Let's turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, at the end of
the chapter, Luke was inspired by the Holy Ghost to put this
account of Martha, Mary, and our Lord Jesus Christ following
the parable of the Good Samaritan. And I find that this account
here further instructs us in how we are to love our neighbor,
how we are to love our brethren. Because when our eye is fixed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is very Well, when it's fixed
on Christ, it's impossible for fleshly schisms and divisions
and the things that upset us and try us with regards to our
brethren. It's impossible for them to take
hold. But when we view Christ in light
of the things that bother us about others in the flesh, they
become what they are. We see them for what they are.
and unimportant in light of Christ. And therefore, this account here,
it serves to show us the one thing needful is Christ. He is the one thing needful for
His people. And so with Him as our aim, with
Him as our guide, with our eye fixed upon Him, that's how we're
going to maintain a right attitude of love. That's how we're going
to be patient and understanding and kind and gentle toward our
brethren. So I've titled this Choose That
Good Part. Now let's begin reading in Luke
chapter 10. Luke 10 verse 38. Now it came
to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village. This would have been Bethany,
where Lazarus and his two sisters lived. They lived in Bethany.
And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary,
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words. But Martha
was cumbered about much serving. She was burdened, weighed down
with much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou
not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her
therefore that she help me." All right, well, let's try to
enter into this and what's going on here. First of all, do you
have any trouble with family? Do you ever have any disagreements
with family members? How about with the body of Christ?
Do you ever have disagreements with your brethren, your brothers
and sisters in the body of Christ, those that believe Christ? Well, if so, we see here that
you're not unique. You're not alone. All people
have difficulties and troubles in their family and even with
believers, even with other believers. And so what we see here is just
because we're under the grace of God, it doesn't mean that
we will not have trouble. There are troubles in this life. There are problems, there are
difficulties, there are different viewpoints and different ways
of seeing things in this life. And so our faith in Christ, that
doesn't excuse us or dismiss us from experiencing heartache. and experiencing trouble and
difficulties with other people. And one thing that we're going
to find, one thing that the Lord is going to make us to see in
this life is that we're all sinners. We're all sinners. Even we ourselves
are sinners, not just others. We're sinners. We're sinners
and the Lord is going to show us that. Just a little time that
we spend in grace. Just a little time that we spend
learning of grace. It won't be long before we see
the lusts of our flesh. They will become evident to us. They'll be made evident to us. A man or woman who doesn't see
themselves as a sinner is someone that knows nothing of grace,
because they haven't learned what they are. Grace shows us
that we are sinners and that we desperately need the forgiveness
of God. We need the grace of God to save
us. We cannot save ourselves. Paul said this in Romans 7, in
verse 22 and 23, he said, I delight in the law of God after the inward
man. He's talking about in that new
creation, which is born again, born anew by the Spirit of God,
because that new man of grace is not born of this flesh. It's not created by this flesh.
It's not enhanced by this flesh. The inward man, that which is
born of the Spirit, I delight after the law of God. I want
to walk right before the Lord. I want to do that which is right
and pleasing to the Lord. And I want to love my brethren
as I ought to love my brethren. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind. This is the old man of
flesh and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. And so we see, we learn, we learn
about this flesh, just how corrupt this flesh is, just how great
our fall is, and the redemption, how precious the redemption of
Christ in us. The new man in us, that new man
in us, which we which have the first fruits of the Spirit, Paul
said, meaning we have that earnest, that down payment of our inheritance
in us, the Spirit of God in us, even we ourselves grown within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our
body. All right, this body isn't improved. This body isn't any less corrupt. This body isn't any less sinful
than it was. In fact, under grace, we see
more and more just how corrupt this flesh is, just how dark
the natural heart and mind and thoughts of man is. That it is
wayward, it is corrupt, it is vile. We see that under grace. We see more and more just how
much we need the grace of God, how we are entirely dependent
on the grace of God. And so, excuse me, we learn that
it pleases our God that here in this world, we as believers
are going to be made to know our sin. and to know our desperate
need of the grace of God in Christ, that we might know the wonders
of his grace. The carnal man, you know, doesn't
mind a salvation where he saves himself. All right. We can see
looking at the Pharisees that, that, that they didn't mind religion. It wasn't, that wasn't the problem.
My voice is going, it's already kicking out here. pray brethren, it's leaving me. But God makes
his child, I can't even speak. It's like, it's coming on and I can't even
get it out. I don't know if there's like tea
back there or something, but I might need it. I apologize. The carnal mind, the carnal man
doesn't mind a salvation where he saves himself. Right? He doesn't mind that, but the
child of God is made to sing the song of redemption, the song
of the redeemed. And we only sing that song with
grace in our hearts, by the grace of God showing us how great our
salvation is and what he's done for us, and so He strips us of
all our vain confidences. He strips us of that which we
would trust in if left to ourselves. And He makes us to know what
He has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes us to
know that we've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. How great
is my fall, how awful my sin that it took the Son of God to
come in the flesh and lay down his life for me. That shows us
just how great our fall is and how great the darkness of man
is. And so he does this so that we
would walk humbly with our God and that we would be gentle and
patient and kind with our brethren. He does that in his way of grace
that we may learn love and kindness and gentleness for them. This
is how we're made to dwell with our brethren as we saw in the
midweek service in Ephesians 4 verse 2, with all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. And so until the Lord shows us
what we are, it's very easy to find fault with everyone else
and to justify ourselves. But when he shows us what we
are, then we are much more gracious and giving and long-suffering
to others because we see how the Lord is gracious and forgiving
and long-suffering to us for Christ's sake. Now, second, we
see members in the body that we're all different members.
We're one body. And we have different temperaments.
We have different perspectives. We have different viewpoints
and different views on how things are done, should be done, should
be dealt with. Do you perceive things differently
from how a brother or sister perceives things? I'm sure you
do, because we all do. We see things differently. we
would approach things differently. And that's OK. Some people, they
see it X, Y, and Z. Other people see it, well, why
didn't you do A, B, and C? Why did you go about it that
way? You just did it completely the opposite way that I would
do it. And that's just how people see things and how different
we are. And even if people come from
the same family, you that have sisters or brothers, You know
that you do things very differently from how they do them. You go about it very differently
from how they would do it. And we see it here in this family
of three, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And we see it in the two
sisters that they're very different from one another. Very different. Very different. Martha, it says,
she received Christ into her house. And that meant she received
all his disciples that were with him. She received Christ and
at least 12 other men, and quite possibly others with them. And
so she had a good number that came into her house, that she
opened her house to receive them there. And Martha, I have no
doubt, Martha knew what it was going to take, what kind of effort
it was going to take to host all those people and to make
them feel comfortable and at home. She knew what it would
take and she's a hard working woman. She's an industrious woman.
She knows what has to be done and she's getting to it. She
recognizes it. And I'm sure that she could see
the trouble that was going to come before anybody else could
see it. I'm sure she already knew. She
probably was the type of person that got mad at Mary because
she thinks, Mary, you know this. You know how this is going to
go. You know what I need from you. You know what we're doing
here today. I need you. And so she's already. on top of things that have to
be done. And I'm sure Martha was excited
about it. I'm sure she wanted to do it. She was willing. She had a willing heart. Entertain strangers. Some have
entertained angels unawares. I'm sure she was excited to be
hosting the Lord and those that were with him. But it was going
to be hard work. Mary, on the other hand, was
not like her sister. I'm sure when she saw the Lord
come through that door, the first thing on her mind probably was,
this is going to be a wonderful night. This is going to be wonderful. The Lord is here in the house.
And she couldn't wait just to spend time with him. She probably
came in to the living room there with something that Martha had
put in her hands. And she comes in, and there's
Christ coming in the door. And she just sets that thing
down and forgets everything else that Martha told her that she
needs her to do. She maybe set out one bowl of
guacamole and forgot the chips and all the others. The salad
and everything else was just forgotten. She didn't set the
places. She just forgot all about that. And so we find that Mary sat
at Jesus' feet and heard His Word. And as soon as He started
talking, she just set that thing down and just sat down and listened
to Christ and wanted to hear Him speak. And so What we see
in this is that each one of us has our peculiarities. Each one of us is built a certain
way for certain things, and we excel in certain areas. And in
other areas, we just have blind spots, and we don't really get
it. We don't see it very well. But we don't want that to drive
a wedge between us. We don't want that to build up
and become a dividing thing between us. Because these things happen.
We are different from one another. You know, I was thinking when
I was putting this together in Philippians, Paul had to stop
the letter, or as he's writing the letter, and he says there,
I beseech Jodeas and beseech Syntyche that they be of the
same mind in the Lord. These were women that had a disagreement
with one another in how something should be done. And it was so
pronounced that the apostle had to highlight their names in a
letter that's there now for all of us to see for these couple
thousand years as we're reading this letter. And so we can see
how these disagreements can just drive a wedge and be a trouble
to others in the body because of our differences if we let
them be there. And so we see differences, but
there are things that all believers agree upon. All believers see
that I'm a sinner. We all confess. Confess your
sins one to another. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. It took the blood of Christ to
purge us of our sins. We're all in need of His grace,
of His hand, of His mercy. Christ is made all to his people. The Lord has made Christ unto
us our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. That according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in
the Lord. And so both of these sisters
were daughters of grace, but they are very different one from
another. There's a third thing that we
see here, how that even a good thing, even a good thing such
as hosting the Lord and all those that were with him, that came
in there into her house, even that can be a means to cause
trouble in the body, a good thing. That's a good thing, what she
was doing, and even that could possibly cause great harm and
divide the people. and cause there to be a schism
and a division there in the body. It says, verse 40, but Martha
was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord,
I would imagine this was right in front of everybody as he's
sitting there talking. And she interrupts it, Lord,
and said, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to
serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. And so Martha's upset with Mary. She's wondering, where
is she? Where is this girl? And she comes
in there and sees her sitting down at Christ's feet. And that
just did it. There's all these things still
to do. And she's sitting down. And so now she lays into the
Lord for not rebuking her, for leaving her alone and not rebuking
Mary. And what happened? The Lord rebuked
Martha. Instead the Lord spoke to Martha
and corrected her understanding and perspective on this. Verse
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou
art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is
needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not
be taken away from her. And so we can take the cares
that we have in this world, even things that are useful, things
that are beneficial, things that are good and have their place,
things that even adorn the gospel. And yet they can become a means
of taking our eye off of Christ. Martha's serving, and that was
a good thing. That adorns the gospel that she
believed and professed to believe. And yet she's now missing the
blessings that are all around her. She's not even partaking
or experiencing that joy in any way because she's so focused
on what it is that she focuses on and really excels at, but
now she's miserable, and she's there making everybody else miserable,
or at least trying to make everybody else miserable. But the Lord
was there, and he corrected it right away. But sometimes we
don't, you know, the Lord isn't there to correct those things,
and these divisions just fester and become worse and worse. And so sometimes that which burdens
us and cumbers us about Prevents us from experiencing the joy
and the blessings of the Lord and the joy and fellowship of
his body. And to miss all those things. And so we see here that one thing
is needful. And that's Christ. That's Christ. And there are many components
in our lives, many factors, many things that are vital and important,
especially important to us. And they touch how we perceive
things, how we carry ourselves, the things that we say, the things
that we do in this life. But what we see here is that
above all else, one thing is needful. And that's Christ. And knowing Him, and worshiping
Him, that we might know Him who loved me, and gave Himself for
me. That we might enjoy His presence,
and enjoy that fellowship with the brethren, and worshiping
the Lord, and hearing His Word, without that interruption, without
those distractions, and that we might be taught of him, led
of him, sit down and hear his word together. It's a blessing.
It's a great joy and a blessing. And you know, we're going to
find that we may never attain to the achievements that others
attain in this life. All right. And we're going to,
we're going to find that we, we come short of so many attainments
and so many things that we could otherwise do for ourselves or
acquire or become in all manner of things. We come short of those
things very often. We come short of perfection in
everything that we do. We're not perfect in all our
ways and in all our words. But if we have the one thing
needful, then we have everything that we need to stand before
holy, almighty God, being accepted and received of Him in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our chief focus. That's our hope, is Him. It's Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so in Him, we're accepted of God, and we're received of
God. I mean, you could pick Mary apart
there for sitting down at Christ's feet and hearing him, and yet
Christ said, she's chosen that good part, and it's not going
to be taken from her. And so that informs me. That is a good thing to dwell
on and meditate on and think, Lord, How could I more and more
choose that good part and sit at your feet? Now let's look
at that, at his feet there. We're told that Mary sat at Jesus'
feet. And there's a significance in
this for our reflection. What does it mean to be at Christ's
feet? Well, the sense is that the sinner,
for one thing, the sinner finds mercy at the feet of Christ. Sinners find mercy at the feet
of Christ. We're told of a man named Jairus,
who was a leader in the synagogue. And his daughter was laying on
her deathbed, expiring right there that day. She was about
to give up the ghost. She was dying. And he came and
sought out Christ for mercy. And when he saw Christ, we're
told that he fell at his feet. He fell at the feet of Christ.
Why? Because at the feet of Christ
is where we find mercy. Mercy. We're told of a certain
woman who was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician. And she had a young daughter
which had an unclean spirit. And she heard of Christ. And
she came out. She sought him. She came out
of Tyre inside an area. when he was nearby and she sought
him out and we're told that she fell at his feet. She fell at his feet. Why? Because she needed mercy. She
came to Christ and begged him for mercy and she found mercy
and Jairus found mercy. The Lord was merciful to all
who ask, to all who seek him, to all who need mercy and beg
him for mercy you shall find Again, Mary sat at Jesus' feet. And the sense here is that the
sinners who are at Christ's feet will find cause to give thanks
to the Lord. You that sit at Christ's feet,
you'll find cause to give Him thanks. We're told of a time
when the Lord healed ten lepers. Nine of them were Jews. One was
a Samaritan, a stranger. and all ten were healed. But
when the Samaritan was healed, he came back to Christ, and we're
told that he fell down on his face at Christ's feet, giving
him thanks. You that sit at Christ's feet
to hear Him, to know Him, you'll find cause to give thanks to
the Lord. You'll find cause to give thanks.
We're told Mary sat at Jesus' feet. And the sense is that the
sinner who's overwhelmed with grief, who's troubled about many
things and burdened with the cares and troubles and worries
and difficulties and strifes and sorrows of this life, you'll
find him who cares for the sinner, who cares for that one who needs
his grace and mercy. He cares for you that need him
in your greatest hour of need. When Lazarus died, Martha and
Mary's brother, when he dies, they were overwhelmed with grief. And we're told in John 11, 32,
then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell
down at his feet. saying unto him, Lord, if thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died. And seeing her weep and the tears
that that she wept and that the Jews were weeping that came with
her, we're told that he groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
He is a faithful high priest. He knows what we suffer. He knows
the feeling of our infirmities. He's touched with them. He bore
our infirmities for us on the tree to put away our sin and
to deliver us from that burden and that care. You that go to
Christ's feet, you shall find a caring, loving Savior. Mary sat at Jesus' feet in the
sense there is that the sinner saved from their sins and death
and given life by Christ will find peace and comfort and acceptance
from him. We're told that our Lord went
to the place of the Gadarenes where there was a demoniac filled
with a legion of devils and no man wanted to be near that guy.
No one wanted to be around them. They were just a menace, but
Christ healed him. Christ cast out that devil, those
devils. And it says in Luke 8 35, then
they went out to see what was done. The people of the town
and came to Jesus and found the man of whom the devils were departed,
sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They were
afraid, but the man who was healed by Christ was not afraid. He
had no problem sitting right there at Christ's feet. He was
thankful and happy to be near Him. Our Lord tells us in Luke
10.42, One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her. What do you choose
this day? push on in your cumbersome burden
weighing you down to keep on in that or to see Mary sitting
at Christ's feet coming to the Lord seeking to worship the Lord
and to know Him and to be glad just to hear His voice, His words. Mary chose that good part and
Christ said it will not be taken from her. And you that choose
Christ, you that come to Christ's feet, that reward that you seek
shall not be taken from you. There's a place where our Lord
was speaking in John 10, verse 26. He said to the Jews, he said,
ye believe not because you're not my sheep. There are some
that will not hear. that will not rest at Christ's
feet, that will not give him thanks, that will not find mercy,
that will not go to him for mercy and love and peace and grace
and kindness. They refuse that. They hold on
to that misery and that burden, that care. They won't let it
go. But Christ, to whom he will be gracious, he said, my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand." That little Mary, sitting there at Christ's feet,
who has no works to boast of, nothing to boast of. In fact,
she's angering her sister the more and more she sits there,
and yet Christ says, that reward, will not be taken from her. She
will sit there and hear Christ and rejoice in Him and be glad
in Him and it will not be taken from her. And so there's a people
for whom that good part is given and it shall not be taken from
them. We may not be as active and as
busy as the Marthas, but Christ says, you chose wisely. You that
would know me. You that would sit at my feet
and hear and learn of me. You chose wisely. Christ is the
one thing needful, and John tells us, he that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. You that have him, you have life.
I pray that, like Mary, you choose that good part, because it will
not be taken from you. It's given by the effectual grace
and power of God, and I pray that that work mightily in your
hearts, and you find all that you seek at Christ's feet, that
He bless you in Him. Amen. Thank you for your prayers,
brethren. It was a help. I was able to
preach the message. I'm thankful. Our gracious Lord,
we do thank you for your grace. We thank you for showing us Christ,
for showing us Him who is the one thing needful, which you've
given to your people to save us from our sins, to provide
all that we need to stand before our God, perfect and accepted
and holy and righteous in Him. Lord, bless this word to our
hearts. Fill up in us that which is lacking. Lord, show us Christ and make
us to rejoice in Him and be thankful in Him and find mercy in Him
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.