Our Worship and Trust of God

Introduction

Last week we began part 3 of the book of Mark. It all started with Jesus entering into Jerusalem, and it was an entrance like that of a humble king. He entered with lots of praise and people shouting and cheering. Once he got in though it was silent and nobody said a thing as he went into the temple for just a brief time and looked around.

Tonight we will see that Jesus didn’t like what he saw in the temple and he is going to let them know it. The main things that this concerns is the worship of Jesus and the life of faith. I want you to notice the sandwich in the story, and this is not a literal sandwich but there is a section that starts the story with a fig tree and a separate section that ends it with the same fig tree while the bulk of the story is in the middle, and this is on purpose.

Let’s go ahead and start with reading our passage for tonight.

Mark 11:12–25 ESV

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

This story starts out with Jesus hungry and he sees a fig tree so he goes to get some figs. It is not the season for figs but since there were leaves on the tree there should have been the beginnings of figs on it but he finds none. Because of this he curses the tree and leaves to go into the temple. Since he was in the temple the day before we can assume that he knew what he was walking into, and it was not honoring to God. He sees the temple has become a place of business instead of a place for worship. In a act of righteous anger he drives them out and keeps them from entering back in, while keeping them out he quotes Isaiah 56:7 “these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”” At the end of the day they go back out of town. The next day they pass by the fig tree that Jesus cursed and see that it is withered to the roots and they point it out to Jesus. After they point it out Jesus takes some time to teach them about the life of faith. The fig tree is symbolic for the worship that is being given in the temple.

Tonight our two main points are going to be exactly the same as they were a few lessons back but the content of each will be different. They will be; What do we learn about Jesus, and what do we learn about the life of faith. In this we will see our need for proper worship and our need for hope, prayer, and forgiveness. Let’s pray then we can see what we learn about Jesus.

pray

What do we learn about Jesus?

for what we learn about Jesus there are two things that both hinge on worship. In our minds we often put worship in the category of music. Biblical worship is so much more than that though, it is the preaching of the word, it is the reading of the word, it is baptism, it is the Lords Supper, it is praying, and it is singing. The service Sunday morning is called a worship service because each part of it is worship. Remember this as we talk about worship, it is not just music.

Jesus cares about true worship

Mark 11:17 ESV

And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

The temple is the place of worship, it is where sacrifice to God was made, it is where prayers were offered, it is a holy place. In this time it seems as though there was more business going on in the temple than worship. This is not pleasing to Jesus. It is often thought that it is more important that we worship than how we worship, I think that the Bible tells us a different story. We are told how to worship throughout and we have also seen in other passages, not just today's, where improper worship is punished. Old Testament priest that offered strange fire and touched the ark of the covenant were killed, people in the book of Acts were killed for lying as they worshiped through offering (they were like the fig tree), and here Jesus drives them out of the temple.

People that do not offer true worship are like the fig tree in the story, they give off the appearance as though they are doing well but in actuality they are not. They seem like they should have fruit but when you look closer you see that there is nothing and they are a fake. There were times that judgment was swift but not we know that they are judged for this and if they do not turn from it that judgment will come about.

The need for right worship of God is still here today. So then, how are we to worship?

John 4:23 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

We are to worship in spirit and in truth.

To worship in spirit is to worship with your whole self, it is to mean what you say, it is to have a real passion for God. If this is not here then there is no worship in spirit. This can’t be alone though, there are so many that put all of their stake into the passion of their worship and they stop there.

To worship in truth is to have worship that is properly informed by the truth of who God is. To worship in this way we have to know who God is and we do that through the study of his word. A church that does not open the Bible does not worship. People that do not open the Bible do not worship. An example of this that I am sure you see is the churches that do sermon series called “at the movies”, this is not worship in truth and the worship in spirit is not directed towards God but the movie.

Our knowledge of God should lead to our praise of him. Praise without knowledge is idolatry because you are praising something made up since it is not based upon the truth of God. Knowledge without praise in the spirit is dead and cold. Spirit without truth is a shallow overly emotional experience just like a high, there is no value there. If we are to worship at all it must be in spirit and in truth.

The more we know about God, the more we appreciate Him. The more we appreciate, the deeper our worship. The deeper our worship, the more God is glorified.

Jesus opposes those who worship for personal gain

Mark 11:17 ESV

And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

So much of this false worship is for personal gain. Here it is financial, sometimes it is in the form for emotional gain from a non-truth based worship that gives a high, other times it is through recognition. you get from others.

Worship is for the glory of God and not for personal gain. We do profit from worshiping but that profit is in the honor to worship such a great savior. It is not the desire of God that we profit something from worship his desire is his own glory that he deserves.

We see that Jesus opposes those who worship for personal gain by driving them out of the temple, I feel if he was here on this earth today he would walk into a lot of places and clear them out too. I feel like he would see so many hands held high while there are so many hearts in other places.

What do we learn about the life of faith? People of faith express their trust in God...

through hope

Mark 11:22–23 ESV

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Hope in a Christian context is trustful expectation. This is what we can do as Christians, though we do not do it as Jesus described because it serves no purpose. Whenever we trust in God expecting that he will do what he has promised we are expressing our trust in God through hope. Hope is a vital part of the life of faith.

through prayer

Mark 11:24 ESV

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Connecting to hope we have prayer. We are to take everything to God in prayer and he will answer all of our prayers and shape us through them. Though the answer he gives is not always exactly what we desire, through prayer our desires are shaped to his desires. Prayer offers us the opportunity to hope in God and the opportunity for him to shape our wants and desires. We can express our trust in God through prayer and the life of faith is one that is defined by prayer.

through forgiveness

Mark 11:25 ESV

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

lastly through forgiveness. If you are living the life of faith then you have been forgiven, since you have been forgiven for so much you are to forgive as a response. If you have to forgive anyone or need forgiveness from anyone do that, don’t wait around for it. We express our trust in God through forgiving others others and the life of faith is a life of forgiveness.

Conclusion

Through this passage we first learned about Jesus and that he deeply cares about our worship. We also learned about the life of faith and how it expresses trust in God through hope, prayer, and forgiveness. All of these have a hinge point though. You cannot offer proper worship, you cannot worship in spirit and in truth, if you are not first a follower of Christ. You cannot live a life of faith, you cannot express your trust in God, if you have not first trusted in him for salvation.

The hinge point is our salvation. These are things that only Christians can do, these are things that only those who have put their faith in Jesus can do. We are in desperate need for salvation because of all that we do that is against God. This salvation is found in putting your faith in Jesus and I would invite you to do that tonight.

If you have out your faith in Christ then I want to charge you with this, offer acceptable worship that is pleasing to God. Worship in spirit and in truth. And as you live the life of faith express your trust in God through hope, prayer, and forgiveness.