Mary, David, Paul And Margaret: One Thing Series

How important is Jesus in your life? QUITE important? VERY important? One of several things that are essential? Or, the ONE THING that is truly essential?

Over the period to Christmas we’re mainly looking at Revelation. But we’re also having some talks about people in the Bible. In each case, the people we’re looking at have something in common. Today, the people we’re looking at believed that God, or Jesus, was the ONE THING that was essential. The people are Mary, David, Paul and Margaret.

Is there a Margaret in the Bible? No, there isn’t. I made that up. But the story IS in the Bible.

As I said, these four people believed that God, or Jesus, was the ONE THING that was essential.

MARY

Let’s start with Mary. Mary lived in a village called Bethany. She had a brother called Lazarus and a sister called Martha. The three of them were good friends of Jesus’. One day, Jesus came to visit Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But he didn’t come on his own. He came with his 12 disciples. They’d had a good walk by the time they reached Bethany I imagine they were hungry. Mary, Martha and Lazarus had 13 hungry young men to feed!

Martha knew what to do. She bustled here and there, getting food ready. But Mary didn’t. The Bible says that Martha ‘had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.’

There was Jesus with his 12 disciples. They needed a meal. But Mary didn’t do any work. Instead, she went and sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to him! She didn’t go to Jesus because she wanted him to help her with something. She simply wanted to be with him and she wanted to learn from him.

Mary didn’t mind if the work didn’t get done. She didn’t mind if Martha was angry with her. She didn’t mind if people saw her and said to themselves, Mary shouldn’t be there with all the men. She said to herself, ‘Being with Jesus is more important than any of those things. That is the ONE THING I want.’

Martha didn’t like what Mary had done. She went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone?’

Q: Whose side would YOU take if you were Jesus? Mary’s? Or Martha’s?

This is what Jesus said: ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but ONE THING is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her’ [Luke 10:41-42].

Mary had chosen ONE THING – being with Jesus – instead of the many other things she could have done. And Jesus told her that she’d made the right choice.

DAVID

Let’s go on to David. David lived many hundreds of years before Jesus. He was the most famous king of Israel. As a king, he must have been very busy. David loved to write songs and poems. In one of them he wrote this. This is from The Message Bible.

'I’m asking God for ONE THING,

only ONE THING:

To live with him in his house

my whole life long.

I’ll contemplate his beauty;

I’ll study at his feet' [Psalm 27:4].

David wanted to live with God, in his house, his whole life long. He wanted to contemplate God’s beauty and to study at his feet. That’s very like Mary, isn’t it?

David was saying: ‘You can forget everything else. I don’t need anything else. There’s just ONE THING I want: to be in God’s presence, to contemplate his beauty, to study at his feet.’

PAUL

Let’s go on to our third character, Paul. Paul wrote a lot of letters. One letter he wrote was a to a church in a place in Greece called Philippi.

Paul wanted to know Jesus more than anything else. He wrote: ‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ [Philippians 3:7-14]. For Paul, knowing Jesus was worth more than anything else. He continued, ‘For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ .’ Paul wasn't just WILLING to part with everything in order to gain Christ. He really had parted with everything!

Paul then gives us a practical application. Christ was the ONE THING he wanted. What was he going to do about it? Paul writes:

‘…ONE THING I do: FORGETTING what lies behind and straining FORWARD to what lies ahead, I PRESS ON towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.’

Paul says there’s ONE THING he does. But he then tells us THREE THINGS he does! Actually, they are all joined together. He FORGETS what is behind. He STRAINS FORWARD to what lies ahead. He PRESSES ON towards the goal.