Busyness and productivity are values that seem to be held high in our culture. In fact, these values are looked on quite favorably in the church. We often live as though busyness is next to Godliness. Dr. J. Grant Howard describes our culture this way, “Some people can’t say no. They enroll in too many courses, hold down too many jobs, volunteer for too many tasks, make too many appointments, serve on too many committees, have too many friends. They are trying to be all things to all people all at once all by themselves.” When we get so busy it is really easy for us to lose our focus on the things that are the most important. This seems to be the issue that Martha is struggling with. Duties and demands had the ability to rob us of our peace and joy. Even in the church this can happen. We can get so busy doing what we perceive as being God’s work that we lose sight of Jesus. Mary and Martha’s experience with Jesus provides us a timeless lesson in regard to what is really important. Many times we need to simply reevaluate our lives and priorities and make some much needed adjustments. More than that, there are just those times that we need to chill out and breathe and get everything back into proper perspective.
I. We are a people that are consumed by worry and what we perceive as urgent responsibilities.
A. Jesus’ arrival in Bethany obviously caused both joy and anxiety as He and His disciples become guests at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
1. Hospitality was extremely important in the ancient Jewish culture and Martha is obviously intent on being a proper host.
2. A proper host would make sure that the guests were very comfortable. The guests would have their feet washed and there would be a meal prepared.
3. One has to wonder if Martha is intent on doing extra things for Jesus because it seems like Martha is actually overdoing it.
4. How would you react if you knew Jesus was coming over after church? Would you go through more trouble for Jesus then you would for other guests?
5. Unfortunately it seems that Martha is working so hard that see becomes distracted and stressed.
6. Martha is obviously out of sorts and unable to enjoy her guests. In fact, she is missing the whole reason for Jesus’ visit.
7. The Greek word periespato is used for distracted and it implies that Martha’s attention was drawn away by the burden of her work.
B. The majority of us allow the culture to draw us into living extremely busy lives to the point that it is extremely hard to focus our attention on what is really important.
1. Studies have shown that when we do two tasks at the same time we take about thirty percent of our attention off the primary task.
2. Whenever two people meet in today’s society the odds say that one or the other will mention how busy they are.
3. In 1950 we had on average ten activities to choose from, today as a result of progress we have a thousand on average. Things are even more complicated because most of these activities are either fun or worthy of our time.
4. The culture has convinced us that activity is all that counts and anything else is nothing more than laziness.
5. As Americans we have the tendency to equate the will of God with busyness but God is interested in both sides of the equation.
6. God created both activity and rest in fact He commends both of them. So to live within the bounds of His will requires a balance of both.
II. When we become overloaded by our busyness inevitably our priorities will get all out of order.
A. When Martha became all bent out of shape over Mary’s choice of activities one can see that her priorities are out of order.
1. The only thing Martha could she was more work that needed to be done and Mary leaving her to do it all by herself.
2. We need to take notice of the fact the Jesus does acknowledge Martha’s frustration but one has to believe that Jesus’ response was not what she was expecting.
3. Jesus is teaching Martha the importance of learning to choose between good things and the best things.
4. Jesus is showing that life is full of tough choices and for busy people such as Martha these choices are extremely difficult and can produce a lot of anxiety.
5. There was nothing wrong with Martha’s desire to serve but it literally consumed her.
6. Mary is taking advantage of a rare opportunity for a woman in the ancient Jewish culture.
a. Women were not allowed to learn in Jesus’ day.
b. Mary had the opportunity to sit in the place of a disciple at the feet of the rabbi.
c. Mary wanted to learn all she could while she had this rare opportunity.
7. Perhaps Jesus is telling Martha that the most important meal is the one that provides nourishment for the soul.
B. When we are not careful our service to Christ can become nothing more than mere busy work.
1. Overload can sneak up on us quite unexpectedly because usually we get an adrenaline rush from the frenzy of activity and the challenge of our jam packed schedules.
2. Activity overload will inevitably rob us of our joy and peace and make it quite difficult for us to find rest.
3. Rick Warren shares some wisdom on this subject. “For many people the barrier to spiritual growth is not lack of commitment, but over commitment to the wrong things.”
4. We must be aware of the constant risk that we have as Christians. That is trying to actively serve Christ without spending the time growing our relationship with Him.
5. We need to get out of the habit of where we jump at the sound of an alarm and continually sleep through a call from the Lord.
6. Jesus wants us to serve Him diligently but even more than that He wants us to set aside our worries and relax so we can spend regular time focused on Him.
7. For a disciple an attitude of obedience and learning must always take first place.
III. We need to adjust our priorities so that we have more time to reflect on Jesus’ life, His mercy and His love.
A. Jesus shows that at the heart of everything we do as a Christian is worship.
1. Jesus teaches Martha a very difficult lesson. Whenever we criticize others and pity ourselves because we feel overworked, we had better take time to examine our lives. Perhaps in all of our busyness, we have been ignoring the Lord.
2. The passage is not showing that we must choose between working like Martha and worshipping like Mary. Jesus shows that He desires life to be a balance of the two.
3. Charles Wesley in one of his hymns truly captures this idea. “Faithful to my Lord’s commands, I still would choose the better part; Serve with careful Martha’s hands, And a loving Mary’s heart.”
4. We see in John 12:1-2 that quite possibly Martha got the picture. She prepares a meal for fifteen people and does not issue one complaint.
5. Perhaps she learned to take some time to sit at the feet of Jesus and now had the peace that passes all understanding living in her heart.
B. Things that we can do to calm the stress from an overload of activities in our lives.
1. Overload is always a signal that we need to stop and reprioritize our lives.
a. Get your priorities from God’s Word.
b. Make seeking God and His Kingdom your top priority.
c. Remember that people are more important than things.
2. Take back control of your life and schedule. Actively examine your life and priorities. Intentionally make the needed changes.
3. If you are too busy consider cutting back on activities rather than increasing the load.
a. That means learning to say no to some good things.
b. Create space in your schedule and then guard it from the pressures and expectations put on us by the culture.
4. Rediscover the practice of enjoying a Sabbath.
a. Everything really started going south when our culture began to move away from having a Sabbath.
b. The Sabbath should be used to both rest and to reflect on all that God has done.
5. Remember that God is the one that gets things done not us.
The Bedouin shepherd lives in shabby box tents that dot the hillsides throughout Israel. When compared to our lives saturated with modern conveniences it seems as though they live a very difficult life. However, an interesting fact is that their average life span is more than 100 years. While the diets are made up of natural foods which contain no preservatives, that is not the secret to their longevity. The secret lies in their relatively stress free lives. Stress makes us sick, drives us crazy and kills us some three decade before the majority of these shepherds. The Bedouins rise from their tents slightly before sunrise and go about the work of their days. As the sun begins to set they gather as families in their tents for dinner. Then they will sit around sharing stories and singing. Each evening involves three to four hours of family time. There work is very physical and tiring but their lives are relatively free from the noise of life. They routinely go to bed at the same time every night and enjoy deep restful and renewing sleep. As the Bedouins lie down all is quiet as they stare up at the clear star filled sky. Their minds are able to focus on the majesty of God and that is the last thought on their minds as they fall asleep.
