WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 I'd like us to turn back for a few moments this morning to the passage that we read in 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:09.439 Luke chapter 10 and we're going to focus in particular on the very last section of that 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.880 chapter verses 38 to 42. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.480 Now as they went on their way Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:22.960 him into her house and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:24.640 to his teaching. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.080 But Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said, Lord do you 00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:32.559 not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? 00:00:32.559 --> 00:00:34.039 Tell her then to help me. 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:41.399 But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:44.079 but one thing is necessary. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:53.159 Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her. 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:59.439 This short passage, just five verses, form one of the most important passages in the 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.599 Bible about discipleship. 00:01:01.599 --> 00:01:07.079 Here we are learning some crucial lessons about how we live out our lives as followers 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:08.879 of Jesus. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:16.679 As Christians it's helping us to see more about what God's priorities for us are. 00:01:16.679 --> 00:01:20.439 And for all of us whether we're a Christian or not yet a Christian or not sure where we 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:27.000 stand before God, this passage will force us to stop and to think about what really 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:35.359 matters in your life and that's always a good thing to do. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:42.079 One of the most striking aspects of this passage is that it's incredibly ordinary. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:49.039 So it's not a miracle, it's not a great confrontation, it's not a public spectacle, it's just a dinner 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:51.240 at someone's house. 00:01:51.240 --> 00:01:57.920 But I think that that ordinariness is brilliant because it means that ordinary people like 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:02.520 you and like me can immediately place ourselves in this event. 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:10.280 It's a lesson from very normal life which we can immediately apply to your normal life 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.800 and mine. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:21.080 In all of that ordinariness in this simple dinner in a simple house, our priorities are 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:23.480 being challenged. 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.640 And that's what I want us to look at together for a week while this morning and I just want 00:02:27.640 --> 00:02:33.000 to say two very simple things which we can use as our headings. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:42.200 Number one I want to say that we often don't see how dangerous our priorities can be. 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:48.399 And then the second thing I want to say is that we often don't see how amazing God's 00:02:48.399 --> 00:02:52.399 priorities are. 00:02:52.399 --> 00:02:56.879 So first of all let's think a wee bit about the fact that we often don't see how dangerous 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.919 our priorities can be. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:05.839 This passage I think is a clear example of what we could call the dangerous good. 00:03:05.839 --> 00:03:10.399 Now what I mean by that is the fact that very often some of the most useful and helpful 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:14.620 things in life can also be very dangerous. 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:21.280 So one of the most useful things in this building right here is electricity. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:26.319 We need it for our light, we need it for our music, we need it for our screens. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.719 You use it in your homes all the time. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.719 Electricity is one of the most useful things that we have in our daily lives. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:42.800 It's a wonderful thing and it's lethal. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.000 It's lethally dangerous. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.639 Another example is your car, an incredibly useful thing but also very dangerous. 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:55.240 I was trying to find a good comparison to this so I went to the source of all wisdom 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:57.599 Google. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:04.159 And I tried to draw a comparison between driving your car and bungee jumping. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:09.240 So you would think to yourself, well, okay, going for a bungee jump would be very dangerous, 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.240 getting in your car safe. 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:12.240 Yes? 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:14.960 Well, maybe not. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:22.439 According to Google, the chances of death by bungee jumping are 1 in 500,000. 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:28.199 Chances of death in a car accident are 1 in 20,000. 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:35.000 So next time you think about getting in your car, you should go bungee jumping instead. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:41.839 Good things are good but they can also be very dangerous. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:45.240 And I think that's exactly what we see in this passage. 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:52.039 In fact, we see two things that are very good but which can also be dangerous. 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:58.439 They are distraction and duty. 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:02.160 Here we have Jesus coming to Mary and Martha's house. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:04.920 Mary sits and listens to Jesus. 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:10.560 But Martha, as you can see in the passage, is distracted by much serving. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:15.920 Now, it's important to note, and I think I'll say this several times throughout the passage, 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.240 that Martha's intentions are not bad. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:20.160 In fact, her intentions are good. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.240 She's not selfish. 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:22.240 She's not lazy. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:23.240 She's not unwelcoming. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:24.960 She's the very opposite. 00:05:24.960 --> 00:05:28.759 And at one level, what she's doing is very good. 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:33.600 But I think at the same time, one of the points been emphasized in this passage is that the 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:40.519 good, the apparent good that Martha is doing is actually harming her. 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:46.560 Her priorities appear noble but they actually carry danger. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.759 Martha is under the grip of distraction and duty. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:54.680 And of course, exactly the same thing can happen to us. 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:56.800 For Martha, these two things are connected. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.519 It's her duty as a host that's distracting her. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.639 But I want us just to slow down and look at these two things in turn. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:09.000 First then, we see the danger of distraction. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.120 Now, at times, distraction can be a good thing. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:16.240 Sometimes we need to let our minds rest. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:18.480 Sometimes we need to slow down and switch off. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:24.120 It's great to sit down and read a book, to knit a jumper, to watch a program we like, 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.480 to have a game of FIFA. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:28.319 Everybody needs to rest. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.160 Everyone needs to be imaginative. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.160 And creative distraction can be a great thing. 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:37.160 But I think that we have reached the point in our society today where distraction has 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:41.800 stopped being the thing that helps us towards our goal. 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:46.319 It stopped being the thing that just gives us a wee rest while we carry on towards the 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:47.840 big goals of our lives. 00:06:47.840 --> 00:06:50.560 It stopped being the thing that helps us. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:55.400 Instead, it's become the goal itself. 00:06:55.400 --> 00:07:01.280 So people today are living for distraction. 00:07:01.280 --> 00:07:05.519 And the 21st century is becoming an age of distraction. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:10.360 People long to be distracted by tonight's TV. 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.439 People long for the next season of sport. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.720 My life's been empty because there's been no football every Saturday. 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:21.240 We long for these things. 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.920 We long for the buzz of social media. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:27.920 We long for the laugh of going out. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:34.480 These things, these distractions have become the thing that people live for. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:40.640 And I think a consequence of that is that nobody stops to think about what really matters. 00:07:40.640 --> 00:07:47.000 And I think it's possibly fair to say that we may very well be living in the first generation 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:54.560 of human history that hardly ever thinks about dying. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:04.160 I think death was an immensely real and prominent part of life throughout all of human history 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:05.160 up to this point. 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:10.080 If you could step back a hundred years and walk through the streets of Edinburgh, walk 00:08:10.080 --> 00:08:17.800 down behind this building, I think death would have been right in front of you. 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.680 But it's not like that now. 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:26.800 And not only do we no longer have it in front of us, it's something that we no longer even 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:37.519 want to think about, and yet surely there is nothing more important for us to consider. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:44.159 And if when I say that, if when I say we need to think about dying, if your instinctive 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:50.720 thought is, I don't want to think about that, I want to think about something else, then 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:57.000 maybe you're a child of the age of distraction as well. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:02.399 And of course, the whole point of the gospel, the whole point of the fact that Jesus is 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.639 risen from the dead, the whole point of the fact that we're meeting together here on the 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:13.240 first day of the week is that through faith in Jesus, you can have life, you can have 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:20.399 eternal life, and all the fear of death can be taken away. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:23.519 But we don't want to think about that kind of thing in our society today. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.679 We tend to get distracted. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:32.360 Martha was distracted from the things that really matter, and boy, that is true today. 00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:35.000 But we need to ask ourselves the question, and the thing we really need to think about 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:43.840 is the fact that when it comes to the areas of life that are most important, when it comes 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:50.639 to the things that really matter, is distraction a good thing? 00:09:50.639 --> 00:10:02.160 So for a pilot coming into land on a windy day, is distraction a good thing? 00:10:02.160 --> 00:10:08.920 For a neurosurgeon in an operating theater, is distraction dangerous? 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:15.159 For you when you're driving a car, is distraction dangerous? 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:29.879 For the eternal destiny of your life, is distraction dangerous? 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:34.279 The second thing we see is the danger of duty, and in many ways this is the more prominent 00:10:34.279 --> 00:10:36.039 issue in the passage before us. 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:39.039 Then again, duty is a good thing. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:40.719 Martha is a brilliant example. 00:10:40.719 --> 00:10:45.399 She's hard working, she's ready to serve, she's conscientious, she's hospitable. 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:50.039 And duty is something that as Christians we must all be serious about. 00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:55.079 We must absolutely never be lazy or selfish Christians. 00:10:55.079 --> 00:10:58.240 That's something that's brought home to us in the parable of the Good Samaritan that 00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.559 we read just before this. 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:04.719 We can't be selfish just passing by on the other side and not thinking about the needs 00:11:04.719 --> 00:11:05.719 of others. 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:08.399 So, duty is important and it's a good thing. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:13.560 There's one extreme where we think, well, duty doesn't matter and I just need to look 00:11:13.560 --> 00:11:14.560 after myself. 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:20.120 That's an extreme in Christian conduct that's dishonoring to God. 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:26.879 But here in this passage we're dealing with the other extreme, the extreme of duty consuming 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:35.680 us and distracting us from a relationship with the Lord. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.759 It's so easy to fall into that danger. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.519 Duty is something that poses a risk to us. 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.559 And that's clearly evident in Martha. 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:49.199 And I wanted to say two or three things about Martha. 00:11:49.199 --> 00:11:58.799 Number one, Martha's serving of Jesus is actually drawing her away from Jesus. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:04.079 That's a really interesting, almost ironic balance. 00:12:04.079 --> 00:12:05.359 Jesus has come to her house. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:10.480 She has this amazing opportunity to be with Him, to be taught by Him, to hear what He has 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:11.480 to say. 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:15.399 But that opportunity is slipping through her fingers because she's been pulled away by 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:16.759 her duties. 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:21.919 So while she feels as though she's serving Him, she's actually being drawn away from 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:23.159 Him. 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:25.680 And exactly the same thing can happen to us. 00:12:25.680 --> 00:12:32.240 Our duties, whether it's at work or at home in your community or even in church, these 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.799 duties can pull us away from Jesus. 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:43.799 Like Martha, we can be anxious about the things that we need to do, and our desire to do them 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:49.120 and to get things done can push us to the point where we never stop to think about the 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.279 person that we're doing them for. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:13:00.759 Sometimes we can be more concerned about culture's expectations than we are about God's 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:02.399 expectations. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.559 There's lots of ways in which that can manifest itself. 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:07.519 Hospitality is a great example. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.159 We can sometimes feel that if we're going to have someone come to our house, we need 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:15.159 to make our home look stunning, and we need to present an elaborate and impressive meal. 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.360 We need to make a really good impression. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:22.240 We can set the bar so high that we either exhaust ourselves in the process or we just 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.439 don't even bother trying because we think, I'm never going to be able to do that. 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:31.440 We can be so concerned about what other people will think of us and by a pressure to reach 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:37.960 other people's expectations that we can miss the point altogether. 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:44.640 We can spend far more time thinking about what we need to do rather than stopping to 00:13:44.640 --> 00:13:50.000 think about what a brilliant thing it is to spend time together as Christians or what 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:55.360 a wonderful thing it is to open our home to people who aren't yet believers and to show 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:00.080 them warmth and love in the name of our Savior. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:07.120 Whatever the duty may be, whilst we are maybe intending to do it for Jesus, we have to be 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:13.879 careful because our approach to it can actually draw us away from Him with the result that 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:21.240 the things that should be the spiritual highlight of our week can actually become the things 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:24.240 that we dread. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:29.560 And for all of us, that's something we have to be careful about. 00:14:29.560 --> 00:14:34.919 It's a very important lesson in discipleship to recognize that sometimes the devil draws 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:38.919 us away from Jesus with bad things. 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:46.600 So we can be drawn away from Jesus by greed or gossip or sexual temptation or by excessive 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:50.720 alcohol or many other things. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:57.879 And equally, sometimes the devil can draw us away from Jesus with good things, good 00:14:57.879 --> 00:15:02.279 things like serving and volunteering and giving and fundraising and hospitality. 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:03.279 These are brilliant things. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:10.960 I'm not for a moment saying that we shouldn't do them, but I'm saying we need to be careful. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:18.080 Sometimes our serving of Jesus can draw us away from Jesus. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:24.240 Another thing we see in Martha in relation to this is that Martha's obedience makes her 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.920 demanding. 00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:30.720 Martha initiates her actions with a view to serve. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.920 She wants to be helpful. 00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:37.360 She wants to do what she feels she should do. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:42.440 But the rather astonishing thing is that her obedience makes her demanding. 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:47.680 She goes to Jesus and she says, tell her to help me. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:53.679 So Martha has gone from doing something for Jesus to telling Jesus to do something for 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:55.399 her. 00:15:55.399 --> 00:16:00.599 And at the heart of that is the mindset that her faithfulness to her duty gives her the 00:16:00.599 --> 00:16:05.439 right to set the rules. 00:16:05.439 --> 00:16:09.479 And we do that all the time, don't we? 00:16:09.479 --> 00:16:13.439 So we can say, I've been coming to this church all my life. 00:16:13.439 --> 00:16:16.559 I know how we should do things. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:22.479 You could say, I give a huge amount of money to this congregation. 00:16:22.479 --> 00:16:25.199 This is how I want it to be. 00:16:25.199 --> 00:16:29.839 I've served in this way for years. 00:16:29.839 --> 00:16:34.000 I don't want this to change. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:43.679 We can use our service as a justification for being demanding. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:50.559 We can also use our good duties as a means of judging others. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.239 Martha's view was that Mary was in the wrong and we can do the same. 00:16:54.239 --> 00:16:55.239 So we could say, well, I'm doing this. 00:16:55.239 --> 00:16:56.239 I'm on this committee. 00:16:56.239 --> 00:16:57.519 I'm raising this money. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:58.879 I'm leading this Bible study. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.079 I'm doing all these things which are great. 00:17:01.079 --> 00:17:05.159 But we can think to ourselves, well, this other person's not doing the same. 00:17:05.159 --> 00:17:09.440 And they're not meeting the expectations that I have. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:16.240 And we can feel frustrated when people don't conform to the standards that we set. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:24.759 Our serving can make us think that we have the right to be demanding. 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:32.960 But we must never forget that there's only one king in God's kingdom. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:37.640 And it's God that sets the standards, not us. 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:43.720 And it's his expectations that matter, not ours. 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:47.880 It's so important to remember that only God sets the rules. 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:54.240 There's a great reminder of that in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:59.520 We read from the New City Catechism, which is a modern version, which is a brilliant 00:17:59.520 --> 00:18:00.520 version. 00:18:00.520 --> 00:18:04.160 But of course, the old, 500-year-old version is also brilliant. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.800 And here is question two. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:10.240 What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him? 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.559 So who sets the rules? 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:12.799 What's the rules? 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:18.039 The answer is the word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, 00:18:18.039 --> 00:18:24.680 is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him. 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:27.639 Martha's obedience made her demanding. 00:18:27.639 --> 00:18:30.200 We have to take care of that. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:34.159 And then the third thing that we see in Martha in regard to how her duty is affecting her 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:41.200 is that her duty of care made her feel uncared for. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:43.480 And again, that's a very interesting balance to see. 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:47.680 When Martha finally speaks to Jesus, she comes up to him and says, don't you care that my 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:49.960 sister isn't helping me? 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:51.320 She's attending to her guests. 00:18:51.320 --> 00:18:54.259 She's fulfilling what she regards as a duty of care. 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:58.120 But in all of that, she's left feeling uncared for. 00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:03.840 And it's interesting that her first complaint is actually directed towards Jesus, not towards 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:04.839 Mary. 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:09.599 She feels that He doesn't care and she rebukes Him. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:13.240 And that can seem shocking to us, but we tend to do the same because very often we can find 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:15.480 ourselves saying, why has God done this? 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:17.079 Why doesn't God do that? 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:18.559 Why doesn't God care? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.599 Often God is the first person that we blame. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:26.279 And that is because we feel that He doesn't care. 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:32.919 Now, it's important to notice, as we've hinted and said, that Martha clearly has a gift for 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:33.920 hospitality. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:34.920 I think she's a brilliant host. 00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:38.080 I think that's one of the things that made her special. 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:45.519 But the very thing that Martha thought made her special actually made her feel taken for 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:47.640 granted. 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:53.160 And so instead of feeling valued, she felt unloved. 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.519 And duty can do that. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.880 The duties that you're gifted for, the things that you're really good at, the things that 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:03.640 make you special in this church or whatever your church is, can actually leave you feeling 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:06.240 unloved and uncared for. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:13.480 And that will happen if your duty is distracting you from Jesus. 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.480 So sometimes we can prioritize distraction. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.200 And that's very much what our culture is doing today. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.600 Sometimes we can prioritize duty. 00:20:21.600 --> 00:20:25.160 That's a trap that many of us in church can fall into. 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:29.680 We're being reminded in this passage that both of these are dangerous. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:34.279 But all of that raises the question, well, what's the answer to it? 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:37.759 How do we avoid these pitfalls? 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.680 Well I think as we've been trying to say, we need to recognize two things. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:46.440 We need to recognize that our priorities are often more dangerous than we realize. 00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:55.799 And at the same time, we need to be reminded that God's priorities are far more wonderful 00:20:55.799 --> 00:21:01.559 and far more amazing than we often remember. 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:07.880 And that's brought before us in the contrast that we have between Martha and Mary. 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:14.720 And in looking at the two of them together, we see what God's priorities really are. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:21.079 And I think there's three things being brought before us in this passage in terms of the 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:24.839 nature of God's priorities. 00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:30.160 Priority number one, Jesus wants your company. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:33.880 If you look at this passage and ask yourself, what does Jesus want? 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:34.880 Does he want dinner? 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:37.319 I don't think so. 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:41.839 What he wants is togetherness. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:46.439 So rather than prioritizing duties that might pull you away from him, Jesus just wants you 00:21:46.439 --> 00:21:49.119 to be near him. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:56.519 And the great goal that Jesus has, that Jesus always has, is togetherness. 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.319 Throughout the whole Bible, you have this beautiful doctrine of togetherness running 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.119 through the whole of God's redemptive plan. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:09.000 That's grounded in the doctrine of the Trinity, where you have Father, Son and Holy Spirit 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.799 always towards one another. 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:16.159 Togetherness was at the heart of the paradise of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve and God 00:22:16.159 --> 00:22:17.680 there together. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:24.319 Sin has broken that, but God's plan of restoration has always had togetherness as its goal. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:28.240 That was shattered in the Old Testament through the family nation of Israel. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.200 The healing and reconciliation required for it was achieved at the cross. 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:37.359 The togetherness of God's people is inaugurated now in the church, and the ultimate fulfillment 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:46.599 will come when Jesus returns, when God and his people will be together forever. 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:52.959 And this doctrine of togetherness and that desire that Jesus has for your company is 00:22:52.959 --> 00:22:59.079 absolutely not for the select few in God's kingdom. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:05.159 It's very easy to look at this passage and think, well, Jesus wants Mary at his feet 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:09.080 because she's clearly the better disciple. 00:23:09.080 --> 00:23:14.600 And it's easy to think that Jesus only wants Christians like Mary at his feet, but I don't 00:23:14.600 --> 00:23:17.680 think that that's what this passage is saying at all. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:26.840 And I think that Jesus is saying to Martha, I just want you at my feet as well. 00:23:26.840 --> 00:23:31.320 It's very easy to be elitist in our understanding of discipleship. 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:39.000 It's very easy to think that closeness to Jesus is for the select few, but that is theologically 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:44.119 false. 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:57.599 Mary and Martha and you all belong at Jesus' feet because his priority is your company. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:02.359 And that is powerfully confirmed for us in the words that Jesus spoke in John chapter 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:03.359 17, verse 24. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:09.240 He said, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am. 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:13.240 I want you to notice in particular the word they. 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:16.879 That they is referring to all those who are going to believe in the apostolic gospel. 00:24:16.879 --> 00:24:19.879 In other words, it's referring to every Christian. 00:24:19.879 --> 00:24:23.839 And when we think of the they being referred to here, we can think of the people who are 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:30.279 abounding in godliness, full of knowledge, people who are holy and who are all together 00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:33.399 in terms of their Christian faith. 00:24:33.399 --> 00:24:40.240 We think of people like Mary who seem to have it all right. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:49.359 But within that they is every Mary and every Martha. 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:53.599 So that means every Christian who feels like a total failure, every Christian who has been 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.639 distracted, every Christian who's let their duties get in the way of their relationship 00:24:57.639 --> 00:25:01.559 with Jesus, every Christian who's forgotten to pray, every Christian who struggled to 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:06.079 read their Bible, every Christian who's doubted, every Christian who has mucked up. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:16.039 Jesus says, my desire is that they would be with me where I am. 00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:20.799 And a key point is that Jesus is not saying to Martha, you've got your priorities wrong, 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:22.719 so stay away. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:30.440 It's the opposite, he's saying you've got things wrong, just come here and be with me. 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:36.120 So if you've been distracted in your faith, if you've made too much of your duties, Jesus 00:25:36.120 --> 00:25:38.480 does not want you to keep your distance. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:46.120 He wants you to sit at his feet because his priority is togetherness. 00:25:46.120 --> 00:25:51.519 Jesus wants your company. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:56.119 One priority being said before us is the fact that Jesus wants your attention. 00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:01.400 Verse 39 tells us that Mary sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:07.879 So Martha, as we saw, she got so disheartened by her duties that she came to Jesus in exasperation 00:26:07.879 --> 00:26:12.960 and demanded that he listen to her and sorted things out in the way that she wanted. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:19.200 But Jesus' priority is that Martha would stop and listen to him. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:24.960 He wanted her attention and he wants ours too. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:30.279 Now, you'll remember a moment ago that we were saying that Martha was doing all this 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:37.720 stuff, all this service, all this work, and yet while she was doing it, she felt uncared 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:41.200 for and she felt unvalued. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.360 And we face that same problem. 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:49.599 The whole culture around us faces that problem of feeling uncared for and of struggling to 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:52.599 find value and worth in ourselves. 00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:59.119 And very often to combat that, we try to address that feeling of a lack of self-worth. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:03.519 We try to address it by doing stuff. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.879 We do stuff in order to feel better about ourselves. 00:27:07.879 --> 00:27:09.319 So we take on more at work. 00:27:09.319 --> 00:27:10.799 We try to achieve more. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.879 We commit to volunteering in more activities. 00:27:12.879 --> 00:27:13.879 We try to get fit. 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:15.600 We try to better ourselves. 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:20.040 We even try to present a perfect life on our Facebook page. 00:27:20.040 --> 00:27:25.840 We try to do more and more in order to feel special. 00:27:25.840 --> 00:27:29.600 And that's because we long to feel special. 00:27:29.600 --> 00:27:36.400 And all around us, we have a society of people desperate to feel special, but one that's 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:41.040 looking for affirmation in the wrong place. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:46.200 Because if you go to the gym, your body will never be good enough. 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:49.319 There's always more that you could do. 00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:55.359 Your profile on Facebook or Instagram is always going to be calling you to put more onto it. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:59.960 Your achievements at work are always going to leave you with the feeling that there's 00:27:59.960 --> 00:28:02.559 more that you could do. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:09.319 And even your dedication in volunteering will heighten the awareness that there's still 00:28:09.319 --> 00:28:12.079 so much work to be done. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:19.919 We do stuff to feel special, but it's never enough. 00:28:19.919 --> 00:28:29.119 And that raises the question, where is the place that you will feel the very best about 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.279 yourself? 00:28:32.279 --> 00:28:40.759 Where is it that you will feel at your most valued? 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:48.359 And the answer is at the feet of Jesus. 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:59.000 Because it is there that you will discover how incredibly special you are. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:04.559 Even we are attracted to people who have achieved a huge amount for themselves. 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:07.799 So I would love to have dinner with someone like Andy Murray or Chris Froome. 00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:14.640 I'd love to ask them all about what they have achieved for themselves in their lives. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:20.799 But if you were to have dinner with Jesus, and if you were to sit at His feet and listen, 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:24.880 He will not be telling you about how much He has achieved for Himself. 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:34.320 He will be telling you about everything He has achieved for you. 00:29:34.320 --> 00:29:38.200 And so you have this remarkable contrast. 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:42.360 Martha's mindset is, I will work for Jesus. 00:29:42.360 --> 00:29:44.040 I must attend to Jesus' needs. 00:29:44.040 --> 00:29:45.880 I must put myself out for Jesus. 00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:47.760 I must give my life for Him. 00:29:47.760 --> 00:29:51.840 That's her mindset, that she must do stuff for Jesus in that way. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:30:00.959 That the heart of Christianity is Jesus saying, I will work for you. 00:30:00.959 --> 00:30:04.079 I will attend to your needs. 00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:07.439 I will put myself out for you. 00:30:07.439 --> 00:30:11.599 I will give my life for you. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.919 That is the core truth of the Gospel. 00:30:14.919 --> 00:30:20.679 Not what we do for Jesus, but what He does for us. 00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:30.160 And it's from that point that we can learn and grow and go out and serve. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:36.480 So looking at Jesus' priorities here, we see that He wants your company. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:40.039 We see that He wants your attention. 00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:53.920 And thirdly, and I think most importantly, He wants you. 00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:59.039 In this passage, Martha has got her priorities muddled up. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:03.279 But Jesus doesn't hammer her for that, and neither does He indulge her. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.319 Instead, He teaches her a very important truth. 00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:12.639 Because duty of care left her feeling uncared for, left her feeling uncared for. 00:31:12.639 --> 00:31:21.240 But Jesus makes it clear that His priority is simply to love her. 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:25.879 And I think that He does that simply in the way He says her name. 00:31:25.879 --> 00:31:36.960 There's a beautiful tenderness in verse 41, when Jesus repeats her name, Martha, Martha. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:42.079 And that tenderness is showing that Jesus wants her to come close to listen to Him, because 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:44.360 He loves her. 00:31:44.360 --> 00:31:51.840 And the crucial lesson for us is that Jesus wants your company more than your achievements. 00:31:51.840 --> 00:31:57.480 Jesus wants your attention more than your activity. 00:31:57.480 --> 00:32:13.160 What Jesus really wants is just you, because that's what real love is. 00:32:13.160 --> 00:32:18.960 It's loving the person, not the servant. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:22.960 Often we love people because of what they do. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:30.039 Do love loves the person because of who they are. 00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:37.840 And the foundational truth of biblical, reformed, Calvinistic, covenant theology is that Jesus 00:32:37.840 --> 00:32:47.079 loves His people with an utterly unconditional love. 00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:52.759 And that means that in your relationship with Jesus, His number one priority is to love 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:54.359 you. 00:32:54.359 --> 00:32:56.640 So just think about that. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:58.839 Think about tomorrow morning. 00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:01.400 You wake up tomorrow morning as a follower of Jesus. 00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:05.240 I hope that you all will, even if that's the very first morning that you do so. 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:08.920 You wake up tomorrow morning as a follower of Jesus. 00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:10.759 Jesus is watching you get out of bed. 00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:12.240 He sees you enter a new day. 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:16.759 And imagine that you could go to Jesus and ask Him, what do you want, Martha or Mary 00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:18.039 or whatever your own name is? 00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:21.960 Jesus, what do you want for them today? 00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:29.120 And Jesus' answer would be, well, my number one priority is to love them with every ounce 00:33:29.120 --> 00:33:34.400 of love that I've got. 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:39.920 And that love comes with no conditions, no prerequisites, no caveats. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:49.799 And that is why thinking, thinking that our duties, that the stuff that we do is going 00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:59.119 to earn Jesus' favor or His smile or His nearness, thinking in that way that we kind of do stuff 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:12.199 to make God love us is a blasphemy against the truth and reality of God's love. 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:16.880 And you see that so beautifully portrayed for us in these verses because looking at 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:28.119 that passage, what does Mary say and what does Mary do? 00:34:28.119 --> 00:34:32.360 The answer is nothing. 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:40.920 She doesn't speak and all she's doing is sitting still. 00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:46.920 And yet in that silence and in that sitting, we see what Jesus first and foremost wants 00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:51.440 from us in our lives. 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:55.519 He wants to love us. 00:34:55.519 --> 00:35:05.200 And I think the key difference between Mary and Martha is this. 00:35:05.200 --> 00:35:10.760 Martha is being drained. 00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:15.240 She is being filled. 00:35:15.240 --> 00:35:20.840 And at the heart of the Gospel, at the heart of Christianity is the fact that first and 00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:30.440 foremost God's priority is to fill you, to fill you with joy, to fill you with peace, 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:36.400 to fill you with true knowledge, and above all to fill you with His incredible, immeasurable, 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:38.320 never-ending love for you. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:43.080 And that was what we read at the very beginning of our service, where Paul writes, for this 00:35:43.080 --> 00:35:47.400 reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:51.800 is named, that according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened 00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:57.039 with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts 00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:03.240 through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend 00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:08.679 with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the 00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:19.519 love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:22.399 God. 00:36:22.399 --> 00:36:30.599 That is the good portion that is more necessary than anything else in your life. 00:36:30.599 --> 00:36:35.920 That is the portion that can never, ever be taken away from you. 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:40.839 And that word, portion, that you see in the second-last line there in verse 42, is important 00:36:40.839 --> 00:36:42.639 because a portion is a part of life. 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.079 It's not all of life. 00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:48.000 It's not saying that you should spend your whole life sitting in silence and never doing 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.159 anything and never speaking and never serving and never acting and never doing any duties. 00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:53.239 It's not saying that. 00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:57.059 And please don't go away from thinking, from this sermon thinking, Thomas said, I must 00:36:57.059 --> 00:36:58.599 just sit and do nothing for the rest of my life. 00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:03.400 I am not saying that, but what I'm saying is that all of that activity, all of those 00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:15.759 duties come second to the great priority that God has for your life, which is to love you 00:37:15.759 --> 00:37:24.000 and to have you with him and to teach you all the amazing truths of who he is and what 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:27.679 he's done. 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:31.759 And that is the most important thing in your life. 00:37:31.759 --> 00:37:38.000 That's the part of your life that nothing can ever take away because eventually all 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:43.119 your duties are going to be forgotten and soon all our distractions will vanish like 00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:45.119 a vapor. 00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:50.719 But the fact that God wants you near, the fact that God wants to teach you how special 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:58.599 you are and the fact that God loves you unconditionally, that will never be taken away. 00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.719 That is what the gospel gives us. 00:38:01.719 --> 00:38:04.399 That is what Mary chose. 00:38:04.399 --> 00:38:07.399 It's what Martha chose as well. 00:38:07.399 --> 00:38:12.039 She had just lost sight of that for a moment. 00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:17.199 I really hope that you choose it too. 00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:19.199 Amen. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.199 Let's pray. 00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:32.839 Father, we thank you for all that your word is teaching us. 00:38:32.839 --> 00:38:43.000 And we confess that at times we are prone to be lazy and inactive and selfish. 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:48.799 But at other times we're also prone to be so caught up in our duties and the things that 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:57.600 we're doing that we don't stop to sit at your feet and listen to you. 00:38:57.600 --> 00:39:07.519 We pray, oh God, that you'd help us to always have the priorities in our lives shaped according 00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:10.200 to what you want. 00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:21.319 And we pray that every day we would just, above all else, love you, love being with you, 00:39:21.319 --> 00:39:28.919 love listening to you, love knowing you, and then from there to love serving you. 00:39:28.919 --> 00:39:33.799 May that be true of us all, in Jesus' name. 00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:40.800 Amen.