcoming transformation, even when it is uncomfortable.
If we want to be part of the kind of church that makes a real difference, we need to ask a hard question. Have we made space for God, or have we just made noise? The reset Jesus started in the temple was not just about clearing a room. It was about reclaiming His house. He still wants to do that today. But only if we let Him.
When Jesus walked into the temple during the final days of His earthly ministry, what He saw shook Him to the core. What was meant to be a holy place had turned into a marketplace. Tables lined the area where worship was supposed to happen. Greed and personal gain had replaced reverence and prayer. So Jesus took action. He flipped the tables, drove out the sellers, and declared what the temple was always meant to be. It was His house, and a house of prayer.
This moment was not about anger. It was about alignment. Jesus was not acting out of frustration; He was acting with purpose. The temple had lost its way. What was sacred had become self-serving. What was meant to help people connect with God had turned into a system for exploitation. And that is why Jesus had to make it clear that the house belonged to Him. It was not theirs to repurpose. It was His to restore.
That same message still applies today. We live in a time when it is easy for churches to get busy with activities, plans, and personalities, all while slowly drifting away from the very reason they exist. The church does not exist to entertain people or to simply preserve traditions. It exists to create space for people to experience God, grow in His presence, and be sent into the world with purpose. When the focus shifts away from that, we are no longer functioning as His house.
Jesus made it clear that He is determined to build a church that the gates of hell cannot overpower. That means He is not building something weak or watered down. But for that to happen, the people in the church must be willing to let Him lead, not just in name, but in practice. It means putting God’s priorities above personal comfort. It means welcoming transformation, even when it is uncomfortable.
If we want to be part of the kind of church that makes a real difference, we need to ask a hard question. Have we made space for God, or have we just made noise? The reset Jesus started in the temple was not just about clearing a room. It was about reclaiming His house. He still wants to do that today. But only if we let Him.
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