Opening Activity

• Today we will learn what the word “worship” means. Does anyone have an idea about how we worship God? (through songs, reading the Bible, praying, etc)
• Worship is something we do to show God that we honour, respect, and love Him. However, we can easily worship God for the wrong reasons if we’re not careful! A character in today’s Bible story will teach us about true worship and the reasons we worship God.

Bible Story

• As Jesus and his disciples were travelling, they came to a town where Martha lived with her sister Mary. The sisters welcomed Jesus into their home and Martha immediately began to work very hard to get supper ready for Jesus. While Martha busied herself in preparing the meal, Mary just sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his teaching.

• Martha was upset that her sister was not helping her, so she went to Jesus and said, “Do you see that my sister is not helping me? Tell her to help me.”

• Jesus answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about too many things. Only a few things are important, perhaps just one. Mary has chosen that one thing and I will not take it away from her.”
• Many of us make the same mistake that Martha made. We get so busy working, going to school, playing, or watching television that we often forget the most important thing. We forget to spend time with Jesus! We must be very careful that we don’t get so busy doing good things that we leave out the best! After all, Jesus is the most important thing!
• There’s another time when Jesus was at a meal given in his honour, Mary expressed her devotion to the Lord by breaking open an expensive jar of fragrant oil, anointing Jesus’ feet with it, and wiping them with her hair. Some objected, but Jesus commended Mary for her actions.
•  There are many ways we can worship God: singing worship songs, listening to a Bible lesson, praying, serving God and others, etc. But Mary teaches us that having the right heart about worship is what’s important.
• We don’t worship God to show off, get what we want, or to be noticed. We worship God to honour Him and tell Him that He is greater and more wonderful than anything else on earth!
• So, the next time we worship and praise God, we can remind our hearts to be ready to honour Him.

Questions

1. Where is Jesus? (Martha and Mary’s house.)
2.  What does Mary do? (She worships Jesus by sitting at His feet and listening to Him.)
3. What does Martha do? (Distracts herself by getting ready for Jesus to stay.)
4. Why does Martha get frustrated? (Because she feels like Mary should help her.)
5. What does Jesus say to Martha? (That the best thing to do is worship Him instead of worrying about other things.)
6. What does Mary teach us about worshipping God? (That we need to be still, be ready to listen, and seek nearness with Him.)
7. What does Martha teach us about worshipping God? (That worship is less about actions and more about opening our hearts up to hear His word.)
8. What else does Mary do for Jesus? (She pours expensive perfume on His feet and wipes it with her hair.)
9. What do we learn from this act of worship? (That true worship means loving Jesus more than any expensive possession we own and even being willing to give it up for Him.)