Why Do We Do What We Do?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning and welcome back!
This morning we are going to be taking a walk with Jesus into one of the many villages and towns that Jesus travelled through.
And today we are going to be making a stop at the home of Mary and Martha, two very dedicated disciples of Jesus.
And we may recognize Mary and Martha already because they are the sisters of Lazarus.
We remember Lazarus right?
He was the one that John 11-12 records as Jesus raising from the dead.
Well, Jesus is now passing through and he and his disciples are likely a little on the tired side.
After all, he has been traveling about and performing many miracles.
Making many new friends and disciples along the way, as well as a few enemies who would like nothing better than to see him fail and fall flat on his face.
Jesus has also been teaching the people in parables and sending his disciples out to witness to the masses.
And our focus picks up in Luke 10:38 as Jesus enters into the town of Bethany and is making his way to the home of Mary and Martha.
The sisters had opened her home to Jesus and now were like busy bees, making all preparations for His and his disciples’ arrival.
Think about the work they had put into these preparations.
They had primped and prepared for the arrival of the Son of God.
And when I think about that, I also wonder how we would react if Jesus was coming to visit our house.
Would we wash up all the dishes?
Would we vacuum the floors?
Make the beds?
Take out the trash?
Or, at least hide everything in a closet and under the bed so Jesus wouldn’t see how we really live.
We would wouldn’t we?
We would examine every part of our home to make sure it was appropriate for Jesus.
We'd even dust off that old Bible that has been laying around and lay it on the coffee table, front and center.
Just so somebody knew that it was there.
The problem is though, it all sincere or "just for show?"
Are we just trying to impress who we would consider a “famous person”?
And you know I’m not just talking about our houses either.
What about our hearts and our lives?
How do we live each and every day?
Do we live like the King is Coming and try to live our daily lives according to His will?
Or do we try to cover up and sweep under the rug, hoping that He won’t notice all of the junk in our lives?
Clean up and look good while we are in His presence but make no real and lasting changes?
Act Holy on Sunday but like the devil the rest of the week, because we think Jesus never leaves the church building.
And that Jesus don’t know what’s going on in our everyday lives.
That’s really the meat of what we are getting to tonight, Why We Do What We Do?
That’s the key question.
So, let’s take brief look at Mary and Martha, why they did what they did in preparing for Jesus’ arrival, and what we can learn from them.
Again, Luke 10, starting in verse 38, Luke writes . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “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.”
The Two Sisters
The Two Sisters
Now, reading through this, it is sort of a strange reaction between the two sisters.
Not consistent at all.
Again verses 38-39 . . .
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
So, they come to the the village of Bethany, they encountered a woman named Martha who was kind enough to open her house to Jesus.
Martha did not have to open her house to Jesus, but she did.
Why do you all think that was?
I think she knew who Jesus was and she wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to “entertain” the Son of God.
I think she was sincere in her devotion to Christ, but I also think she was trying to earn some brownie points as well.
Have you ever known anyone who was like that, a “yes” man?
Someone who would go out of their way to please the boss and always agreed with everything that they had to say.
Well, she was not to that extreme, but Martha was a bit of a “yes” woman.
She felt everything had to be in place and in order to impress the Lord and earn some favor with him.
You see her mistake?
She was trying to “earn” his favor.
We would never do such a thing would we? Try to “earn” God’s favor?
Convince God to bless us because of how prim and proper we were?
So, that’s who Martha was and what Martha was all about.
However, Martha also had a sister whose name was Mary.
And there is a big difference here between the way Martha acted toward Jesus and the way that Mary acted.
Martha was the lady of the house and as the lady of the house in charge of all the preparations for guests.
And seeing that she was going to be entertaining Jesus Christ, the Son of God, she is busy getting things ready.
However, instead of helping her, her sister Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to what He had to say.
She could care less about the house and about what “had to get done.”
She also could care less about impressing someone or “earning” their favor.
She was there to see Jesus and that was what she was going to do regardless of what the house looked like.
She wasn’t going to try to put on a good show or good face for Jesus, she was just going to sit down and listen and learn.
Her focus was on learning from Jesus and not caring so much what Jesus thought about the outward appearances of everything.
You could even say that Martha was worried about the outward appearance and Mary was worried about an inward transformation.
Martha was concerned about what everyone thought and Mary just wanted to get in touch with Jesus.
Mary understood the purpose but Martha did not.
Busy Doing Too Much
Busy Doing Too Much
But since Martha is so focused on the outward, she saw her sister undermining her efforts and Martha didn’t like this too much at all.
After all her sister was supposed to be helping her get things ready for Jesus.
That’s why she was there in the first place.
Think about it, have you ever had somebody that was coming to help you and they didn't do anything?
Maybe they even got in the way a little.
How did that make you feel?
Probably a little aggravated.
Maybe, that they were a little on the lazy side.
This is how Mary was feeling at this point.
Look at verse 40 . . .
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
So here we have Martha distracted from even hearing Jesus because she was so worried about the preparations.
In other words she was worn out and overwhelmed because she was doing all of this work.
After all, we have to realize that she is not only serving her own household and Jesus, but also all of his disciples that came with him.
She was a pretty busy lady.
And she was getting pretty annoyed with her sister.
And in thinking about a good comparison, I think about how we prepare for the holidays every year, particularly Christmas.
We run back and forth worrying ourselves to death over things.
“Did we get the right gift for so and so?”
“Did we get them as good a gift as they got us?”
“Is my house clean?”
“Do I have the right food?”
“Do I have the right clothes?”
“What about my decorations?”
And on, and on, and on, and on.
Folk’s what is Christmas about?
The celebration of Jesus’ birth.
What does any of this other stuff have to do with it?
Nothing really.
So, why do we get so upset and torn up about it all?
It is a distraction from seeing and hearing Jesus, that is really all it is.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Christmas, I like Christmas dinner, I like gifts, I like spending time with family, but let’s remember we need to keep the main thing that main thing.
And not get so upset when things are not “perfect.”
Which is exactly what Martha is doing here.
She is tore up and upset.
So she approaches Jesus and said Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!
Don't you care Jesus that she's not doing anything but sitting around and I’m doing all of the work?
Don't you care Lord that she's not up "doing something?"
Do we understand what is happening here with Martha?
She is burdened and worn out and she is becoming bitter with serving Christ.
She has tried to take on everything and do everything herself and is getting burnt out.
She is doing just exactly what Paul warns against in Galatians and Thessalonians . . .
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
And . . .
And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
Martha was running around doing "stuff" and this was making her grow weary and she began to grow bitter.
Now, things really begin to go south when bitterness springs up.
Look at Hebrews 12 . . .
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
Bitterness causes trouble to spring up, which causes you to be defiled, or slip into sin and fall by the wayside.
Hebrews talks about Esau, who sold his birthright, his inheritance, and was ultimately rejected.
Martha was in danger of this and so are many in churches today.
It all goes back to that 20/80 syndrome.
20% of the people are doing 80% of the work.
Not because it is their calling, but because of three reasons.
And, everyone fits into one of these . . .
(1) No one else is willing to step into their calling.
(2) They have a sense of obligation to do something.
(3) It eases their conscience and distracts them from hearing God.
The first two groups will lead to burn out, but the last group is most concerning.
They have been lulled into a sense that they are alright with God because they are "doing" something.
They begin to compare themselves with Brother or Sister So and So and it goes like this: Well, Brother So and So is going to make it and all they do is sit on the pew, at least I am doing something.
Your right, you’re doing something, that something is you are trying to buy your way into heaven.
No amount of good works is going to get you there.
Putting First Things First
Putting First Things First
And that is the point that Jesus is trying to get across to Martha.
Let’s look at verses 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.”
Jesus tells her, "Martha, Martha, your running around here "doing" and being "busy" and "worried" about alot of stuff.
And He asks her a question, Is all that stuff needed?
Does it add to the kingdom of God?
Does it help further the gospel?
Jesus says, only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
And, what was this one thing that Mary was doing?
Go back to verse 39 . . .
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
Mary was concerned about hearing Jesus' word.
Listening to what Christ had to say.
She was concerned about the Spiritual things of life and not the "stuff."
How many in our churches today are running around wearing themselves out for the wrong reason?
They are scurrying about "doing" but it is because they think that can buy them some points with God.
Does that mean that we don't do anything? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
That means that each of us have been given a calling and as the body we are fit together and we do those things WHICH WE ARE CALLED TO DO.
If you are called, it is not a burden.
And this is the root of what Jesus is saying.
He is telling us that we must Put the first thing first, which is His Word and let everything else fall into place.
Altar/Challenge
Altar/Challenge
What about us?
If we examined things where would it stack up?
First, are we doing anything for the kingdom of God? (If not that is a problem).
Second, why are we doing what we do?
Do we have a sense of accomplishment?
Does it bring us any joy?
Or are we doing, because we think if we do enough God will excuse our Spiritual condition?
We all have reasons for why we do what we do and every so often we need to spend so time exploring those reasons.
Can we do that today?
Let’s pray . . .