WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.040 Good morning. 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:07.040 Today's reading is from the Book of Mark, chapter eleven, verses twelve through twenty-five. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:16.079 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:20.960 And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:24.559 And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.399 And his disciples heard it. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:36.960 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. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.920 And he sorry, that's funny. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:46.479 We and he And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:55.039 And he was teaching them and saying to them, It is not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:02.240 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. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.040 And when evening came they went out of the city. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:14.480 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots, and Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:17.200 And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:28.319 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. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:34.319 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.519 And whatever and whenever you stand praying, forgive. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.519 If you have anything against anyone, so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:44.719 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:46.000 Please be seated. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:47.680 Good morning. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.079 Welcome to church this morning. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.200 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:53.519 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:55.760 Uh glad to gather with you this morning. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:57.840 Uh it Thanksgiving is this week. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:07.439 Here's your uh uh logistical reminder from the front, which is absolutely shocking to me that Thanksgiving is this week because of time, I guess. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.599 Um it is funny. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.159 The pigeons thing is funny. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:17.919 So I could tell by your response that none of you bought pigeons on your way in to church this morning. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.759 We'll see if we can still have a successful service, even though there are no pigeons in hand. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:26.800 Um I want to make a couple of uh announcements before we begin. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:35.840 Uh one of which is our church over the next year, 2024, is joining the Presbyterian Church in America. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:39.520 So we are becoming non-non-denominational. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:50.560 And that is it's one of the most exciting things um that our church has done, and it's also one of the largest commitments that we've made as a congregation. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:01.280 And so this process um will involve some change that's experienced, more change that's experienced at the leadership level of the church, but it involves a lot of questions as well. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:11.280 And we wanted to invite you all into this process more and kind of lay out a strategy for how we can really participate in this together as a congregation. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:25.120 So one of the ways that we are it that we're sort of having that conversation is I'll be releasing a uh podcast, although it's not on any podcast places, it's just in our app right now. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:46.719 Um so in our app, if you go to practice, you can uh uh look up a podcast which it will kind of explain the reasoning for joining Presbyterian Church, explaining differences, some questions that are you know the most lingering, like infant baptism, what's the legitimacy of that, or uh why join a denomination in the first place? 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:48.159 What are Presbyterians? 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:50.000 What does that what does that mean? 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.520 Uh so hopefully there'll be a sort of a resource that's available there. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.759 And also we want to just be engaging with your questions. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:05.360 So if you have particular questions about this process, send them to elders at redemptiondenver.com. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.439 That's elders at redemptiondenver.com. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.639 And we'll be gathering those and responding to those questions. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:19.519 We hope to have just kind of a living document where we're able to respond to those questions um uh that you all can participate in. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:28.800 So I want to draw your attention to that and uh yeah, just hopefully we can uh keep those like open lines of of communication and dialogue through this process. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:37.439 Also, I was talking with someone um a couple of weeks ago, and they were like, you know how we do that thing where we say after the confession, I am not the Christ? 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:39.920 They're like, that's a random thing. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.040 And I was like, oh yeah, I bet that does feel pretty random. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:45.199 So I just wanted to add some color to that. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:47.839 I noticed this week when we did that. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.720 John the Baptist is the one who makes this confession that I am not the Christ. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.800 And John the Baptist is gathering people towards repentance. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:04.720 He is preaching the word of God, he is the greatest of all the prophets in the scriptures, as Jesus describes him. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:10.639 And people are questioning over and over again if he is Jesus, if he is the Christ. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:17.439 And he confesses and does not deny, but confesses, I am not the Christ. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:29.759 And the reason that we sort of take that confession and we make it our confession after our time of repentance is the time of repentance is to remember we need a savior. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:35.920 Jesus is not just an example of the type of person we're supposed to be like. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:38.240 He is our savior. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:45.199 And so after we confess our sins, we acknowledge to one another publicly we are not the savior. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:49.120 There is a savior, and the savior is Christ. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:54.560 And so it's really just an opportunity to position our hearts before the Savior as the one that we need. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.839 Does that make more sense? 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:58.319 Two yeses? 00:05:58.720 --> 00:05:59.360 Not bad. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.240 That's about I'd say that's about my ratio. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.639 All right, let's uh uh uh gather your pigeons, it's time to pray. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:24.800 Holy Father, we thank you for gathering our church together this morning, and we uh uh praise you as we come into a week of thanksgiving, that we would have our hearts postured towards thankfulness to you. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:44.399 Lord, as we enter the Advent season next week, we pray that you would prepare our hearts to look forward to you, our Savior, to uh to give you thanks as we look back to your uh your coming, and to give us expectation in our hearts as we look forward to your return. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:58.480 Lord, we we praise you that we are not the Christ, and that you did not require that of us, but you came out of the depth of your love towards us, that we might receive our salvation as a free gift from you. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:01.439 And we pray that our hearts would be postured to receive that this morning. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:02.959 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:03.839 Amen. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:09.519 Okay, so this is that time where Jesus apparently gets mad at the tree. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.600 So uh let's let's uh examine this story. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:24.800 In this story, we see on full display Christ's zeal and the depth of his love for the glory of his father. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:29.199 And we see him honor that in the in the plainest ways. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:34.720 We'll also this morning see Christ's final miracle before his resurrection. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:40.160 And the strange thing about this final miracle before his resurrection is it's the cursing of a tree. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:48.720 So we're gonna look at what it is that that means, what it means uh in relation to the temple that he then cleanses. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:52.319 He curses the fig on the way into cleansing the temple. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:59.279 And then we'll see that what he calls his disciples to is this renewal of true worship. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:12.079 And the true worship of God is founded in these things: faith in God, hope in what God will accomplish, and the love of God for us, which then manifests as our love for one another. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:14.319 So that's what we're moving through this morning. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:16.879 First, let's look at this fruitless fig tree. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.040 Mark 11, 12 through 13. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.720 On the following day when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:27.920 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:32.480 When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.919 Yesterday, yesterday, last week, we uh we looked at the triumphal entry. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.320 And that took place the day before this story. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:52.559 So Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem and was celebrated there, and then he went to inspect the temple, and then he goes back to Bethany throughout holy week. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.600 He sort of visits Jerusalem in the day, and then he sleeps in Bethany, the foot of the Mount of Olives. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:06.720 And upon waking the next morning, he goes into, on the way into Jerusalem, Jesus is hungry. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:22.639 Mark draws our attention to the hunger of Jesus, and I wanted to just catch that detail as we move through this, so that we remember to recognize the absolute humanity of our Savior. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:29.600 Jesus is God, and the mystery of Christ is that he is fully God and fully man. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:34.480 And so he is not pretending to be hungry like you're hungry. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:36.639 He is hungry. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.279 He actually experiences those things. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.679 What does this mean of our Savior? 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.360 That He is sufficient to intercede for us. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:49.840 We have a God who knows our frame. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.720 He doesn't just know about our frame. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:10:09.360 God isn't doesn't just know about what it means to be a human with needs, who experiences things like hunger and sleeplessness, and who experiences rejection, and he's he's not like, oh man, it's so sad that they experience that. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:13.759 He knows that experience, such as our Savior. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:15.919 And so he's hungry. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:22.879 And uh one more thing that just kind of flew through my mind, just want to make this connection. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:36.000 You know, the the book of Job is this frequent, there's this frequent refrain in the book of Job where Job says, Who can intercede on our behalf before God? 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:45.039 Who is there that could put their hand on me, a human, and their hand on God and mediate between us? 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:48.799 Do you see how Jesus is the perfect answer to that question? 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:54.639 And we see that in even these little details, like Jesus was hungry. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:56.399 He knows your frame. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:58.399 That is our high priest. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.000 And in his hunger, he sees in the distance a fig tree in leaf. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:15.360 And it's important that the fig tree is in leaf, because as you guys know about fig trees, they'll often fruit and then their leaves will come. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:19.759 And so if their leaves are there, that means there is ripe fruit on the fig tree. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.840 And so the fig tree is demonstrating the signals of fruitfulness. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:36.320 To the the out from the outside looking in, you know, as I used to say when I was in the car business, we would appraise a car, we would say it's pretty from far, but far from pretty. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:47.440 And there's the that's what is happening with the uh fig tree, is from far away, it it gives the appearance of fruitfulness. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:54.000 But upon inspection, when Jesus moves up to the fig tree, when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:00.399 It was not the season for figs, but it was still demonstrating that it itself was fruitful. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:07.840 So Jesus uh uh approaches a tree that gives off all the appearance of fruitfulness, and it is not fruit, it has no fruit. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:14.720 And so in verse 14, and he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.200 And his disciples heard it. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.559 So this is strangely Jesus' final miracle. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:30.320 He curses the fig tree, and no one ever eats fruit from this fig tree again. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:39.200 Was Jesus just very disappointed in the fig tree? 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:41.519 Yeah, of course not. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:47.600 What we see is Jesus is acting in the very pattern of the Old Testament prophets. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:59.919 You know, he's taking his teaching and he's making it manifest in a physical way so that it can be uh understood kind of in that same way where Jesus' hunger is this participation in humanity. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:06.720 A fruitless tree is manifest and real in the very ways that humans that we experience things is real. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:18.879 He's uh like Jeremiah, who is told by God to take a loincloth and bury it in a rock and come to it a couple of months later and take it out and see this is now useless. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.279 And he says, this is what Israel has become. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:23.360 It's like this useless loincloth. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:30.480 Or it's like Ezekiel, who is commanded to eat a scroll, so that the word of God might be manifestly in him. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:32.399 That's strange. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:40.000 But it's this image that is that is it that it shows us precisely what the teaching is. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:53.840 Or it's like Hosea, who is instructed to marry a prostitute, and then it have adultery committed against him, and then him remarry and restore this prostitute. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.799 And he says, this is the pattern of what's taking place. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:06.399 This is so that so that we, in our understanding, can participate in the reality of what Christ is showing us that is taking place in the spiritual realm. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:13.440 And Jesus is manifesting exactly one of his parables, and it's a teaching that the disciples had heard. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:17.600 It's recorded in Luke 13, 6 through 9. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:18.960 This is the parable. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:27.519 And he told this parable A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.399 You see the connection that I'm making? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.000 Sometimes this job is not that hard. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:42.799 And he said to the vine dresser, Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:43.759 Cut it down. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.600 Why should it use up the ground? 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:54.720 And he answered him, that's the vine dresser, answered him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.159 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:00.480 But if not, you can cut it down. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:06.240 So the pattern there is there's a fig tree or so Yeah, there's a fig tree, and it's fruitless. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:13.440 And the owner of the land comes and he says, It's been three years, and this fig tree has borne no fruit. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.960 Cut it down, and we can plant another tree here. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:21.120 But the vine dresser shows patience with the tree. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:27.679 He says, Let us tend to it, even expending resources on the tree. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.200 He shows this generosity and patience towards the tree. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:47.440 But the vine dresser agrees, if we return after showing this patience, and we still see a fruitless tree, then there will come a time of real judgment where it is time to say, this tree is fruitless, and we will cut down the tree. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:53.759 This is the image of precisely how God is interacting with Israel. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:58.080 He is showing this patience towards their fruitlessness. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:15.039 And even when a clear time of judgment has shown itself, three years of fruitlessness from this fig tree, the vine dresser still extends his patience even beyond what might be considered a reasonable expectation, such as the patience of the vine dresser. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:21.360 But the patience does have a moment where judgment must be made. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.080 This pattern is relayed to us in Proverbs, Proverbs 29, verse 1. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:34.879 It says, He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.799 This is the pattern. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:46.080 The Lord deals with us with this incredible patience, but do not mistake his patience for a lack of judgment. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:56.080 Do not mistake his patience as something which says he will never make a decision or he will never come to say how things truly are. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:00.799 His patience should not be mistaken for an absence of care. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:11.200 There is a time, a time that is coming, where if you have stiffened your neck before him, there will be a moment, suddenly, where it will be broken. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.480 And that moment is what we see take place in the next story. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.359 That these are really kind of one image. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:27.519 Jesus cursing the tree and Jesus coming to the temple and cleansing it, are the same image. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:31.920 That there is a moment of judgment that is coming. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:39.920 So the disciples hear him say, No one shall ever eat fruit from you again, and then where they go is into the temple. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:46.079 Mark 11, 15 through 16, we see this famous event of Jesus cleansing the temple. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:53.759 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. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:18:05.279 And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons, and he would not uh and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.680 Now remember, it's a holiday week in Jerusalem. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:14.400 And so folks are gathered from all over to celebrate the Passover at the temple. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:20.559 And the Passover celebration involved bringing your sacrifices to the temple. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:27.759 The disciples, but let's get a little bit of a vision of what we're seeing here. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:31.200 The temple is glorious. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:36.480 It's one of the great wonders of the ancient world. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:52.400 When it was initially rebuilt in Nehemiah, we see the mixture of weeping for the folks that had seen the original temple, and they say, this is not a return to that true glory. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:19:04.400 But over the course of that time, it had been brought by investment from Herod, this sort of glory in this temple had been really restored. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:16.720 Josephus, who's uh a contemporary and a historian of this time, not a contemporary of us, a contemporary of them. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:25.359 So there's this uh ancient witness, uh he gives us uh some of these descriptions of what the temple were. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:41.759 These are sort of incredible and hard to wrap your mind around, but he describes the stones, there were stones that were a part of this temple construction, which were 67 and a half feet in length, seven and a half feet high, and nine feet in breadth. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:58.000 You know, this is like if if uh like the History Channel late at night, if they knew about the scope and scale of the temple, they would be like it was made by aliens. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:08.799 Because this is like architecturally impossible, you would say, how could they possibly have the technology to build something so incredible and so glorious? 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:16.240 It was limestone, and so it was this perfect white on the exterior, but the white was plated with gold. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:25.359 Josephus says that in the daytime you could not even bear to look at it because it would reflect it would reflect the sun's light so directly. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:31.279 So it's just this shining of glory that the temple is meant to show. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:35.359 The temple is the house of God, it is God's dwelling place. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:45.839 Jesus, at the beginning of his life, when he's a young boy, remember and he run, they they leave, Mary and Joseph leave, and Jesus is still in the temple, that strange story. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.519 And he says, Where did you think I would be? 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.519 I was in my father's house. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:57.440 So Jesus understands the temple as his father's house, the house of God, and of course it is incredible in its glory. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:12.720 But when Jesus visits this time at this place of glory, the center of the spiritual life of God's people, he sees that it is overrun. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:18.880 It may be presenting as glorious, and there's a lot of religious activity. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:25.359 Look, from far off, it might look like real glory was happening. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:30.720 And it would look like real worship of the true God was taking place. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.640 Look at all these people who have come in. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:37.839 Look at the glory of the building, look at how the energy of how they're able to participate in this. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.319 There must be real worship happening here. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:45.200 But when Jesus gets close, he sees there is no real worship happening. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.839 Instead, there is just grifting. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:54.960 There's taking advantage of, there's expedience and convenience being put in the place of the real worship of God. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.519 And there is actually people who have positioned themselves so that they are able to. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:09.039 Take for themselves profit just for themselves away from the worship in the glory of the temple. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:16.400 So Jesus enters the temple and he drives them out. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:33.519 He drives out those who bought, those who sold, he drives out the money changers, and he even prevents people from using the temple grounds as just a convenient cut-through in the city, which it was being used as. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:46.319 People are literally, the structure of the way that it would take place is that there were like stalls, like vending, and the priests would charge for those locations. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:23:02.319 And then when people would come in, then they would take the money that people used to buy what was necessary for worship, and they would uh take a percentage of that so that it would roll up to the priest and ultimately to Caiaphas himself. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:05.839 And Jesus drives them all out. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:11.279 Now we can imagine why is it that Jesus would drive out those who sold? 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:20.240 We can imagine why Jesus would drive out the money changers because they are grifting off of the worship of the Lord. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.759 But why does Jesus drive out those who bought? 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:30.079 Those who bought, these are just pilgrims who come to Jerusalem. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:35.519 And they need to purchase the sacrifices that they will make. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:43.039 And the only currency which the temple received was a Jewish currency, and so there needed to be a financial exchange that took place there. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.119 I mean, what other option did they have? 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.920 But we see Jesus even drives out those who bought. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.519 And why is that? 00:23:50.160 --> 00:24:00.079 What he's saying is even the people who are merely tolerating this practice need to be driven out. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:09.839 Even those who are just participants in this mode of approaching God in the temple need to be driven out. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:13.119 This practice needs to be brought to an absolute stop. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:19.279 And so Jesus walks in and he sees this unfolding in the temple. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:25.839 He sees the lack of real worship taking place in the temple. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:30.559 And he sees people just participating in it. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:35.839 And we must wonder who is going to take responsibility? 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.960 Who here is going to say, not on my watch? 00:24:42.240 --> 00:25:07.920 We will not approach the worship of God in a way that is actually just about our own profit, or in a way which requires us to bring no real sacrifice, that shows a faithlessness and a participation in a system which actually undermines the true worship of God and prevents those who would come in to be able to truly worship God. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:10.559 And so Jesus drives them out. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:16.160 Like I want us to cap to get the physicality of what happens here. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:20.480 He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and bought. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.920 So that means he is probably shouting. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:38.799 The first time that he does this, which is three years ago, which is interesting for the parable, especially when we consider the inclusive way that Jewish people count, it means that we're at what would have been counted as the fourth year. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:48.480 So it's the time like the fig tree in the vine dresser's parable, where it would have been that time of judgment. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:26:08.319 And uh in the first instance, when Jesus does this in John 2, we're told that Jesus made a whip to, like the night before, to take in, to drive out the people who were worshiping in this way, who were not worshiping. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:19.519 Like, grasp the physicality of Jesus here, the intensity of what Jesus is bringing, the reality of the judgment that he is bringing upon the temple. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:25.039 It's there's a violence to it, a real violence to it. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:38.000 You know, he walks up, the the money changers, you can sort of imagine they have a table laid before them, they would be likely sitting behind the table on the floor, and they'd have different currencies laid out. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:41.359 And Jesus, like, think get this. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:46.480 Jesus walks up to the money changers' tables and he grabs them and he flips them over. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:48.160 That's wild. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:57.200 Like if you saw that happen, you would the the the oxygen would just get sucked out of the room. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:11.759 A couple of maybe like uh, I don't know, month or so ago, we were out, we were at Cesar Chavez Park uh one Saturday morning, and that's like it's like an ant hill on Saturday mornings. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:18.960 Especially where it's just like croissants and children because of because of Bakery 4, you know. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:44.319 And uh what this one Saturday morning, this uh older man uh just starts shouting uh at some child's name, uh I don't remember the name, but just shouting and shouting and cursing while he's shouting and running around and uh yelling and cursing, and though all of Caesar Chavez Park was like, okay. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:54.400 You know, we all just kind of like you know, all got tense and were were nervous and didn't know exactly what was happening. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:57.359 I think it would be in a it would be an event like that. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:01.200 You see Jesus and it's like this is so out of step. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:08.240 And it brings it, it it brings all the processes of the temple to an absolute halt. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.160 He takes it completely into his hands. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:18.400 Jesus brings this clearest judgment, he makes it stop. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:25.599 Do you see the zeal of Jesus for his father for his father's house? 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:34.000 Do you see the depth of offense that he took for the lack of true worship that was taking place here? 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:44.880 Jesus does not just physically remove them, but he begins teaching. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:59.759 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? 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:01.359 He's quoting two prophets there. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:08.960 He's quoting out of Isaiah 57, where he says, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:24.160 It's this glorious end of the book of Isaiah where he's describing this beautiful future that that forms into the new heavens and the new earth, where all the nations are gathered together to this place. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.559 And he says this was meant to be a house of prayer to God that all the nations came to. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:35.279 Do you see the height of Jesus' hope for the temple? 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:40.480 His understanding of what real worship was meant to be. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:49.359 And what's important about his mention of the nations is that where the vendors were set up in the temple was in the court of the Gentiles. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:57.119 The court of the Gentiles is that part of the temple where the nations were able to gather and pray. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:00.160 The rest of the temple was off limits for the Gentiles. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:08.240 There is an inscription on the wall that you would have gone into the next court, the inner court beyond the court of the Gentiles. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:19.039 There's an inscription on that wall that said, if you were not a true Jew, then if you entered that part of the temple, your death would be on your own head. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:28.000 So there is this limited space where the nations are able to gather and worship at this time. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:42.640 And it is rendered off limits by the buying and selling and the taking for their own profit at a time that was meant to be a place of prayer for the nations. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:55.279 So Jesus is saying: not only are you grifting the Lord, but you are making it impossible for the nations to come in and worship him as God. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:07.519 Your own selfishness has taken away the ability for God to call to himself this promise, those from all nations. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:10.720 And he then he quotes from Jeremiah, this curse. 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:14.880 He says, But you have made it a den of robbers. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.319 Why is it that no one else? 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:25.200 Why is it that no one else saw what Jesus saw when they walked in? 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:30.640 It was because nobody else understood the real hope. 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:34.960 They had no faith in the real hope of what the temple was meant to be. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:53.680 And because they had no faith in the real hope of what the temple was meant to be, a place of prayer to God the Father for all nations, then there was no expectation to be violated when they saw that that wasn't taking place. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:10.400 There was a lack of faith in what they thought was actually able to happen there, in the promises of God for what the temple was meant to be, and because of that lack of faith, they weren't able to see this has become a den of robbers. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:16.960 So there was no zeal except in the one who had true faith in God. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:21.759 It's meant to be a house of prayer. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.759 This doesn't look like prayer. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:31.519 This looks like none of you actually think God dwells here. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.359 It looks like you think God doesn't exist. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:39.519 It looks like you think he wouldn't answer your prayers. 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:47.759 It looks like you think this is just another place in the world where you have to take what you can get, and there is no God who sees anything. 00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:50.079 What are our warnings here? 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:53.200 I think there's four of them. 00:32:53.599 --> 00:33:00.559 The first is that Jesus will not tolerate irreverence towards the name of God. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:25.920 We often think, and we I think it when we have something like a sense of reverence for who God is, I think the way that we experience that, perhaps in our culture, is something like it's inauthentic to have a real sense of reverence. 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:38.000 Like if we if we don't carry a fundamental amount of cynicism into our worship of God, then we think we aren't really doing it. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:40.960 Or we're doing it in some dishonest way. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:46.960 But Jesus will not tolerate irreverence towards the worship of God. 00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:51.279 It's like you could imagine you can imagine Jesus shouting, He's really in there. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:59.279 When he promised to make this his dwelling among his people, he really does it. 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:03.519 And we treat him like he's not here. 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:10.559 Number two, God cares how we worship him. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:17.360 He doesn't just care that we worship him, he cares how we worship him. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:21.679 Jesus is teaching and instructing his people all the time. 00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.719 How is it that we come before the Father? 00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:34.159 We worship so often in a way where I think if Jesus were to come to the church in the United States and say, like, how do they worship? 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:37.440 They just do whatever it takes to get people in the door. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:41.679 We don't think God inhabits our praises. 00:34:42.480 --> 00:34:45.199 We don't think the church is the temple. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:48.639 Why is it that we would come to church? 00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:56.960 Well, perhaps because we get, I'll go to church insofar as I get some of the psychological benefits of being in church. 00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:14.239 The experience of community, the self-righteousness of knowing that I go to church and that there's some sense of identity that I'm able to gain from that, that there's some stability, and insofar as it gives me those things, then I'll participate in it. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:19.519 And so when I'm going, it's not it's it's not as though Jesus is really there. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:21.920 It's not as though God is really there. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.079 We live in a whole world. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:32.320 There's like this whole, there, there's there's this renaissance of rediscovery of Christian practice. 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.840 And we'll we'll say we'll say things like prayer. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:42.079 Did you know that prayer is actually like psychologically beneficial to you? 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:43.360 Do you guys know Huberman? 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:45.519 Any Huberman husbands out there? 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:53.280 The the he's this guy who um reads science journals, which we us civilians don't do. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:56.639 And then he's like, these things can be helpful for the way that you live. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:00.800 And then us civilians are like, yeah, those are helpful for the way that we live. 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:09.760 Well, one of the he's Huberman's morning routine is like, you know, if you do this morning routine, you'll be a healthy, a healthy person. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:16.000 And you're you'll get morning sunlight and you'll stand barefoot on the grass and you'll do a breathing exercise. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:35.039 He says, and one of uh I listened to a uh a talk with him uh as I am a Huberman husband uh who takes cold showers and things um to uh to address issues that I had no idea existed in my body. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:38.239 My vascular health. 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:40.239 I didn't know that was a term. 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:42.880 We need cold shock proteins. 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:49.920 If I had a heavy metal band, there's no question it would be called cold shock proteins. 00:36:51.360 --> 00:36:53.440 So he's he says a prayer. 00:36:53.679 --> 00:37:08.320 I've incorporated prayer into my morning routine because I've recognized that it has these immense psychological benefits, and there's really this is there's this is evidence-based, that there are these psychological benefits of prayer. 00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:09.360 Yeah, great. 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:10.880 I I believe that. 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:12.239 I believe that. 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.159 We pray because God is there. 00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.360 We pray because there is a God. 00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:26.800 Because He promised to hear our prayer. 00:37:28.079 --> 00:37:32.719 What if we hit a stretch where it's like I'm getting no psychological benefits from this? 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:33.599 Well, you know what? 00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:40.400 Your prayer is still working because it's being heard by the living God. 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:43.440 How do you know it's being heard by the living God? 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:44.639 He promised. 00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:49.920 He promised he would hear you. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:38:02.400 He said his eyes would ever be on the temple, his ears would ever be attuned to the prayers, that if you were away and you prayed towards the temple, he would hear you and he would listen to you. 00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:05.280 That's why we pray. 00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:08.639 Because we we think he's there. 00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:17.679 Now, what does it take to think that God is actually there, actually listening to your prayers? 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:21.760 We have a word for that. 00:38:22.079 --> 00:38:24.159 We call it faith. 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:27.360 We have faith. 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:30.559 He really, he really hears. 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:33.199 He really listens when I pray to him. 00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:34.400 He's there. 00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:38.000 Why did we come to worship this morning? 00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:44.800 You can there's we are you can get this same coffee up the street. 00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:48.320 Why did we come to worship this morning? 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:51.360 He promised to inhabit our praises. 00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.840 He promised us where two or three are gathered together in his name. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:57.679 He's with us. 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:02.639 We we came because he promises to be here. 00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:05.199 We're the temple now. 00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:09.039 We are the temple now. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:12.239 And he meets us here. 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:15.920 So he cares how we worship him. 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:17.599 It is to worship him. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:25.599 God will not tolerate indifference to irreverence. 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:36.320 So when we find in our hearts that we are indifferent to our really thinking, oh, he's just not here. 00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:40.800 If we tolerate that among ourselves, Jesus will not tolerate that. 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:46.159 He will be patient, but there will be a time of judgment. 00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:58.559 And lastly, the lesson here is the irreverence of the church prevents the proper worship of God by the nations. 00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:10.320 Sometimes I think we'll cultivate something like an irreverence that that might make our faith more immediately palatable. 00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:18.880 And we'll say this is so that we can bring more people in, so that we can bring more people in and give them a greater experience. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:23.119 This is not the pattern that we see in the scriptures. 00:40:24.159 --> 00:40:36.960 The prioritization of convenience over everything else at the temple meant that the nations were not able to come and pray before God. 00:40:38.400 --> 00:40:47.440 If we love those who do not know Christ yet, we will reverently worship him as we gather together. 00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:59.519 And the chief priests and scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:05.039 When Jesus teaches, the the crowds, it's always astonishment. 00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:13.119 From the first time that Jesus was in the temple and he read the prophecy of Isaiah and said, This has now been fulfilled in my reading of it. 00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:15.280 Everyone is astonished at his teaching. 00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:16.639 They were astonished at his teaching. 00:41:16.719 --> 00:41:20.639 They'd never heard anyone teach with such authority before. 00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:31.440 Isn't it interesting that there's not what's recorded is not they were astonished at how crazy he went when he flipped the chain the money changer's table. 00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:37.360 That's not what Mark wanted to record here. 00:41:37.920 --> 00:41:39.599 That's what I would record. 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:47.199 You know, I the to when the man was shouting in Caesar Chavez Park, I don't even remember the kid's name that he was shouting. 00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:48.800 I remember none of the content. 00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:50.960 That's when I keep that's not what I record. 00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:53.119 I just remember like shouting, scary. 00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.639 You know, flipped tables, whip, angry man. 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:02.480 But that's not what was astonishing. 00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:05.920 What was astonishing was his teaching. 00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:09.679 This this guy thinks God's really here. 00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:13.199 He has this real hope for what the temple could be. 00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:20.960 He sees, it's like he cut through this facade and the reality was just exposed. 00:42:21.199 --> 00:42:25.119 It was like all of a sudden the temple, it was like this is bright for a reason. 00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:34.559 The chief priests and scribes heard his teaching, and they are seeking a way to destroy him. 00:42:34.719 --> 00:42:41.199 Now, why is it that the chief priests and scribes would be, of course, the most offended by this teaching? 00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:46.639