The one necessary thing in every Christian’s life is his communion with Jesus Christ. Make it your #1 priority!
[powerpress]
The One Necessary Thing
Luke 10:38-42
A time management expert was teaching a group of business students. In order to press his point home, he decided to use an object lesson. He took out a large gallon open-mouth jar and began to put fist-sized rocks in it until he couldn’t fit any more. He asked the students, “Is the jar full?”
Several nodded their heads, “Yes.”
Then he reached under the desk and pulled out a bucket of gravel and began pouring the gravel into the jar. Then he asked, “Is the jar full now?”
Well, the students had learned their lesson, so they said, “No!”
Then he reached under the desk and brought out a bucket of sand and poured that into the jar and shook the jar until the sand had gone into all the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked, “Is the jar full?”
The class shouted, “No!” He answered, “Good.” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began pouring water into the jar, until the water was filled up to the brim. Then he asked, “So, what’s the point of this illustration?”
One eager beaver responded, “No matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit more things into it.”
The teacher responded, “No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The point is
this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
My friends, most of us fill up our jars with sand and gravel and then wonder why we never get around to the truly important things in life. Actually, there is only one rock for the Christian. This is the rock that Mary discovered that day as she sat at the feet of Jesus Christ, drinking in His life-giving Word. Everything else is sand and gravel. My goal this morning is to make sure you are putting the rock of communion with Christ into your life first, before anything else.
We have just entered a section of the gospel of Luke that is most interesting. In Luke chapters 10 through 18, Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem where He will ultimately suffer and die. Now, if you have a red-letter edition of the Bible, just flip quickly through that section. What do you discover? Jesus is teaching a lot! In chapters 1-9 Jesus doesn’t teach nearly as much, and most of the storyline includes His healings and miracles. In this section, there are only a few miracles, with almost all of it being His teaching. You see, Jesus knows that very soon He is going to die, rise again, and ascend to heaven, so He must use the little time He has left to teach and prepare His disciples to take over when He is gone. In this section Jesus will give His lessons on Prayer, obeying God’s word, hypocrisy, the fear of God, providence, covetousness, worry, humility, the joy of God in receiving sinners, giving, hell, faith, His second coming, and self-righteousness. In this section of Luke, Jesus is giving the last semester of instruction to His disciples.
Now, with that in mind, let’s focus in this morning on this wonderfully instructive story about Mary and Martha. Let’s look at these two sisters in turn this morning. First we’ll look at Martha, and then we’ll see Mary. Once we have done that, I’m going to ask you three very simple but practical questions.
1. Martha
A. Martha Welcomed the Lord
“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home” (10:38). Notice that “they” were traveling along. This must mean that Jesus was traveling with at least His twelve disciples. As they traveled, at length they entered a village. Luke doesn’t tell us the name of the village, but we discover in John 11:1 that it was Bethany, a short two-mile distance from Jerusalem. This was a very convenient place for Jesus to stay while He was in Jerusalem, because He could walk into Jerusalem within thirty minutes, and minister there, and then walk back to Bethany to spend the night.
We are told here that this was Martha’s home. We are not told whether Mary or Lazarus or both of them lived here with Martha. But if they did, they were staying in Martha’s home. We never read of Martha’s husband, unless he was Simon the leper mentioned in Mark 14. So she was probably single or a widow. We also discover that it was Martha, not Mary who took the initiative to welcome Jesus into her home. Martha, by this hospitable gesture, is accepting the responsibility, not only to house the Lord, and His 12 disciples, but to feed them as well. Chronologically, this is the first time that Mary and Martha appear in the gospel accounts, although Jesus may have met them earlier. They will appear also in John 11 at Lazarus death and resurrection, as well as in John 12 where a feast was held in Lazarus’ honor.
B. Martha Served The Lord
“All her preparations… all the serving.” Ladies, imagine having the Son of God staying at your house! Now, the text doesn’t tell us that the 12 disciples were with Him, but I assume they were because they traveled together. I don’t know how big her home was, but all of a sudden, she may have had 13 extra adult men to lodge and feed. I can understand why she would become distracted with all her preparations. She’s got the house to clean, and then a huge meal to prepare. She has to cook the roast, and bake the bread. She’s got to make sure there are pallets or mats for all of the men to sleep on. No doubt she has heard a lot about this itinerant Rabbi. Martha believes in Christ as the Lord, for later she will say, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?” She is a believer. Surely, it would have been a great honor to have Jesus staying in her home. So, nothing was too good for Jesus. I’m sure she went all out in order to make His stay there as comfortable and pleasant as possible.
Now, you have to hand it to Martha. She was a worker! She wanted to serve Christ, and she went all out in order to do it. You can’t fault her for laziness. She was industrious, hard working, and diligent. And I’m sure the Lord was pleased that she was putting so much effort into ministering to His needs.
C. Martha Was Distracted From The Lord
“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 alne? Then tell her to help me.” It was good that Martha took such pains to serve Christ. However, these same pains distracted her from the Lord. She was a Busy Bee, but her busyness distracted her from the one essential thing – being with Jesus. She was so energetically serving the Lord, that she was neglecting the Lord. Now, I wonder what got Martha so distracted? What was motivating her service to Christ? Why didn’t she take the opportunity to sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching like Mary? She may have been motivated by their opinion of her. What would Jesus and Peter, and John, and James and all the rest think of her, if her home wasn’t spotless? What would they think if the food was tasteless, or was not done on time, or was cold when they ate it? I wonder if she was motivated by the approval of man. Clearly, the Lord was not that concerned about the meal or the spotlessness of her home. In fact, later He will give her a gentle rebuke, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things…” What was Jesus concerned about? He wanted to teach His disciples, and He wanted them to grasp divine truth, and grow in holiness. The Lord was concerned about giving out divine truth, spiritual food, and Martha was concerned about giving out physical food. Oh, it’s a said thing when our service to the Lord distracts us from the Lord Himself!
Not only was Martha distracted, but her distraction turned into worry and bother. We know that because Jesus said to her in vs. 41, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.” She was worried if she had enough room for them to sleep in her home. She was worried that she might not have enough food. She was worried they might not like it. She was worried that her home might not be clean enough. Her focus on serving, serving, serving, was filling her heart with worry.
Not only that, but her much serving was also causing her to be bothered. I can imagine her working feverishly away in the kitchen all by herself, trying to get the meal prepared in time. She found herself getting stressed out. Then she finds herself thinking, “I can’t do this! I’ll never get this done in time. Where is my sister? She should be in here helping me. I can’t believe she would be so thoughtless as to just go out there and listen to a Bible Study instead of coming in here and helping me.” Pretty soon, the stress had turned into resentment. Then she found herself fuming. As she prepared the bread, she found herself stomping her feet, and pounding her hand on the counter, and muttering under her breath. Martha was like a pot of water boiling on the stove that finally spilled over the sides. Finally, she exploded. She came stomping into the other room where Jesus was in the middle of teaching Mary and His twelve disciples, and she interrupted Him. “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me!” Not only was Martha mad at Mary. She was also mad at the Lord! Surely, He should be doing something about this! Wouldn’t you agree, that someone has to get pretty mad to risk embarrassing themselves by throwing a tizzy fit in the middle of a group of people, especially if these people are known for their piety and devotion to God.
Oh, mark well the fruits of getting so busy serving the Lord that you neglect the Lord Himself – resentment, anger, impatience, complaints, losing your temper. Folks, is any of this story hitting close to home? Can you trace any of these evil fruits in your life back to your neglecting the Lord and not spending time at His feet?
Well, having taken a look at Martha, let’s direct our attention to Mary.
2. Mary
A. Mary Heard the Lord’s Word
“She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.” Mary is really the model for us all. She shows us a heart of true devotion to Christ. Wherever we find Mary in Scripture, she is at Jesus’ feet. In John 11, when Lazarus had died, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” In John 12, we find her at Jesus’ feet anointing them with expensive perfume and then wiping the perfume with her hair. Wherever Jesus was, that’s where she wanted to be. If the Lord began to teach, she would get as close to Him as she possibly could, and sit down at His feet, so that she could drink in every word.
Now, the fact that the Lord permitted Mary to sit at His feet was interesting, because many Jews of Jesus’ day would not teach women. They believed it to be a waste of time to teach a woman the Torah. In fact, a common prayer of Jewish men was, “Lord, I thank You that you did not make me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” In John 4, we read that Jesus’ disciples were amazed that Christ had been speaking with a woman. The truth is, that Jesus elevated the position of women far more than they were being treated in His day. He showed them honor and respect and kindness.
Now, what would it mean for someone to sit at Jesus’ feet? It means that they had voluntarily taken the position of a disciple, a learner. In Acts 22:3, the KJV says, “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.” For Saul, to be brought up at the feet of Gamaliel signified that he was a disciple of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the Teacher, and he was the student. In Luke 8, Jesus casts out a legion of demons from a demoniac. When the people came out to see what happened they found the man sitting down at Jesus’ feet, clothed, and in his right mind. So, when it says that Mary was seated at the Lord’s feet, it’s saying that she had submitted herself to the Lord as His disciple. Mary was not sitting there so that she could tell the Lord how things should be. She was there to hear from the Lord how things should be. Do you tell Jesus what He ought to be doing, and how He should be running this world? Or do you bow down at His feet, under His authority, and receive knowledge and wisdom from Him? A real disciple is one who has humbly put himself under the authority of Jesus Christ, to hear His Word, and do His will.
Mary loved the Lord, and found life and peace and joy in her devotion to Him. She longed to hear His life-giving words, and found her soul being transformed as she listened. Christ’s word was more important to her than anything else. Is that true of you?
B. Mary Received The Lord’s Approval
“only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). Martha came to Jesus in a huff, demanding that He command Mary to get up, go into the kitchen, and help get the meal on the table. But Jesus didn’t do what she wanted. Jesus clearly sided with Mary. Jesus approved of what Mary was doing. In fact, the Lord would have preferred for Martha to come in and be part of the teaching, rather than frantically rush about the house serving. I have a feeling that Jesus really wasn’t too concerned about the cleanliness of her house, or the meal they would have later. For Him what was important was to bring God’s Word to those in her home. Mary complied. Martha didn’t.
Conclusion
So, what does the Holy Spirit want to imprint on our hearts from this story? There is one very simple lesson here: The one necessary thing in our lives is communion with Jesus Christ! This is more important than your career. It is more important than your spouse or children. It is more important than your hobbies, or interests. It is certainly more important than your entertainment. However, how often do Christians neglect their relationship with Christ in order to pursue their career, or family, or hobbies? You say, “I don’t do that Brian. I don’t neglect Christ to pursue other things.” OK, let’s have a test. Let’s not even talk about career or family. Let’s just talk about the least important one – entertainment. How many hours a week do you seek out entertainment in the form of TV, or video games, or movies a week. Be honest, and tally it up.” The national average is 5 hours of TV per day! You say, “I don’t watch TV five hours a day. It’s more like 2 or 3.” Well, are you giving two or three hours every day to pursuing your relationship with Christ? Will you neglect Jesus, but still pursue your own entertainment? Or will you neglect entertainment, to make sure you are communing with Christ?
Friends this is the one necessary thing! You and I can live without anything else. We can survive without career, family, hobbies, or entertainment. But you can’t survive without Jesus Christ. Yet we live as though we can go on day after day neglecting Him in order to pursue all those things that are going to pass away.
Let me ask you three very important questions.
1. How much do you value communion with Christ?
Do you value it the same way Jesus does? We find from this story, that Jesus valued what Mary was doing far more than what Martha was doing. Jesus said that Martha was worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing was necessary. He said Mary had chosen the good part and He wasn’t going to take it away from her. Serving the Lord is good. It is commanded in Scripture. Romans 12:11 says, “not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” However, serving the Lord is not the best thing. Communion with Christ where we sit quietly and hear His word is the best thing. Jesus values communion over service. Do you agree with Jesus?
Jesus valued communion with Him over working for Him. He will never command you not to worship and commune with Him so that you can get more work done. We tend to value work over worship. We commonly over commit ourselves to doing good things (serving), while neglecting the best thing (communion). The truth is, we will not have the power, and joy and peace necessary to serve the Lord without first communing with the Lord.
Your top priority in life needs to be a vital, dynamic, relationship with Jesus Christ. The way we develop that kind of relationship is by pursuing the Lord through hearing His Word and prayer.
2. What Prevents You From Communion With Christ?
I’d like you to pinpoint it. Take some time right now to figure out what it is.
Maybe its that wonderful technology that is supposed to make life so much easier and better. Is the first thing you do every day, check your phone, or your computer or your tablet? For a long time this was distracting me from communion with Christ. I would flick my mouse, just to check the weather, or the calendar for the day, and before I knew it, I had gotten wrapped up in something other than spending time with the Lord. You know, our technology is an incredible blessing, but only if we are able to discipline ourselves to use it wisely, for the benefit of our souls. As soon as your smart phone or tablet or computer is consuming the Lord’s time, it has become a curse, rather than a blessing! In order to commune with Christ we must take time for solitude and silence. If your iphone is alerting you about this text, or that voicemail, or that email every 5 minutes, how in the world do you expect to grow in intimacy with Jesus Christ?
Maybe for you it’s not technology. It’s the pressures of your day. Many people wake up, and immediately start running in order to get everything done in that day that needs to be done. They figure they don’t have time to be quiet and seek the Lord in the Word and prayer. If you can’t get everything done and still spend time with the Lord, you’re too busy! One of two things needs to budge. Either you need to use your time more wisely, or you need to stop doing some of the things you are doing. If your day starts at 7 or 8 in the morning, then make sure you get up a couple hours earlier than that. You say, “Brian I can’t get up at 5 or 6 in the morning? I would only get about five hours of sleep a night, and I wouldn’t be any good for anything!” So, there is the problem. You need to discipline yourself to go to bed early enough so that you have had enough sleep when you get up at 5 or 6 a.m. Hey, I never said this was easy. I just said it was absolutely necessary. Remember, Jesus said, “Only one thing is necessary.” Nothing else in your life is as important as this. Therefore, you should treat communion with Christ as your greatest priority of the day.
Right now, pinpoint what that thing is that is keeping you from communion with Christ. If you have a pencil or pen, jot it down. Now, repent of letting that thing be more important to you than Jesus Christ! Repent of it! Plain and simple. Confess it as sin. Agree with God that it is evil in His sight. Then, with God’s help, forsake it.
3. What Will You Do To Pursue Communion With Christ?
Let me give you what I hope will be some helpful hints to prioritize your time with the Lord.
1) Discipline yourself to spend time with the Lord very early in your day. Why? Because if you don’t, you will get wrapped in other things, and it will never happen. Believe me, you’re talking to someone who knows! I have a Type A personality. I’m a doer. I am passionate about getting things done. I don’t like small talk, chit chatting, or frittering away time. Life is too short and eternity is too long to waste our lives. So, I’m a real Martha. I like to work. I like to accomplish things. And if I don’t discipline myself to start my day with the Lord, it is very unlikely that I will ever do it. So, whatever you have to do to start your day with Jesus, do it! If it means going to bed earlier, start doing it. If it means setting your alarm clock and putting it way over on the dresser so you don’t roll over and hit the snooze button, do it!
2) Find A Place Where You Can Be Alone Without Interruptions. Jesus said, “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Mt.6:6). Where is your “inner room”? If you rise earlier than anyone else in your home, your “inner room” can be anywhere in your house. If other members of your house are awake, find a room where you can be alone to read the Word. Or, you might take a walk by yourself so that you can meditate on Scripture and pray.
3) Read the Bible and Talk To God About What He Has Spoken To You. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His word. You too, need to take the posture of a humble, obedient disciple, and listen to the Lord speak to you. The way to do that is to read the word of God. Now, remember that the purpose of spending time with the Lord is to commune with Him. It is to develop your relationship with Him. It is to hear Him speak so that you can obey Him. So, wherever you read in the Bible, make sure that it will enable you to commune with Christ. I have tried one-year reading plans many times, but I really haven’t found them to be helpful in communing with Christ. The reason is because you have so many chapters you have to read each day to keep up with the plan. You may find that after you have read your 4 or 5 chapters, you have no time left to pray or sing to the Lord. Remember, this is all about your relationship with Christ. In relationships with others we never follow this plan. We don’t tell our spouse, “OK, you need to talk to me for the next thirty minutes, and you need to do this every day at 6:30 in the morning.” No, sometimes our talks with our spouse are brief, and sometimes they are long. When you are together with your spouse, you do a lot of talking, because there is a lot to discuss, and sometimes, you just enjoy being together, reading or walking or playing a game. You can’t program a relationship. It just happens as you spend time together. That’s what I would encourage you to do with the Lord.
- Find a book of the Bible that is helpful for you to connect with the Lord. I probably wouldn’t recommend Leviticus, or Ecclesiastes, or one of the minor prophets. I would recommend starting in the New Testament, and reading one of the gospels, or Acts, or one of the epistles. After you have read through the New Testament a few times, then begin to read through the Old Testament books.
- Read with a notebook and pen. Jot down ideas, or observations, or applications that occur to you from what you are reading. You might even outline the passage you are reading. I like to circle repeated words or phrases, and draw lines between them. If you come across a verse that is meaningful to you, jot it down, and work on memorizing it over the next few days. Whatever you are reading, seek to decide how you can put it into practice in your life immediately.
- Switch things up. Keep them fresh. In any relationship it is good to have variety. You might want to read the Word one day, and the next read a great sermon or rich devotional. I find so much help in reading the writings of men like the Puritans, or Jonathan Edwards, or Spurgeon. You might also take notes of the sermons here at The Bridge, and in your time with Christ, go back over your notes, and pray about the things that were preached.
- Pray about what you have read. This makes your communion with Christ a two-way street. He speaks to you as you read the Bible, and you speak to Him about what He has told you as you pray. A great way to incorporate prayer into your time in the Word is to pray through the Psalms. The Psalms were written in order to be sung or prayed. Just read a psalm, and pray about whatever comes to your mind as you are reading it.
- Incorporate praise singing into your time with the Lord. Get yourself a hymnal, or song book, or go online and print out the lyrics to songs that minister to you, and spend some of your time singing to the Lord with a thankful heart.
Folks, make sure you are putting the big rocks in, before the gravel and the sand. Really, there is only one big rock you need to be concerned about. That rock is your personal communion with Jesus Christ. It is the one necessary thing! Let’s pray.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!