When God Calls Your Name: Martha, Martha

As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me."

But the Lord said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her."


-Luke 10:38-42


Last week, we studied how God called Moses’ name twice from the burning bush. Moses was mired in a life of inactivity, not living up to his potential or even to his training. God had prepared something for him to do, and He needed to call Moses twice.

Today we look at a completely different situation; Martha is anything but inactive. In fact, she is a wonderful host. She does everything right and her parties outdid everyone’s. If she lived in today’s world, her last name would be Stewart.

Here’s the deal; Martha was not only doing all that was expected of her, but, truth be known, she was going above and beyond the call of duty. In a church setting, Martha would be the go-to woman. Have you heard the old adage: if you want something to get done, ask a busy person. That was Martha. Sometimes I’ve heard this scripture preached in such a way that it makes Martha seem like some kind of ogre, but she wasn’t. No, not at all. Martha was dependable. Martha was a fantastic host. Martha was working in the area of her giftedness. Martha did all the behind-the-scenes work that allowed other people to do what they needed to do without worry about all those things. But Martha missed the boat.

In our society, usefulness is gauged by how much someone does. We value productivity. We value Marthas. Even in the church, we are always looking for volunteers – a case in point was last week, when I asked you to step up out of inactivity into participation, to do Kingdom work. And Martha was indeed doing Kingdom work – this party would not have happened had she not stepped up to do the work.

Unfortunately, as Jesus pointed out, Martha was worried and upset about many things, but only one thing was worth being concerned about.

Maxie Dunnam was the president of Asbury Seminary when I was there, and when he spoke in chapel, you could always expect three things. First, you could expect him to say, "God is good…" expecting a response of "All the time" – then he’d continue by saying, "All the time…" to which we’d respond, "God is good." Secondly, you could expect him to quote from Charles Schultz’ comic "Peanuts." And thirdly, you could expect him to remind us to "Keep the main thing the main thing."

It’s easy to get sidetracked by important things and only later realize that you’ve missed what was most important. I’ve never heard of anyone on their deathbed whispering, "I wish I’d spent less time with the kids and more time at work."

I don’t mean to imply that the work any of you do is unimportant. No, quite the contrary, what makes this so difficult is that every job, no matter how small, is of vital importance. Add to that all of your responsibilities outside the church – responsibility to your family, to your job, to your health, and you have quite a busy slate.

If you’re in caught up in the busy-ness trap, Jesus says to you, "Only one thing is worth being concerned about."

Something has been bothering me ever since our board meeting on Monday. We spent a whole lot of time talking about us, about things that are of importance to us as a congregation or as leaders. I gave a report of my activities of the month. We got a report on our financial status. We had a report from the Trustees about the physical structure. We talked at great length about furniture and about technology. We had some very passionate discussions – we really care about what we discussed. All of these things are important, don’t get me wrong, but I think maybe we’re missing out on that one thing that is worth being concerned about.

We can have great finances, we can have the best technology money can buy, we can have a beautiful building, but it doesn’t mean anything if our relationship with Jesus Christ isn’t central to everything we do. The apostle Paul talks about this in Philippians 3:7-8. He goes through a list of what used to be important to him, and he concludes by saying, "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him." That’s keeping the main thing the main thing.

Here’s where we have a problem: what is 1s this main thing that we’re supposed to be focused on? What is this one thing that we need to be concerned about? If we all filled out a survey, we’d probably all come up with different ideas of what that main thing is. I pose that it’s most important for us to be with Christ so we can be like Christ. We cannot expect to be Christ to a world that needs Him if we aren’t spending regular time at His feet, learning and growing. If we expect to do Kingdom work without spending significant time with the King, then we’re just spinning our wheels.

I think it would be neat to be a great golfer like Tiger Woods, but really, I am satisfied with having a miserable golf game, so I don’t go out and practice daily. I’d love to be an amazing guitar player like Eric Clapton, but since I am satisfied enough with my decent-enough guitar skills, I don’t spend all day and night practicing. And unfortunately, many of us are satisfied enough with the good things we are doing – so satisfied that spending time with Jesus Christ isn’t a high priority.

And we cannot expect to be like Christ if we’re not spending time with him.

This is why I’ve been stressing Bible studies over and over again – because we need that time with Jesus, and we need it desperately! The fact is, even I struggle with spending time alone with Him. Are you with me?

Let’s conclude by spending a few moments with God in silence. After we’ve had a little while with Him, join me in singing our love for the Lord.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Eve: Jesus is Hope, Love, Joy, Peace

Life Together: Live in Harmony with One Another

The Lord's Signet Ring