Be Careful How You Listen, Love, and Worship

April 13

Luke 10:1-10 tells us about Jesus ministry of sending out seventy-two disciples to spread the peace of the Gospel. He tells them how to receive the hospitality of people of peace in the towns they enter. Their primary purpose is to heal the sick and announce that the Kingdom of God has come near. But if the townspeople reject them, they are to publicly rebuke the city’s people and announce that the Kingdom of God has come near. The first announcement of the Kingdom’s nearness is a word of encouragement; the second is a word of judgment.

Jesus said that those townspeople who reject the message of these disciples will incur worse judgment than the city of Sodom. (Luke 10:12) Think about the gravity of Jesus’ warning in light of yesterday’s devotion, which ended with Lot’s wife and that fateful look over her shoulder. (Luke 9:62)

Jesus further points out that one of the reasons for miracles is to lead people to repentance. (Luke 10:13) He adds that whoever listens to the disciples is listening to Him, but whoever rejects them is also rejecting the Father. (Luke 10:16)

Be careful how you listen! Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany, made the “right choice” (Luke 10:42) by sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He said. In that story, we see that there are different and very important ways of expressing our love and worship of Jesus.

Oftentimes, Martha gets a bad rap for tattling on her sister and urging Jesus to order Mary to help her with the chores. In this story, we can see that Martha and Mary love and worship Jesus differently. Martha felt that Mary should love and worship Jesus like she did—with acts of service.

Despite our love language and preferred way of worshiping the Lord, though, we should see that if we worship through serving, as Martha did, the “best part” is simply worshiping by listening to Jesus as Mary did. Some English translations use the term “best part” or “best portion.” To this, New Testament scholar A.T. Robertson said that the “best portion” was “the best dish on the table: fellowship with Jesus.”

Application

What are your preferred ways of expressing your love and worship of Jesus? Notice I used the word preferred. Preferred methods of expressing love and worship vary from person to person. Music styles vary. Some may like the “old music” sung from hymnals. Others may like modern praise and worship music.

Unfortunately, over the past few decades, many churches have witnessed and experienced “worship wars” because people in their churches disagree—even with hostility—when it comes to church worship music. Worship styles, which include music styles, are not primary or even secondary theological issues. Worship style preferences should never escalate to the point where we are willing to split a church. Preferences are never valid reasons for dividing fellowship with other believers.

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman