Sep 10 2023

Lord, thank You for this time of worship – yes, we are Your children – we nee to be slaves to nothing – not just to fear – we are free in Christ. As we go through Mark – use this time to speak to our hearts.

Mark 11: 11 Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. And after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the twelve since it was already late…

So He walks into Jerusalem – goes into the temple – looks around – and heads back to Bethany. What is He doing? He is planning. Something big is going to happen the next day – and He knows it. Think of it as a demonstration – a performance. He is going to go in there – and that performance is going to be a message of judgment, on the temple, the religious leaders, and the nation of Jerusalem. He is troubled by what He sees in the Temple. The entire religious system is infected and Jesus knows that. From the Pharisees, scribes, priests, etc. – and He is going to speak on this. The hard thing – they think they are doing what God wants and they have misunderstood it.

12 Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it. 15 Then they came to Jerusalem.

It wasn’t the fig tree’s fault! But it is a symbol for the nation of Israel. Here we have another judgment situation coming up. From Chapter 10 with the Blind man, there is a series of stories of Jesus the Messiah who will be rejected by Israel. His parables will all do this – the entire story will reveal Him as Messiah King and He will be rejected as Messiah King.

What have they done that

Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 Then he began to teach them and said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!"

Jesus is not a fan of Capitalism?

No, they have taken the ways of the world and put them into the sacred spaces.

Looking at Genesis…

Every time it happens – when Humans bring the ways of the world into sacred spaces – there is judgment.

We will look at how they brought the world into the sacred space – but think about – how might we do this? How might we bring the ways of the world into the Church. I don’t mean into the church building…

Having drums in a church building is not bringing the ways of the world into a sacred space. This building, or a church building is a sacred space – ONLY when the Church (the people of God) gather to worship.

Anytime and anywhere the people of God gather to worship (where two of you have gathered in My name – there I am in their midst) – that place becomes sacred, because it is the place of the divine – the place of Jesus.

Buying and selling – greed and extortion – materialism – when you know what they were doing – it was all about control and power and money.

Now, they needed to buy and sell – they had to buy offerings and stuff – but that was all supposed to take place outside. It is not that the buying and selling was an issue – it is where they bought and sold – and the effects it had on their worship.

Another interesting little thing – in the Old Testament – to bring the world into sacred space – they reversed it sometimes. The People of Yahweh would worship Yahweh on the altar of Baal. Remember Solomon going to Gideon – offering thousands of Sacrifices – ask what you wish – and he runs back to Jerusalem – and as you read the Chronicles – offering sacrifices on the high places always incurred judgment.

Here, the ways of the world are brought into the place of worship.

Early on – when we were here in this church – we were small, wanting to grow – as all churches do – because, you know – you to conferences and any church should grow to 1000 – and someone said – to grow a church – you have to become a shameless promoter.

I am a shameless promoter of the gospel and Jesus – but not the church. That may have been a reality – but it is bringing the ways of the world into a sacred space.

Jesus is listing from Jeremiah – why they have fallen – failed to take care of the poor and needy. The gospel is filled with that. And we need to think through how that happens in our own time.

Den of thieves… - that points to hypocrisy. A den of thieves is a place where they can go to feel secure. I always thought it was like a place with snakes – STAY OUT OF THERE! But they were like – we are the people of God – we have these prayers, we offer these sacrifices – and as long as we do THIS – we are free to do whatever we want over there.

We can do the same thing.

Christians today do the same thing – and we all do to some point.

House of prayer for all nations…

They prevented and excluded certain people from coming to God – Gentiles (nations) – the lame, the unclean, sinners – keep them out!

Who is Jesus pronouncing judgment on? The religious leaders. Who do we pronounce judgment on? The world – that is what we do. The Bible is clear – judge yourself. Judgment begins with the household of God – that is where it needs to start.

I was watching a YouTube thing – and you know how you get all the other YouTube things – “How to live in an antichristian world” – I don’t question that at all.

In October we are going to do a series on the Book of Esther – I am excited about it – it is about how to live in an antichristian/anti-Jewish world.

In reading the Bible – it is clear – there has never been a time in world history that wasn’t antichristian – because Satan is the god of this world.

There has never been an age in the history of the world (except day 1!) (page1) – since page 3 – because Satan is the god of this age.

18 The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. 20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

Sigh. It was just dead. Israel has been judged. I don’t think the disciples got it…

21 Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered." 22 Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God.

Jesus takes a judgment story and turns it into a faith story. Through judgment, faith can grow out.

23 “I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Notice one word – MOUNTAIN – plural or singular… Singular.

We think of mountain-moving faith. Maybe you have heard that. We tend to think it means mountains. See this mountain? The Temple mountain was the center of their religious life – and Jesus is saying – you don’t need this anymore – it can be removed – you can live in an entirely new way – the way of faith – not the way of what stands before you.

I think we can talk about mountain-moving faith – and it is okay to have a practical application that way – think of obstacles in our way – or difficulties we face – health/financial issues – and faith can transform and change things.

Jesus was talking about a specific thing – a nation that was about to be judged. But for us, this has to be nuanced a bit. At times, we can think of it improperly this way – thinking that faith is a power that we possess, control, and use. That is not good.

Rather – faith is trust in a power (God, Jesus/Yahweh) that we do not control, that we do not possess, do not control, and do not use.

This is all in the context – 6 chapters – Jesus is the Messiah King crucified! That is where the source of all answered prayer lies – it is all about Jesus the Messiah King crucified and that He is the One we are praying to.

We want to experience this kind of power in prayer – first – we must pray to the right person – the right God – understanding Who Jesus is.

We go back to the J-bros – James and John – Jesus – we want to ask you to do something for us – to sit on your right and left. Their god was like a human messiah king who granted favors to insiders.

And they approached Him that way.

Then we go to the blind man last week – He saw Jesus as a God who grants mercy to those in need. That is the God we pray to. So it is not ever about how much faith we feel we have – it is about WHO we place our faith in.

God is a merciful God – when He tells Moses who He is – compassion, mercy, grace, love.

When we need mercy – He is there.

That is the key in doing verse 24 – by understanding WHO God is.

Let’s pray…