There was a person who lost their daily planner awhile back. It contained all of their contact addresses, their calendar, to-do list, and monthly reminders. It even held their personal credit card information and expenses for the past year. They were devastated. Not as much for the loss of their personal information, which was bad enough, but because they had appointments scheduled and notes to themselves that they hadn't recorded anywhere else? They didn't know where they were supposed to be or when, and they didn't know what they needed to do!
Does that describe you? Do you find yourself too busy to manage your life without putting your schedule in writing? Do you ever say to yourself or to someone else, "If I don't write that down, I'll forget it"? Do you feel as if you spend as much time recording your life events as you do participating in them? Would you be devastated if you lost your daily planner? Welcome to the club!
"Too busy" is a phrase we say and hear as often today as "good morning." Busyness is such a part of all of our lives that most of us simply can't manage without help in one form or another. Consider these statistics:
Do you know why most Americans do not vote? They are too busy.
Do you know why 55% of Americans do not attend church? They are too busy.
Do you know why 47% of Christians do not read their Bibles? They are too busy.
Do you know why 17,000 to 50,000 pastors leave the ministry annually? It is not because they are too busy but because the Church is too busy to help them in ministry.
Last weekend was a busy weekend. We were hosting our first ever VBS. There were a lot of people trying to juggle a lot of balls. Often they were trying to throw those balls to me. The plans for getting bounce houses fell through creating a situation where it became necessary to scramble to rent one thus involving someone’s time in getting it from the rental company.
Saturday was stressful for me personally, securing the bounce house, trying to insure that those in leadership had people assigned to the correct places, encouraging others due to a low turnout, and making sure that a clean-up process was in motion before leaving for a surprise birthday party for a dear friend.
Although there was a guest speaker Sunday, I discovered about ten minutes before services that the children’s ministry leader was sick and was not going to be able to lead. I had no idea that she had arraigned with someone else to cover for her. So I was in a panic. To be honest, by Sunday afternoon I was rather tired of church.
Here is a reality. As in life you can get too busy with church that you miss the purpose of church. You can get so busy that you forget to worship, pray, mediate on God’s Word, and be in his presence.
On the other hand you can use worship, prayer, and meditation as an excuse for not serving actively in God’s Kingdom. There must be a balance. Today we will look at two women searching for this balance and learn from them how we can balance our spiritual life.
We will begin with Luke 10:38-40 “As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
Two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha, it seems, has a Type A personality. She is ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status conscious, and impatient. She takes on more than she can handle, wanting other people to get to the point, proactive, and obsessed with time management. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.
In his 1996 book, Type A Behavior: Its Diagnosis and Treatment, Friedman suggests that Type A behavior is expressed in three major symptoms: free-floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents; time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperation usually described as being "short-fused"; and a competitive drive, which causes stress and an achievement-driven mentality.
Martha has invited Jesus into her home. The Bible does not say Mary’s home. Martha was the hostess. This was her ministry. She decided to invite him. She decided to fix a big dinner. Type-A people will often launch a ministry or an outreach and find themselves angry when others do not show the same enthusiasm. They feel the pressure of time restraints and soon become irritated and exasperated.
Here is the danger in getting too busy doing Church as opposed to being Church.
First, we become judgmental. “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you---” We question God as to his fairness. And in doing so we place ourselves on a pedestal above him.
Our dialogue today may go something like this: “Jesus, it seems that I am the only one willing to work for you. I have the vision for what you want but no one else is willing to get up and get busy. I’m doing all this work and everyone is just sitting back letting me. I don’t understand why you don’t light a fire under them. You know I am doing this for you and not for me. I don’t want any recognition but I don’t know how much more I can take.”
You know why I know this conversation so well? Because I have had it with Jesus many times. Many times in my ministry I have had a motivation to accomplish something and found frustration in others for not being similarly motivated. I once learned a valuable lesson that I will share later in what I call my “Larry, Larry” moment. But I still fall into this Martha mode from time to time.
Secondly, we begin ordering God around. Martha demands that Jesus “Tell her to come and help me.” This is a sure sign of her priorities being wrong. When we begin to tell God to force our will on others we again have elevated ourselves into a role that we are not sanctioned to be. When we decide how others should interact with God we have allowed everything to turn topsy-turvy.
Those of you who know Debbie and I know we have a fantastic relationship. For thirty one years she has pampered me. Until I retired she has laid my work clothes out for me every morning. She has filled my dinner plate and brought it to me. When my tea glass was empty she would quit eating to refill it. Now before you start moaning and shaking your head understand that she did these things because that was what she wanted to do for me. Ask her and she will tell you. However, I became a bit spoiled.
After we had been married about twenty years she began attending a ladies Bible study. Then she joined a banner ministry. I became jealous. Up until this time we had never done anything apart from each other. There were nights I had to go to bed before she got home. I did not care for that. Then one morning I awaken to go to work and she had forgotten to lay out my clothes. I had to get them myself. And though I made all the noise I could she did not wake up.
I had a long talk with God going to work that morning. I informed him how hard I worked to provide for her. I reminded him of his written word about a man being the head of the household and a woman’s role to be submissive. I instructed him on the steps He should take to put her feet back on the ground. He answered me as He did Martha.
Luke 10:41-42 “But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it and it will not be taken away from her.”
Some translations read “Martha, Martha.” I can see Jesus sitting there, looking at Martha with maybe a hint of a grin. He really didn’t ask for a clean house or a huge meal. What He desired was fellowship. What He desired was making disciples. Martha was all about ministering to Jesus. Mary wanted to know him and that to Jesus was the only thing worth being concerned about. And since she understood the importance of a relationship with him Jesus said He would honor her desire.
Remember my conversation with God about Debbie? That morning He spoke to my heart and said “Larry, Larry. You are troubled about many things.” I realized that I was threatened by her relationship with God. She had always allowed me to be the spiritual leader but I was afraid that perhaps in her growing closer to God she would not need my vast wisdom. Perhaps God would allow her an insight that He never allowed me to have. Perhaps her relationship with God would increase and ours would decrease. That morning God told me “She seeks me and I will not hinder that. Do not elevate yourself above me.” Spiritually I grew a lot that morning.
Now, it is dangerous to get so involved in ministry that you forget to worship. But it is just as dangerous to not be involved in ministry.
Martha and Mary had a brother named Lazarus. He died. Jesus went to them for the sole purpose of raising their brother from the dead. Let us read what happened.
John 11:20 “When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.”
Jesus was about to minister to the masses. He was about to perform one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Bible. Martha came out to be a part of it. She knew that Jesus had the power to raise her brother from the dead. Martha wanted to be there as a witness to all the details of this great ministry.
But where was Mary? She stayed home. The one who sat at his feet in wonderment, hanging on to his every word, was no where to be found. She was at home. Jesus had to ask for her. Martha had to go find her. I wonder when Jesus wept was it because of the pain He felt from her unbelief.
Martha almost missed out on fellowship with Jesus. Mary almost missed out on ministering with Jesus. There must be a balance between worship and service. Martha and Mary discover it.
John 12:1-3 “Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.”
Martha offered a service. She prepared a dinner. She served the Lord. No complaining. No frustration. Just pure service.
Mary worshiped the Lord. She anointed his feet, wiping them with her hair. No hiding. No anger. Just pure worship.
But Martha also worshiped him with her service. Jesus had a physical need that was met. And Mary served him with her worship. The Bible says that Jesus knew He was being anointed for burial. How beautiful it is when ministry and worship is balanced.
We, as a church, attempted to minister to our neighbors last week. A lot of work went into it. We, as a church, will have another opportunity to minister to our neighbors through “LoveDenver” on August 24th. I want you to be a part of this outreach. In fact, I want to enlist you today. But between now and then I want you to rest at the feet of Jesus. As far as ministry goes, I want you to be less like Martha and more like Mary. So, here are ten steps for you to take.
1) Decide what is important. Think about what is important to you. Make a list of what you really want to be doing. Who do you want to be spending some time with? What do you want to accomplish at work? Make sure that no lists have more than four entries.
2) Examine your commitments. Realize you can’t possibly do everything you are committed to doing at the same time. Accept that fact, decide what is important, and eliminate those things that are not important.
3) Do less each day. Don’t fill up your days with things to do. Pick three important things to do and if you do them, then work on some lesser thing.
4) Leave space between tasks. Don’t schedule things back-to-back. You will only feel rushed. Allow for some down time between tasks.
5) Simplify your to-do list. Just concentrate on the essentials. Do what you need to do right now.
6) Enjoy every task. To enjoy, slow down. Live in the moment. Do not think about what you must do next.
7) Single task. Do not multi-task. Do one thing and do it well.
8) Create time for solitude. Spend some “me time” each day. Perhaps just sitting outside or in a warm bath.
9) Sprinkle some pleasures. Find some simple pleasures that you can enjoy throughout the day.
10) Put others first. This will cut down on conflict and help us to live more peaceful lives.
Church is not always about being busy. Nor is church always about worship. Church happens when we strike that balance between the two. Let’s strive to be that balanced church.
