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Jan 12, 2025

Worship Rules

Passage: Mark 11:11-19

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Mark

Keywords: worship, prayer, judgment, strength, patience, gentiles, temple, curse, outsiders

Summary:

The first thing Jesus did after his tearful-triumphal entry into Jerusalem was to just observe what was going on in the Temple. The next day he took action, rather strong action. While worship of the Living God should rule our lives, too often we impose "rules of worship" that make it hard for people to draw near to God. This message looks at what God says about that and what we must do about that.

Detail:

Worship Rules

Mark 11:11-19

January 12, 2025

Fellowship Question:  If you were to write one rule about worship, what would it be?

INTRO:  Life is full of rules and laws.  Some are more entertaining that others. 

  • Murphy’s Law: if anything can go wrong, it will.
  • Corollaries:
    • Anything dropped while working on a car will roll underneath to the exact center of the vehicle.
    • The chances of a piece of bread falling butter or jam side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
    • The more complicated the plan, the greater the chance of failure.
    • A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and hours are lost.
    • Anything dropped above a garbage can will move twice as far horizontally as vertically.

When it comes to houses, apartments and garages, I’ve got a few of my own:

  • Stuff grows to fill available space.
  • Flat surfaces attract things…especially in kitchens.
  • Most living space tends towards disorder.

I’ve entitled today’s message “Worship Rules.”  That’s why the fellowship question today was, “If you were to write one rule about worship, what would it be?”  Any suggestions?

You can take today’s message title a couple of ways:

  1. Worship is on top. It rules all other things we are called to do and experience in our relationship with God.  Worship rules.
  2. There are ‘rules’ to worship that we should adhere to.

I suppose both are true in their own right.  In todays passage of Scripture, both seemed to have had their place when Jesus entered the one place in the world where worship of the true and Living God was to be practiced and evidenced by the whole world—the Temple in Jerusalem.  What he observed going on by people entrusted with leading the world in worship of God was deeply troubling to him.  Had worship actually ruled the ministry of the priests and religious leaders as well as the people of God, things would have looked very different.  But it wasn’t…much like true worship may not be ruling many church experiences today.

PRAY

READING:  Mark 11:11-19

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

This passage covers the day after Jesus’ tearful entry into Jerusalem.  In the Jewish mindset, a new day begins at sundown.  So at the close of what was Sunday, after Jesus had ridden the colt into Jerusalem, he goes into the temple courts.  You’ll remember from last week that the gate he entered was virtually in front of the Temple on the east side of Jerusalem. 

      Jesus didn’t spend a lot of his ministry in Jerusalem.  Most of it was up north around the Sea of Galilee or around Nazareth or even in Samaria on occasion.  Jesus knew he was too much of a threat to the power structures in Jerusalem.  And because his was not a ministry that depended on formal power or authority, he preferred to stay as far away from the inevitable conflict that would come when Jesus eventually invaded the territory of human turf-builders. 

      Well, that time had come when Jesus came to the Passover that year in Jerusalem.  Riding the high of his “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem that Sunday, he could have entered the Temple and began teaching or healing or casting out demons as he so often did in religious settings.  But he didn’t.  Instead, he apparently spent whatever time he had that afternoon observing.  He did everything possible trying not to draw attention to himself.  He just wanted to see the ‘state of affairs’ in the one place in that city devoted to Him. 

      We don’t know all that He saw that afternoon upon His return to Jerusalem.  Maybe he saw poor people putting pennies into the offering.  Maybe he watched the priests offering sacrifice on the altar.  Maybe he saw some Gentiles trying to figure out how to worship in the Court of the Gentiles in a Jewishly acceptable way. 

      I’m also betting that he saw plenty of buying and selling of sheep and doves, of grain and oil—anything that might be needed for any form of sacrifice anyone might want to give to God.  And, of course, there were the infamous “money changers.”  While he saw all that commerce and traffic, he apparently didn’t say or do anything that Sunday that was striking nor strident.  He didn’t feel an urgent need to right the wrongs he was observing.  Instead he left and went to Bethany for the night.

      As always, Jesus was a whole lot more patient and wise than I am.  None of the texts specifically say that Jesus was angry (Matthew 21:12-13; Luke 19:45-46), though it’s not hard to image that he was.  If I had found people my father had entrusted with taking care of his house defiling it in the process of making money off of it, I would have been ticked off.  I would have read them the riot act first thing.  I would have voided that contract immediately. 

      But Jesus just takes it all in.  And then he walks away…several miles away…as he goes to spend the night in the suburbs, in Bethany. 

      I wonder what he did that night?  Did he sleep well…or was he so bothered by what he had seen and what he needed to do to correct it that he spent another one of those sleepless nights out in nature praying?  The text seems to indicate that he might have been fasting either out of sadness or trying to determine the Father’s will about what to do the next morning.  What the text tells us is that he apparently left Bethany hungry when he headed to Jerusalem again on Monday.

APP:  Makes me think of how many times I’ve reacted to things in the moment in my life instead of just observing them and taking time to think and really pray it over…to talk it out with God before saying anything.  Haste is rarely God’s way.  Reactionary anger is almost never His way.  I hope I live long enough to learn His way!

      The text goes on to talk about this rather curious cursing of a fig tree.  I’m not going to focus on that fig tree miracle here today.  We’ll pick that up next week.  Suffice it to say that I think Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree was a living object lesson of what was unfolding all week long with the leaders in Jerusalem. 

      Leaders who were supposed to be providing protection and help and direction and nourishment to the people of God were actually fruitless when it came to the soul-hunger of people.  Their calling to help people satisfy the hunger of their souls for God in true worship had been eclipsed by their self-serving and self-enriching lifestyles and religious practices.  And for that, they would eventually be cursed by God himself and lose the privilege of nourishing others with the most important food of all—the Word of God. 

      To better understand what was going on in the Temple and why Jesus decided to be so disruptive to the status quo, we need to understand WHO the players here and WHAT they are doing.

What is it that was making Jesus so exercised that he took the rather severe steps of destroying what was established “spiritual business” in the day? 

1.)   Let’s start with the group called “the money changers.”  Who were these “money changers”?  Well, people were coming from all corners of the world to worship at the temple during Passover.  Like when you travel to another country today, there were different currencies.  If you came from Syria, you had one kind.  If from Rome, another. 

Add to that the fact that there was a special Temple currency you needed to use and, presto-chango, you needed a currency exchange.  So, money changers were the ATM equivalent…right there in the Temple.  In fact, that’s the only place where you could exchange what you had for what you needed to worship God. 

But unlike today’s money changers in airports and train stations, they didn’t charge just 1% transaction fee.  No, theirs was more like a Washington State property, sales, carbon and gas tax all rolled together!  (Did I just say that?!) They charged anywhere from 16-33%!  Here people are coming to worship God and someone is making bank off their desire to worship. 

That made Jesus…well… decisive, exercised, a man of action to say the least. I think it still does today. 

2.)  Secondly, not only were the money changers in the Temple.  The “animal-exchangers” were there too.  How did that work?  Well, people living in Jerusalem typically didn’t have animals to bring unless they owned herds or flocks.  Those who lived away from Jerusalem were limited by how far they could walk or carry an animal for sacrifice.  So, booths were set up to sell the sacrificial animals (pigeons, sheep, etc.) to those who needed them. 

Sacrifice, especially spiritual sacrifice, was costly.  It cost the life of some animal.  But some people were making it more costly than God had designed it to be.  Outside the temple area the animals were comparatively inexpensive – the equivalent of 2 or 3 days wages.  But the religious leaders had appointed “inspectors”, sort of the religious equivalent of USDA meat inspectors…to make sure the animals were without “spot or blemish” (i.e. no cuts, diseases, deformities, broken bones). 

Guess who went overboard exercising their authority? 

Meanwhile, booths inside the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple sold sacrificial animals which were “pre-approved”.  There was only one slight problem.  It was the same problem you have when you go to a theme park or airport or any sort of “limited access” place and want to buy a hamburger – you get taken to the cleaners.  These folks would often charge 10-15 times the normal price in order for you to get the animal you needed. 

And guess who was getting the profit?  The leaders of the temple.  The chief priests had a monopoly on the market.  They gave the franchises for the sale of animals and the exchange of money.  And, of course, they received a portion of the profits. 

Problem was, God had already made provision for the priests and Levites in the temple service to earn their food from sharing in the sacrifices people brought.  But that apparently wasn’t enough for some of them.  The priesthood had become a means to personal enrichment in addition to public recognition. 

APP:  So, let’s think briefly about the obvious issues of MONEY in the church.  To do so, we need to be accurate about what had actually upset Jesus in the Temple.  There seem to be a couple of things.

      First, people entrusted with the spiritual shepherding of God’s people were fleecing the sheep.  They were using their ministries to enrich themselves beyond what God had said they needed.

      Secondly, they were doing so in a way that made it more difficult than necessary for people trying to worship and obey God.  What they were doing was particularly disruptive to the foreign Gentiles seeking God since it was all unfolding in “the court of the Gentiles.”  God’s global heart for people was being obscured by the very people who were to be a light to the world.

APP:  So, how should we apply this to the church today?  Is it wrong for churches to take donations or offerings or pay pastors or support missionaries, etc.? 

      Well, all of those things are not only permitted biblically; they are commanded.  Worship & ministry always cost something.  And it is cheap worship that costs us little, whether that is time or money or days away from work or heart-engagement or energy.  Worship that costs little to nothing means little to nothing.  If offering something of value to God is seen as a burden to us, we’ve got a problem. 

ILL:  Men’s group this week, looking at the “discipline of marriage.”  One of the men was questioning the word or idea “sacrifice” as applied to men giving up something for their wives.  He asked, “Is it really even a sacrifice if you love someone?” 

      I’ve been pondering that question all week.  Loving anyone always costs something, sometimes a lot.  But real love makes expending what we value for someone we value more a desired joy, right?  But it still is a “sacrifice” of something even though what we experience as a result may far outweigh the “sacrifice.” Expressions of love often mean we don’t do what just benefits us; we do what primarily benefits the people we love.

      But back to money and the church.  If we’re going to make the appropriate parallel with today, I honestly don’t know of many “churches” nowadays that are engaging in requiring people to give them money in order to engage in worship.  Certainly no one coming here is charged a dime for the privilege of worshipping.  In fact, you could come here your whole life and never give anything for the privilege of praying, of hearing the word of God, of singing praises in worship, of fellowshipping and a host of other wonderful spiritual experiences.  You’d be robbing God and impoverishing your own spirit, but you could do it.

 

Another Aspect:  Sometimes people criticize churches when they sell tickets to some special event or suggesting a donation amount for some book or dinner as if anything that is made available in a church doesn’t cost anything.  The minute stuff enters a church building it all of a sudden miraculously becomes “FREE”!  Try applying that mindset to the gym you go to…or the club you participate in…or the college you attend…or the grocery store you frequent.  In reality, most churches and Christian non-profits are THE most generous people on the planet. They give more than any other group or organization you will encounter all month. 

      But this brings us to the issue that really caught Jesus’ attention.  The Temple was to be a place of engagement with God, a place specifically of prayer. Instead, it looked and sounded and probably smelled a whole lot more like the Jerusalem street market. 

      Jesus, I think after talking it over with the Father all night and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, realized that something a bit more drastic than a lecture was needed to change what was going on.  You’ll remember from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in John 2 that he had started his ministry doing pretty much the same thing—turning over tables in the Temple and running livestock out.  Apparently nobody really took that to heart.  So here he is, three years later, observing the same abuses. 

APP:  So now let’s ask ourselves, “Are we, either individually or together as a church, doing things that are putting unnecessary barriers up for other people who sincerely want to draw near to God, to worship God, to seek Him? 

      Don’t confuse this with genuine the barrier of the Gospel.  Too many churches today have ‘dumbed-down’ the Gospel to something that won’t offend most people.  Maybe becoming a Christian, they say, is simply praying a ‘sinners prayer’ or ‘going to church’ a couple times a month.  But if you’re presenting the true Gospel, you’re presenting Jesus Christ who spoke about sin, called people to repentance, and told them that following Him could cost them everything.  So there will always be genuine barriers to the Gospel if you are preaching the true Gospel.

      But there are plenty of barriers we as the church can and do put up that Jesus would be as critical of today as he was of the moneychangers and merchants in the Temple of his day.  Got some suggestions?

  • Indifference to ‘newcomers’?
  • Judgments about dress, appearance, even hygiene. NOTE about when hygiene keeps others from worship. 
  • Social skills…or lack NOTE: different from being substance-affected: high or drunk.
  • Demanding sanctified behavior from unsaved/ unsanctified or struggling-to-grow people.
  • Self-protective priorities that see our carpet, building, personal safety, personal comfort as more important to us than the souls of people needing Jesus. Since when did the Gospel and being part of “the Church” become viewed as something that must be safe or comfortable?  It’s never been that where the church has been the strongest in history. 
  • ???

If Jesus came in and looked around Mosaic today, is there anything he’d need to upend?  Anything he’d need to clean out or cleanse?  If you think so, please don’t just grumble about it or walk out and don’t come back.  Grab one of the leaders or pastors and humbly point out what you are seeing…and, just as humbly…be open to them dialoging or educating you as to why we may be doing or not doing something a certain way.

APP:  Let’s ask another question about this whole encounter Jesus had in the Temple of his day. The Temple in Jerusalem of Jesus’ day was to be the place where both Jews and God-seeking Gentiles came in order to draw near to God.  It was to be where the presence and nature of God was most visible in the world. 

      In Paul’s appeal to holy living to a whole city-church in 1 Corinthians 6:19, he says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you’ve been bought at a price.  Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” 

      We individually are currently the “temples” of the living God in this world, scattered all over the world, visible to virtually every nation, tribe, language, etc. 

      So, as Christ walks into our lives every day, takes a look around and sees what’s coming and going, the kind of business we’re transacting, the kind of ‘temple’ we’re making our lives, does He see things that make Him say, “You know, I made and built you to be a sanctuary for God.  But you’re turning your body, your life, your mind or heart or daily routine into something that makes it hard for YOU and hard for OTHERS to worship Me”?   

  • Am I using my life which God built and gave me to enrich myself like the Pharisees and Priests of Jesus’ day OR…
  • am I genuinely the kind of “temple of the Holy Spirit” that is such a “house of prayer” that when people have encounters with me, they are touching the presence of God?

PERS:  I question that about myself almost every day.  Some days I think people get a little glimpse of God’s glory—like when I told the waitress this week how I’d been praying for her and her family and if there was anything else I could be praying for (and she paused and ask for prayer for her marriage). 

      Then there are times when I know it’s hard for others to feel like they had a God-encounter when they encountered me—when I’m impatient with customer service representative…or indifferent to a drug addicted homeless person on the street.  Maybe it’s too many days when I fail to clean out enough clutter in my schedule/life to even make room for people needing Jesus let alone a priority in my day.

PERS: Praying about it this week, I asked God where I might be  “renting space” to “money-changers” in my soul that are negatively impacting the primacy of worship of God? 

  • My cell phone? I accidentally left it at home last Sunday.  Since by the time I got home at about 2:30, I’d already gone through half the day without it, I decided to make Sundays a low-to-no phone day for a while.  It’s amazing how much I tend to go to my phone to occupy my thoughts rather than just be still or go to God.
  • My desire for conversations with people more than conversations with God whether that’s at church on a Sunday,,, or in my home all week long…or even at work. If I’m the temple of God, and God wants His temple to be a “house of prayer,”  shouldn’t my most frequent and most important communication every day be with God himself?

ILL:  challenge of having to discipline myself during prayer meetings and times of personal prayer not to text someone. 

  • My schedule? The prophet Daniel scheduled in prayer at least three times a day that we know of…and he was a lot more important and a lot busier as an important government official in Babylon than I ever will be. Having been exiled from the city and temple he loved, he understood that prayer was essential to continued worship of God.  So he created a room in his house for prayer that could apparently be seen by anyone passing by and he stopped his work to pray 3 times a day…or more. 

Do I put my schedule to work for me in worshipping God… OR does my schedule clutter and rob me of worship?

APP:  What tables might Jesus want to overturn/upset/cleanse in the temple of our lives that is impeding others from worshiping God with their whole hearts? 

  1. C. Ryle, bishop of Liverpool, perceptively observed, “The ruin of thousands is simply this, that they deal dishonestly with their own souls. They allege pretended difficulties as the cause of their not serving Christ, while in reality they ‘love darkness rather than light,’ and have no honest desire to change” (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels[Baker], on Mark 11:27-33, p. 246).

      God help us to see and deal honestly with the temple of our own souls as well as the priority of worship when we gather together.

BENEDICTION

John 4:23-24

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”