For those of you who missed, here is todays sermon. Duty or Devotion-Legalism or Love 8/10/2014 Luke 10:38-42 There was once a married couple who should have never got married in the first place because they went into the marriage with one spouse not really loving and respecting the other. A few days after they got married the husband handed his wife a list of chores for her to follow. He insisted that she do all the tasks on her list every single day. The wife not wanting to upset her husband worked hard to accomplish her assigned duties, but she was miserable as she performed them. Ironing his clothes, preparing his meals, cleaning house—every task was burdensome. And even though she obeyed all his rules nothing she did ever seemed to please him because he always found something to criticize her about. The poor woman was miserable because she never enjoyed a loving relationship with her husband. Then one day her husband died. And after several years had passed, she fell in love with another man and got married again. The new husband never required her to do anything, much less give her a list of jobs. Instead, he showered her with love and did everything he could to make her happy. One day the wife was joyfully cleaning the house when she discovered her first husband’s list of commands tucked away in a drawer. As she read the paper, it dawned on her that she was now performing every task on the list, but now she was serving with joy instead of misery. Her love for her second husband and his love for her inspired her to automatically do the same jobs that her first husband had required. Yes she had served her first husband out of duty, but her second husband out of love. Likewise God wants us to serve Him out of jubilation, not obligation. Realize that legalism adds burdensome weight to our work, but love gives wings to our service. Question- What brought you here today? Was it out of a sense of duty? Was it because you feel a sense of obligation, a responsibility to the Lord for all that he has done for you? Now let me ask you this -Is it possible to serve the Lord out of habit rather than out of love? This morning the title of the lesson is Duty or Devotion In Luke chapter 10 ,Luke writes about a situation where Jesus was discussing with a Jewish religious leader the two greatest commands of Scripture which is that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and how we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves. We also read in this same text how Jesus then used the story of “The Good Samaritan” to illustrate how we should love our neighbor. Now what’s really interesting is that after writing about this situation with Jesus and the religious leader, Luke then writes about another situation involving two sisters, Martha and Mary. Now being that Luke was inspired by God, I just wonder if this story we’re about to look at was strategically placed here to illustrate how we should really love the Lord. It’s just a thought. Well with that said the story that we are going to read about today in Luke chapter10 verses 38-42 takes place in the village of Bethany which is located just outside of Jerusalem. Now from what we can glean from this passage and in John chapters 11 and 12, Martha lived with her sister Mary and her later to be famous brother Lazarus whom Jesus would raise from the dead. Now it appears that Martha was a widow for she is the head of the household. And so it’s here in the home of Martha which she shared with her siblings Mary and Lazarus that Jesus and his disciples come to for some rest and relaxation, a chance to get away from the pressing needs of the people. No doubt here is a home that Jesus had been too many times before, a place where he knew He was loved and accepted. Now, no doubt both sisters are delighted to see Jesus, but as we will see they will express their enthusiasm in very different ways. In verse thirty-eight we are told, “Now it happened as they went that He, Jesus, entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. (39) And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Now as most of us know we who make up the church have varying temperaments; some are always active always needing to be busy, never able to sit still. While others are thoughtful, willing to sit back and think things through. Well from what we just read, Martha was perhaps a very activity-oriented person. In todays terms we might label her with a driver personality. Now her sister Mary on the other hand appears to be one who had a more thoughtful lay back nature. In todays terms we would probably label her with an amiable personality. Now I believe that over the years we have wrongly contrasted Martha and Mary, as though each Christian should make a choice to either be a worker like Martha or a worshipper like Mary. But in so doing I think we really miss the point. You see I believe the Lord wants each of us to imitate Mary in our worship and Martha in our work. In other words I believe our Lord wants us to achieve balance in both. Now again as we just read Mary is content to not do anything but to just sit at Jesus’ feet soaking up His every word. While her big sister Martha is looking around at all the guest and seeing the need to prepare a meal. Martha was obviously a great hostess because no sooner had Jesus arrived she got up and began to prepare food for Him and all those there with Him. Martha perhaps looked around and said to herself “What a privilege to prepare a meal for the Master!” Mary on the other hand perhaps said to herself, “What a privilege to sit at the feet of the Master.” Now is one right and the other wrong? No. And that’s because Duty and Devotion are both necessary but there has to be a balance. In other words, in every action, in every relationship, in every institution there has to be a basic focus which is its reason for existence. In other words whatever the endeavor is, if it hopes to succeed it must have a basic focus, because if it loses that focus it will fail. Realize that when you lose your focus, which is why you do what you do, you are in big trouble. And so let us to look at this story and see what it teaches us about the cost of a loss of focus. Now the first thing I want to point out is how a loss of focus caused Martha to resort to frustration and self-pity. Verse 40 reads…. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him (Jesus) and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” Now there’s no doubt that some of you ladies here know what entertaining unplanned visitor’s is like and why Martha is flustered and feeling more and more frustrated with each passing moment. Again the first part of verse forty tells us, “But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Now the meaning of the word “distracted” literally means “to be pulled away” or “dragged away.” It means, an extreme mental or emotional disturbance” You see the implication is that Martha wanted to hear Jesus too, she wanted to be seated at his feet like her sister, but she was pulled away by her sense of her “duties.” And so fretting about the meal, wound up robbing her of the joy of her service to the Lord. Now we should of course take our responsibilities seriously, but not ourselves to the point that we overestimate our importance. You see the problem did not lie in the work that Martha was doing. No it was the attitude that she was doing it with that became the problem. Martha’s problem was one of balance, between the going and doing and the sitting and listening. Now my greatest fear in saying that is that someone out there who is doing nothing now will gratefully say “Amen” to what they think I said, and so continue to excuse themselves’ from doing anything except ‘sitting”. Well the truth is that there are too many “sitters” now. You see the difference between Martha and Mary is not that one served and the other did not, but that one served out of duty and the other out of devotion. You know there are many Christians today who like Martha who have become very busy with the everyday things of life in and out of the church. So busy that they neglect the more important things, so busy that they forget to put “First Things First” namely spending quality time with God. And that’s because so many Christians have come to believe that “being busy” means that they’re important; for many “busyness” is where they get their security, It’s validating, popular and pleasing, but it can also become that which keeps us from having to deal with the ‘first things” in our lives. Not only that, but it can also set the stage for one becoming frustrated and resentful at those who are not as busy as we are. And this brings me to my next point which is a loss of focus caused Martha to become angry at others. Now as we all know our world is full of distractions. And the more the pressure there is the more tempting it is to focus on the urgent rather than the essential. Now I truly believe that Martha wanted to honor Jesus. I even believe that she began her work with the right attitude. Now let me see if some of you ladies can identify with what I am about to say. You begin the task of a huge festive meal like Thanksgiving dinner. You begin with the greatest of enthusiasm, but as time passes you came to realize that you are running out of time and you cannot possibly finish everything that you planned to do. And when that happens, you get a little frustrated and angry – angry at yourself for letting yourself get in this fix in the first place, and angry with anyone else who might have made a difference in you accomplishing your goals. Well no doubt Martha felt like that, because it seems that the harder she worked the more worked up she became. Yes some people “burn out” in service but Martha was “burned up” in hers. You might say at that point she was “working like the Devil serving the Lord.” Yes it is bad enough to have to do everything all by our self. It is even worse when we become angry at someone who we feel is not pulling their weight and who has let us down. Well that is what I see happening to Martha. Yes far too often tension and frustration mount when we take it upon ourselves to cram too many activities into a given period…. Far too often a critical spirit develops and we begin to judge and condemn others for what they do or don’t do. Listen! Anytime you feel a wave of criticism gaining momentum in your spirit, just remember that it’s completely out of line as far as God is concerned. And this brings me to my next point which is; a loss of focus caused Martha to find fault with others. Now if you noticed in the second part of verse forty, Martha finally exploded and comes boiling out of the kitchen red-faced and furious and says; Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. Now did you notice that Martha doesn’t even call her sister by her name. Now in her defense perhaps she had already done everything she could think of to attract Mary’s attention and signal to her that she needed some help. We all have ways that we use to get a message across, don’t we? We clear our throats. We make attention-getting motions. We drop things. In my wife’s case she gives me “the look.” Men you know what the look is don’t you? Well no doubt we perhaps have a situation like this here in our text, in that no matter what Martha did she did could not get Mary’s attention. Now I think we all know how irritating and frustrating it is when we fail to get the attention of someone in order that they come help us with something. Well to say the least, Martha at this point was very frustrated with her sister and with Jesus as well. Notice again the allegation Martha makes against Jesus because of her being so frustrated with her sister “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. In other words, what she is telling Jesus is that “If you really cared about me Lord, you would be telling my sister to get in here and help me. And this brings me to my next point which is; a loss of focus caused Martha to question Jesus care for her. Again whatever Martha has already done to get Mary’s attention has failed. She is now totally exasperated as she speaks directly to Jesus. Again there is an accusation in her voice when she says, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. Yes there’s no doubt that Martha was very angry at Mary for being so selfish and she is visibly angry at Jesus as well for allowing this to go on. Now you have to admit that she is one gutsy woman, because basically Martha is accusing Jesus of not caring for her. In her mind she was sure that if Jesus really cared for her He would tell Mary to get up and help her. Today she would say something to the effect of “Lord you know what a ding bat my sister is, but you are a part of the problem too. Tell her to get her sweet self in her and help me!” You see in saying this, she not only rebuked her sister but also the one for whom all of these preparations are being made for. Listen whenever our service causes us to criticize others and pity ourselves because we feel overworked, we had better take time to examine our lives! You know it is interesting how Martha links Jesus’ care for her, with His willingness to tell Mary to get busy helping her. In other words Martha thought that she knew how Jesus should demonstrate his care for her. I wonder if we ever do that? I wonder if we ever accuse God of not caring for us, because we have already decided what his care for us should look like. You see part of Martha’s problem was that she worried too much about what others were doing. Matter of fact Marthas’ concern over Mary reminds me of Peter in John chapter 21 where Jesus was explaining to Peter what the future held for him (vv. 18-19), but Peter only had one question as he looked over at John and asked Jesus “Well what about this man” (v. 21). Jesus quickly reminded Peter that Johns’ life was not really any of his concern and that he needed to focus on following Him (v. 22).” Well in today’s text Jesus by his refusal to do as Martha had asked demonstrates that although what she was doing was valuable work, she should worry less about Mary’s choices and really consider what’s going on in her heart. You see it all boiled down to the fact that Martha wanted to force Mary to serve Christ her way. So the question is- How do we avoid what I call “The Martha Syndrome” How do we avoid losing our focus when serving the Lord? Well a loss of focus can be eliminated by remembering why we are doing what we are doing? In verse forty-one Jesus responds to Martha, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. Now notice how Jesus responds to her with great tenderness. Notice first that Jesus did not rebuke her for making preparations for Him and the other guest. He in no way is rejecting Martha’s attempt to serve Him. You see Martha’s problem was not that she was preparing food for her guest to eat, this was necessary. Her problem was that she gave too much importance to it. Likewise we today still have to be careful that we do not let the necessary things that must be done get out of balance and distort our focus You see like many do today the core of Martha’s problem is that she tried to impose her “religious value system” on Mary. And if you noticed Jesus did not tell Martha that she had to do what Mary was doing. Yes Martha’s work was both good and necessary but it was her attitude that needed to be corrected. You see when we forget why we are doing what we are doing we can get turned upside down to the point where we wind up feeling overworked unappreciated and resentful. You see here’s the reality of all this; If we forget God while serving God we will probably wind up quitting on Him. If we fail to take time out and spend some quality time with Jesus personally and privately we will soon end up like Martha, busy but not blessed. But on the other hand, if we keep our attitude right we will find that God will enable us to do what “needs” to be done with joy and satisfaction. Again Martha was not wrong nor was Mary. It is a case of where one did good and the other better. So what are the lessons for us in this story? 1. The Christian life is learning how to balance duty and devotion. 2. It is learning that sitting without serving is powerless and serving without sitting is to have no direction 3.It is learning that serving after sitting produces power and balance in the life of the Christian. And so with all that said, “What about you?” Where is your focus in regards to serving the Lord? Is it out of duty, or is out of devotion. I pray it’s out of both. Yes the lesson for us in this story is that as believers we need to cultivate both the Martha and the Mary in each of us. The stuff below is just some added stuff that I decided not to use in the sermon because of time. Now I don’t want to close our story of these two sisters without understanding the part they played in Biblical history. One of the two greatest confessions concerning the person of Jesus Christ was given by Martha and recorded in John 11:27, the other was given by Peter recorded in Matthew 16:16. Now the setting for Martha’s confession was when her brother Lazarus died, Jesus had arrived and was seeking to comfort her and told her, “I am the resurrection and the life and He who believe in me will never die.” In turn he asked Martha if she believed this. Her response is one of the greatest confessions of all time, for Martha replied, “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world.” Yes! there’s no doubt that that by this statement Martha had overcome her tendency to be overly busy long enough to sit at the feet of Jesus and grow into a woman of profound faith. We also have more recorded about her sister Mary. We meet Mary two more times in Scripture, and each time she is at the feet of Jesus. In John chapter twelve in what is one of the most moving pictures of sacrificial worship recorded in scripture we are told, “Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany… (2) There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. (3) Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil” Now we read that she was severely criticized by at least one apostle and possibly others for her action. Did she quit because of the criticism? No. She was one of the women at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection. You see when you sit at the feet of Jesus you learn not to quit because of hard feelings. You learn to turn the other cheek and go on. And by go on, I do not mean go on down the road and join another church. In Matthew 26:13 we find that Jesus had these words of compliment to say concerning this act of Mary, “… wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” Yes these two passages, concerning Martha’s confession and Mary’s worship give evidence that both of these sisters achieved the balance between duty and devotion.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:48:59 +0000
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