Worship and Service

Let's open our Bibles today to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 and beginning with verse 38. Now it came to pass as they went, that is the Lord Jesus and his disciples, 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 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. 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.

I was speaking with a friend this past week, a pastor friend, and he said, David, if a man stopped you and said, I have one hour to live, the doctors have just told me that. I'm convinced it's true. I have one hour to live, and I'm going out into eternity to meet God. And I'm not prepared. I'm not prepared to meet God. One hour. I don't want to hear about various religions. He said, I'm so confused. There's so many religions in the world. And even among so-called Christianity, there's so many different beliefs and denominations and variances.

But I want to know if you would, if you could, take this time and tell me what the Bible, what God says about salvation. And my pastor friend asked me, he said, David, if that happened to me, I would go to Romans chapter 3. And I agreed. I said, I can't think of any better place to speak to someone about salvation, how God saves a sinner. Obviously, I would not have turned to our passage this morning in Luke chapter 10, and this history of our Lord visiting in the house of Martha and Mary.

But this is part of all scripture, and all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And as it says in that place, all scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable. It's profitable for doctrine, that is for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

It's only here in Luke, out of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, only Luke records this incident, and only Luke records the parable that he spoke just before this. And the parable before this is the parable of the Good Samaritan. That's easy. If you look at the parable of the Good Samaritan, what prompted him to speak that parable, it's easy to see the purpose of that.

Here was a man who said, Master, what must I do to inherit life? And our Lord said, well, you know the law. What does the law say? And the law says, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and love thy neighbor as thyself. And our Lord said, you've answered well. Do this and live. And so the man, who is my neighbor? He asked our Lord that question, who is my neighbor?

And so the Lord told this wonderful parable about the good Samaritan who found this man or saw this man, a Jew, who was beaten up and left for dead in a ditch. And he was passed by a priest and passed by a Levite and the good Samaritan. And remember, the Jews and the Samaritans, they had no dealings. They had no dealings with each other. The Samaritan went down where the man was and ministered to him and put him on his donkey and carried him to an inn and paid the innkeeper some money to take care of him A few days, and when I come back, he said, I'll pay whatever I owe more.

And our Lord asked, who was his neighbor? Who was his neighbor? Was it the priest that went by on the other side of the road? He was a Jew, just like this man in the ditch, wounded and bruised, was a Jew. Was it the Levite? He was a Jew. Oh no, it wasn't either one of those. It was this man that these two races hated each other, had nothing to do with each other. It was one of them who helped this man.

And of course, our Lord is showing it's impossible to keep the law of Moses when he said, Do this and live. Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your being. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do that and live. Well, we can't do that. Salvation then by our works is impossible. No one can work their way into heaven, earn their salvation. Salvation is by grace, and it is through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we read there in Romans chapter 3. It's by grace.

But now, this passage of Scripture, it's part of all Scripture that's good, it's profitable, and I thought this morning we would look at it, and I have three points to make, and then two lessons from it. And I trust the Lord will bless His word to all of us here today. I've entitled the message, Worship and Service. Worship and Service. So first, both sisters worshipped and served the Lord Jesus. That's the first point I want to make. Both sisters worshipped and served the Lord Jesus.

Now in this passage here, In these verses we've read here in Luke, it is only Martha we see serving and Mary worshiping. But we know that this is not the only passage of Scripture that speaks to us about Martha and Mary. So we're going to look at a couple of other places. If you will, I want us to see Martha in this place she is serving. But turn with me, if you will, to John chapter 11. John chapter 11.

Remember, they had a brother named Lazarus, and Lazarus died, and they sent word to the Lord Jesus Christ that he whom thou lovest is sick, and our Lord didn't come until he had died, been buried four days, and then the Lord Jesus came to where Mary and Martha were. And Martha was the first one to go out to see Him. And if you look in verse 27, this is her speaking, this is Martha speaking to the Lord Jesus. She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which hath come into the world.

Now, in our text we saw her serving, but here we see her worshiping, and you will not find, you search through the Gospels, the four Gospels, you will not find a clear testimony, confession of faith of any believer than what Martha here gave of the Lord. Yea, Lord, I believe. I believe. It wasn't someone else's faith. Martha, she had faith. This is what I believe.

I believe thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into this world. Now, that same confession of faith before this in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6, our Lord was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum, and there was a great crowd of people there.

And our Lord began to speak about himself as the bread, the true bread of God, which came down from heaven that gives life. You know, bread sustains our lives, doesn't it? But he's the bread who gives life. He is the bread, I am the bread of life. And he not only spoke about that, he said, except a man eat my flesh and drink my blood, he hath no part in me. And what is he talking about there? He's talking about faith, trust, believe in Jesus Christ. A person must do that or has no life in him. And he also in that place said, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. And you know what the great multitude there said? That's a hard saying. That's a hard, I don't know exactly what they referred to. That's a hard saying. And they turned away and went back.

Turned away from the Lord Jesus Christ, and now Christ is here with his 12 apostles, and he asked them that all important question, will you also go away? And Peter answered, didn't he? And Peter answered. the very same words that Martha testified to. Listen to Peter's words. These are found in John chapter six. Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go?

Thou hast the words of eternal life and we, before it was I, Martha, I believe, now it is we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son, of the Living God. You see, Martha's confession, her worship was the very same as the apostles' confession.

And even before this, this is recorded in Matthew chapter 16, even before this, our Lord asked His disciples, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And some said, well, you're John the Baptist raised from the dead. Others said, you're Jeremiah. But whom, our Lord, but whom do you say that I am? And Peter answered for the apostles, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now listen, that's the same confession, and listen to what our Lord said to Peter at that time.

Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee. Flesh and blood, he didn't learn that by taking a class, a seminary class or a Sunday school class or anything like that. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Christ must be revealed not only to us outwardly, but in our heart. He must be revealed to me.

I must be able to say, I believe. It's not enough to say, well, our church, we've got this confession of faith, and this is what our church believes, and this is what we've always believed. No, what do you believe? What do I believe? Well, Martha, she told us what she believed.

She worshipped. She worshipped. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And the Apostle John, later writing his first letter, first epistle of John, he said, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe? Do you believe this morning?

Well, we see Martha, my point is, both sisters worshipped and served. Not in the passage we read at the beginning, only Martha is serving, Mary is worshipping, but we see in another place, Martha worshipped. And I want you to turn to John chapter 12, and we see Mary serving. John chapter 12 and verse 3. Mary served here, it says in verse 3, then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly.

One place I believe we're told it was worth 300 penny worth. Now a man's wages for a day was a penny. I know some of you youngsters, you hear that and you think, my, people used to work for a penny? They did, but it wasn't like our pennies. But it wasn't a whole lot of money. But it was a day's work, a penny. And this spikenard that she took cost 300 days of work. That's what it was worth, valued at.

And she came to serve the Lord. Now how's she gonna serve him? She served him by taking that ointment and anointing his body. And our Lord says she did it for his Burying. Let's read that in verse 3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

And of course, we see some people complain at the cost. as though you could spend too much or give too much to God. That's impossible, isn't it? I have a friend that has been such a blessing to me over the years. He doesn't live here any longer, but one of his favorite statements always was, you cannot out give God. There was some here, Judas, if you check the other gospels, it was Judas, the man who carried the bag.

He said, well, this is a waste. To take that precious ointment and pour it on the feet of Christ and give it to him, that's a waste. We ought to take that money and spend it on the poor. And John tells him, he didn't have any love for the poor. The only reason he said that is because he kept the money back.

But my point is Mary serving the Lord. Every true believer, every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is both a worshiper and a server. In Ephesians 2 and verse 10 we read, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them. We're not saved by our works. We're saved by His work, by Him and His work. But believers do have good works, yes. We do good works. We serve. We serve the Lord. That's our desire. That's our prayer. And look at another verse with me, if you will, in Romans chapter 6. Paul is speaking to the believers in the church at Rome here in Romans chapter 6. And verse 17.

But God be thanked. that you were the servants of sin. And that's true of every lost person. Every lost sinner that comes into this world is a servant, a slave to sin. And he cannot free himself, he cannot deliver himself. He's a slave, he's a servant to sin. Our Lord said, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. He's the only one who can free. a slave, a servant of sin.

You were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart, that is, you have believed with the heart that form of doctrine, that is, the gospel which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin doesn't mean that we're free from the presence of sin. We're very aware that we sin. We're not proud of it, but we know that. But we're free from the curse of sin. We're free from the penalty of sin.

Why? Because Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree. He carried them away. He made an end of them by His suffering. But being then made free from sin, what did we become? What does a person become when he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is made free from his sin? He becomes a servant of righteousness, that is, of justice. So that's my first point. Both sisters worshiped and served, and all true believers We too, rather, we do worship the Lord and serve.

My second point is on this occasion, this which we read here in Luke chapter 10, on this occasion, Martha, she was guilty of anxiousness. She was guilty of anxiousness. Our Lord said, Martha, Martha, thou careful, and troubled about many things. Now that word careful means to be anxious, to be anxious. And I would just say this to you and I, what the Lord Jesus Christ said to some men on another occasions who accused a woman of another sin, he that is without sin Among you let him cast a stone at her. Martha was guilty, no doubt about it. She was guilty of being anxious. And who isn't at times? Things come into our life and we're anxious about them. We're careful about them to the point of not trusting and realizing that our father is in control of all things.

The Apostle Paul said, Be careful for nothing, for nothing, for in everything, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Believing in the fact that God is sovereign over all things, nothing can come into your life or my life without His permission. People like to blame the devil, and no doubt God uses the devil and lets the devil do things, but God is the first cause of all things. He is a ruler over all things and over all peoples at all times, and God's people have confidence in our Father.

The Lord Jesus, one day, he was teaching his disciples, and he used what we call an object lesson. His disciples, they were arguing over who's gonna be the greatest. Who's gonna be the greatest in this kingdom? And our Lord took a child and set him in the midst. and said, Verily I say unto thee, except you be converted and become as a little child, you will in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, that was a lesson on seeking preeminence, but we may learn another lesson from small children, and that is to trust in our heavenly father, to confide in him. and not let ourselves to become anxious over the things that trouble us so often.

Martha, Martha, thou art troubled. Thou art careful and troubled about many things. And there are many things that come into our lives that if we let them will upset us. and cause us to lose the peace and the joy that is ours as children of God, as children who have such a Heavenly Father as we have.

My third point is, there's a time for everything. And I want you to look back with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. If you want to turn, if not, that's okay, I'll read it. There's a time for everything. This beautiful passage of scripture, I know you'll recognize it when we begin reading it. To everything there's a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to ran and a time to sow. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace.

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I've seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He, that is God, he hath made everything beautiful in his time. My point is, there's a time for everything. There was a time to prepare food, and there was a time to set at Jesus' feet and to learn of him. And now, in our text, now was the time to set at Jesus' feet and to learn of him.

Mary chose, our Lord said, Mary chose the good part. Preparing these notes, I thought about years ago when I was in Bible college, there was a small church up in Franklin, Texas. And our pastor, he knew that pastor of that church, and he would many times have to be away, and he would ask one of us from the school to go up there and preach. There's probably five or six families in the church. And I went up there several times, and other men, they went as well.

But every time that we would go, they were gonna feed the preacher. they were going to feed the preacher, which showed their kindness, which showed their hospitality, which we appreciated, but whoever it was their turn to prepare the meal stayed home, stayed home and fixed the food. There wasn't one of us preachers that were that concerned about the food.

We would much have rather they had come to be in the service There's a time for everything. And when our Lord was in the house, this is the only time that we read He was ever in that house. I'm not saying He wasn't other times, but this was the only opportunity that we know of that both Mary and Martha had an opportunity to set at His feet and to learn of Him. The only time that we know of. And Mary chose the good part.

There was a man in our family years ago. He's since passed away, but every time I would see him, which was maybe once or twice a year, how are you doing? Oh, just making a living. I can still hear him. Just making a living. He was probably the richest person in our family. Just making a living, no time for God. I think probably over those years he may have been in the church service four or five times at a funeral or something like that.

One time Brother Barnard, Ralph Barnard was preaching up there pretty close to where he lived and I invited him. I said, why don't you come here a preacher? I never will forget he said, is he a good one? Well, how in the world would he know if a person was a good preacher or not? No more than he had ever listened to a preacher. But, of course, in my ignorance, I said, yeah, he's a good one. But he didn't come.

He was just making a living. Making a living. Always making a living. And a man must make a living. Must take care of his family. Understand that. The scripture says, If he doesn't, he's worse than an infidel who's denied the faith. I recognize that.

But there's a time for everything. There's a time to seek the Lord. There's a time to die, just as there is a time to be born. And many people neglect that one thing. Mary, she chose that good thing. You know, the psalmist in Psalm 27, he said this, one thing have I desired. One thing. Most people have a hundred different desires. They desire a new house, a new car, a new job, this, that, and the other.

One thing, David said, have I desired, that will I seek after. Well, David, what is it? What is it? What's that one thing that you've desired? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever to behold the beauty of the Lord. One desire. When you look here, I hope you still have your Bible open to Luke chapter 10.

Let's look back there, if you will, and let me just reiterate whose feet Mary was sitting at. Whose feet were these? Now, she wasn't sitting at Peter's feet. She wasn't sitting at Thomas' feet. She was sitting at Jesus' feet. I want you to look above this here in Luke chapter 10 and verse 22 and his words. All things are delivered to me of my father and no man knoweth who the son is but the father and who the father is but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him." You see my point? She was sitting at the feet of the one, the only one who may reveal the father to any person. That's whose feet she was sitting at. She chose the good boy. There's a time for everything. There's a time to make a living, yes. And I think I've already kind of jumped ahead of myself on my two lessons. But my first lesson is the lawful cares of life can be harmful.

What Martha was doing was commendable, no doubt about it, to provide for the Lord Jesus to supply his wants, that was commendable, very hospitable, showed her love. Yet even for this, because it became so important to Martha that it caused her to be anxious, caused her anxiousness and carefulness, the Lord gently rebuked her. And that's another lesson if you want to look at how the Lord gently rebuked this woman.

And I see the gentleness of Christ, don't you? He didn't call her out, oh Martha, you know what you're doing's not right. Martha, Martha, they aren't careful about many things. I see the gentleness. He rebukes her, yes, a gentle rebuke from the gentle savior, from the gentle shepherd.

A man must make a living, yes. He must take care of his family. But let me remind us of this, taking care of your family should include their spiritual needs as well as their material needs, their physical needs. Yes, but their spiritual needs are important. And remember this, there's a difference between wants and needs. That's a big difference, right? There's a big difference between wants, what we want, what our children want, and what we need, what our children need. And never leave out their spiritual needs.

My last lesson. Every day, you and I, we are confronted with the temporal and the eternal things, that which may be seen and that which is unseen. Mary chose, Mary chose that which is eternal. Martha, she chose that which is temporal. You eat today, have to eat tomorrow. Eat tomorrow, you have to eat the next day, right? She chose, Mary chose what is eternal, spiritual things. You see, we can't see spiritual things, can we? We can see material things, and that is what causes our eyes to get big, you know, these material things. Well, let's not forget.

The most important of all is our soul's needs, that is, to know Christ and His forgiveness. Well, maybe next week I'll go to that passage in Romans chapter 3. What could you say to a person who is on the verge of eternity and knows nothing about God, nothing about salvation? I can't think of a better place than Romans chapter 3. That tells us it's all of grace, it's all of Christ. God bless this word. We're going to sing our last hymn.

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