Jesus is the true temple (youth)

Introduction

What do you think of when you think about the word ‘worship’? I think society today thinks of religion when we worship, like those buddhists in temples, or Muslims when they pray multiple times a day in their mosques bowing down on the floor. Another kind of worship that society does today, is with our idols, with our celebrities. So why don’t we play a little game to start off!

But worship is more than just idolising people we like. Worship is something that we were created for. It’s meant to involve every fibre of our being, because every part of us, our whole being, was created to worship God. It’s why we were made. When God created Adam and Eve, he created them to worship Him, and God would bless them. So worship is where you give God love, honour, praise, thanksgiving, obedience, with all our heart, soul, and strength.

That is what worship is. And the passage today tells us more how we are to achieve this worship, the very reason we were created.

Jesus rejects incorrect worship

But firstly, this passage shows us that God completely rejects worship that is done incorrectly. In John 2:16 it says ‘And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”’ Jesus completely rejects what is going on at the temple, the place where people came to worship God. These people needed this market, because many people came from far away, and they couldn’t bring their sacrificial animals with them, so they had to buy these animals when they arrived at the temple. But this market, although it was necessary, was interrupting true and proper worship, because it was occurring within the temple, the very place where there was meant to be serious heartfelt worship towards God.

And look how violently Jesus condemns all this. If we read John 2:15 “And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.” He doesn’t just yell at them, but he makes a whip, terrifies the people around him, and physically drives everyone out of the temple. This almost seems a bit out of character for the loving Jesus that we all know. But Jesus is not just a helpless lamb, but Jesus is also a fierce lion. He will not let anything get in the way of true worship, even if he has to use destructive force. This is how much Jesus is concerned with true and correct worship of God.

So worshipping God is not a joke. We are not here to just to casually learn about the bible. We are not here just to have a good time. Worship is not a leisurely time where we just casually walk in, sit back and relax and be entertained by whoever is talking. When we come to worship God on Sunday services, and also in our everyday lives, Jesus is extremely concerned that we give true worship, to the point he is willing to make a whip to physically drive out the moneychangers and traders, to the point he is willing to use physical violence, because true and correct worship is that important to Him, but also to us, His creatures, because to give true worship is the very reason why God created. We were created to worship God.

What stops true worship

So then what stops true worship? One of the things that John shows us is that a lack of zeal can be a cause for incorrect and improper worship.

Read John 2:17 ‘His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”’ When Jesus overturns the temple courts and drives everyone out, His disciples remember Psalm 69:9, which reads ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ Psalm 69 is about the Psalmist having a zeal for God’s house, God’s temple, for the right worship of God. And because of this, he was persecuted and attacked, something that also happens to Jesus because he is continually persecuted by the religious leaders and eventually crucified.

But what is zeal? Zeal can be a bit of a difficult concept to understand. A good way to understand zeal is to look at an example in the OT, and the perfect person to look at is Phineas. In the book of Numbers (Num 25:10-18), the Israelites commit idolatry by marrying people of foreign nations with other gods and the Israelites worship Baal, and as a result God sends a plague which kills 24,000 Israelites. While this is happening, an Israelite named Zimri with his foreign wife blatantly come before Moses, blatantly showing their idolatry. So Phineas gets a spear and pierces it through the both of them and kills them. As a result, the plague stops, and God commends Phineas for his zeal. So zeal is the complete allegiance, loyalty, passion to God and God only. It is the exclusive, singular, devotion of our entire attention, affection, love, towards God, and no-one or nothing else.

So then, what stops or hinders true worship of God is when we lose our zeal. This happens when we let our singular complete devotion and loyalty to God, get distracted, clouded, divided by other things, so that we lose our zeal to protect the true worship of the one and only God. What are some of the things that distract us in our lives? What are some of the things that take away our attention, divide our attention, away from God?

In our personal lives, the things that distract from proper worship of God and divide our attention away from God may be:

Sometimes we are just not interested.

Sometimes we are just more interested in other things. Sometimes other things are just more interesting to us. We would rather be doing something else rather than spending time with God and worshipping God: friends, gaming, pursuing academic success, pursuing popularity. These often reflect our idols.

Time - the busyness of our lives, we are unable to prioritise what is truly important.

Laziness

So it’s important to reflect and see exactly what are the things that take away our attention from God in our lives, the things that we find more interesting then God.

True worship is now found in Jesus

So we see that Jesus rejects incorrect worship and also shows us what causes it. Then what is true worship? True worship is found in Jesus. Read John 2:19 “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”’ In this passage, Jesus is saying that the true temple is no longer the physical building in Jerusalem, but now the true temple is in Him. Through this, Jesus is showing us that true worship is (1) a relationship and (2) a place.

So firstly, worship is a relationship. We were created to be in relationship with God, but because of sin we could no longer be in relationship with Him. And who perfectly restores that relationship of worship for us? Jesus! See how all this takes place during the Passover (see John 2:13). This is Jesus saying, ‘I am the true Passover lamb’, and through my sacrifice, I will once and for all deal with your problem of sin, and I now restore your relationship with God so that you can now be in His presence, so that you can fulfill your created purpose, to worship God. It is through the blood of Jesus Christ that we are able to worship God properly, because we can now freely be in his presence and be in relationship with God, because Jesus Christ took on our sins for us.

Secondly, worship is a place. Remember the temple was the place that signified the very presence of God. Jesus is now saying that God’s presence is no longer limited to the physical temple, but Jesus himself is now the true temple, because the very presence of God now dwells in Jesus Christ. And this has very practical implications for us, because where is the body of Christ found? Where is the body of Jesus in which the very presence of God dwells? The church. The church is the body of Christ. We are his body. So this is why as Christians, we can’t live individualistic lives. This culture that we live in focuses so much on me, me, me, the individual: we are so obsessed about our identities, who we are, being ‘the best version of ourselves’, our purpose in life. The Christian life does not deny the importance of you, the individual. You are precious, loved, and extremely important. But you are even more important, ultimately important, because you are part of the body of Christ. The Christian life is living and participating in the body of Christ, being in relationship with one another, being united as one with other brothers and sisters, because it is when we join together, love one another, and support one another, that we form Christ’s body. And when we become united by the Holy Spirit, it is in this community, in us, that the very presence of God dwells. Christianity is not an individualistic religion, it is not about me, it is not about you; it is about us, and not just us in isolation, but us in inseparable relationship with Christ, with Christ as the head and Christ as the true bridegroom.

Conclusion

So Jesus wants us to worship Him properly. If there is anything in your life that is blocking the way for true and proper worship of God, pray that the Holy Spirit may reveal it to you and break it down for you. Jesus will not tolerate anything that will stop proper worship, and just like how he made a whip and cleansed the temple, he will not shy away from using such force in our lives as well. And sometimes it is easier for us to obey God and remove these distractions ourselves before Jesus takes out his rod of discipline. If he does take out his rod, it may be a difficult time when God wrenches things and drives things out of your life so that your focus and attention is turned back towards Him. But even this is an act of grace and love and something we should be thankful for, even if it is a time of difficulty and suffering, because God is restoring your life, returning you to the very reason why you were created: to worship God. And we can truly worship God when we fall at the feet of Jesus, receive his grace and mercy that He gave on the cross for us, and are restored in relationship with him. When we are in relationship with him, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, the very presence of the Holy God is in us, and not just us, but also the whole church.

Closing song: Heart of Worship

Sources:

Handbook on the Gospels (Gladd)

Pillar NT commentary

Tyndale NT commentary

Reformed expository commentary

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology

https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/#:~:text=Worship%20means%20respectful%20devotion%E2%80%94loving,behave%20reverently%20in%20His%20Presence.