I want you to turn to Luke's
Gospel, chapter 10, and the last four or five verses from verse
38 of Luke's Gospel, chapter 10. We're a very small company
here, as is the case with so many companies of true Christian
believers in these days. It seems to be a day of small
things. We're a small company, and you
know I often mention the internet congregation that we have that
I think is larger than the one that gathers here. And I hope
nobody will take this the wrong way and take it in the spirit
in which it's intended, but I really love my internet congregation.
Do you know why? And again, don't take any offense,
internet congregation or people sitting here, but do you know
something? With my internet congregation, there's less opportunity for
the flesh to rub shoulders one with another, you know? We may
be true believers, but we're still in the flesh. And wherever
flesh rubs shoulders with flesh, there can be sparks start flying,
and friction occurs, and things get out of kilter. As I say,
don't take that the wrong way. But you know, we live in the
flesh. And a believer may have the new man of the Spirit of
God inside, but he's still that same flesh, that same characteristic
that the new man constantly tries to subdue and bring under control. But nevertheless, that same characteristic
is there. And when flesh rubs shoulders
with flesh, sparks can start flying. May all be true believers,
but have different temperaments, different personalities, different
likes and dislikes. If we are true believers, we
all agree on the principles of faith. We all agree on who God
is. We all fear God truly as the
children of God. We have that reverential, childlike
fear of who God is, of our Heavenly Father. We fear to offend Him,
to dishonor Him. We have this true appreciation
together of the things of eternity. We know that these things that
we see that look so permanent are just temporary, but we know
that that which is reality is that which is eternal. We agree
about sin. We agree that we're sinners.
Not just glibly, not just lightly, We agree, like the leper, before
there was any cure for leprosy, would look and know the foul,
evil disease that he had was going to eat away at him until
it killed him. We know that in our flesh we have that foul,
evil disease of sin. We know that in me, that is in
my flesh, as Paul said, there dwells no good thing. We know
that the God who we revere is a God of holiness and of justice. If it wasn't clear before, he
gave his law by Moses to make it explicit. Sin is the transgression
of the law. We know that we all transgress
the law. We know, we agree on all of these
things. We agree that we as people, in the flesh, owe a tremendous,
a colossal debt to the law and justice of God. And God must
exact payment for that. And there's no satisfaction in
that exacting of payment, for it's never done. It's infinite.
It goes on. We know that there's condemnation.
We know that there's that need for satisfaction of justice.
We know, as the people of God, as those who trust Christ, we
know what Christ has done. We know We know that Christ is
God, come in the flesh, to be the propitiation of his people's
sins, that where his people fell, he would stand as the second
Adam. the second Adam, in the place
of his people, and perfectly satisfy the justice of God, that
there might be a people who are, despite their flesh, to the praise
of the glory of his grace." We believe these things. He's given
by his spirit, faith in Christ, to believe that this is all of
God's sovereign grace. that Christ came to die for a
particular people, to pay the sin debt of that particular people,
and thereby to do it effectually. We know, and we agree, about
life from heaven, life from on high, that there is eternity,
and that we have this hope of heaven. We agree on all of these
fundamental principles of faith, foundational doctrines of true
Christian belief. Put them to the test, those who
say they're Christians. Do they believe those things?
Do they fundamentally believe those things? Particularly those
concerning sovereign grace and particular redemption. Do they
believe those things? That's the test, but even if
we believe those things and share them together, we're still in
sinful flesh. We have differing preferences.
I almost guarantee that most of you won't like the music that
I like. I love classical music. I almost
guarantee that many of you will most definitely not like that
music. I have certain tastes in food
that you probably don't share. The things that I really like,
you probably think, no, I don't really like that, I'd sooner
have something else. I like to go to certain places and you
probably say, oh no, let's go to some other place. I laugh
at some things that you probably don't find funny. And you probably
laugh at things that I don't find funny. I look at some things
and I think, oh, I really like that picture or that sculpture.
And you look at it and you just see a pile of bricks or whatever
else it might be if it's something in tape modern. You have ways
of doing things and I have ways of doing things. The one that
always causes divisions in our house is the way you load the
dishwasher. I have my way of doing it. My wife has her way
of doing it. It's not the same. This is why
this account is recorded in Scripture. Let's just read these verses.
Verse 38 of Luke chapter 10. Now it came to pass, as they
went, that he entered into a certain village, this is Jesus and his
disciples, 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. That's
why this is recorded in scripture. This is a family of believers. This is a blessed family, but
individuals. Lazarus, the brother, Mary and
Martha, the two sisters. Three siblings living in the
same house, and all three of them believers, trusting in Christ,
in his earthly ministry, loving him, trusting in him. He frequently
visited their house, devoted to him. We know from the account
in John chapter 12, Mary is this one who broke this bottle of
very, very fine ointment, extremely costly, and Judas Iscariot rebuked
her for it. And she poured the ointment on
his head and his feet, and she wiped his feet with her hair.
This is this Mary, devoted to Christ, devoted to Him. Martha,
in John chapter 11, we read earlier about Martha confessing You know,
do you believe? She said, I believe, like Peter,
I believe that you are the Christ, the son of the living God who
should come into the earth. These were believers, truly.
And this is rare in this world to find a family of believers
like this. It's rare. Faith, as we know
from John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, faith doesn't run in
bloodlines necessarily. It's not of the will of flesh,
not of the will of man, but of the will of God. that people
are born again, that people are saved. It's of the will of God,
of the will of God. It's all in accordance with the
sovereign grace of God, where the people are believers, as
Psalm 65 says, blessed is the man that thou choosest. Blessed
is the man whom you choose and cause to approach. God chooses
and causes to approach him, those who believe him. God does it
that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple. God saves elect
sinners, those he has chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And as I say, it's not of him
that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
It's not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God, of the will of God. But Sometimes he saves people
in families, and here was a very blessed family. Here were three
siblings, all in the same house, and all devoted to Christ, and
all chosen of God from before the beginning of time, justified. Remember those verses in Romans
8 about whom he foreknew, he did also predestinate? To be
conformed to the image of his Son, whom he did predestinate,
then he called, and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified
he glorified. In eternity, those things were
done in the electing purposes of God. All chosen, like this,
but here was a family of three of them, a brother and two sisters,
who were these objects of grace, but they were in the same family,
living together in the same house. All chosen and irresistibly called
to approach God. What a blessing. What a tremendous
blessing. You know, the things that you
count as, oh, if only I had such and such a thing. How much better
my life would be if I had what so-and-so has. No, this is the
thing. This is the thing, to know God,
to know eternal life, to know peace with God, to know salvation
in Christ. These are the things that are
truly blessings. But having that faith, doesn't
exempt us from earthly troubles. It doesn't exempt us from what
happened in this household where Martha and Mary, these two sisters,
these two believing, believing sisters, these two objects of
the electing grace of God, fell out. in the same household. There was friction as they came
in contact with one another. And they weren't without trouble. Despite their faith, they weren't
without trouble because their brother Lazarus, as we were reading
in John 11, their brother Lazarus was sick and died. He actually
died. He died before Jesus came. this
one that was their brother. And after he was raised from
the dead, as we read in John 11, the Pharisees sought to kill
him. that they might get him, never
mind kill Jesus, they were going to kill Lazarus as well because
people were believing on Christ because of Lazarus being raised
from the dead. No, faith doesn't exempt from
trouble. Cliff already mentioned earlier
on this health, wealth, and happiness gospel, which is no gospel whatsoever. It's rampant in the religious
world. The Arminian Christian world is filled with this health,
wealth and happiness gospel. That God wants you to be healthy,
wealthy and happy. And if you're not healthy it's
because you didn't have enough faith to conquer that disease.
And if you're not lavishly living with great prosperity and lots
of money in the bank, it's because you didn't have enough faith
to trust God to give you all of these things. And if you're
not living this happy, clappy life, it's because you haven't
had enough faith. You see, this is what they say.
And it's an absolute lie. It's a complete fallacy. And
I despise that health, wealth, and happiness so-called gospel,
which is no gospel at all. It's a travesty of the truth
of Scripture. I despise it. I'm sure you do too. But hey,
hold on. We're in the flesh. Are we not
prone to it? Is there not an element of us
that's prone to it? Are we not, you know, don't we
sometimes wrongly correlate material prosperity with the blessing
of God? Don't we sometimes say Oh, you
know, how well so-and-so's doing in his career, or her career.
How much they've got. Oh, how God is blessing them.
I tell you, you read the accounts. of some of the people of the
past, a couple of hundred years ago, I'll say more about it in
a minute, but you read for them what truly was riches and blessing. It was to know God, it was to
know Christ, it was to know truly, deeply, that sense of salvation
from sin in the gospel of grace. So, we have this blessed visit
Christ and his disciples come and visit Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So there was probably a party
of about 15 or 16, you know, imagine, ding-dong, the bell
goes at home, and there's one of your friend, oh, he's brought
a few with him, 15 or 16 of them. What have we got in? Can we nip
to the supermarket quickly and get something to eat? Let's make
a meal for them. Let's do something for them.
Verse 38. Martha received him into her
house. She wanted to look after them. She wanted to be hospitable to
them. Here's Jesus whom she loved.
Here's his disciples. Here's this party of 15 or 16
people. Martha wanted to show hospitality. What a good thing
that is. We should be hospitable. We should
take care of those who visit us. Hebrews 13, 2, Be not forgetful
to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares. That's what the apostle wrote.
It's a good thing to be hospitable. Martha wanted to be hospitable.
She wanted to put on a good meal. She wanted to make them comfortable
in their house. She wanted to do all of this
motivated by love for Christ, I'm sure. She was motivated by
love for Christ. But in the process, she put too
much pressure on herself. She took on more than she could
handle. Verse 40, Martha, what does it
say, was cumbered, cluttered up, covered with much serving. She was taken up with much serving. She was scurrying around. She
was wiping up spills. She was making sure that, oh,
his drink's run out. I wonder if he needs some more.
Oh, here's some more of this. Oh, the bread's running out.
She was cumbered with much serving. You know the sort of thing. It's
so easy to fall into that sort of situation. But a sister, Mary,
look at verse 39. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word. Here's Martha scurrying around,
trying to be everything to everybody, trying to be such a good hostess.
And Mary, her sister, is sitting at Jesus' feet. She's hearing
his word. They're both believers in the
same household, but they have completely different reactions
to the situation. Martha was rebuked by Jesus. She said to him, she's cumbered
about and she said in verse 40, Lord, dost thou not care? That's what the disciples said
to Jesus in the boat when they thought they were sinking and
he was asleep in the boat and they said, Lord, don't you care
that we're sinking? He's the Lord of glory, he knows
everything. Lord, don't you care, don't you
care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Look at her,
she's sitting at your feet and I'm scurrying around and I've
got everything to do to look after 15 or 16 people and look
at her, she's just sat there, lazily doing nothing, sitting
at your feet. Bid her therefore that she come
and help me. Tell her. Lord, you tell her.
How many times have you heard that? Those of you that have
got children in the household. Mum, tell her to come and help
with this. Dad, tell him to do this, instead
of expecting me always to do it. This is what was said. 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. Martha received the rebuke
of Jesus with humility. Why did she do that? Because
she was a true believer. She didn't stamp her feet and
say, it's not fair, I'm not gonna do it if she's not gonna do it.
Oh, she heard his word. Martha, Martha, you're cumbered
about with much serving. Mary's chosen the better part.
She received the rebuke with humility. We read in John 11,
she confessed him as Christ. She's a true believer, even though
she lost her temper in this situation. She got really annoyed with Mary. She really wanted Mary to be
rebuked for not helping her. And after it all, she continued
to serve Christ. She continued. Long after this
incident, she continued. She was a true believer, but
Mary? She sat at his feet, hearing his word. She had a hunger for
the word of God. Martha was worried about hunger
for the body. Mary was worried about hunger
for her soul. She wanted to hear his word. She is the one who broke that
bottle of ointment over our Lord in John chapter 12. They both
had faith. They both had faith. Mary had
said to him, John 11, 32, if you had been here, my brother
wouldn't have died. Yes, they're both believers,
but they're different personalities. And they have a different way
of reacting to situations. In this case, one was right. Mary, we can tell, did the right
thing. Martha did the wrong thing, was
cumbered with much serving. Carnal cares, fleshly cares,
are such a danger. This is a lesson for us, it's
a needful lesson that we see here. Carnal, fleshly care, the
cares of the flesh, the cares of the body, the cares of materialism,
can keep us from worship. You know in the parable of the
sower, there's the thorny ground believer who looks so much like
a believer, until the cares of the world come, and the deceitfulness
of riches, And those things that the flesh is so drawn to, and
they're drawn away. And they walk out on belief in
Christ. Even doing needful things, but
overdoing them to the damage of the soul and putting unnecessary
pressure on yourself is carnal care that can keep you from worship. She says, Lord, don't you care?
Don't you care? Don't you care? she'd got her
priorities wrong. Even with the best of intentions,
she'd got her priorities wrong. She was trying to be so hospitable
and make her home such a comfortable place for Christ and his disciples
to come, but she'd got her priorities wrong. She was cumbered about
with much serving. Many things are important, but
some are much more important. Christ must have the first place
in everything. Luke chapter 14 verse 26 Jesus
says this, and these are hard words, listen to them. If any
man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple. What's that saying? You've got
to go around with a hateful attitude to your close relatives? Not
at all. It's saying by comparison. In comparison, Christ must be
first in everything. Matthew 6 verse 33, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things, things
that you need, needful things, will be added to you. They're
just things. They're temporal things, things
of time. They're blessings in moderation,
but if excessively cherished, That which seems like such a
blessing, oh, it can be such a curse, such a curse. If the
price of these things is missing worship, that will prove to be
a price too dear. Cliff's already said in the study,
you know, he said, what's your attitude to this service this
morning? It should be the most important
thing of the week. We should do all that we can
to be together as God's people, hearing His Word, worshipping
Him, bowing before His throne, remembering the death of His
Son, thinking, meditating on our place in relation to that
death. Is the price of things, is the
price of it that you will miss that worship? It will prove to
be a price too dear. I remember the account, I'm not
going to mention the names just for the sake of embarrassing
people, but I remember the account that I was told of a man who
was an extremely good musician, guitar musician, extremely good,
to the extent that he could have been, you know, a serious big
name in the world of rock music. He was so good. And I remember
a preacher that's a good friend of ours saying to us, Although
this guy was good and he respected him and loved the fact that he
was good at what he did, he was glad that he wasn't quite good
enough to go and make it big time. You know, because that
lifestyle, in that lifestyle it's impossible to worship God.
You cannot be where the worship of God is if you're in that lifestyle. Some of these things are a price
that is too dear, it's too costly. Martha judged Mary angrily about
temporal things. She judged Mary angrily, lost
her temper with Mary angrily over temporal things. And Christ's
rebuke tells us this. What does he say? Basically he's
telling us, don't judge one another. As believers in the flesh, don't
judge one another. Don't judge. Don't try to control
one another. Don't try to engineer the behavior
that you want to see, because it's just what you want to see,
and it's not what maybe they want. Don't judge. Whenever the
disciples came to Jesus with a dispute about something, Jesus
always basically said to them, the one that was coming with
the case, always basically said, you go mind your own business.
Never you mind. Remember when Jesus, the risen
Christ, was telling Peter how he would die for him. How they
would crucify him upside down. Remember that? And Peter, yeah,
the Lord's just told him this is what's going to happen. And
Peter says, well what about John here? What's going to happen
to him? And Jesus said to him, never you mind what's going to
happen to John. You mind your own business, Peter. I'll deal
with John the way I want to deal with him. And that's how we should
relate to one another. We believe the same things if
we're truly Christ's. We do. We do. We submit to what
His Word says. All my flesh finds sovereign
grace and particular redemption hard. But if you've got the new
man of the Spirit of God in, you'll say, let God be true and
every man a liar. I believe what His Word says.
I believe the truth of the gospel of His grace. I bow and I submit
to these things. And we agree on all of these
things together to do with eternal life. But as far as the way you
load your dishwasher, I need to mind my own business. Nothing
to do with me. We're different people. This
is what this passage is teaching us here. Jesus always said to
them, mind your own business. You know, he said elsewhere in
the Sermon on the Mount. about us always trying to pick
specks out of one another's eye. We're always keen to pick the
speck out of one another's eye. And he said, more often than
not, we're eager to pick specks out of one another's eyes whilst
we overlook the fact that we've got a huge great plank of wood
in our own eye. Very, very, very telling. There's
one needful thing. Verse 42, Jesus said this, one
thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which
shall not be taken away from her. One thing is needful. The emphasis is on needful. There are legitimate things.
I'm not gonna judge you in what you should have or what you shouldn't
have. None of my business. Absolutely not. Whatever the
Lord gives you or enables you to do, that's between you and
him. If you're a believer, that's your business. No. But there
are needful things. There are needful things. There
are legitimate things that are not necessarily needful. The needful thing, the one needful
thing, is Christ, above all else. Having Christ. This is the one
needful thing, above all else. You know, I used this illustration
a few weeks ago, but you know, fellowship and reaction with
one another, it's a bit like the spokes of a wheel, and Christ
is the hub. How do you deal with the interaction
between this spoke of the wheel and that spoke of the wheel?
Answer, get closer to the hub. Because as you get closer to
the hub, as you get closer to Christ, as you focus more and
more on the one thing that's needful, you will naturally come
closer together in your physical relationships, one with another. Christ above all else, having
him, knowing him, worshipping him, serving him, hearing his
word. These are the most important
things. Oh, but what about health? If you've got your health, you've
got everything, people say, don't they? No. No. Not above having, knowing, worshipping,
serving, hearing Christ's word. Yes, it's good to have your health,
but do you know also your health can be a curse? Sometimes God,
in his chastising love for his people, will put you in a situation
of afflicted health. He will put you in that situation
to teach you something. I don't know what it is. You
look to him to find out what is he trying to teach you, to
bow to his will, to bow to his purposes for you. Health may
be a blessing, but it may not. What about prosperity? Surely
everybody ought to be prosperous. Everybody ought to be prosperous.
I'm just reading a book that Cliff lent me about John Kershaw,
who lived late 1700s, early part of the 19th century, so early
1800s. And he was minister of a chapel
in Rochdale where John Warburton, who some of you will have heard
of, had been before him. And he was a preacher that was
powerfully and greatly used, but oh, Like many, like Huntington
and Warburton himself, these men suffered tremendous trials
of material deprivation, we would say. The standard of living that
they had, where there's children to feed and there literally is
no food in the house. And how God used that to teach
them and bless them. And what a great blessing they
were able to say it was. No, prosperity isn't a blessing. Having Christ and knowing him
is so much more of a blessing above prosperity, or property,
or power, or influence, or position, or honor. All of these things
count for nothing compared with that first thing. That first
thing. One thing is needful. One thing
is needful. Mary's chosen that good part.
She sat at Jesus' feet hearing his word. Isn't that above all
else? And all these other things will
be added to you. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these other things that God judges
you need in his heavenly father care of his children will be
added to you in proportion to your need to them. Don't judge
one another in whether you've got them or you haven't got them
or you do this or you don't do that. Don't judge one another
in these things. The value of these things in
the day of judgment when we must all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and receive that done in the body, the value of
these things will be seen to be worthless. Possessions, experiences,
worldly wisdom, it will all be worthless. What will you need?
Come that day, what will you need? For Christ is made unto
us of God. Wisdom from God, that's what
you'll need. And the righteousness of God,
which we have in Christ, for he is the Lord, our righteousness.
and sanctification, oh, that I might be amongst those that
He set apart from all eternity, and redemption from God, that
my ransom price has been paid by Christ. Oh, how much value
that will be in that day, will it not? Compared with all these
other things in which we judge one another? No, the value of
things, they'll be worthless compared with Christ. The most
important thing is sitting at His feet. Put that first. What am I going to do this week?
I must above all else hear His word. I must above all else seek
to worship Him. I must above all else listen
to what He says. I must know about His grace.
I must know about His mercy. I must know, I must have myself
assured again and again and again of salvation accomplished. That's
true gospel preaching. That's what I must have. I must
know that my sins are removed. Unlike the false message I heard
on the radio, on the service this morning, Jesus died for
the sins of all the world. No, he didn't. He died for the
sins of his people, of his elect. And knowing that, I know that
my sins have been put away, and therefore I have a solid hope.
having that single doctrine of Christ, that simplicity of Christ,
that straightforward doctrine of Christ, that precious pearl,
that pearl of greatest price, you know, if you have a box in
the attic somewhere and there's all sorts of trinkets and bits
and pieces in it, you know, the kind of thing that people take
to the antiques roadshow to see if they're sitting on a fortune.
And let's say there is one pearl, the pearl of greatest price.
You may have a great box of shiny little trinkets, but if you've
got that pearl of greatest price, quite honestly, you'd give it
away. You'd put it in a skip, wouldn't you, all the rest of
it, to have that one pearl of greatest price. This is the needful
thing. The one needful thing, sitting
at his feet, discerning, because we're going to be taking bread
and wine shortly, discerning the Lord's body. Remember, there
are serious warnings about eating the bread and drinking the wine
in an unworthy way. What's an unworthy way? It's
not discerning that body of the Lord. It's Christ not being first
in everything. Let every man examine himself.
We'll read it shortly before we do this. Let every man examine
himself. And only eat if you know that
you're discerning the body and blood of the Lord as your Savior,
that he is first. Oh, I love the account of when
Jesus crossed the sea of Galilee to the land of the Gadarenes.
And some gospel accounts talk of two men and others of one
man, but never mind. If there were two, there was
certainly one. Who isn't in his right mind, and they can't constrain
him. And he comes to Jesus, and Jesus
casts out the demons and heals him. And we see him where? Where Mary was. We see him clothed
in his right mind. And where? Sitting at Jesus'
feet. Listening to what the Master
said. That's the most important place.
What will you do? What will you do? Verse 42. Mary
hath chosen That good part. Oh, we believe
in sovereign grace, we don't believe in men or women choosing
or doing anything. Oh yes we do. God makes his people
willing in the day of his power, and willing people choose. Choose
you this day, said Joshua, whom you will serve. As for me and
my house, God helping us, we will serve the Lord. Mary hath
chosen that good part, and nothing, he says, nothing can take it
away from her. Have you, will you choose that
good part of Christ first, above all other things? He will add
to you all other needful things. None of his children will go
begging bread. He will look after you. He says he cares for the
sparrows. Not one of them falls to the
ground, but your father knows it. The hairs of your head are
numbered. Mary has chosen that good part, and it will not be
taken from her. What about you? Amen.