That One Important Part • Luke 10:38-42

55:06 Teaching begins

Notes

A believer in Jesus is sincere in serving Jesus. But she’s doing too much, she’s burning out, and she’s sore at Jesus and her sister because they’re not doing anything!

There’s her sister, sitting at Jesus’ feet, but it doesn’t look like anything to her. It doesn’t look productive. It’s not important as far as she can see.

But Jesus says she is choosing that one important part.

Do you know what is that one important part?

I’m reading in Luke 10 from verse 38.

1. Martha welcomes Jesus.

A. We know from John 11 that the village was Bethany. It’s pretty close to Jerusalem.

B. Martha invites Jesus.

1. You notice that it’s Martha inviting Jesus. Martha is sometimes thought of as the unspiritual sister because she gets distracted and so forth.

2. Martha is just as much a believer as Mary. She makes the first move to invite Jesus to stay with them. It’s a spiritual thing to want to have Jesus be in their home.

C.  Jesus accepts.

1. He wants to visit Martha. He’s famous, and yet He responds to individuals. His best ministry is with individuals. They’re not too small for Him.

2. He wants to be in your home. You’re not too small for Him.

2. The two sisters react in different ways to Jesus being in their house.

A. Mary’s reaction is to give Jesus full attention. She’s sitting at His feet, listening to everything He’s got to say.

1. Imagine you have Jesus away from the crowds and the craziness, even the other disciples, just Him, all to yourself.

2. This is what you do with famous people. You ask a question, be quiet, and listen. What a tremendous opportunity. Mary doesn’t want to miss a thing.

B. What’s Jesus teaching about? Himself, the Scriptures, how He fulfils them, how the kingdom of God is near. He is the Son of Man, He fulfils God’s promises. He is revealing Himself. Again, Mary is taking it all in.

C. Martha reacts differently to Jesus being in her house. She thinks, I need to show Jesus the kind of hospitality He deserves. Her reasoning goes something like this:

1. Jesus is not an ordinary guest. He’s more than a famous man. He is from God. He is the Messiah. He is special.

2. He is so special that ordinary hospitality will not do. I can’t make Him a tuna-fish sandwich! I want to serve Him and exalt Him as He ought to be served.

3. So Martha plans to show worthy hospitality to Jesus. I have no idea what she thinks that is, just that it’s much more than usual.

3. Martha’s reasoning and her decision to serve Jesus have consequences.

A. She is distracted because she’s trying to do two things at once.

1. There’s Jesus, and He’s teaching, and no man ever spoke like Him.

2. But at the same time she’s getting things ready. This is practical, it has to be right. There’s a lot of details.

3. She finds that she can’t do both at the same time, really. She ends up giving more attention to what she’s doing rather than what Jesus is saying.

B. As she is distracted, she becomes overwhelmed. Her planning might not have seemed too much at the time, but it’s clearly blossomed into way too much for one person to do. Maybe she sees herself as a “can-do” type, but this time it’s too much for her. She’s overwhelmed.

C. Because she’s distracted and overwhelmed she’s anxious. Oh man, this isn’t going well. I should have planned this better. I wish I’d had more notice, but it just kind of happened that Jesus could come. I can’t do all this! What am I going to do? This isn’t going to come out right, and it’s all going wrong, and what’s Jesus going to think? What am I going to do?

D. So finally, the tension and anxiety goes off in an explosion, and Martha yells at Jesus and Mary.

1. Don’t You care? What’s the matter with You? You see me here and I’m struggling and You could do something about it! Like tell my sister to help!

2. Who, by the way, is completely leaving me in the lurch, and shirking her obligations and responsibilities! She’s not super happy about Mary at the moment.

3. I’m all by myself. I’m working alone and nobody’s helping me and nobody cares.

E. As far as Martha sees it, she herself isn’t doing so good, neither is Mary, neither is Jesus. The whole thing is a mess.

F. This is the truth as Martha sees it.

4. Jesus tells Martha the truth because He is the Truth. This is how it really is.

A. “Martha, Martha”, says Jesus. You have to be there to hear the tone of His voice. I think “Martha, Martha” is another way of saying, “My love,”. You know Jesus loves her.

B. You’re worried and bothered by many things but only one thing is necessary.

1. Jesus is telling Martha that what she is doing is not wrong, but it is not required. It’s not essential. Jesus doesn’t need the special hospitality, the exquisite cuisine, the special everything. Jesus would have been fine with a tuna-fish sandwich.

2. It would have been fine with Jesus because He is the Servant of God. This occasion is not about honouring Jesus, it’s about Jesus serving them, because they need Jesus. He’s in their house to teach them the good news. He wants to root them and ground them in Him. This is that one necessary thing.

3. Jesus’ high priority is not eating. He came down from heaven, having existed from all eternity in the form of God, and you’re going to exalt Him by a fabulous chicken soup and some extra special bread?

4. Martha, my love, you’re distracted away from Me.

C. Mary has chosen the good part. She is doing what I want, that’s a paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30

She came to Me, weary and heavy-laden, and I’m giving her rest. She’s taking My yoke upon her and learning from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and she is finding rest for her soul. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

D. It’s so important and necessary and essential that I won’t let it be taken away from her. I will defend her and protect her.

E. Now, it doesn’t say what Martha did, but I believe that she listens to Jesus and she also finds rest for her soul. She finds that this one thing is necessary, everything else is not the same priority. What Jesus thinks is more important than what I think. I want to think like Him.

5. So what?

A. Martha knows Jesus and thinks highly of Him. She believes in Him. Yet she manages to frustrate herself and think lowly of Jesus and her sister. She is missing that one important thing for which Jesus came into her house: to be with Him and learn from Him.

B. Here’s the principle: What Jesus thinks should be what you think. Do you think like Him? The most important thing you need to learn is to think like Jesus.

C. The choice before you is burnout or peace.

1. If you follow Jesus but don’t learn to think like Him, you will naturally and automatically experience a conflict. You will be distracted, wanting to follow Him but also wanting to do what you want. You will concentrate on your obvious strengths, but find you don’t accomplish anything significant. You will do unnecessary things that He doesn’t require of you. You will get frustrated, tired, you’ll burn yourself out. You will be dissatisfied with people. You will get angry at Jesus for not doing what you think He ought to be doing.

2. Let me say also that the devil is going to work so that you do not learn Christ, and you stay on your own, struggling all on your own, and no one cares for you. The devil wants to beat you down without mercy.

3. Your other choice is that you have peace because you’re doing this one thing: learning Jesus. His yoke is easy, His burden is light, therefore you will have rest for your soul.

D. That means taking time to be with Jesus and hear from Him.

1. Some of you might be saying, “He’s talking about a quiet time. That’s the answer to life? Make-work? Busy box?” This is not a meaningless exercise.

2. This is deliberately spending time with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and learning them. This is the good part, the one necessary part. This is the great business of your life. Everything else comes out of that one necessary part.

E. Make the Bible part of your day, every day. The Bible is the only place where you have God Himself speaking to you. That’s where you learn God’s voice, so you know it’s God speaking to you.

F. If you’ve never thought about this before, say to God right now, that you need His help to learn Him through the Bible. The specifics are not so important just now, but the determination is important. This is to be the direction of your whole life. Jesus, please help me to know You.

G. I wrote a couple of books that show you practically to read, study, and meditate. I’ll give them to you for free. Realise, the book will do nothing for you without the decision, Jesus, I want to know You.

H. Jesus will do something radical. He Himself will teach you about Himself.

1. Jesus came right into Martha’s house. He will come to you in a private way, just for you.

2. Here’s what Jesus said. John 16:13-15 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

3. You can pray that to the Father and say, “Please teach me about Jesus. Show me by Your Holy Spirit.” He will do it.

Let’s pray.