The Curse of Cultural Christianity | Mark 11:12-25

**Timothy Ateek:** Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing today? All right. Hey, good to see you. I'm so glad you made it. If this is your first time with us on a Sunday morning, let me just say welcome. My hope for you today is you would take either your first or your next step with Jesus Christ. It's an extra special morning because many of you are here for Awaken. If you're here for Awaken, would you let us know?

If you're here for Awaken, let me welcome you to church. Welcome to Watermark Community Church. If you are here for church because you call Watermark home, let me welcome you to Awaken. We're glad we all get to be together today to worship the Lord. If you're here for Awaken, my hope for you is that by joining us for church this Sunday morning, you would be reminded that Jesus did come to save you from sin, but he also came to save you into a family with brothers and sisters in the faith. You were never made to live the Christian life alone.

So, if you live here in Dallas and don't have a church family you belong to, come join us here at Watermark. If you don't live in Dallas, then go home and find a church family to plug into. I'm really excited, because this morning you're going to get to hear from David Platt. If you're not familiar with David, he is the lead pastor of McLean Bible Church in the Washington, D.C., area. He's an author. He's the founder and leader of Radical, a ministry that exists to take Jesus everywhere, to the end of the earth.

I've known David for several years, and here's what I would say about him: he is the real deal. There are people that when I get around them, I find myself unbelievably encouraged by their genuine faith in the Lord. I can honestly say that in the times I get to be around David, I always leave wanting to enjoy greater intimacy with the Lord. I believe you're going to experience that this morning.

I also want you to know that God used David's voice in my life back in 2019 to help open my eyes to the responsibility I have in taking the gospel to the end of the earth, to the nations. I have a part to play in the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations. If Watermark is your church home, you've heard me talk about how we are a sending church, that we feel responsibility for the gospel to go, and we celebrate people who leave Dallas and go to the end of the earth with the gospel. God used David's voice as a shaping voice in my life in helping me understand that.

The last thing I'd say before I bring David up is if you're here and you love the tubs, you know I got those from David Platt. If were here last Sunday and you saw the tubs, I got those from David. So, if you love the tubs, you love David Platt. So, would you do an incredible job of welcoming David Platt to the stage today?

I want us to take a moment and pray, just like we do every Sunday morning. If you're not normally here with us, we really believe that when we open up the Bible, the Word of God, it's like we're opening God's mouth, and we can hear from him. He wants to speak to you today. So, I want to invite you right now to pray for yourself and say, "God, allow me to hear from you today. Speak to my heart." Then, would you pray for the people around you and ask God to speak to them as well? Then, would you pray for David and ask God to speak through him to you?

Lord, I thank you in advance for what you have in store for this time we have together. I want to ask and pray… You are here, God. We know that. We believe that, but I pray that you would make yourself overwhelmingly evident to us. Holy Spirit, I'm asking for your supernatural work in every single person's heart in the room this morning. I pray that you would illuminate our hearts and our minds to the truth.

Would you give us the ability to see Christ clearly so he would be fully glorified in our lives, Lord God? If there's anyone here today who does not know you, does not have saving faith, I pray that right now would be the moment of salvation for them. Would you call us to yourself, and may we respond. I pray that you would strengthen David, that you would fill him full, and that you would minister to us through him. We love you, Lord. We give this time to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

**David Platt:** If you have a Bible, let me invite you to open with me to Mark, chapter 11. While you're turning there, I want to say a few things before we hear from God in his Word. First, I thank God for your pastor, TA. Ever since the first moment I met him years ago, I was immediately struck by what I believe is the humility, meekness, gentleness, boldness, compassion, and courage that can only come from Jesus in him. I trust those of you who are part of this Watermark family know the favor God has given you in being shepherded by him, and I just want to thank God publicly for his friendship to me and his example to me.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Secondly, I want to thank God for the fruit of this church far beyond this church, including in _my_ church family. There are countless couples in metro Washington, D.C., that have experienced restoration from brokenness through re|engage and countless individuals who've experienced complete transformation through re:gen. That's the fruit of God's grace in this place, resounding far beyond this place.

That leads to number three. I thank God for Kylen and this entire Porch team for leading, especially Awaken, but a ministry to young adults here that goes far beyond here. I'm honored to be a part of this conference this weekend. I am so thankful for him and for his team's commitment to pray and to prepare a conference with longing for an outpouring of God's Spirit, not just to go through the motions of a conference. G. Campbell Morgan said, "We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon his people once again." I believe the sails are set this morning.

That leads to the fourth thing I want to share. I want to let you know where the next few minutes are headed, because this sermon is definitely not the main event in this service. The main event is coming a few minutes from now when each one of you is going to have an opportunity to respond to an invitation from God to seek him with all your heart in this room. I am confident that every person within the sound of my voice needs to seek God in this room today.

Some of you need to seek God for salvation in your life. Some of you need to seek God through honest confession of sin. Some of you need to seek God for help, for guidance, for healing, physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually. Some of you need to seek God for others. I'm 100 percent confident that everybody in this gathering desperately needs to cry out in some way to God today, but not all of you will choose to do so.

So, a few moments from now, this room will divide into two groups: participants and observers. One group will seek God passionately, and the other group will observe others passively. These are really the only two possible options. Some of you will choose to seek God passionately by calling out to him in praise, thanksgiving, confession, repentance, intercession, and petition, while others of you will choose to observe. You'll watch people around you seeking God, but you won't seek God yourself, for any number of reasons.

Some of you will be afraid of what others might think of you if you start crying out to God. Some of you will be uncomfortable to leave a box you feel really comfortable in. Some of you will be afraid of what might happen if you truly seek and worship God in your life. Some of you will say to yourself, "Maybe I'll seek God later. I'm just not ready right now." I could go on and on, but for a variety of reasons, some of you will choose to observe rather than participate.

To be clear, please note what is not an option: seeking God casually, because that is impossible. When you truly encounter God, you either bow and worship or turn and run. So, before we go any farther… I know we just prayed, but now that you know where all this is headed, I want to pray not just that we would be able to hear but that we would have courage, grace, and God's help to respond. So, would you bow your heads with me one more time?

O God, help us to feel the weight and the wonder of what we're doing even right now, talking to you and asking you to speak to us. So yes, we pray, please… We need spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear. We won't be able to hear you speak without your Spirit's help, and we won't be able to respond and experience you in all of the ways you want us to without your help.

Only you can produce authentic, passionate, wholehearted, honest, humble, seriously joyful, Spirit-directed, Jesus-centered worship. So, we pray that you would do it by your power, by your Spirit in the next few minutes in ways that can only be explained by your hand and only be attributed to your glory. God, we pray for this. We ask for this in Jesus' name. If you agree with that prayer, would you say, "Amen"?

Okay. Here we go. Mark, chapter 11. I'm going to get us there. In the first gathering this morning, I preached from a different text of Scripture, Isaiah 55. I'm going to put it on the screen because it sets the stage for what we're about to look at in Mark 11. Isaiah 55:6 says, **"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near…"** This is an invitation from God to seek him. This is coming straight from God to us, and he's saying, "I'm near to you."

Mark 11 · chapter mention Isaiah 55:6

This is where I want to take this to a whole other level, if some of you stayed around from the first gathering, because God is not just near to us in a vague sense. For those who know him and are in relationship with him, God is actually in us. First Corinthians 6:19 says, **"**\[Christian,\] **do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?"** That's nearness.

1 Corinthians 6:19

If you're a follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. God, a trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have God the Holy Spirit living inside you. Cue the tubs. That's nearness, living inside your body. That's amazing nearness. You can't get any nearer than that. And not just individually. Listen to 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. **"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."**

1 Corinthians 3:16–17

Now, initially, it looks like this is saying the same thing as 1 Corinthians 6, but it's not, because the _you_ here is plural. These verses are actually talking about the church. The gathering of God's people is where God's Spirit dwells. God's temple is the gathering of God's people. So, both pictures, individually and together. God's temple, the Spirit dwelling in us. Keep that in mind as we now read Mark 11:12 and following.

Mark 11:12

**"On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard it.**

**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.'**

**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. 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.'**

**And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.'"**

The way Mark tells this story is really important. The setting is the week where Jesus is about to die on the cross. That Sunday, he had entered the city, which was packed with people for the Passover feast. He looked around, and then he left. Then the Bible says, "The following day…" So we're on Monday now. Jesus is walking back toward the city. Jesus speaks to this fig tree that doesn't have any fruit, and he curses it.

Then he and his disciples go into Jerusalem. He overturns these tables in the temple. Then he leaves, and on the following day, the next morning, they're walking back toward the city. The disciples see this fig tree, and it's withered. Mark intentionally sandwiches this story of the cleansing of the temple in between this cursing of a fig tree to make a point.

Throughout the Old Testament, God had often compared his people Israel to a fig tree. Places like Jeremiah 8 and Joel 1, where God described how Israel's religion was dead and fruitless because they were unfaithful to him. So now this picture of a fig tree with no fruit in Mark becomes a picture of the religion that's being practiced at the temple in Jerusalem.

Now, on the outside, it looked like everything was thriving. Think about it. They had people, multitudes, crowds of them, coming to celebrate the Passover. They had the Word of God in addition to all kinds of other laws they'd worked hard to keep. They had worship every day in the temple with all kinds of sacrifices.

They had offerings they would bring and give, feasts they would observe. They had an abundance of religious activity, but they were totally missing the point. They had all of the trappings of religion…crowds, God's Word, God's worship, offerings…all kinds of activity, but they were completely missing God.

Today, I want to ask the question…_Is it possible for us to do the same thing?_ Realizing we don't go to a temple today. This building at Watermark is not a temple. We just read 1 Corinthians 3 and 6. We are the temple individually and together. So, is it possible for us to carry on the trappings of religion…crowds of people, the Word of God, the worship of God, songs, offerings, all kinds of religious activity…to do all of that and actually miss God? I think it's not just possible. Particularly across the American South, I think it's probable.

If I were to give a title to this message today, it would be _The Curse of Cultural Christianity_, because we have subtly and, in many ways, unknowingly become accustomed today to a form of Christianity that Jesus desires to completely overthrow. Let me show you what they were missing in the temple that we are prone to miss _as_ the temple. At least four things they were missing.

First, _reverent_, _fearful_, _awe-filled worship_. All of these people were doing all this activity, supposedly in the worship of God, but they were missing reverence, fear, and awe of the God they were worshiping. Think about it. This was holy ground they were on. The temple was the place where the glory of God dwelled among his people. Remember the scene from 2 Chronicles, chapter 7, when Solomon originally dedicated the temple?

2 Chronicles 7 · chapter mention

**"As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, 'For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.'"**

That's what you do in the temple. You bow down with your face on the ground, on the pavement, and you worship and give thanks. This is the place where, 750 years before, Isaiah wrote, **"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!' And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke."**

Now fast-forward centuries. There's none of this awe. Nobody is on their face. Nobody is in holy fear, trembling. Did you notice verse 16 in Mark 11? Jesus would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. People were using the temple as a pass-through. You want to get from one side of the city to the other? It's too long to walk around. Just walk through it. Save some time. So, you have all of these people just casually walking through the temple with no thought of the glory of God, no awe of the majesty of God, no fear of the holiness of God.

You think about what Isaiah said after his vision of God in the temple. **"And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'"** Isaiah was undone in the presence of the Holy King and Lord of heavenly armies.

Ezra, the same way. Ezra 10:1: **"While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly."** Imagine this scene at the temple, people making confession, weeping, casting themselves down before the house of God in contrition over sin.

So, here's the question. Is it possible for us to come into a gathering like this as the temple…? We are the dwelling place of the glory of the same God right now. Is it possible for us to come in here, sing songs, say prayers, and open the Bible without fear, without reverence, and without awe before God? If we really realize we're the dwelling place of the presence of the God who's holy, holy, holy, before whom angels cover their faces and people fall on their faces, wouldn't it make sense at some point that we would be right _here_? Not just at some point. Wouldn't we spend a _lot_ of time right here?

Why is this such a rare posture in our worship? Why would that be an unusual thing? "Oh, there were people on their faces before God. I've never seen it." It's the same God. We've just gotten accustomed to coming and sitting (and I don't just say this because of _this_ building; it's the same in the building where I pastor) in theater-style seats to watch a stage, to observe, like we do in front of a million other screens in the world.

Meanwhile, I wonder if all of heaven is shouting, "Do you realize who you're talking to? Do you realize who you're singing to? Do you realize what you're doing?" We might say, "Well, I mean, I can't see myself getting down on my face. What would people think?" Or maybe, "I don't want them to think I'm super-spiritual."

Why are you even thinking about what other people think? You're in the presence of God. Get your eyes off yourself totally. Isaiah is not like, "Huh. What are people going to think about me?" Or Ezra. "What are people…?" No. He's just weeping before God because he's in awe of God. That's what I mean by reverent, awe-filled, fearful worship of God.

I would add, not just in our gathering, but is this posture regular in your life? Remember, you're the temple. Is this a daily place for you? If not, at least ask the question…_Why not?_ You're the temple of the living God. Why is it not a regular practice to be on your face before him in awe of who he is?

So, they were missing God. It's possible for us to miss God. That's the first thing they were missing, which leads to a second thing: _sorrowful confession of sin_, which is obviously happening here in Ezra 10. They're weeping on their faces. But in Mark 11, you have people making bank on changing money and selling offerings. What does Jesus say? He says, "You have made this place a den of robbers." That's a quote from Jeremiah 7:11.

Jeremiah 7:11

If you go back and read Jeremiah 7… It's called the _temple address_. It's a stinging indictment of false worship. God's people were saying, "Look at all we do at the temple, all our worship." God says, "But you're disobeying me. You're committing all kinds of injustice. You're ignoring injustice. You're pretending like you're worshiping, but you're ignoring me."

Listen to how God describes the den of robbers in Jeremiah 7:24. **"But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward."** Oh, what a picture. Stubbornness, like hardness of heart, that presume to be worshiping while ignoring sin.

Jeremiah 7:24

Is that possible among us? Is it possible to sing songs, listen to prayers and a sermon, do religious activity, and leave here today holding on to the same sin we came in with? Let's be honest. Let's get real. We do it all the time. We come into church gatherings, myself included. We don't stop and confess sin. Meanwhile, God is saying in Jeremiah 7, "You're pretending to worship me, but you're not even listening to me."

When was the last time you wept over your sin? Obviously, that's not something you can manufacture. It's something that happens when you see God for who he is and see yourself and your sin for what it is. That's sorrowful confession of sin. When was the last time you were in a gathering for worship and people were weeping over sin together? I'm guessing, for most of us, we can hardly think of a time where we've been in a gathering like that. Maybe a few times.

Is it because we are less sinners than the people of God before us? Surely not, when 75 percent of Christian men acknowledge viewing pornography occasionally or regularly (three out of four), 40 percent of professing Christian women, and somewhere between 50 to 70 percent of pastors and church leaders. Who are we fooling? We're not fooling God; we're fooling ourselves. We've gotten so used to it that it just seems normal to us to go through the motions.

It's not just pornography; it's sexual immorality of all sorts, any and all sexual thinking, desiring, and acting outside of marriage between a man and a woman. God says, "Flee it," and we flirt with it and indulge in it, on top of all sorts of idolatry of work, idolatry of achievement, idolatry of appearance, idolatry of body image, idolatry of approval, of control, of comfort, of entertainment, of money and possessions.

What will it take for us to confess the idolatry of sports that drives us all over town, telling our kids to get good at playing games more than teaching them about the one true God? Our idolatrous obsession with groups of men playing a game with a pigskin in their hands. What will it take for us to confess the idolatry of ethnicity, preference, and politics that keeps Christians and churches divided and segregated in our culture? What will it take to confess the idolatry of comfort and ease that keeps Christians from doing justice for the poor, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, and the enslaved?

Let's be honest. In a land covered with church buildings and filled with professing Christians, we are tempted every week to indulge in the trappings of religion on Sunday morning, only to dine with idols all throughout the week and never think a second thought about it. Our church attendance quickly becomes a convenient cover for the normalization of idolatry and immorality in our lives. Everybody else seems to be okay with it, so we continue in it.

God, wake us up to the seriousness of sin in our midst and the priority of prayer.

This is the third thing we're missing: _faithful and forgiving prayer_. Every word there matters. They were missing prayer. "My house shall be called a house of prayer," Jesus says. "Did God not say, 'My house is a house of prayer'?" That's a quote from Isaiah 56, which we'll look at more specifically in a minute, but for now, just focus on the reality. This is a place of prayer, of communion with God. They were missing out on what the temple was for, a place to enjoy intimacy with God in prayer.

Then, make the connection with what Mark includes from Jesus. Right after the disciples see this withered fig tree, Jesus says to them, **"Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."**

Pray with faith. Faithful prayer, prayer that is full of faith in the power of God to do the impossible. We are communing with the God of the impossible, so let's ask God to do the impossible, believing he has power to do the impossible. See how easy it is to miss this, to get into a prayer life that's sometimes just rotely asking God or thanking God before the beginning of a meal without really even thinking about who we're talking to.

Or even as we pray, how often can somebody on a stage stand up and say, "Let's pray," and we all bow our heads, somebody starts to talk, and all of a sudden our minds are going in ten thousand different directions. You know what's really sick? As the one who's often on the stage, I can actually be praying, and I can be thinking about what you're thinking about me as I'm praying. How sick is that?

Prayer that's full of faith… "I'm seeing you right now. I'm asking you to work right now in my life, in my family's life, in this person's life who I love, in my city. I'm asking you to do things that could only be explained by your hand, attributed to your glory in my city, among the nations." Faithful prayer.

If we realize who we're talking to, we might be more bold in our asking, in our requests before the omnipotent God of the universe who has power to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think. So, faithful praying and forgiving praying. Jesus says, **"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."**

It's very similar, obviously, to how Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer. Isn't it interesting that Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as he writes this story, includes this _here_ as a picture of true religion? It makes sense, right? You put it all together. When you're broken and weeping over your sin, and you realize that God in his love and mercy forgives you, you don't walk away with a heart of unforgiveness toward others; you walk away with a heart ready to forgive others. There is no room for bitterness or unforgiveness toward others in true religion.

So, are you holding on to any unforgiveness, any bitterness in your heart? As the temple of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ, be free from unforgiveness and bitterness. Isn't this part of God's grace in the gospel? God not only forgives us, but he also frees us from unforgiveness.

All that leads to a fourth and final thing I'll point out that we're missing. I'm sure there's more, but here's the fourth one: _intercession for and mission to all nations_. Picture the scene. Jesus turns over the tables. Everybody is waiting to hear what he's going to say, and he says to them, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."

Now, there are other places in the Old Testament where that's where it ends. Put a period on it. But that's not where he quotes from here. "My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations." That's a quote from Isaiah 56:7. I want to read the whole verse from Isaiah 56 to you, as well as the verse right before it.

Isaiah 56:7

The context of this chapter is God is telling his people how much he loves not just the people of Israel, but he loves all of the peoples of the world, all of the nations. God specifically invites people outside Israel to come to his house, to his temple, to the place where his glory dwells. Listen to this language in Isaiah 56:6.

Isaiah 56:6

**"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—these…"** He's talking about foreigners, people outside the people of Israel. **"…I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."** That was God's intent from the very beginning of the temple. Way back when Solomon was dedicating the temple, back in 1 Kings 8:41, he prayed:

1 Kings 8:41

**"Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name."**

The temple was a place where all of the nations were invited to come and behold and fear the glory of God and enjoy the glory of God. So, the question is why, when Jesus could have quoted from many places in the Old Testament that talk about a house of prayer… Why when he overturned these tables did he choose Isaiah 56 about all nations?

Here's the answer. The temple, this massive structure in the middle of Jerusalem, this majestic place where the glory of God dwells among his people… In the innermost part of the temple, you had the Holy of Holies. That's a place where only the high priest could enter, and he could enter it only rarely at great risk to his life. He'd have bells on his garments and a rope tied around his ankle so that people outside could hear him moving around in there. If the bell stopped, they would know he had been struck down so they could pull him out. That was the Holy of Holies.

Outside that, you had the court of priests where only the priests could come and do their work of offering sacrifices for the people's sin. So, a few more people could be in _that_ area. Then you had the court of Jewish men where Jewish men would gather together for worship. So, more people in _that_ area. Then you had the court of Jewish women where Jewish women could come for worship. Even more people _there_.

So, this progression of more and more people all the way out to the outer court, which was called the _Court of the Gentiles_ or the _Court of the Nations_, non-Jewish nations. This was the place where anyone from any nation could come and behold the glory of God. So, let me ask you a question. These money changers, people selling offerings… Where in the temple do you think they set up to do their business? The Holy of Holies? No. Court of priests? No. Court of Jewish men or Jewish women? No. They set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles.

Get the picture. The people of God in their worship, while they were supposedly worshiping, were totally disregarding the nations, essentially saying, "We're going to worship in ways that are comfortable for us while we let the nations go to hell." So, what about us? Well, just look at the data. In case this map is not familiar to you, green areas represent areas that have most access to the gospel in the world. Obviously, it doesn't mean everybody is a Christian there, but there are churches and Christians who can spread the gospel in those places.

Yellow areas are less reached by the gospel, but still some. Red areas… It doesn't mean there are no Christians or no churches. There are certainly many Christians in the red, but relative to the larger population, a very small number of Christians, which means if you live in the red, the likelihood is you'll be born and live and die, and no one will ever tell you the good news, the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done for your salvation. You'll never hear the gospel.

In these red areas, there are approximately 3.2 billion people. So, with three billion people, what are we doing to get the gospel to them? There are different metrics we could look at. Let's just look at one that Jesus told us is a window into our hearts. **"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."**

Christians in the green, specifically here… We spend the majority of money on ourselves. We give some money to churches. Most of the money in churches goes to buildings and programs designed for us. A small percentage of that money then goes to what we call _missions_. If you do the research, what you'll find is, as churches in the green, of the money we give to missions, to other places in the world, 97 to 99 percent of it actually goes to other green places and yellow places in the world, and 1 to 3 percent goes to the red.

One research study showed that for every \$100,000 an American Christian makes, we give \$1.83 to the spread of the gospel in the red, about the cost of a water bottle at the park. Let's open our eyes. We've created a whole culture of Christianity that is comfortable for us while we let the nations go to hell. Meanwhile, Jesus is shouting, "I want all the nations to enjoy my glory, all of them to enjoy my Father."

Don't miss the connection between being the temple individually and as the church. Remember, we're the temple, the place where the Holy Spirit of God dwells. So now it's not nations need to come to a temple; it's now temples go to the nations. You have the Holy Spirit of God in every one of you.

We have three billion people who have never heard it, including all kinds of people groups represented in Dallas, Texas, even unreached people groups…the Tamil, Gujaratis…that God has brought from the red. Even when we think about people coming from the red, we've created a whole culture that says, "No. We want to protect _our_ nation instead of making disciples of all the nations."

We have so lost sight of the bigger dream here. The bigger dream is the glory of our God known all over the world, and we're temples filled with his Spirit, filled with his glory, to give our lives making that glory known. This is Christianity. This is what God is calling us to, to live for this, to pray together, intercession for the nations, calling out together. When are we getting together to pray for thousands of people groups and billions of people who have little to no knowledge of the gospel?

Jesus has said, "Pray for the harvest, for the Lord to send out workers into the harvest field," and then say, "God, here am I. Send me. Send me into this city, however you want. Send me to the nations, wherever you want. I'm living for the spread of your glory among the nations. This is what I'm made for as a temple of your Holy Spirit."

So, here's the deal. A text like this can be hard in the sense that we're not used to seeing Jesus with fire in his eyes, turning over things, but this is where I want to land this and lead us into a response. As you see his eyes, see a fire of love. Why is he doing this? It's because he loves God's people, he loves the nations, and he knows where life is found.

So, watch this. Jesus, after this early in that week, goes to a cross later in that week. He goes to a cross…why? To take the payment for our sin upon himself…all of our irreverence, all of our sin and evil and wickedness, all of our turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to needs around us. He goes to the cross out of love for us to pay the price for us, for our sin, so that you and I could experience life in communion with God.

Watch this. Mark 15:37: **"And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last."** He just died on the cross for our sins. What happened as a result? **"And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."** Jesus died in love for us to open the door for you and me to experience communion with God himself, to experience life with God.

The good news is the story doesn't end there, because three days later, he walked out of that grave. A few days after that, he gave his disciples a mission. "Go, temples. Make my glory known to the ends of the earth." Then he took a flight up to heaven where he sat down at the right hand of the Father. And what did he do when he got there? He sent down his Holy Spirit to live in every single one of us.

Right now…just let it soak in…you're sitting there, the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you. If you really think about it, it'll knock you out of your seat. He's in you. He's with you. Why? Because he loves you so much. He's closer to you than anyone else. He has created you for life in him, so don't settle. Stop settling for a nice, comfortable Christian spin on the American dream. You're made for more. Stop settling for casual, cultural Christianity. You're made for more. You're made for life in fearful, awe-filled, reverent worship of God in continual confession and repentance of sin.

You're made for faithful praying, forgiving praying, and you are made for intercession for and mission to the world for his glory until the day comes when we will be the temple with him in heaven, with every nation, tribe, and tongue gathered around, singing and enjoying him forever and ever and ever. Live for that dream. Live for that dream, worship day in and day out and week in and week out for that dream, and be finished and done with cultural Christianity.

So, with that invitation before us, I just want to invite you to respond. Seek the Lord. He's near. How near? He's in you if you're a Christian. So, I just want to invite you. I do not know what this needs to look like in your life over the next few minutes. These guys are going to be leading in song, and this room is going to be a place where… My prayer, our prayer, has been that this would be a place of worship, of true worship, seeking God.

Remember? Participants and observers. Participants passionately seeking God through reverent, fearful, awe-filled worship; through sorrowful confession of sin. What sin do you need to confess? Through faithful, forgiving prayer. Maybe, for some of you, the Holy Spirit is leading you to press in and pray and intercede. Call out for his help in your life in _this_ way or _that_ way. This is what we do as the temple.

And intercession for mission to all of the nations. Some of us should get on our faces and plead for the hallowing of God's name in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Let's stop just looking at news headlines, and let's get on our faces and intercede for the people of Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Qatar, Yemen, and on and on.

I want to encourage you to do this. There are so many different ways you can do this. They're going to start singing. You can join in singing, of course, but maybe you just need to pray. Many of us, I'm thinking, probably just need to pray. You can do that on your own. You can do that with somebody else. Get a group of people around you. Just intercede. Ask somebody to pray for you. You can do it sitting, standing, kneeling, lying prostrate, lifting your hands…all of these biblical postures in worship.

Get your eyes off self. What's most appropriate based on what God is doing in your heart right now? Obviously, we are in seats that sometimes make some of those things hard, so move out to the aisles. Come down to the front or somewhere else. I don't even know where else you could go, but wherever. I think there will be some people to my right and your left. We'll be here. We would love to pray with you as well. Let me pray.

God, oh, what an awesome thought that you're with us right now, you, God, in our midst. I just pray you would help us, as we prayed earlier, to respond however you're leading us to. I pray over anybody who doesn't have true relationship with you, Jesus, maybe many who have been caught in cultural Christianity, who have gone through the motions but, truth be told, don't have intimate relationship with you. I pray that this would be the day that changes forever.

We just give this time to you. Holy Spirit of God, lead us as your temple. You're welcome here. Lead us and guide us to worship you in ways that are pleasing to you and infinitely good for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.