|
Introduction:
Imagine your house caught on fire in the middle of the night. The
smoke is getting thick, the heat unbearable. You have time to get
only one thing and take it out with you. What would it be? I
imagine I would die in that fire because I would wake Marita up
and send her out the window, but then I would have three very
important items to find and get out of the house, they have been
in our family for 9, 7 and 4 years respectively. Questions like
this are intended to challenge us and our values. How valuable is
the computer or entertainment center when placed alongside saving
our kids? Yet, how much time do we spend with our computer or
entertainment center versus with our kids? These kinds of
questions force us to see what is really important, what matters
and what is necessary. In like manner, Jesus challenges us to see
what is really important. Luke
10:38-42 throws the gauntlet down. We know the story of
Mary and Martha. Martha was anxious and troubled by so many things
that she was distracted from the one necessary thing. Mary, on the
other hand, chose the one good thing and that would not be taken
from her. You see, the world is on fire (or will be, II
Peter 3:10) and we only have time to carry one thing with
us. Will we grab the right portion? Discussion: I.
What is the one necessary thing? A.
Mary pursued the one necessary thing. But what exactly is
that? Is it merely listening to Jesus teach? I don’t think so.
Rather, because Mary pursued the one necessary thing, she listened
to Jesus instead of doing housework. B.
We could turn to numerous passages to build a case for the
necessary thing. We could turn to I
Timothy 1:5, which shows the aim of our charge is love
issuing from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.
We could turn to Matthew
6:33-34 to talk about seeking first the kingdom of God and
not being anxious about other things. We could turn to John
4:34 to talk about letting the Father’s will be our
food. However, the passage I think most demonstrates the one
necessary thing is Philippians
3:7-14. C.
What did Paul consider the absolute one and only necessary
thing? Knowing Jesus Christ. Why? By knowing Jesus we can enter
and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of our own, but
having the real righteousness that comes by faith in Him. When we
know Him, we know the power of His resurrection and may attain our
own resurrection from the dead. D.
Think about it. If the only thing absolutely necessary in
your life is knowing Jesus, what would you do if He were in your
house teaching? Would you be up setting the table and positioning
the bathroom towels or would you be at His feet listening. Mary
wanted to know Jesus. Mary wanted the resurrection. Why would she
do anything other than listen to Jesus when He was teaching? What
if she missed something important? The dishes could wait, but
listening to Jesus could not. II.
Distracted. A.
Martha couldn’t focus. A friend recently pointed out the
use of a particular word in vs.
40—“distracted.” Martha’s problem was not being
focused on the wrong things. Martha wanted to know Jesus. Martha
wanted the resurrection (cf.
John
11:24). Her problem was being distracted from the right
thing. Allow me to illustrate. One of the worst things for my
marriage is televisions in restaurants. The problem is when I take
Marita out to eat, I need to focus on her, listen to her, converse
with her. I never go out of my way to ignore her and I certainly
care about her. However, I am easily distracted by the television.
Then I hear those words fatal to any evening out with my wife,
“You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?” It is not
that I am focused on bad things; I was distracted from the right
thing. B.
Martha wanted to know Jesus too. However, every time she
started to focus on Jesus her timer went off or she remembered she
needed to put out the towels or she realized she still needed to
butter the rolls. Martha’s anxieties distracted her. I can
almost hear her thoughts. “If that Mary would get up off her
lazy backside and help, I could get done quicker and listen to the
Master, too. I just have too much to do to sit around. If I were
trying to listen, all I could think about is all this work
anyway.” C.
What distracts us? Money, work, a clean home, our
children’s education, retirement, pleasure, sports, television,
graduating, assignments from teachers, assignments from bosses,
keeping up appearances, our weight, our health, our cars, our
computers? Are we anxious and troubled about many things? Or are
we focused on the one necessary thing? D.
Please carefully notice Jesus’ words to Martha. He said,
“One thing is necessary.” He did not say, “One thing is
allowed.” Martha was not wrong because she had concerns about
her role as host. We are not wrong because we have concerns about
money, work, a clean home… We are not wrong for taking time to
complete projects assigned by our bosses or watching television.
The problem is when any of these things distract us from the one
necessary thing. Let me tell you my big distraction today. The
next season of 24 starts
tonight at 7pm. We have a colossal two episode premier tonight,
followed by two episodes tomorrow night and I can’t wait. But
there is a problem. We assemble from 6 to 7pm. Maybe I could cut
tonight’s sermon short. But then you all are going to be hanging
around here wanting to visit and get to know one another. Maybe I
could leave as soon as the invitation song is finished. Maybe I
could get the elders to move our assembly to 4 o’clock. Or maybe
I could just develop a colossal headache between now and then and
“not feel well enough to get out.” Granted, this is not a big
deal because I can DVR the show. But what if I couldn’t? What if
tonight’s assembly meant I wasn’t going to see the first
episode of my favorite tv show? What if the assembly means I miss
the Super Bowl? What if the work of this congregation means I
can’t have certain jobs because I won’t be able to work with
the church? What if my need to study the Bible and pray means I
miss out on something I really like? What if it means I don’t
get to watch certain shows, go certain places, be involved in
certain activities. When I was in high school, I loved being
involved in plays. I would love to do it again. What if focusing
on the one necessary thing means I never get to be involved in
another play in my entire life? E.
There are a lot of good things out there that threaten to
distract us. But only one thing is necessary. We must maintain our
focus on knowing Jesus. III.
Everything else will be taken away. A.
Mary chose to listen to Jesus. He said that would not be
taken from her ever. Martha chose to clean house. Now, ladies, you
tell me. What was going to happen to Martha’s clean house? She
was just going to have to clean it again when Jesus and the
apostles left. Why be distracted by what is temporal and transient
from what is eternal? Consider the principle of I
Timothy 4:8. Physical exercise is profitable. There is
nothing wrong with it. You ought to do it. But godliness is really
profitable. It has a promise for this life and the one to come.
Don’t misunderstand, I am not justifying my lack of health. But
the numbers of people who spend hours a day keeping their bodies
fit but don’t have time to read their Bibles have a problem.
They are distracted from the one necessary thing and what they are
focusing on will be taken from them. B.
Have any of you visited Martha’s house? It is not even
standing today. We don’t even know where it was standing. Right
now, 2000 years later, does it matter one bit that Martha cleaned
her house on that day? Do you think it matters right now that Mary
listened to Jesus on that day? This was the message of Ecclesiastes
1:4-11. Ecclesiastes
2:18-23 explains we can work all day and then our works
will be destroyed by those who come after us. Our work seems so
important but even rulers of the world are forgotten and their
works lost. Consider the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which tells of a man traveling in Egypt.
He sees a broken down statue whose inscription says, “I am
Ozymandias, look on my works ye mighty and despair.” The
traveler looked around and saw nothing but barren desert.
Ozymandias was Ramses II. He had been one of Egypt’s greatest
building Pharaohs. But what is left of his work? Most people today
don’t even know who he is. All that great work was taken from
him. C.
Finally, consider II
Peter 3:10. If Martha’s house was still standing and
stood to the end of time, what is going to happen to it? It will
burn up with the rest of the world. That house won’t go into
eternity with Martha. But the lesson’s Mary learned from Jesus
will go into eternity with her. How many of our great achievements
will last into eternity? Our diplomas, our gold, our homes, our
cars, our computers, our trophies, our certificates, our
buildings, our everything will be burned up on the final day. When
Mary and Martha stand before God in judgment, based on that one
occurrence, which one will have something to take with them? D.
Think of this simple test. When we stand before God in
judgment, which things will have mattered? When Alexander the
Great stands before God, do you think God will care that he
conquered half of the known world? When Benjamin Franklin stands
before God, do you think God will care that he discovered
electricity, invented the stove and started the post office? Will
God be awed by Franklin’s mental prowess and ambassadorial
accomplishments? When Thomas Edison stands before God, do you
think God will care that he invented the light bulb? When Thomas
Jefferson stands before God in judgment do you think God will care
that he wrote the Declaration of Independence? Don’t
misunderstand. There was nothing wrong with these men doing any of
these things. The problem is, to my knowledge, none of them worked
on knowing Jesus. We look at them as great men. They are statesmen
and leaders we strive to emulate. But from an eternal perspective,
nothing they accomplished is doing them one bit of good. When you
stand before God in judgment, about what will He care? About what
will you care? Will you point to your house? Your job? Your cars?
Your degree? Your savings? In the eternal picture none of these
things matter. Knowing Jesus and being found in Him having a
righteousness that came by faith and therefore attaining the
resurrection is all that will matter. IV.
Focusing on the one thing. A.
If knowing Jesus is the only thing necessary, how do we
accomplish that? First and foremost, develop
habits that introduce you to Jesus. 1.
Bible reading, study, meditation and memorization (Psalm
1:2). Talk about the Bible to others and teach it to
whomever you can. 2.
Pray regularly (I
Thessalonians 5:17). Someone has said the difference
between modern and classical man is modern man has replaced
morning prayers with the morning paper. In our day and age, it has
gone even further to be replaced with the Morning Show. 3.
Attend the assemblies (Hebrews
10:25). We can argue all day long about how many
assemblies you really have to attend and never accomplish
anything. But you tell me, what do you think Mary would be doing
when the saints are assembled? Why? Because she had to? Because
she had to mark that off her checklist to get into heaven? No.
Because only one thing is necessary and that is knowing Jesus. Why
would she be anywhere but with the assembly when the saints are
assembled? Why would we? 4.
Spend time with Christians outside the assembly,
spiritually and socially (Acts
2:46-47). B.
Prioritize.
As we learned from I
Timothy 4:8, physical exercise is good, but godliness
should take more priority. It is good to keep up with the stock
market, the political happenings, the current events, but will any
of those things help you in eternity? Leave the newspaper in the
bag, the tv and radio off, the internet shut down until you have
worked on knowing Jesus. Make knowing Jesus a daily priority.
Prioritize and schedule the habits you need to pursue to know
Jesus. “But I just don’t have time for all of this.” You
have now struck on the essence of what this passage is all about.
As we have learned before, we have enough time to do anything we
want, but not enough time to do everything we want. If you don’t
have time to know Jesus, then you need to cut something else out
of your life. Please believe me, there will come a time when you
will wish you had. Matthew
5:29-30 is all about this. You need to cut off everything
that distracts you from knowing Jesus. As you prioritize, don’t
let the urgent replace the important. Martha’s role of hostess
was urgent because Jesus was right there in her home. But
listening to Jesus was more important. No doubt, in her mind she
could always listen to Him later but she might not get another
chance to play hostess to Him in her home. She had to make this
one count. But she chose unwisely. C.
Don’t
let the world get you down.
When we prioritize our relationship with Jesus, the world will
think we are weird. Let’s face it, when we simply take half
measures of Christianity like avoiding the bars and sexual
immorality or attending the assemblies once a week, they think we
are weird. But if we go so far as to spend hours a week even a day
praying, studying the Bible, singing praises, they are going to
think we are all out crazy. They will mock us. They will criticize
us, even subtly, laughing because we can’t be involved in their
conversations about current events or the latest happenings on
television. They will make fun of us if we don’t know much about
football or are not that educated in secular education. As long as
you are choosing the necessary part, then don’t let the world
get you down. D.
Don’t
let your brethren get you down.
Interestingly, Mary was not rebuked by a passer by from the world.
She was rebuked by Martha. Frankly, in my experience, I have taken
less heat from the worldly who expect me to be weird than I have
from distracted brothers and sisters in Christ. For instance, I
have never once been attacked by someone in the world for
attending Sunday night assemblies. I have, however, been ridiculed
and attacked by distracted brethren who legalistically believe
they are ok because they attend the Sunday morning assemblies and
feel it is unnecessary to worship with and edify brethren on
Sunday night (I am not talking about congregations who only have
one assembly on Sunday). I don’t believe I have ever been
attacked or ridiculed by those in the world for choosing not to
watch certain television shows or movies, or for those periods
when I removed television from my life altogether. I have,
however, been attacked and ridiculed by distracted brethren who
felt they needed to justify their actions. I have never been
attacked or ridiculed for my standards of modest dress and
deportment by people in the world. I have however been ridiculed
for being prudish and Victorian by my own distracted brethren who
have been more interested in dressing in modern fashions than in
modest ones. Sadly, I have never been ridiculed or attacked by the
worldly for my belief that drinking alcohol or playing the lottery
violates the scripture. In fact, my experience in college was the
worldly appreciated my conviction even if they disagreed with me.
I have, however, been attacked and ridiculed by distracted
brethren who want to fit in with society a little more readily for
being too traditionalistic, archaic and just plain boring. Do you
get the picture? Further, when I have been attacked and ridiculed
by the world, I was not so discouraged as when I was attacked and
ridiculed by distracted brethren. I appreciate that everyone who
is focused on knowing Jesus will not look just alike and will not
necessarily make all the same decisions or hold the exact same
standards as I have just discussed. However, folks focused on
knowing Jesus will not ridicule or attack others for their stands
and decisions that seem more extreme. In any event, no matter who
is ridiculing or attacking, if we are choosing the only necessary
part of knowing Jesus, we know that will not be taken from us. We
must not let even our distracted brethren get us down. Conclusion: Only one thing is necessary for us. Yet Satan is working hard to distract us from it. How subtly he diverts our attention away from knowing Jesus. Are you focused on and prioritizing the one necessary thing of knowing Jesus and, therefore, being found in Him with a righteousness that comes from faith, knowing the power of His resurrection and attaining your own? What is distracting you? Think eternally. Is it worth it? Let’s all focus on the one necessary thing and grow together, lifting one another up, stimulating one another to love and good deeds.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
|
||||||||||
