Luke 10.38 Now it came to pass,
as they went, that he entered into a certain village, 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 word. But Martha was cumbered about
many things. Martha was cumbered about much
serving and came to him. And came to him and said, Lord,
doest thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me. 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. Now our Lord Jesus here says
there in verse 42, one thing is needful. You know, the human
mind is easily confused. Very easily confused. Mine is
anyway. And it's easily distracted. But
our Lord says that there's one thing that's needful. And there's
simplicity, such simplicity in one thing, in one thing. And for a mind, a mind that's
been blessed, it's a blessed mind that can focus on one thing,
that can zero in on one thing and stay on that thing. It's
a blessed mind that can do that. That was Paul's focus. He said,
this one thing I do for getting those things that are behind
and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
in Christ Jesus. And the prophet said, Here, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one. And it's easy, easy to understand
one thing. And that's what our Lord's talking
about. And here in Luke 10, 38 through 42, we have two sisters. Wonderful women. Blessed women. They're women of faith. Women
who believed. Women who ministered to our Lord
Jesus Christ. And the house they lived in was
a house of faith. It was a house of faith. A place
where our Lord Jesus Christ says, if you go in there and my peace
is there, you stay back there and enjoy that peace. And that's
what this was. It was a house of faith. And
our Lord Jesus loved them. Look over John chapter 11. Keep
this and look in John 11 verse 5 for just a minute. Our Lord
Jesus loved this family. You remember this is Mary, Martha
and Lazarus. In Luke 11 5, look what it says
what our Lord Jesus Christ said about him. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. He loved them. He loved this
home. He loved this family. He loved this family. And our
Lord Jesus, he has such affection for them, and our Lord here teaches
us a valuable, valuable lesson we as believers need to learn.
And that we ought to be called to live and to walk and maintain
a faithful profession of Christ in this world. And we need this
lesson, and God teaches it to us. And let's go through these
verses and see what we can learn for ourselves. I know I learned
some things as I looked at him. Some things about myself. But
he said here in verse 41. Well, I'm in the wrong chapter. Went over it too far. Look in 41. There we go. I'm
back where I was. Martha, Martha. Our Lord Jesus
said unto Martha. Said unto her, Martha, Martha.
Martha was a servant. Martha was a servant. Commendable
position. And he says, Martha, Martha,
you're careful in trouble about many things. Martha was a servant. And that's a good position. Paul
called himself a servant of Jesus Christ. Talked about last week
about being servants. And you know, and it's a commendable
position to be a servant, to wait on others. The disciples,
they argued one day, they was arguing among themselves, who's
the greatest? Which one of us is the greatest? Which one of
us is the best preacher? Which one of us is closer to
the Lord? Which one of us has got the best gift? Which one
has got the most gift? And you know what our Lord said
to them? He said, you know, who's the greatest among you? You know
what He said? Let Him serve. If you think you're
great, well you come down then. And that's what he talked about. If you're great, and if you've
got any gifts, and you've got any grace in you, you've got
any power, and you've got any gifts in you, he says, you come
down, you wait on other people. That's what he does. But she
is a very, very active person. Much, much serving. That's why
she said she was much serving. She learned a lot of serving.
She loved to serve. And she delighted in serving.
And that's what it says, that she served much. And look what
it says in verse 40. Martha was cumbered about much
serving. She was a very active person.
She wasn't like me. She was active, very active. She wasn't just a hearer, but
a doer. She didn't sit around and listen
all day. She was a doer. She was a very
active person. But let me show you something that happened to
her. Her duty and her serving became all to her. It became
everything to her. Her work became a burden to her
instead of a blessing. Instead of being deserving and
finding great joy and comfort in that, in her duty, and this
serving became a burden to her instead of a blessing. And that's
why our Lord says, Martha, you're comforted about my serving. And what do you mean by when
our Lord said that? He says you're drawn away. You're distracted. You're over occupied. And that's
what he says to her. You're cumbering Martha. It's
wonderful that you serve. And you're no doubt a good cook
and you're going to set a wonderful table. But you're cumbered about
it. She says, Martha, Martha, you're
worried and you're troubled about much serving. You're drawn away
and you're distracted. You're over occupied. And now
what is it that draws us away? That distracts us? from this
one thing this need for when our Lord Jesus says Mary has
chosen that one thing this need. Now I know that there's lots
and lots of things that over occupies us. And most of the
things that over occupies us has to do with self first and
foremost. That's what it has to do with
self. And that's what Mary says, what Martha said here. She said to the Lord, Lord, does
thou not care that my sister's left me to serve alone? You let
me do it all. She's so caught up with herself
and her doing, she says, nobody's going to help me. Nobody's doing
anything for me. And so she is occupied with self.
She's occupied with feelings. And we get that way, whether
they're good or bad. And oh, we worry so much about
being prepared for the future. And I'll tell you, beloved, worry
about what people may think about us, but you know why Jonah ended
up in the whale's belly? Tried to save himself. He got
on that ship and he's got to go to Nineveh and preach. He
said, I ain't going to do that. I said, I don't want to go through
that much trouble. I don't know what God's going to do to start with.
So he went the other direction. Ended up in the whale's belly.
David looked at Bathsheba and he took Bathsheba to satisfy
himself. And that's why Paul said, oh
God, there's one thing needed. That's one thing. One thing,
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said, this one
thing I do. We like stereos, but when it
comes to the gospel, when it comes to the things of Christ,
we have to be set on one thing. Focused on one thing. Mono, mono,
that's what we got to have. And when that merchant man, when
he went out and he found that pearl of great price, he never
looked for another one. And when that man found that
treasure in the field, he stopped digging and he found that treasure
and got the whole field. And that's what our Lord Jesus
Christ, and we're cumbered about things, we're troubled about
things and distracted about things. When our Lord Jesus Christ says,
my yoke is easy. My yoke is easy. Life becomes
hard when we make it hard. When we're just thrown away and
we're distracted. Comfort about things. And she
began to complain. When you get burdened, whenever
you get distracted, and your duty becomes a burden to you
instead of a blessing, and your work becomes everything to you. She started to complain. Look
what she said here in verse 40. And Martha was comforted about
much service and she came to Him. That's a good place to start. That's a good place to start.
She came to him. She came to him and said, Lord, don't you care? Don't you care
that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to get
up and get back in the kitchen and help me do what I need to
do. Get up and help me do what needs to be done. And all she
was complaining. She didn't go to Mary and say,
Mary, would you come in here and help me? She went to the
Lord Jesus and that's what happens when we get distracted. And she
began to complain. And when things become a duty
instead of a privilege, When they become a burden instead
of a blessing. And that's one of the first things
we'll start doing. We'll start complaining. Start
grumbling. And I'll tell you what her serving
was. Much of it was self-imposed. She was covered about it. She
was worried about it. Troubled about it. Distracted
about it. Instead of... It was self-imposed. She didn't
have to do this. She could have sat and enjoyed
the Lord just like Mary did. And I tell you something, this
is human nature. This is human nature and if you think if I'm
wrong, you tell me after the service is over, you tell me
if I'm wrong about this. We feel that whatever we do,
everyone else should do too. If we're busy, we want everybody
else busy. If we're working, we want everybody
else working. What in the world are you doing
sitting there? Don't you know I got something for you to do? Seems
like you just can't get no rest if somebody else is not working. Surely I don't know. That's the
way it is. But let me sit here just for a minute. No, no, no.
We've got too much. Take a break. The break's over. But that's what we feel. We feel
that whatever we do, everybody else should do too. And that's
the way Martha was. If I'm busy, Mary ought to be
busy. And Lord, don't you care that she's a woman. She ought
to be up here doing what she's doing. But I do want you to notice
this, who she complained to. She complained to the Lord Jesus
Christ, not to her sister. She complained to the Master.
Look over and keep this, and look at Psalm 142 with me, just
a minute. Psalm 142, in verse 2. Oh, listen, she went to the Lord,
she said, Lord, don't you care? You see me working, you see me
just busy, busy, busy. You left me to serve alone? That's
what she said, serve alone? And look what David said, I poured
out my complaint before Him. I didn't complain about him.
I didn't complain about what he does or what he's doing. Didn't
complain about anything that he's doing towards me or for
me or against me. I'm not complaining about that.
I poured out my complaint before him. If I've got a complaint,
I won't tell the Lord about it. And that's what Martha did. She
said, Lord, don't you care? And then look what it said, I
showed before him my trouble. And that's what Martha did here.
She said, show before him her trouble. Don't you care that
I serve here alone? And I'll tell you, if you've
got a complaint, if you've got a worry, if you've got something
that you feel and you've got trouble, the place to take it
to is Lord, go to Him. And I'll tell you, pour out your
complaint before Him. And I'll tell you, there's times
that we have complaints. And it's the right thing to do.
If you have a complaint, tell the Lord. Say, Lord, this is
happening, that's happening. I feel this way, I feel that
way. And tell Him you're troubled.
It's like Brad Pratt. He said, Lord, You've got the
ability to do it. We praise You for how great You
are, for who You are. And if we have a complaint, if
we have a complaint about ourselves, or our children, or our troubles,
or our heartaches, or our sorrows, or whatever we're going through,
Lord, I'm telling you about it. How can I deal with this thing?
How can I get through this thing? How can I treat people? And how
can I react to this thing? How can I honor you through this? My heart's hurting. My body's
hurting. My mind's hurting. I'm hurting all over. Lord, I'm
telling you about it. And when we tell him about his
trouble, you know what happens? He always comes. Don't he? Has he ever failed to come to
you? And the next time you feel like complaining, don't complain to nobody. If
you got a complaint, go tell him. And listen, he can do something
about it. When I worked in public works,
you know, they had a suggestion box. If you could help them,
suggest anything, make things better. And then they had a complaint
box. You know, yeah, we ain't part
of the place where they say, you know, file your complaints here. But, oh, listen, God, they couldn't
do nothing about a complaint. I've been complaining to the
phone companies since last week, and I ain't got no satisfaction
yet. How have we been, Mary? Two weeks? But they ain't taking care of
my troubles. But if you tell the Lord, you complain to the
Lord, He'll do something about it. He'll do something about
it. Just like with your little granddaughter.
Tell the Lord about it. Take care of that. He'll take
care of that. And oh, listen. If you have something
to grumble about and complain, be honest like Martha and say,
Lord, don't you care? Lord, don't you care? Don't you
care? That's why she says the first
thing she said, Lord, don't you care? Don't you care about me? Don't you care about Mary? Don't
you care about my home? Don't you care about my troubles?
Don't you care about my work? Don't you care about how busy
I am? And leaving me to do this all
by myself? Oh my. And let me show you something
commendable about it. Look what it says here now. in
verse 38 oh she's an honest woman and it came to pass as they went
into a certain village in verse 38 a certain woman named Martha
listen to this received him into her house she received him into her house
she invited him into her home so she had faith in him she believed
him she desired to have him in her home she desired to serve
him And oh, and when she had an issue in her heart about serving
and her sister and the relationship between herself and the Lord
and her sister and serving, she went to the place that only the
issue can be settled, where the issues of her heart could be
settled, where her worries and her distractions could be settled
once and for all. And she said, Lord, doest thou
not care? And oh boy, she had a sister
also. Look what it says there in verse
39. She had a sister Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
His word. You know what it means, all sat
also? That means that she had sat there herself. That's what
it means. Mary sat there also. There had
been a time that she sat there. Martha sat there and Mary also
sat there. This also shows us that Martha
had sat at His feet and listened to His words just like Mary did. We said also, that means that
Martha had, Mary also did. And they sat there to learn.
Our Lord Jesus says, learn of me. And our Lord, I won't call
it a rebuke, but He taught her a valuable, valuable lesson.
And He says there in verse 41, And Jesus answered her, Martha,
Martha. Well, can you imagine the Lord
calling your name twice? Martha, Martha. Oh, Martha, Martha. Martha. Martha. Oh, Martha, Martha. He said, you're careful. You're
troubled about many things. Many things. And she was. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
told her, said, you know, you're going to have trouble. Look what
He said over in John 14, 27. Let's look over in John chapter
14, just a minute. John 14, 27. And oh, I'm talking to myself
now. I'm easily distracted, drawn away. Look what he said here in verse 27.
John 14. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And that's
what he's saying to Martha. Martha, Martha, You're worried,
and you've got troubles, and you're making troubles for yourself.
And that's why He says, take no fault for tomorrow, my friend.
And if our Lord, let me tell you something, if our Lord had
told Mary to go help Martha, He would have justified her complaint. That she would have said, Lord,
you don't care anything about me, and you care more about Mary
than you do me. You care more about Her sitting
at your feet and you do me and what I'm doing. And she would
have justified her complaint. But instead he says, Martha,
you're so full of care, so full of worry. You're troubled about
so many things. He said, you know what your problem
is, Martha? You don't need a helping hand.
You need a restful heart. That's what you need. You need
a restful heart. You don't need somebody to help you. You just
need to be restful in your heart. That's what you need. And that's
what our Lord said, but one thing is needful. One thing is needful. Mary's chosen that good part.
And I ain't taking away from it. I'm not going to take it
away from her. And if you won't sit down here
with me, I won't take it away from you. We can eat anytime,
but you can't sit at Christ's feet anytime. You can serve any
time, but you can't sit at Christ's feet any time. And that's what
she said, one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good
part, that good part. And the one thing needful and
the position of sitting and listening to our Lord was nothing in itself,
nothing in itself, but it's what it indicated. Back here in verse
39, look what it says, back over here in Luke 10, 39. She also had a sister Mary which
also sat at Jesus' feet and listened to this and heard his word. It's
what it indicated. Mary by sitting at our Lord's
feet shows her readiness to believe what our Lord Jesus Christ taught.
And what he taught, she was willing to accept, to obey, and to heed
and enjoy his word. It says she sat at his feet and
heard his word. There's been many, many times.
You all remember when we used to go over to Tim James Conference,
and we went over there for years, and every afternoon, We'd get
all of us to get together at one motel or some place and we'd
get all the chairs around and I'd sit around and we'd sit around
and we'd get Scott and Henry talking and start asking them
questions and they would start answering them questions. And
we'd sit there and we would enjoy that Word so much. Enjoy it,
it was delightful. And that's what Mary was doing.
She was sitting there hearing His Word. And all ready to obey His Word,
to see what He had to say about His Word, to be taught of His
Word. And this is one thing needful. Look over in James with me. Look
in James chapter 1. This is one thing that is so
needful. So needful. Jeremiah said this, Thy Word was found and I did eat them and they were food and they were
delightful and they were like honeycomb to my taste and I mean
when he said thy words were found he actually found the scriptures
that had been lost the word of God that was written down on
scrolls and look what James said here in verse 21 James 1 21 wherefore lay apart all filthiness and
superfluity, and that word means excess of and abundance of, lay
apart all naughtiness, excess and abundance of naughtiness,
foolishness to that and receive with meekness bow down enjoy
let the word mold you receive with meekness the encrafted word
that word encrafted means is put into you crafted into you
which is able to save your souls now listen to it but be ye doers
of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Oh,
that's what Mary was doing. She's sitting there, listening.
Martha was a believer. She would have sat at the Lord's
feet. But oh, listen, this one thing was needful. She wasn't
just a hearer. She was a doer. And I'll tell
you something else about Mary sitting at our Lord's feet. It
shows submission. It shows submission to our Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no resistance. No resistance
to Him. The weapons are laid down. She
came humbly and sat at the King's feet. She came humbly and sat
at the Redeemer's feet. And this is needful? Absolutely
so. Absolutely so, the Son of Christ
speaks. You can't know the Lord while you resist the Lord. Sit
down, submit. One thing is needful. I'll show
you something I learned years and years ago. And this is a
message in itself in 1 Samuel 18. 1 Samuel 18, right after the book
of Ruth. 1 Samuel 18. I tell you, you can't know the
Lord while you resist the Lord. You just sit down and submit
to Him. This is absolutely necessary,
needful, absolutely so. To submit to no resistance to
Him. Lay our weapons down. Come humbly
and stand at the King's feet, the Redeemer's feet. And look
what they said here in 1 Samuel 18 and verse 4, David is going
to get the throne. Jonathan was Saul's son and he
was the rightful heir to the throne, but David knew, or Jonathan
knew that God had given David the throne. And look what it
said here now. In verse 4, 1 Samuel 18, And
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him. Here's the prince's robe. He
was the heir of the throne's robe. He stripped himself of
his robe that was upon him, gave it to David. I'm going to take this old robe,
this old rag I got on, I'm going to take it off and I'm going
to give it to you. It ain't fit. I'm going to take
it off and I'm going to give it to you. And took off all of
his garments. Even to his sword, to his bow,
and his girdle. He took everything he had off,
every weapon, everything that identified him as having any
authority, any power, any rights, and laid them right down at David's
feet. He said he took off his clothes,
took off his sword, took off his bird, took everything, his
bow, and everything. He said, David, you're the king,
you're the rightful one, and I'm going to submit to you. And I swear it's done. And to
say that our Lord's peace shows that Mary had faith. She had
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And she sits here to be taught
of Him, to learn of Him. Faith, oh faith cometh by hearing. And oh, she came because she
had faith in His power. Faith in His power. I want you
to look over here with me. I'm going to show you three things.
First of all, I'm going to show you about People at the Lord
Jesus' feet. Look over here at Luke 8.35.
Look at Luke 8.35 first. People that came to sit at our
Lord's feet. And what happens when you have
sat at His feet? What people who come to His feet? And oh,
we have faith in His power. All power is given unto Him.
All authority is given unto Him. And oh, bless His name. I've
heard once, yea, twice, that all power belongs unto Him. And
look what it says now, this is about the Gadarene manor deck,
and this says in verse 35, Luke 8, Then David went out to see
what was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out of whom
the devils were departed, sitting, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Been a great change in him, clothed,
And in his right mind, look over at Matthew 15, 30. Oh, what a privilege it is to
sit at the feet of Jesus. And I tell you, it's not the
posture. It's not the posture. It's not the posture. Matthew
15, 30. And great multitudes came unto
him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed,
and many others. And watch what they did. And
cast them down at Jesus' feet. And it healed. Oh, there's something
about being at the Master's feet. The Master's feet. And now look
over at John 11, 32. John 11, chapter of John, chapter
11, verse 32. Look at this one. Y'all remember
this when you see it. John 11, 32. Look down in verse 20. Let's
set this up just to... Our Lord Jesus was on his way
back down there. Then in verse 20, Then Martha,
as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him. But Mary sat still in the house.
Now look down at verse 32. And then when Mary was come,
where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet. saying
unto him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died.
But look what happens when you have to feel our master. Things
happen. And all faith in his person,
all faith in his blessed person, faith in his death, all faith
in his death being our only substitute, all that he himself borrows sins
in his own body on the tree, That He bore them away, He bore
our iniquities. Oh, faith in His sacrifice as
a satisfaction for our sin. And oh, we want to set at His
feet and we can come to Him and trust Him for all time and eternity. He's our hope. He's our salvation. He's our brother. He's our all
in all and this is needful. Lord, let me set at Your feet. And if I get up, tell me that
I'm covered about many things. Tell me if I'm too troubled,
if I'm too distracted, if I'm too carried away, if I'm too
covered about too much things. Oh Lord, tell me, show me and
say, sit back down. Get back down here, sit down,
rest. Take my yoke on me and rest. And sitting at our Lord's feet,
she showed this about Mary. She had great love for her Master.
And when she was sitting there, she was at ease. She was at ease. She was happy in her heart. She
was happy in her soul. She had found the rest that the
Lord Jesus had promised. And oh, she loved Him. She loved
Him. And that's what our Lord Jesus
said to Simon Peter after he had denied Him. He said, Simon, do you love me? This is after Simon Peter had
done that outing three times. That trip took everybody and
went back fishing. Our Lord just wanted to know
one thing. That's all He wanted to know,
one thing of Simon. Simon, do you love me? Yes Lord,
I do. feed my lambs. Simon, do you
love me? Yes, Lord, feed my sheep. Simon,
do you love me? He put his head down and said,
I believe he done like this. He looked down and he said, Lord, Lord, I told you I loved you
a lot of times before, but now I'm going to say you're the only
one that knows. You're the only one that knows. And He is, He knows. He knows. And ain't that what we say? We
just hang our head down, put our hand over our heart and say,
Lord, You know. You know. You know. And oh, let me say,
let me say, Beloved, this is one, this is the one thing meaningful
to set at the Master's feet. And He'll never ever take it
away from us. And this glorious blessing of
sitting at our Savior's feet will never ever be taken away
from us. You do this one thing, and when
we sit there, it will bring into focus everything else into true
focus. It will make things to appear
what they really are. And sitting at His feet, learning
of Him, that's where our heart's maintained. That's where our
faith is encouraged. That's where our love is warmed. And I know this, we can't do
two things at the same time. We can't follow two masters.
Either we're comforted or we're saved. And I tell you, when you're
comforted, just stop. God help us to stop. Just sit
down at the Master's feet. Just sit down. Just sit down. Pick up a word and just look
at a few verses and say, Lord, I want to sit here for a while.
I want to rest a while. Don't let me be covered about
things. Lord, save me from these things that cover me and distract
me. Help me to center my heart, mind, and soul on You. Sit at
Your feet and learn of You. Our blessed, blessed Savior,
gracious God in heaven, Oh, Lord, I find myself being a martyr more
than I do a married man. I find myself being covered about
many things instead of resting at your feet. And I'm sorry,
Lord, And that's for your grace to
learn of you, to take your yoke and find how easy and light it
really is. God bless these dear children
of God. Thank you for the prayers that
were prayed, the psalms that were sung, the meals that have
been prepared. The kindness and love and grace
have shown to one another. And O Lord, I bless you for your
grace today, in Christ's name, amen.