The Danger of Sunday Morning Church . . .

“Martha was busy for Jesus,

and that left her too busy to be with Jesus.”

~ Jon Walker
Growing with Purpose: Connecting with God Every Day

I haven't seen the government warnings yet, but there are some very real risks for Christians who attend church on Sunday mornings. Seriously! See, for a lot of us Christians, church has just become a habit -- an event on our busy, busy calendar – we come, we sing, we worship, we listen (hopefully!) to Truth from God's Word which explains life: our wretched condition before God, how to remedy that, how we should live, what we are supposed to do, and how we are to react to the situations which confront us. And we all pay attention. We are encouraged. We are stirred. We nod our heads in agreement. We are spiritually fed. Sometimes we even leave on a spiritual high. Right?.

Then Monday morning arrives and we go back to our families, our work, our business, our classes, our kitchen, our homes -- the plain-old, everyday circumstances of life -- and we forget all about our spiritual high of twenty-four hours earlier! Right?

It puts us in spiritual jeopardy!

This is precisely the dilemma presented by the account of Martha in the Gospels. . .

. . . Mary and Martha had been to the synagogue together that day and evidently Jesus had been teaching there. It was of course unlike any church service that you or I would attend. But surely they did leave with something similar to that spiritual high that we've experienced at our own churches. It had to have been an exciting morning when Jesus Himself began to open the Scriptures!

But then Mary and Martha went home. And guess who came for dinner that day? JESUS Himself was their guest! Martha went into the kitchen and completely and utterly forgot everything and all she had learned in synagogue. She began to stew and fret about how to get dinner ready. She bustled around, and couldn't find things, and spilled the coffee, and scorched the potatoes, and burned her fingers. She got all upset, and distracted, and then finally came bursting into the living room and blamed the whole mess on Jesus.

. . . and I totally get this. Martha was clearly a kitchen-nut. I am a kitchen-nut who blames others for the less-than-perfect condition of things in my precious kitchen. We could examine all this kitchen-nuttery and that would be fun -- comparing notes and such. But that's not the point here.
Here's what Martha cried out:

"Lord, why didn't you tell my sister to come out and help me? It's all your fault!"
~Luke 10:40

And do you remember how Jesus replied?

"Martha, Martha, you are full of care. You've gotten everything out of perspective. Life is out of focus for you, and you've let these insignificant little trivialities mount up to a tremendous problem.
But only one thing is necessary. . ."
~ Luke 10:41-42

What is that one thing? What is the one fundamental thing which is necessary?

The one thing is to see things the way they really are!

Really . . . Did Jesus come to observe Martha's culinary genius?
Or did He come to fellowship and commune with the women?

The one thing is to face reality and to deal with things realistically -- to know and understand and live-out what the Apostle Paul came to realize: "For me, to live is Christ!"

Is it realistic for Martha to blame Jesus for her short-temper and less-than-perfect kitchen skills?
If Martha were "living for Christ," would she blame Him for anything?

Martha's fault was not that she chose to celebrate so grand-a-guest by serving a feast. Her fault was that she threw her entire soul into the process and grew encumbered by the task. In doing that she forgot JESUS! The only thing on her mind and her heart was her service.

This happens a lot in churches. . . ever notice at Christmastime how the decorating or the children's program or the live nativity or the [you-name-the-program] takes away from the real meaning. I've witnessed it first-hand. It breaks your heart when you see it from reality-perspective.

It is way easier to serve and work and get caught up in our tasks for Jesus (or our church) than to simply commune with HIM. . .

As a counselor, I believe this explains the phenomena of the perfectionist spot-on.
But that's for another time :-)

We ought to be Mary and Martha in one! After all, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17)

"Mary has chosen that good portion.
She has taken the time to sit and listen and get her perspectives straight,
to put things back into focus, and I'm not going to take it away from her," Jesus said.
~Luke 10:42

If this "good portion" is not the basis of your operations in your family, your work, your business, your classes, your kitchen, your homes, your church, then you are off to the wrong start in the Kingdom of God. And of course everything is going to go awry! What's the point of going to church on Sunday morning in the first place?

If you are familiar with the beautiful symbols of the Old Testament, you can easily interpret this passage:

"The LORD said to Moses, "Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil
from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning continually.
Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order
from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute for
ever throughout your generations. He shall keep the lamps in order upon the
lampstand of pure gold before the LORD continually."
~Leviticus 24:1-4

Pure olive oil brought by the people was to be the fuel which produced the light of the candelabra. It was to burn continuously and it was especially not be allowed to go out at night. From evening to morning Aaron was responsible to keep the light going to illuminate the tabernacle with that light placed on the golden candlestick.

There is nothing more desperately needed for today's Christians than to personally and individually expose our hearts and minds and thoughts to the LIGHT continuously. (Not just when surrounded by other Christians in church on Sunday and/or church functions and programs throughout the week.)

What is our LIGHT today -- some four-thousand years after the time of Aaron and the golden lampstand? It is Christ Jesus and the Truth of His Word; and we need to expose our hearts and minds and thoughts to it continuously. We simply cannot leave it at church [synagogue] and go on with our tasks like Martha did.

When we do this and consistently practice looking at life as HE tells us -- not as the world outside of Sunday morning church tells us -- and not as our feelings tell us -- we will learn how to be both Mary and Martha in one!

The Apostle Paul understood the habit of church. He understood religiosity. But when he found Christ, his passion was ignited in a whole new way -- he learned how to be Mary and Martha in one:

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."
~Philippians 1:21-24

"Whatever you do whether you eat or drink, do unto the glory of God"

~1 Corinthians 10:31

~~~

Martha was busy and hurried,
Serving the friend divine,
Cleansing the cups and platters,
Bringing the bread and wine;
But Martha was careful and anxious
Fretted in thought and in word,
She had no time to be sitting
While she was serving the Lord,
For Martha was "cumbered with serving,
Martha was "troubled" with "things"---
Those that would pass with the using---
She was forgetting her wings.

Mary was quiet and peaceful,
Learning to love and to live.
Mary was hearing His precepts,
Mary was letting Him give---
Give of the riches eternal,
Treasures of mind and of heart;
Learning the mind of the Master,
Choosing the better part.

Do we ever labor at serving
Till voices grow fretful and shrill,
Forgetting how to be loving,
Forgetting how to be still?
Do we strive for "things" in possession,
And toil for the perishing meat,
Neglecting the one thing needful---
Sitting at Jesus' feet?

Service is good when he asks it,
Labor is right in it's place,
But there is one thing better,
Looking up in his face;
There is so much he can tell us,
Truths that are precious and deep;
This is the place where he wants us,
Things are the things we can keep.

~Annie Johnson Flint

~ Esthermay V. Bentley-Goossen

© 2009 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

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This installment of InOtherWords is hosted by Debbie
on her blog, Heart Choices