God Is Worthy
Luke 10:38-42
January 19, 2013
I don’t think we ever fully appreciate time. We race around to accomplish so much, yet at the end of the day we’re exhausted and too often can’t really remember what we even accomplished, let alone did during the day. Now, why is that?
We tend to take time for granted. We assume it’s always going to be there. Just like we often assume our parents will always be there when we’re younger. On our wedding day, we assume our spouse will always be there. It’s thinking ‘I’ve got time.’ Yet, as C.S. Lewis said, The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour.
It’s true, isn’t it? Whether we’re sitting and waiting for one hour at the doctor’s office, or loving a great concert, or watching our favorite team — that one hour lasted the same amount of time for each person!
As I thought about time, and about us, when you think about it, I don’t think the disciples and many of those traveling with Jesus understood just how precious their time with Jesus was.
I want to look at a story from Luke 10. It focuses on 3 of Jesus’ best friends — Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Let’s look at the scripture ~
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.
40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to Him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
We know from other passages the village was the town of Bethany, barely 2 miles away from the place where Christ's body would soon be laid to rest.
We don't know for certain why Jesus made it a habit to come and stay in this house where Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus lived, but it seems that Jesus went there whenever He was near Jerusalem. Was it because Martha knew how to whip up a meal that reminded Jesus of the eternal banquet? Was it because Lazarus was such a great friend after John the Baptist’s death? Or was it, as I suspect, something about Mary that Jesus especially enjoyed and from which you and I might possibly learn?
Picture with me a party at a house. You’re invited to attend, too. The house is bustling with noise from all the people there. You can see Lazarus sprawled out on the living room floor in front of the coffee table, reaching for the chips. The disciples are draped all over the furniture, glued to the football game. Martha's in the kitchen "distracted by all the preparations that had to be made" (Luke 10:40). She's cooking and baking. Stirring and chopping; wishing she had another hand to cut the veggies. But the Bible says Mary wasn't with either of her siblings. She sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he said (Luke 10:39).
What I want you to understand is that these positions are all familiar ones for these folks. Jumping ahead another year or more, we read in John's gospel that "6 days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany." In other words, just a week before he would be crucified and laid in a grave, Jesus chose to stop over in this same home. The Bible says"a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus reclined at the table." Are you seeing the picture? What's Lazarus doing? He's kicking back again. What's Martha Stewart doing? That's right. She’s in the kitchen.
And what’s Mary doing? Mary focused all of her attention directly on Jesus. The Bible says Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair (John 12:1-3 ). She didn’t realize she was, in effect, anointing Jesus for His burial. But there’s something that Mary does know — something that’s very easy to miss in this world of Lazarus-like and Martha-like distractions. Mary understood that when you’re in the presence of someone truly worthy, every minute is precious.
Now, let me be clear about something — there’s nothing wrong with putting your feet up and watching the game now and then. There’s also something wonderful about those people who love to work in the kitchen. This world would be a lesser place without the people who know how to rest and those who know how to work. But most of all, our world needs people who know how to give their full and undivided attention to the One in the room with whom every minute is truly precious.
When you're with your family and friends, you’re with people who are worthy of this focus from you. If you’re more interested in the outcome of the game than you are in the child who wants to show you something they made, or if you’re more obsessed with getting the gravy just right than you are with the person who is sharing their heart, then think again about what you’re doing. We don’t know our time on earth. That sounds gloomy but we don’t know. But, we don’t want to go to the grave with regrets, as so many do. Ask yourself ~~ What, or rather who, is worthy of my greatest attention in the hours ahead?
At that feast in Bethany, everyone was too wrapped up in their own distractions to see it. Lazarus and Martha and I’m assuming most of the guests were too absorbed in their own world to get it. But Mary somehow understood that every minute she had with Jesus was precious. Remember that for yourself, too.
In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer wrote ~
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us …
History will positively demonstrate that no religion [or society] has ever been greater than its idea of God …
It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our [vision] of God is … inadequate.
If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more [and more] nearly as He is.
Our list of thankfulness will be too short, our complaints and grievances will be too long, our burden of discouragement and despair too heavy if we do not, like Mary, stop and focus on Jesus and open our ears to His words.
Consider who Jesus is ~ He is the all-sufficient One who needed nothing and no one other than himself to be endlessly joyful and content; and yet He created you and me that we might have the unsurpassed honor of knowing Him.
God is the one perfectly good being in this universe, the one who lavishes His grace and mercy on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
He is the ultimate standard for good character, for good government, for good parenting, for good friendships, and all that is good; and we lose our way without Him.
In a world where every person you know sooner or later lets you down, God alone is absolutely trustworthy. He is the one who will not fail or forsake you. He is the one whose promises you can confidently and completely count on as your hope in this life and for the next. You can trust Him because God is so loving and giving, yet we cannot fully comprehend this.
As we consider the nature of God, never forget that God is also holy beyond our understanding. The most intelligent, powerful, and virtuous person earth has ever produced is like a disease-carrying insect when compared to the mind-blowing glory of God's holiness.
And yet in spite of our sinfulness, stubbornness and scorn, God has, amazingly, chosen to be self-sacrificing toward us. He laid down the ultimate comfort and perfect companionship of heaven in order to rescue and redeem us. He took off His robe and heavenly crown and became mortal, human like us.
He was the One who was willing to die for us. He was the totally innocent One who died for the totally guilty one, us.
And the beauty is that if you ask Him into your heart and you trust and confess with your lips that Jesus is the Messiah, then He is present through the Spirit of God in you. You have his resurrection power within you. He has already defeated the power of sin and death to give you life.
This can be summed up in this simple statement — Above everything, God is worthy. For Christians, a vision of God's worthiness moves us to worship. The word worship is, a contraction of the word worthship. Worship is the act of recognizing and responding to God's worth.
The Book of Revelation declares that one day those of us who have put our trust in Christ will find ourselves moved to worship God in a way which will totally blow us away. We will be called to an everlasting feast. We will look around us and see angelic beings of staggering beauty and intelligence, bowing in wonder before the all-surpassing splendor of our God.
They will sing – "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power." (Revelation 4:11). "Worthy are you, O God, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12).
In Revelation 7, John describes this scene in heaven ~
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
We will fall to our faces like never before. We will shout and praise and glorify God. Our God. Your God, my God.
This world will always tend to distract us from focusing on God's worth. Luke told us – Martha came to Jesus and asked: 40 “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Don't let this world take from you the time we need to spend with God, to know Him, to listen to Him, and to live in God more deeply. It is truly the better way — the only way to find the wisdom, power, and grace you and I and our world so desperately need.
So enjoy the people God has put around you, kick back and relax; do lots of cooking, by all means serve, serve, serve, get involved — — but above all ... always remember Jesus.
The clock is ticking. What will you do? Make a plan to stop the craziness and running around, simply so you can sit at the feet of Jesus, take in His Word, take in His Spirit, bathe in His grace and mercy, be revived by His power and strength.
