Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Real Faith or Empty Faith?
18 Plays16 days ago
John 2:12-25
Recommended
Transcript
The Illusion of Perfect Worship
00:00:00
Speaker
Several years ago, small town pastor walked into an old country church um about an hour before Sunday service, just took an inventory of the building, thought, man, this is a ah beautiful chapel area. Everything is perfect on the outside. The pews were all polished.
00:00:16
Speaker
The carpet was nicely vacuumed. The hymnals were stacked neatly, and the offering plates were all in their proper place. But as he stepped into the sanctuary and sat in one of the pews, he felt like there was just something off.
00:00:31
Speaker
There was warmth there. There was no anticipation, no prayer. No sense that anyone had come to encounter God that morning. Now eventually people showed up.
00:00:43
Speaker
Some of them shook hands. Some of them gave a casual nod and a smile.
00:00:50
Speaker
At the proper time they all stood up and they all sang the song that they knew. They all went through the motions. And then they went about their business.
00:01:02
Speaker
Brothers and sisters, if we're honest with ourselves, each one of us have had a season or two where we've just gone through the motions when it comes to church.
00:01:11
Speaker
You attend faithfully, but you drift spiritually. You know the songs, but somehow they've lost the wonder. You go about performing all the ritual habits that have become so commonplace here First Baptist Cameron.
00:01:33
Speaker
And what should be extraordinary has now for some reason become ordinary. If that's you this morning, don't worry. It's the exact same tension that we're going to see in John chapter 2 this morning.
00:01:47
Speaker
Jesus walks into the temple, the very center of Jewish worship, and what he finds angers him deeply. So much so he turns over a few tables.
00:02:02
Speaker
not because worship isn't happening, but because worship had become corrupt.
Self-Reflection in Faith
00:02:09
Speaker
That place that was meant for prayer had become polluted by a prophet and routine and empty religion.
00:02:18
Speaker
What was supposed to be holy had become anything but holy. And all the people were just going about their business, going through the motions. So if that's you here this morning,
00:02:33
Speaker
Stretch, twist, get focused.
00:02:39
Speaker
Because the question that gets surfaced today in our passage is a very difficult one for you and I to face. And it speaks directly to your faith and to my faith. Am I going through the motions or is my faith genuine?
00:02:56
Speaker
I can't answer that for you. You're going to answer that for yourself.
Jesus Challenges Temple Practices
00:02:59
Speaker
Let's let's begin John chapter 2 starting in verse 12. twelve We're going to pick up where the wedding feast left off.
00:03:08
Speaker
Verse 12 says, After the wedding, this is he, Jesus went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother and his brothers and his disciples. And it was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.
00:03:23
Speaker
In the temple area, he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, doves for sacrifice. And he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.
00:03:35
Speaker
Jesus made a whip of some rope to chase them all out of the temple. He drove out the sheep and the cattle, scattered the money changers' table or coins all over the floor and turned over their tables.
00:03:46
Speaker
Then going over the people who sold the doves, he told them, get these things out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a marketplace. Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the scriptures.
00:04:00
Speaker
Passion for God's house will consume me.
00:04:05
Speaker
See, the setting, brothers and sisters, at this part of the scripture Passover. Passover.
00:04:12
Speaker
Jesus tells, or John tells us that Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for Passover, this largest of all Jewish feasts. Historians estimated at any one given time during this period, the population would swell to hundreds of thousands of people.
00:04:29
Speaker
All pilgrims, all coming to celebrate. Families traveling from all over Israel for the sole purpose of worshiping God and remembering his deliverance of them from Egypt.
00:04:42
Speaker
But it says when Jesus enters the temple court, he doesn't find reverence, he finds commerce. Verse 14 says, in the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers were sitting there.
00:05:01
Speaker
Now, understand the problem isn't that there were animals and currency exchangers there, that was necessary.
00:05:11
Speaker
People had to bring sacrificial offerings and they had to purchase those and they couldn't do it with Roman money. So that's why the money changers were there. They would take the the roman the Roman currency and exchange it for temple currency.
00:05:23
Speaker
The issue isn't that there were animals and money changers there. The issue was where this was happening and what it had become. Most scholars will tell you that this activity happened in the court of the Gentiles. This is the outside court where the one place where the non-Jews could come and seek God. This is where this exploitation began.
00:05:47
Speaker
Instead of prayer, there's noise. There's commerce going on. Instead of worship, there's business happening. Instead of holiness, there's exploitation. And the worship of God had become crowded out by religious convenience and financial gain.
The Essence of True Worship
00:06:05
Speaker
Now look at verse 15. Verse 15 is very interesting. it says, Jesus made this whip of rope and he drove them out. You know, this shocks many people when the first time they read it because they have this picture of Jesus in their mind. Docile Jesus, humble Jesus, sentimental Jesus.
00:06:23
Speaker
But it says here he has this anger that drives him to the point where he makes this whip and he starts whipping people and turning over tables. It's a holy anger. It's a righteous zeal. Actually, this word drives out, carries this idea of somebody taking a bucket of water and throwing it out of the house.
00:06:44
Speaker
I put in my notes, Jesus is chunking some people out of the temple.
00:06:52
Speaker
He overturns tables. He pours out their coins. Understand, this isn't jesus Jesus losing it temporarily. This wasn't a loss of composure. he didn't lose his temper here one time. This was deliberate.
00:07:06
Speaker
It's a judgment against these people who shouldn't have been treating worship as anything other than holy. And what had happened is they treated it as something corrupt. Why is it so important that we focus on this? Well, I just put, because worship matters to God.
00:07:23
Speaker
But you're taking notes, the first thing I want you to write this week is proper worship matters to God.
00:07:33
Speaker
Proper worship matters to God.
00:07:39
Speaker
He's uninterested if you're coming here um thinking about the football game this afternoon.
00:07:47
Speaker
He's uninterested if you're sitting here right now thinking about, I wonder what's at Los Camales on the menu as soon as we get out here.
00:07:57
Speaker
I mean, I don't even know that last song they sang. mean, we sang it, right? Y'all sang it? I heard some of y'all behind me singing it. Then we got to the end song. I can't remember what that song was even about.
00:08:11
Speaker
I know I wasn't a all alone in that. You guys, some of y'all just going through motions too.
00:08:19
Speaker
He doesn't want us here sitting in these pews Sunday after Sunday simply going through the motions because proper worship matters to God.
Jesus: The True Temple
00:08:29
Speaker
He never intended it to be a marketplace.
00:08:32
Speaker
Notice Jesus says, don't make my Father's house a house of trade. right My Father's house, if you're somebody whose circles are underlined or highlights, something you definitely want to underline.
00:08:43
Speaker
It's enormous. Jesus is claiming unique authority over the temple itself. Saying not this is not just the the Jewish worship area, this is my father's house.
00:08:56
Speaker
He's not some visitor, he's saying I have rightful ownership, I am the rightful son of this place. Now look at verse 17, it says the disciples remembering scripture, which by the way is Psalm 69.9 if you want to write that down.
00:09:12
Speaker
says, they remember, says, zeal for your house will consume me, right? This burning passion, that's what zeal means. We don't use that word very often anymore. So Jesus has this burning passion, this holy devotion for the glory of God.
00:09:30
Speaker
And he's he isn't indifferent towards worship. I want you to know that today. He cares deeply about whether you are sincere when you show up here today. That your worship is authentic, I wrote in my notes. That it's God-centered and that it's holy.
00:09:48
Speaker
How many of y'all own property and have a barn on your property? No matter how clean you try to make that barn, there always seems to be something you just store in there. It just collects a little bit of stuff, a little bit of stuff, a little bit of stuff over and over and over.
00:10:03
Speaker
Broken tools, old boxes, rusted equipment. And eventually that barn becomes so cluttered that it no longer serves its original purpose. This is exactly what's happening spiritually when we allow other things to crowd Christ out of our hearts. Little compromises pile up.
00:10:22
Speaker
Distractions accumulate. And before long, worship becomes routine instead of relational.
Overcoming Spiritual Distractions
00:10:29
Speaker
Now I put a note to myself and a note to you before we're real quick to judge these merchants, we should ask ourselves what's crowding out Christ from our worship?
00:10:39
Speaker
Is it busyness?
00:10:43
Speaker
I know, I know, I've heard every excuse in the book, trust me. I've heard it all. You can't tell me anything I haven't heard about what's more important on Sunday.
00:10:55
Speaker
My kids are in, you fill in the blank. Sporting events, book reading club, FFA, FHA, QHA, QRQ, I don't know, whatever whatever acronyms you put in there.
00:11:08
Speaker
I've heard it all. At some point you have to say to yourself, is FFA going to save my kid? Or is it more important to have them come here on Sunday?
00:11:23
Speaker
Is it busyness? Is it comfort? Is it politics? Is it money? Is it entertainment? What is keeping you away from coming here and worshiping with authenticity?
00:11:36
Speaker
Because I put in here, brothers sisters, this is not a first century problem. This is a 21st century problem. It's a 21st century problem. It's a Cameron problem. It's a Cameron, Texas problem. It's a First Baptist Church problem.
00:11:50
Speaker
Now Jesus does more than simply cleanse the temple here. He's pointing to something far greater. The temple itself was never this final destination. He's pointing us towards himself. Look here at verse 18.
00:12:04
Speaker
So the but Jewish leaders demanded, what are you doing? God gave you authority to do this, then show us a miraculous sign to prove All right, Jesus replied.
00:12:15
Speaker
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. What, they exclaimed? It's taken 46 years to build this temple, and you can rebuild it in three days? But when Jesus said this temple, he meant his own body.
00:12:30
Speaker
And after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed both the scriptures and what Jesus had said. Isn't it interesting I put in here, soon as Jesus has a little bit of authority and he starts knocking over tables,
00:12:48
Speaker
The very first thing that the Jewish leaders asked, hey, I need a sign. If you really have the authority, show me a sign. Notice they don't repent. That wasn't the first thing.
00:12:59
Speaker
They challenge his authority. They're essentially saying, what right do you have to come in here and knock over stuff? And Jesus gives them the perfect answer, but they don't understand it. He says here in verse 19, destroy the temple and in three days I will raise it up.
00:13:15
Speaker
The Jews think he's talking about Herod's temple here, that structure that had been under construction for decades. But I like John. He clarifies it here. By the way, Jesus is just speaking about his body.
00:13:28
Speaker
It's one of the most profound theological statements in all of the Gospel of John right there. The temple, folks, you'll remember, began with the tabernacle. They would carry it and set it. This is where the Shekinah glory would come.
00:13:42
Speaker
right And then when they built the actual temple, this is where the presence of God would be. And this is where all the pilgrims would come, and they would come and worship there at the temple. And now Jesus, in effect, is saying, you no longer need to do that, because I am the true meeting place between God and man.
True Worship vs. Rituals
00:14:01
Speaker
temple here is pretty interesting. In the Greek, this is naos, is this word, right? It's it's not the outer courts. It's the innermost sanctuary of the court, the holiest of holy places. And Jesus is saying, of this place is my place. If you want to meet me, this is where you're going to meet me. This is God's presence, if you will, revealed fully in Jesus.
00:14:28
Speaker
To which you would think if you were a... Jewish person at that time, and you heard Jesus equate himself with being the temple, that they would just go berserk.
00:14:39
Speaker
He's telling them, in essence, no building is going to contain this. If you want to approach God, you have to do it through me.
00:14:50
Speaker
And they say, well, give us a sign. He says, well, here's the sign. Destroy this temple, destroy my body, pointing to the cross, and in three days I will raise it up, pointing to the resurrection.
00:15:03
Speaker
The significance of this, brothers and sisters, is that Christianity at its very fundamental core is not about rituals, it's not about ceremonies, not about sacrifices or locations, it's about a relationship with the risen Christ.
00:15:19
Speaker
True worship is not centered here in this building. True worship is centered on Christ. So if you're taking notes, the second thing I want you to write down is true worship is centered on Christ.
00:15:37
Speaker
Someone once said you could sit in a garage all day and would never become a car.
00:15:43
Speaker
Let me tell you the same is true for church. You could sit here every Sunday, Sunday after Sunday, and still not know Jesus.
00:15:53
Speaker
Brothers and sisters, the goal is not religious activity. I'm not excited that you're here so I can take role.
00:16:03
Speaker
hey Sunday brother, sister, it's great to see you. Hey, we missed you last couple weeks. I'm not mentally going back to the parsonage and tracking each one of you guys, hey, they made it here on Sunday. What I'm concerned about is you're here worshiping the one true living God and that you know him and that you have relationship with him.
00:16:24
Speaker
I put some people come here week after week after week because they think this is what's important because they grew up in Cameron And they grew up at this church.
00:16:35
Speaker
And their parents went to this church. And their grandparents went to this church.
Genuine Faith vs. Superficial Belief
00:16:39
Speaker
They were baptized in this church. And they all know how to speak Christianese. Y'all know Christianese is?
00:16:48
Speaker
It's all those fancy Christian words that y'all pick up over time.
00:16:55
Speaker
Brothers sisters, Jesus didn't die on that cross. Wasn't raised three days later. So you can simply come in here and get more knowledge about him.
00:17:07
Speaker
True salvation is found in him and only him. It's not tradition. It's not morality. It's not religious performance.
00:17:21
Speaker
And it's not your denomination.
00:17:26
Speaker
It's only Christ. And Christ alone.
00:17:30
Speaker
This leads John to give one final warning. Not all belief is saving belief. Some people can be impressed with Jesus without ever surrendering to him. Look, these last couple of verses, verse 23 and 25, says, because of this miraculous signs that Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.
00:17:53
Speaker
But get this, Jesus didn't trust them because he knew all about
00:18:02
Speaker
No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person's heart.
00:18:11
Speaker
When you first read that, you think yourself, wow, he did a lot of signs and a lot of people believed. And you're thinking to yourself, that's that's great on the surface, right? But what that really is is there a sign that their faith was pretty shallow.
00:18:23
Speaker
They needed to see signs before they believed. They were fascinated by the miracles, but they didn't necessarily want to be transformed by the truth. They believed in him superficially, a surface level belief, a surface level faith.
00:18:38
Speaker
But it says Jesus did not entrust himself fully to them. Why? Because he sees the human heart. He sees beyond appearances. Third thing I want you to write down is Jesus sees beyond appearances.
00:18:52
Speaker
Jesus sees beyond appearances.
00:18:57
Speaker
He knows the difference between an emotional excitement and authentic conversion.
00:19:05
Speaker
I put down a note to myself. I'm so happy for you that I'm not one of these pastors that gets up here and hoops and hollers.
00:19:15
Speaker
I'm to say that again. Do you know these pastors who hoop and holler and get you so excited and get the emotions boiling up in you? And come on, who wants to run down front and accept Jesus?
00:19:29
Speaker
Brothers and sisters, that's not... what Jesus is looking for, an emotional response to you and I. That response is something temporary.
00:19:41
Speaker
He's looking for a genuine, lasting faith that involves repentance, surrender, and a transformed allegiance. That means you're no longer siding with the world, you're only siding with Him.
00:19:56
Speaker
Verse 25 says, he knew what was in a man's heart. Now let's put my notes, comforting and terrifying. Right, comforting because he knows what you and I struggle with in our heart.
00:20:09
Speaker
Terrifying because you can't fool him what's in there.
00:20:14
Speaker
You may be able to fool a lot of people out here that you come to church and then you're holier than thou. Jesus knows the difference. He knows what's going on in your heart.
Encouragement for Authentic Faith
00:20:23
Speaker
And I say that in the most loving pastoral way.
00:20:26
Speaker
He knows if you're in a season of dryness spiritually. He knows if you're going through the motions.
00:20:36
Speaker
He knows what's on the menu at Los Kamales.
00:20:42
Speaker
So my question to you brothers and sisters this morning is how is your heart doing?
00:20:48
Speaker
Has it become mechanical? Cold? you find yourself going through the motions?
00:20:58
Speaker
This passage calls all of us, doesn't leave anybody out, to an honest self-examination of our heart. Do I simply attend church? Or does Christ truly reign in my heart?
00:21:13
Speaker
This is what I want you to consider this week as you as you go about your business and you and you're reviewing your notes and you look at our three points that we looked at want you to to think to yourself, where has your faith become more about outward habit than an inward decision?
00:21:30
Speaker
What would it look like this week if you just let Jesus in to cleanse it all? So that your worship can become authentic. I know you didn't come in here this morning thinking to yourself, I'm going to have some non-authentic worship.
00:21:45
Speaker
We all want an experience with God when we come here on Sundays. At least I hope the majority of you do.
00:21:52
Speaker
Remember that church service that we talked about? The pastor walked in at the beginning. Right on the outside, wrong on the inside. Something vital was missing. It's the same thing that we see here in this passage.
00:22:07
Speaker
The temple looked active, but all the wrong things were going on on the inside.
00:22:12
Speaker
Genuine worship was missing.
00:22:18
Speaker
I put, what's comforting to me, Jesus refused to leave that untouched. Even though he brought a rope to that situation and he started whooping things, he left it untouched.
00:22:32
Speaker
Jesus still cleanses what he loves today. He confronts empty religion. So if you're sitting in your seat today and you feel uncomfortable, like, wow, the pastor's really picking on me, that's not me, brothers and sisters.
00:22:49
Speaker
That's the Holy Spirit.
00:22:52
Speaker
He wants you cleansed because he loves you. He wants you to come here and and offer authentic worship because he deserves it.
00:23:04
Speaker
And I was reminded, quite frankly, on Friday, we all are built to worship. We really are. i saw it at the baseball game.
00:23:14
Speaker
Everybody was worshiping. They just weren't worshiping God.
00:23:23
Speaker
He sees beyond our outward appearances. He knows what's going on in your heart.
00:23:30
Speaker
Can we be honest with him today?
00:23:33
Speaker
Do you truly know him?