Worship - Part 4

 Worship - Part 4

September 2, 2026

Luke 10:38-42 (NASB95) 

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Psalm 95:6-11 (NASB95) 

6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. 10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. 11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

What are some other aspects of worship? What should our response be to worship? In the story of Mary and Martha, we see another posture of worship, sitting. Mary chose the better place, sitting as Jesus’ feet and listening to Him. In our worship, we do lots of singing and shouting and even dancing on occasion, but do we ever sit and listen? Worship should be a two way transaction. We give the Lord our praise and worship but we also need to sit quietly and listen to His voice. And listening involves obedience. In Psalm 95, the psalmist encourages us to worship and bow down, but then admonishes is to not harden our heart. Listening and obeying the Lord will lead to rest. 

There is a time to worship, a time to serve, and a time to rest. Many of us are like Martha, scurrying around to serve the Lord. Not that it is a bad thing in itself, but there comes a time when activity needs to cease, even godly service, so that you can sit at Jesus’ feet, like Mary, and listen to His voice. So by all means worship exuberantly. Sing and shout enthusiastically, but then take time to quietly  listen to His voice. After all, the purpose of entering His courts is to spend time in the presence of the Lord and listen to His voice. So worship, and rest. And then, when He says , “Who will go?”, we can be like Isaiah and say, “Lord, send me.”