One Thing Is Necessary

January 29, 2023 · Luke

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Series · Luke · Week 9 of 34

Scripture referenced 8 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Romans 5 hope will not lead to disappointment, God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love

1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
5 and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
13 For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
15 But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
16 The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.
17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.
20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Proverbs

no human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord

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1 Peter 1

praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,

5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,

7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

8 whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory—

9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,

11 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.

12 To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

13 Therefore prepare your minds for action, be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

16 because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”

17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:

18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;

20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.

24 For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

25 but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

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Luke 10:38-42

the main sermon text, Mary and Martha

38 As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”

41 Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

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John 11

identifies the village as Bethany and mentions Lazarus as Mary and Martha's brother

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”

4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”

8 The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”

9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”

11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”

12 The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.

15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”

16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”

17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”

29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”

37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”

41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”

45 Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.

46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.

47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,

50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

51 Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53 So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

56 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, “What do you…

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Acts 22:3

Paul educated at the feet of Gamaliel, used to show Mary's posture was that of a disciple

3 “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today.

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James

a double minded man is unstable in all his ways, connected to the word for distraction

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Colossians 3:1-2

closing benediction, set your heart and mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God

1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Pastor Toby worked through Luke 10:38-42, the story of Mary and Martha, and let the congregation in on something he is genuinely wrestling with himself. The passage turned out to be less about correcting Martha and more about recognizing how easy it is to be so consumed with doing good things that we stop paying attention to God.

What was said

The text lands Mary and Martha right between the Good Samaritan and the Lord's Prayer in Luke's ordering. Pastor Toby pointed out that this is not accidental. Loving your neighbor through service, sitting at the feet of Jesus in attentive devotion, and depending on a gracious God through prayer form a sequence. You cannot do the first well while neglecting the middle one.

Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, which Pastor Toby said is genuinely wonderful. But the Greek word behind "distracted" carries weight worth pausing on. It can be read passively, meaning outside pressures pulling her apart, or in the middle voice, meaning she was troubling herself. He said he thinks both are true, and that the middle voice is the one that cuts deepest: a lot of the time when we are greatly troubled, we are greatly troubling ourselves.

When Martha comes to Jesus and asks Him to tell Mary to help her, Pastor Toby stopped and noted what she was actually doing. She was telling Jesus what to say to someone else. He tied that directly to the survey cards from the previous week, where many people in the room identified hypocritical or pharisaical Christians as the biggest obstacle to the gospel. It is easy to be convinced the message is for someone else.

Jesus responds to Martha with her name twice, which Pastor Toby described as tender rather than scolding. The word He uses for worry there, drawn from a root meaning to be pulled in opposite directions, is the same word James uses for double-mindedness. Jesus is not dismissing the preparations. He is saying that while Mary is present with Him, Martha is going to pieces over many portions, and Mary has chosen the one portion that matters right now.

At this point Pastor Toby turned confessional. His brother regularly tells him on the phone, "I knew you were doing something," and his father recently told him he was close to being a human doing instead of a human being. He said he repented when he heard it. He described four years without a vacation at a job he loved, and how a mission trip that stretched to three and a half weeks was the first time in a long time he genuinely heard from God, because he had stopped long enough to listen.

He closed by naming the three-part sequence in Luke again: serve your neighbor like the Samaritan, pay attention to Jesus like Mary, and bring your dependence to God in prayer like the Lord's Prayer that follows. He said our service to others is best set in the context of being in contact with God, and he asked the congregation to pray with him that he figures out the balance, because he knows he has Martha tendencies and he is working through it.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Ray talked about how what we listen to on the radio started to shape his thinking and attitudes without him fully realizing it. What are the things in your daily life that are quietly shaping the way you see the world, and are you aware of their effect on you?
The word translated 'distracted' in the passage carries the idea of being pulled apart or troubled greatly, and Pastor Ray pointed out it can be read as Martha distracting herself rather than being distracted by outside forces. When you find yourself anxious or pulled in many directions, how much of that is something being done to you versus something you are doing to yourself?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 1Always. How does that go again? Just the

Speaker 2Good morning, few and faithful. How are we? Good. As as folks are coming in, how about in a little encouraging word and a song from, Romans five here to lead us in the worship. And would you stand here with me, and we'll sing together.

But from Romans five, it says, hope will not lead to disappointment, and it doesn't. Hope does not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God loves us because he's given us the Holy Spirit. Praise God for the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Shall we sing of it? My hope is in you.

Alright. Let's meet with you.

Speaker 1I've got a few more than a few announcements, I think. There's a lot going on. A lot of what's going on is retreats. Retreats are coming up. But Monday Retreat.

What's happening?

Speaker 2Yeah. We are on tomorrow. Meal, music, and message. Jeff and Susan Corbett are going to make gumbo. So a gumbo night for Monday night.

And then we are in Mark chapter seven. Jesus teaches about inner purity. Why does that discussion come out? We'll find out tomorrow. Real music message and a conversation.

Speaker 1Very nice, Carl. Thank you. If you would like to do what Jeff and Susan are doing this time around, by making a meal for Monday night, you can do that or connect hour. You can do that if you sign up in the fellowship hall. There's a men's retreat coming up called the Word Retreat, February twenty third through twenty sixth.

Couple $100, but if you wanna go, don't let that stop you. If you don't have that, there are scholarships available. That's coming up. If you wanna talk to Matt Litzelman, Amy Litzelman's right over there. If you wanna talk to them about going, that'd be great, you can talk to me.

I am planning on going on this one. It's the twenty third through the twenty sixth. Ladies fellowship on Thursday evening, 6PM in the Fellowship Hall. That's happening Thursday evenings. They get together and they eat and they pray and they study the Bible together.

It's good, good time. Women's retreat is coming up March 16 through the nineteenth at the Moss Avery Lodge over in Idaho. It's a $150. You can talk to Nancy Toracciano about that. She has sign ups back in the back too.

The clicky clicker is not working there, Blake. So this is the youth group starting up February 2, I believe. Is that right? If that's a Thursday? This Thursday.

High school. High school. Alright. High school group. Ascent, student youth group, and that'll be meeting at the tribe ministry center this Thursday evening.

There's a young adult Bible study on Sunday evenings, thirty in the evening. Location changes on that, but if you'll contact Erin Anderson, and there's her number, you can be a part of that. That's a fun group too. Very interested in digging in and becoming community the community of Christ. Very good.

Ladies' Adventure Day. This is today. Right? Does anybody wanna tell what's happening here? That's it.

It's right there. Skinning up Snow King. Alright. Y'all have fun. I'm glad that's the ladies' adventure day.

That's wonderful. Sounds great. There's a congregational meeting today between services, so that's 10:00 today in between services. I've tried to fashion the service accordingly. I don't think we'll run over into the mid midtimes.

Is there anything else I need to announce? Natalie? I don't think it made a bit, but if gathering is happening March third and fourth, it should be in the long form announcement email. Yep. March third and fourth, the if gathering is happening this year.

The closer we get to it, the more you'll hear about it, I'm sure. But March third and fourth, if you wanna plan on that. And if you would, stand up. If you're redeemed, we're going to sing. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Speaker 2Listen to this encouraging word from from Proverbs in light of what we just sung. It's no human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord. Isn't that good news? No human wisdom or understanding can can stand against the Lord. He truly is on his throne.

We're have a seat here for a moment. This is worship through giving part of the service. We're gonna sing Living Hope because that is indeed what God is. From first Peter one, it says, praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great mercy. Thank you lord for your mercy.

You've just given us a new birth into a living hope because we have a living God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance future, into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade. That is really good news.

Speaker 1And Ray, would you pray? God, thank you for this for this place to gather. Thank you for this time together, for people coming together with an accord, Lord. We're here to worship you. We're here to seek after you and, Lord, what you would have us to carry out to advance the gospel in our lives, Lord.

We pray that we would see where it is that you're working within us and that would be molded moldable, malleable, ready for transformation and change. That we'd embrace what it is that you are attempting to do within our very own lives. Lord, but through that process, we pray that you'd reach others. Would you show us lord what to do lord but before that, would you just show us how to be in Jesus name lord. I'm asking that you would that you would just accompany your word today and get us to a place of complete surrender at your feet in Jesus name.

Amen. I just heard a children's church. It's pretty good. It's time. Children's church.

It's time. It's good to have something to look forward to, ain't it? Always is. Living hope. Okay.

This is what we're up to today. Luke 10. It's only a few verses, 38 to 42. Confessional preaching. I this this week and last week, and I usually try to start three weeks out reading the passage, kinda getting familiar with it, knowing what's between, knowing what's after.

And this one's been in there, and I thought surely I'll add something to that. It's only a few verses, but I'm gonna stick with just what it says. Okay? Just these few is probably enough. Years ago, I had a job working for a safety company.

Some of you all have heard about it. I, in the ninth grade, passed out in front of an English class because I hate standing in front of people. And for five years, I worked this safety training job. And My job would be drive somewhere, do a safety inspection of a sawmill, or a factory, or nursing home, and then I would teach the employees whatever OSHA required classes they were supposed to have. Basically, we were the safety man for a company that was big enough to need one, but small enough that they felt like they couldn't pay for one full time.

So I'd come in, keep up with their accident injuries, all that sort of stuff, and I rode around a lot. And I loved the job. And I didn't take a vacation for four years because I am a workaholic. That's hard to admit. But I went on a mission trip that was supposed to be one week.

I called my boss and I said, Hey, I've never taken a vacation until now. I feel like I'm supposed to stay. And he said, Stay. I'll either do your meetings for him or I'll cancel him. Don't worry about it.

Stay down there. If the Lord needs you down there, stay down there. So I stayed for three point five weeks. And then over the next year, worked towards getting into Mexico. Not even a year.

Was eight months later. We're living in Mexico. And I called Tanya from the trip. I called my boss from the trip. And I was like, Man, this is different.

This is something new and different. And it was kind of scary, honestly. But as I rode around, I would listen to the radio. And I'll say this, whatever you listen to affects you, whether you think it does or not. And so as you're riding around, I like baseball games because they pass a time like nothing else.

But I also listened to Christian radio, and I'd listened to some politics speak kind of it was a long time ago. And I realized that, man, it really starts to sway you. It's amazing how much it starts to sway. You start laughing at people and things that you wouldn't have laughed at otherwise. It's crazy.

So one day I was reading I was not reading, I was radioing. I was listening to the radio. It was a Christian radio broadcast. This Debbie Stack person came on the radio, and she had written this book called Martha to the Max. And she was on it wasn't Caleb, but it was something like that.

The person Martha to the Max, Balanced Living for Perfectionists. And I thought that Tanya needed to have this book. And I listened. I thought the lady was hilarious. I stopped at a Christian bookstore because I was in the South and you can do that.

I picked one of these copies of this book up. And I took it home and I said, you would love this. This lady is really funny and it's going to be really good and I think it's going to be helpful for you. Yeah. I have always considered myself a Mary in a Martha world.

Know, I really, really, really have. But Tanya is distracted by many things. And I knew it was for her. And so I left it in the house and she didn't read it. And I left it in the house and she didn't read it.

She had a list of things to do before she read it. And I thought that was hilarious. And so one day while she was cleaning up the house, I sat down and read it out loud to her. The whole book. She loved it.

She loved it so much she said, my mama needs to hear this. So I read it out loud to her mama. And the whole time I was gloating. I don't know. I was thinking, I'm married.

I don't have anything to worry about right here. I'm not. And I didn't know that. And I read that whole book to her out loud. And we're going to just cover this and then think about kind of where it is in Luke and what do we need to do with this.

So here we go. Now as they were traveling along, that's pretty nonspecific. Now last week was from Luke. If you remember last week, I gave you all those cards and you filled out the cards and you talked about who's trustworthy, what's the bigger group that should be trustworthy, and then who do you think is most antithetical or offensive to the gospel, and you all had a smattering of answers. I told you I'd look them over and see.

So some of you, a lot of you said the left is the problem, And a lot of you said the right is the problem, which I was happy that we had both sides represented there. More of and I was selective about the answers when I went through them. I didn't read every single one last week because it didn't fit the story. I knew what I was doing. You all didn't know what I was doing, or I kind of knew what I was doing.

But the last group was the biggest group, I should say, Christians or so called Christians or Christians in name only or hypocritical Christians or pharisaical Christians. And that, I think, helpful because it tells me that you're here to listen, not to be an us against them. It's kind of like way back when G. K. Chesterton answered the newspaper, put out an article, What's wrong with the world?

He just sent back a two word response and said, I am. That's good. So I think that that's really good. It also set me up for this week for feeling something that I was blindsided by. So here we Now as they were traveling along, I don't think that this is chronological, but it is the next thing that happens in the book of Luke.

It's the next thing that happens in my harmony of the gospels because we don't really know where exactly to put it, and this story is not told in the other gospels. Now, you will hear the characters mentioned in another gospel becomes very important as we go forward. Now, as they were traveling along, he entered into a village. We'll learn from John that that village was named Bethany. It was just a couple miles from Jerusalem.

And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. It's Martha's home. It's great. Martha invited Jesus to come in, and I think that's beautiful and wonderful. He welcomed him into her home, quite the gracious hostess, and she had a sister called Mary.

I I can I can already examine this thing? Martha's the firstborn, for crying out loud. There's no doubt about this. Right? Who knows where Lazarus was in this?

But Martha's taking charge. Her home. And she had her sister called Mary. And John 11 will mention this again if you if you are looking at that passage about the resurrection of Lazarus. Lazarus is their brother.

She had a sister called Mary who was also seated at the Lord's feet and was listening to his word. She was paying attention. Actually, this, you know, is almost as scandalous as Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman. This is almost as scandalous as the story he just told about the priest and the Levite and the Samaritan. This is a woman at this time, and she's sitting in the position of a disciple.

And if you don't think that that is the position, it's the same wording as Acts twenty two three when Paul is talking about his upbringing and his education. He says, I'm a Jew. I was born in Tarsus Of Cilicia, brought up in this city and educated under Gamaliel. Literally, it says, at the feet of Gamaliel. There's no doubt about whether this is a position of a disciple, one who is seeking to learn.

It's not just fan girl. Okay? It really is not just that she's enamored with the idea of Jesus. She's listening to what he has to say. She's seated at the Lord's feet, and she was, moreover, listening to his word, paying attention.

Boy. And Martha, but Martha, was distracted with all her preparations. She'd invited Jesus into her home, and he had accepted the invitation, and she was getting things ready. Distracted right there is this is the word, peri spato, peri spato. For those of you who are grammar nerds, this is the imperfect indicative middle or passive, third person singular.

The translation of this, depending on whether it's middle or passive, makes a difference, but I think that both are true. Oftentimes, that's the case. But listen to this. So the imperfect indicative means in the past it was something that was habitual. It keeps on happening, or it kept on happening.

But she was being distracted. That's passive. Or she was being troubled greatly. Distraction is being troubled greatly. It's a different way of looking at things.

She was being distracted by all these things that needed to be done. Or she was greatly troubled by, my goodness, I cannot believe that whatever's not ready yet. And here he is. She was greatly troubled. She's being greatly troubled.

Outside forces acting upon her is the passive rendering. Or if it's middle, she was distracting herself. Oh, that one got me. She was troubling herself greatly. And I think that that gets at the heart of this passage.

I I think that gets at the heart of the passage because it gets at my heart to know that a lot of times when I am being greatly troubled, I am greatly troubling myself. Right? So parispao. It's got it's nice. One one word for distraction.

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him, to Jesus, and said, Lord, do you not care? I might just stop right there. Do you remember the disciples in the boat when the things are going all around? I'd say they were probably distracted by the waves and the wind and the lightning and everything else. And it's, do you not care that we're dying?

It's the same verbiage here as do you not care. He does care. Cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the servant by myself?

Speaker 2Lord,

Speaker 1help us. Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all of this stuff all by myself? Can you believe the nerve? Tell her to help me. She just told Jesus what to say to somebody else.

Oh my goodness. I might have to sit down. Have you ever listened to a sermon and thought, Lord, tell them. Make sure you get them. That's what I did with Tanya in that book.

Lord, make sure she gets this message. She needs it. It would make my life so much easier if she would just sit at the feet of Jesus and watch TV with me. Tell her to help me. Jesus, tell her to help me.

But the Lord answered. Oh, another one of those extra large adversative conjunctions. But Jesus didn't say, yeah, Mary, get up and go help her. But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha. The duplication is an endearing thing.

It's a term of endearing, but to say it twice, it's not, Martha, Martha. It's not that. It's more Martha, Martha. It's, I love you, Martha. Martha.

You're worried and you're distracted by many things. The word he uses for distraction there is different than the parispaio. It's marimnas. The only reason I mention it is because I think wordplay. I think that he uses this and then he uses another word that's related to this later in the verse.

But it is mirimnos. You're distracted. Properly, you are drawn in opposite directions. You're being pulled into different parts. You're going to pieces.

You're being pulled apart. It's an old verb for worry or anxiety. It's literally to be divided or distracted. It's similar to what James mentions when he says, A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Right?

So you're it's usually used in the negative sense. It can be used in a positive sense, but it's almost never used that way in the New Testament. So if you're looking for ground to cover, you could say, He could have been using it right, but he's obviously not, okay? But only, the only is added. The only is in italics there.

If you read the New American Standard, you see italics. It's added usually to help it make sense in English. I don't know why they added this one. There's no only in there. But one thing is necessary.

One thing is necessary. Martha, Martha, you're worried and you're distracted by many things. But one thing is necessary. For Mary has chosen the good part. That's the word I was talking about.

That word is merida. A It portion or a share. In some cases, it's an assigned part. It is an assigned part, and she's chosen to accept the assignment from Jesus. Right?

That's good. So you've got all these different portions you're concerned about, Martha, but Mary's taken the circumstances that exist in the right now, and she has chosen the right portion to focus her attention on. She's sitting at the feet of Jesus. And that shall not be taken away from her. That's so good.

That's the end of the passage, by the way. That's the last thing that we have right there. But one thing is necessary. There's so much that you're concerning yourself with. I mean, we sleep outside, and we eat over a campfire.

It's nice that you're preparing a great place for us. I'm not arguing with you doing that, but you're distracted by so many things. And while I'm here, Mary's just chosen just to listen. Have a seat. Rest, for crying out loud.

I come into the realization here recently, can you ever do enough for God? No. Right? No. The doing.

I call home pretty regularly and they call me pretty regularly. So my brother calls and he says, this is Toby, my brother. Ray, Yeah. What you doing? I'm building something something for the art people, you know, for Tanya.

Oh, I'm going to visit so and so in the hospital. Oh, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do I'm doing that. Painting this. I'm picking up that.

I'm hauling this. I'm helping somebody move. And he he always, when he's talking to me, he says, I knew you were doing something. And when I talked to my dad last, he said, you know, you're pretty close to being a human doing instead of a human being. And I thought, Lord God, I repent.

I don't ever wanna get to be a human doing. I mean, I feel like I'm married and I'm listening to what Jesus says. And he's presented me with this opportunity to do these things and help these people. And here I go do it. Boy, am I sure?

Or am I just saying, Oh, I did this for so and so and I can't not do it for so and so? I am working on this. I'm working on this. I love what I do. I really do.

And I don't ever think that I really feel burdened by it all that much, but the amount of conversations that I've had with you all lately about taking a break or taking a sabbatical has been overwhelming. And hearing the human doing thing kind of said that. I'm not taking a break. Away from preaching, I'm not leaving anywhere. But would you all be praying with me that I strike a good balance?

That I figure this out? That I am able to not deny that I've got Martha tendencies? Does that make sense? I'm working through it. So thank you.

Where I think this is helpful is that the Lord's Prayer is the next thing we hit. So we hit the Good Samaritan, and then we hit Mary and Martha, and then we hit the Lord's Prayer next. Is that beautiful or what? Those three stories in a row, I think, thank you, Jesus. That's so wonderful.

Thank you, Luke, that you had the wherewithal to to put those things in that order. Holy Spirit inspired, I'm sure. But it's just beautiful. So I'm gonna read something. This is from Daryl Bach's commentary on on this.

So this pericope, this little story, is part of a three unit section deals with the disciples' responsibilities before God. So the previous passage gave the first point. Disciples of Jesus are to love their neighbor, which involves service to the one in need. Loving one's neighbor means being a neighbor. That's good.

It's really good. This account shows that attention to Jesus is a key element in the disciple's life. Paying attention to Jesus is a key element. In fact, this account also develops the lawyer's response. Remember, Jesus said, you're right, when the lawyer said what he should be doing.

Loving the Lord his God with all his mind, heart, soul, and strength, and his neighbor as himself, Jesus said, you're right. Do this and you'll live. So he said, do this and you'll live. So this says that in order to do that effectively, you have to be paying attention to the Lord your God. Right?

So this, develops the lawyer's response about wholehearted devotion to God. While love of neighbor is illustrated by the Samaritan, Mary pictures devotion to God and his teaching through faithful attention to Jesus. The next passage, the next passage eleven one through 13, will stress being dependent on a good and gracious God through an active prayer life. To serve others like the Samaritan does not mean that we should be so distracted by the service that we ignore God. Our service to others is the best set in the context of being in contact with God.

Amen. I might advertise the retreats again. If you realize that you are caught so caught up in doing stuff that you just haven't taken time to just step back and and listen to what it is God's directing. Actually, that trip to Mexico for me was that. I've never four years without a vacation, you know, and went down there, and it might have been a mild psychosis.

I just heard what God was saying in a way that I had not for a long time because I've been so busy thinking other people needed to slow down. God is really, really, really good, and he really, really does want you to cast all your cares on him, and that requires rest. It requires Sabbath. If you've been stacking Sabbaths, I'll take it off one day. I'll get it off one day.

That's not the way that works. You need to regularly rest. And I'm preaching to myself, obviously. I work every single Sunday. If I go on vacation, usually preach.

Would you pray with me and then we'll close with a song? And, Ben, y'all can come on back up. God help us. Think of hallowed be your name, lord. If we are hallowing your name, Lord, what does that look like?

It's not just what we do for other people. It's it's whether or not we are listening to you. You have been providing daily bread for us, Lord. We're asking you, daily for that provision. God, help us.

Help us, Lord, to hallow your name and to pay attention to you, to withdraw into the wilderness, to pray, to withdraw, to pay attention to what it is that you're saying. Lord God, we want to do that. We don't want to be distracted by being pulled in so many different directions. Lord God Almighty, would you help us? In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Speaker 2Would you stand and sing with us?

Speaker 1The Colossians benediction is from three one and two. It says, since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your heart on the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Don't be distracted so much by earthly things that you're not paying attention to your heavenly father.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Oh, yeah.

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