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Luke 10:38-42. (Part 2)
Jesus corrects Martha.
Have you noticed in this scripture how Jesus replies to Martha? He doesn’t say
to her that he wishes she was more like her sister. He knew that each of them
are unique, and that the issue was that they had to be more like the other.
What he wanted was that when they are faced with a choice to worship or to
work, Mary had chosen the better part. That better part is a choice we can
freely make to, but often we take the Martha way.
I think we all have this battle of Mary and Martha going on in us sometimes
Part of us wants to be like Mary and spend time worshiping God, and then the
other part of us is like Martha, there is just so much to do.
How do we choose the better part and still do what really needs to be done?
The answer lies in Jesus. He is our supreme example.
He was never in a hurry, he knew who he was and where he was going.
He was not held hostage to the world’s demands or even to its desperate
needs.
And I think the key lies in 10 powerful words from John 5:19 that helps him in
life to respond to the overwhelming demands he was faced with in ministry.
Here are the same words that can also help us in our life as well.
“ I only do what the father tells me to do”
Did you get that. Are we burdening ourselves with doing stuff God is not asking
of us to do?
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I want to share with you something personal, I have had two court
appearances in front of a judge. Both of them were basically the same thing. I
haven’t got time to go into the detail, but I share with you this much.
The first incident occurred when I was coming back form Clyde dam on a
Friday, was in a rush to get home fast as, and Carmen and I had just started
going out, and I wanted to get back to Dunedin so I could see her, (So its her
fault really).
Any way I was stuck behind a car who was going as slow as a 3 legged cow with
a blind fold on. So I decided to pass him on the gravel road, in what I can only
class as such a well-orchestrated beautiful manavouring of driving that would
have made Possum Bourne the rally car driver proud. I passed him sideways at
a great rate of knots that had my knuckles showing a new shade of white on
them as I clutched the steering wheel with vice like grip, holding on for dear
life.
The cop was hailed down by this motorist whom I had passed sideways. When
he gave chase to me and finally caught up with my wanna be boy racer coupe
car, with my non worked motor, standard carbs, and factory wheels, the cop
and I then shared a brief moment with the same cheeky smile from ear to ear
as wide as Texas. The cop repeated the words to me, that had been relayed to
him, from this guy,
“he was going like the clappers, spraying stones everywhere.”
After the cop and I finished laughing, we both knew that there was a
consequence for my rally driving, as good as it was, well in my head anyway.
Heres the thing.
What caused me to slow down in latter life?
Getting older and losing that edge of pushing the envelope,
failing eyesight, as need glasses now.
a family station wagon, as its not cool to rally drive in that is it?
Maybe its because I’m Presbyterian now, and we do things decently, and in
order.
What will it take in your life to slow you down, and spend time with the Lord?
Sickness, death of a loved one, financial hardship, a broken relationship. We
reject God more than we recognise sometimes. But know this, God may be
relegated to the backblocks in our lives, but that’s not where he wants to be.
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We may reject him to the back blocks, but he never rejects us. Why do we
treat the one who formed us from dirt, treat him like dirt, why do we do that?
I think he deserves more than that.
What does the world demand of us?
Do more,
But our Father whispers “ Be still and know that I am God.
take work home,
But our Father whispers “Be still and know that I am God.
Work the weekends,
But our Father whispers “Be still and know that I am God.
go visit that factory on your holiday,
But our Father whispers “Be still and know that I am God.
take your cell phone with you, so we can contact you if there is a problem)
But our Father whispers “Be still and know that I am God.”
Jesus had a lot of people demanding his time, and his healing. He kept the
main thing the main thing, and only did what his father told him to do.
There’s a lot of ministry that needs done, and demands of us, our time, and
money. Before we try to do it all, maybe we should ask the question,
what is it Father God you are asking me to do?
When we put work before worship, it’s like we are placing the cart before the
horse. The horse (Worship) has to come first. Otherwise the load is too much
to bear. And we can break under pressure. God provides the horsepower that
we need to pull the load.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
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Is this not the rest we desire? Why are we not getting this point? Jesus is
inviting us to soak ourselves in His presence, to hear our Father God’s voice
and discern His will for us.
As a sparky we would wire up motors and there would be a contactor and an
overload that would monitor what the motor is doing and it was a protection
device, to protect the motor from burn out. The overload would be set at a
certain current value and often at this place I worked at, the workers would
change this setting to a higher value. End result, burn out for the motor. There
would be warning signs for overload, fault indicator lights would come on.
Extra heat around the motor, and contactor and overload. Often the workers
would ignore all this and keep resetting the overload until the motor stopped
completely and then they would call me to fix it.
There are warning signs for a Martha type overload.
Here are some things that can cause a Martha type burnout.
1. There should be no limits to what I can do. (Lets ramp that overload
setting off the scale.)
2. I have the capacity to help everyone.
3. I am the only available person to help.
4. I must never make a mistake, and it has to be absolutely perfect.
5. I have the ability to change another person.
Is what you are doing sustainable. Are you setting yourself up to wear out, and
burn out?
What things do you need to put in place, so that you can be caring, but without
the wearing.
Tactics Satan uses.
The devil wants to bring destruction in our lives. And one of the ways he does
this is by the three deadly d’s of destruction. They are
1. Distraction
2. Discouragement.
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3. Doubt.
Throughout time Satan has used these tactics to bring down God’s best and
brightest. Quite effective really, and simple in execution. Get people to take
their eyes off God and get them to focus on their circumstances, and watch
them derail.
(Satan got my focus on other electricians not helping me at ET church)
Or let them hear about what someone else is doing and that they are going
well in their ministry and then tell them that your not going well in yours and
you should be as good as them or better.
(Satan uses this one on me with my preaching)
When they are deeply discouraged, heres the cruncher, to really put the boot
in. tell them that God doesn’t care about what they are doing and that he
doesn’t care about them.
Then put your feet up sit back and watch them unravel like a piece of wool on
a jersey when it gets caught on a barbed wire fence. Watch what happens and
see the seeds of doubt, discouragement and distraction yield a poor crop.
The devils cunning in his implementation of the deadly d’s that will sooner or
later see people destroy themselves.
3 ways to combat discouragement.
1. Allow for some well placed rest stops. Discouragement is often our
body’s way of saying stop, I need some rest. Try going to bed earlier.
Often things look different with a fresh set of eyes the next day.
2. Take a few steps back and ask God to show you his perspective of the
situation. Often what seems to be an impassable mountain in our eyes is
just a stepping stone in his.
3. Have patience. It can be real easy to get discouraged when things do not
go the way we planned. Often Gods plans are revealing themselves.
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Jesus in her home.
Jesus was teaching in her own home, and she didn’t hear a word.
Martha opened up her home to Jesus, and that doesn’t necessarily mean her
heart was open. In her eagerness to serve Jesus, she almost missed the
opportunity to know Jesus. I want us to get real here, and ask ourselves this
question. In our eagerness to serve Jesus are we missing the opportunity to
know him?
What Mary wanted.
Mary had gone from serving Jesus, to then making demands of him.
Mary’s solution was that Jesus was to tell Mary to help her. Jesus understood
Mary’s complaint, and he gave her what she needed, not what she wanted.
Jesus has always got our best interests at heart. Our god meets our needs, not
our wants, there’s a difference, between what is a need and what is a want.
Transformation.
Martha is transformed by Jesus rebuke and learns that yes there is a time for
work, but there is also a time to worship. The Martha we see latter on in the
Gospels is no longer frantic and resentful, but full of trust and faith. This kind
of faith and trust only comes from sitting at the feet of Jesus.
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Martha.
She was a bit of a worrier. Someone once said that worry is like a rocking chair,
it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
Here’s some statistics about when what we sit on our rocking chair, what we
are worrying about.
40% are about things that will never happen
30% are about the past which can’t be changed
12% are about criticism by others, mostly is untrue.
8% ARE ABOUT REAL PROBLEMS THAT CAN BE SOLVED.
No wonder Jesus warned Martha about her anxiety.
As we press into the presence of the Lord, and still ourselves, what can bubble
to the surface are our inadequacies, our sin His light begins to shine into our
lives and then we want to remove ourselves from the light as it makes us feel
uncomfortable, and so unconsciously we flee from his presences and we can
then overload ourselves with busyness, especially church stuff, so we don’t
have to feel uncomfortable in his presence.
If you are having a problem staying at the feet of Jesus, maybe you need to ask
him this question. Lord by your Holy Spirit reveals to me what is stopping me
from being in your presence.
(Ask the Lord, and then see if anyone got an answer, they don’t need to tell us)
Martha fault was not that she served. He fault was simply this, was that she
swamped herself with so much serving, she forgot to just, be, with Jesus.
Jesus wants us to find that freedom that we can only get through him.
Heres a simple truth we can live by:
I cannot do everything, but I can do one thing.
I cannot meet every need,
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but I can respond in obedience to the need the Spirit lays on my heart. I
cannot carry every load, but I can carry the load God has for me. For his yoke,
indeed is easy, and his burden is truly light.
Pit stop, time to check our motives.
Are we doing the work of Christ with the heart of Christ?
1. Am I serving to impress anyone?
2. Am I serving to receive external rewards?
3. Is my service affected by moods and whims, my own as well as others?
4. Am I using this service to feel good about myself?
5. Am I using my service to muffle Gods voice demanding I change?
Conclusion.
The place Mary found at the feet of Jesus is the same place available to you
and me. It’s a place where we can be comfortable, where we can kick off our
shoes and let down our hair. It’s a place of transparency and vulnerability, a
place where we are completely known, yet completely loved. It is truly a place,
called home.
Jesus not only wants to be at home in us, he also wants us to make our home
in him. Jesus has no interest in being your weekend getaway, or a Sunday
bungalow. He wants to be your home, and at home in us. He doesn’t want us
to be like the Israelites in Isaiah who instead of making God their dwelling
place, they insisted on a more independent living arrangement.
Amen