The One Thing

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.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

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.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

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?

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.

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.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 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.

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'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

you

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