Mothers Day

Mothers Day Script

We want to honor all of the moms today

We know that our moms are so important and invaluable

They do so much for the family and for others

They often have the most patience, the right words to say, and the warmest hugs

And at the same time, we are aware that for many this is a day of hurt

Many women struggle with infertility or may have lost a son or daughter

This day is hard for many who have lost their mom

And if that is you, we want to express our love and gratitude towards you

That you still got up, that you still came to worship God, and God sees that

God sees your struggle - we are glad you are here

We are also glad that we get to do a family Sunday today

For our families to be able to worship together

For the moms to be examples of Christ

(We want to say thank you with a flower today and so will the kids come up)

And so if that is you today, if you are or have been a mom - please stand and the kids will bring a flower to you

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Luke 10:38-42 dfas

There is a tiktock or an instagram reel and the video and it goes like this

There is a woman that is complaining about having to do work in the house and the man of the house looks at her and says, let me show you my secret

And so the man takes the woman to the laundry room and points to the laundry basket

And he says this is a magical laundry basket

Every day I put dirty clothes and towels in it and somehow, the next day, it gets washed and folded, and put on our bed

And the lady is looking at him and is like seriously?

Hes like yes im serious! And im sure if you put your laundry in that basket it will magically get done too!

And then he says, but wait theres more!

And he takes her to the living room and he points to the coffee table, and he says do you see this coffee table? It is a magical coffee table

He said, it doesnt matter how much stuff I leave on here, cups, pizza boxes, magazines, no matter what I leave on here, when I leave the room, somehow the next day it gets cleaned

He said, and I have pushed this table to the limits too, Iv’e tried to make it as dirty as possible and yet, no matter how dirty it gets, it gets magically cleaned

And he tells the woman, you don’t have to work so hard, all you have to do is put things in the laundry basket or on this table and everything will get cleaned.

He then says, but this is my secret so dont tell others

And then in the next scene, the man is with his two friends and he says no I dont think she would leave me

What must have happened is that in the middle of the night she wanted some water and came and sccidently fell on the table and she vanished

And so one of his friends looked at him and said man you are you are crazy,

And the other friend then speaks up and says, no hes not crazy, I have the same coffee table and it cleans itself too!

And so we know that it was really the girlfriend who was cleaning everything

That there was nothing magical about the laundry basket or the coffee table

But that the everything was being done by one person

And over time that person got so frustrated that she she left

Mom’s, I am sure many of you can relate to this

Mom’s are wonder women

They juggle life, and clean, and look after the family, they remember the schedule for the family

And even though moms do it out of love, serve fo the sake of the family,

Many times, it would be nice to just hear a thank you

Kids, husbands, if you haven’t told your mom or wife thank you for all that you do - tell them thank you

Because the reality of life is that when the moms are working hard to keep things in order - and dad is in the other rooms watching football or golf - and the kids are playing

Even though they are doing something out of love, because of the lack of help and maybe the wanting of doing something nice for herself, some frustration can set in

And mom’s maybe you can testify to this that is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that at times you just did not lose your cool and throw a chancla accross the room

Maybe at times you just said, “Lord give me patience”

And maybe sometimes you did blow up and get after your family to help - and I would venture to say that more than likely you were justified to speak up, maybe not to blow up, but to speak up

But moms are more often than not, really good about knowing the priorities of the home, and really good about making sure that the priorities are taken care of

And so we find this in Luke 10:38-42 that we find a story of priorities

And now I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s word

Luke 10:38-42 “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 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.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.””

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Value

What we know is that Jesus and his disciples were wonderers, they travel from place to place preaching and healing

We just talked about this in Matthew 8- A scribe comes up to Jesus and says he follow Jesus wherever he goes but Jesus’ response was

8:20 “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.””

Jesus was on mission. And being on mission meant that he would travel

And so he comes to a village, and knowing that he is a traveler, he recieves great hospitality from the host

We find that Martha is doing a good thing

We know that Martha is being hospitable

And as believers in Jesus Christ, while we may not necissarily have the gift of hospitality, But just because you dont necissarily have the gift of it, doesn’t mean that you dont have to be hospitable

We are able to and need to work to be hospitable through the work of the Holy Spirit

1 Peter 4:8-9 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

This is for all believers male and female

As a matter of fact, it is listed as part of the qualifications for a man to become an overseer of the church

Titus 1:7-8 “For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.”

And so Martha has guests in her home and she knows that her responsibility culturally and and out of her love for Jesus - she is being hospitable for Jesus and more than likely to everyone else who was there

But Martha, while being hospitable - sees her sister not being hospitable and it is starting to irritate her

As Jesus comes in, Mary, who is Martha’s sister and presumably her younger sister

Did not make her way to the kitchen or to the cleaning supply closet,

Rather, she sits at Jesus’ feet

Mary is breaking cultural norm because typically in that culture men and women would not be in the same room for liesure

Rather, the woman would only enter the room to serve and wait on the husband

And even though the cultural norm is being broken, she is still in a posture of submission as she sits at the feet of Jesus and not equal to him

Mary’s posture is a posture of real intent to honor and learn from Jesus

At the same time, Jesus doesnt shoo Mary away

Jesus doesn’t tell Mary that his teaching is just for the men or only for his disciples

Rather, Jesus loves her and teaches her equally

So we find here that Martha is putting value and priority in hospitality

We find Mary putting value and priority in listening to Jesus

And we find Jesus finding value in equally feeding all of his sheep (male, female, young or old)

And this was probably going on for some time

Jesus is focused in his teaching (a good thing)

Mary is intentionally listening (a good thing)

Martha is providing hospitality (a good thing)

And what starts to happen is that these good things will start to be in clonflict because of how they are prioritized

And as the minutes pass and she continues to work hard, as she is working she starts to look up and peep into the other room

She starts to think, why isn’t Martha helping

When is Jesus going to tell her to come in here

Ok Jesus, anytime now

Maybe if I bang on this pot Martha will get the point

And finally, Martha gets to the point where she has had enough

Because she believes that hospitality should be number one

She also believes that Mary should should have it as number one

And because Martha feels abandoned , feels like Mary is giving up her priority of hospitality, she finally has had enough

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.”

Notice that Martha doesn’t address Mary, rather she addresses the Lord

She believes that the Lord will side with her, will agree with her that her priority and cultural responsiblity should be carried out first

And so she address the one in authority, that I have done all of these things and Mary has been pulled away from her responsiblities, please tell her to return to where she belongs

Priorities

Have you ever told your child or kids to clean their room

And then as they are cleaning they pick up a toy and then they get distracted by the toy and start to play with it?

They are suppossed to be cleaning but the toy has taken them away from cleaning - it has taken their focus off of what is important in that time

And the irony here is that Martha believes that Mary has been distracted from what should be the top priority when in reality it is Martha who has been distracted from what is the top priority

Martha has been pulled away from Jesus

And so Jesus’ response is not a response that agrees with Martha, rather it is a response that lets her know that Marthas priorities are not right

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

Martha, out of everything you have been concerned about (concerned with buying the food, cooking the food, making the food delicious, cleaning)

and could be doing, there is one priority here

As a matter of fact, Jesus uses the word “necessary” -

There is only one thing -required to be done, achieved, or present; needed; essential.

Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.””

There is only one thing necessary right now and Mary is doing it

The word “good” here is not to mean that all that Martha was concerned about is bad,

Rather is highlights the necessity to what Mary has chosen

While Mary is listening and learning - she had to of been aware of what Martha is doing and she want ignoring Martha out of laziness or out of spite

Mary was not intentionally leaving Martha alone to do all of the work

It is more than possible that Mary heard Martha banging around in the kitchen

The thought more than likely crossed Marys mind that she is to go and help Martha

Mary was probably tempted to go and help Martha

But Mary understood that the goal, that most important thing right now is to listen and hear Jesus teach

And Jesus says that his teaching will not be taken away from her

Essentially, Jesus is telling Martha - You are concerned with making a meal to temporarily sustain the body but Mary is concerned with recieving a meal that will eternally sustain her spiritual soul

Deuteronomy 8:3 “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Martha was concerned with the physical bread but Mary was concerned about every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord

In the beginning of this conflict, it seems as if the conflict is between Mary and Martha

It seems as though that we have to choose between hospitality or listening to Jesus

In reality, neither of those things will ever be number one

What will always be of first importance and will never be removed are the words of Jesus

The Bible, God’s word, God’s very breath - whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, will always reign as true and of first importance

And if we believe that, if we have a high view of God and know of the importance of Jesus - then he is the highest priority

Which means that our first response and second highest priority is to read and listen and to obey what he teaches

Application

Kids - Students - listen real quick - God is number one and he should be number one in our lives

And since he is number one, then the Bible which is God’s word is how you learn about him

And so you should read the Bible to learn about God and to learn how he wants you to live

When you read the BIble it is as if you are sitting at the feet of Jesus and he is talking to you

Adults - I want to challenge you, in a number of ways

First, remember that listening, learning and growing in Jesus is more important than serving

Now, I do not want to downplay the importance of serving

It is something we are called to do as believers

But if we are not in God’s word Monday - Saturaday but then we serve on Sunday - and we think that we are ok if we do that,

Then we would be just like Martha - concerned with something good but of lesser priority than being with Jesus

Now we can agree that being with Jesus and serving him work together and are good

Second, we must be careful not to let the things of this world pull us away from him

Work is important - family is important - family functions are important

But Jesus is most important and our first most important action is to be with him

And it is easier said than done but you need to put in the work and the effort to make the time

Here at New Day we are trying to do three things every week

1. Start your day with God - (can also be at night) but do it daily

2. Never miss church - (Not legalistic, do your best, but we are striving to be in church)

3. Share Jesus every week - (Somehow, some way, we should be telling someone about Jesus)

Of these three things, it is purposeful that #1 is start your day with God

Even if you do it at night, we should be with God daily because it sets up the rest of our day and week

Third, don’t assume that God agrees with your priorities, rather, make sure that your priorities are aligned with God

Martha assumed Jesus was going to agree with her

She was so confident that his response to her was going to be “yes”

It can be so easy to say, “Well God understands my busyness”

It can be easy to say, “Well God knows my heart”

And to that I say yes, yes there is a grace and a mercy that God bestows on his people

It is interesting that Jesus did not speak out to Martha beforehand

Jesus could have easily changed the whole narrative of this story by pre-emptively addressing Martha

But by his plan, we have the account today where Martha was doing a good thing and Jesus was showing grace by not addressing her

He left her to her business and her good deed until she spoke out and tried to justify her priority

And so we need to understand that just because God knows, just because there is a grace and mercy there

It doesn’t mean that he is pleased or ok with your list of priorities that may or may not have him first in listening to him

Big Point: So I hope we do not miss the point today that if Jesus is our highest priority, then then our highest actionable priority is to hear the word of Christ, to abide with Jesus, and sitting at Jesus’ feet in scripture, praying to him, worshiping him, are the is the most important action and

If you are a believer and God is not our highest priority and something else is - repent

If you have never submitted to Jesus and surrendered your life to him - do that today

We believe that we are imperfect people - (gospel message)

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