This morning I would like to look at Luke chapter 10, a passage from Luke chapter 10.
! We'll also look at Luke 9 a little bit, but Christ at the crossroads. How do we set our priorities?
! Today as Americans, most of us feel like we have limitless possibilities. With a click
or two, we and our families can fill our lives and schedules with fantastic experiences. With
a click or two, we have access to education and information on topics and events we never
knew existed and we can't wait to find somebody to share it with, right? Until our eyes glaze
over. With a click or two, we can fill our houses, our garages, our closets, our pantries
with delightful things from around the globe. What an incredible time to be alive. But we
cannot do it all. We cannot learn it all. And even though you may have a plastic card, we
cannot buy it all. So how do we decide? How do we discern what is good, better, best? What
will make our priority list? After coffee, what is the rest of your top 10 on your priority list
for this week? As a teen, I had the privilege of God bringing a youth pastor into my life who
helped me take significant steps of growth as a follower of Jesus. A tool I was introduced
to was a priority list. The priorities and their order have changed over the years. Obviously,
God and Jesus topped the list. First thing in the morning, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, reading the
word, meditating on it, praying. But then missionaries would come. And they would come to speak and stress,
you really need to get up at five in the morning to spend an hour or more. And oh, as a young person,
the guilt, the feelings of failure that would flood my mind. Lord, I love you. I want to grow in you.
I wanted to make it my aim to please you. But I struggle to prove it. By spending 60 to 90 minutes
every morning, Lord, there must be a better approach. And Jesus shows us that. And I believe
in this passage. Come to the end of chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, he shows us this in his interaction
with Martha and Mary. Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named
Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary who sat at Jesus' 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, and Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken from her.
Before you harass all the Marthas in your life, yes, in this passage, Martha seems to earn a bad name.
But Martha has a glorious reputation in Scripture. Before we dive into this, let's just glance at the
context. In Luke chapter 9, Jesus sends the 12 out two by two to proclaim the kingdom of God.
As simply, take nothing with you, just go simply and proclaim the kingdom of God. He feeds
5,000 men, women, and children. 5,000 with just loaves and fishes. He foretells his approaching death,
that death is coming. God allows, God the Father allows him to reveal his glory to Peter, James,
and John. And then he announces his approaching death again. Then he gives the priority of humility,
that the least of you will be the greatest. And the priority of counting the cost to proclaiming
the good news of Jesus Christ. Then he has 72 willing to go. In chapter 10, verses 1 and 2,
after this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two into every town and place
where he was about himself about to go. And he said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
If you were here in the first hour, you saw on those graphics, the harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few.
Pastor S., who is the host pastor of our main teaching site, has an alarm set on his phone for
10.02 every day. And at 10.02, the alarm goes off to remind him to pray Luke 10.2.
Lord, please raise up laborers to go into the harvest. I don't know if that would impact your
service time, but if you want to set an alarm right now for 10.02, just to remind you to pray that God,
please raise up laborers. And may that be me. Pastor S. spent a week this spring in an isolated
community of 80,000 practicing this, going in simply, not knowing anybody, and seeking people
that might respond to the gospel. He did it also in a community of 160,000 of no-known believers,
and seeking to proclaim the good news, and saw four come to faith. The message of the gospel
that he gives to the disciples here is very simple. Heal the sick in it, and say to them,
the kingdom of God has come near you. Jesus sends the 72 out into towns, two by two, living simply,
and announcing that God is initiating his rule on earth, beginning in the hearts of men and women,
and also announcing that he can bring healing, and he can bring wholeness to our broken lives.
In these contexts, a life that is transformed by coming to faith in Jesus Christ becomes visibly
different. And it is so exciting to see the healing that has begun in their lives as they submit to
Jesus Christ. But we must receive this. As John would later record, believe in Jesus, trust him,
receive him, trust him that Jesus is who God says he is, that Jesus accomplished what God said he did
by raising him from the dead. And at that moment, you are made alive, you are born of God, you are a
child of God. Jesus tells them as he's sending them out, the one who hears you, hears me. The one who
rejects you, rejects me. And the one who rejects me, rejects him who sent me. The 72 returned with joy
saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. When you are involved in sharing the
good news, it's not about you. If they reject you, don't take it personally. They're rejecting him.
They're rejecting the good news of the living God and what he has done through Jesus Christ. But you
want to encourage them to receive it. Because at that moment, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this,
that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Hmm. The moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, that he died in your place for your sins,
and that you believe and trust that God raised him from the dead to say that is sufficient.
At that moment, your names are written in heaven. And Luke would later record, there is joy before the
angels of heaven of God over one sinner who repents. You could make heaven shout today. You could make the
angels of heaven shout today by simply coming to trusting faith in Jesus Christ.
Do you take joy in that? Priority, rejoice in whose you are rather than what you can do for him.
Rejoice in whose you are rather than what you can do for him. Could you imagine the disciples,
especially the 12, they'd already been arguing over who had been least or who had been greatest,
and now they come back. Could you imagine them comparing stories? Well, wow, you should have seen this.
You should have seen, well, I just said this. Wow, this happened. And they were trying to maybe even
outdo each other of whose story was bigger. And Jesus said, okay, enough. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in
this, that the Spirit is subject to you. Take your joy that your names are written in heaven, in the Lamb's book
of the living forever.
Lord willing, Lord willing, they will graduate from our program. And in teams, they will move into these
communities and begin house churches. Jesus continues in verse 23.
Then turning to his disciples, he said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you
hear and did not hear it. Jesus gives them the priority. Rejoice in the blessings of seeing and hearing God's
promised rescue through the Messiah, his son. We get to see and hear what Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Isaiah,
they just hoped to see it. They didn't see it. We get to see it. And some of us have 15, 20 copies of it
in our house in all different languages. We have apps on our phone. We can access it anytime.
But do we? And when we access it, do we take it in as informational, academic information? Or do we take
it in as life-giving word from heaven above that we are blessed of God to see and to hear his active
rescue through Jesus? Jesus continues on with a story. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test,
saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said, Jesus said, what is written in the
law? How do you read it? The lawyer answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Religious people around the world cry out the same question. What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
What shall I do to be right with God? Just please tell me what to do, and I will try to do it.
But Jesus has this man say those priorities. Love God completely,
and love your neighbors as yourself. Jesus first illustrates the priority of loving your neighbor
as yourself. A Jewish man was beat and left for dead. The priest and the temple worker,
they had other priorities, schedule, religious purity, safety. Whatever it was, they just kept walking.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where this man was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, and pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal,
and brought him to an end, and took care of him. And the next day, he took out two denarii,
and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, take care of him, and whatever more you need or spend,
I will repay you when I come back. A Samaritan set aside his other priorities to show love, compassion,
mercy to a Jew who likely would not have done the same for him. To love your neighbor as himself.
Who is your neighbor? Who is your co-worker? Your friend? Your contact? Your schoolmate? Your acquaintance?
That needs a touch of Jesus' love? My daughter had modeled this so well for us. She uses horses to help
young ladies begin to talk and to heal. She looks for those that others would shun.
But on the field, we see it through Pastor Z. Pastor Z and his family had to move out of their
apartments three times in 18 months, whenever the landlords found out that he was a pastor.
Last fall, God gave them a place of their own, and their priority is to use their home to be able
to serve believers, but also to extend Jesus' love to their neighbors who currently despise them.
Every time he leaves the building, someone yells from the window, infidel! And that's where he lives,
but he seeks to gently, kindly love them. In January, we were able to re-begin teaching in his city,
and this is where Pastor Andrew will join me, Lord willing, in September. And what a group. The young
couples have left the comforts of city life in a second world population to serve a desperate region.
They are daily setting the priority of loving women and children that others would despise and have
neglected. If we're going to use a priority list, we see that God might want to have us reorder it.
Love God completely.
Rejoice in whose you are more than what you can do for him. Rejoice in seeing and hearing God's rescue
through his son. Humility. Genuine humility.
Love your neighbor from the heart. Count the cost. It can get expensive to your reputation,
to you personally, to proclaim the good news. Count the cost and trust him. And then proclaim
the good news. You have somewhat limitless opportunities. Are these on your priority list?
Do they make it? But since missionaries are good at making you feel guilty,
I want to introduce you to a tool that has helped me more than lists.
During our internship, I was introduced to a more helpful approach.
Think of priorities and responsibilities of life as a circle.
With seeking God and his rule, his kingdom, his righteousness as the center. That God desires to
have expanding influence on every area of our lives.
God wants us to come to him to sit at his feet, to sit at the feet of Jesus for wisdom and insights
for every area of our life. This is so much more than 15 minutes, 60 minutes in the morning.
This is every moment throughout your day. God, what would you have me to do?
God, in this moment, I want to react in this way. How would you please rule over and guard and guide my reactions?
But in this opportunity to invest our time and resources and our interest in so many different things,
a book that is extremely helpful in evaluating what we hold as the essential center
is Tim Keller's book, Counterfeit Gods.
He writes,
The human heart
is an idol factory.
What is an idol?
It's anything more important to you
than God.
Anything that absorbs your heart
and your imagination
more than God.
Anything you seek
to give you what only God
can give.
Idols are not usually bad things.
But good things
turned into
ultimate things.
Things that constitute our most fundamental significance
and security.
And so they function
as gods
in our lives.
An idol
has such a controlling position
in your heart
that you can spend
most of your passions
and energy,
your emotional and financial resources
on it
without
even a second thought.
It can be a family.
It can be family
and children
or career
and making money
or achievement
and critical acclaim.
Maybe even saving face
and your social standing.
It can be a romantic relationship.
It can be peer approval.
It can be competence
and skill.
Maybe secure
and comfortable
circumstances.
It can be your beauty
for some of you.
Maybe for some of you
it's your brains.
Maybe it's a great political cause
or a social cause.
Your morality
or your virtue
and even for some of us
success in Christian ministry
can begin to have
an idol effect
in our hearts
and minds.
It's whatever you
look at
and think
if I had that
then
I feel my life
has meaning.
Then
I'll know
I have value.
Then
I'll feel
significant
and secure.
What brings
your life
meaning?
What makes you
feel
significant?
Makes you feel
secure?
What is at the center
of your circle?
Or
what segments
of your circle
are out of balance?
What segments
of your circle
are out of touch
to God?
Hey
that's okay
you get my Sunday morning.
Okay
I'll give you a little bit more
but
you can't have that.
What segments
of your life
do you say
God
don't touch
that one?
Matthew 6
therefore
do not be anxious
saying
what shall we eat?
What shall we drink?
Or
what shall we wear?
For the Gentiles
seek after all these things
and your heavenly
Father
he knows
that you need
them all
but seek first
the kingdom of God
and his
righteousness
and all these
things
will be added
to you.
This verse
is in the middle
of Jesus'
longest recorded
sermon
the Sermon on the Mount
sometimes referred to
as the Constitution
of God's kingdom.
If we are going
to be good
citizens
of his kingdom
we must allow
him to rule
from the center
of our lives.
What does
he value?
What is most
important to him?
How can
I please
him?
Let's come back
to our passage
at the end
of Luke 10.
Now as
Jesus and his
disciples
went on their
way
Jesus entered
a village
and a woman
named Martha
welcomed him
into her house.
So before we
go on
Martha is
commendable
okay?
She
invited them
into her
home.
Middle
Eastern
hospitality
is such
that when
you welcome
Jesus and
his 12
smelly friends
into her
home
she was
then
going to
provide them
the comforts
to be able
to cleanse
themselves
to be
comfortable
but also
to do
whatever
they needed
to be fed
to be cared
for.
Even today
if you were
invited into
somebody's
home
and they
said
would you
like to
come in
for tea?
it's not
just a cup
they fill
the table
and then
they continue
and here
in America
when we
set an
appointment
for coffee
45 minutes
an hour
yeah
I'm busy
I gotta go
I mean
that's just
about as long
as we can
tolerate people
right?
Not so
not so much
in the Middle
Eastern world
when they
invite you
for a cup
of coffee
it's gonna
be a day
it's gonna
be an
experience
and so
here Martha
she didn't
invite them
in for an
hour
she invited
them into
her home
until
they needed
to go
so Martha
is
should be
commended
she would
have fed
them
sought to
feed them
the best
that she
had
but she
had a sister
called Mary
who sat
at the
Lord's feet
and listened
to his
teaching
Mary
sat
at the
Lord's
feet
listening
in Luke
chapter 8
we are
introduced
Luke does
a great
job in
the Gospels
but also
through the
book of Acts
of seeing
how Christ
and his
people
elevated
the standing
of women
in Luke
8
women
were following
Jesus
they were
participating
they were
learning
they were
sharing
resources
so here
also
Mary
countercultural
women
did not
sit at the
feet of
a rabbi
they didn't
even sit
anywhere near
the rabbi
they waited
until the
man in their
life told
them what
to believe
and to
think
Mary
sat at
his feet
in a
personal
intimate
way
sitting at
his feet
learning
seeking to
take all
that she
could
to take
in
and to
listen
from him
but
Martha
was
distracted
with
much
serving
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
is
serving a
bad
thing
no
serving
is
commanded
it's
commended
we
must
serve
but
here
Martha
has
misordered
priorities
with
misordered
priorities
we become
distracted
with
much
serving
we
become
busy
but
we
haven't
spent
time
sitting
and
learning
at
Jesus
feet
with
misordered
priorities
we
begin
to
question
the
character
of
God
do
you
not
care
I'm
serving
in
Iwana
all
alone
do
you
not
care
and
when
we
begin
to
question
the
character
of
God
it
affects
our
relationship
with
God
with
misordered
priorities
we
begin
telling
Jesus
how
he
should
meet
our
priorities
tell
her
then
to
help
me
could
you
imagine
what
the
disciples
must
have
been
thinking
Martha
chill
I
mean
just
a few
days
ago
he
took
bread
and
fish
and fed
5000
plus
don't
you
think
he
could
take
care
of
us
can
you
imagine
Peter
James
and
John
they
had
seen
the
revealed
glory
of
Jesus
you
think
they
might
have
been
just
shaking
a
little
bit
Martha
do
you
know
who
you're
talking
to
how
often
we
forget
who
we're
talking
to
when
we
have
misordered
priorities
telling
him
our
plan
and
expecting
him
to
carry
it
out
but
the
Lord
answered
her
Martha
you
were
anxious
and
troubled
about
many
things
with
misordered
priorities
we
can
easily
become
anxious
we
can
be
troubled
about
many
things
and
I
wonder
if
Jesus
was
thinking
Martha
in
just
a few
weeks
you're
going
to have
something
to
really
be
anxious
and
troubled
about
your
brother
Lazarus
is
going
to
get
sick
and
die
when
we
have
misordered
priorities
little
things
become
ultimate
things
and
we
deny
ourselves
from
the
resources
that
God
wants
to
invest
in
our
lives
in
a
daily
personal
way
but
one
thing
is
necessary
one
thing
is
crucial
and
Mary
has
chosen
the
good
portion
which
will
not
be
taken
from
her
yes
we
should
set
time
to
regularly
sit
at
Jesus
feet
in
his
word
reflecting
on
it
and
many
followers
of
Jesus
have
found
mornings
helpful
to
be able
to have
something
to meditate
on
all day
but
we
should
have
a
continuous
posture
of
humility
we
should
desire
his
presence
his
word
to
rule
every
moment
every
facet
of
our
life
Mary
was
a
living
illustration
of
David's
cry
one
thing
I
have
I
asked
of
the
Lord
that
I
will
seek
after
that
I
may
dwell
in
the
house
of
the
Lord
all
the
days
of
my
life
to
gaze
upon
the
beauty
of
the
Lord
to
inquire
in
his
temple
is
that
the
one
thing
that
is
on
your
mind
is
that
the
one
thing
that
you
wake
up
and
about
Lord
I
want
to
see
you
I
want
to
know
that
you're
here
I
want
to
be
working
at
your
work
I
want
to
dwell
with
you
Lord
please
show
me
what
you
would
have
for
me
today
or
Isaiah's
proclamation
all these
things
my hand
has
made
so all
these
things
came
to be
declares
the
Lord
but
this
is
the
one
to
whom
I
will
look
who
is
humble
and
contrite
in
spirit
and
trembles
at
my
word
Mary
was
God's
priority
type
of
person
she
was
humble
she
was
contrite
she
wanted
to
know
more
do
you
have
that
thirst
that
longing
to
not
just
know
about
his
word
but
to
know
him
in
and
through
his
word
and
to
be
motivated
out
of a
proper
reverence
and
fear
for
him
Mary
may
have
even
heard
Jesus
say
just
a few
weeks
earlier
come to
me
all who
labor
and are
heavy laden
and I
will give
you rest
take
my
yoke
upon
you
and
learn
from
me
for
I
am
gentle
and
lowly
in
heart
and
you
will
find
rest
for
your
souls
for
my
yoke
is
easy
and
my
burden
!
is
light!
As a
young
person
we
sometimes
we're
cautious
about
trusting
God
because
he
might
send
us
to
Africa
if
I
trust
God
and
commit
to
following
his
will
and
his
kingdom
what
might
he
do?
Yeah
what
might
he
do?
His
yoke
is
easy
his
burden
is
light
are
you
Martha
this
morning?
Are
you
anxious?
Are
you
troubled?
Are
you
distracted
even
with
good
things
with
much
serving?
Come
regularly
to the
feet
of
Jesus
lay
your
burdens
at
his
feet
and
take
up
what
he
values
learn
from
him
find
rest
for
your
weary
soul
and
allow
him
to
impact
every
facet
every
moment
every
decision
of
your
life
obviously
touched
the wrong
slide
there
you
go
so
it's
recorded
in
acts
of
the
disciples
and
there
is
salvation
in
no
other
there
is
no
other
name
under
heaven
given
among
men
by
which
we
must
be
saved
now
when
they
saw
the
boldness
of
Peter
and
John
and
perceived
that
they
were
uneducated
common
men
they
were
astonished
and
they
recognized
that
they
had
been
with
Jesus
only
by
receiving
Jesus
trusting
his
perfect
sacrifice
can
we
be
saved
and
made
right
with
God
and
to
be
able
to
come
alongside
these
believers
in
cultures
where
when
you
are
right
with
God
and
you
know
it
and
the
joy
explodes
through
all
of
your
life
it's
visibly
different
do
the
lost
around
you
know
can
they
tell
that
you
have
been
with
Jesus
can
they
have
tell
you
have
been
sitting
at
his
feet
can
they
tell
that
you
were
filled
with
joy
to
have
him
ruling
at
the
center
of
your
life
do
you
rejoice
that
you
are
a
child
of
God
right
with
God
and
that
you
have
access
to
see
his
purposes
and
plans
recorded
throughout
history
and
even
into
the
future
in
2021
I
was
in
Kyiv
and
the
Ukrainian
pastor
he
scheduled
an
Uber
for us
it was
going to
be an
hour and
a half
ride
through
stop
and
go
traffic
and
we
hopped
in
the
Uber
and
there
was
a
young
Iranian
Persian
driver
and
we
were
the
pastor
and
I
were
speaking
English
to
each
other
he
was
the
pastor
was
speaking
Russian
to
the
Iranian
driver
and
eventually
the
driver
said
you
know
can
I
speak
English
with
you
because
I'm
better
at
English
than
Russian
sure
and
I
was
seated
here
and
I
could
see
in
the
rearview
mirror
I
could
see
his
eyes
and
his
eyes
were
just
exploding
joy
I
was
like
do
you
know
Jesus
and
in
stop
and
go
traffic
he
reaches
over
into
the
glove
box
and
he
pulls
out
a
New
Testament
and
he
says
oh
yes
and
I
hand
these
out
every
chance
I
get
in
a
Farsi
Persian
New
Testament
so
much
so
that
now
the
Iranian
embassy
has
blacklisted
me
and
if
I
ever
go
back
to
Iran
I
will
be
arrested
but
he
had
just
such
extreme
joy
and
I
said
you
know
I
was
here
in
2003
and
one
of
our
students
one
of
Byron's
students
was
Persian
and
he
hoped
to
begin
Persian
churches
here
in
Kiev
I
don't
know
if
you
know
him
his
name
is
Ali
he's
my
spiritual
father
20
years
later
and
the
joy
of
Ali
had
spread
to
Hamed
and
now
joy
Hamed
has
the
joy
he's
now
in
Germany
with
his
wife
and
not
sure
Germany
wants
to
send
him
back
to
Iran
but
his
life
has
been
marked
by
the
joy
of
knowing
that
he
is
a
child
of
God
and
that
he
spends
time
at
his
feet
in
his
word
learning
from
him
so
much
so
he's
willing
!
to
risk
his
life
to
distribute
the
good
news
He's
counted
the
cost
to
hand
out
the
good
news
wherever
whenever
if you
don't know
Jesus
there are
many here
that would
love to
take the
time
to explain
to you
clearly
how you
could know
for certain
that your
sins are
forgiven
and you
could be
right with
God
through
simple
trusting
faith
that he
died
in your
place
and that
God
raised
him
from
the
dead
come
talk
to
me
pastor
Andrew
pastor
David
many
others
that you
could
know
for certain
the joy
and you
could make
angels sing
and rejoice
in heaven
but you
could also
know
the joy
of sitting
innocently
at his
feet
that he
wants to
be the
Lord
of every
moment
of your
life
and with
him
he
could
make
our
moments
meaningful
and
eternal
and eternally
glorious
to him
dearly
father
I thank
you so
much
for this
church
family
thank you
for their
commitment
to you
and to
each
other
thank you
for their
commitment
to spreading
the good
news
in Columbus
and around
the world
Lord
please
bless
them
Lord
help
each
of us
sit
quietly
at your
feet
that you
may speak
into our
lives
in all
the
busyness
and all
the things
that call
for our
attention
our
affections
may you
firmly
have the
throne
of our
heart
may we
allow you
access
to every
moment
to every
facet
in Jesus
name we
pray
amen