Morling Tuesday Chapel: Mary and Martha

Recently I've read through a helpful book called "Grace rules". Although this book has got nothing to do with the speaker in Morling Tuesday Chapel today, some of the message with respects to "works" is quite similar. 

Topic: Mary and Martha

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42

Mary and Martha was Jesus’ friend as they already knew Jesus prior to this event according to the Bible passages.

Mary and Martha are polar opposites.

Martha was on overdrive, goes through a lot of trouble, eg. this is for Jesus so it must be very good, or to meet social expectations of the day.

Mary host Jesus by sitting at his feet and giving him her full attention.

Why did Jesus drop in? For gourmet food, or to spend time with his friends?

Martha: What must I do? Activity driven approach to Jesus.

Mary: Approach marked by devotion.

What would I do when Jesus drop by to visit us? Jesus isn’t going to drop by because He lives in us!

What kind of host are we? Do we tend towards Martha’s activity or Mary’s attentiveness? Tasks vs relationship?

Distraction is something that happens in our heads: when our thoughts get consumed by other things (it’s not necessarily busyness). Even ministry can be a distraction, if our minds get preoccupied with what we must do to serve Jesus.

Busyness: Martha’s struggle, she feels she has more to do than she has time to do it. “More time exists at some point in the future” is a deception! Life doesn’t get less busy. Be attentional in our choices, including saying no to some things.

When the speaker served as minister in church, ministry was a real struggle: the messy people stuff, not enough helpers, etc. Work hard and little fruit. It drove her towards devotion. It started with discipline initially: One hour a week initially, in the bath, because she’s so activistic that this was the only place where she doesn’t get distracted into doing something. Then gradually the discipline got transformed into a desire for God. She learned how to do ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit, and paying attention to what the Spirit might be prompting.

Serving and devotion are not “either or”. But serving must come out of our devotion to God! We need to be like Mary as the basis of what we do. Devotion is the foundation of effective service.