Right Worship

Intro

Earlier this week, Corrie and I had an interesting conversation.

She is currently participating in a reading plan that is going to take her through the Bible in a year.

Well she had just finished Exodus.

And when you think about the book of Exodus what is it that you think of?

If your like most people the first thing you think of is Moses, the 10 plagues, the Israelite rescue out of slavery, The parting of the Red sea, and the giving of the 10 commandments.

And those take up about the first 24 chapters of Exodus.

Then in Exodus 25 God starts to give instructions on how to build the tabernacle.

So Corrie said, “Wow, there sure is a lot of material covering the building of the tabernacle.”

And she’s right, almost half of the Exodus narrative is written around how the Israelites are supposed to build this place where God is going to meet with his people.

Not only that but one of the most dreaded books of the bible, Leviticus, comes right after Exodus and it is all about how the priests and the rest of Israel are to act in relation to God’s presence.

That he is a holy God.

He gets to set the guild lines and boundaries by which he is worshipped.

This is something that we have to wrap our heads around, God is the one who dictates everything.

Especially how he is worshipped.

And we are going to see that in today’s Scripture.

That there are right ways and wrong ways to worship God.

I pray it challenges you to think about what it means to worship God.

I pray it changes and transforms your mind.

I pray that it makes a might impact on your understanding of who God.

Let’s Pray.

John 2:12–13 CSB

12 After this, he went down to Capernaum, together with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there only a few days. 13 The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Transition to Public Ministry

Verse 12 sets up a transition for the story that goes from Jesus’ private ministry at the wedding feast to now a public declaration of his calling.

He travels with his Mother, brothers, and disciples to regroup before they go to Jerusalem.

They are going to Jerusalem b/c the Passover feast was about to take place.

John here calls it the “Jewish Passover”

Scholars and commentator’s disagree about why he distinguishes it as the “Jewish Passover”.

Some argue that the original audience for this gospel weren’t Jewish so he was Identifying it as a particularly Jewish Feast.

Others argue, and I personally lean this way, that he is marking a breakaway for the Christians.

That Christians don’t have to observe the Passover b/c it has been fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

That we are beholden to the celebration of that festival.

Not only that, but the theme of Passover fulfills a great role in John’s gospel.

Jesus is noted as the lamb of God in 1:29, 1:35.

The passover feast is mentioned 3 times in John’s gospel.

Passover imagery is scattered throughout the text.

John wants us to see that the greater passover was fulfilled when Jesus sacrificed himself for us.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the passover, but that didn’t mean that he could avoid passover during his earthly ministry.

Jesus was a Jewish man and he had to attend the Passover feast

In fact, it was required by law that every Jewish male that lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem had to attend this festival.

Which is going to play a big role in what Jesus is going to see when he gets there.

In Fact, What he sees is going to enrage him.

One thing we need to talk about real quick is John’s accounting of the clearing out of the Temple.

There are many arguments among scholars about the purpose of this story and it’s placement in John’s Gospel.

Each of the Gospel accounts contain this story of Jesus clearing out the temple.

The problem is that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19 , and Luke 19:45-48) all have this event taking place at the end of Jesus’ ministry before his death.

So what is John doing, putting this story at the beginning of his gospel?

There are a couple of possible options.

1) there could have been two cleansing of the temple events. And the Synoptic Gospels cover one and John’s Gospel covers the other.

2) This cleansing of the temple is the same one that the other gospel authors cover, but for some theological reason John chooses to tell the story here.

Either option is valid.

Neither negate or change the Word of God.

John is not as concerned with the chronology or timeline of events as much as he is of telling you these stories so that you may believe.

This may not even be something that bothers you. And that’s fine.

If you were going to ask me which option I held to, whether there are two temple events or if John tells this story upfront to set a theological tone for the rest of his gospel.

I believe and think that John simply arranged the telling of the story so that he could show that something better than the temple has come.

But we will talk about that in a few minutes.

So now lets get into this scripture and see what Jesus is doing here.

John 2:14–17 CSB

14 In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me.

Distracted Worship

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem he noticed that things weren’t as they should be.

The Temple looked more like a Farmer’s Market then a place of Worship.

Why were there so many vendors within the temple gates.

Remember why Jesus is in Jerusalem, it’s for passover.

And remember all males within a 15 mile radius had to make the journey to Jerusalem for passover.

Not only that but there were many Jewish people that would travel long distances to make it to the passover celebration.

Jerusalem’s population at this time was between 50,000-75,000, but during this time it would get up to 250,000.

The city was hustlin and buslin.

It was like if the super bowl was coming to your town.

It was a time to make money.

It was a time to take advantage of people.

It was a time to charge $12 for a $.50 coke.

Why?

Because if you are traveling over rough terrain for many days, weeks, and even possibly months, you know what you don’t want to have to move with you animals for the temple sacrifice.

Because if you came to the temple to celebrate and remember passover you were required to offer a sacrifice.

And what better place to put all that you need to fulfill your obligations than right inside the temple.

That’s what they were doing.

Not only did you have to make a sacrifice, but all men age 19 and older had to pay a temple tax.

And many of them would come and pay that temple tax on at passover.

But did you know that the temple tax had to be paid with a certain coin.

That’s why the money changers were there, they would exchange your local currency for the correct temple currency at a hyper inflated rated.

Now hear me, I am not saying that it’s wrong to provide a good or service for someone and make some money for yourself at the same time, but when you are taking advantage of people that’s a wicked endeavor.

I know of a company that did something similar to this when Hurricane Harvey hit here in Houston.

This company provided storage containers for families and businesses.

In fact, they shipped and moved thousands of containers here to help people clean out their homes.

But at the same time, they increased the base rental price for each container rented out.

And when you hear that it should make your skin bristle.

It should make you a little angry.

I know it made me a little angry to hear that.

When you hear of a company raising prices b/c people simply need a good or service something within us should become infuriated.

That’s what happens with Jesus he is angry at the injustices he sees by the money changers and the livestock sellers.

We especially see this in the other gospels when he says Matthew 21.13 “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!””

But John wants to highlight something else here.

Jesus is angry not only that the sellers are price gouging and taking advantage of the pilgrims, but also that this noise and commerce is distracting from the worshipful mind and attitude.

Remember God gets to dictate to us how he is to be worshipped.

And the temple area was supposed to be one of awe and reverence.

One of peace and reflection.

But with all the noise made by the livestock, the clashing of coins, and the chatter of haggling, how can someone who is coming to worship God be in a meditative, contemplative, and reflective state.

They simply couldn’t.

So Jesus gets angry.

According to John’s account, he wasn’t so angry at the actual selling of the animals, more that God’s house was being taken advantage of.

He doesn’t call it a den of theives here like in the other stories, but a marketplace.

The reality is is that Jesus was angry that God’s house was being used for something that it wasn’t.

There was a spot outside the gates down by the mount of olives where many of these transactions normally took place, but Jesus saw this as an inappropriate use of God’s house.

Sometimes we find it hard to understand Jesus angry.

Many people like a pacified Jesus.

That when Jesus walked the earth.

It was all sunshine and rainbows.

It was all love and healing.

That Jesus’ life and attitude was like those crunchy hippies that get made fun of on television.

But Jesus gets angry at the disrespect in the house of God.

He gets angry that this commerce is interrupting the worship of God.

So he goes over and makes a whip out of cords.

Can you imagine Jesus over in the corner tying this whip together?

His disciples come over to him, “Hey, Jesus, whatcha doing?”

He responds, “Wait and see”

“jesus are you making a whip? What do you plan on doing with that?”

“I’m about to cleanse out the temple.”

So what does he do, he drives out everyone with the whip.

I’m sure he was whipping the animals to get them moving, but I am also sure there was some whipping of the people too.

There were none safe from Jesus’ Zeal.

What is Jesus’ zeal?

A holy and fervent devotion to the things of God.

So Jesus’ love and devotion to the things of God allow for him to see that God is being dishonored and has him act accordingly.

His anger toward this improper and distracting worship is right, holy, and just.

It’s also a demonstration of his calling and Messiahship.

The quote at the end of this section “Zeal for you house will consume me” is a quote from Psalm 69.

A psalm of David.

In this psalm David is lamenting the fact that he seems to be the only one that takes the worship of God seriously.

That he loves the tabernacle.

But others are treating it as simply a ritualistic activity rather than a divine command.

David is consumed with the zeal For God’s house and his holiness.

John here is now equating Jesus with the line of David.

And with David himself.

Jesus is the anointed one of God who is greater than David.

One who is able to cleanse and point to right worship of God.

You can tell what a person loves by what they hate.

Jesus loves his father.

He honors his father.

He glorifies his father.

And because he loves his father he hates when his kindness, mercy, and grace are presumed upon.

He hates when God isn’t taken seriously.

He hates when people focus on religious activity rather than authentic love.

Now obviously we don’t have a temple or tabernacle that we worship in.

We don’t have the “house of the Father” to worship in.

So what are we to do with this?

The first thing we need to recognize is that God cares about how we worship him.

That everything we do on Sunday Mornings when we gather to worship should be a reflection of who he is.

We also need to realize and remember that worship isn’t about me.

It’s not about the style of music I enjoy.

It’s not about the translation of the bible that I prefer.

It’s not about anything other than exalting and honoring God.

These men and women in this story were more focused on the religious observance and not on the God who ordained them.

We too can be more focused on religious activity rather than purposeful worship.

When we gather together to sing, pray, and listen to God’s Word we should always come expecting that God is going to speak to us in some way.

We shouldn’t show up just b/c it’s what we always do or have always done.

We gather together to give honor, glory, and praise to the God of the universe.

We gather so that we can refocus our lives on what is truly important.

We gather so that we come before God with other believers and be encouraged, sustained, and ready to fight the battles we face every other day of the week.

The worship gathering shouldn’t be seen as an optional activity.

One way we grow as followers of Jesus is to come together and worship him.

And when that becomes something that we can cast aside it becomes detrimental to our walk with him.

Now, I am not saying that there aren’t reasons to miss every now and again, but the reality is our lives are changed when we get together.

When we focus on God.

I was talking with one of my friends this week about the worship gathering.

And I believe that something special happens when we gather together to worship God.

I told him that the rest of the week there is nothing specifically special about this building.

I’m glad we have it.

But all week this is simply a building.

However, when likeminded believers gather together to worship God something changes.

This building is no longer simply a building it becomes a worship center.

There is a spiritual reality that is more evident when we all gather together and focus on God.

And that’s why it’s important for us to gather.

To lay aside our focus on our lives and focus on the one worthy of worship, worthy of praise, worthy of all honor and glory.

We have to drill it into our hearts, minds, and souls that worshipping God isn’t about us.

It’s about him.

And sure we benefit from worshipping God, but only when we do it rightly.

Not as a religious exercise, but as a recognition of who God is and what he’s done.

I want to read this quote that I found absolutely astounding when it comes to how we should view worship:

The Message of John: Here Is Your King! (Revised Edition) 2. The Cleansing of the Temple (2:12–25)

Modern-day worship which is irreverent, superficial, distraction-filled, cold, lifeless, sloppy, self-indulgent, hypocritical, ill-prepared or theologically inappropriate will likewise receive his censure, as will worship which detracts from the honour and glory of the living God through a concern for performance and self-display on the part of those leading it. ‘Judgment must begin at the House of God’

Much like the distractions caused by the livestock and money changers, when we come to worship God we need to make sure that any and all distractions are cast aside.

We need to make sure that when we worship God we are honoring his holiness, his grace, his mercy, and his love.

Distraction is quick to drag us away from true worship.

Now one thing I don’t want us to think is that worship is solely limited to the Sunday morning Gathering.

B/c it’s not.

The way that we live our lives are to be marked by worship of God.

In our business dealings, in our friendships, in our homes, at school, in the neighborhood.

Wherever we go, whatever we do. We are to worship.

We should be living a life of worship.

A life of gratitude.

A life of devotion.

We should constantly be refocusing our lives, hearts, minds, and souls on who God is and what he’s done.

Being sober minded-free from distraction.

Constantly renewing our minds.

And if we don’t let those things that distract us from God go, it may take Jesus coming in and whipping them out of us.

Why?

Because he cares about how we worship.

He cares about how we live.

If we are his he wants us to live into the life we have been called to.

He shouldn’t have to try and prove himself worthy of our worship b/c he already has in that he had died for us to redeem us even though we didn’t deserve it.

Again he gets to dictate how we worship him. Let’s not forget that.

Now Jesus’ outrage and anger are going to bring up some questions from those who witness his actions.

What do they think? Well let’s see.

John 2:18–22 CSB

18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” 20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

The True Temple

Those who witness Jesus’ outrage demand that he reveal his authority.

Why is he doing this?

By what authority and right does Jesus cause such a scene?

They demand a sign.

Notice that they don’t accuse Jesus of doing something wrong.

They just want to know how he will prove to them that he was right.

They probably had in mind a couple of OT verses that talk about the Messiah or Savior coming to clean out the temple.

Mal 3.1-3 “1 “See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.”

But Jesus doesn’t offer them a sign.

Instead he offers to them the one sign to be on the look out for.

Destruction of the temple, but then a raising up of it again.

Obviously they are perplexed by his response b/c there is no way that the temple that has taken 46 years to construct will be able to be destroyed and built again in 3 days.

But remember, Jesus is presenting to them a spiritual reality.

This isn’t about the physical temple.

This is about his death, burial, and ultimately his resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus is the only sign one needs to prove that Jesus has the authority to do whatever he wants.

The Resurrection is the universal sign that Jesus is the Lord of all.

And presumably the Disciples didn’t even know what Jesus was talking about at this time.

It wasn’t until the resurrection that they remember the importance of this interaction.

That Jesus predicted his death and resurrection years before it even happens.

Jesus came to replace the temple.

He came and tabernacled (John 1:14) with his people to provide a cleansing of the defiled temple with that of the perfect temple.

The Tabernacle and Temple were both just foretastes of the true temple found in Jesus Christ.

We no longer need to sacrifice goats, oxen, sheep, or doves for the forgiveness of our sin.

We have the perfect sacrifice in Jesus.

He willingly gave his life so that those temple practices could go away.

Our access to God is no longer a place, but a person.

And if we belong to him, then we are temples of the HS too.

We are the place where God dwells.

Our lives belong to him.

That’s why he cares about how we worship.

That’s why he cares about how we live.

That’s why he cares about how we treat others.

That’s why he strips away and pushes out the things that don’t bring him glory in our lives.

B/c our lives are not holy, separate, and sacred.

B/c the Perfect Temple, the Perfect Sacrifice was paid for us to be able to Worship not on a hill, mountain, or building, but in Spirit and Truth.

Jesus came to replace the temple.

Jesus came to replace the sacrificial system.

Jesus came to cleanse our hearts.

To purify our souls.

Jesus came to restore us.

To redeem us.

To provide a bridge between God and Man.

Jesus was the perfect example of what it looks like when heaven meets earth.

And there are some of us who like that intellectually, but we don’t understand it fully.

John 2:23–25 CSB

23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. 24 Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all 25 and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

True Faith

John tells us that there were other signs that Jesus did during this festival.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell us exactly what they were.

Just that there were signs.

And I tell you what the people loved the signs that Jesus did.

They loved the things that Jesus could do.

And they believed.

But their belief was a faux belief.

It wasn’t authentic.

And do you know how we know, b/c “Jesus would not entrust himself to them.”

That sounds pretty harsh.

Why?

Because those at the festival liked Jesus for what he did, not who he was.

That’s a thing that we battle in our culture and sometimes, if we’re honest, in our own hearts.

Do we love Jesus for who he is or b/c of what he can do.

Do we have true and saving faith?

Or do we have faith that will lead to our own destruction b/c we want God’s good gifts but we don’t want God.

Is Jesus the King of you heart?

Have you given everything over to him?

Or do you still have distractions in you life that he needs to clear out?

Do you love him?

Do you truly worship him?

Or do you just love what he can do?

He is calling out to you right now to know that he is the Lord of All.

And he wants you to submit to him.

He wants you to have life abundantly.

He wants you to rest in his grace, mercy, and kindness.

But in order to do that you have to lay aside yourself.

You have to know that you are a sinner and your default position is selfishness.

You have to recognize that Jesus came to set you free from yourself and the chains of death.

He came that you may live.

He died that you may be made alive.

Run to Him and we will wrap his loving arms around you.