Are We Truly Worshiping? Part 1

I don’t think there is a text that more clearly and powerfully affirms what God has been doing in our church over the last couple months than our next passage in this journey through Mark. It challenges us to go deeper and pursue him more than we ever have. We’re actually going to split this text up into two parts, with today being Part One. Let me read the whole text, starting in Mark 11:12, the story of Jesus overturning tables in the temple, including what happened right before and right after. This is God’s Word in the Gospel of Mark:

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, [Jesus] was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Okay, let’s get the picture here, specifically the way Mark is telling this story, which is very intentional. All four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—tell this story of Jesus overturning tables in the temple in Jerusalem. Mark bookends the story of overturning tables with this picture of a fig tree. 

The story starts with “On the following day…” That’s a reference to this being the day after Jesus had entered into Jerusalem. People were waving palm branches as he came into the city. He looked around the city and then went out. Now the following day, he comes into the city from Bethany. He’s hungry and sees a fig tree with no figs. So he curses this fig tree by saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Then we see this turning over of the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons in the temple. Right after that, we read that the next morning, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. It’s the same fig tree Jesus had cursed before. 

The way Mark is telling this story is intentionally sandwiching the story about the temple between this cursing of a fig tree to make a point. Throughout the Old Testament, God had often compared Israel, his people, to a fig tree—including places like Jeremiah 8:13 and Joel 1:7—where God describes how Israel’s religion either was bearing fruit or was not bearing fruit. And specifically on the not bearing fruit, look at Jeremiah 8:13. God says, “When I would gather [my people], declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

So now this picture of a fig tree with no fruit in Mark is illustrating a picture of religion, in the temple, being practiced in Jerusalem. From the outside, it looks like it was a thriving picture of religion. Think about it. They had crowds of people, particularly as they were coming to celebrate the Passover. They had the Word of God—his laws—and all kinds of other laws they worked hard to keep. They had worship in the temple, with all kinds of sacrifices. They had offerings they were giving and feasts they were observing. 

They had an abundance of religious activity, but they were totally missing the point. They had all the trappings of religion: crowds of people, the Word of God, the worship of God, offerings, all kinds of religious activity. They had all these things, but they were missing God. Is it possible for crowds of people to assemble, hear his Word, do what they call worship and other religious activity, but actually miss God? Is that possible today? 

Let’s think a bit more about that day. We’ve thought about what they had—crowds, Word, worship, religious activity. Let’s think about what they did not have. What were they missing? Let me mention just a few things. They were missing fear, reverence and awe before God. They were doing all kinds of activities, supposedly in the worship of God, but they were missing fear, reverence and awe of the God they were worshiping. This was holy ground they were on. This was the temple. This was the place where the glory of God dwelled among his people. 

Remember this scene from 2 Chronicles 7, when Solomon originally dedicated the temple. Imagine this scene: 

 1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 

That’s what you do in the temple. You bow down with your face to the ground on the pavement and worship. You give thanks to the Lord, to Yahweh. Think about it. This was the place where 750 years earlier, Isaiah wrote this in Isaiah 6: 

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

 the whole earth is full of his glory!” 

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

Now in Mark 11, there’s none of this awe. Nobody’s on their face. No one is in holy fear. Did you notice Mark 11:16? It says Jesus “would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.” People were using the temple as a pass-through. If you want to get from one side of the city to the other, it’s  a long walk around the temple. Just walk through it. Save some time. So you had all these people just casually walking through the temple, with no thought of the glory of God, no awe before the majesty of God, no fear of the holiness of God.

Think about what Isaiah said. After this scene in Isaiah 6:1–4, verse five says, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah was totally undone, because he knew he was in the presence of the holy God—and Isaiah knew he was not holy. 

It’s the same thing in Ezra 10:1: “While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.” Imagine this scene at the house of God: people making confession, weeping and casting themselves down before God in brokenness over sin. 

Here’s something else the people in Mark were missing. They were missing confession and sorrow over sin. Instead of weeping and casting themselves down in confession over sin, they were turning the temple into a bank. They were changing money and selling offerings. So what does Jesus say? He says, “You have made my house a den of robbers.” 

That’s a quote from Jeremiah 7:11. It is a stinging indictment from God to his people, who were basically saying, “Look at all our religion in the temple, all our worship.” He says, “You are gathering together to worship me, but you are totally ignoring me.” Listen to Jeremiah 7:24: “But they did not obey or incline their ear [to me], but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.” 

Their hearts were stubborn. They were hard. They were doing all kinds of injustice, ignoring the poor, the sojourner, the widow and the fatherless. They were walking in disobedience to God’s commands, yet presuming to worship him while they ignored him. They didn’t obey or incline their ears to him. Now follow this: their hearts hardened all the more as they got used to worshiping while ignoring their sin. They got used to worship that ignored sin.

They were missing one more thing: faithful and forgiving prayer. I word this phrase intentionally: They were missing prayer. Jesus said, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer.’” That’s a quote from Isaiah 56. We’ll talk more about this next week, specifically as it pertains to the “all nations” part. You don’t want to miss that connection in a way that will totally transform the way you view this passage—and most people miss it. 

But for now, let’s focus on the reality that this is a place of prayer, of communion with God. They were missing what the temple was for. It was a place to commune with God in prayer. Then make the connection with what Jesus says right after that fig tree is withered and the disciples see it. Jesus looks at them and says:

22b “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Pray with faith! Faithful. Full-of-faith prayer. Prayer that’s full of faith in the power of God to do the impossible. It’s who you’re meeting with—the God who has power over the mountains and where they sit. Pray to him, asking for things from the God of the impossible. Believe that God has power to do the impossible, as you ask. They were missing faithful prayer—prayer full of faith in God.

And they were missing forgiving prayer. Jesus says, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone.” That pretty much covers it. Anything? What about this? Is it a thing? Anyone? What about them? Are they an anyone? Anything against anyone, “so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” 

This is very similar to how Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 5: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, our sins, as we forgive those who trespass, who sin against us.” It makes sense, doesn’t it? If we put it together, when you’re broken and weeping over your sin before a holy God, and you realize this God, in his mercy, forgives you, then you don’t walk away with a heart of unforgiveness toward others. You walk away ready to forgive others. There’s no room for bitterness or unforgiveness in true religion, in true worship of God.

So, let’s bring all this text into our worship—into our religion today, like right now. I want to be careful because there are significant differences between that day and today. I’ll point out a couple of those difference, but let’s also consider the similarities. They had people, God’s Word, worship and religious activity. We have all that today. We have crowds of people. We have the Word, worship and religious activity. So it was possible for them to have all those things and miss the point. Is it possible for us to have all these things and miss the point? They missed God—is it possible for us, right now in this room to miss God? Well, let’s think about what they were missing, then ask if are we missing the same things? 

What was the first thing we saw that they were missing? Fear, reverence and awe before God. Is it possible for us to miss these as well when we gather like this? This is where I  want to point out a significant difference. We don’t go to a temple—to a physical building that houses the glory of God. No, we are the temple. The Bible teaches that for followers of Jesus, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God dwells inside of me and you and everyone who trusts in Jesus. 

In 1 Corinthians 3, the Bible calls the church the temple. The assembly of God’s people together is the place where the glory of God dwells. Doubly so in this gathering right now, the glory of God is here. God is present among us. So is it possible for us to come into this gathering right now—as the temple, as the dwelling place of the glory of God—singing songs, praying and even opening the Bible without fear, reverence and awe before God?

If we realize that we are gathered right now in the presence of the God who is holy, holy, holy, before whom even angels hide their face and people fall on their face, wouldn’t it make sense at some point for us to fall on our faces? Why is this posture hardly ever seen in our worship? Why are we not often right here? Is it because we are accustomed to gathering together but missing fear, reverence and awe before God? He’s the same God we see in the Bible, where all kinds of people find themselves right there. Why don’t we find ourselves right there, often? Why is this rare, if ever? 

What about confession and sorrow over sin? Is it possible for us to come into this gathering today and sing songs and listen to prayers and a sermon, do our religious activity, then to walk away from here holding on to the same sin we came in here with? Let’s be honest. We do it all the time. We can all come in here—I’m including myself in this—but not stop and confess sin. Meanwhile, God is saying in Jeremiah 7, “You’re pretending to worship me, but you’re not even listening to me. You’re not even inclining your ear to me.”

We see in Mark 11 and Jeremiah 7 that their hearts had grown all the harder because they got used to worshiping and not looking at their sin. That’s a dangerous place to be, presuming to worship but not pausing to confess your sin. So just think about the picture of people weeping over sin in the presence of God. When was the last time you wept over your sin? I mean, really wept over it? When was the last time when we, in one of our gatherings, were just weeping together over sin? Why is that uncommon among us? What are we missing here? 

This has been one of the most eye-opening realities I’ve observed in our worship and prayer gatherings in the last couple months. People have been confessing all kinds of sin—addiction, adultery, anger, sexual immorality, pride, lust, greed, materialism, selfishness. All we did was create some space for people to confess sin. We need that. I need that. 

I’ve been in almost every evening prayer gathering  and Sunday morning worship gatherings. We’ve had time for confession and in most every meeting, there has not been one time yet when I’ve examined my heart before God and thought, “Huh, nothing to confess here.” Prior to heaven, I don’t think I’ll get there. That’s the point. Do we grieve over this reality? Or are we content with this reality—moving on and ignoring our sin—while we presume to worship?

God will open our eyes to see what he sees, if we are willing. God will break our hearts over what breaks his, if we are willing. God will bring about confession and sorrow over sin in our hearts, leading to grace and mercy in his arms. This is the gospel that brings us together. 

For those of you who are exploring Christianity or visiting with us today, this is why we gather together. It’s not because we deserve it. We deserve to be cast out of God’s presence forever. We deserve to be in hell right now. We’ve rebelled against the holy God of the universe. We deserve his judgment. But God has done the unthinkable. God has pursued us. God has come to us in the person of Jesus who has done what none of us can do. He lived a perfect life with no sin, then even though he had no sin for which to die, he chose to die on a cross to pay the price for our sin. Then three days later he rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, so that anyone who will trust in Jesus—no matter who you are or what you’ve done—will be forgiven of all your sin and be restored to relationship with him, now and forever. 

So with this good news, with this grace waiting for  us, why would we not spend time in confession and sorrow over sin? Why would we be content to keep holding on to it and move on with our lives, while we cover it up with religious activity? No! This is not what the people of God do. We pause, confess and express sorrow over our sin. This is why Jesus came. Look at Mark 15:37 where Mark tells the story of Jesus dying on the cross: “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.” That’s the moment Jesus died. In the very next verse, what does Mark tell us? “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

We’ll talk more about this next week. This curtain is a reference to the barrier that separated sinful people from seeing and being in the presence of a holy God. When Jesus died on the cross, he tore that barrier in two. Jesus has opened the way for you and me to come to God, forgiven of our sin. How do we experience forgiveness? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

We don’t get the whole experience of seeing the glory of God without confession and sorrow over sin, which then leads to—keep making the connections here—faithful and forgiving prayer. Yes, the way has been made open for us to come to God, for us to commune with the God of the impossible, to pray. Even in our gatherings, could we just be honest? Aren’t we tempted to treat prayer as a mindless ritual? Someone starts saying, “Everybody bow your heads,…  Let’s be honest. Many people’s minds are wandering in a million directions. I do it. You do it. I just picture heaven shouting, “Do you realize who you’re talking to?” If we realized who we’re talking to, well, a lot of things would change—including our boldness. We’re talking to the omnipotent God of the universe who has power to do the impossible.

That’s one of the things I’ve loved about the last couple of months, seeing people pray with heightened faith in God, full of faith in God, his power, his wisdom and his love. 

God, give us faith to pray for healing. 

We’ve seen God move in response to those kinds of prayers. At the same time, we’ve seen God not answer our prayers in the way we were hoping he would. That’s why we’ve talked about how we trust in God’s power wisdom and love.

So for all these reasons, we’re going to ask boldly for all kinds of things in our lives and in others’ lives. We’ve prayed for people’s salvation on one night, then we’ve seen that person come to Christ the next night. 

God, give us boldness to believe when we ask that the God of the impossible is listening and will answer according to our praying, filtered through your wisdom and love.

Then forgiving prayer. Are you holding on to any unforgiveness or bitterness in your heart toward anyone about anything? That’s not true religion; that’s not true worship. In the name of Jesus, be free from unforgiveness. Be free from bitterness. This is part of the beauty of the gospel. Jesus not only forgives us, but he frees us from unforgiveness. 

I’ve talked long enough. We need to pray and worship truly in the presence of God. So I want to close with a question for you to prayerfully consider before God, then lead you to truly worship God. By God’s grace I want to lead us to worship God truly.

Here are some questions to lead us into this: how are you prone to miss true worship? How are you, in your life, prone to miss fear, reverence and awe before God? How are you prone to miss confession and sorrow over sin? How are you prone to miss faithful and forgiving prayer? How are you prone to miss true worship in these ways? Ask God to help you worship him in all these ways. 

So let’s take a moment to answer these questions before God, then we’re going to respond to his Spirit leading us in worship. 

God, we want to worship you truly. We pray that right now you would give us sensitivity to your Spirit. Incline our ears to hear you. Show us individually right now, we pray, the ways we are prone to miss true worship. Then lead us to worship you truly. Speak to us now, by your Spirit.

I want to lead us to worship truly I want you to have freedom to stand and praise God for his holiness. But if the Spirit prompts you to fall on your knees instead, or get on your face, or move out to the aisles or down here at the front, at any point feel free to do that. Feel free to turn to somebody and pray with them. Just follow the leadership of the Spirit.

Let’s sing, “Holy, holy, holy” —the song of heaven. Let’s not just to say these words, but let’s feel the wonder and weight of the reality of the One in whose presence we are right now. I realize we’re not starting a song; we’re joining in a song that’s being sung by the angels right now in heaven. 

God, we pray that as we sing these words to you, that you would overwhelm us with who you are, that you would guard us from mindlessly singing, fixing our attention and our affection wholly on you. We pray that you would be glorified in holy fear, reverence and awe, as we sing and pray.

What does the passage say?  

Read the entire passage aloud as a group and take some time to let group members share observations. Try not to move into interpretation of the passage or application of what you have read quite yet.  Simply share what you observe.

• Are there any clues about the circumstances under which this text was originally written?
• Are there any major sub-sections or breaks in the text that might help the reader understand the focus of the passage?
• Who is involved in the passage and what do you notice about the specific participants?
• What actions and events are taking place? What words or themes stand out to you and why?
• Was there anything about the passage/message that didn’t make sense to you?

What does the passage mean?

Throughout the Old Testament, God often compared Israel to a fig tree. What is the significance of the fig tree in this passage? See Jeremiah 8:13, Joel 1:7.

• How were those in this passage missing the reality and purpose of what the temple was for? What was God’s design for the temple? How was the temple being misused? See Isaiah 56:7.
• What does this passage teach us about God? What does this passage teach us about Jesus?
• How can we sum up the main truth of this passage in our own words?

How can we apply this passage to our lives?

Read Jeremiah 7:11, 24. Where are you personally most prone to miss true worship? Confess this to your Church Group.

• Are you prone to miss fear, reverence, and awe before God?
• Are you prone to miss confession and sorrow over sin?
• Are you prone to miss faithful and forgiving prayer?
• Name aloud one step you could boldly take this week to make a needed change.

Take some extended time to pray as a Church Group this week. Pray through the P-R-A-Y acronym and Ask God to help you worship Him truly in all of these ways.

Consider breaking into huddles (small groups of 3-4 people of the same gender) for more personal sharing and prayer. As we prepare for next Sunday and Part 2 of this sermon, Pastor David has asked each of us to consider spending time in prayer and fasting. Consider sincerely praying:

• God, are You leading me to go to a place in the world where the gospel has not yet gone?”
• God, are You leading me to take a short-term trip (for a week or two) somewhere else in the world for the spread of the gospel?
• God, I’m willing to go where you lead.

Mark 11:12–26

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city. 20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Even amidst religious activities, those in this passage were missing:

• Fear, Reverence, and Awe Before God
• Confession and Sorrow Over Sin
• Faithful and Forgiving Prayer

Is it possible that we, too, are missing:

• Fear, Reverence, and Awe Before God
• Confession and Sorrow Over Sin
• Faithful and Forgiving Prayer

Consider: How are you prone to miss true worship?