Unbalanced Servants

Do you ever feel as if you have lost your joy in service? Do you ever feel as though the things that brought you joy now seem to wear you out, frazzle you or make you grumpy?

Today we have this very short account. In fact, it is more of snapshot than a complete story. Yet the importance of this passage of scripture cannot be understated.

There seems to be in the Christian life a tendency toward imbalance. This passage of scripture seems to capture this imbalance in a few short verses.

Luke 10:38–42 CSB

38 While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” 41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Four steps to becoming an unbalanced Servant

#1 -Assume we know what God wants from us without asking him.

We can tell from the details of this passage that Martha had not pre-scheduled Jesus visit to her home.

How many of you ladies would like the task of planning a dinner on short notice for the Son of God? Talk about a little bit of pressure and performance anxiety.

I mean what recipe do you choose for the savior of the world?

Martha was probably thinking. I know my friends like my homemade goat ala’king, but is it fit for the creator of the world?

I mean theirs a little bit of pressure there am I right?

But how often do we put pressure on ourselves to perform a task without asking Jesus if it is what he wants from us?

Was Mary wrong in assuming that Jesus would want to eat? I mean this is a pretty customary practice. If you invite someone to your home, it’s polite to provide at least light refreshments.

But God’s value system is not our own. He see’s the big picture. Maybe Jesus was more interested in fellowship than having a meal. Consider these passages.

Isaiah 55:8–9 CSB

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Psalm 127:1 CSB

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.

#2 Disconnect service from worship.

If Serving Christ makes us difficult to live with, then something is terribly wrong with our service!

I have noticed in my life how easy it is to trade the joy of worshipping through service for the irritation of having to do something that others maybe should have or could have done.

We see that Mary could have viewed her service to the Lord as an act of worship. What a blessing it could have been to have watched the king of kings enjoy a meal she prepared solely by her hands.

What should have been a blessing instead became a burden.

Mary inadvertently disconnected the reason behind the service for the function of the service.

She obviously thought that the function (getting the meal on the table) was the main reason behind her actions. She put all the value of the service on completing the task and in doing so missed the opportunity to worship through her efforts.

It is so easy to get task focused isn’t it?

However, when we place the expectation of joy on the completion of the task instead the one for whom we are serving,; it is easy to get grumpy toward anyone or anything we see as an obstacle to completion.

Martha viewed Mary as an obstacle to successfully and efficiently serving the meal.

How would our attitude and outlook change if we viewed every act of service as an opportunity for worship.

What if at home, we saw laundry as an act of worship by serving our family well.

What if we saw mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, and cleaning up another mess as an opportunity to serve others and worship the Lord?

Even the mundane can be acts of worship if we do it with the right heart. I mean, any of these things have to get done, so you may as well worship through them.

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

#3 Compare your service to another person's inaction.

Luke 10:38 CSB

38 While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

Who volunteered to entertain Jesus in her home?

Martha. So if Martha volunteered her home. Should Martha be grumpy about performing the service she volunteered for?

When did she get irritated?

Luke 10:40 CSB

40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

When she compared what she was doing to what another was not doing.

Sometimes in church ministry, you will have one or two people who volunteer to serve or to do a specific task. And you know this person or person(s) is going to be irritated the whole time they are serving.

It’s almost like they volunteered so that they could tell everyone how hard it is to be the “only one doing things around here.” So instead of worshipping through their service, they will let everyone know how upset they are that they “had” to do the work for which they volunteered.

# 4 - Neglect to spend time with Jesus.

Luke 10:41 CSB

41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,

Luke 10:42 CSB

42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

How might Martha’s attitude have been different if she had first spent time with Jesus before embarking into service?

You know it is very difficult to spend meaningful time at the feet of the savior and then not be grateful in serving him.

I found in my own life that when I am grumpy in my service, I am lacking in my personal prayer time.

I have never met a person of prayer that was not full of joy and grace toward others.

When we neglect our time with Jesus, we will serve out of our fragile nature instead of serving out of his abundant strength.

my question to you this morning is this, “ have you become an unbalanced servant?