Luke 10:38–42 ESV

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Doing For vs Being With

We live in a world that measures our worth based on how hard we work, how much we produce, and how popular we are. We are convinced that the only way we are valued is by what we do for others. We are esteemed because of our talents.

I have literally been around people who wanted nothing to do with me until they found out I could sing. Suddenly, I had access to the popular crowd.

Because we live in this performance-based society, we tend to think that even God measures us by our “usefulness.”

Too many followers of Jesus are chronically overextended trying to please him by doing for him. They have too much to do in too little time and say a default yes to reuqests and opportunities without carefully discerning God’s will. They live their lives overloaded and spiritually drained.

Martha was so happy to have Jesus in her house. She wanted to show her love for him by serving him. She wanted him to have a good impression of her and her household.

So you can imagine how frustrated and embarrassed she must have felt seeing her sister lazily sitting and listening to Jesus. It made her downright angry!

She thought that what Mary was doing was a contradiction to what she was trying to do. Martha thought she had to be a good hostess in order for Jesus to appreciate her. Mary, on the other hand, realized that Jesus came to their house because he wanted to spend time with them.

As Christians, there are certain things we are called to do. We are called to serve each other. We are called to tell others about Jesus and help them experience the gift of salvation. We are called to give of ourselves and our resources to care for those in need.

But we get so busy trying to “be Jesus’ hands and feet” that we forget what else God has commanded us to do.

Mark 12:30 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Last week, we talked about the importance of being rooted in God and finding rest in God. Why are these things important?

Because if we are going to accomplish anything worthwhile, it is only through God’s power. In order to navigate our way through the blinding blizzard that life throws at us, we need to have deep roots that lead us home to the Cross. In order to combat the chaos, we need to have our minds rested and focused on Jesus. We need the mind of Christ in us.

Do any of you have the newer smart phones where you can transmit data from one phone to the other by placing them beside each other? I was recently on a trip, and I stayed at a hotel that let me use my phone as my door key. I downloaded their app to my phone, so that I could receive the code that served as the key. All I had to do was hold my phone to the door, and it opened.

When Jesus came to Mary and Martha’s house, Martha was so busy doing for Jesus that she forgot to be with Jesus. Mary saw the opportunity for what it was. She sat and absorbed Jesus’ words. Martha assumed what Jesus wanted. Mary was learning what Jesus valued.

While Martha’s intentions were good, she ended up so far off course that she actually tried to tell Jesus what to do.

Luke 10:40 ESV

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

Be Before You Do

When it comes to Being With Jesus vs Doing For Jesus, it’s not a one-or-the-other situation. It’s both-and.

What do I mean?

We tend to put our doing for Jesus ahead of anything else. We turn what is meant to be a beautiful thing into a to-do list. Even our devotional time tends to be something we fit into our busy schedule, hoping we will get something useful out of it to equip us for the day. We end up undervaluing and even resenting our time spent in prayer and meditation, because we feel like we are wasting time that could have been spent doing something with more obvious results.

Our struggle is when we view everything about our walk with God as something we DO. But God didn’t call us to DO for him. He called us to BE with him. This sounds foreign and feels awkward to think about, but it’s the truth according to scripture.

God gave Adam duties in the garden, but Adam was created to be with God. We were created to be with God. That’s why Satan worked so hard to separate us from God.

When our focus is on our doing, we end up like I described earlier, slaves to our schedules, feeling overwhelmed, that we can never catch up, and suffering in our relationships. We avoid the things that are hard—at least until they reach a point where they are going to explode—and then we wonder how we got to this point.

On the other hand, when we focus on being, we are conscious of our standing with God. We also become more aware of ourselves. We lose the fear of being vulnerable. Because we are spending time regularly with God, we are able to view ourselves more the way he sees us. He loves me in spite of my flaws, so why should I try to hide those flaws from you?

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, was more than willing to give an honest account of his life, including his past as someone who persecuted Christians. When he discussed the false teachers who were confusing the Galatians with bad theology, Paul contrasted the way these teachers paraded themselves around with the fact that on his first trip to Galatia, Paul had been suffering from some physical problems and had been totally dependent on the kindness of the church. Basically, Paul was saying, “These guys are getting you to be impressed with them so that you will believe their message. But when I was with you, it was the message of grace that impressed you so that you came to believe in me.” Paul was living consistently in accordance with what he taught. And his message was that what matters is not what you are doing, but what Christ is doing in you and through you.

When your priority is being with Jesus, you find strength in his presence. You find clarity about yourself and the things going on around you. You find a covering of the Holy Spirit protecting you from Satanic attack.

Psalm 121:1–8 ESV

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

When you put being with Jesus before doing for Jesus, then you find that the being empowers the doing.

Be In Order to Do

Martin Luther was a busy fellow. He was a minister, a theologian constantly writing texts, a songwriter, and he translated scripture into German. Talking about his busy schedule, Luther was quoted as saying,

“I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.”

As backward and unproductive as it may seem, we have to learn to set aside time to just get alone with God. I’m not talking about a once-a-day devotional time, because that is not enough. So many of us treat that time as an obligation, and we do it half-heartedly.

We need to set aside at least two times during the day where we get alone with God. We need to get into the practice of journaling. Why? Because it forces us to think about what is going on, and how we feel. Then we can go to God honestly and allow him to work in us.

When we focus on being with Jesus, we give him room to do what really needs to be done, which is shape us into his image. We develop the fruit of the Spirit. When we focus on being with Jesus, his work in us impacts the work we do for Jesus.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The point of this scripture is that Jesus is not impressed by your actions, but by your desire to be with him. Great, you did all that stuff. But it was stuff you were supposed to do anyway. The fact is, my kingdom is for my people—my family. I don’t know you.

If what we do is not flowing out of our effort to be with Jesus, then it’s meaningless. We are doing it in our own power. We’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

When our focus is on doing for rather than being with Jesus, we are missing out on precious opportunity to connect with our Creator on a deeper level. I want a deeper connection. I need a deeper connection.

Bow your heads.