Month: March 2024

His Why Is Joy

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(Hebrews 12:1-3)

I think it’s already hit the pinnacle of popularity, but you are probably familiar with the encouragements on the part of businesses, organizations, and even individuals to really focus on your “why?”. Authors and TED talk speakers like Simon Sinek made it popular once again for organizations and businesses to emphasize their “why.” When the emphasis is on the “why,” people are attracted to working for you and with you. When they are clear on the “why” then the “what” and the “how” come much more naturally. 

Churches do the same thing. It’s a popular notion among Christians that belong to a local congregation that having membership simply means that you show up sometimes on Sunday morning. But the “why” is actually much more than that. It’s about joining together and carrying out the mission and ministry that Jesus has given us to do together. Where I serve at Shepherd of the Hills, our why is “Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found. 

Individuals may have a “why,” too. Mark Twain is credited with saying that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figured out why. My personal why is quite simple: to bring people closer to Jesus. Whether you already know him by faith or not, my why is the same. My fulfillment, my satisfaction, my joy in life is when God can use me to bring wherever you are closer to Jesus. 

Speaking of Jesus, he had a “why,” too. Understanding it is key to grasping what he did during Holy Week. Why would he do what he did? What drove him? What fueled him to knowingly take on all the suffering and be willing to be crucified?

It’s one thing for the criminals crucified with him – they had no choice! They committed a crime. There were consequences. They didn’t have the option of saying, “That’s all right. I’ll skip the cross, thank you.”

But Jesus did not have to endure it, so what drove him? Here are the first three verses from Hebrews, chapter 12. As you read through them, see if you can capture Jesus’ “why.” 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Did you catch it? Was his why clear?

“For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy set before him! That was Jesus’ why! And you know what I love about this section is that the writer to the Hebrews does not expand on what that joy was. He doesn’t say, “By the way, here’s the joy that Jesus was focused on: …” And so we are kind of left on our own. We’re on our own knowing Jesus’ words and actions recorded for us in Scripture and God’s gracious promises, trying to wrap our hearts and our minds around exactly what that joy was.

There are so many possible answers, aren’t there? And maybe it’s not just one or the other, but collectively all of them. The joy that would come from knowing he was going to finally crush Satan’s head, that he was going to win the victory.

The joy that would come from knowing that he set sinners free from the condemnation of sin.

The joy that would come from knowing that he made salvation possible so that literally no one else would have to experience the hell that he did on Good Friday.

The joy of being able to see his people forgive one another.

The joy of returning to his rightful place in heaven.

The joy of being with his Father once again and having perfectly fulfilled his Father’s will.

The joy of being there, not just with his Father, but with you, too. To know that because of what he would endure on the cross that he would not spend eternity alone in heaven but would be with all of those who by God’s grace through faith cling to him as their Savior. We cannot begin to imagine the agony, the pain of being separated from and abandoned by the Father as Jesus was, and yet imagine how great that joy must be if the level of joy exceeded that level of suffering!

Jesus had his why and you are included in it. And so Jesus naturally becomes our why, too. Now we turn that around as the writer to the Hebrews did. The joy that Jesus won for us is also the joy that drives us to follow in his footsteps.

I captured the writer’s encouragements as I saw them in these verses with three simple words: Release, Refocus, and Reflect.

Release is really what he had in mind when he said “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Release. Let go of it. Imagine running a race if you were the only one on the track who still had his warmups on. Not only would everyone look at you foolishly, but you’d lose the race! Take it off. You don’t want that extra material dragging you, and neither would you have your watch or your headphones or a backpack or anything else. You take that stuff off so that you can run more effectively.

Jesus encourages us to do the same as we follow him. Release those things, not just the stuff that tangles us in sin – clearly that as well – but notice he says even the things that hinder us, and not just some things, not just a few things that are easy to release or let go, but everything.

I think there are a lot of us within Christianity who are pretty solid, pretty content to say, “I can part with or give up 50%, 75%, or 90%, but what is that remainder for you that you can’t let go of? That may not even be sinful. It may be a good thing, and yet it’s hindering you from a closer walk with Jesus.

Is it the validation that you’re seeking from somebody else? Is it a toxic relationship that needs to be done in your life? Is it some goal that you have been pursuing for far too long that is distracting you from the one thing needful?

And my encouragement for you, especially this Holy Week, is to reflect personally on that and ask, “What is it that I, for maybe as long as I have been a Christian, have been hanging on to that I need to release and let go because it is hindering me from a deeper walk with Jesus and a stronger faith?

Release that.

And then refocus.

That’s what the writer to the Hebrews is saying when he encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” If you’re running that race and you take off your warm-up gear or maybe your backpack and all of your stuff with it, that’s great, but if you are still looking back at it while running then it is distracting you and you need to refocus. And the same is true if you were to turn and look back at all of the other competitors that you are racing against.

We do that too in Christianity, don’t we? We think that the competition is really gauging myself against other Christians. How do I match up? How do I compare to this Christian or that Christian?

But that’s not the game. That’s not the race that we’re running. Jesus has not said anywhere, “Make sure that you’re just a step ahead of another Christian.” We’ll always find somebody behind us. We’ll also, always see people ahead of us. Ahead of us is where Jesus wants us to look, but not at the other competitors; rather, at our Savior, the one who has already crossed the finish line for us, the one who has already won the victory for us. It’s already guaranteed. And that’s why you can exert all of your strength in the race. That’s why you can be fully focused on crossing that finish line. Imagine your Savior Jesus there waiting for you, the loudest one cheering for you with open arms, ready to greet you, to embrace you when you spill across that finish line.

Refocus. Fix your eyes on him as often as you need to.

The final one might be the one that we struggle with the most: reflect.

The writer to the Hebrews said it this way, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Consider doesn’t just mean, “Hey, you know this information, right?” Consider means chew on it. Reflect on it. Meditate on everything that your Jesus has done for you.

That’s what we were doing earlier when we were reflecting on the joy that was driving Jesus to endure what he did. To reflect is to stop and ponder and think, how much must my Savior, love me to endure what he did for me?

We are so busy and so preoccupied running from one thing to the next that we rarely pause, not just to read the Bible, but to reflect on what it means for us. To consider who it reveals Jesus to be for us and the difference that makes in our lives.

Reflect, and you will find more inspiration and more gospel – good news – motivation to keep running your race faithfully.

Jesus, our why, prompts us to do these three things: release, refocus, reflect. It’s an ongoing and repeated pattern. And it’s one that we carry out because we know the finish line has already been crossed by our Savior. But we don’t have to wait till we get home to heaven to experience the taste of the joys that he won for us. Those joys can be ours right now because Jesus allowed that joy to be his “why” and drive him to do all that he did this week for us.

Fifty Years of Seeing Jesus

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(John 12:20-33)

I recently attended our School’s 50th Anniversary Gala. It was a fantastic evening. Getting to dress up for a nice evening out is just plain fun to do. Doing it surrounded by those I get to do life together with in my church/school family made it extra special.

Yet, as enjoyable as the auction was, as fun as it is to win an item you bid on, or enjoy cocktails and a nice meal, or music and dancing, or an occasional laugh here and there, what made the night amazing was something else altogether. It left me in awe of the number of lives past, present, and future, who have been and who will continue to be so strongly impacted by our school. So this post is a celebration of our school. More accurately, it’s a celebration of the Jesus who is the center of our school. 

There are surely other verses in Scripture that summarize why the church exists, but we words from John 12 might capture it as simply and succinctly as any others: “we would like to see Jesus” (v.21). In the 1960’s, members of Reformation Lutheran, our sister congregation in Clairemont, saw a growing community in La Mesa that needed to see Jesus, so they established Shepherd of the Hills in 1965. About a decade after that in 1974, a school was established in what was essentially an effort to help more people see Jesus. That school has been doing just that for fifty years. We celebrated with a formal Gala, exceeding our goal of $40,000 to enable us to continue helping people see Jesus for future generations as we care for and improve what God has blessed us with for that purpose.

Five decades is no small thing! Most small businesses that start up fail within the first year or so! Being around for fifty years also means that we have outlasted the US space program, the Choco Taco, the Sony Walkman, and Blockbuster Video, to name a few. Sadly, during that same time, many congregations within our church body that operated schools have had to close their doors. By God’s grace, not only are we still operating, but in recent years we’re doing so at higher enrollment levels than we’ve seen in the past fifty years! That has allowed for more and more students to continue to get to see Jesus here. And what does that mean?

Jesus explained to Philip and Andrew what people looking for him would see. He used an agricultural picture to point to his death and why it was necessary. “Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (v.23-24). Some of you know what it’s like to have a fruit true that is so productive that it grows more fruit than you can even give away each season. It’s easy to forget how that tree started out. Just like every other plant, it was at one time just a seed. And if that seed had never been planted, it would never have become the tree that now produces such an abundance of fruit. 

Jesus’ death was necessary. It had to happen to bear a much more valuable kind of fruit. He had to die and be buried so that through his saving work others would be saved and blessed. Still today God is producing much fruit through that seed, through Jesus. That fruit continues to be produced where Christians gather around the Word of God and invite others to do so, so that through the Word others are brought to faith. This happens through the ministries that congregations carry out, including those with a school like ours. 

And those blessings come to those who embrace what Jesus said next. “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (v.25-26). But losing one’s life and following Jesus are not easy! Not in a world that encourages the exact opposite: love this life here and now and don’t bother with anything else. So we look for support and encouragement to help us along the way. And for fifty years, students and families have found that support and encouragement in our school to keep focused on the real target: eternal life. 

That help is needed. It is needed because we look around at the world today and we are troubled. Although Jesus himself asserted that wars and rumors of war would continue until his return, it still seems shocking that we see the astounding level of violence in the world between nations and among civilized societies. People lack both self-respect and respect for others. People brazenly walk in and out of stores grabbing whatever they like and stealing it in broad daylight. Attorneys promote divorce on billboards. We’ve contributed billions and billions of dollars to the pornography industry and wonder why sex trafficking is such an issue. We’re religiously passionate about politics while indifferent toward religion. And we aren’t only troubled because the world is this way, but also because we’re a part of the problem. We contribute to the very things that trouble us about the world. Our sin factors right into all the trouble we see, and so we are troubled all the more by our own role in it!

Does it help to know that you have a Savior who can relate to feeling troubled? “Now my heart is troubled…” (v.27). Jesus knows how you feel! Admittedly, the intensity of trouble/turmoil facing Jesus was on a level we’ll never come close to experiencing, but that makes us both more appreciative of him and connected to him. He has experienced any level of trouble we’ve faced – and then some! And because he faced the impending trouble of death by crucifixion and desertion by his Father, we’ll never have to process that crushing level of anxiety! Heart wrenching as it was, he knew he had to face it. “No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (v.27). 

What compels someone to face that trouble and follow through with it? His love for and commitment to you. “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (v.31-32). Jesus was intent on destroying the enemy who pesters and plagues us with his hellish desires. Through the cross, he not only dealt a devastating blow to the devil, but also built the bridge necessary for all of mankind to have access God. Two birds with one stone! By the cross, Christ both destroyed and delivered!

How unselfish of our Savior! We live in a world filled with so many clawing and clamoring to get known, to use this platform or that to put themselves out there and secure a following. We’re used to it. We get friend or follow requests from people we don’t know because they’re trying to get known. And why? For themselves. They may or may not have a talent or skill that enables them to actually produce something good, worthwhile, or valuable to others, but it doesn’t matter. They want to draw people to themselves to suit their own purposes.

Not Jesus. Jesus desired to draw all people to himself not because his delicate ego needed validation, but because condemned souls needed salvation. And he provided it. 

For fifty years, faithful teachers have taken their place in the front of our classrooms declaring that truth. Have all the students who have ever graduated from our school gone on to graduate from prestigious universities? Have they all become hugely successful in their lives, because we churn out nothing but lawyers, engineers, doctors, and physicists with PhDs and other pedigrees? Have we equipped them so well emotionally that they’ll never have to worry about struggling with burdens like anxiety or depression? No. We can’t make such claims. But neither are any of those goals first and foremost why our school has existed for fifty years.

But here’s what every student who has ever graduated has heard and seen: Jesus. And you know what happens when people get to know Jesus? They grow. And others get to know Jesus through them. I couldn’t say precisely how many families have become a part of our congregation’s ministry directly as a result of one or more of their children having been enrolled in our school, but it’s a significant number. Because that’s what happens when people come to see Jesus. When Jesus changes a heart, he changes the whole life, and when others see the difference he has made in their life, they wish to see Jesus, too. And we show them – in church every Sunday and in our school Monday through Friday. We show people Jesus. It’s why we’re here. It’s what we do. 

A couple of weeks ago we had a videographer on our campus for two and a half days to gather video footage and record interviews to put together a high-quality video showcasing our school. We were looking forward to being able to share the finished product at our Gala. I say “were” because we never got the video. Unfortunately, as the videographer was putting the finishing touches on the video, his hard drive crashed and he lost all of the footage he had captured. It was a huge bummer to not be able to watch the finished product.

But the real reason it was so disheartening was not just because it would have been a snazzy, well-done, professional video. No, the real reason was because it captured our stories about the impact this school has had. It highlighted the difference Jesus makes in the lives of those who are here to see him. Even though there is no video, I did get to talk with the videographer after he had interviewed a number of our parents, and it was clear to him that our school was making a difference. That’s not surprising. That’s what Jesus does. 

And so that is what we’ll continue to do through our church and school for as many years as the Lord allows it. Show Jesus. 

Sin’s Solution: Self or Savior?

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(Numbers 21:4-9)

One of life’s small joys is the satisfaction of being able to take something that is broken and fix it ourselves. Yes, it’s nice to save money not having to call a repair guy to come and fix it or take it in somewhere to have it looked at, but ultimately there is simply a satisfying sense of achievement in fixing something ourselves. It’s also easier than ever. You can find just about any video on Youtube to walk you through the process of fixing something. You can buy just about any specialty tool or replacement part for the job online and it will arrive on your doorstep faster than ever. 

Yet it’s for those same reasons, when we utilize all of those resources to tackle a fix-it-yourself project, following the steps in the video, replacing the part, and voila! – it’s still broken, that our frustration levels also rise higher than ever. To have all the resources available that we do and still not be able to successfully fix something is a tougher pill to swallow. At least in the past we could chalk it up to not having the right tool or part!

Why is fixing something that is broken such a challenge in the first place? Because we can get it wrong in multiple ways. We either misdiagnose the problem, and instead of fixing the part the needs fixing, we focus on a part that doesn’t. Or, assuming we do correctly identify the issue, we then misdiagnose the solution. We buy the wrong part or install it improperly. When either of these things happen, what are we left with? Something that’s still broken.

We know that there’s much that is broken in our world today. There’s no shortage of solutions offered to fix things and make them right. Moreover, we supposedly have access to far more resources than ever in the history of the world to fix things, yet here we are in a world that is still every bit as broken (and many would argue even more so!). How can so many solutions fail so miserably to fix everything? Well, sometimes it’s misdiagnosing the problem, and other times it’s misdiagnosing the solution. Just ask the Israelites how hard it was as they continued to wander there way out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land.

Israel identified what they thought was the problem and voiced their concern to God and his representative, Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (v.5). They were longing for the steady, stable food they had in Egypt… while seemingly forgetting the oppressive slavery that came along with it. That didn’t matter, though – the problem as they saw it was a lack of bread and water and a miserable menu. So they supposed the solution was simply to let God know the problem so he could fix it. And while they had the right idea in going to God, they came to him with the wrong problem to solve. And, as they would discover, when we bring the wrong problem to God, we may not like the solution he offers.

The problem had nothing to do with their eating and everything to do with their attitude. This is evident from what precedes their complaint. “But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses…” (v.4-5). Food was far from being the real problem; all the food did was expose the real issue: their impatience. And, when the problem is misdiagnosed, we’re unlikely to seek out the correct solution. Again, they had the right idea in looking to God for the solution, but they had the wrong attitude in their approach. They didn’t come before him in humility, but in insolence, brazenly speaking directly against God and Moses! This detail of the account is crucial to a proper understanding of the whole story. 

Because if we overlook this when we see how God responds, we could confuse the problem with the solution. “Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died” (v.6). If we fail to correctly pin the problem on the Israelites for their insolence, then God’s punishment could be perceived as the problem. We question how he could do such a thing. We wonder how God could have this kind of violence in his heart to want to harm his own people. How do we process these questions?

Remember, God’s response was not the problem; it was a part of the solution. Yes, that’s right – God sending venomous snakes was not the problem, but rather a part of the solution. If you find that hard to believe, don’t quit reading just yet. To help us better understand, let’s take an example from the world of how-not-to-parent-today that illustrates how the venomous snakes were actually part of God’s solution. 

Have you ever been in a public place when a child wasn’t getting his way and he was making it painfully obvious not just to mom, but to everyone within roughly a square mile? How the parent responds at that point is either going to be a part of the solution or the problem. When mom makes a deal to give the child what he wants (or something similar) as he stops whining, mom has now just become a part of the problem.

The mom’s behavior in those cases is not uncommon, because it deceptively feels as if she’s still in charge. After all, she is the one that proposed the offer. And, she very likely intends to follow through with it if her child stops whining. It feels to her like she successfully resolved the issue. But that is not at all what just happened. Instead, what just happened was that mom taught her child that whining was actually a productive method in getting his way. He simply has to act up and make a scene until mom promises something good if he’ll stop.

So mom thought she had provided a solution, but in reality she only contributed to the problem by reinforcing for her child that whining is an easy go-to to get his way. What she ought to have done instead was told her son that there would be consequences if he didn’t stop (i.e. no snack, an earlier bedtime, no screen time, etc.) and then – and here’s the only way this is ever going to work – she followed through with the consequence if her child continued to whine. 

Back to the wilderness. If God had dealt with his impatient people brazenly speaking against him by telling Moses, “I can’t handle their complaining anymore. Go ahead and give them juicy steak dinners, but only if they stop whining,” what do you suppose the Israelites would have realized? They would have concluded, “Hey, we just figured out how to turn God into our personal butler! Who needs a magic lamp and a genie – we have God! Turns out all we had to do all along was just complain loud enough and long enough!”

But God didn’t deal with them that way. Instead, he showed them that there were consequences to speaking out against him and sent venomous snakes.

And what was the result? It might surprise us! “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us’” (v.7). Imagine that! They owned up to their sin and repented of it, turning back to the same God they had impatiently spoken against and basically said, “We were wrong! We’re sorry! Please help us!”

Do you know what that kind of message is to God? It’s music to his ears. There is nothing more pleasing to God than a humble, penitent heart that both owns up to its sin as the problem and turns to God for the solution.

The prophet Isaiah described God like this: “For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15). And God’s permanent promise is that when anyone approaches him with contrition, that is, sorrow over sin, he will always rescue and revive with his deliverance. 

Among the snake-bitten bodies of the dead, God chose to demonstrate both his desire and his ability to deliver. And he did it in a way that so uniquely solidified that he was the one providing the solution; he was the one saving. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live’” (v.8). A snake on a pole? The very same thing responsible for causing so much death was now going to be responsible for delivering from it? That makes no sense. Why would God choose such a method?

To make it abundantly clear that rescue and deliverance would only come through him. There are half a dozen methods that would have made much more sense than a snake on a pole: suck out the poison, drink some sort of antidote, apply some medicinal oil on it, amputate, etc. As extreme as any human solution might have been, it still would have made more sense than simply looking at a snake on a pole!

So by using something as far-fetched as a snake on a pole, God pretty clearly ruled out that any snake-bitten Israelite would be able to save himself. His solution made no logical, reasonable, scientific or medical sense whatsoever. But it was also the only solution that was going to work. “So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived” (v.9).

Do you get it yet? This whole account isn’t just about learning not to complain before God. It isn’t about snakes – venomous ones or a bronze one on a pole.

It’s about Jesus.

Did you see Jesus in the wilderness with the Israelites and the snakes? His own words recorded in John’s Gospel help us see where Jesus was all along. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (3:14-15).

As absurd as we might think it was for a bronze snake on a pole to heal people bitten by venomous snakes, how about the perfect, innocent Son of God nailed up to a cross to pay for all of mankind’s sin? Many today reject such a notion in favor of countless solutions under the sun that would seem to be much more logical or reasonable. But just like any logical or reasonable solution that could have been devised in the desert, none of them would have solved the problem. We cannot ever solve the problem of our sins ourselves. 

Only God delivers from sin, and only in one way. Only the blood of Jesus forgives. Only his sacrifice saves. Only his death delivers us from death.  

This whole account? It’s not about the snakes; it’s about sin… and most importantly God’s solution to sin, his Son, the Savior.

One of life’s small joys may certainly be the satisfaction of finding a solution to a problem and fixing it ourselves. But one of life’s great joys – the greatest, in fact! – is the satisfaction of knowing and believing that in Jesus Christ, God has already provided the only solution we need for the problem of our sin. We have that joy.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t? Let’s be a part of the solution to that problem by directing them to Jesus, their Savior.

The What & Why of Worship

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(John 2:13-22)

“We really need to get together.” “Yes, let’s get it on the calendar sometime.”  “Sounds great – see you soon!” How many times in the past several months have you had some form of that exchange with another person? And… how many times has that agreed upon get together actually happened? What determines if it does or doesn’t? If the same person brings it up repeatedly, is it more likely to happen because you can tell they’re really craving your company? Do you make the decision whether or not the exchange was just being polite, with no real intention of following through (although one could argue that leading another on isn’t all that polite). Or, if the person is a priority in your life, do you stop right then and there and get a date on the calendar?

What if you got a text message from God asking if you could get together with him? Would you politely respond with “Yes, let’s get it on the calendar sometime soon!” but then proceed to ghost him or fail to follow up? Or would you drop everything, whatever you were doing at the moment, and immediately schedule it? 

I have good news for you this morning – it’s already been scheduled on the calendar for you every Sunday morning at church. How convenient – you don’t even have to stress out about figuring when to fit it in – it’s already done for you!  

Rethinking Religion gives us the opportunity to evaluate our relationship with God as it is reflected in our worship. Now if you were to skip that evaluation and jump ahead to conclude that the answer is simply to go to church every Sunday, you’d be wrong… sort of.

Sort of? Wouldn’t going to church every Sunday be the ideal? Isn’t that what God is looking for? He’s still waiting for that perfect church with 100% perfect attendance from 100% of the members. Wouldn’t that accomplish the bottom line of what God really wants from each of us?

No. No, it wouldn’t. Remember that friend reaching out to get together? Let’s suppose you were able to make it work. You set up a coffee date and met at your favorite spot. You spent 60 minutes together catching up. The only problem? She had her laptop open and was scrolling on her phone the whole time you visited. Would you feel filled up, satisfied that you finally were able to get together and spend some time together? You know the answer.

Something similar can happen even with the Sunday morning “regulars” in attendance. We can show up without really showing up. For some of us, the habit of going to church every week may have already been instilled in us from childhood (if that’s you, thank your parents – it’s among one of the greatest things they could have done for you!). But as with anything that becomes habitual, church can also become so routine that can we fly through it disengaged as if we’re on autopilot.

Or, worship can become more about fulfilling a responsibility than finding refreshment. Or, we’re there more to keep tabs on everyone else who is or isn’t there than we are for ourselves. Or, we’re there to make sure that everyone behaves properly and things are carried out in an orderly fashion, focusing more on what’s going on externally with others than what’s going on internally in my own heart. So if regular attenders aren’t careful when it comes to worship, it’s very possible to show up without showing up. 

But that in no way leaves the absentees off the hook. It might be easy to bash all those regular attenders for being there for the wrong reasons, feeling as if that somehow justifies one’s absence. But what’s easier to fix – working on the motives of one who is already in the habit of being there regularly, or having to do that and having to break the bad habit of being absent? Those neglecting worship don’t need to point to the distractions of regular worshippers to justify their absence – they already offer more than enough sad excuses for not going to church as it is!

But you know what? We also need to acknowledge that there are understandable reasons one might have for not being in church.

It would be hard to blame someone for not going to church if his only experience anytime he has attended was to be scolded or shamed by the pastor or others for not being there more often! And it would be hard to blame someone for not going to church if rather than feeling warmly welcomed and at home, they received a cold reception and dagger stares for sitting in someone else’s spot. And it would be hard to blame someone for not going to church if the only message was that they never measure up enough for God. And it would be hard to blame someone for not going to church if her only recollection of church was a painful memory or family experience associated with it. And if worship is where God longs to dispense his grace to the guilty, why do we sometimes sprinkle our parting comments to others with more guilt after the service?

All of this is to say, when anyone walks through the doors of a church on a Sunday morning, they may appear to be empty-handed, but don’t ever underestimate the amount of emotional or spiritual baggage they could be carrying with them as they step inside. Be sensitive to that, and take a page out of Jesus’ “Lost” parables in Luke 15. Simply rejoice every time anyone walks through the doors.

Do you notice we haven’t even dug into the words and actions of Jesus yet? Are we ready to? What makes us ready? Are you going to continue reading hoping to find what someone else needs to hear about worship, or are you open to hearing God has to say to you about your worship? If so, let’s look at John.

Jesus had to deal with people being in church for the wrong reason. That was pretty clear from the interaction described in John 2. “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” (vss. 13-16).

Remember how Jesus as a boy was the Kevin McCallister of his family, only rather than his family leaving him at home, he was left behind at the temple, where he talked theology with the religious experts? How different that encounter at the temple must have been compared to what he experienced on the occasion recorded for us here! Instead of facilitating a conversational deep dive into spiritual truths and reflecting on God’s promises for his people, that sacred space had become a strip mall for small business to be conducted.  

It’s likely the vendors had become so good at deceiving themselves that they were convinced they were genuinely providing a necessary service to foreigners. After all, with so many out of town visitors coming for the Passover, they would need animals for their sacrifices, so they’d conveniently be able to purchase them right there in the temple courts. And if they needed to exchange their foreign currency to purchase those animals, the money changers were there ready to serve. So in their own minds, the sellers’ actions were completely justified.

But Jesus didn’t just see what was in their minds; he also saw their hearts. Jesus saw hearts that were seizing an opportunity to profit, to make a buck. And while there’s nothing sinful about working hard to make money, there was most definitely something wrong with using God’s house to do it. The matter of selling for profit in the same sacred space where God longs to dispense his blessings for free just wouldn’t fly. 

Here we have an example of what God doesn’t want in worship. So what does he want? We see it in the disciples’ application of the next verse, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (v.17). What drove Jesus’ actions that day? He had such a passion for his Father’s house that he couldn’t stand to see such a precious place so misused. His heart longed for God’s house.

That’s what God wants from you and me in worship: a heart that longs for his house. We can get so wrapped up in the details of worship that we overlook God’s real desire: he wants our hearts. When he has our hearts, everything else in our lives follows.

Think of a blossoming relationship between two people that is in its first stages. They can’t stop thinking about spending time with each other and everything revolves around that special someone. God wants us to think of him that way.

Now I realize that perspective may not appeal to some guys all that much, to talk about the heart and love and emotions, but can you question the masculinity of Jesus coming in and flipping tables upside down? And why? Because he was all-in when it came to passion and zeal. And to my fellow male Christians – husbands, fathers, leaders – honestly, we need more of that passion in Christianity. 

That doesn’t mean you need to show up and start tearing up the pews on a Sunday morning. But imagine if rather than a high-paying job, a fast car, or nice threads, a guy’s passion, zeal, and heart for God were his most admirable and attractive qualities. How influential could he be to other Christians witnessing how he puts his Savior first and holds him up as the greatest, most valuable treasure? 

But what if you don’t have that kind of zeal? Jesus has you covered!

That’s what makes Jesus so amazing as our Savior. He lived the holy life, filled with perfect passion, that we never could! That includes a holy zeal and passion for his Father’s house. The Father sees his Son’s zeal in you by faith. You don’t have to fake it. You don’t have to pretend it’s there – it is already there because of Jesus. His zeal was everything God required of us. We call that Jesus’ active obedience. He kept God’s law – event the Third Commandment to “Remember that Sabbath Day by keeping it holy” perfectly in your place. Let Jesus’ zeal fuel yours.

What else did Jesus do for you? Exactly as he promised in verse 19. “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’” John explains for us, his readers, that Jesus was not talking about the physical temple, as the Jewish crowd supposed. “But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (v.21-22).

Jesus predicted his death and resurrection. But he did more than predict those events; he fulfilled them. He did what none of those animals being sold in the courts could ever do. As the perfect Lamb they all foreshadowed, Jesus alone actually paid for sin with his life. All sin. Hearts absent from worship while bodies are present. Neglecting Word and worship altogether as optional or unimportant. All paid for in full and proven by his resurrection three days later, just as he had said. God accepted his payment for our woeful worship.

That brings us to the why of worship. Jesus is why. Jesus’ heart is not just for his Father’s house, but for you. You are why he was willing to allow his temple to be destroyed on the cross. You are why he was raised again in three days. His heart for you is why he longs to fill you with his presence and his promises in worship. His heart for you is why he invites you each week to come clean with your sins so he can send you off with a clean heart as you depart his house for all that your week holds. He knows the drain of living and surviving in a sin-infested world – remember he lived here, too! And so he longs to fill you with the grace necessary to overcome, to live with confidence and joy and purpose and meaning!

I could close by highlighting the many amazing blessings that come as a result of regular worship, but really there’s just one that matters. The rest all flow from that one: Jesus. Jesus is the reason we worship. Let Jesus be enough for you to take him up on his standing invitation to get together again soon.