Whose House?

Jn 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
Jn 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

There are to be 4 temples: Those of Solomon, Cyrus, Herod and the Beast. Imagine that, 3 of the temples are built by the ungodly. Yet, Jesus cleanses Herod's temple and calls it His father's house! Isn’t that thought provoking? A temple refurbished by that wicked Herod, who slew all those innocent Bethlehemite children, who sought to slay Jesus, who forced his family into exile in Egypt, Jesus call, “My Father’s house!”

Fast forward a couple of millennia and try to imagine some IFB preacher even deigning to look upon such a place as a legitimate church. Perish the thought!!!

I think of the preacher who resigned from a good church because he became aware that it was started by a preacher who had been divorced and remarried. He thought, therefore, that it was not a legitimate church. Strange, this same pastor who judged a predecessor so harshly could not meet several of the bishop qualifications himself, yet he deemed this church "illegitimate."

I think of pastors who disallow performance tracks for their singers because those tracks may have been produced by lost musicians. There are a host of other such inconsistencies that I have witnessed, no doubt, a few of my own.

But then I think of the Lord's words to His apostle who claimed, "I have never let anything unclean pass though my lips." The Lord said, "That which I have cleansed, let no man call unclean."

Let us be about the business of encouraging those trying to serve the Lord, a bit imperfectly, yet wholeheartedly, rather than nitpicking about our standards which are obviously higher than God's. Oh, the preacher’s general caveat? “It is better to err on the side of caution.” No, it is better to judge righteous judgment and not to err at all.