During my devotional time last Saturday morning I read the following
scripture in the Bible, "Mary...sat at
Jesus' feet and heard His words. But Martha was distracted with much serving." And the passage made me think about worship versus service. I asked myself, "
Which is more important in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ...worship or service?" Then I read the following lesson on the priority of worship over service in John Macarthur's
Twelve Extraordinary Women. I share it with you now...
"It's interesting to read the [story of Martha and Mary] and try to imagine how the average woman might respond if placed in a situation like Martha's. My strong suspicion is that many women would be inclined to sympathize with Martha, not Mary.
After all, it would normally be considered rude to let your sister do all the hard work in the kitchen while you sit chatting with guests. So, in a real sense, Martha’s feelings were natural and somewhat understandable. That may be one reason
Jesus' rebuke was so mild. In normal circumstances, any older sister would think it obligatory for the younger sister to help in serving a meal to guests. In other words, what Martha expected Mary to do was, in itself, perfectly fine and good.
Nevertheless, what Mary was doing was better still. She had chosen that
good part. She had discovered the one thing needful: true worship and devotion of one's heart and full attention to Christ. That was a higher priority even than service, and the good part she had chosen would not be taken away from her, even for the sake of something as gracious and beneficial as helping Martha prepare
Jesus a meal.
Mary's humble, obedient heart was a far greater gift to Christ than Martha's well-set table. This establishes worship as the highest of all priorities for every [believer in Christ]. Nothing, including even service rendered to Christ, is more important than listening to Him and honoring Him with our hearts.
Remember what
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well: God is seeking
true worshipers. Christ had found one in Mary. He would not affirm Martha's reprimand of her, because it was Mary, not Martha, who properly understood that worship is a higher duty to Christ than service rendered on His behalf.
It is a danger, even for people who love Christ, that we not become so concerned with
doing things for Him that we begin to neglect
hearing Him and
remembering what He has done for us. We must never allow our service for
Jesus to crowd out our worship of Him.
The moment our works become more important to us than our worship, we have turned the true spiritual priorities on their heads.
In fact, that tendency is the very thing that is so poisonous about all forms of pietism and theological liberalism.
Whenever you elevate good deeds over sound doctrine and true worship, you ruin the works too. Doing good works for the works' sake has a tendency to exalt self and depreciate the work of
Jesus Christ.
Good deeds, human charity, and acts of kindness are crucial expressions of real faith, but they must flow from a true reliance on
God's redemption and
His righteousness. After all,
our own good works can never be a means of earning God's favor; that's why in
scripture the focus of faith is always on what God has done for us...and never on what we do for Him. Observe any form of religion where good works are ranked as more important than authentic faith or sound doctrine, and you'll discover a system that denigrates
Jesus while unduly magnifying self.
Not that Martha was guilty of gross self-righteousness. We shouldn't be any harsher in our assessment of her than Christ was. She loved the Lord. Her faith was real, but by neglecting the needful thing [listening at the feet of Jesus along with Mary] and busying herself with mere activity, she became spiritually unbalanced. Her behavior reminds us that a damaging spirit of self-righteousness can slip in and contaminate even the hearts of those who have sincerely embraced Christ as their true righteousness. Martha's harshness toward Mary exposed precisely that kind of imbalance in Martha's own heart.
Jesus' gentle words of correction to Martha (As well as His commendation of Mary) set the priorities once more in their proper order. Worship, which is epitomized here by listening intently to Jesus' teachings, is the one thing most needed. Service to Christ must always be subordinate to worship."
Awe, the answer to my question, "Which is more important...worship or service?" Answer: worship. And according to Jesus' own words, worship is more needful to His followers. Devotion of one's heart and full attention to Him is true worship.
Furthermore, I realized that service motivated by a pure desire to emulate the character of Christ is an act of worship. Everything I do, everything I say should glorify Jesus...from the moment I awake until the moment I fall asleep, I am to worship Him. And my trip to Wyoming was just that: worship.
From the moment I awoke until the moment I fell asleep I was in awe of the majesty of my Creator and the breathtaking works of His hands: an ocean of sky and clouds, pristine lakes, rugged mountains and shorelines. Could there be a more glorious temple in which to worship the Savior than the one He created for me in the tiny parcel of earth called Fremont Lake?
Sitting on my granite perch, standing on a sandy beach, or walking a road less traveled...Jesus had my heart's devotion and full attention. He had my worship.
