The One Jesus Loves, Part 6: When Worship Goes Wrong

THE ONE JESUS LOVES – 6

The Gospel of John

 

 

When Worship Goes Wrong

John 2:12-25

 

(John 2:12-25 ESV) After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

 

(Deuteronomy 14:24-26 ESV) And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.

 

 

 

1.            Worship goes wrong when other things become more important than God.

 

(John 2:12-16 ESV) After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.”

 

2.            Worship goes wrong when we lose passion for what God is passionate about – people.

 

(John 2:17 ESV) 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

(Matthew 21:13 ESV) He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

 

3.            Worship goes wrong when doubt begins to win out over faith.

 

(John 2:18 ESV) 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

(Malachi 3:1-2 ESV) “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

 

4.            Worship goes wrong when ritual replaces relationship.

 

(John 19:22 ESV) Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

(Revelation 21:22 ESV) 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

 

(1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

 

 

5.            Worship goes wrong when dead faith is confused with saving faith.

 

(John 2:23-25 ESV) Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

 

(James 2:14 ESV)  What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

 

(James 2:17 ESV) So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

 

(James 2:19 ESV) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

 

(John 3:1 ESV) Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

 

(John 3:10 ESV) Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

 

(John 3:3 ESV) Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”