You guys can be seated.
Welcome to Watermark.
This morning, as we've been talking the last week, they did as well about serving and about kids ministry
and how God is using people to serve the kids and grow the kids and teach them about Jesus and the gospel.
So we're also going to kind of highlight that this morning for you guys.
So I just want to invite Esther and Patney Wu up here.
They're two of our volunteers, and they have been a real blessing in helping.
So come on up for a little interview this morning.
So thank you guys so much for serving and kids.
We're really grateful for you and that you stepped out also as parents to see what's going on in the classroom with your kids.
So can you guys tell me a little about your family?
Okay.
I'm Patney Wu, and this is my wife, Esther.
And we have been married for 10 years now, soon to be.
And we have two kids over there, Timothy and Nicholas.
And Timothy is six, and Nicholas is four.
And we've been at Watermark since it started, and we were at Ireland before that.
Thank you.
And why do you guys serve in Watermark Kids?
Since moving to the church, we've kind of wanted to participate.
And we know it was a family church.
We wanted to be part of it.
And we didn't really know what to do.
And so when we were presented the opportunity to serve in Kids Club, we just thought maybe that's God calling us.
And we know that there's a genuine need because it's always tight, the number of volunteers for Kids Club.
And also we have two kids.
So we really appreciate their Sunday school teachers in general.
We understand that it is hard.
You know, it's hard enough looking after two when they have, like, 20 there.
So we just wanted to do our share.
And once a month, commitment seems okay.
Thank you.
So what's one thing that God has been teaching you guys as you serve the kids?
For me, it is to step out in faith because I felt really unequipped to do it.
And I always just wanted to hide behind his back and be his lovely assistant.
But I ended up finding out that there are, like, 20 running around and you kind of have to get your hands dirty.
But I just felt that, you know, when you say yes, God will help you with the rest of it.
And we've managed so far.
We haven't lost any kids.
Yeah, I think just having a servant heart and just stepping out.
We all feel ill-equipped for sure.
But God will always provide a way.
And then what's one funny thing?
Do you have any funny memories from being back there with the kids?
Well, I think we teach our younger one, Nicholas.
And, you know, I'm usually very goofy around with him.
And so, you know, he always wants me to carry him and everything like that.
So, you know, when I'm up there as a teacher and he's coming up to me and wanting to go on my shoulders and all of that kind of stuff,
you know, I have to pretend that I'm a really serious guy, you know, and sit down, be quiet, you know.
And so, you know, and he listens to me.
And then, you know, I'm glad that he enjoys his father and mother being his teacher.
And so it's kind of funny.
He says, I like my mommy and daddy being my teacher.
Thank you, guys.
So, as we had mentioned, we really do, you know, we need some more people back there with the kids.
And so many of you serve faithfully.
And we're really grateful for you guys.
And so we're just trying to sign on more people.
And one thing, I'm really grateful for some parents.
Lots of parents serve back there as well.
And lots of singles too.
So thank all of you.
The parents have an opportunity for their kids to see them serving God and to see them back there.
I was looking at some statistics that say that our kids usually work, some of us work 50 to 60 hours in an office or somewhere away from our kids.
And they don't see us at work.
But this is an opportunity for them to actually see you and see something that you're doing and see the way that you're actively serving God.
So it's a really neat thing for you to be in the classroom too.
So we just encourage you guys to sign on.
And we would love to have you.
So thanks.
And what I've been told is as we've been expanding, we've got like over 100 kids now, we need about how many volunteers?
We're looking for 20 new volunteers.
That would be fantastic.
During the last term, before the holidays, we averaged 80 kids per week.
And that's not counting the youth that go with Eric.
Okay, good.
I'm going to pray for you guys and just pray for the kids' ministry.
And then the kids will get dismissed and so it will become less chaotic in here.
So Father, we just thank you for this day.
We thank you for your goodness in our life.
We thank you for the blessing that is family, whether we're singles or married or empty nesters.
All of this is the family.
And so we come before you and we just, we just, we're in awe of how you've brought us together from so many different backgrounds and different places.
And I just thank you for Pat and Esther and just their desire to serve and to be used in gifting that maybe they might not even necessarily originally gravitate towards.
But you've blessed them as they bless their kids and the kids around them.
We pray for all the workers back there now, the volunteers.
We know this church is all about volunteers.
We pray that you would be with them, that the little kiddos going back would see your son Jesus.
They would fall in love with him and they would do mighty, mighty things for your kingdom.
And we thank you for all these resources that you've given us.
And we're just so overwhelmed at your goodness to us.
So we pray all these things, your son Jesus Christ, holy name.
Amen.
Good morning.
Today's scripture reading comes from the gospel of Luke chapter 10.
So please follow along in your bulletin.
Now, as they were traveling along, he entered a village.
And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word.
But Martha was distracted with all her preparations.
And she came up to him and said,
Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?
Then tell her to help me.
But the Lord answered and said to her,
Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things,
but only one thing is necessary.
For Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
This is God's word.
Hey, so a crazy day today.
And God continues to show us what it means to worship him.
What I thought I would do, I don't know if I should do this, but I thought I'd do this.
We talk about being a family here at the church.
And in my family, we interact, we talk, and we discuss things.
And often we do this at the end of the sermon.
But we read a very powerful, well-known passage today that you guys have,
some of you are probably familiar with.
Some of you have heard it for the first time,
and some of you have no idea what's going on,
because you're just stepped into this.
We're at the end of Luke chapter 10, after a year and a half here.
So I just wanted to ask, as you look at the passage today,
what are the questions that pop to your mind?
And if you're bold enough, you can just yell them out to me.
You usually do Q&A afterwards.
Any questions about this passage?
Kelvin.
Do what?
Does God encourage laziness?
That's a great one.
Great, great.
Kelvin.
What's the one thing?
Okay.
It's kind of like the City Slickers movie one time.
The guy goes, there's just one, you know, one thing.
And the guy goes, your finger?
And he goes, one thing.
So, George, does God encourage laziness?
Kelvin, what's the one thing?
What else sticks out there?
What does it say about women?
You ever thought about that?
I mean, this is actually a seminal text for women in the church.
This is the text that begins all of this idea of women in the church.
What other things stick out?
Any other things?
Do what now?
Andrew?
Who do you identify more with this?
Are you Martha or are you Mary, right?
So usually when you hear this sermon, everybody's going, okay, are you a Mary?
And the Marys are usually praised.
Oh, good girl, good girl.
And Martha, she used to get slammed, right?
You're like, you're type A.
You're a loser.
I don't think that's what the meaning of the passage is.
But it's been taught that way until about 100 years ago.
What other questions?
Any other questions?
Excellent, Phyllis.
Are God's values different than God's values?
How do we see people?
What does it look like?
Okay.
Well, there's no other ones you can yell out later on or at the end.
I think that it's because I think I want to make sure we're on the same track as we read this passage
because this passage is packed with stuff.
And I'm trying not to go too long in the sermons.
Well, Jeremy and Eric were not supposed to lead worship today.
Katie got sick this morning at 8 o'clock, so they just found out that they were on.
And so it was interesting because that's what I love about Watermark is it's organic or raw
or whatever you want to call it, and everyone serves.
And then I told them afterwards, I said, well, maybe I'm going to get sick.
And Yvonne, you have to do the sermon.
She goes, yes, I'm ready.
So I'm like, well, you know, so, yeah.
Don't need me.
There's a lot of other people who can preach God's word, which is great.
We're going to just look at this passage, and I'm going to bring out a couple things
that stick out to me in this passage.
And there's probably a billion other things that we need to talk about.
But we're finishing up Luke chapter 10.
Remember, George, to your response, what we just read last week was the tale of the Good Samaritan.
And if anything, that passage said, you know, don't be lazy.
I mean, he says, do it, know it, and do it.
And so we come to this passage, and it kind of ends this discussion with what's going on
with Jesus and his disciples.
And remember we asked that the big questions were, again, how can I inherit eternal life?
Who is my neighbor?
Who do I need to be a neighbor to?
And what do I need to do to get to heaven and be with God forever?
And on back of that, you see in this passage over and over again just this idea of relationships.
Relationships.
It's about relationships.
It's about being in a relationship with the creator of the universe.
It's about being able to define your relationship.
The year was 1995, November, and I was dating this beautiful girl.
I mean, she was hot.
And I get this phone call one day, and it says, hey, can I come over?
We need to talk.
So guys, you single guys, whenever your girl says, hey, I need to come over, I need to talk,
it's going to be something really important.
And so this girl, Christina, comes over, and she introduces me to three letters that I've never heard before.
And the letters are D-T-R.
Do you know what those letters stand for?
D-T-R.
Has anybody heard that?
I had never heard those before.
D-T-R.
Define the relationship.
Okay, single guys, take notes here.
Okay, because when that happens, I mean, I've never heard that before, but the dialogue usually goes something like this,
for those who've never been D-T-R'd.
Where are we in this relationship?
Is it just for fun?
Are we going somewhere?
And the guy sits there and goes, yes, no, yes, Jesus, like my kids, right?
You might be saying Jesus inside, right?
So are we just in this for fun or are we going somewhere?
And if where, if somewhere, where?
Where is it?
And what I've seen in this and what I've learned is that in a D-T-R, the person who has the higher need for a higher commitment level,
we're going to call them the D-T-R-er.
Okay, so the D-T-R-er usually comes to a person who is clueless.
We can call him the dude or we can call him the D-T-R-E.
Okay, and so the D-T-R-er comes to the clueless person who are,
maybe they're adverse to commitment or however it is in your place,
and they come in to the D-T-R-E and they say, we need to D-T-R.
And usually what happens after a guy walks away from that, he just goes, I've just been D-T-R'd.
And he's still trying to figure out what the heck's happening there.
I love you, honey.
So I just, every time I hear D-T-R, I flash back to that November 1995,
and Christina and I walking around the soccer track, and I just had these hazy eyes,
and I was wondering, what am I going to do with this relationship?
What does this relationship mean to me?
How am I going to hold this relationship?
Am I going to keep this relationship?
And she walked away feeling satisfied somewhat that she got her point across,
and in my mind, all I could think is, I just got D-T-R'd.
And that was interesting.
But we're going to look at a passage today that I think is about Jesus D-T-R-ing a person.
And what I realize as I come to Scripture is that the Bible is full of D-T-R-ing.
And it's usually God D-T-R-ing you and me.
And he's asking us, where are we in our relationship with him?
Are we following him?
Are we committed to him?
Will we choose the one thing?
The passage says in verse 38 that they are traveling with Jesus and his disciples.
Now this is the last six months of Jesus' life.
And his disciples and him are heading to Jerusalem.
It's always up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem's on this mountain.
And everything else below it is lower.
And so his disciples and him are traveling.
And they come to this city, this small little town.
If you're standing in Jerusalem and you're facing north and you look east,
you see this garden of trees.
And it's called the Garden of Gethsemane.
And right over this garden, there's this little town called Bethany.
It's about a two-mile hike.
Now we don't know if this is the first time that Jesus came here.
It seems to be that this is the first time he ran into these two sisters.
And so he's coming to this town as he's heading to Jerusalem.
And whenever you think heading to Jerusalem, you always think sacrifice, the cross.
He's going to be crucified for you and me.
And so he enters into this town.
And we read in verse 38.
Now he was traveling along.
He entered into a village.
And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet listening to his word.
And what we realize immediately is that Martha and Mary are single women.
Now this, again, this makes no sense to us reading it here now in our culture.
But in Jesus' day and for the first thousand years, this would have been an amazing, an amazing passage.
Because what it says is that Jesus has come into this village and he's hanging out with these single women.
Now in Jesus' day, women were looked at really badly.
And it's interesting because in the Old Testament, women were handled with value and they were protected.
And for the most part, they were respected.
I mean, some of the greatest love stories are in the Old Testament of Abraham and Sarah.
And she's 80 and she can't have kids.
And everybody's saying, get rid of her.
And he's saying, I can't because I love her.
And you see this high value and commitment for women.
But something happens between Malachi and Matthew, these 400 years of darkness and silence.
And what you see is that the role of women become greatly decreased.
And women are treated like trash in Jesus' culture and time.
Let me read through you some comments.
Now these aren't mine.
These are comments from rabbis in Jesus' time about women.
Do not trust a woman, especially your wife.
Be careful to keep all records of all supplies you issue her.
Because she will probably lose some of them and sell the rest.
Give, guys, don't be laughing.
If you're a single guy, you should be going, that's terrible.
Okay?
Okay, okay.
Give no property or support to her in your lifetime.
Think about it after you die, but never while you're alive.
These are true.
Women are responsible for sin coming into the world.
Be warned.
They're going to cause you trouble.
Don't waste your time teaching a woman.
You might as well teach a dog.
Daughters are a disaster.
Now these were what the rabbis and the teachers of Jesus' day taught about women.
And they had an incredible view of women being inferior to men in all areas.
Now, I don't think we understand this today.
Maybe if I were preaching or teaching to a group of Muslim women and they heard these words,
they'd be going, yes, I understand.
Yes, I understand.
But in our culture where we're so modern and we're so, we're evolved, these passages kind of fly by us.
But in Jesus' day, this was huge.
It was very radical and cross-cultural.
I mean, up until Jesus' time, how many rabbis do you think had women students?
Zero.
There was one in the second century.
He tried to make his daughter because he was very gifted.
His daughter was very gifted.
He tried to make her a student.
And the uproar was so great, he had to stop.
And so women were treated poorly, poorly, poorly, worth nothing.
And Jesus comes in and you read in the Gospels for the first time that women are given high position,
high worth, high value.
They're treated equally as men.
And for the first time in Scripture, you read these things that speak out really clearly
that women and men are on the same level.
As Jesus goes and he teaches at least 27 times in the Gospel of Luke,
he talks about men and women, women and men.
Women see, men see.
Women hear, men hear.
Women hear, men don't do and obey.
The women obey, the men don't obey.
And we see over and over again that in this Scripture,
Jesus had this incredibly high view of women.
Do you understand that?
I mean, up until that point, no one would ever teach a woman.
And Jesus comes in and he's counter-cross-cultural.
He destroys all the boundaries.
And he does things in Scripture that we run through in our modern age,
but in his time, it was astounding.
It was against all culture and all tradition.
We read in the Gospels that the women traveled with the men.
That would have never happened.
Never.
We read in the Gospels that the women stayed in the same place as the men.
Never happened.
We read in the Gospels that the women were the ones who were supporting the ministry.
Do you know that?
The guys weren't supporting the ministry.
The women were.
Now, if Luke wanted to make this Gospel attractive to people in his age,
he would have never said that.
Because the minute they read about women being proactive or involved or students,
they would have just shut down.
I mean, the fact that the women run to the cave and they see Jesus
and they come back and they're the ones who testify that the Lord is risen,
all scholars in that time would have said that would have been stupid.
Because no one trusts the word of a woman.
But yet, in Jesus' ministry, over and over and over, he validates these women.
He breaks cultural rules and norms and he does incredible things.
Do you see what's happening here?
Does that make sense?
So sometimes it bothers me when people say, you know,
Jesus should have done this or he could have done this,
but he didn't do this because culturally he didn't have the time,
but if he came back, he would do it differently.
He's definitely terrible.
Jesus got crucified because he broke all cultural norms.
So we see here that he comes to this house that's run by Mary.
She's the owner of the house.
She's the mistress.
Her name actually means mistress.
And she's there and it says,
Mary who is seated at the Lord's,
Martha is the mistress,
and in verse 39,
Mary who is seated at the Lord's feet.
Now this has several meanings,
but the biggest one basically says that she's a disciple of Christ.
That she's chosen to follow God,
and Christ has said, yes, you're my disciple.
Now we only read about Mary three times in scripture,
and every time we read about Mary,
she's at Jesus' feet.
She's at Jesus' feet listening to his word.
She's at Jesus' feet when her brother Lazarus dies.
She's at Jesus' feet wiping his feet with her hair,
preparing him for burial.
Every time we read about Martha, she's serving.
She's serving.
She's doing.
She's a doer.
She's a bee.
She's always doing things.
She's using her gifts and her talents.
But Mary does something incredibly cross-cultural here,
and she sits at Jesus' feet,
and it doesn't really talk about her physical location,
but it talks about what she does.
Verse 40.
Martha was distracted with all her preparations
since she came up to him.
Now, and the word here, it's a very interesting word.
The word distracted basically means to lose focus.
So Martha invites Jesus in.
There's this huge party in her house,
and she becomes distracted.
The Greek word actually means to be pulled away,
to lost in the fog.
And so she's busy doing, and she gets lost.
Now, to be distracted means that you have to be distracted
from something to something.
Right?
Follow my logic here.
And so here she's distracted from Jesus in his teaching
to cooking, to doing.
And so she says there,
I'm trying to serve.
I'm distracted.
Why isn't anybody helping me?
Why won't anybody listen?
She can't listen.
She goes up to Jesus, and she says,
Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me
to do all the serving alone?
Tell her to help me.
Now, in the culture, what would have been happening
is some very interesting things.
On one level, Martha would be bothered
because there's a huge party,
and it was a very awkward setting too.
Jesus is teaching, and he's there,
and he's talking to his disciples,
and the scripture says that Martha just comes up
in front of everybody and says,
don't you care that I'm doing all this work?
Why are you letting my sister Mary stay here?
Why don't you tell her to come help me?
I need help in front of everybody.
Can you imagine a party like that?
And so Martha comes up, and she's frustrated,
but what we don't understand culturally
is there's some other things going on there.
Not only is she frustrated
because she's the only one doing it,
but in Jesus' day,
what she would have been saying
would be something like this.
I'm so upset.
My sister is sitting there with the men.
Doesn't my sister know that only men
are disciples and the teachers?
How can my sister be doing that?
I mean, if other people in the village
and the rabbis see my sister
sitting at the foot of a teacher,
disgrace.
I mean, if Jesus leaves
and we're left all by ourselves,
what's going to happen?
Are they going to come in
and drag us out and stone us
because she was acting improperly?
Because she's a single woman,
she shouldn't be hanging around guys.
What is my sister doing
hanging out with a man
everyone knows that women
shouldn't be taught,
only men do?
Disgrace.
How am I going to stand up to my family
when they look at us from now on
and they go,
Mary, just can't keep in a role,
can she?
What's going to happen?
Is anybody going to,
is anybody going to marry us?
Because she's acting improperly
and this just can't happen.
It's so disgraceful.
Look at the verse again in 40.
Who does she blame
for the actions of her sister?
Who's she blaming?
God.
Do you see that?
She's saying, God,
how come you're allowing my sister
to do this?
In Alabama languages,
say, hey dude,
get your act together.
Tell my sister to come help me.
And so she's blaming God
in the middle of this stuff
because she's all by herself
and she can't do it.
Verse 41.
But the Lord answered
and he said to her,
now whenever Jesus uses
people's names twice,
you need to really pay attention.
Because when he uses
people's names twice,
it's something that we need
to hear and learn from.
And he says this,
Martha, Martha,
you are so worried
and bothered about so many things.
In Greek there is the words
anxious, overwhelmed,
overcome by so many things.
Now what we didn't talk about
in verse 40 is this.
What was Martha busy doing?
What's it saying?
Preparations.
She was preparing
for this big meal.
You know in Greek
what that word preparation means?
It means ministry
and serving.
It's the same word we get
deacons and deaconesses from,
diakoni.
And so what he's saying here
is that you're so busy serving,
you're so busy using
your spiritual gifts.
you're so busy doing
all these things
that we need to be doing.
You've missed me.
Jesus says to her,
Martha, Martha,
you are so worried
about all the ministry things
that you're doing
and all the ways
that you're serving.
and you're so consumed
by all these many,
many things.
In Greek,
you can just circle things
and write beside it stuff.
Stuff.
Verse 42,
he tells her,
but only one thing
is necessary
for Mary has chosen
the good part
which shall not be
taken away from her.
In necessary,
that word actually means essential,
that there's only one thing
that we've called to do.
And he says that Mary
has called
and chosen the good part.
Again,
that's a very interesting word.
There's a play in words
going on here.
She's serving a banquet.
She's getting all these meals ready.
She wants to feed Jesus
this incredible banquet.
She wants to just
woe it out,
be excellent
in everything that she's doing.
And Jesus looks at her
and says,
Mary
has chosen
the better dish.
In Greek,
that's what it says.
You're cooking
all these dishes.
you're preparing
this large meal
but Mary has chosen
the better one.
Me.
Martha,
I didn't come here
to have you make
this huge meal for me.
Martha,
I just came here
to be with you.
Martha,
I really appreciate
that you're using your gifts
and you're serving
and you're doing
all these incredible things.
But you're distracted.
You're distracted.
You're walking around
in a haze
and you've missed me.
Anybody ever felt
that way before?
That you're doing
and you're doing
and you miss Christ?
You've become so busy
doing great things
and ministry things
and Jesus is sitting
right beside you
and he's saying,
hey,
I want to meet with you.
I want to talk to you.
I want to listen to you.
I want you to read my word.
I want to be with you.
And you look at him
and you say,
no,
I just don't have time
to do that right now
because I'm too busy.
I'm doing important things
and good things
and things that I know
you want me to do.
There's a couple things
that stick out here
and then we're going to end.
Things that kind of
have been haunting me
these last couple weeks
as I keep going back
and back to this passage.
The first thing
that sticks out
in this whole,
these six verses
is this.
I mean,
the scripture is amazing.
It's kind of like an onion.
I think the Bible
is like an onion.
You cut it off
at one level
and you see these lines
and you go,
oh,
that's really cool.
But the deeper you get,
usually what happens
is the more you cry
because you see your life
in the deep part
of the onion.
But you see
these deeper messages
that Jesus wants
to teach us.
And for me,
this week,
as I looked at this passage,
what I keep hearing
and coming back to
is that the essence
of discipleship,
the essence of being
a disciple,
when you look at Martha
and Mary's lives,
it's not in service.
It's not in finding meaning
in the things that I do.
It's not in finding meaning
in the things that I give.
It's not in finding meaning
and even in using
my spiritual gifts.
But what Jesus says here
is that the essence
of discipleship,
the essence of being
with Him
is just finding Christ.
and being with Him.
I mean,
look at this passage.
Can you imagine
it's nothing
more worse
than serving God
and feeling like
you're doing exactly
what God wants you to do,
but in that process
you miss God.
Have you ever had
that happen to you?
There's so many things
you have to do
and prepare at work
or whatever you're doing.
You're serving God
at your work
or wherever God has you.
And you have all these
things you're doing
and you're preparing
and you're trying
to do all these things
excellently.
And then you start going,
man,
when was the last time
I prayed?
When was the last time
I read my Bible?
When was the last time
I spent time
with other believers?
And what this passage
has been telling me
is that there's a big difference
between being close to God
and being intimate to Him.
And often in our lives
we struggle with serving
and doing things
that we feel like
God wants us to do.
But we miss God.
I mean,
I don't think this passage
is about Martha is better
or Mary is better.
I don't think
it's about that at all.
But what He's trying
to tell us
is that whatever you do,
whatever your mission is,
wherever I have you
serving at the bank
and the law firm
as a teacher
in ministry,
whatever I have you doing,
make sure that I'm there.
I'm there.
I'm right beside you.
I'm talking to you.
Are you going to listen to me?
Martha was distracted.
She thought she was doing
the most important thing.
She thought she was
serving the Lord,
using her gifts,
doing an incredible meal.
And she did all these things
excellently.
And I always struggle with it
because you never read
in the passage
where someone said,
we want you to do this
for Jesus.
We want you to develop
a great meal,
make your house perfect.
We want to have everything
just exactly the way
it should be.
And then when Jesus comes,
He's going to eat that meal.
You never read that
in the passage.
And in fact,
by Jesus' response,
you see that that's not
even what He wants at all.
Jesus wants her.
He wants her to be with Him
and to spend time with Him.
And sometimes I think
that we forget that
because we're so busy
doing things
and feeling like we're serving.
And it happens a lot
in ministry.
We try to do things
correctly and perfectly
and we miss Jesus.
The next thing that comes out
in this passage
and I have been learning
is that it's very easy
to get distracted
in this world.
I mean,
it's really easy
to get distracted,
isn't it?
I was reading this book
and it was basically
the tyranny of the urgent
Charles Hummel.
Charles Hummel says this
in his book
and it's very interesting.
He says,
we get distracted
not just by
performing wrong tasks
but mostly
by trying to cram
too many of the right things
into a small period of time.
When we do this,
we become critical
in our spirits.
We begin to condemn others
and we blame others.
Look at Martha in verse 40.
You look at this passage,
she yells out,
don't you care?
And I think it's
this huge warning for us.
You see that she's self-pity.
You see that she's angry
with other people.
You see that she's finding fault
with everything that's going on.
You see that she eventually
ends up blaming God.
And the passage says
that she's distracted.
She's so distracted
that she just can't listen to God
and she doesn't know
what he's saying.
Have you ever had that
happen in your life?
That you have so many things
to do in this small period of time,
you gotta cram them all in.
They're all really good things.
And then as you do them,
you just get more angry
and frustrated
and angry and frustrated
because you don't feel
like you have time.
And you start blaming
other people
and you start complaining
and you start blaming God
for bringing all these things
into your life.
God, why did you have to
plant a church right beside us?
Because now I need to come
and do all these things.
I'm not gonna be rested
until I get them done.
Lord, how come I signed up
for this ministry
because it's involved
so many things.
I just don't have time
to do all the things
I need to do
and do it well.
For me,
as I read through this passage,
there's a couple things
I ask myself often.
One question is this.
Am I getting more discouraged
these days
than I was before?
Am I worried
about what other people
are doing
instead of what I'm doing?
Do I get more angry
more easily?
Am I more easily angered
as I walk through my day?
Do I blame God
for things
in my life?
And the passage says
that if you answer yes
to any of those,
you're distracted
and you've lost focus.
I'm learning more and more
that there's a big difference
between being close to God
and having a relationship
with God.
After 25 years of ministry,
25 years of seeing people do
and me do,
sometimes doing
isn't a great excuse
for not being close to God.
sometimes being close to God
is easier
than being intimate with God.
I mean,
it's much easier for me
to go to five Bible studies
this week
instead of sit down
and be quiet,
open God's word
and ask Him
how I'm doing.
because if I'm quiet
and I ask Him
how I'm doing,
I might hear that voice
that says,
dude,
you're not doing
very good at all.
But if I don't spend that time,
I just go to BSF
and I do all these
other great things.
Whatever it is,
as a young Christian,
I was just so stressed out
because I figured
that as I walked with God,
I could do 10 great things
every week in my church.
10 great things.
I mean,
they were all amazing.
Great teachers.
They were going to help me.
But what I realized
is I tried to cram
all those things in
that I never ended up
meeting Christ.
I lost my focus.
I forgot why I was doing things.
It's really easy
to get distracted in this world
and as you look at Martha,
you see a little bit of us
in her
if we're honest.
One of the things
I've been learning
is as I go through my day,
I kind of just do things like this.
I go and I pray
and I say,
God,
would you be here right now?
God,
I'm about to go into
this business meeting
and it's going to be
very difficult.
Will you be with me?
Will you speak to me
as I go and talk
to these partners?
As I'm filling out
this spreadsheet,
it's so easy for me
to lose focus
on why you have me here
and what you have me doing.
Will you be with me?
I need you.
The passage says
that Jesus came
to be with her
but Martha was so
distracted
by great things
that she missed Christ.
Now we know
that it's not true
later in her life.
Later in her life,
she comes
and she does amazing things
and she says
when she comes
to Jesus
and Lazarus is dead,
she goes,
Lord,
if you had been here,
he would be alive
because you are the Lord.
You're the God.
You're the creator
of everything.
And Jesus goes,
do you believe
he's going to live?
Yeah,
I know he's going to live.
You're going to make him
live in a resurrection.
Jesus goes,
no, no, no.
Do you believe
he's going to live now?
So you know
that Martha got it right
later on in her life
but now she struggles
with being distracted
and she doesn't know
finally the last thing
that keeps coming back
into me
as I keep reading this
is verse 39.
She had a sister
called Mary
who was seated
at the Lord's seat
listening to his word.
Now Jesus' day,
disciples followed
their rabbis everywhere.
There's amazing stories
you can read
about disciples
following their rabbis
into the bathroom
because they're afraid
the rabbi's going to say
something they need to hear
and they're going to
need to write it down
because all the word
is valuable.
There's amazing stories
about rabbis
going to bed at night
and they're feeling
a bump underneath their bed
and there's disciples there
and their disciples
are writing out
everything that the rabbi
is saying
because they just want
to be so close
to the rabbi
and they want to know
his words,
they want to learn from him
because it's law
and it's life
and it's everything.
There's a story
of how these disciples
follow the rabbi
so closely
as he's walking
down the dusty roads
because their goal
is to get the dust
of the rabbi
covering them
and they feel like
if they get the dust
of the rabbi
covering them
that they're so close
that they're not
going to miss anything
but they're intimate
and they know him
and I think about
this passage
when it says
Mary sat at his feet
because she knew
who he was
and I wonder
for us as a church
what that would look
like today.
As you left
some of you
to hang out
some of you
to eat food
some of you
to grab your kids
and go off
if the last thing
I said to you
is hey make sure
you sit by the feet
of your rabbi
today
what would that
mean to you?
I said hey
make sure
as you go out
that you get covered
by the dust
of your rabbi
because he has
a lot of things
to share with you today
he really wants
to talk to you.
What would that
look like
for you?
It might mean
it's the beginning
of your day
you open your bible
and you read it
for ten minutes.
Start in the gospels
don't start at revelation.
It might mean
that you start praying
little sentence prayers
as you go in
and do things.
It might mean
you say
Lord Jesus
I really need you
right now.
Will you be here
with me?
Whatever it looks
like for you
you need to do it.
The church
in Ephesus
chapter four
is the first church
that Jesus talked about
and in it
he talks about
the Ephesian church
and he says
this is thirty years
after he wrote
the book of Ephesians
he said
you guys
are studs
you
you know the word
you're making sure
your teachers
are correct
you're rebuking
false prophets
you're
you're preaching
the word
but I have this
one thing
against you
you've lost
your first love
in the midst
of doing all
the right things
and being engaged
wherever God
has you
this week
the most important
thing that God
wants from every
one of us in here
is for us to spend
time with him
to listen to his word
to pray
to ask him
to come into
whatever you're
doing
that's the one
thing
what is the
greater dish
time with Christ
what is the
one thing
the rabbi
who sits beside
you
as you walk
through the day
wanting to talk
to you
and the question
is
will you do
it
so let me ask
you a question
how's your
DTR
if Christ
came to you
and called you
up and said
hey I want to
talk to you
I need to talk
right now
and he comes
in and he says
you know
I have a
problem
DTR
he's a
DTRer
we're the
DTRE
we're going
to get
DTR'd
but he
asked us
where's this
relationship
going
do you just
come and see
me on Sunday
then you walk
away
do you just
call me up
when you need
me because
you're about
to lose
your job
and then
after you
get your
job
and everything
is great
you just
forget about
me
do you
just cry
out to me
when your
life is out
of control
and your
kids are
crazy
or do you
cry out to me
all the time
knowing that
I'm there
and I want
to be with
you
Martha and
Mary are in
every one of
us in here
sometimes we're
Martha
and sometimes
we're Mary
in the midst
of all
of this
the most
important thing
God wants
to teach
you
is that
wherever you
are
he is there
with you
that he
desires a
relationship
with you
and he
wants you to
listen to his
voice
and spend
time with
him
father we
just thank you
for this
day
we thank you
for your
word which
is living
and active
we thank you
for these
two amazing
women
we know
that you
use them
in mighty
mighty ways
throughout your
word in
scripture
they are
there with
you to
the end
because of
the lessons
you teach
them now
father let's
pray for us
as a church
and I pray
for us as
brothers and
sisters here
that we'd
understand what
you want to
teach to us
today
that we'd
fall more
in love with
you and
realize that
we are
right next
to you
that you're
right next
to us
as we go
through our
day
and the
most important
thing that
you want
for us
the one
thing
is that you
want us to
be in
relationship
with you
father help us
not as a church
to be doing
doing doing
and all these
great things
that we think
are of your
kingdom
and we end
up missing
what you want
us to do
but help us
as a church
and as your
people
to listen
to you
to follow
you
to serve
with your
hands
and with
your words
to reach out
into the
darkest part
of Hong Kong
where 95%
of the people
if they were
to die
right now
they would
be separated
from you
for eternity
father we
want to be a
church that
that bothers
us
father we
want to be a
church that
that bothers
us
father we
love you
and we
pray all
these things
in your
son Jesus
name
amen