Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
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Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Luke 10:38-42; Hospitality at the Home of Mary and Martha
Jason Sterling February 2, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL
Bulletin
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If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to Luke, chapter 10. So go to your New Testament. Matthew, mark, luke, it'll be in the bulletin. It's on the screen behind me. It will be in a moment so you can follow along there if you don't have a Bible with you.
Speaker 1:This morning we have been in a study Meals with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Every gospel has a little different perspective or emphasis, and one of the emphasis of Luke's gospel is the table. There's a lot of meals we see in the gospel of Luke. One writer, a commentator, said in Luke's gospel, jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal. And so we've been looking at these meals in the gospel of Luke over the past couple of weeks and they've been teaching us. Meals reveal something about us, and meals in the gospel of Luke reveal more about who Jesus is and what he came to do, and they also teach us about the realities of his grace. And so this morning we're going to be looking at Luke 10, 38 and following where Jesus is invited over to dinner at the home of two sisters, mary and Martha. This is God's word. Follow along with me. Luke 10, 38 through 42.
Speaker 1:Now, as they went on their way, jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 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. But the Lord answered her 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. This is God's word. Please bow with me and pray as we ask the Lord to help us with this passage. Let's pray together. Father, I do pray that you would help each person here. It's no accident that we're here to hear this particular message on this Sunday. Accident that we're here to hear this particular message on this Sunday You've brought us here. I pray that you would speak, o Lord. We are listening and I pray that you'd be with the one who preaches and that you would calm my anxious heart this morning. I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:It was just one more early morning, rush hour and there were tens of thousands of people scrambling underneath Washington DC in the subway system to make their morning commute. And there was just one more street performer with his ball cap turned upside down in order to collect tips from those who were passing by. But on this particular day, this was not just any street performer. This street performer was different. You see, this street performer teaches music at the Royal Academy of Music in London. This street performer teaches music at MIT. This street performer has produced 24 CDs, one of which sold over 5 million copies. This street performer has received the Avery Fisher Award of Music, basically saying to the world that you are the best in the world at your particular instrument. The street performer was Joshua Bell, and the violin that he was playing on this particular morning in the subway system was worth over $4 million, and to see him in concert was far more than the $37 in tips that he received. On this particular day, 1,097 people walked by him without even noticing who he was. Only seven stopped, mostly throwing in only quarters, and they just simply kept walking.
Speaker 1:The incident was staged by the Washington Post, by journalist Gene Weingarten, and in 2008, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his work based on this incident, and his premise was this that the pace and the busyness and the chaos of our lives cause us to miss the magnificent and the beauty that is right in front of us. That's Luke, chapter 10. Martha is so overwhelmed, so busy and stressed with good things that we'll talk about in a moment, but she's so overwhelmed and stressed and busy that she misses the glory and the beauty of Jesus, the Lord himself, who is right in front of her in her living room. This morning we're going to talk about busyness, but we're also going to see, lord willing, that Jesus invites us this morning to something so much better. To see, lord willing, that Jesus invites us this morning to something so much better.
Speaker 1:Before we dig into this passage, I want you to know the hard part of being a preacher is you got to sit with passages like this for a long time, and so please know that this passage was very convicting to my own life this week. And please know, as always I am a fellow struggler this morning with you in this area of busyness, that I stand before you as someone who is often overwhelmed, is often busy and tired, but if we have ears to hear this morning, this passage offers us something good, really good news, if we have ears to hear this morning and I pray that the Lord would give us ears to hear Three things this morning the reason for busyness, the root of busyness. Lastly, the remedy of busyness. The reason, the root and the remedy. Let's look at our first heading, the reason. Look at verse 38.
Speaker 1:So Jesus comes to this village and a woman named Martha welcomes him. Let me say a few things about Mary and Martha. Jesus loved this family deeply. How do we know? John, chapter 11, verse 5, says Jesus loved Mary and Martha and loved Lazarus, and Jesus is passing through and so Martha invites him over for dinner. And Martha, you need to understand and this is the other thing I think needs to be made clear is that Martha loved Jesus deeply.
Speaker 1:Often, I think, martha gets a bad rap in the scriptures and it's often seen in a very negative way, made out to be the woman who really didn't care or love Jesus. No, okay. Then why isn't she sitting at Jesus's feet? Well, because she loves Jesus and she wants things to be perfect. There was a hospitality that was very prized in this culture and, just like us, if we had somebody we loved or important coming over. We would want the evening to go well and for them to have a good experience. That's what's driving Martha, and so the first thing I want you to see is that Martha is doing very good things. She's busy with good things, not bad things. She's trying to be welcoming and hospitable to Jesus. Verse 39,.
Speaker 1:Her sister, mary, though, is sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to his teaching, and this rubs Martha the wrong way and she gets very irritated because she thinks that she's doing the right thing. And she says Jesus, I mean, don't you care that my sister's left me alone to do all of this work? Tell her to help me. She says Jesus. And so here's the scene Martha is doing hey, y'all just sit there, be comfortable, I got it taken care of. Y'all just make yourself at home. And she's banging dishes around, being loud because she's so irritated, and she's thinking surely Jesus is going to get my back. And he doesn't. And he answers in verse 42, martha, martha, you're anxious and troubled by so many things. Twice he uses her name, which was a sign of affection and care for her, because Jesus wants Martha to see what her sister sees. I love.
Speaker 1:The New International Version says that Martha, martha, you are worried and upset by so many things. The message listen to this, martha. Dear Martha, you are fussing far too much and getting yourself all worked up over nothing. Can you relate to that at all? Take this out of the realm of hospitality and put it in the realm of life. Can you relate to this being worked up and worried and anxious? Worked up and worried and anxious? You see, week after crazy, week after crazy week, we go day after crazy, day after crazy, day after crazy month, worried, upset and anxious, fussing, worked up. Every work deadline, every school project, every dirty room, every athletic practice or game or piano lesson becomes a reason to get stressed out and strung out. We are all so very busy, like Martha, but not with the thing that actually matters most.
Speaker 1:In his book Crazy Busy, kevin DeYoung says that one of the main problems in our culture is what he calls kinderarchy lives ruled by children. And he goes on and he says so much of our structure in our families today is structured around children as never before. And so there was this study and he talks about this study that most kids do not say they want more time with their parents. They actually say that they wish their parents were less tired, busy and stressed out, and the study actually revealed that most parents got a C, d or F in controlling their temper and argued that they're in. This study argued that our children are suffering from secondhand stress and one of the best things that we can do for our children is to stop being so frantic and stop being so busy and frazzled. And then listen to this quote by trying to do so much for them, we are actually making our kids less happy. It would be better for us and for our kids if we planned fewer outings, got involved in fewer activities and made parental sanity a higher priority.
Speaker 1:The most important word in this whole story is distracted perhaps Verse 40,. The word literally means to pull apart, to be dragged away. You know what that feels like when you're trying to do one thing and then you have about four other things that start pulling at you and it literally feels like you're being torn and pulled apart. That's what is happening here. Martha is doing something good, but it's actually dragging her away from what is best. She has replaced Jesus with stuff, replaced Jesus with doing stuff and things for Jesus. You see, the reason for our busyness is often good things. What is it for you this morning? What are the good things that you're busy with that are pulling you away from the main thing, the best thing, jesus? Is your life so busy that if Jesus gets anything, he gets your leftovers. That's the first point, the reason for our busyness.
Speaker 1:Secondly, let's look at the root of our busyness. So how can we tell if we're neglecting the best thing? How can we tell if we are distracted? Well, look at your anger, look at your irritation, look at your discouragement or where you're full of self-pity. Think about Martha's response here. She's clearly irritated. Jesus, tell her to help me. Your anger and discouragement and self-pity reveal your heart. They reveal your idolatry. Martha had made an idol out of the evening. Yes, she wanted to do something good for Jesus. That's a great thing. But we become distracted when we want a good thing too much. And when we want a good thing too much, it actually pulls us away from Jesus. Someone is destroying her idol and that's why she gets so irritated.
Speaker 1:And also, notice that Jesus doesn't criticize Martha for her busyness. He doesn't deal with her busyness on a surface level. He gets to the heart. Deal with her busyness on a surface level. He gets to the heart. He shows that the busyness, what it's really about, and it's about the fact that she had missed the most important thing, which was him. And one of the things we learn is there's something always deeper going on in our busyness, and there are a variety of things, and we could talk a long time about all of those things.
Speaker 1:Let me mention three. What's often underneath our busyness is one thing would be pride. We just want to look good and so, in the name of service, just like Martha, we can be doing good things for all the wrong reasons. Notice the repetition here. Don't you care that my sister has left me to do me myself, me? Mary is making much of Jesus. Martha is making much of herself. The evening you ever do this. The evening has become about her. You ever make things all about you. Often, at the heart of our busyness is pride and self-consumption. It is we are making everything about us and it reveals our pride.
Speaker 1:The second thing that's underneath our busyness is pressure. So pride, pressure. I do too much because that's what people like me are supposed to do, and there's this cultural pressure, and there was a cultural pressure for Martha in this day for things to be good and hospitable and she makes herself completely stressed out. Why? Because it's what you're supposed to do when people come over for dinner. Listen, good hospitality, make people feel welcome yes, that's good. But have we ever stopped? Do you ever stop to ask the question why am I doing all of this stuff? And maybe we're confused by the question why am I stressed out and so worked up and running all over the place doing so many things? Why am I so busy? Well, often underneath, that is a cultural pressure.
Speaker 1:Friends, busyness in our culture is a virtue, it's just what you do. There's this invisible force in Birmingham that says, okay, I've got a free pocket of time, I've got to fill it with something, an activity, a practice or a hobby or a sport or a trip or getting together. And so we go, go, go, trying to keep up with everyone else, because there's this cultural pressure to do so, so much so that we actually secretly, if we're honest, feel some sort of something good when someone says, hey, I don't know how you do it all, I don't see how you keep up, you do so much. And we actually think that is a compliment. And then there's this internal pressure, not just the cultural pressure that we keep pushing ourselves because we think if we finally arrive, if we keep doing all these things, deep down we will feel like we are enough, because deep down we don't feel like we're enough. And we do all of these things oftentimes in order to prove ourselves to God and to others and to ourselves, that we are significant and we are enough. It's a way for us to feel more important.
Speaker 1:Kevin DeYoung again says that a woman was visiting the US and she began to introduce herself as busy because it was the first thing that she heard when she met Americans Hello, I'm busy. And so she just figured that it was part of our traditional greeting and we laugh. But that's a problem. It's a hedge against the emptiness that we feel and it's a way that we can keep because we're getting busy. It keeps us from feeling meaningless and if that's what's going on inside of our hearts, we'll always be too busy because we can't afford to stop and rest and sit at Jesus' feet, because your heart will tell you that you're being lazy, that you're going to miss opportunities or that you're going to be just simply wasting time. You better get to work. Jesus says stop, take a deep breath, believe the gospel Rest. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give rest for your souls. Jesus says you are significant because of what I have done for you, not all the stuff that you are doing.
Speaker 1:And lastly, people pleasing. Why do we do all of these things and why are we so busy? Well, because we're afraid to disappoint people. That drives me. I can't say no because I don't want to disappoint people, and that includes our children. Say no because I don't want to disappoint people, and that includes our children. People-pleasing oftentimes is driving our chaos, because we want to look good and we want everyone around us to be happy, and so we try to do all of these things that God does not expect us to do.
Speaker 1:Jay Sklar, you've heard me share this before covenant seminary professor, he makes all his seminary students stand up in front of the class and look at the class and say I am not the Christ. I am not the Christ, and I think that's a good exercise, not just for seminary students, that's a good exercise for all of us, isn't it? Maybe we should put it on our mirror and every morning we get up, we look into the mirror and say I am not the Christ. Why is that so important? Because it reminds you that you're human, that you're a creature, that you have limitations, that you can't be everywhere, fix everything and know everything. So much more that's driving our busyness that we don't have time to talk about. So much more that's driving our busyness that we don't have time to talk about. But we must get to the heart if we're ever going to live a less busy life.
Speaker 1:Lastly, what's the remedy for our busyness? What do we do? We're all Martha. We're stressed, tired and overcommitted. Is that just the way it is and we have to live with it, or is there an invitation for something better? There is an invitation for something better here. It's Jesus.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 42. Jesus says that Mary has chosen the good portion. So what does that mean? Well, the language of the good portion is taken out of the Old Testament. God's people remember entered the promised land, they get the land, they drive out the Canaanites, and then God starts to divide up the land among Israel, the tribes of Israel, and gives each tribe a different portion of the land and, just like now, owning land. That was a huge deal. It was a source of wealth and security and identity.
Speaker 1:And then we get to the Psalms, and the Psalms start using this language of the good portion, but the psalmist take it in a different direction and start saying things like the Lord is my portion, not the land. The Lord is my portion. Remember Psalm 73? There are others, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength and the portion of my heart forever. In other words, god is my true wealth, god is my true security, not the land. He is the source of my identity.
Speaker 1:And then we see Jesus here talking to Martha and says that Martha has chosen the good portion, so one. He's claiming to be God in the flesh. But he's also looking at Mary and saying or Martha, and looking at us and saying come to me, faith, church, come to me and rest, come to me and you'll find your true inheritance, you'll find your true identity and security. And then the question is okay, so how is that possible? Look at verse 38. Go back to the beginning. Jesus and his disciples were on their way, on their way to where? Well, if you look at the context, which it's important, if you go back into Luke, chapter 9, you'll see that Jesus, he's on His way to Jerusalem. He's on His way to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:To do what? To die? To die on a cross, to do the one thing that you and I desperately need but can't do, which is to reconcile ourselves to God. Jesus is going to Jerusalem to do that work and to bring us home to God and to bring us peace with God. How would he do it? He lived a perfect life and he died the death on the cross that we deserve. He took the punishment that we deserve so that, at the end of his life, remember his last words it is finished, meaning everything that needed to be done to save you, jesus has done. And that is good news, because that means that the only the things in this life that make you truly weary, the thing that you need in order to prove your value or whatever it is for you, that is finished and that is the hope in the rest of the Christian life. And I love how the passage ends and will close Look at that last phrase, which will not be taken away from her.
Speaker 1:Isn't that amazing? If you have Jesus, you have something that is permanent. You have something that the world cannot take away. You have a security that's invincible. You have something that you cannot lose. You have an inheritance that's indestructible. And when we lock onto that by faith and believe and believe it, what is the result?
Speaker 1:Well, look at Mary's life Peace, quiet, calm, contentment, stability. She's just sitting there. She's not running around saying I need this to happen or I've got to make this happen, or else everything else is going to fall apart. She's not saying I've got to be busy so that I can prove that going to fall apart. She's not saying I've got to be busy so that I can prove that I am somebody and that my life will have meaning. Why? Because she's got Jesus. She's got everything that she needs.
Speaker 1:And if you have Jesus, you don't have to run yourself ragged trying to be somebody and make yourself okay, because you already are somebody in Him. You're already okay in Him and that means that you no longer have to strive and fight to be the prettiest and the smartest and the most successful, because you already are if you have Jesus. You see, that morning there were thousands of DCers that were on their morning commute and they were in the presence of greatness as Joshua Bell was playing his violin in the subway. But they totally missed it. And every week thousands of people all over the world sit in services just like this one in the presence of greatness, the presence of a great and magnificent Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they totally miss Him.
Speaker 1:And the question before us this morning is will we Friends? Jesus is saying to every one of us this morning, starting with me, dear people of Faith Presbyterian Church, you are worried and anxious about so many things. Don't miss the best thing because you're so consumed with the good things around you. Jesus says to all of us come slow down, rest, come sit at my feet. That is the best thing and it cannot be taken away from you. Amen, let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for reconciling us to God and for saving us. Would you forgive us this morning for our busyness, so much so that we miss the beauty right in front of us? Would you enable us, by your Spirit, to slow down and sit at your feet so that we might worship and listen to you? We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.