Transcript

Heartless Religion

Matthew 21:12-21
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Pastor Randy Smith

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Last week we celebrated seven baptisms. Today we are looking forward to several more.

Baptism is a wonderful ordinance given to us by the Lord. It is a visual illustration that demonstrates a spiritual reality that has already occurred in a Christian's heart. Everything about baptism from the timing (which is after salvation) to the mode (which is full immersion) points to God accomplishing our salvation. It illustrates how God has saved us by washing away our sins, identifying us with Christ in His burial and resurrection and immersing us into the church. Baptism is a picture to glorify God's grace.

Unfortunately, many churchgoers over the centuries have taken this beautiful picture of baptism and turned it upside-down. They have used it to glorify themselves. Instead of allowing it to picture God's goodness, they have used it to picture their own goodness. They claim baptism is the reason they are going to heaven or baptism is the reason they exceed others in spiritual maturity or baptism secures their salvation regardless of how they choose to conduct themselves.

Misusing spiritual symbols, deciding for ourselves what God expects, presuming upon God's grace and mercy - all of this is nothing new. Today in a shortened message we will see how Israel made the same mistakes that are common among professing Christians today. We will also see the Lord's response that would be the same response today toward those who fall for similar pitfalls. It is very easy to be religious, but today we will see that true religion engages the heart and shows itself in a spirit of reverence, love, fruit and faith. Without these our religion is dead and our God is angered. We must not miss out on the four points I will share with you in this message.

1. MISSING THE REVERENCE

The first of four points, "Missing the Reverence."

We learned last seek that Jesus along with many other Jews just entered Jerusalem during the Passover. The Passover commemorated the Exodus account (Ex. 12:1-13) when the angel of death "passed over" the houses marked with sacrificial blood. In the ultimate way, Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb of God was entering Jerusalem on the Passover to shed His own blood. In a lesser way thousands upon thousands of Jews were simultaneously entering Jerusalem at this time to celebrate the Passover by shedding the blood of sacrificial animals.

Now that presented two problems. First, most of the pilgrims either did not own a sacrificial animal or could not bring their sacrificial animal on the journey. The Jewish leaders solved that problem: "We'll sell you one when you arrive." Second, the currency was different than the one required at the temple. Again, problem easily resolved: "We'll have money changers available at the temple precincts."

Now, both of these solutions are not bad in and of themselves. The problem was the method in how they were conducted. What was intended by God as an act of worshipping Him became an opportunity to make a lucrative profit at the expense of the worshippers. Money hungry spiritual leaders fleeced the people by cooperating with those conducting the business. Only their animals would be accepted for sacrifice, animals that were jacked up several times their proper value. The money changers were adding an unfair mark-up themselves. Price gouging. Extortion. Greed. The worship of God became an opportunity to exploit those trying to worship.

How did our Lord react? Verse 12 speaks for itself. "And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves."

Furthermore, these sales were taking place within the temple itself - of course the best locations for the ones willing to pay the most money. You can imagine people trying to worship among the stench and high pitched animal sounds. A solemn place of worship was transferred into a flea market. And where was the bizarre being conducted? In the outermost courts (Mk. 11:17), the place reserved for the Gentiles to worship. Though no doubt the Jewish areas were compromised, the Gentiles who came to worship the true God were forced to share their intimate communion with hucksters and noisy animals.

In verse 13 Jesus remarks by quoting two Old Testament passages (Isa. 56:7, Jer. 7:11): "And He said to them, 'It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robber's den.'"

Jesus begins His earthly ministry in John 2 by cleansing the temple, and now three years later in the final week of His ministry He does the same. The temple was the central shrine of Jewish worship. Jesus enters the holy place and with His divine authority basically says, "Get out!"

You can see our Savior's priorities by cleansing the temple with such righteous anger. He shows the need to approach God with absolute reverence. Exploiting others in worship, hindering others in their worship, using worship activities in any way that diminishes the utmost reverence, approaching God in a flippant manner - all are a major offense and one that promoted possibly the most angered and violent reaction from our Savior.

This is why we seek to minimize distractions in the worship center and encourage you to have your hearts prepared before you enter. Our Lord's actions reveal the need to take the worship in music and the worship in preaching very seriously. This is a place of worship, and when we worship, our Lord expects us to do it with undivided attention and complete reverence.

2. MISSING THE LOVE

So we must not miss out on reverence, point number two, we must not miss out on love.

First we see the love of Jesus for others. Verse 14, "And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them."

The blind and lame were often viewed as the outcasts. Yet Jesus made time for them. He did not ignore the rejected nor did He only associate with people that would directly benefit His needs. All the stuff in the temple occurring in the name of religion, but few save Jesus had time for the truly needy. What an interesting contrast between the attitude of Jesus and the attitude of the religious leaders. What an interesting contrast between Jesus' display of righteous anger and now His immediate display of compassionate love.

Second, we see the love of others for Jesus. Verses 15 and 16, "But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David,' they became indignant and said to Him, 'Do You hear what these children are saying?' And Jesus said to them, 'Yes; have you never read, 'out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for Yourself?''"

Fascinating account. The religious leaders make a mockery of worship and have plots to kill Jesus while little children find it in their hearts to love Jesus and praise Him with the childlike faith He desires. Jesus is indignant because God is not being worshipped, and the religious leaders are indignant (verse 15) because God is being worshipped.

They call for Jesus to quiet those who are praising Him. His response is interesting. He asks them if they have ever read their Bibles? Then He quotes Psalm 8:2 which speaks about children worshipping God. In other words He is saying, I will not forbid their worship because I, the One they are worshipping, am God. The spiritual leaders blew it. The kids got it right.

The greatest joy of working with little children is their love for God. I have never met a child atheist. Unfortunately as life progresses, many of their hearts harden, but the purity, trust and love of a child for Jesus is precious. We worship what we love, and a child has a heart that has not been pulled in a million directions by the world. That is the childlike love our Lord expects from us. Remember Matthew 18:3? "Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Pure childlike worship expresses the deepest love for Jesus. And the worship of Jesus expresses the Christian distinctive that He is God. Therefore we cannot claim to know God apart from knowing Jesus. And really knowing Jesus is seen in a love for Him that far surpasses everything else.

3. MISSING THE FRUIT

So they were missing the reverence, they were missing the love and third, they were missing the fruit.

Verses 17 and 18, "And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there [probably in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus]. Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry."

The beginning of verse 19, "Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only."

Mark in his account informs us "it was not the season for figs" (Mk. 11:13). But for some reason this particular roadside fig tree had leaves. And since the fruit comes before the leaves, this tree should have had some fruit. It may not have had fully ripe figs, which come about in June, but there should have been some green figs which are suitable for consumption. The tree from the outside looked promising, but it was a disappointment upon closer inspection because of its lack of fruit.

In verse 19 Jesus said, "'No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.' And at once the fig tree withered." Why such anger? Why was the poor tree cursed?

The context gives us a clear explanation. The Jewish nation looked great on the outside, but bore no spiritual fruit for God on the inside. This situation with the fig tree was an acted parable describing the hostility of God toward individuals who claim to be His people, but give no evidence to the reality of their profession.

There are a lot of people who may appear very religious on the outside, but bear no spiritual fruit. They may advertise to the world a commitment to God, but have yet to allow God to change and transform their lives. God has little patience for hypocrisy. The time had run out on the Jews, and the clock is always ticking for people within the church. As Peter said, "It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God" (1 Pet. 4:17). If we are on God's side there should be some noticeable evidence that He is working in our lives. Behind the outer leaves of religion there had better be some spiritual fruit. If you don't believe me read John 15:5-11.

"Nothing but leaves and the Spirit grieves over a wasted life. Or sins committed while conscience slept, promises made but never kept, hatred, battle and strife, nothing but leaves. Nothing but leaves, no garnered sheaves of life's fair ripen grain, words, idle words, for earnest deeds, we sow our seeds low, tares and weeds we reap with toil and pain, nothing but leaves. Nothing but leaves, memory weaves no veil to hide the past, as we retrace our weary way, counting each lost and misspent day, we find sadly at last nothing but leaves. And shall we meet the Master so, bearing our withered leaves, the Savior looks for perfect fruit, we stand before Him humble mute, waiting the words He breathes...nothing but leaves" (author unknown).

4. MISSING THE FAITH

So there was missing reverence, missing love, missing fruit and finally, missing faith.

Verse 20, "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, 'How did the fig tree wither all at once?'"

The disciples may have missed the point of the parable, but they were quite impressed with the miracle. So Jesus once again uses the action to teach a lesson, this time on faith.

Verse 21, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.'"

Focus from the religious leaders is now shifted to Jesus' disciples. Jesus is giving them a promise that applies to us as well. God is honored by our belief in Him, our trust in Him, our faith. This does not mean we can name anything and claim it for ourselves as something God is obligated to accomplish. What this means is that God is faithful to do what He promises. And when we ask God in a way that is consistent with His will, mind and desires, we have the power of Him working on our behalf. Will we cast mountains into the sea? That is just a figure of speech for the ability to accomplish great things (cf. Mt. 17:20). God honors our trust in Him. He is grieved when we doubt Him.

Jesus concludes in verse 22 by showing how He will reward our trust: "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." If that promise does not get you to value the privilege of prayer nothing will! Again, God honors faith and "without faith," says Hebrews 11:6, "it is impossible to please Him."

So a radical display of our Lord's anger. And what is He looking for? He wants to see from those He created, those who profess to know Him, a heart of reverence when approaching Him, a love for Him that is greater than our love for anybody or anything else, a life continually bringing forth spiritual fruit and faith that believes He will do as He promises.

Dads, were you expecting a Father's Day message? It is right here in this sermon! Who is the real man, the great dad in God's eyes? It is the one who says with Joshua, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Jos. 24:15). In the way we conduct our lives we will trust God and love God. We will approach Him with the utmost reverence. And as the spiritual leaders we will set the example by humbly showing our families the spiritual fruit that God is bearing in our lives. Anything less should anger us because as we learned this morning, anything less greatly angers God.