Title: Change of Focus
Text: Luke 10:38-42
Date: 5/11/08
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist church
Introduction: Change! We’ve been hearing that word quite a bit lately? Barak Obama has made change the major theme of his Presidential campaign. He wants to change the way our Government operates. Change is something that happens regardless of whether we want it to or not.
I want you to think about all of the changes that have taken place during the last 100 years. In the early 1900’s over 50 percent of the people in America were involved in Agriculture. Today less than 2 percent of the population is involved in farming.
In 1900 there were no computers, cell phones, I-pod’s or even televisions. There were no “Fast-Food Restaurants. There were no Theme Parks like Disney World or Six Flags. There were no CD’s, DVD’s, cassettes, or even records.
There were very few cars, and only the richest people in town had them. Even though the Wright Brothers had invented the Airplane in 1903 the skies certainly weren’t filled with them. Open Heart Surgery, Laser surgery and organ transplants were unimaginable.
Those are some pretty dramatic changes that have taken place during the last 100 or so years. But there is another change that has also had a dramatic impact on families and family life. At the turn of the century it was almost unheard of for married women to work outside the home. Today, according to an article in the New York Times, 75 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 are either working or looking for a job outside the home.
Unfortunately in our day and time it takes two incomes to be able to make ends meet. Not only are women expected to fry the bacon, but most of us expect them to help bring it home as well. Consequently women, especially mothers are burning the candle at both ends. They are trying their best to balance their careers and their responsibilities at home. They want to be good wives and mothers but they also want to be the best employees that they can possibly be. That’s not very easy to do and unfortunately instead of getting help and encouragement from the church, too often we have ridiculed and criticized them for it.
I don’t want to do that this morning. Instead I simply want to encourage you and offer a suggestion or two that might change your life and the lives of your children.
There are only 24 hours in a day and with so many demands on them many women are being forced to cut corners or do away with things entirely just so they can get some sleep at night.
The problem with this is that area that most often gets cut or overlooked is the spiritual. Many women, (and men as well) fail to take time to spend with God during the day. Usually we try to justify this by saying that God knows how busy we are and that He will understand.
What most people don’t realize when they do this is that they are cheating themselves out of being able to live the full and abundant life that Jesus talked about. You see when we focus on the material and neglect the spiritual aspects of our lives we are destined to be unfilled and unhappy.
Despite all of the changes that have taken place during the last 100 years, one thing that hasn’t changed is the influence that mothers have on their children.
One woman once said, “Whenever I held my newborn son in my arms I used to think what I did and what I said to him would have an influence, not only on him, but on everyone he meets, not for a day, or a year, but for all time and for eternity.” I believe she was right. The woman who said that was Rose Kennedy, and the son she was talking about was named John Fitzgerald Kennedy who grew up to become the 35th President of the United States.
So this morning I want us to look at a passage of Scripture that I believe will be helpful not only to the mothers who are here, but to all of us. Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10:38-42.
I realize that this passage of Scripture doesn’t mention anything about Mary or Martha being mothers. But that’s not what I want us to focus on this morning.
What we do know about them is that they lived in a small village not far from Jerusalem called Bethany.
Like all of us, though Martha and Mary faced decisions on a daily basis. On this particular day Jesus tried to help them see that the decisions they made had eternal consequences. You see He loved both of these women and their brother Lazarus. In fact they were some of his very best friends.
Our text tells us that Martha opened her home to Jesus, which means she not only opened her home up to Jesus but to the 12 disciples as well.
This tells me a couple of things. First it tells me that Martha must have been pretty wealthy to afford a home big enough to accommodate so many guests. Secondly, it tells me she wanted to make a good impression on Jesus.
I’m sure Martha wanted everything to be just right; after all, some people were saying that Jesus was the Messiah. That explains why she was busy, and why she got so mad at Mary for not helping her.
You see instead of helping Martha prepare the meal and doing all of the things that a younger sister would have customarily done Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him teach. This didn’t set very well with Martha. But when she brought it to the Lord’s attention she was shocked by His answer. You see not only did Jesus not rebuke or reprimand Mary for not helping Martha, but He praised her for making the decision that she had made.
This morning I want us to examine this passage of Scripture and these two women. The passage reveals some important differences between Mary and Martha. As we examine these differences however, it is important to remember that Jesus told Martha that Mary had made the right decision.
I believe this text not only applies to women and mothers, but has something to say to all of us. The first thing I want you to notice about these two women is that…
I. THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE IN FOCUS.
Now what do I mean by that? I’m talking about the things that they were most concerned about. The things that were most important to them.
Our Text tells us that Martha was concerned about preparing the meal, serving the Lord, and being a good hostess. That’s what she was focused on.
Who can blame her? After all Jesus was a famous Jewish Rabi and Prophet. He was making quite a name for himself throughout the Land of Israel. In fact some people were even starting to speculate that He was the Messiah, and here He was in her home.
It would have been completely natural for her to want everything to be just right. Jesus was an honored guest in her home and it would have been customary for her to prepare a special meal for Him and His Disciples. Our text doesn’t tell us exactly what she was preparing but I’m sure she was putting everything she had into it.
Have you ever met someone like Martha? Someone who is always busy doing something? Have you ever met someone who is more concerned about making a good impression on the Lord than they are about spending time with Him?
Unfortunately some of us are making the same mistake Martha made. We are trying our best to do so much for the Lord that we don’t have any time to just sit and listen to Him. You teach Sunday School, you serve on several committees, you work with the youth, you sing in the choir, you teach Vacation Bible School, you serve as a Deacon, or a Trustee. You are planning on going on the Mission Trip this Summer and have volunteered to drive the church van when you need to.
Now please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying these things are bad because they aren’t. Lord knows we still need more workers in Bible School this year. The point I’m trying to make is that we sometimes make the mistake of substituting religious activities and duties for a personal relationship with Jesus.
I’m going through the study Experiencing God with our Youth on Sunday mornings during Sunday School, and this is one of the things that Henry Blackaby the author of that study stressed this week. He said, “I think God is crying out and shouting to us, ‘don’t just do something. Stand there! Enter into a love relationship with Me. Get to know me.” That’s the same thing Jesus was trying to tell Martha.
It wasn’t that Martha was wrong for wanting to serve the Lord. It was that her focus was on serving him instead of on getting to know Him. Serving is not a bad thing, but she had allowed it to become the center of her attention. All her energy, all her attention, and all her focus was on serving.
Psychologists might try to psychoanalyze Martha and say that she had a low self-esteem and was trying to overcompensate for her lack of self-esteem by serving the Lord. Others might say that she was just a “type A” personality and had trouble sitting around when she knew how much work needed to be done. Theologians might try to argue that she had a ‘works based theology.’ That she believe that her good deeds were going to get her to Heaven. I don’t know about any of that, but I do know that Martha was focused upon the wrong thing.
Think about it. Jesus was sitting there in her living room teaching His disciples and she was too busy to sit down and listen to what He had to say.
But wait just a minute. Before you criticize poor Martha too much you need to realize that many of you do the same thing week after week. Christians all over the world today are sitting in sanctuaries similar to this and yet their minds are a million miles away.
The Bible tells us that when two or three are gathered in his name, that He is there with us. Which simply means that the Spirit or the Presence of God is in this place right not, but some of your minds are a million miles away. You’re so busy, so preoccupied with everything that you have to do that you can’t sit down for 20-30 minutes to see what the Lord has to say to you.
Now let’s turn our attention to Mary. Look back with me to verse 39. It says, “She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listing to what He said.” (NIV)
So Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He said. I like the way the Message paraphrase puts it. It says she was sitting there “hanging on every word He said.”
How many of you are doing that today? Are you taking the time to listen to what the Lord might be saying to you this morning? Are you focused on Him, or are worrying about what you have to do this afternoon? Mary was focused on Jesus and what He was saying, and Jesus told Martha that she had made the right choice.
So The second thing I want you to remember today is that…
II. THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST.
Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Now what does that mean? Essentially it means that She wanted to get as close to Jesus as she possibly could. Why? Did she have a crush on Him? Was she hard of hearing? I don’t know about either one of those two things, but I do believe that she knew that there was something special about Jesus and She didn’t want to miss a word of what He was saying.
Let me pause right here to say something that might shock some of you. Did you know that you can be as close or as far away from the Lord as you want to be? That’s right your relationship to the Lord can be as intimate as you want it to be. If you aren’t as close to the Lord as you used to be, it’s not my fault and it certainly isn’t His fault, it’s your fault!
You see, it all comes down to priorities. The main priority for Mary at this particular time was to spend time with Jesus. That was a priority for her and she wasn’t about to let Martha or anyone else come between her and the Lord.
I don’t know about you but I wish I could say that about myself. How many times have you allowed someone or something to come between you and the Lord? How many times have you sat down, opened up your Bible to spend some time alone with the Lord and then the phone rings and instead of letting the answering machine get it, you close your Bible and pick up the phone.
Or maybe you find a quiet place to spend some time in prayer, and just as you bow your head and close your eyes you remember that pile of laundry in the hallway that needs to be done. So instead of spending some quality time with the Lord in prayer you say a quick Amen, and spend the rest of the day doing laundry.
The Apostle Paul knew how important our relationship with the Lord is. Listen to what He had to say about it in 1 Corithians 1:9, He says, “God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful.” God has called us into a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.
That trumps anything and everything that we think God has called us to do. He is much more concerned about us getting to know Him, than what we can do for Him.
Mary knew that and she wanted to get to know Jesus as much as possible, which meant that she had to make that her top priority, So that’s exactly what she did.
What about you? Is your top priority getting to know Jesus? If not what is it?
Now let’s go back to Martha. Verse 40 tells us that Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” It doesn’t tell us where she was, maybe she was in the Kitchen trying to prepare the meal, or maybe she was outside trying to find some flowers for a nice centerpiece. We aren’t told where she was and it really doesn’t matter, what I want you to see is that she was “distracted.”
The Greek word that is used here literally means to “draw away” or “distract”.
The Message Paraphrase translates this verse by saying, “But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen.”
Martha was allowing her duties to draw her away from Christ. Remember, she was the one who welcomed Him into her home. But now she was letting all of these other things keep her from sitting down and spending time with Him.
Do you remember the day you opened the door of your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you remember how close you felt to Him? Do you remember how wonderful it felt to know that He loved you enough to die on the cross for your sins? Unfortunately most of us like Martha have allowed other things to consume us and draw us away from Him?
Hebrews 2:1 says, “So we must listen very carefully to the Truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” (NLT)
Have you drifted away from the Lord this morning?
Did you know that you don’t have to do anything to drift away from God? What do I mean by that? I’m simply saying that you don’t have to make a conscious effort to drift away from Him. The currents of life, the cares of life, and the temptations of life, will naturally cause you to drift away from Him. That’s why it’s so important for each of us to make the same decision that Mary made. To make our relationship to Jesus, and getting closer to Him our top priority in life.
Finally…
III. THERE WAS A DIFFENENCE IN THEIR FEELINGS.
Notice what Jesus said about Martha in verse 41. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things.”
The NKJV says “Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things;”
The New Revised Standard says – “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;”
What I want you to see here was Martha’s state of mind. She was upset, she was worried and she was distracted.
When you don’t focus on Christ, when you don’t make spending time with him your top priority, this is often the end result.
The writer of the Hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” certainly understood this. The first verse says, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Martha had the One who had calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee sitting right there in her living room. She was standing there staring into the face of the Prince of Peace but she had no peace.
She was upset, she was mad, she was anxious, she was troubled.
I can’t help but wonder how many of you feel the same way today?
Are you anxious? Are you upset? Are you troubled about something? Is something bothering you? Are you distracted today?
Let’s face it there are a lot of things in this world that we can worry about! But worry will rob you of the Peace and satisfaction that Jesus wants to bring to your life.
Let’s take one more look at Mary. Our text doesn’t really say what she was feeling. It just tells us that she was sitting at the feet of the Master. She is focused upon Him and His words, but I know she was experiencing the Peace that surpasses all understanding.
Now you may be wondering how I can say that since I wasn’t there?
I can say that because that’s what the Bible teaches.
Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT)
In other words, those of us who focus our minds on Him, just as Mary did, will experience perfect peace, just as she did.
Notice one last thing that the Lord said to Martha. He said, “but only one thing is needed.” Did you catch that? He’s saying there’s only one thing that is really important. There’s only one thing that is really necessary, and that’s spending time with me.
So what does all of this mean to us? What is the Lord saying to you today?
He’s saying I know how busy you are? I know everything that you’ve got to do? I know how many deadlines you have to meet? I know what kind of schedule you keep? But there’s only one thing that is really important and that’s spending time with me.
Martha was busy, but do you think it really would have mattered to Jesus if supper was a few minutes late? Do you really think he cared if the house had been swept out or the furniture had been dusted? I don’t think so.
Conclusion: The following was written on the tombstone of a Bishop in Westminster Abby in the year 1100 A.D. It says, When, I was young and free and my imagination had no limits I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser and realized the world would not change I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country; but it too seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years I settled on changing only my family and those closest to me, but alas they would have none of it. Now as I lay on my deathbed I suddenly realize that if I had only changed myself first, then by example I could perhaps have changed my family, and from their inspiration and encouragement to me I would have been better able to help my country and from there I may even have been able to change the world!
What about you, are you still trying to change the world? Are you still trying to do it all? If so, I encourage you to stop trying to do everything, and just focus on what really matters, and that is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Sit at his feet. Spend time with Him every day, and He will give you the strength to do whatever it is that you need to do.
This sermon is based on a sermon entitled, “Choosing the best Part” by Robert Massey, on sermoncentral.com
