TITLE: WOSHIP OR WORRY?

TEXT: Luke 10:38-42

INTRODUCTION
Smile
-

1. Continuation our experience when GMA, senator Villar, Lina, Fernando

2. Or lets suppose that the doorbell rings. When you answer it, there stands
the President of the PHILIPPINES. What would you do?
3. We often have guest from U.S.
Concern about the menu, house cleaning and preparation
How

And what if you opened the door and found that Jesus Christ wanted to come
in and spend some time with you? What would you do then? Thats not as farfetched as it may seem. In fact, thats what happened one day to two sisters
who lived in a tiny village not far from Jerusalem. Our text tells us how they
responded to an unexpected visit from the Son of God.

1. Jesus and the Sisters

the sisters knew Jesus they both recognized Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah
Glad to welcome Him they prepared the home to get things ready for His
arrival.
They both loved Him and thrilled to have Him and stay with them
They differ in temperament
o They were loyal disciples of Jesus
o It was a great honor to have Jesus in their home.
Mary dropped all her activities and preparations, set her stack of dishes on the
counter, and took a seat at Jesus feet, Household taks could wait, Dinner could
wait, She had an eyes for Jesus and ears only to catch his every word.

One point needs to be made at the beginning. Both Martha and Mary
evidently knew who Jesus was and were glad to welcome him into their home.
It is obvious that they were thrilled to have such a visitor even if (as it seems)
he caught them completely by surprise. They both loved him and were thrilled
to have him stay with them.
As we study this little vignette, it is soon clear that the two sisters were quite
different in temperament. Their ways of making Jesus feel at home could not
have been more different.
It helps to know that this incident takes place toward the end of Jesus
ministry, perhaps about six months before his crucifixion. By this time
opposition to his ministry has hardened into open hostility. Martha and Mary

(along with their brother Lazarus who isnt mentioned in this story) lived in
the village of Bethany, located on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives.
Jesus has now turned his face toward Jerusalem and is making a final tour of
various towns and villages.
Jesus rarely spent a night in a home. He didnt own a home and depended
entirely on the kindness of his followers for all his physical needs. Foxes have
holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay
his head (Matthew 8:20). Even something as simple as a home-cooked meal
was a treat. In those days hospitality meant something more than it means
today. To most of us hospitality means inviting some friends over to watch a
ballgame and eat pizza. Or it means going out with some friends on Friday
night. But in Jesus day the safest place to stay was in the home of a friend.
Thats why it was considered culturally important to welcome strangers into
your home, to offer them good food, and if necessary, a place to stay
overnight. In later years this practice of hospitality became a key factor in the
spread of the gospel as itinerant evangelists carried the Good News into
distant corners of the Roman Empire.
I have already mentioned that Martha and Mary were both loyal disciples.
They loved Jesus and wanted to show him a proper welcome. It was a great
honor to have Jesus stay with them. I think Jesus came to their home because
he knew he would be welcomed. It was a safe and welcome haven from the
storm clouds of controversy that were gathering all around him.
About this text itself, I should add that there is nothing particularly difficult
about it. The words are straightforward and there are no unusual theological
problems. Jesus comes to the home,
Martha reacts one way, Mary another, and Jesus comments on the difference. Thats all
there is. Yet this simple story has confused and sometimes frustrated people. Perhaps
because of its simplicity, the urge to take sides is almost irresistible. Which sister was
right? Was Martha justified in what she said? Should Mary have done more than sit at
Jesus feet? And behind those questions are
deeper issues involving personal identity, individual preferences, and how
we can best serve the Lord.
I. Marthas Mission 38-40
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman
named Martha opened her home to him. But Martha was distracted by all the
preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, dont you care
that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me! (Luke 10:38,
40).

Martha
Perhaps the place to begin is with a closer look at Martha. Here is my take on her
personality.
She is bighearted, generous, hospitable, hard working, a big-project person, a giver, and
(in the best sense of the term) a homemaker. She is also a born leader who knows how to
do many things at the same time and how to do them well. If she is demanding, she
demands nothing of others that she does not also demand of herself. She is also
somewhat quick-tempered. In short, she is a classic Type A personality: gifted, driven,
demanding, and capable of accomplishing a great deal.
Before we go further, I want to say this in her defense. Regardless of what else we may
think, it is clear that she loves the Lord and does what she does out of love
and not obligation. She respects Jesus so much that without hesitation she wants to
honor him by using her gifts to prepare a meal in his honor. Her motives are pure
even if her attitude is not quite right.
Martha saw the job as unfinished. Multitasking,
Fried Chicken, Sinigang na Hipon and Bangus , Relyenong bangus, Caldereta or
Menudo, mga kakanin or buko salag, etc.
It probably happened like this. As Jesus comes in, Martha goes to the kitchen to begin
preparing the meal while Mary stays in the living room listening as Jesus speaks. I think
we can assume that his disciples were with him (and perhaps some other neighbors as
well). Martha immediately begins putting together a meal from her favorite recipes. She
has a servants heart and does not begrudge the time or the effort. It is a gift
of love to Jesus. As time rolled along, she did many things at once. She was folding
napkins into swans, basting the roast, making mashed potatoes, preparing the sevenlayer salad, and arranging the dinner table with the salad forks to the left of the dinner
forks. She even makes homemade rolls and begins scooping the raspberry sorbet into
those little dessert cups.
Preparing a big meal is a big job and requires time and effort and true
commitment. Meals dont cook themselves. Not everyone can sit in the living room
listening to the guest of honor. Someone has to be in the kitchen or everyone will starve.
Thoughts such as those began to go through Marthas mind.
I think women understand this better than most men do. We tend to think nothing of
calling our wives at 5:45 p.m. with the news that were bringing five men home for
supper. And we cant understand why this is such a problem. After all, since most men
never make a big meal, the mysteries of the kitchen are just thatmysteries to us.
Its at this point that the true differences between Martha and Mary come into focus.
Martha felt responsible to ensure that the meal was properly prepared and served. For
whatever reason, Mary did not join her in the kitchen. She chose to sit at Jesus feet, a
posture and attitude that eventually got under Marthas skin.
I Thought This Was a Partnership!

Finally the volcanic frustration erupted. Martha interrupted Jesus teaching

Leith Anderson points out that this often happens to us. We think were involved in a
partnership where the other person will bear his fair share of the load. But then we
discover that evidently the other person wasnt thinking that way at alland we are left
to do all the work. Or you thought you were part of a team only to learn you were not
only the captain of the team, you were the whole team! In those circumstances its not
unusual to resent others for failing to help out and its not unusual to vent our anger on
those we feel have let us down.
When verse 40 says that Martha came to him, the translation obscures the force of the
original Greek, which means something like, Martha exploded out of the kitchen.
When she couldnt take it anymore she marched up to Jesus, sandok in one hand and a
bowl of sile and luya in the other, and said, Lord, dont you care that my sister has left
all the work to me. Tell her to help me. Its hard not to smile when we read those words
because all of us have been there at one time or another. And weve all said something
similar when weve felt let down and abandoned by those we thought were going to help
us.
I Dont Mean to Interrupt But
The phrase Dont you care? deserves special notice. Sometimes words mean
something different than their literal meaning. If someone says, I dont mean to
interrupt you but , what they really mean is, Im going to interrupt you. If they say,
I dont mean to contradict you , thats exactly what they intend to do. And if they say,
Im not saying youre a jerk, thats exactly what they are calling you. When Martha
says, Lord, dont you care? she really means to say, Lord, you dont care at all because
if you did, you would have told Mary to go to the kitchen and help me.
Doctors sometimes talk about the presenting problem, which refers to the problem the
patient brings to the examining room. The patient may complain of a sore throat, a
runny nose, and an achy back, but it is the doctors job to look beneath those symptoms
to discover the real cause. Marthas presenting problem is very clear: Jesus doesnt
care and Mary wont help! She is both criticizing Jesus and blaming her sister.
Underneath this are her real problems: unrealistic expectations, misplaced
priorities, and misdirected anger. To say it another way, Marthas problem is that
she doesnt think she has a problem. She thinks everyone else has a problem but her. As
long as she could blame someone else, she didnt have to face what was in her heart.
She is busy but not blessed. Jesus has come to her home but she is so stressed out
that the joy has been replaced by frustration and anger. And oddly enough, her
desire to serve Christ actually pulls her away from time with Christ. The good
is crowding out the best.
Most of us would sympathize with Martha. Here are 13 hungry men who have dropped
by for supper. There is lots of work to be done! The food must be bought, prepared,
cooked, arranged, served, and then everything must be cleaned up afterward. At a

minimum, this involved several hours of hard work. And every personman or woman
who has ever ventured to prepare a meal like this knows one irrefutable truth: Food
doesnt cook itself! Someone has to watch the roast and someone has to mash those
potatoes. Viewed from one perspective, Martha is just being a responsible
hostess.
In his book When I Relax, I Feel Guilty, Tim Hansel has a wonderful phrase for the
Marthas of the world. He calls them Weary Servants of the Impossible. Because they
feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, they attempt to do it all even if no one
will join them.
II. Marys Position 39
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lords feet listening to what he said (Luke
10:39).
Evidently Mary never said a word when her sister confronted Jesus. That was
probably a good idea. What could she say that would have satisfied Martha anyway?
Mary only appears for certain three times in the gospelsLuke 10, John 11, and John 12.
In all three places she is always in the same placeat the feet of Jesus. We never see her
anywhere else. In our text she is at Jesus feet listening to his words. Consider what this
means:
MARYS POSITION
a). Sitting

REVEALED MARYS HEART

Quietness

b). At the Lords Feet

Closeness

c). Listening

Attention

d). To his Word

Submission

Those four words reveal Marys heart: quietness, closeness, attention and submission.
She is utterly devoted to the Lord and wants nothing more than to be near him.
Listening is hard work. Its not easy to sit in a classroom (or in a church sanctuary!) and
listen carefully for 20 or 30 or 40 minutes. Sooner or later, the mind tends to drift off.
Its a rare compliment if someone says, Hes a good listener. Many of us listen only as
long as we need to figure out what were going to say next when our turn comes to talk.
Mary was a truly good listener.
Did Mary know about Marthas frustration? Perhaps. Certainly she knew her sister well
and couldnt have been totally surprised when she burst from the kitchen into the living
room. But her desire to be with Christ far outweighed any desire she felt to help
her sister. On this sacred day, she would choose to listen to every word Jesus
spoke.

Mary had chosen her decision to cultivate her relationship with Jesus above all else
would never b e taken from her. Its something you choose.
Watch over your heaqrt the choices you make regarding the foundatiuons of your life
have eternal implications beyong our life span. We can criticse poor Martha for
becoming so busy in the kitchen while her sister sat listening in the living room. But how
are we different. We are both Marth and Mary. There will be demands vying for our
time. Mary made her choice, and so must we.
Solomon wrote watch over our heart with all diligence for out I are the issues of life.
How to do this
Develop a daily self-feeding program from the Bible
Allow yourelf to be daily, hourly mentored by Gods Holy Spirit
If you make Marys choice then you willfind Marys reward.
Daily Devotions: Renowned performers, singers, athletes, have a training regimen they
repeat day in and day out. Agsin nd agin. Jan Paderwsky, a famous Polish pianist said
just allow me to have 3 hrs. piano practice daily otherwise if I skip one day of scales
practice, during concernt I will notice it., skip 2 days, my coach will notice it, skip 3
days, the world will notice it. When we miss our devotion 1 day, you will notice it, skip 2
days ur wife and kids will notice it, skip 3 days, d world wll notice it. We fall back on
worldy knowledge and wisdom. We even did not realize what were doing. We get
spiritually weak. If we go without food for several days, how do we start to feel abd act?
We get cranky, suffer headaches, become edgy, starvation cause us to make wrong
choices. Every action is emblanced.
Two Questions
And that raises two interesting questions. Who is serving the LordMartha or Mary?
The answer is, both are serving the Lord. Martha is serving him by preparing the meal,
and Mary is serving him by listening quietly at his feet. But who is in the better place at
this moment? Mary is. She is able to hear what her Master says and is ready to respond
at a moments notice. Martha is so distracted that she cant hear anything Jesus is
saying.
How simple it is to sit at Jesus feet. Even a child can do it. A mother can do it. A father
can do it. A single adult can do it. A widow can do it. A teenager can do it. Anyone with a
heart for Christ can sit at his feet. If you cannot sing or preach or speak or teach, you can
still sit at Jesus feet. If you dont have money or an abundance of outward talents, you
can still sit quietly at his feet. Anyone who wants to can do this anytime, anywhere.
III. Jesus Admonition 41-42
Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, You are worried and upset about many things,
but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her (Luke 10:41-42).
How tenderly Jesus speaks to his frustrated servant: Martha, Martha. He knows her
name and he repeats it twice to assure her of his love. He knows how she feels and he
understands her frustration. Even in his words of reproof, there is warmth and

compassion in his voice.

In verse 40 we are told that Martha was distracted with many preparations that had to
be made. The King James Version uses a picturesque word to describe that distraction.
It says that Martha was cumbered, an old word related to our modern word
encumbered. To be cumbered was to be heavily burdened, as if you were wearing a
concrete straightjacket. The Greek word is perispao, which means a mind pulled in a
thousand directions. One moment shes worried about the roast, the next the rolls, the
next the dessert, and the next shes wondering why Mary doesnt come and help her.
Jesus told her she was worried and upset. The word worried has the idea of a
mind in pieces. And the word upset means to cause trouble. She is going
to speak her mind and spread the misery around!
Verse 40 also says she was burdened by all the preparations that had to be made. The
Greek word is diakonein, a very common word that often means to serve at the table.
Other forms of this word are sometimes translated by ministry or even deacon.
Thats a crucial insight. Her massive preparations were part of her service to the Lord.
Yet those very preparations had become a snare to her soul.
Note the contrast between many things and one thing. Here is the heart of the
problem. Martha was so pulled in every direction that she forgot the reason for it all:
Jesus had come to her home that day! The many things had overwhelmed the one
thing that really mattered.
A Gold-Medal Gymnast
Spurgeon comments that the little word but is a very useful pause for all of us very
busy saints of God. Many good things that occupy us can squeeze out the one thing
that ought to be at the center of life. Perhaps an illustration will help. How do you
develop a child into a world-class pianist or a gold-medal gymnast or a world-renowned
soloist? There is only one way. You must start when the child is only two or three
years old. Someone must say, One thing is needful. And everything else must take
second place. Get up early, practice for hours each day, week after week, year after year.
To be the best, you must give up what others call a normal life because what
you want is not normal at all. The one thing must take precedence over the many
things. There is no other way to the top.
Jesus is saying something like this: Martha, you are so busy serving me that you have
no time for me to serve you. I appreciate your love and I recognize that your motives are
good, but your heart is divided and distracted. Your zeal to serve me has pushed me
to the edge of your heart. Martha, I want to be at the center of everything for you. That
is far more important that preparing a fancy meal in my honor.
Not by Accident
How did it happen that Mary was in the better place? Answer: She chose it. Given the
same opportunity that Martha had, she chose to go to the living room and sit at Jesus

feet. It did not happen by chance; it never does. You will never end up at Jesus feet by
accident. You must choose to go there or it will never happen. Mary did not
know when or if Jesus would return to her home. She wanted to spend time with him
while he was there. She knew there would always be other meals to prepare, but she
might never have another chance to be with Jesus. Thats why she was willing to

leave some things undone if necessary in order to be with Jesus.

She chose the important over the urgent,
the better over the good.

And that is why the Lord commended her. This passage is not about cooking versus
praying or the active life versus a life of contemplation. Its about the divided life verses
the focused life, a life of frantic activity versus a life centered on knowing Christ.
Knowing Before Serving
Let me suggest what this means in a practical sense. There will always be plenty of work
to do. The work set before us will never totally be done. We will work all our days and
when we die, the work will continue after we are gone. We are right to work and work
hard doing what God has given us to do. But work is not an end in itselfnot even work
for the Lord. Good work, righteous work, even holy work, even preparing a meal for
Jesus, can become a distraction if we are not centered upon the Lord.
Knowing Christ must come before serving Christ or else our service will be
barren and our hearts will be frustrated.
One writer notes that something eternal is cooking in this home in Bethany, but its not
in the kitchen. That meal will soon be consumed and forgotten. But the meal Jesus is
serving in the living room will last forever. Dont miss the one while you are preparing
the other.
Must we then choose between Martha and Mary? The answer is no. Both have their
strengths. Both have their weaknesses. If you were on a sinking ship with Mary, shed
say, Ill pray. Martha would say, Ill find the lifeboats. Both are necessary.
I love the final phrase of the text where Jesus declares that what Mary has
gained will not be taken from her. What she gained, she would have
forever. Meals come and go. Sometimes mothers complain along these lines: I
work for hours to prepare a nice meal and then its gone in ten minutes. But time with
Jesus is yours forever. Im sure Mary never forgot that wonderful day when she sat at
Jesus feet drinking in every word.
In the end this story is about the danger of distraction while doing good things. The one
thing we need most is to sit at Jesus feet. It will not happen by accident. And others will
not always understand. Including, sometimes, our loved ones.
Martha Will Always Be Martha

But what about the meal? Someone has to go to the kitchen. We cant all be dreamy-eyed
mystics like Mary. True, but Martha could have set aside the meal or she could have
prepared something very simple. Or she could have rejoiced that her sister had such a
wonderful opportunity and that she had the privilege of preparing a meal for the Son of
God. Think of it this way. Martha wanted Mary to be like her. Jesus didnt agree, but he
also didnt tell Martha to be like Mary. He simply commended Mary for choosing the
better part that day. Martha would always be Marthashe couldnt and shouldnt be
anything else. But her attitude under pressure was wrong and that is what Jesus
confronted.
One thing is needful: To sit at Jesus feet. How happy we will be if we find a way (and the
time) to do it. We must not let the good crowd out the best. In a Scandinavian country
there is a lovely statue of Christ that stands in a town square. The statue is noteworthy
because the face of Jesus is not visible to those who stand in front of the statue. When a
traveler complained, I cannot see his face, a man replied, If you wish to see his face,
you must kneel at his feet.
So it is for all of us. It is easy to lose our perspective when we are serving the Lord. No
amount of service for Christ can substitute for the value of spending time at his feet. It is
right to serve the Lord but first we must listen to him. The world says, Dont just sit
there, do something. And Jesus says, If you are worried and distracted, dont just do
something, take time to sit at my feet.
Did you see the gospel in our text? It is there very clearly. We are not saved by doing, not
even by our good doing of good deeds, not even by righteous service done in Jesus
name. We are not saved by doing but by not doing. We are not saved by giving but by
receiving. When we give up our doing and kneel in simple faith at Jesus feet, then and
only then are we saved.
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
- When we sing and worship the Lord, we are so distracted with a lot of things.
- We are observant with people in front, musical instruments,
- Clothes of our seatmate, we forgot that the Lord ultimately is our audience.
- He is looking at us. Are we authentic. Does our worship acceptable in His sight?
Last week I spoke at Word of Life Florida, a Bible conference center just north of Di
Tampa. On Friday morning I got up very early and took a long walk just after dawn.
It was quiet and peaceful, beautiful and serene. As I walked along, I had a kind of
epiphany, a new insight from the Lord. I was thinking about this text and about all
the Marthas I have known and how much I admire them. And it occurred to me that
almost everyone I know is more like Martha than like Mary. Perhaps that is
inevitable. We live in such a busy, frenetic, pressure-packed world that we all have to
be a little like Martha. And then as I walked along I thought about my wife and all
the meals I have watched her prepare over the last 26 years. She is a gifted cook and
knows how to prepare a meal for two or three people or for a much larger crowd.

Often I have seen her work in the kitchen, calmly moving between the stove and the
sink and the counter and the kitchen table, preparing four or five things at a time.
How she does it all is a mystery to me. And if a guest comes in, she will start a
conversation with that person and still somehow keeps all the various preparations
on track. Eventually the moment comes when she announces that the meal is ready.
We gather around the table to see everything perfectly prepared and wonderfully
presented. Somehow it has come together at just the right moment.
I can think of only one word to describe this: Magic. It is magical and amazing to me.
I cannot do it and would not try. But Marlene can do it and she has done it many
times.
I thought about all this as I walked along: Martha of the Bible, the many people I
have known who identify with her, and I thought about the magic Marlene works in
the kitchen. Then I found myself singing out loud, a Christmas carol! I dont know
how it happened but suddenly I was singing as I walked along in the early hours on
Friday morning. It is an old carol that we sing every December:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room
Before coming in this worship hall, did you made major preparations
Di nagpagod kapag Saturdays
Watch longs hourse good movies
Went to other places
Did not prepare food, dress for tomorrow
Or okey lang ma late, understanding naman si Lord. Pero di ma late yan sa
work. Or takot ma late. In the long run, we will just be like Martha, mali
ang priorities, pinaghirapan natin iiwanan lang din naman natin yan.
Were you able to spend quality time, effort resources /treasure in heaven
Were nmoth, rust, robbers will
Fools are those who enriched themselves on earth but poor in heaven

And Heaven and Nature sing!

At first I could not see the connection. Then came the epiphany. Jesus has
come to Bethany. Joy to the world! Mary understood that and sat at his
feet. Martha missed it because she was so distracted. I began this sermon
by asking what you would do if Christ came to your home. Joy to the

world! Christ has come. He has come to the world. He has come to your
home. And every day he comes once again to your heart. Let earth receive
her King! He comes in this sacred moment and asks to spend time with
you. Let every heart prepare him room.
Will you not make room for Jesus? May God help us to find a place and sit
quietly at his feet. Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Amen.
Challenge: A Heart of Worship Song
Prayer