The harsh truth is that when we angrily call someone a dirtbag, we (believers in and followers of Christ Jesus) are demonstrating that we are absentminded. In other words, we are showing God and mankind that we have forgotten that we all come from DIRT.
Every crop of grain or fruit must experience a time of separation. When the crop is ripe, it is harvested by separating the chaff or the refuse. Thus, mature barley goes through a time of separation or winnowing. Using a wooden fork or “fan,” winnowers throw the gathered barley against the wind so that the wind can separate the chaff (husk) from the grain. On the other hand, mature wheat goes through a time of separation or crushing/threshing. Using a tribulum, a wooden board with holes in it, or using a wooden sled, which oxen often pull, threshers stand or sit on the board or sled as it is drawn over the grain that is laying on the threshing floor, causing the grain to be separated from the husk (chaff) and straw. Lastly, the mature grapes also go through a time of separation or crushing (treading). Using a winepress, treaders crush the grapes until the grapes’ juice is separated from the grapes’ skins, which results in the pressed juice running into the vats.
Today’s institutional “church” needs to recognize its so-called marginalized believers’ hunger for a genuine experience with God, their hunger for the spiritual knowledge of God, and their hunger for an authentic connection with a faithfully obedient community of believers. For sure, the only way that the current institutional “church” will be able to survive is if it prepares itself for its much need transformation, changing from the very unhealthy and powerless organized traditional “church” of today to the healthier and more powerful ekklesia that experiences a deeper communion or koinonia, as demonstrated by the first-century ekklesia in the Holy Bible’s book of Acts!
It would be hard to find many believers who would admit that the major reason why there is so much division in today’s institutional “church” is because there is so much Christian snobbery. Nevertheless, the harsh truth is that, in the institutional “church,” the Lord’s true followers are divided primarily because of these three forms of Christian snobbery: (1) Intellectual snobbery 2) Partial snobbery, and (3) Spiritual snobbery
In John 2:13-22, Christ Jesus is saying that He not only has the power and authority to cleanse the Jewish Temple of all that has corrupted it, but also is telling the Jerusalem Jews that He is the messianic sign they have been looking for—He is the prophesied One who would perform a messianic purification of the Temple; see Malachi 3:3. In other words, Christ Jesus is the true replacement of the Jewish Temple!
