Five Life-Changing Principles Concerning Worship in a 20 Word Sentence of Jesus!
Luke 10:38–42 is a pretty familiar passage of scripture. This is the account of when Jesus came into the home of Mary and Martha.
And the fact is, they both love Jesus. Because of her love for Christ, Martha goes into the kitchen to prepare Him something to eat. Because of Mary’s love for Christ, she positions herself as a worshipper at Jesus’ feet, and hangs on His every word.
In frustration, Martha rebukes her sister by asking Jesus to tell her sister to get off her lazy behind and get into the kitchen to help her! Jesus says to her in verse 41: “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.”
And then, Jesus gives this power-packed, and what I believe to be life-changing 20 word sentence: “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
“Jesus is simply letting us know that worship is more important than service, because worship is where true service to the Lord begins... and that our service should actually flow out of our worship.”
In these 20 words, Jesus tells Martha (and US!) five unbelievably important things about worship.
1. Worship is a CHOICE.
Notice, Jesus told Martha: “Mary hath CHOSEN that good part.”
And here, Jesus lets us know that being a worshipper isn’t a matter of our spiritual gifting… our personality… our “shape,” or anything else. Jesus tells us it’s a choice we make. It’s a matter of priority.
2. Worship is more important than SERVICE.
Notice, Jesus told Martha: “Mary hath chosen that GOOD PART.”
And Jesus is saying this in contrast to what Martha had chosen. She had chosen service. And it’s not that service was the BAD PART! No, service to Christ is a very IMPORTANT PART! Jesus is simply letting us know that worship is more important than service, because worship is where true service to the Lord begins... and that our service should actually flow out of our worship.
3. Worship is ETERNAL.
Jesus says to Martha: “Which shall not be TAKEN AWAY from her.”
Which leads us to believe that our worship of Christ NOW… is actually developing our capacity to worship Him in ETERNITY! Worship, then, is actually investing in eternity!
4. Worship is the MAIN thing.
Jesus says to her: “But ONE THING is needful.“
And never is the old adage more true, than when it comes to worship: “The main thing... is to keep the main thing... the main thing.” Don’t miss, Jesus calls worship our “ONE THING!”
5. Worship is NECESSARY.
Again, Jesus tells her: “But one thing is NEEDFUL.“
We all wake up every day with a zillion and 50 things we think we NEED to do! These are all the things that get on our “to do“ list. But, oh, if we could just listen and hear Jesus today, as He tries to tell us: “But one thing is NEEDFUL.” And He’s certainly not advocating that we be irresponsible, or shirk our responsibilities! Again, He’s talking in terms of our priorities.
Wow! Can you believe Jesus packed all of that into 20 simple words?! May God help all of us to make the right CHOICE today!