Sermon -- 3rd Sunday in Lent (March 3, 2024)

JOHN 2:13-22

JESUS IS ZEALOUS FOR RIGHT WORSHIP.

In the name + of Jesus.

     The big tech industries have a reputation for giving problem solving questions to potential employees.  Even if people give the wrong answers, the companies are interested in seeing how the interviewees think.  One question was asked of people who were interviewing for Microsoft.  Their task was to upgrade Bill Gates’ house with every technological innovation they could.  Proposals were made.  Some interesting suggestions were presented—like having the music in the house float from speaker to speaker as Mr. Gates walked from room to room.  The best answer was this: “What does Mr. Gates want?”  The only way anyone could be sure if their project satisfied Mr. Gates is if they knew what Mr. Gates wanted in the first place.

     The same is true for worship.  Many religions have many ideas about how to worship God—everything from blood sacrifice to quiet introspection.  But if we want to know that God is pleased with the worship we offer him, God has to tell us what he wants. 

     When asked why we worship as we do, the common answer, which I have to believe has been used in every church everywhere, is, “We’ve always done it that way before.”  That may be true, but there has to be a reason we’ve always done it that way.  It is true that our worship forms have been handed down to us.  From Christians of the past, we have received rites and ceremonies which have become familiar.  But if we are holding on to tradition for the sake of familiarity or nostalgia, we are worshiping what pleases us. Our concern should be that our worship and our lives please God.  So, we need to keep referring back to God’s word to be assured that our worship and our lives are pleasing to God.  For, our Lord is zealous for right worship. 

     When Jesus entered the temple, he saw worship practices which had morphed into business practices.  “In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there” (John 2:14).  No doubt, they were added because they were practical.  Who wanted to drag an ox all the way from Galilee when you could buy one in Jerusalem?  And if you were going to buy one in Jerusalem anyway, why not get it at the temple?  That’s one-stop shopping!  All the Jewish men were required to pay an annual temple tax.  That tax was to be paid with a shekel.  But if you were a pilgrim from outside of Palestine, you would have different coinage.  You would need to get it exchanged.  And once again, why not offer one-stop shopping and make your exchange in the temple courts?  The priests had developed a pretty slick business model.  But the Church is not a business.  The temple was to be a house of worship and prayer, not a house of trade.

     Jesus is zealous for right worship, and so he addressed the abuses in the temple.  “And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.  And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.  And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade’” (John 2:15-16).  Jesus did not overthrow everything that was going on in the temple, just the abuses that had crept in.  The priests defended what was practical even though it made a poor confession.  They did not treat God’s house as if it were holy ground.  Zeal for God’s house consumed Jesus.  He demanded that the holy things be treated like holy things.  Jesus is zealous for right worship.

     We struggle with worship for various reasons, usually sinful reasons.  We want worship to be done to our liking.  We all have our favorite hymns, and we may become angry if they are not chosen often enough.  Sometimes we come looking for things to bother us.  If you come to church with your own expectations and your expectations are not met, you may walk away.  You may even believe that you are justified to do so.  After all, the church did not do things the way you wanted.  But if my worship is about my preference, my ego, my comfort, or my entertainment, then worship is all about me.  This is idolatry.  Repent.

     The Lord is zealous for right worship.  He is not pleased with us crafting our worship to suit our pleasures no matter how pretty or practical we think it is.  So, turn back to God’s word.  There we are told what delights him as right worship.  Psalm 51 guides us, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).  We come to God as broken sinners.  We do not bring anything to the service that God needs.  Really, God does not need us.  If we are wiped out, God is still glorious, holy, almighty, and content.  We do not come to God’s house to do him any favors.  Many Christians over the years have told their pastor, “You should just be thankful I am here.”  That sure sounds like, “I would rather be somewhere else than God’s presence.”  Beware.  Those who think that way may well be excused from God’s presence for eternity.

     Jesus is zealous for right worship.  We come rightly as beggars.  If we are beggars, then it is God who must fill us with good things.  And that is why we come to God’s house and assemble in God’s presence.  Our Lord summons us so that he can give us the mercy and the hope we need.  Jesus is the only one who supplies these blessings.  Jesus told his disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).  Therefore, we come to God’s house.  Here, the Lord serves us.

     The Father is zealous for your salvation, so he sent his Son to suffer for your sins and die as a sin offering for you.  The Son was zealous to do his Father’s will.  Jesus did not serve to satisfy his desires, his preferences, his emotions, or his ego.  Jesus had one goal—to obey his Father’s will even if it meant being cursed despite perfect obedience.  Jesus was zealous for his Father’s will, which meant that Jesus was zealous to save you.  Jesus, therefore, gave his life as the ransom price to buy you back from sin, death, and the devil.  He paid the full price to set you free.

     Jesus is zealous for right worship so that he can deliver to you the gifts that save you.  But right worship also means that we come before Jesus where he tells us to find him.  Some have reasoned, “Since God is everywhere I can worship him just as easily in my cabin up north as I can in church.”  Well, it is true that God is everywhere.  He is omnipresent.  He fills all things.  Since God is everywhere, he is in fire, too.  So, why don’t you play with fire?  Why don’t you hold it in your lap and embrace God there since he is in fire?  Because God is not in fire for you.  Fire does what God created it to do—to burn, scorch, and destroy.  God has made no promise that he will forgive your sins or deliver salvation through fire.  Just because God is present everywhere does not mean he is there for you and for your salvation.  Right worship happens where the Lord tells us that we will find him for our good.

     Jesus is zealous for right worship.  We consider the Scriptures again to see what is held up as right worship.  The apostles who preached and who organized the church set a pattern for worship.  The early church “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).  The fellowship is God’s people who gather together in Jesus’ name.  The apostles’ teaching is the words and works of Jesus which proclaim divine grace to us.  The breaking of bread is holy communion in which Jesus gives you his body and blood which have paid for your sins and which have overcome death.  The prayers are likely a liturgical form which keeps our worship focused on our Triune God and what he does for us.  This is where our Lord delivers forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation.  You do not gain God’s favor by good works, by quiet introspection, or by your own theories and judgments.  God’s favor is found only where God tells us to find it.  Anything else is not right worship.

     When Jesus cleansed the temple of all the abuses there, the religious leaders were outraged.  They were accustomed to business as usual in the temple and saw no reason for Jesus’ interruption.  You can imagine them saying, “We’ve always done it this way.”  They confronted Jesus.  “What sign do you show us for doing these things” (John 2:18)?  They wanted evidence from heaven that Jesus had the right to cleanse the temple.  If they had been paying attention, Jesus had stated his authority when he cried out, “Do not make my Father's house a house of trade” (John 2:16).  If Jesus called God his Father, then Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God.  So, it is Jesus’ house they were desecrating, and he was zealous to see right worship in it.

     But Jesus gave them a sign.  It is the only sign he ever gave to them.  “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).  What is the temple?  It is where God has chosen to dwell with his people.  Who is Jesus?  He is God who has chosen to dwell with his people.  Jesus was telling the religious leaders that they would destroy his body in death, but that he would rise from the dead again on the third day.  This would prove Jesus is God the Son.  It proves that he has the authority to tell us what right worship looks like.  The one who said he would be killed and rise from dead on the third day and then did it deserves to be listened to.  It even proves that Jesus has the authority to judge the living and the dead.  The Bible reminds us, “(God) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).  In the end, Jesus will judge people according to how they worshiped—whether we are devoted to our own desires or we are devoted to what God desires.

     Jesus is zealous for right worship, but he is not zealous to destroy you.  He is zealous to save you.  He tells you what is good and pleasing to him.  He proclaims what is good so you can pursue it.  He reveals what is evil so you can turn from it.  Most importantly, he tells you what he has done to take away your sins and to grant you a resurrection to life everlasting.  And he tells you how he delivers these things to you.  We rightly approach our Lord as penitent sinners who stand on holy ground.  And we rightly call upon Jesus to provide us with all that we need to stand before our heavenly Father in innocence.  If our worship keeps us focused on that, it is good, right, and salutary. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.