Obey The Lord & Do His Work, But Not At The Expense Of Your Worship
Word-of-the-Day: ‘(16) So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (17) For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.’ (Galatians 5:16-17)
The spectacle of the Super Bowl halftime show certainly gained fame and notoriety; the news covered it, people commented on it, and the NFL and Bad Bunny made sure it was seen. The NFL picked Mr. Bunny to promote its push toward an international audience, and Mr. Bunny used the stage to promote a more Latino-centric culture to the American people.
But the NFL and Mr. Bunny, unfortunately, focused so much in the message they each tried to promote that they forgot that the primary audience of the Super Bowl are…Americans, particularly middle, working-class Americans. Americans who are not woke, who speak and use English as their primary language, and are not attuned or accustomed to the foreign and rather risqué performance that Mr. Bunny put on.
The majority of those middle-class, English-speaking Americans instead turned to the alternate Turning Point USA Half Time Show that was rather plain but had country music recording artists perform, along with a Gospel message sung by Robert Ritchie, aka ‘Kid Rock’. The distraction to win over an international audience led to the NFL losing the American audience, at least for halftime, with some not turning the game back on.
In yesterday’s Word-of-the-Day, we looked at Martha, who was so distracted by her work in preparing for Jesus, that she forgot to first worship Him (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus wants us to, of course, do His work that He prepares us to do; He did not give the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8) as a suggestion to us, but to go out and do. However, we must do the Great Commission out of obedience and worship of Jesus, not out of self-obligation, desire or pride.
The example of Martha, versus her sister Mary, is someone who is so focused on doing the work that it crosses the line of worship into self-satisfaction and self-gratification. We all want to do our best for Jesus and we should endeavor to do so, but not at the expense of our worship of Him. In the case of Martha, she had such a zeal in her preparations that when she saw Mary, sitting in front of Jesus, listening and learning what Jesus was teaching, she became angry that Mary did not have that same zeal to prepare but instead had the zeal to learn and follow Him.
The preparations became something of a source of pride for Martha; her work was no longer serving Jesus but became a demonstration of her skills and determination. It was a source of her sinful thought that everyone else, especially her sister, should have that same determination. It can happen to us today; we focus on how we will look in doing the work and not of what the work should accomplish.
An opposite but equal occurrence also happens; we may avoid work to look good. One example would be if we are on our way to church, and we come up to someone who has a flat tire, and appears to be struggling to get the spare tire out of the trunk or the flat tire’s lugs loose. We are all showered, and wearing clean, ‘Sunday best’ clothing, with dress shoes. Do we stop to help that person, and risk walking into church disheveled and dirty, or do we drive on by and let them struggle? Are we more concerned over appearances or doing the work the Lord requests that we do?
Sometimes we avoid the difficult conversations of our Faith as we don’t want confrontation with those who don’t share that Faith. Again, avoiding the conversation, perhaps telling someone ‘It’s OK to believe in your own way’ makes you look good in their eye, but are you following the teachings of Jesus in His Gospel message?
Galatians 5 was written by Paul to provide a message of living in Christ, for Christ, through the direction of the Holy Spirit. Working and walking in the Spirit overcomes the desires of self, or of our flesh. Paul provides we often struggle over the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit, and in Truth we humans often give the victory to flesh. Sometimes it’s inadvertent; Martha likely didn’t start out with a plan of making herself look pious by working so hard to be a great hostess, but it ended up that’s what happened. Jesus likely appreciated her desire to take care of His and His disciples’ needs, but not at the expense of her opportunity to learn from Him.
It is not wrong to do our best and to have a desire to have the Righteous appearance of Godliness, orderliness, and cleanliness. Don’t skip the shower, please, if you can all help it. If you have a role to play in church, as a leader or major contributor, it’s good to make plans and preparations to accomplish that role. Just do it for the right reasons, to uplift Jesus and not yourself. Do it as a part of worship, and make sure part of your efforts is to worship Him.
If you ever end up changing a tire for a stranger on a Sunday morning, invite them to church. Whether they come or not, don’t feel like you can’t come in with a dirty shirt or dirty hands – most churches have bathrooms so you can wash your hands. Most people won’t care your shirt is dirty as long as you’re there in worship – and come to church in worship, to worship. Do the Lord’s work in whatever gifts and capacity He provides you, but do it in worship of Jesus and to the benefit of others who are worshipping.
