What’s a Praise Chorus?
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. When he returned home his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the farmer, “it was good. But they did something different. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses?” asked the wife. “What are praise choruses?”
“They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” the farmer answered.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.
“It’s like this,” the farmed replied, “if I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you, ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, oh, Martha, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white coes, the black and white cows, the cows, the cows, the cows are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, in the corn, corn, corn.’”
The farmer added, “And then if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”
What’s a Hymn?
On the exact same Sunday, a young man from the city church visited the farmer’s small country church. When he returned home his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. But they did something different. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”
“Hymns?” asked the wife. “What are hymns?”
“They’re sort of like regular songs, only different” the young man answered.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.
“It’s like this,” the young man replied, “if I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you,
Oh, Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain?
There in their heads is no shadow of sense
Hearkenest they not in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the sweet, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea, those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my precious, delicious corn did chew.
So look to that bright shining day by and by
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animals make my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’”
Finally the young man added, “Then if I were to sing verses one, three, and four, and change keys on the last verse, that would be a hymn.”
__________
Today’s passage gives us an account of one of Jesus’ visits to the temple.
The temple was a place of WORSHIP.
Worship = an active response to the character, words, and actions of God, whereby the MIND is transformed (e.g. belief, repentance), the HEART is renewed (e.g. love, trust), and ACTIONS are surrendered (e.g. obedience, service).
1. Jesus is ANGRY when our worship falls short.
“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?’” (vv. 13-16).
The temple looked for like a Walmart than a place of worship. It was not so much the physical force as the moral power Jesus employed that emptied the temple courts.
a. Jesus is angry when we KEEP OTHERS from worship.
The merchants and money changers were probably in the Court of the Gentiles (“the temple courts,” v. 14). Gentile worship was being disrupted.
b. Jesus is angry when we are DISTRACTED from worship.
Sometimes we distract ourselves between our minds are not set on the Lord.
Illustration: Today (Super Bowl Sunday) many Christian football fans are probably distracted by thoughts about the big game.
c. Jesus is angry when we offer a CONVENIENT form of worship.
The sale of animals and the changing of money were services offered to make the temple experience more convenient. Visitors from afar needed animals for their sacrifices, and they also needed their money changed into the local currency in order to pay the temple tax. It was very convenient to be able to get both of these jobs done inside the temple walls. But, according to Jesus, the merchants and money changers should have offered their services outside the temple. Sometimes what is most convenient is not honoring to the Lord.
Are you offering to God a convenient form of worship?
• Is your church attendance convenient?
• Is your giving convenient?
• Is your serving convenient?
Convenient worship is not true worship. True worship demands sacrifice. Remember that part of worship is the surrendering of our actions.
Someone has said, “The Lord would rather have one person who is 100 percent committed to Him that one hundred people who are only 75 percent committed.”
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
2. Jesus is JEALOUS for our worship.
When President Theodore Roosevelt was a child his mother, Mittie, found that he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside of it alone. He was terrified of something called “the zeal.” It crouched in dark corners of the church ready to pounce upon him. And when she asked him was a zeal might be, he said that he couldn’t exactly describe it, but he thought it might be something like an alligator or a dragon. And he heard the minister read about it in the Bible. So using a concordance, Mittie read him those passages containing the word zeal until suddenly he stopped her very excited, and said, “That’s it!” The line was from the Gospel of John, chapter 2, verse 17, which reads, “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”
“Zeal for your house will consume me” (v. 17; quoted from Psalm 69:9). The Greek word for “zeal” (zēlos) is translated “godly jealousy” in 2 Corinthians 11:2: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”
Sometimes jealousy can be a righteous emotion. For example, if a man’s wife shows him no love, it is right for him to be jealous for her love. Obviously, the jealousy of Jesus is a righteous jealousy. We (the church) are the bride of Christ. When we give our love and devotion to someone or something else, Jesus becomes jealous.
God is described many times in Scripture as being jealous:
• The second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5a).
• “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).
• “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
• “They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols” (Deuteronomy 32:21a; cf. v. 16).
• “Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done” (1 Kings 14:22).
• “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her’” (Zechariah 8:2).
• “Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy?” (1 Corinthians 10:22).
God wants all of our worship for Himself.
3. Jesus is WORTHY of our worship.
“Then the Jews demanded of him, ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has take forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (vv. 18-22).
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (v. 19):
The people misunderstood Jesus’ words. They thought He was talking about the actual temple. How could a magnicent structure be rebuilt in three days? In 20 B.C. Herod the Great began a massive rebuilding program at the temple in order to appease his Jewish subjects, who despised him as an outsider. He intended this new temple to rival the glory of Solomon’s temple. The temple was not finally completed until A.D. 64. The meaning of the people’s statement in verse 20 is that work had been going on for 46 years. In A.D. 70, when the Roman Titus’s troops stormed the temple, he was so amazed at the splendor of the place that he tried to preserve it from looting and destruction. But his soldiers, having fought a vicious, lengthy battle for the city, discovered its riches, and the temple was doomed. It was burned to the ground and has never been rebuilt.
• The primary meaning: “Destroy this temple” = Christ’s DEATH; “I will raise it again in three days” = His RESURRECTION.
• A second meaning: “Destroy this temple” = destruction of the JERRUSALEM temple; “I will raise it again in three days” = construction of a SPIRITUAL temple (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.”—C. T. Studd
4. Jesus knows that WORDS of worship do not necessarily indicate a HEART of worship.
“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to [believe in] them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man” (vv. 23-25).
There is an old story about a man who dreamed that an angel escorted him to church one Sunday. There he saw the organist playing vigorously and the choir singing with gusto. But the man heard no sound. The congregation was singing, but the sound was completely muted. When the minister rose to speak, his lips moved, but there was no volume. In amazement, the man turned to his escort for an explanation.
“This is the way it sounds to us in heaven,” said the angel. “You hear nothing because there is nothing to hear. These people are engaged in the form of worship, but their thoughts are on other things and their hearts are far away.”
“The LORD says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me’” (Isaiah 29:13a).
Research psychologists have found there are at least three situations when we do not act like ourselves. First, the average person puts on airs when he visits the lobby of a fancy hotel. Next, the typical Jane Doe will try to hide her emotions and bamboozle the salesman when she enters the new-car showroom. And finally, as we take our seat in a worship service, we try to fake out the Almighty that we’ve really been good all week (Perfect Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion, p. 14).
Do you have a heart of worship? Remember what worship is: Worship is an active response to the character, words, and actions of God, whereby the mind is transformed, the heart is renewed, and actions are surrendered.
JOURNEY THROUGH JOHN
The Worship Jesus Wants
John 2:13-25
The temple was a place of ________________.
Worship = an active response to the character, words, and actions of God, whereby the _______________ is transformed (e.g. belief, repentance), the _______________ is renewed (e.g. love, trust), and _______________ are surrendered (e.g. obedience, service).
1. Jesus is _______________ when our worship falls short.
a. Jesus is angry when we _________________________ from worship.
b. Jesus is angry when we are ____________________ from worship.
c. Jesus is angry when we offer a ____________________ form of worship.
2. Jesus is JEALOUS for our worship.
“Zeal for your house will consume me” (v. 17; quoted from Psalm 69:9). The Greek word for “zeal” (zēlos) is translated “godly jealousy” in 2 Corinthians 11:2.
3. Jesus is WORTHY of our worship.
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (v. 19):
• The primary meaning: “Destroy this temple” = Christ’s _______________; “I will raise it again in three days” = His ___________________.
• A second meaning: “Destroy this temple” = destruction of the ____________________ temple; “I will raise it again in three days” = construction of a ___________________ temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16).
4. Jesus knows that _______________ of worship do not necessarily indicate a ________________ of worship.
“…many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to [believe in] them, for he knew all men” (vv. 23a-24).
