The Capacity That Comes With Closeness
Priceless Lessons | Barry's Bureau | VBS 2026
The Capacity That Comes
From Closeness
A Message by Stacy Jones · Schrader Lane Church of Christ
— Luke 10:42 (ESV)
Mary vs. Martha: Two Postures
for the Master
→ Resentful → Comparative
with Jesus
by the Master
→ Purposeful → Prepared
with Jesus
5 Ways to Choose the Good Portion
- 1Protect your sitting time — spend time at the feet of Jesus before you serve anyone else.
- 2Audit your busyness — ask if your activity is substantive for God's kingdom or just motion.
- 3Reorder before you react — when frustration rises, check whether you sat before you served today.
- 4Move from incidental to intimate — being around church is not the same as being in Christ.
- 5Choose the one necessary thing — let closeness to Jesus be the anchor of every other decision.
Your sitting determines how you serve."
— Stacy Jones, VBS 2026
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Stacy Jones's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ — 2026 Vacation Bible School
In a world that rewards the busiest person in the room, Jesus quietly calls us to something better — not less activity, but better priorities. In this powerful VBS message from Stacy Jones, the story of Mary and Martha shows us that the capacity to serve well flows from closeness to Christ.
The Capacity That Comes From Closeness
You know that feeling. The one where you are doing everything right — the food is almost ready, the table is almost set, every detail is nearly in place — and yet something inside you is unraveling. You look around and wonder why no one else seems to notice how much you are carrying. Frustration creeps in. Maybe a little resentment, too. And before long, what started as an act of service has quietly become a source of bitterness.
Sound familiar? Most of us have been there. And according to a message delivered during Schrader Lane's 2026 Vacation Bible School, the problem is rarely the task itself — it is the order of our priorities.
What Jesus Actually Rebuked
In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus and His disciples are welcomed into the home of a woman named Martha. She opens her home, accepts the responsibility of hospitality, and begins to serve — which was entirely proper in her culture. Her sister Mary, however, takes a different posture. She sits at the feet of Jesus and listens.
When Martha complains and asks Jesus to send Mary into the kitchen, His response is both tender and convicting: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:41–42, ESV)
In this VBS message, Stacy Jones makes a clarifying point that many of us miss: Jesus was not rebuking Martha for working. He was rebuking her because she had allowed the work to displace the one thing that matters most. There is a critical difference between excellence for excellence's sake and excellence with a kingdom purpose — and that distinction changes everything.
Sit Before You Serve
One of the most memorable phrases from this message is simple enough to put on a refrigerator but deep enough to restructure an entire life: "Sometimes you need to sit before you serve."
Stacy Jones paints a vivid picture of a church volunteer who has been on their feet all day, whose back is aching and patience is thin — and who then greets a guest as if the gathering is an inconvenience rather than a gift. We have all encountered that person. What happened? They skipped the sitting. They went straight to the serving without ever spending time at the feet of Jesus, and so their service lost its source.
The point is not that serving is wrong. The Church needs willing hands and faithful workers. As Jones puts it, we need kingdom people who are willing to work, families willing to serve, and congregations willing to carry the responsibility. But here is the crucial truth: the quality of your serving is directly connected to the depth of your sitting. When you are filled at the feet of Jesus, you serve with joy, patience, and perspective. When you are not, you serve with frustration, comparison, and resentment — and everyone around you can tell the difference.
Mary was not being lazy. Mary was being strategic. She understood that being prepared by the Master is better than preparing a meal for the Master. Placing yourself before Jesus is the prerequisite to placing anything else before others.
Distraction Produces Frustration — Every Time
Jones identifies what was truly happening to Martha: she was distracted, and that distraction produced a predictable chain reaction — frustration, anxiety, comparison, and resentment. She questioned Mary's choices, criticized Mary's priorities, and then attempted to command Jesus' response. That is what unchecked distraction does to us. It does not stay quietly in the kitchen. It begins to infect the entire gathering.
To illustrate the power of reordered priorities, Jones shares a story about his four-and-a-half-year-old son, Shane. On mornings when Jones is in a hurry to make a meeting, Shane does not cooperate on the timeline. He wants to keep his pajamas on. He politely but firmly says, "No, thank you, Daddy." And here is where the lesson lands: when Jones stops and reminds himself that his son is the priority, everything shifts. He kneels down. He makes it a game. He slows down and connects. And he still makes the meeting — but he gets there as a better father and a better man, not just a more punctual one.
The application is unmistakable. When we reorder our priorities and put closeness to Christ at the top — when we kneel before we rush, when we sit before we serve — we actually increase our capacity to handle everything else. It is not produced through frantic effort. It is produced by remaining connected to the source of life.
Activity Without Intimacy Is Exhausting
One of the most convicting questions in this entire message is this: Are you connected to church activity, or are you connected to intimacy with Christ?
Stacy Jones is clear: he wants us to be active in the ministries of the church. But he does not want us to be so active in the ministries of the church that we become disconnected from Jesus Himself. Because when that happens, our activity loses its transformative power. We can serve on every committee, volunteer at every event, and show up at every gathering — and still be running on empty, irritable, and difficult to work with.
The difference between incidental contact with Jesus and intimate connection with Jesus is the difference between going through the motions and being genuinely transformed. The closer we stay to Him, the greater our capacity grows — capacity to love, to serve, to forgive, to lead, and to endure. Closeness to Christ does not diminish your output; it elevates it.
"Martha is concerned with what she can place before Jesus — but Mary is concerned that she is placing herself before Jesus. Sometimes you need to sit before you serve."
— Stacy Jones, Schrader Lane Church of Christ VBS 2026
5 Practical Ways to Choose the Good Portion This Week
- Protect your sitting time. Before you serve, lead, or show up for anyone else, spend intentional time at the feet of Jesus through prayer, Scripture, and quiet reflection. Guard this time like it is your most important meeting — because it is.
- Audit your busyness. Ask honestly: Am I busy for the sake of being busy, or am I busy for things that are substantive in God's kingdom? Not all activity is equally valuable. Prune what is not rooted in purpose.
- Reorder before you react. The next time you feel frustrated, resentful, or anxious in your service, pause and ask: Did I sit before I served today? If not, step back before you step up.
- Move from incidental to intimate. Evaluate whether your relationship with Christ is characterized by closeness or just proximity. Being around church is not the same as being in Christ. Pursue the intimate connection.
- Choose the one necessary thing. When everything is competing for your attention, return to Jesus' words: one thing is necessary. Let that anchor every other decision you make.
🎥 Watch the Full Message
Experience the full power of this VBS message from Stacy Jones at Schrader Lane Church of Christ. Watch the complete sermon on YouTube:
▶ "The Capacity That Comes From Closeness" — Watch Now
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Where Are You Right Now — Sitting or Scrambling?
Here is the honest question Stacy Jones leaves us with, and I want to pass it directly to you: Are you placing yourself before Jesus, or are you placing everything else before Him? The meal can wait. The meeting can wait. The ministry calendar can wait. But the time you spend at the feet of Jesus — that is the good portion, and it will not be taken from you.
This week, I want to challenge you to choose Mary's posture before you step into Martha's kitchen. Sit before you serve. Connect before you lead. And watch what happens to your capacity when closeness to Christ becomes your highest priority.
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