Worship Is Serious to Jesus

Jesus causes a scene in the temple.  “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”(Mark 11:15-17).
 
The reason for Jesus’ aggressiveness in removing the merchants and moneychangers from the temple is that they are violating God’s purpose for the temple.  God wants the temple to be a house for people to pray, not to do business.  Coming to worship God should not include dodging animal droppings and blocking out the patter of salesmen.  These things belong to another time and place; the temple is the time and place for prayer.
 
While Jesus teaches us that the temple will not be the center of worship (John 4:21), he continues to affirm the vital place worship retains in those who seek the favor of God (John 4:23-24).
 
Worship is serious to Jesus.  This means that disciples must carve out times and spaces where we can worship regularly and with minimal distractions.
 
Worship is serious to Jesus.  This means that disciples must focus intently on God and his will for us.  We give him our attention and our honor.  We humble ourselves before him.  Whether inside a church building or somewhere else, we give our whole hearts and bodies over to worship.
 
Worship is serious to Jesus.  Is it serious to us?