John 2:13-25 – How Much Does Worship Cost?
We started this passage this morning, but I felt as though I needed another message to give you a better idea of what was happening. This morning dealt with Jesus’ personality and response to injustice. This morning we saw that Jesus was a social reformer, an activist, someone who would stand up for the little guys.
But tonite we are looking at what it was He was fighting for. The issue is worship, and that’s what we will focus on tonite. Let’s read.
Now, let’s go over this again. This is Jesus’ 1st Passover since He was baptized, since He started His public ministry. His 2nd is in Luke 6:1, His 3rd in John 5:4, and on His last one He was crucified. He has returned to Jerusalem to offer the sacrifices for the holy day. Now, the Temple area was about 1000’ by 1500’. It took up about 35 acres of land in Jerusalem. This was a big structure.
The temple precincts were made up of four courtyards that surrounded the temple building, each decreasing in their importance to the Jewish mind. First, there was the Court of the Priests. Only the priests were allowed to enter this court. Second, there was the Court of the Israelites. This was a huge courtyard where Jewish worshippers met together for joint services on the great feast days. It was also where worshippers handed over their sacrifices to the priests. Third, there was the Court of the Women. Women were usually limited to this area except for joint worship with men on the Great Feast Days or to make a sacrifice. Last was the Court of the Gentiles. It surrounded all the other courtyards, and was the place of worship for all Gentile converts to Judaism.
Notice it was also the furthest removed from the Holy of Holies, the very center of the Temple area, which represented God’s presence.
A high wall separated the Court of the Gentiles from the other courts, so this was the closest they could come to God’s presence. There were even signs hung threatening death to any Gentile who went beyond their own courtyard.
What Jesus did was not so much clear the Temple itself, but cleared up the outer court, the place where Gentiles were supposed to be allowed t worship. The Temple was a place of worship and prayer, but the atmosphere in the courtyard was more like that at a carnival. Imagine what it would be like if we had a worship service like the Gentiles had. There is no organ music quietly playing in the background, no sound of a choir. Rather, there is the bleating of sheep, the flapping of pigeon’s wings, the ringing of cash registers, and the haggling over prices. And the smell is like a barnyard. What a way to worship.
Maybe the worst part of all is the fact that it was in the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only place that Gentiles were allowed to enter for worship. Jews might be able to get away from it all, but this market place in the Temple virtually excluded the Gentiles from worship.
And Jesus stood up to this. Jesus made His own kinsfolk angry by standing up for the outsiders. Jesus annoyed the Jews by sticking up for the Gentiles. Jesus was a rebel with a cause, a social revolutionary.
So what was the problem? Well, I want to look at 2 things that this story tells us about worship, and they are going to seem completely opposite of one another. First, this tells us that worship is not meant to be made to be too hard. And 2nd, this tells us that worship is not meant to be made too easy.
Now, the word “worship” is a little hard to define. Someone said that worship is the humble response of believers to God. It is based upon the work of God. It is achieved through the activity of God. It is directed to God. It is expressed by the lips in praise and by the life in service. Worship is what happens when a believer really sees God for who He really is. It’s not a matter of rituals and duties, though they are tied into it. Worship is what happens in the heart when a believer aims to let God know that the creature appreciates the Creator.
The Gentiles were trying to worship. They may not have gotten it right, but I don’t know if anybody actually ever does. But the shopkeepers and moneychangers were making it impossible for the Gentiles to worship. They were putting their own whims and wishes and desires and conveniences ahead of others’ needs. They were distracting and blocking other people from worship.
I wonder if we do that. After all, we are now the Temple. Jesus entered the actual physical Temple. Then He called Himself the Temple at the end of the passage. But further NT teaching says that we are the Temple. We are where God lives. We don’t “have to” go anywhere to meet God. He is where we are.
I would like to add, then, that over the years people have fought over what church buildings should be for, and what they should not be for. They have argued fellowship halls. They have argued against special singers coming in and selling their tapes or 8-tracks or CD’s in the church. They have so righteously claimed that God’s house should not be turned into a marketplace.
That’s not what this passage is saying. This place is a building, but where God lives is in people’s hearts. I’m not saying to disrespect it, because it was money given to God for God’s purposes that built this. I’m saying, many people care more for how the church looks than for how their heart looks. They take care to reverence a building, but they let horrible things like gossip and judging and bitterness infest their own hearts. Now honestly, do you think God cares more for a building, which will one day burn up, or for your heart, which will last forever?
But getting back to the passage at hand: I wonder if we distract others from worshipping. I wonder if note-writing and whispering distracts others from really worshipping. I wonder if hypocritical lives make it difficult for others around us to concentrate on what they are supposed to be doing. I’m not saying you are completely responsible whether or not someone else worships. But you have a part to play in it.
Listen: God did not set you up to judge if someone else is worshipping or not. It’s not up to you to decide if the UPC’s or Anglicans or Catholics have it right. It’s not up to you to determine someone’s heart, which is where worship really takes place. We delight in polarizing, in making a “us-who-have-it-right vs. them-who-have-it-wrong” judgement. We love to figure out if someone is right or wrong. We spend way too much time trying to know the heart by looking at the inside. And we are wrong in it.
But we can play a part in encouraging others to worship. We can choose to walk out this door and NOT complain about the song choices or preaching topic. We can choose not to grumble. We can choose not to question motives of the other worshippers. We can choose to worship for ourselves and just hope that other people do or did also.
How you live your life – in essence, how you worship – affects others. You can make it harder for people to worship, or you can make it easier. You can be a stumbling block to them, or you can be a stepping stool, lifting them higher.
But the 2nd thing we can see from this passage about worship is that that worship is not meant to be made too easy. Jesus was looking around at how easy everything was, how convenient things were. After all, a person didn’t have to grow his own crops for sacrifice or raise his own animals for sacrifice, or for that matter even bring his own sacrifice. All a pilgrim had to do was show up and spend money. For the pilgrim sacrifice wasn’t much of a sacrifice. The sellers and money changers made the worship almost pain-free. Religion made too easy.
You see, Jesus said different things about the difficulty level of the spiritual walk. Sometimes He said it was easy, sometimes hard. He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." But He also said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
He said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." He also said, "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
To the woman caught in adultery, He simply told her to go and stop sinning. To the rich young ruler He told him to sell everything and give the money to the poor.
Paul said, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” And then Peter said, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
I’m saying that at times the Christian life is seen as struggle and a challenge the whole way, and other times it’s seen as just sitting back and enjoying the ride. I suppose the truth is that it’s both.
Most churches emphasize one at the expense of another. One church would give you a whole list of rules of things to do and not to do and you must not stray. But another church would practically say that there’s nothing that you really have to do. It’s the old old balance of faith and works, and no matter how clever you are, you can’t resolve them with a bumper sticker.
After all, worship is costly. There’s a story in the OT, in 1 Chronicles 21. When David sinned by numbering the people of Israel and God stretched forth His hand with the plague, judgment was held off when David built an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan. Ornan offered to give the land to David, but David responded, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.” David was saying, “If it doesn’t cost me anything at all, it’s not really worship.”
Religion made too easy. Or religion made too hard. Worship that costs nothing, or worship that costs more than God wants. Faith that never gets to fly, or faith that gets stifled by others.
I want to ask you: how seriously do you take your worship? Does it come so easily for you that there’s no stretching? Are you the same person you were 12 months ago? The life of faith doesn’t actually involve becoming new and different and better for you. Is your life of worship a distraction for others who want to live the life? Does it cost you anything? Do you find it a challenge to live up to what God wants? Do you come to church when you don’t feel like it? Do you press on in your Bible reading, even when you’re tired? Do you do what’s right, even when it has an expense attached to it?
Or are you burdened with foolish man-made or self-inflicted rules about do’s and don’ts? Has your desire to be holy stuffed out any breath of fresh air? And is it stifling to others around you? Do you get in the way of others finding liberty and peace and freedom? Does your life become a stumbling block to others wanting to reach out and grow closer to God?
