# 38 From the Beginning It Was Not So

Joh 2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"

I want to spend a little more time on “convenient Christianity” today. This cleansing of the temple by Jesus would not have been necessary had the church followed God’s original guidelines for sacrifices. When did this buying and selling and profiteering get a hold on the religious practices of the day? It was a slow process that happened over time. How does the proverb put it? “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep- 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man. (Prov 6:10.11)

Compromise is the way of convenience, and the only way back requires an overturning of the tables. It can no longer be “business as usual” but rather an honest look at the way it was in the beginning. To quote Jesus, “from the beginning it was not so,” In other words we need to take an honest look at God’s original intent.

How did racism get such a strong foothold in our society? From the beginning it was not so. If you recall, at one time, we were all in the same boat!

How did sexual confusion get such a strong foothold in our society? From the beginning it was not so. God made them male and female!

How did divorce get such a stronghold in our society? From the beginning it was not so. Jesus said in  Mt 19:4 -6, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' 5 "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

How did abortion get to be such a stronghold in our society? From the beginning it was not so. God blessed Adam and Eve, and then Noah telling them to “be fruitful and multiply”, not fruitful and subtracting. Later in Malachi, He spelled out one of the major purposes of holy matrimony, “But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.(Mal 2:15)

How did birth control get to have such a stronghold in our society? Up until the 1930’s it was strictly forbidden by Protestants and Catholics alike. From the beginning it was not so. Ps 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

But we have said, “No thanks” to God’s reward. “Children are only a reward when we want them.”

There are many more convenient compromises that we have come up with through the years, and we are reaping what we have sown. Tables need to be overturned….it’s called repentance. A turning away from our convenient compromises, to seeking and doing the Lord’s will. It’s a hard an honest look at God’s original intent as spelled out in His Word, and a desire to follow it.

Let us confess our sins, receive God’s cleansing of our temples, and move on in glad service to Him.