The Good Portion
Notes
Transcript
Illustration: What God has done in my life and how I decided to choose the good portion…
The Lord is so good, and He does amazing things. He transforms bad into Good. Sinful into Righteous. Lost into Found…destined for disaster into destined for Heaven. What an Amazing God…And that’s what He did for me. I was born in Brazil right in the middle of a military dictatorship. In 1985 the country found its freedom. My parents were not Christians and were a product of hardships and a country that now was overtaken by corruption, record braking inflation and steep immorality. My parents were at a point of divorce when they decide to seek something to help our family. They first tried this weird new age retreat….and that didn’t work. The catholic church that was their family’s church, but they never attended didn’t seem to them like the solution. My parents decided to walk into a small Christian church. That very same Sunday, a deacon took them a side and shared the Gospel to them, and they gave their lives to Jesus. Soon after I, at a WOL camp gave my life to Jesus at the age of twelve. I wish I could say that from that point on my life was filled with victory. The Christian walk is hard. I have gone through great moments and devastating times. I have been as far from God as one can be…yet we serve a GREAT God. A God that does not give up on us. A God that has a plan for us and loves us. He takes our failures and uses them to mold us. But we have to be willing to choose the best Potion. And that is what the focus of our text is this morning. Jesus will challenge Martha to choose the good part, the best part.
So, lets jump right in…Turn your bibles to Luke 10:38-42
Background information:
Jesus is heading up to Jerusalem probably from Jericho. The previous verses of Luke record the Parable of the good Samaritan, that parable took place in the road to Jericho. So Jesus told the parable while travelling that same road. The parable of the Good Samaritan was told as a response to an “expert” in the law. Jesus was explaining who was the “your neighbor”. One of the themes that Luke is developing is the high cost of following Jesus. There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus. It requires sacrifice. It requires devotion. It requires being uncomfortable.
Luke 9:57-62 says:
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 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.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 14:27 says:
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Being a disciple of Jesus is different than just being a part of a “religion”. This is not a spectator sport. The parable of the Good Samaritan reinforces this idea in Luke that following Jesus is counter cultural. It means doing things that we are not comfortable doing. It means leaving our distractions aside. It means to overcome anxiety and worry and trusting in God fully. So, lets keep this idea in mind as we come to our text.
Jesus is traveling up to Jerusalem. Right before you come to Jerusalem about two miles out you would come to the town of Bethany. In the town of Bethany there was a family that Jesus was very found of. This was probably a house that Jesus had stayed on different occasions. This was the House of Martha and Her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus probably lived with Her. We don’t know all the details of course and this is speculation. Martha was probably a widow that was married to a reasonably wealthy individual. They were a family of some means and at least a big enough home to host Jesus and perhaps his Disciples.
Jesus loved this Family!
We see later on when Lazarus dies Jesus is very saddened by it and He weeps over Lazarus, even knowing that He would resurrect him. We don’t have time to explore this relationship but it is clear that Jesus had a special relationship with this family.
So let’s jump into our verse…
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.”
The texts paints us this interesting situation:
Where we have Martha the eldest busy making lunch:
Just Imagine you preparing your Christmas dinner. You are juggling 10 different dishes. The oven is going, you realize you are low on flour. The kids are acting up…. everything is going on. While some of the family is doing what? They are relaxing playing games enjoying ourselves.
Martha was a little frustrated, and she voices her frustration. She was doing a good thing…. serving! And that was not the problem…hospitality is Good, service is good. What was not good was her heart. Her heart was distracted, it was worried, it was troubled. And Jesus sees her heart…as He sees our heart. He is not concerned about our outward actions. He cares about the state of our hearts.
Then we have Mary. She is at the feet of Jesus. Perhaps she’s is ignoring all the rules of hospitality, she’s ignoring the fact that her sister is doing all the work, but this is Jesus, the Messiah! The Savior of the World. She understood that being in the presence of Jesus was a tremendous privilege. She gets it. She chooses the good part. I like how the ESV version translates this as the “Good Portion”…its The best thing. The most important thing is to be at the feet of Jesus.
This is where we find satisfaction. At the feet of Jesus. This is where we are find relief from our worries and anxiety. At the feet of Jesus! This is where we find victory from sin! At the feet of Jesus!…we desperately need to fall at the feet of Jesus my friends.
Trans: Why is this so hard for so many of us….
1. We get distracted: “But Martha was distracted with much serving”
Martha got distracted. The Greek word for cumbered means to be distracted and anxious. She allowed everything that was going on in her life to grip her heart and to distract her from what was truly important. It is so easy to get distracted in our Christian life….in some ways we are like children.
My kids are homeschooled, and we come from Texas where there is not much snow. And one fine morning, my kids are doing their homeschool. My wife has everything under control, the kids are making good progress when all the sudden, IT STARTS TO SNOW…you go just see their little heads pick up…it’s snowing! And all the sudden it all falls apart… what kid can focus on schoolwork when there is snow coming from heaven…
We are the same. The smallest things distract us. We let the smallest things take our joy away. We let the smallest things anger us…. distract us from Jesus.
Point: If we want to experience this “good portion” We need to turn our focus to Jesus. We need to stop allowing smaller things, even if they are good things, distract us from the “good portion”.
Application: The reason why I love Word of Life and I am associated with this organization is because they get this. They understand that the only way we can stay focused is to develop discipline. Falling at the feet of Jesus is not a one time “mountain top” event. It is daily time with Him. It is the basics of Christian discipline. Daily Prayer, scripture memorization, scripture reading. If you find yourself distracted, if you find yourself angry, if you find yourself anxious or living in sin. I want you to ask yourself...how is my daily walk with Jesus. There is always a correlation…
Trans: Not only was Martha distracted, but she was anxious and upset….
2. We need to give up control: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things…”
Martha allowed her heart to be consumed by Anxiety and became upset. The word anxious in Greek is “ μεριμνάω (merimnaō)” and it means to be anxious or worried. It is the same word used in Matthew 6:25 -26
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
When we become Anxious we forget who is in control. We try to control our lives and the outcome of each situation…when things don’t go our way..we get anxious and even angry. We need to give up control, or we will be suffocated by anxiety.
Ilust: I tend to be a very anxious person. I used to bite my nails, and I can tell when I am anxious because I want to start to bite my nails…so I catch myself. I used to lose many hours of sleep. Sometimes I couldn’t even pinpoint the cause of my anxiety, but my heart was troubled….
Point: If we want to experience the “good Portion” we need to give up control. When we think we can control our lives and situations we will find ourselves overwhelmed by anxiety. God is in control. Things will not always go our way ….but He is still on the throne!
Application: And how do we overcome anxiety? We act like Mary; we throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus. We spend daily time with Him. We learn from his Word. We have passion to learn and we are adamite about change and transformation. Anxiety will not disappear on its own. We need to hand over control of our lives over to Jesus more and more each day.
Trans: And Mary chooses the “good portion”
3. We need to have the courage to choose the best portion. “But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Ilust: I was reading the gospel of Luke a few months ago and this verse really impacted me. It led me to contemplate and ask this question: “Am I choosing the Good Portion”. For the majority of my Christian life, I allowed myself to be distracted. I constantly chose what I though was the best portion. And the results were disastrous…. I have only been a missionary coming up on a year now. Before that I was working a regular Job. We had a good life…a good home and a nice living…we were comfortable. But I was distracted, and my family paid the price. I learned this lesson in a very hard way…but I threw myself at the feet of Jesus and I have to continue to do that daily. He made it clear to us that we needed to serve Him on a fulltime basis. This meant sacrifices…..this meant changes. This meant moving. This meant significant less salary
Point: …. I am not saying that we all need to go do the same. What I am saying is that Following Jesus requires sacrifice. It requires our devotion to Him. It requires us to develop discipline in our lives. It requires daily time spent at His feet.
Application: We need to take the necessary steps! You might be listening today and agree with everything I am saying. However, you will not experience this “good portion” unless you act! Well what do I do? Start by separating a time for Him daily. Make it happen!
Get the WOL devotional. Get any devotional and start there.
Start small
Pray
Meditate
Study
Memorize His Word.
We can’t do this in our own power. The Spirit will guide you…but we have to have the courage to take the next step.
Conclusion
Charles Wesley was a devout man born in the 1700’s he was a great preacher and he was also the author of many Hymns. I think you might recognize one of them…he wrote “Hark the Herald, angels sing” he also wrote “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” . He also wrote another Less known Hymn based on this verse and he makes a very astute conclusion. The verse o hymn goes like this:
Faithful to my Lord’s commands,
I still would choose the better part;
Serve with careful Martha’s hands,
And loving Mary’s heart.
God wants us to choose the best portion. He wants our service, yes! But ultimately, He wants our hearts. God wants us at His feet daily…walking with Him in the Spirit. And that is my desire for this church…that we all choose “The good Portion” lets pray….