ONE THING IS NECESSARY (Luke 10:38-42) Sunday, January 27, 2019 Series: The Gospel of Luke, Message #49 - Summit EFC - Pastor Doug Corlew Luke 10:38-42 - 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. 41 But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. As empty-nesters, April and I look forward to those times when the kids and grandkids come home. Two or three times a year, we may have the whole family together for a long weekend at our house. And we love it! But one of the great challenges is planning and preparing and serving all the meals. April is very good at it, she does a great job. But it s not easy Because who wants to be in the kitchen when all the conversation is happening in the living room? Besides, the little ones want grandma to be with them in the playroom! So what have we learned? Keep the meals simple, prepare in advance, share the responsibilities, order pizza, cater in some food. Do whatever you can to reduce the stress in the kitchen so you can enjoy the people who have come! Yet maybe that s easier for the hostess to accept when she s entertaining her family. But how would you handle it, if Jesus was coming over for dinner? Order pizza? Make your own sandwiches? Not if you re Martha. Martha had the gift of hospitality, and we thank God for people like her! She knew how to prepare an unforgettable meal, complete with appetizers, soup and salad, a main course, and the perfect dessert. The table would be decorated fabulously, with name cards at each place setting. She enjoyed making sure everything was just right. She loved to serve others And if the Son of God is coming over, surely He deserved the best she could possibly do! But while Martha was busy getting everything ready for dinner, her sister Mary wasn t busy at all. She was sitting still, enjoying time in the living room with the honored Guest. Maybe this was the plan agreed upon before Jesus arrived do you suppose? Martha was Type A; she probably took charge and said, Mary, you sit in the living room and visit with Jesus, and I ll take care of things in the kitchen. After all, you don t want your guest waiting there alone in the other room. That s kind of awkward, and they ll probably notice your cobwebs in the corner, or see that your furniture is getting worn. Better to keep them engaged in conversation. So it all seemed to be working just fine. But somewhere along the way, the situation grew tense. With a guest in the house, you d expect two sisters to get along with each other, wouldn t you? especially if that guest is Jesus! Shouldn t they be on their best behavior about now? It s a remarkable story actually. Just prior to this, Jesus was put to the test by a lawyer who wanted to cross-examine Him. But now He s in a much less hostile environment. He s among friends here people who know Him well and love Him dearly. So what caused all the stress? And how would Jesus mediate this sibling rivalry? 1
It s a story remembered by Christians through the years as having something important to say to us. In our activist culture, we re sometimes told, Don t just sit there, do something! But we might say Jesus message in this text is just the opposite: Don t just do something, sit there! Life is hectic, and Christians can be especially busy as we try to serve the Lord, along with other responsibilities. And in the midst of it all, our greatest need is to be in Jesus presence and to hear His Word. So let s take a closer look at the two sisters and see what we can learn from each. When we look at MARTHA, we re told that that she was DISTRACTED in the LORD S SERVICE. Martha was a busy gal, serving the Lord with her hands. She s engaged in practical activity. She s a doer. She s one of the 20% that does 80% of the work. And the church couldn t survive without her. In our modern age, Martha is just the kind of person we admire: She stays busy, and she gets things done! She volunteers, and she pursues excellence in all she does. And if there s one area Martha excelled in above all, it was hospitality. And that s a godly quality. The Bible teaches us to be hospitable, to open our homes to one another, welcoming and serving people. We know that Jesus visited this home more than once. Could it be that Martha s gracious hospitality was one of the things that drew Him there? I m sure the food was always great; the guest room was cozy and comfortable. So there was nothing wrong with Martha s activity on this day. But apparently, there were some problems with her attitude. So we should all pay attention to this. Sad to say, it is possible to serve the Lord with a bad attitude. How many have ever done that? It is possible to serve the Lord, and do it in a rather unattractive way. For Martha, the problems begin in v 40, as she is distracted with much serving. In the original, the word distracted means to be dragged away, as if she wanted to be doing one thing, but ended up getting pulled away from it. Martha had a long list of things she thought needed to be done. But it dragged her away from the One she was doing it for. How easily this can happen: The reason we volunteered is because we love the Lord, and we wanted to do something special for Him,. to honor Him by loving our neighbor. So we started helping with Sunday School. We got involved serving at the Bridge or the Olive Branch. But the busier we became, and the more problems we encountered, we lost our focus on Jesus. For Martha, her distraction soon gave way to self-pity and resentment. The more she thought about all that needed to be done, the more overwhelmed she began to feel. How is she going to get all this food on the table, hot, at the same time? As she slaves away, all by herself, she starts to feel neglected, unappreciated, taken for granted. Maybe the tension started to build when Martha came into the living room to serve beverages. She gave Mary that look, like, I could use a little help out there, if you don t mind. But Mary was so captivated by Jesus words that she wasn t paying much attention to Martha s body language or facial expressions. Then the pots and pans started to bang a little louder out there in the kitchen, as Martha sets things down and goes about her tasks. Everything OK out there? Mary calls out. Oh yeah, everything s fine, Mary she says, Don t worry about me. You can just. And then she continues mumbling something that Mary didn t quite understand. 2
Five minutes later, Martha storms into the living room. One thing about the Type A personality is, you never have to guess how they re feeling. They bluntly tell it like is, even if they re talking to Jesus. In v 40, Martha goes up to Him and says, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. It s a striking picture of stress in the life of a believer. Martha is out of sorts with Jesus. When you get to the point that you believe God doesn t care about what you re dealing with, something has gone wrong. And yet we ve all experienced that. Lord, don t you care? That s what the disciples asked Jesus, when He was sleeping on their boat in the middle of a storm: Don t you care, Jesus, that we re all going to drown? Jesus, can you see I m bearing this burden all alone, and no one s helping me? Don t you care? That s a rude question, isn t it, especially to ask Jesus! And it s a dumb question. Of course He cares. But Martha is almost as angry with Jesus as she is with Mary, because He s part of the problem! By letting her sit at His feet, and by continuing this conversation, Jesus is encouraging Mary to be lazy, to neglect her household duties, and to be insensitive to the needs of her sister. That s how Martha sees it. So she stops serving Jesus just long enough to scold Him! And to tell Him what to do: Tell Mary to get up and make herself useful! I ve had enough of this, and I could use some help right now!! Of course, she s saying this right in front of Mary, so I m sure that was a bonding moment for the sisters! But again, we ve all been there. It happens in every church, as people race around, doing their thing to serve the Lord. They get distracted from the Lord, and soon they are sideways with each other snippy and critical at what others are doing or not doing. They assume others should have the same interests and passions and priorities they do. If I m willing to serve in the nursery, how come she never does? Why don t people notice how much I do, and come share in this ministry that I m so passionate about! Martha is distracted with so much serving. In all of her doing for Jesus, she lost sight of Jesus. So in v 41-42a, the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary You can hear the tenderness in Jesus voice, as he repeats her first name, like you would a dear friend. This is a rebuke, I guess, but it s a gentle rebuke. He s speaking out of His love for her. Jesus loves Martha just as much as He loves Mary, and He knows that she loves Him too. Aren t you glad that Jesus doesn t respond to our bad attitudes like we might respond to each other? Martha blurts out her frustration in a rather rude way: Don t you care? Tell her to help! Jesus doesn t say, Give me a break, Martha! Don t you care that I m trying to have a conversation here? Don t tell me what do. Just go back to the kitchen; quit whining and making such a big deal out of everything! No, Jesus responds with gentleness Martha, Martha, come on now. Hang on. I know what you re trying to do for Me, and I love you for it. But I can tell that you re all worried and upset about all kinds of stuff, and it s stuff that really doesn t matter all that much. That s not why I m here. It s not that important to Me. Apparently Martha is not doing what Jesus wants, and she s doing things for Him He doesn t want. She hasn t restrained her desire to please the Lord long enough to find out what actually does please Him! There s no doubt her motives are good, and her activity is good. 3
Yet she s out of step with the will of Jesus. Turns out, He didn t want a fancy, complicated dinner. She was making this into more than it needed to be. A simple meal would have been fine. Martha s high standards and lofty expectations of serving the perfect meal those were self-imposed. Her To Do would have a lot shorter if Jesus had written it for her. Do you think you ve ever been in this situation, doing more than God asked you to do? What should you know, as a Christian, when you re distracted, anxious and troubled in your service to Jesus? I think you should know His perspective namely, that only one thing is necessary. And Mary shows us what that is. If Martha is distracted in the Lord s service. MARY is DEVOTED TO THE LORD S WORD. One of the things you may notice in this text is that Mary never speaks. She s the silent character, but her example speaks volumes in v 39, as she (sits) at the Lord s feet and (listens) to his teaching. Unlike Martha, Mary s concern is not so much what she can do for Jesus, but what He can do for her. He could teach her His Word; He could draw her into a deeper relationship with Himself. And that s what she wanted most of all. So Mary gives Jesus her undivided attention. She s not distracted at all; she s sitting in the front row, listening at Jesus feet, She doesn t want to miss a single word. In that culture, to sit at someone s feet not only showed attentiveness, but submission as well. This is the posture of one who is being discipled by a rabbi, and that s what makes this so remarkable. In the first century, women were treated as second class citizens. No Jewish rabbi would ever allow a woman to sit at his feet and learn about God. Somehow they had the idea that theology was for men only, and not for women. But Jesus not only allowed this, He encouraged it. Jesus elevated women to a place of equality and greater honor than previously existed in the ancient world. He welcomes men and women to learn and grow as His disciples. Mary revels in this opportunity. And Jesus affirms her, saying, She has chosen the one thing that is necessary. In effect, Jesus crumples up Martha s To Do list, and says that Mary is doing the only thing that actually has to be done, and that is, to listen to His Word. Remember, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, to offer His life on the cross. So time was short. He would not be with them much longer, and He still had a lot that He wanted to convey to them. So Martha really didn t need to be making a fuss over what He s going to eat. Dinner could wait. What Martha really needed was to sit down like Mary, and connect with Jesus. Mary has chosen the good portion. Jesus says, and there s a wonderful play on words here a double meaning, because the word portion was usually used in the context of a meal. So one translation says, Mary has chosen the best dish, the portion that is needful (Moffitt). In other words, while Martha was busy preparing a banquet, Mary was already having one! She was feasting on the Word of Christ. This is what she was choosing as her portion. We think of Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses says, Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Mary understood that, and she had an insatiable appetite for the Word of God. Hearing from Jesus was more delightful to her than preparing or eating a delicious food. 4
No doubt, Martha put on a superb feast which they all enjoyed. But the effect of all her work was short-term. By contrast, Mary was devouring a spiritual meal that would be with her forever! That s what Jesus says: The portion she has chosen will not be taken away from her. You can t say that about the portions you ll eat for dinner today, can you? You ll be hungry again within a few hours. But Jesus said, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:35). In other words, Jesus Himself is the good portion, and we get to know Him through His Word. And that s the one thing that s truly necessary. Those who don t know God will choose a thousand other things above hearing a sermon, or spending time in prayer or Bible reading. They d much rather get in the buffet line that at their favorite restaurant than sit down for a conversation with Jesus. But not the psalmist, He says, The LORD is my chosen portion, and my cup (16:5). Mary would say the same thing! So it s a good thing to serve the Lord, as Martha did, but it s even better to love the Lord and learn from Him, as Mary did. Because what we do for Jesus is not the heart of our relationship with Him. Our relationship with Christ is always based on what He does for us. We re not saved by our doing for Jesus; we re saved by receiving what He has done for us. And once saved, we can only serve Him effectively as we continue to receive from Him daily. Ministry is to be the overflow of a relationship with God. If we re too busy to nurture that relationship, then we re too busy. Again, this is not to say that a quietist honors God more than an activist, or that a contemplative lifestyle is better than a life of doing good. No, that totally misses the point. Don t forget, Jesus just told the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach us the importance of doing good, loving our neighbor. The glory of Christianity throughout the centuries has been the great humanitarian works that have been done in Jesus name from feeding the hungry to caring for the sick. So this text isn t saying, it s better to sit down and do nothing but study, than to get up and do something good. What this passage affirms is the priority of listening to Jesus as the foundation for active service. Thankfully, we don t have to choose whether we ll serve Jesus or listen to Him. We should do both. And we can, if we put first things first. God has given us time to do everything He s truly called us to do. You may read this story and feel like a Martha. Or you may read it and feel like a Mary. But every Mary is called to serve, just as every Martha needs a prayer life. And if you re a Martha out there, be careful that you don t walk away from here today feeling even more stressed and more anxious because now you have one more thing to add to your To Do list: read the Bible and pray, as if you didn t already have too much to do! 5
Remember, the one thing necessary does not relate to our doing, but Christ s. It s not about what we do for Jesus when we meet with Him, as if He s lonely and missing us, so we better cheer Him up and sit with Him for awhile. Rather, the one thing necessary is for Christ to do something for us, as we listen to Him. Do you see the difference? The gospel is the cure for our distraction, our self-pity and resentment. The gospel is what we need when we feel anxious and troubled and stressed out. That s why we need to show up hungry and teachable when the Word of God is preached. That s why we need to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus, every day, hearing from Him and talking to Him. So do you have a place where you sit each day? Do you have a time when you listen to Jesus? We have a 2019 Bible Reading Guide that you can use, along with the rest of us. Pick one up on your way out today, and just start reading at January 27. As Christ speaks to you through His Word, respond to Him in prayer. This is how you build the relationship. Our theme for 2019 at Summit is, Lord, Teach Us To Pray. We ll talk about it at the Annual Meeting. It comes out of the next verse in the Gospel of Luke. That s how chapter 11 opens, which come to next week. Lord, Teach Us To Pray. In the midst of all our activity, as we seek to do good for the Lord, let s not forget to meet with the Lord. We appreciate your service at Summit; we re thankful that you volunteer. But we don t want to become a church of activists, unless our activity emerges from time spent in the company of Jesus. So, Don t just do something, sit there! As you choose the good portion, it will not be taken away from you. Amen. 6