A Call to True Worship

Introduction

Entrances: Baseball walk-ups, parties, WWE, Football...

Recap

Main Point: True worship is rooted deeply in Jesus by one’s faith. Therefore, let us examine ourselves to see if there is fruit in our worship.

Points

The Messianic King

The Fruitless Temple

The Call to Faith

The Messianic King

As Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem, he sets the stage for the final week of his life. In the midst of the Passover week, Jesus drew clear lines and faced great opposition up to the moment of his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. And in his entrance into Jerusalem and his final week of life, Jesus makes the clearest Messianic claim as he sends two of his disciples into the village to get the young colt.

Earlier in the service Mark read from Zechariah 9:9-17. As Jesus had his disciples get the colt for him and he entered Jerusalem, he is declaring, “I have come to fulfill this prophecy. I am the King who is righteous and who has salvation.” The Jews would have known this, for they would have known their Bibles, even though many failed to rightly interpret their Bibles as we will learn as the week progresses.

But at the moment, they all seem to grasp the claim Jesus makes as he enters Jerusalem. For they took off their cloaks and threw it on the colt for Jesus to sit upon. Others spread their cloaks on the road, along with the leafy branches, or palm branches as many of us have traditionally heard. This was done traditionally in Israel when victory had taken place or as a sign of submission to a new king as happened when Jehu was recognized as king in 2 Kings 9. Although there was still much confusion in the minds and hearts of all about what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah King, there is no doubt that Jesus is the long awaited seed of the woman who has come to inhabit the throne of David. And the crowds are celebrating this truth. For they begin shouting Hosanna! Which means Save us. While the fullness of this request wasn’t yet understood, there was a calling out for Jesus as King, as Lord in all of this. And Jesus by entering Jerusalem in this manner affirms he indeed is the Messiah King in the loudest way yet.

But, to be King is more than a title and setting a people free from Gentile rule. Coming to the King is a call to submit under one’s lordship. Kingship isn’t merely there for one to gain freedom and then go about their own way. To come to King Jesus as one of his is to submit to his kingly rule and joyfully obey all that he commands. It is great to shout praises of Hosanna and shout Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! However it is in vanity if we only shout this claim, but fail to come under the Lordship of the Messiah King. In declaring Jesus is King, a declaration of complete allegiance to him. Friends, if we were to do a heart check on what has had our affections, longings, and desires this week, what would have the greatest hold on our hearts? Would it be King Jesus or would it be all kinds of things with a little bit of Jesus in there?

As the Messiah King, Jesus doesn’t seek our hearts only when it is convenient for us, only at moments of our lives. Jesus as the Messiah King comes seeking our unwavering heart and our complete devotion to him alone! There in verse 10 it says...

Indeed, Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! But that kingdom is blessed for it is where God’s rule reigns supreme! But how do we test our hearts to see if Jesus is Lord in our hearts or not? That is where our next two points are going to take us.

The Fruitless Temple

First, let’s look at signs of our hearts not belonging to King Jesus as we turn to our second point, the fruitless temple. Following the shouts of Hosanna, Jesus goes to size up the temple there in verse 11. It says…

Now, notice what is going on here with how Mark is organizing his thoughts and stories here. We have a temple, fig tree, temple, fig tree pattern. This is not by accident. The reason for this is that this fig tree and the temple have a lot in common. First, they both give off a great appearance. The Fig Tree has leaves, appearing to be a fig producing tree. However, Jesus approaches the tree to only find leaves, no figs. There in verse 13 it makes mention that it was not the season for figs. Therefore, the fig tree shouldn’t be expected to have figs on it. And yet, Jesus says there in verse 14, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” So it is not fig season, and yet the tree gives off the look as if it should have figs. It is this false appearance that causes Jesus to curse it. And while the disciples heard this, the scene shifts quickly to the temple before further questions are asked. As this sets up the scene to show what is going on in the temple.

For in the temple, as Jesus and the disciples enter, Jesus begins rebuking those in the temple, just as he had the fig tree. This time instead of saying may no one ever eat fruit from you again though, Jesus begins driving out all who sold and bought in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money-changers, along with the seats of those who sold pigeons. At this moment, Jesus shows his anger towards those who have perverted the temple. But notice what Jesus begins to do instead of allowing anger to completely consume him, there in verse 17 it says…

Jesus teaches them, reminding them of what was said about the house of the LORD. He teaches them nothing new here, but is recalling what was already given back in the day of Isaiah. For Isaiah 56:6-8 says:

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burn offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the outcast of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.

For in recalling this truth, Jesus was teaching the crowds that God’s place was to be a place for the nations to come and worship God and pray to God. The temple was meant to be a place where the peoples of nations came together to give glory to God. And yet, because of the self-interest sought with the money-changers and the selling of animals, the temple had been profaned. It had been profaned because the place where the Gentiles were intended to be able to gather and worship God was being used for this perversion of the temple. The very courts of the temple where all of this took place was the only area of the temple designated for the Gentiles, and they were now being hindered from worshipping God.

So, while there was lots of activity and people in and around the temple. The temple itself had become a den of robbers. From the outside, the temple showed all signs of life looking at the external. By the measurements of offerings it was a healthy place. By the means of measuring numbers, it was a healthy place. Even possibly from the shouts of great is the Lord, it would have made one think it was a vibrant and spiritual place. However, that is far from the truth. And Jesus knew this.

For spiritual life is not measured by numbers, activity, events, and even shouts of Hosanna. Spiritual life is measured by the visible fruit of overflowing praise to God in the obedience of faith. Which we will turn to momentarily. However, just as with the temple, we must understand false signs of worship if we are to rightly understand true worship.

False worship isn’t just found in those who bow before statues and idols. It creeps in subtly and it begins to choke out spiritual life. False worship comes as our attention slowly drifts away from God towards ourselves or other things fighting for our heart's affections. This includes self-interest like that of the money-changers who fight for financial or social gain.

One reason we are in a unique season within our church, along with church after church here in the West is that for the longest period of time, it was an advantage from a societal standard to be considered a Christian and a member of a church. However, that gain whether socially or financially is no more. The numbers for years though gave a false appearance of success and growth. Yet, these were false signs of spiritual life. Therefore we must not look to the past on these numbers to define the health of our spiritual life. The numbers can be deceptive.

Another example of false worship is where we root worship in an experience and feeling, rather than based on how God reveals himself to us through the pages of the Bible. Experience aimed worship is rooted in an inner feeling an individual feels during the worship gathering or the Christian event. These feelings are built up through how one relates to the music during the service or how one feels built up with better thoughts of themselves either through music or the message. The problem is, again the reactions lead one to think that the Spirit is more present in these moments. However, that is far from the case. Worship is actually hindered by these experiences rather than strengthened. For worship does not come from experience but by the truth of God piercing our hearts and showing us how great he is, not how great we are.

In his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer writes, “What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?”

When we study to know God through his revealed word, our desires and affections, and our allegiance can be given over to God. For as we learn more about God, we see that our objective is to live for the one who created us, pursued us, and has redeemed us in Christ. This is a right worship and the mark of spiritual life. Whereas aiming for a mere experience is as fruitless as the barren fig tree and the temple that has become a den of robbers. In fact, false worship is a den of robbers. For false worship robs God of the worship he alone deserves and puts worship based more on how we feel about ourselves than on who God is.

False Worship subtly creeps in, it isn’t something that just all of the sudden happens within the church. Therefore, we need to hear the warnings of Jesus of the damnation of false worship. The fig tree with leaves, but no figs gives off the appearance of fruitfulness, but no actual fruit. A temple with activity and lots of people gives off the appearance of the worship of God, but is found to have been defiled and turned into a den of robbers. And both of these are judged and cursed.

Even the chief priests and the scribes grasped Jesus’ judgement against the temple. Just notice their response in verse 18, it says...

False worship in the end will be exposed and judged. We can either let this warning harden our hearts like it did the chief priests and the scribes and continue to fight to hold onto power as they did or we can allow our eyes to be set more and more on God, allowing true worship to flow from the knowledge of God and be about what he has done!

Friends, beware of these means of false worship and where they lead.

The Call to Faith

But, now, the second thing we need to consider to test our hearts whether we submit to the Messiah King is what we turn to in our third point this morning, the call to faith. As Peter notices the fig tree withered, look at the response Peter gets in verse 22…

True worship is rooted in faith in God. Where self was the turning point in the temple that led to false worship, God is to be the object of true faith and worship. One cannot rightly worship God apart from faith, faith in his beloved Son, Jesus! For it is Jesus who came to do the impossible in delivering us from sin and death. And when he becomes the object of our faith, then worship follows.

Therefore, apart from faith in God, there can be no right worship of God. Faith comes from believing what we have learned about God and believing what God has said. In particular, believing that God sent his Son, Jesus to die for our sin, and that if we believe in him that we will have eternal life. And while this may or may not be familiar, it is foundational to true worship. And therefore, this familiar truth should continue to be told as a steady reminder so that we can worship based on this truth.

And we are not left alone in this either. For by faith, we can make our requests known to God through prayer. To even pray is an act of faith. The purpose of prayer is to show a dependence on God. Prayer is not the approaching of God to grant wishes, but a means of knowing we need God to work, for in ourselves we are helpless. Just notice the hyperbole Jesus uses there in verse 23...

Now, the language of moving a mountain might be unfamiliar to us reading the Bible where we are in location and in the year 2021. However, this was a familiar and popular metaphor in ancient Israel. It was synonymous with understanding the impossible could be done. And that exactly is what Jesus is inviting us to ask God, the impossible. For as dangerous as false worship is, it is this wrong inward worship that our hearts and desires seek. Yet, by coming to God in prayer, if we believe God will, we can ask God to change our hearts and shape them towards true worship.

And why should we not believe this? For Romans 8:32 tell us: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? God didn’t spare his own Son to save us, how much more will he grant us the request to rightly worship him? But we must go to God in prayer for this. Too often in our fight for faith and right worship we are either hindered by our struggle with sin in thinking we are not worthy to come to God or we are passive in our pursuit of God and think that worship will just happen.

First, for those who seem hindered from true worship because of an ongoing battle with sin. Brothers, sisters, friends, if this is you, see that you are being invited in to approach the throne of God in prayer, despite your sin. We are being invited by Jesus himself who came to die for our sin. We are not called to pray because we have it figured out. Just remember the disciples who kept missing the point of all of Jesus’ teachings so far, it is they who are originally being invited to pray to God, despite their not getting it right. For it is this call to himself that is the very heart of Jesus. For Jesus in our weakness is able to sympathize with us and he will also deal gently with us. And it is He who is before the Father even now interceding for us. Therefore, let our ongoing war and struggle with sin not hinder us from worship, but be the very fuel that ignites our worship of God.

Second, if you are passive in your approach to God, thinking that you can simply show up on Sundays without having spent time with God in his word or prayer, sit here indifferent to God’s word being sung, read, prayed, and preached, then you aren’t going to grow in your desire and worship of God. Jesus invites us to pray, believing that God will hear and answer if we pray by faith. But to ignore this call and just sit there will not lead us to a deeper relationship with God. Beware the danger of sitting there passively and failing to pursue God. See the invitation given to you to draw near to him, and plead with God to change your heart and give you a greater desire for him. Some things that will help us grow in seeking true worship is to make sure that we all are taking time to prepare our hearts for Sunday worship ahead of time. Take some time either on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to read through the text ahead of time. And then, spend some time meditating on the text, thinking about what God is revealing about himself in it.

True worship must be shaped by our faith in God. And may that faith ever continue to increase. But one last sign of true worship is us forgiving others. That is where verse 25 takes us. It says…

As we are praying to God by faith for him to work in our own heart to worship him, it should lead us to forgiving others. For as we have been forgiven in Christ, so should we forgive one another. One thing that will hinder the worship here at Central City Baptist Church is that of a failure to love and forgive one another. If while we are praying to God we come to realize that we have something against anyone, then let us quickly forgive that person. Both to God and to the person if needed. And I say if needed in the sense, maybe the person wasn’t even aware anything was held against them, the forgiveness might just be of your own sinful heart and that between God and you. And for the person, you work at loving that brother or sister better. However, other incidents require us to go to the brother and sister and confess our lack of forgiveness to them in order to heal the relationship.

Strife and division left unchecked will put a fast hindrance to our worship. Let us labor to love one another well and quickly forgive one another. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you even before we take the LORD’s Supper next week, deal with any lack of forgiveness towards others before we take the bread and the cup.

Conclusion

True worship is affected by the object of our worship. We must beware of the ways that lead to false worship and see that true worship is rooted in the object of our faith, the Son of God, Jesus. Our faith must rest in Christ if we are to rightly worship God. And to rightly worship God, we must start with beholding our God in all his glory. For when we rightly behold God, our worship will flow out of that knowledge. And that worship will lead us to obey the Messiah King and follow Him.

Let’s pray...