One Thing Is Necessary

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened this message in Luke 10:38-42, the story of Mary and Martha, with a confession: he had always considered himself a Mary in a Martha world, and this passage caught him off guard. Working through the text over several weeks, he found it landed closer to home than he expected. The previous week had ended at Luke 10:37, the close of the Good Samaritan story. Pastor Ray had asked the...

Read together

1. Luke 10:38-42 the main passage for the sermon, the story of Mary and Martha
2. John 11 identified as the source for Bethany and the sisters of Lazarus
3. Acts 22 Paul describing being educated at the feet of Gamaliel
4. Colossians 3:1-2 used as the benediction, setting hearts and minds on things above

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray asked the congregation who they thought was the biggest obstacle to the gospel's advance, and the answers that hit hardest were 'hypocritical Christians' and 'Christians who don't act like it.' G.K. Chesterton's two-word answer to 'What is wrong with the world?' was 'I am.' How do you respond to that kind of self-reflection, and where does it take you personally?
2. Pastor Ray said he had always considered himself a Mary in a Martha world, and only recently realized he might be more of a Martha than he thought. Has a Bible passage ever surprised you by landing on you in a way you did not expect? What happened?
3. Jesus tells Martha she is 'worried and distracted by many things,' and the word Pastor Ray described means being pulled apart in different directions, going to pieces. What are the things that most pull you in different directions right now, and how do you recognize when that is happening to you?
4. Pastor Ray's dad told him, 'You're pretty close to being a human doing instead of a human being.' What is the difference between busyness that comes out of sitting at Jesus' feet and busyness that crowds that out?
5. Darrell Bock's commentary, as Pastor Ray read it, says that in order to love your neighbor well you have to be paying attention to what God is saying first, and that our service to others is best set in the context of being in contact with God. Where do you see that order break down in your own life, and what has helped you get it right?