Fruitless Religion

My name's Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good,

they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.

We are continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark, and we've come to this point.

We started last Sunday or two Sundays ago with the triumphal entry.

Jesus makes His way on a Sunday into Jerusalem, and He has no longer keeping the secret about His identity.

In fact, His conflict with the religious establishment is coming to a head.

We saw that last time with the fact that He was being praised as the King coming into Jerusalem,

and He'll continue that conflict this week with the famous passage of Him clearing the temple

as He has this confrontation with the religious establishment.

We're not only going to see that famous passage, though, we're also going to look at the strange passage,

often misunderstood part about the fig tree that Jesus curses.

And we're going to understand Jesus is using that as an illustration to deal with religion that has an outer ritual

but no inner substance, religion that exploits people rather than healing them.

That's the flashpoint of Jesus' confrontation with the rulers of the temple.

And so it's with that, I invite you to turn with me in the Gospel of Mark.

We're in chapter 11, starting with verse 12.

You can turn with me in your Bible.

You can turn in your phone.

You can turn in your worship guide.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.

In Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5, tells us that every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30:5

He's a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

And so that's why we read now, starting at verse 12.

Verse 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.

And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

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.

Verse 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.

And when evening came, they went out of the city.

I invite you to join me in prayer as we come to this portion of God's Word.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You again for giving us Your Word, for speaking to us,

for not leaving us alone to figure out things by ourselves.

And we ask that You would do that this morning.

You'd show us Jesus and His passion, His heart, His zeal,

for us to have access and intimacy with God,

that You would grow our love and affection and our reverence and our awe for Him.

We ask all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

We continue the story of Holy Week this morning with a little bit of a strange incident

with Jesus encountering this fig tree that He seems so frustrated with.

And it's actually not just the tree that we need to focus on,

but in fact, the whole situation.

All the little details in this story matter for us.

And so, track closely with me as we go.

Remember here that Jesus is commuting into Jerusalem from Bethany.

Bethany is this suburb that's to the east.

And so, they're traveling in every day along with all these other pilgrims.

And it turns out as He's coming in here on Monday, verse 12,

Jesus must not have eaten breakfast.

So, Bethany was not apparently a bed and breakfast,

but instead Jesus encounters this fig tree.

Verse 13, he's hungry and he sees this chance for him to be able to eat.

It's important for us to note that he sees this tree in the distance.

It looks like this tree is exactly what he needs.

It looks like this tree is going to offer Jesus what it desires.

It is going to fill him up where he's empty.

It's going to make him full where he's hungry.

Why?

Same verse, because Jesus sees that it is in leaf.

In other words, everything looks great and attractive from a distance.

And yet, Jesus is in for a great disappointment.

Again, verse 13,

He found nothing but leaves.

And the point is this, that the tree is involved in false advertising.

The tree is offering from a distance what it cannot deliver.

We might say that the tree is all sizzle, no steak.

The tree is all foam, no beer.

The tree is all hat, no cattle.

The tree is all leaves, no figs.

The tree offers one thing, but the reality is very, very different.

Now, some people are frustrated with verse 13 because it tells us it was not the season for figs.

And so they believe that Jesus here with this tree is somehow being stupid or unfair.

Yes, Jesus knows it's not the season for figs.

Jesus is not an idiot.

That is not, in fact, the point.

Jesus is acting out an illustration for his disciples in the same way that an Old Testament prophet would act something out

before God's people to help it cut home to their hearts.

Jesus is trying to tell them the temple looks good, verse 13, from a distance.

It looks good if you're far enough away.

If you get up close, it cannot, it will not feed you.

And in fact, that's the point.

Verse 14, his disciples heard it.

The point of all of this is that he can demonstrate and teach his disciples what is actually going on with the temple.

And so what's been foreshadowed with this first episode now happens as he comes to the temple in verses 12 through 19.

Jesus is prepping his disciples for the same point.

The temple is involved in false advertising.

The temple offers something that it cannot deliver.

If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know fundamentally the temple is about God's presence with his people.

As Israel was traveling in the desert, they had the tabernacle, the precursor to the temple.

And the tabernacle was in the center of God's people, and they would be camped all around it

to make this point clearly for them that God's presence was in the very center of their community.

The temple continues that same point as the tabernacle, but instead, this time, it is not temporary, but permanent.

It's not a tent that can be moved, but a building that cannot.

And so this is the place where they're supposed to meet with God and have their spiritual needs filled.

This is the place for forgiveness and healing and meaning and belonging and significance.

This is the place that God's people are coming to be with him.

This is the place where their spiritual needs are supposed to be met.

And yet Jesus here encounters something very different in verse 15.

He's already done his recon, by the way.

You may remember from last time, verse 11, the very end of Sunday, Jesus went to take a look around the temple.

So when he comes to this fig tree, he already knows what he's setting up.

He's already seen these vendors.

He already knows the temple courts are being abused.

And so it's not a surprise here when he comes, verse 15, and finds that there are those who are selling and buying.

And he drives them out.

He overturns the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

Now, many of these things that are going on in the temple are actually necessary in some way.

Jesus has traveled to Jerusalem over the last few passages, much as Jews would do from around the world.

This was the high holy day of Passover.

And so it's actually a convenience that they're offering here.

It would be great as someone coming to Jerusalem to know that you don't have to bring your pigeon with you.

You can bring your money.

You can buy it on the way.

It's great to be able to exchange money because the temple tax would have to be paid with a Tyrian coin, which is different than Roman money.

And so what they're offering here is actually in some ways necessary and important for God's people as they travel to Jerusalem.

The problem is not what they're doing.

The problem is the location.

They have camped out the outer portion of the temple, which had one purpose.

This outer portion was the only place that Gentiles, that non-Jews, could come to experience God's presence.

If they were a Gentile, they could not proceed into the inner portions of the temple.

And so this was a precious and sacred space for them, for it to be filled up with these folks who are selling and changing money.

For those who are using it as a furrow fair is to say, we don't care about the Gentiles.

We're not actually concerned with whether people can have access and fellowship and communion with God.

That is not something we are worried about.

And so they've lost the meaning, the importance of the entire event.

Verse 16, there's something even worse going on.

It's not just that these folks are selling in the space where people are supposed to access God, but they're actually using it as a traffic point.

You know, sometimes when you enter a neighborhood, there'll be a sign telling you there is no outlet.

You can't get anywhere from here.

And yet you'll see drivers often trying to find a shortcut.

Someone comes to a stoplight next to a gas station, and they'll pull into the gas station and pull around so they can make a right turn, skipping the traffic light.

That's the same thing that's going on here.

People are using this outer court, this place that's sacred for Gentiles to access God's presence and experience communion with him as a shortcut for their traffic.

As a way to get from point A to point B much faster.

And so that's why Jesus comes down so hard.

That's why he's flipping over tables and driving people out.

Because verse 17, he gets to the heart of the matter.

Is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?

Those who are running the temple have missed two important fundamental things.

First of all, they've missed the very purpose of the temple.

They've missed the fact that it is there for relationship with God.

They've missed the fact that it's there for God's people to experience God's presence.

They've missed the point that it is for God's people to worship him and hear from him.

And so they have all the show, they have all the trappings and none of the substance.

But they've missed something else as well.

They haven't just missed its purpose, they've missed God's heart.

A house of prayer for all nations.

They've missed what we've been told throughout the entire Old Testament,

which is that the promise that was made to the Jews is ultimately meant for all the nations.

They don't care about the Gentiles.

They don't care about non-Jews having intimacy with God.

And so ultimately they end up serving greed rather than God.

They like the appearance.

They don't care about the substance.

They are fascinated by the outside.

They are uninterested in the heart.

And so we can understand Jesus' anger here.

What could be worse than to treat God's presence,

his love for his people, as nothing more than a commodity?

What could be worse than treating access to God, fellowship with God,

as a sporting event?

They are vendors here to make a buck rather than those who care about God's people.

Now we still have a little bit more to unpack with this fig tree.

Why is it so important?

Why is Jesus so offended?

Why is he so frustrated by the fact that this tree has no fruit to offer him?

It's very simple.

It's because Jesus is hungry.

Jesus is making a point here.

The fig tree refuses to meet Jesus' physical needs, his physical hunger.

But how much worse is it that the temple refuses to meet God's people's spiritual needs,

their spiritual hunger?

In other words, Jesus is filled with anger because the temple has left his people to starve.

This is the place where they have communion with God, and it is blocked by vendors.

The temple is supposed to be a place where people are restored and not exploited.

It's supposed to be a place of reconciliation and healing and forgiveness.

And here they're given a counterfeit.

God's people are robbed.

They take not just their money, but their opportunity for relationship with God.

Remember that the Passover is the celebration of God's great deliverance of his people from Egypt.

It was him bringing them out of slavery and giving them freedom.

It was their first step on the way to the promised land.

And so that's why pilgrims are coming from all over to be at Jerusalem for this celebration.

And so we understand how bad our things are when this celebration of God's deliverance has become simply an economic event.

It's one thing to withhold figs from a hungry person.

It's quite another thing to withhold the very presence of God.

Now, we don't have to look far in our own culture to find holidays that can become about profit rather than healing.

So think with me for a minute about Valentine's Day.

By the way, I'm a big fan of Valentine's Day.

I have nothing against it.

It's this holiday that's meant to be about expressing love and vulnerability and intimacy and self-sacrifice.

And it can become just another economic extravaganza.

It can become just another hallmark holiday meant to build the bottom line.

And so you can imagine Jesus coming home, right?

Maybe imagine him as a spouse coming to this dead and lifeless marriage.

And the home is filled with roses.

It's full of wonderful, expensive roses.

And Jesus comes in and throws them all in the trash.

And he says, look, I don't want your roses.

I want your heart.

This can't make up for what's lacking in this relationship.

In fact, it's a slap in the face that you think you can buy your way out of the troubles of this marriage.

And that's what's going on in this passage.

You won't give what's truly important.

You won't give your time and energy and investment.

All you're willing to give is your money.

You give many flowers, but your heart is somewhere else.

We could say, all roses know love.

That is why Jesus is so frustrated in this passage.

That is why he set the stage with the illustration of the fig tree to point out how empty and fruitless and exploitative and damaging the system has become.

And so as we understand all of those things, as we get a sense of Jesus' frustration and his anger, there's two things simply that I want us to take from this passage.

And the first is this, that it is possible to completely miss the point.

It is possible to engage in ritual with no heart and not to even realize it.

This is the father who is proud of the Bible studies he attends and the doctrine he knows.

But he has no compassion or grace towards his spouse or children.

Loves the ritual, misses the heart.

It's the congregant who is proud of her service in the church and at the same time lacks the fruit of the spirit.

She's busy, but there's no love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, or self-control.

Loves the appearance, misses the heart.

It's the church that's proud of its ministries and its activities.

And it burns through people rather than taking part in their healing.

Loves the appearance, misses the heart.

It's the leader who uses the manipulative tactics of the world and justifies it because he's doing God's work.

Loves the appearance, misses the heart.

And so the question for us in all of that is this, in all of the busyness,

in all of the religious activity that we take part in,

are we actually bringing others to know God?

Or are we simply getting in the way?

In the busyness and activity of religion, are we actually showing fruit?

Are we growing in love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control?

Or are we all hat and no cattle?

All leaves, no figs.

Jesus here is giving us a warning and a reminder

that it is possible, it is easy to have fruitless religion.

It is easy and possible to be full of activity

and also to simply follow the desires of our own hearts.

Fruitless religion is a real and present danger.

Now I told you there were two things

that I want us to take from our passage.

That is the first.

The second is this.

None of what I have said this morning

matters

unless we see

Jesus.

What is Jesus' heart

and his passion here?

What is it that gets Jesus fired up?

What is it that drives him

to turn over tables

and get people out?

Jesus' passion here

is that you

would access

his presence.

Jesus' anger

is because

his people

are being starved.

Jesus' action here

is because

God's people

are hungry

for God's presence

and his healing

and that there are men

who are getting

in the way.

And so more than anything else

we have to see

Jesus' love

here for these people.

His love

for the Gentiles.

His love

for those

who are being blocked

from God.

His love

for you.

Jesus is passionate

that his people

would experience

the healing

and forgiveness

and reconciliation

the purpose

and the significance

that comes

and only comes

from his presence.

He is angry

on behalf

of someone else.

He is angry

on behalf

of his people.

He's angry

on behalf

of you.

Jesus'

passion

is that

his house

would be a house

of prayer

for all

nations.

What makes

Jesus upset?

Jesus is upset

when you

are blocked

from him.

Jesus is upset

when rote

and ritual

religion

get in the way

of you

experiencing

the beauty

and the glory

of knowing

his love

and his forgiveness

for you.

He is upset

when people

miss out

on the glory

of worshiping

him,

singing to him

and hearing

from him

words of life.

that is

what gets

Jesus

going.

He's upset

when you're

kept

from forgiveness

and healing

and meaning

and wisdom

and belonging.

And so

the same

question

that we've

been looking

at for a few

weeks

comes to us.

Hast thou

seen him,

heard him,

known him?

is not

thine

a captured

heart?

Captivated

by his

beauty

worthy

tribute

haste

to bring,

let his

peerless

worth

constrain

you,

crown him

now

unrivaled

king.

Yes,

be careful

about fruitless

religion.

Yes,

be careful

about blocking

people from

God's presence.

Yes,

watch out

for the

way in

which religion

becomes

about the

appearance

rather than

the substance

and,

most of

all,

more than

anything else,

see Jesus'

heart.

Jesus has

come to

Jerusalem

so that

he can

die.

Jesus has

come to

Jerusalem

so that

any barrier

between people

and him

would be

broken down.

Jesus has

come so

the temple

and its

sacrificial

system

would not

be needed

anymore.

Jesus has

come so

that we

every year

are not

making a

pilgrimage

to Jerusalem

to be

in his

presence,

but we

can be

in his

presence

now fully

and finally

because of

the work

of Jesus

Christ.

Jesus

came so

that his

people

could be

in his

presence.

I can

tell you

all sorts

of things

about the

abuse of

religious

systems

and none

of it

matters if

we don't

see this

Jesus

and grow

in our

love

for him.

Captivated

by his

beauty.

See the

beauty of

Jesus in

his love.

See the

beauty of

Jesus in

his anger.

There are

stories that

have been

told of

folks who

have

experienced

horrific

things

and there's

many things

that are

upsetting

about that,

many things

that are

haunting and

traumatic.

One of the

things that

haunts people

in those

situations is

this.

No one

was angry

for me.

No one

was upset

for me.

My parents

or my spouse

or my friends

didn't fight

for me

in that.

More than

anything else

in this

passage, I

want you to

see this.

Jesus angry

for you.

Jesus angry

for anything

that blocks

you from

his presence.

Jesus angry

for those

who keep

you from

him.

that is

his beauty

and his

glory.

Now Jesus

gives a

curse here

in verse

14.

It's a

curse that's

for the

tree.

Remember I

told you all

the details

matter and

there's a

parallel for

the temple

as well.

The temple

in a sense

is a lame

duck at

this point.

It is

almost

obsolete

because the

temple is

doing a

performing a

function that

will no

longer be

needed after

Jesus'

death.

When we

get to

Mark

Mark 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14

and Jesus

dies, one

of the things

we're going

to see is

that the

inner curtain

within the

temple that

protects people

from the

very greatest

and intense

point of

God's presence

is going to

be ripped

from top

to bottom

in half

because there

is no

longer a

need for

the temple

to mediate

God's presence

with his

people because

Jesus has

come to be

Emmanuel,

God with

us.

Jesus is

God's

presence,

not the

temple.

Jesus is

going to

make it

no longer

necessary.

What he

does in

part here

in clearing

out this

narthex for

God's people

to access

him, he's

going to

do in

full in

the cross

because when

he's on

the cross

he is going

to die

the death

that we

deserve

even though

he lived

the life

that we

should have.

He's going

to take

the punishment

we deserve

on him

so that

we can

have

access

to

God.

Not as

pilgrims

making our

way to

Jerusalem

but as

those who

can pray

anytime,

anywhere.

Jesus is

so passionate

that you

have fellowship

with him,

that you

have access

to him

that he

dies.

That is

his ultimate

clearing of

the temple.

In John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

Jesus meets

a Samaritan

woman.

There's lots

of things

that happen

there and

they talk

about but

one of the

things they

talk about

is this,

she asks

him to

resolve this

debate for

her about

where the

appropriate

place of

worship is.

Are we

supposed to

worship in

Jerusalem or

are we

supposed to

worship here

in Samaria?

And Jesus

says,

look,

that's not

going to be

even an

issue soon.

The time

is coming

when you're

not going to

worship here

or there,

you're going

to worship

in spirit

and in

truth.

Meaning

that this

system is

coming to

the end,

the temple

is obsolete

because of

me and

my work,

you will

come to

God in

my name

wherever

and whenever

you need

to.

Mark

Mark 11:17

chapter 11

verse 17

my house

shall be

called a

house of

prayer for

all the

nations.

And now

we look not

to the

temple but

to Jesus

himself who

is God's

presence.

That's why

we pray

in Jesus

name.

And so

let's do

that now.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we