Summary: A comment my mother made frequently when we were kids with this: “a woman’s work is never done.” My mother worked in a doctor’s office all day, took care of our home and paid most of our bills on her own.

“Making Better Choices”

Luke 10:38-42

A comment my mother made frequently when we were kids with this: “a woman’s work is never done.” My mother worked in a doctor’s office all day, took care of our home and paid most of our bills on her own. So she had a right to say that. Things have certainly changed since I was a child but that statement is as true as ever. Even with all of the conveniences we find in the home today women are probably busier than ever.

Expectations for women have also changed. Balancing a career and the role of mom at the same time has become very difficult. For a Mom her day is often from sun-up to sundown. With everything that is expected of moms today many women are forced to cut corners in order to make time to get everything done. But here’s the problem. It is usually the spiritual side of things that gets left out. Or overlooked. And many women…. and men as well fail to make time for God.

Someone once said it’s the woman who sets the mood for the home. Today’s version of that is “if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” The Scripture never mentions either Mary or Martha as being mothers. We can only speculate. Tradition sees Martha as the older sister who was widowed and took care of her brother Lazarus and her sister Mary. What we do know about them was that they lived in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem.

We are told that Martha received Jesus into her house. Jesus traveled through this area frequently and we believe he stopped there numerous times to stay with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. This is the same Lazarus of course that Jesus brought back from death. They were friends. Jesus was very close friends with this family. This is the only time they are mentioned in the gospel of Luke.

So Martha receives Jesus into her house. If I told you today that Jesus was going to visit your home this afternoon what would you do? Run home now to clean up? I imagine Martha wanted everything to be just right. So she was busy working while Mary, her sister was sitting down listening to the words that Jesus taught. Jesus then told Martha something she probably didn’t want to hear. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the better part. And what we see in this passage are several ways Mary and Martha were different and these differences apply to all of us.

First of all there was a difference in focus. Focus is defined as the center of interest or activity. Ask yourself this morning, what is at the very center of your life? Notice what Mary and Martha were paying attention to. The Bible tells us that Martha was focused on serving. No doubt she was excited. Jesus was coming to her house. She wanted everything to be just right.

Let me ask you something... Did you know that you can become so busy that eventually you will be too busy for the Lord? And let me phrase it another way as well. Did you know that you can become so busy working for the Lord that eventually you will also be too busy for the Lord? Is not a bad thing to be involved in church work. In fact it’s a good thing. We have classes that must be taught, teams that must do ministry-it is not a small operation to keep a church moving. A study was conducted several years ago and it found that regardless of the size of the church, whether it was 20 or 2000 and anywhere in between, roughly only 10% of those who attend are working in some area of the church. One out of 10. No wonder so many people suffer burnout and no wonder some people are doing so much work for the Lord that they don’t have time to do anything with the Lord. And there’s a difference. It’s focus. And this is not just confined to work in the church. There are mothers who work hard on the job, working to build a future for their children, working to build a good home for their family but never give thought to the spiritual needs of their children. Thank God for every mother who takes time to teach her children about God’s Word.

Jesus instructed us to not put all of our focus on things that are temporary. Mary was focused on Jesus. Mary was focused on his word. Focus makes a difference.

2. There was a difference in their fellowship with Jesus. Let’s look at Mary now. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. She wanted to get as close to him as she possibly could. She knew there was something special about his words and she didn’t want to miss any of them. Let me tell you something this morning. You are as close to Jesus as you want to be. You have all of Jesus that you want. And if we don’t have a closeness with him it’s because we have moved. You see, it all comes down to priorities and for Mary fellowship with Jesus was her priority.

Now let’s go back to Martha. The Scripture says it in clear language. Martha was distracted. Martha was letting her “to do” list draw her away from Jesus. Remember, Martha was the one who received Jesus into her home, she was the one who welcomed him but now that he’s there, other things have become more important. It occurs to me that it can be that way for many of us. I see many people give their lives to Christ and are so excited at that moment but the longer they know him they start to take him for granted. Jesus told a parable about this. In the parable of the seed he describes a piece of ground that receives the seed with joy yet then allows rocks and stones to take over and the seed dies. Matthew 13:20. Our distractions can become our focus.

Do you know what you need to do to drift away from the Lord? Nothing. It’s easy. The temptations of life. The cares of life will naturally cause you to drift away. I read a few years ago the story of a man who had just bought a boat here in Florida and kept it in the harbor. Well a hurricane warning went into effect, was about to hit land and he didn’t know what to do. It was a sizable investment for him so he was naturally concerned. So he spoke with a friend who had experience and he told him whatever you do, don’t tie the boat to the dock or to anything on land. If you do, it will be torn to pieces. This is what you need to do. Your only hope is to anchor the boat. Take four anchors and drop them deep and the boat will ride out the storm. If you don’t want to drift away, if you want life to count for something, if you want to leave a solid legacy for your children then you must anchor deep. Don’t tie your life to anything that is temporary.

3. There was a difference in their feelings. Notice here what Jesus said about Martha in verse 41. And Jesus answered and said into her, “Martha, Martha you’re worried and upset about many things.” When we are not in deep fellowship with God, when our focus is elsewhere, when our fellowship is broken, the result is often worry. My Bible says worried and upset. Clearly we get the picture.

There’s a great old Hymn that says, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Martha had the ONE right there who had

• Spoken peace during a storm and the winds stopped

• the Prince of peace

• the one who could calm the demon possessed. The one who brought her brother back to life. And He was right there in her home.

But as you can see she was far from peaceful. She was anxious, worried, upset and troubled. I cannot help but wonder how many moms are here today and your lives are filled with fear, worry you’re anxious…perhaps you have lost your focus. You spend no quality time anymore with him. No fellowship. And as a result your peace is gone.

It’s a scary world we live in today. We send our children to school and don’t always know if they’re safe or not. School shootings, riots, drugs and alcohol. All of these are a part of our society today and all of this makes raising children a very difficult job.

Look again at Mary for a moment. The Bible doesn’t 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 and I am sure she was feeling these Bible tells us in Isaiah 26 three, one of the very first verses I ever memorize thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the because he trusts you that is what Mary had chosen.

Notice then what the Lord said to Martha. He said, ”Martha, one thing is needful,” see that? One thing is necessary. I realize your days are filled with activities; I realize your schedules are busy. Jesus said one thing is necessary. Martha was busy but what would it have mattered, in the big picture of eternity, if may be supper was a few minutes late? What would it have mattered if the biscuits were burned just a little? What would have mattered if she had everything just perfect but she missed out on the thing that really matters? You may keep an immaculate house. I hope you do but do you find time for God? You may be moving up the ladder of success in your job. Hope you are spending time with Jesus. You may be raising your children according to the latest principles of child rearing advocated by the American psychological Association, but only one thing is needful, only one, only one thing is necessary and that is your relationship with him. Jesus told Martha, “Mary has chosen the good part and it will not be taken away from her because Mary was making plans for eternity. How can we raise our children in the Lord if we don’t spend any time with Him?

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all of these things will be added to you.” Put Jesus first and the other things will fall into place.