Attending without distraction. Think of those words. Attending
on the Lord without distraction. Now Paul had said beginning in
verse 32 of 1 Corinthians chapter 7, But I would have you without
carefulness, without anxiety. And he then tells us, he that
is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how
he may please the Lord. But he that's married careth
for the things that are of the world. how he may please his
wife. Now he tells us in no uncertain
terms, it's better to be unmarried than to be married. That's his
statement. And then he says in verse 34,
there's a difference also between a wife and a virgin or an unmarried
woman. That's what he's referring to
when he uses the word virgin. He's talking about someone who
is unmarried. The unmarried woman careth for
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body
and in spirit. But she that's married careth
for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. Now if you're married, you ought
to want to please your spouse. You ought to want to be a good
mate to your spouse to help them. That should be your purpose.
It would not be right to be married and to be any other way. But
he says plainly, you're better off if you're not married because
you're going to seek to please the Lord more. Now he says in
verse 35, and this I speak for your own profit. Not that I may
cast a snare upon you. Now, when I read these words,
it sort of casts a snare on me. I think I can't relate. I don't
know how to identify with what he's saying. I can't imagine
throwing away all the joys of marriage. and family life so
I could dedicate myself only to the Lord and serve him without
distraction. Now, when I think of that, I
think, I don't measure up. I feel so inadequate. I feel
like I don't reach the mark when it comes to that, and indeed,
I don't. Not everybody has that gift.
That's a gift from God to be able to not be married so you
can serve the Lord without distinction. But Paul, in making this statement,
when he says, I'm not trying to ensnare you, lay a snare on
you, what he's saying is, I'm not trying to use guilt manipulation
on you. Everybody that hears this, if you're anything like
me, you feel guilty. I don't measure up. I can't be that way. I'm inadequate. I just don't
measure up. Now Paul says, I'm not saying
this in order to try to make you feel guilty. Well, it's so
easy to use guilt manipulation. And it's so wrong. Well, Paul
says, I'm not trying to do that. Here's what I'm doing. I speak
this for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon
you. but for that which is comely, that which is appropriate, that
you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. This is the only time this word
attend is used in scriptures. Nowhere else. That you may attend
on the Lord without distraction. It means sitting constantly by, waiting, being there in the present,
waiting on Him. It's not really talking about
doing anything. The word is assiduous, in His presence, waiting upon
Him, showing great care and attention. While I was pondering this, Brought back to memory, when
I was in college, I had a class on John Milton. I was in English,
and there was a John Milton class. I enjoyed the class very much.
But John Milton is the one who wrote Paradise Lost. You've probably
heard of that. He wrote Paradise Lost, Paradise
Regained. And during the middle of his
life, he started going blind. As a matter of fact, when he
wrote Paradise Lost, He wrote it by diction to somebody else,
telling them what to say. He couldn't write on his own. He was completely blind at this
time. But during the middle of his
life, while he lost his eyesight, he was grappling with how he
would now be, as he thought, set on a shelf, inactive, not
really able to do anything, not really act, blind. He couldn't
go out. He couldn't do anything. I guess
he was thinking in some measure about how he couldn't do anything
for the Lord. I guess he was thinking that
way, or he couldn't serve the Lord the way he would want to
because he's blind. All he could do is sit there in a dark room.
And he wrote a sonnet, and this is his most famous sonnet, about
grappling with being blind. This was the last line of that
sonnet. They also serve who stand and
wait. They're not doing anything. They
also serve who stand and wait, waiting on the Lord, being there. That's what it means to attend,
to be there, to be in his presence, waiting. Not necessarily having
plans, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna do this,
no. Waiting. Standing and waiting. And that's what Paul means when
he says, I want you to be able to do this without distraction.
We get distracted so easily. And what I thought of, in considering
this was Martha and Mary. You remember how Martha was cumbered
about much serving. And as a matter of fact, that
word cumbered is where this word distraction comes from. If you
do the etymology of the words, she was cumbered with much distraction,
troubled and careful about many things. And we're gonna go back
to her at the end of this message. But he says in verse 32, I would
have you without carefulness, without anxiety. How much time
do you spend in anxiety, in carefulness, in worrying, in trying to plot
and scheme to make your will take place, to make sure your
bases are covered? Carefulness. Paul said, I would
have you without carefulness. You know, when we are like that,
and we're like that a lot, I am and you are. Somebody says, I'm
never like that. I don't believe you for a second. You're like
that. I'm like that. And when we are like that, at
that time, we're not believing God is sovereign. That's the
only cause of that. Because when we believe that
our God is sovereign and absolute control of everything and he's
holy, he's right, whatever he does is good, we trust his character,
we don't even need to understand what's going on, he does, and
we will not worry. I wish all of us would be enabled
to honor the Lord, to just not worry, he's in control. I have
control of nothing. You must be miserable to be a
control freak because in reality nobody can control anything.
I have control of nothing. He has control of everything. I would have you to be without
this anxiety. Why did this happen? Could I
have done this? Could I have changed that? I would have you without Isn't
it a glorious thing when those few times the Lord can cause
you to be footloose and fancy-free? Everything's fine. Everything's
good. Not worried about it. He's in
control. He that is unmarried, verse 32,
careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please
the Lord. But he that is married careth
for the things that are of the world, how he may please his
wife. Now that's just the way it is. If you're married, you've
got somebody to please. And that's what your responsibility
is on both sides. Verse 33, but he that is married
careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please
his wife. And he says there's a difference also between a wife
and an unmarried woman. The unmarried woman, see there's
who he's referring to, careth for the things of the Lord, that
she may be holy both in body and spirit, but she that's married
careth for the things that are of the world, how she may please
her husband. Now, what I'm saying I'm speaking
for your good, your profit, not that I may cast a snare upon
you and try to use guilt manipulation to make you feel bad, but for
that which is comely, that you may attend upon the Lord without
distraction. We're gonna get back there in
a minute, verse 36. But if any man think that he
behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, toward the unmarried
woman, and he acts inappropriately or feels inappropriate, really,
and she pass the flower of her age and need so require, Let
him do what he will, he sinneth not, let him marry. Now if you
can't be content being unmarried, get married. Get married. I can't be happy unmarried, well
you ought to be married then. Well I can't find somebody, the
Lord will bring you somebody. Lord is in absolute control.
And not everybody has this gift to be a eunuch for the kingdom
of heaven's sake. Paul did. Paul didn't get married because
he couldn't have been a good husband with what all he had
to do, traveling as a missionary, getting beat up everywhere he
went, never seeing his wife and family. It wouldn't have worked
for him to be married. He was a eunuch for the kingdom
of heaven's sake. Some think that he was married
and formerly, I personally believe he probably was, but maybe she
died. I don't know what happened, but he's unmarried now and he
has no plans on getting married. But he says, if you can't act
appropriately, go ahead and get married. Nevertheless, verse
37, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity,
but hath power over his own will, and he hath so decreed in his
heart that he will keep his virgin." Now, that doesn't mean he keeps
his daughter from getting married. As a matter of fact, in a lot
of translations, that's the way they translate it. If you can keep your daughter
from getting married and make her remain with you, that's good. And if you have power over your
will not to give in to her, that ain't what that's saying. It's
just not. What is he saying? Well, if you
don't feel a need to get married to your fiance and you have the
power to not be able to do that, you're doing well. Don't get
married. So then, well, he's done well
if he decides not to get married. So then, he that giveth her in
marriage doeth. Well, if you get married, it's
good. Don't think it's not, it's good. Marriage is a good thing.
Some have thought, some of the attitudes about monasteries,
where men think that they're better off going in a monastery
and being a monk and chanting all day and staying away from
the world, just meditating on God and the scriptures and praying,
and they're really pleasing God that way. No, they're not. As
a matter of fact, who knows what all kind of perversions goes
on in monasteries as far as that goes. There's nothing particularly
good about that, but that's where some people think this idea of
monasteries come from. You're better off if you don't
get married and you move into a monastery. Pray all day and,
well, you won't, but that's what they say they'll do. So then
he that giveth her in marriage doeth well. It's a good thing
to get married, but he that giveth her in marriage doeth better. There's good and there's better. That's what he says. There's
good. That's good. And there's better. I hope the Lord will not allow
us to be what we would be if he doesn't prevent it, serving
him in mediocrity. I don't want to do that. I want
to do what's better, don't you? I don't know what to do. Now,
here we have it. There's good and there is better. Verse 39, I'm not going to, I'm
going to talk more about this. In another message, and I'm going
to go into Romans 7, but he says, the wife is bound by the law
as long as her husband liveth. You know, that word bound is
the same word used with regard to binding people in prison.
I think that's kind of funny. He says, the wife is bound by
the law to her husband. And this is to teach the gospel.
When you go into Romans chapter 7, we're going to see that clearly.
But I think it's interesting, the language he uses. The wife
is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth. But if her
husband be dead, she's at liberty to be married to whom she will,
only in the Lord. But she is happier." And that's
the word blessed. Blessed are they in the Beatitudes. She's happier if she so abide
after my judgment. And I think also that I have
the Spirit of God. Now, would you turn with me to
Luke chapter 10? This word distraction is derived
from this word used to describe Martha. Luke chapter 10, verse 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. And Martha was cumbered about. with much serving. And that's where that word distracted
comes from. She was cumbered about with much
serving. And she 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. Would that describe you and I?
I believe it would. But one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her. Marth and Mary, they had a brother
named Lazarus. We read about him in John chapter
11. What a special family. As a matter of fact, John chapter
11 verse 5 says, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. What a resume to be loved by
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that would be meaningless
if he loved all men the same. if his love was universal. I
hate that teaching of universal love because one of the reasons,
there's a lot of reasons I hate it, because one thing, love like
that, universal love doesn't save. And I'm not interested
in love that doesn't save me. And when I try to maintain that
God ought to love me, ought to love all men, all like it's unfair.
It's kind of like I'm saying, that's God's job to love everybody,
to save everybody, to die for everybody. It's a sense of entitlement
that is so distasteful and ugly in reality. Oh, I love this scripture
that speaks of his special saving love to Martha and to Mary and
to Lazarus. He would say of these three individuals,
as he would say toward all of his elect, behold, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. That is so special. He loved
Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus as well. Verse 38, once again, 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.
Now you put yourself in this woman's place. What if the Lord
Jesus Christ was coming to your house? Ladies, men, Would you
want everything to be perfect? Would you want the best meal
ever fixed? Would you want the cleanest house
there ever was? You would want everything to
be perfect. And well, you should. The Lord
coming into my house. I mean, they knew him in the
flesh. They knew him when he walked upon this earth. And you
can just imagine what this created with the Lord coming into their
house. Verse 39, and she had a sister
called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard his word. Her sister Mary seems to have
only one thing on her mind. While there was so much preparation
to be done, there she sits, doing nothing. All she's doing is hearing
his word. Is that all? What's more important than that? What I have to say to him is
infinitely less important than what he has to say to me. Oh, would to God that we would
just listen. You know, you can't listen while
you're talking. You can't listen while you're doing something
else, not really. She sat at his feet and heard
his word. There she sits. And I bet every
time Martha walked by and irritated her, she don't do anything. She's leaving all the work to
me. I bet every time she walked by,
she gave her a dirty look, trying to give some kind of indication.
You need to be helping me. What are you doing? She didn't
want to be so rused to tell her, quit listening to the preaching, but
get up and help me. There Martha sits hearing his
word. The Lord was speaking because
Mary was listening to his word and Martha was not. She was cumbered about. And that's
where that word distraction comes from in our text. Cumbered about
with much serving. Would you criticize her? I wouldn't. There are far too many people
actually that do neither. They neither hear nor serve.
But here she is, cumbered about with much serving. And then Martha
does something she should never have done. And perhaps her heart had hardened
through lack of hearing. There's a correlation. Perhaps
her heart had hardened through lack of hearing. And she actually
thought what she was doing was right and what her sister was
doing was wrong. She really believed that. She
felt much righteous indignation toward her sister. And what she
does is actually very disrespectful. She rebukes the Lord. Look what
she says in verse 40, but Martha, While Mary was sitting there
hearing the word, Martha was cumbered about much serving,
and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister
hath left me alone to serve? Now, if you haven't said it,
you thought it. There she at. This is not right.
Don't you care? Lord, don't you care that this
is taking place, that's taking place? Don't you care? That's
disrespect to the Lord of glory. Then she does something even
worse. She tells him what to do. Bid her therefore that she
help me. Now, one thing I would suggest
us to never do is tell the Lord what to do. I think of when his
mom said, they want wine. We're out of wine. You can do
something about this. He said, woman, woman. Woman, my time is not, I can't,
well, it's in John two, I don't know, it's part of my aging,
I can't remember things the way I used to. Woman, yeah, woman,
what have I to do with thee? What are you doing telling me
what to do? My time has not yet come. And here, this is the Lord
of glory, you don't tell him what to do. And she gave him
a command, bid her that she stop what she's doing and come and
serve with me. As she grew some, you'll find
in John chapter 11, when Lazarus was sick, she just said, he whom
thou lovest is sick. She didn't tell him what to do.
She was just making known the case. He whom thou lovest is
sick. But here she gives the Lord a
command. Bid her therefore that she help
me. And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha. Now this is one of seven times
in the scripture, the Lord repeats someone's name. That speaks of his love. Abraham, Abraham. Jacob, Jacob. Moses, Moses. Samuel, Samuel. Peter, Peter. Saul, Saul. And Martha, Martha. Thou art careful, anxious, and
troubled, about many things. She was. I am too. Thou art careful and troubled
about many things. I have no doubt
that this describes me and you. That's where we are when we're
not consciously aware of what the Lord is saying. You know, when you're hearing
the gospel, you're zoned in. This is the one thing needful.
When you're not, you're careful and in trouble about many things. But, verse 42, one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken away from her. What Martha was
doing was good. What Mary was doing was better. Mary hath chosen that good part,
and it's not going to be taken from her. Now, I want to think
about this thing, one thing, is needful. When the rich young ruler said to the Lord, all these have
I kept from my youth. You remember he said, good master,
what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life? And I love
the way the Lord answered him. You know the law. Keep it. If you come to the Lord on those
grounds, he'll meet you on those grounds. Keep the law. You know the commandments. Keep
them. And he replied, all these have I kept from my youth up.
No, he didn't. But he said he did. Did he really
believe he did? I don't know. Maybe he did. Claim
he made, all these have I kept from my, nobody in here can say
that. You wouldn't dare say that. What a man this man must have
been, at least in his own mind. And then the Lord said, one thing
you lack. And in lacking that one thing,
you lack everything. And if you have that one thing,
You lack nothing. Here's the three words that means.
Christ is all. He's all to God. You believe
that? He's all to his Father. He's
all God requires of me. Nothing else. Don't bring anything
else. Don't push anything else. One thing God requires, Jesus
Christ. What was the difference between
the one thief and the other thief? Jesus Christ. If you have Christ,
and the only way you have him is if he's all you have. If you've
got something other than him, you don't have him. If he's all
you have to bring before God, you just want to be found in
him. He's all you have. If he's all you have, you have
everything God requires. Everything. And if you don't
have him, you don't have anything God requires. He is the one thing
needful. And then David said, Psalm 27. One thing have I required of
the Lord. Did you hear the one thing? One thing. Think of the list
of all your needs. David says, one thing have I
required of the Lord. That will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire into his temple.
Now, I remember when I was a boy hearing that scripture read that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
And I remember thinking, I wouldn't want to be in that one house
all the days of my life. I'd like to go out and play or
do something, you know, go out. I mean, it seems like it'd be
kind of boring to just be in one place all the time because
I had no understanding of what it meant. What David was saying
is I simply want to be found in Christ all the days of my
life. There's only one place I want
to be found in Christ so that all God sees when He sees me
is Jesus Christ His Son only. That's all I want him to see.
I don't want him to see my preaching. I don't want him to see my motives.
I don't want him to see my prayers, my giving. No, I want to be found
in Christ so all God sees when he sees me is his blessed son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want anything else. I
want to be found in Christ so that when God comes looking for
me, All He sees is His Son. And I'll tell you what, when
you're in Him, you know what you get to do? You get to behold
His beauty and inquire into His temple. Now, if all of the beauty
of the Lord was in this room, this room right here, and outside
of this room, there was nothing but His wrath, where do you wanna
stay? out. I have no desire to get
out. If everything there is is in this room, that's what I want
to say. That's David's desire. I want to be in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life to behold his beauty and to inquire
into his temple. One thing, one thing. You know something I love about
one thing? There's nothing, you don't have to make a choice.
Nothing to get confused about. One thing. One thing. And then the Apostle Paul said
in Philippians chapter three, this one thing I do. Forgetting those things that
are behind. And reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, I wish I'd
learned this more than I've learned it up to this point. Forget what's
behind. Forget the good stuff. I'm not saying be ungrateful,
but I'm saying make sure you're not trusting the Lord's acceptance
with me because this happened back here or that happened back
here, forget it. Forget it. Faith is always in
the present. I don't look to the past, some
kind of experience, some kind of feeling. Well, I remember
when I say, I don't. I couldn't tell you for close
when it happened. I never will forget hearing a
preacher saying, If I broke my leg, I'd know what day it happened.
So you better know what day you were saved. Well, I don't know
the day I was born. I don't remember it. I don't
remember coming out of it. Does that mean I'm not alive? Of course
not. Just forget all this pasta. Forget the pasta, as far as bad
things, people mistreating you, people doing you wrong. Forget
it. The Lord told him to do it. for
your good and his glory. Don't stay angry. Forget it. It's for your good. Oh, may we just be quick to forgive
everybody of everything. Forget it. reach forth toward the things
that are before the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when we, when
Rebecca sang that song and I thought of being in heaven and not being
a sinner anymore, what could be better than that?
Reaching forth unto those things before I pressed for the mark
of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, here is where we begin and
here is where we end. There's one thing needful. to be found in Christ, to sit at his feet and hear his
word. Because I am poor and needy,
my poverty needs to be found in him so that he's my all because
I don't have anything else. Because I'm poor and needy, I
need to hear his word. Like Peter said, thou hast the
words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, but not only
do I need to hear him, I want to hear him. I want to be just
like Mary. And if someone would be critical
of me, I don't care. I want to be just like Mary,
sitting at his feet and hearing his word. Now I want to look
at one last scripture. Would you turn with me to Revelation
chapter three? This is the Lord's letter to
the church at Sardis. And unto the angel of the church
in Sardis write, these things saith he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that
thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead. That's frightening,
isn't it? That's frightening. You're living
on the past. You're living on past experiences.
You have a name that you live, that you're dead. Now they weren't
totally dead in sins or he wouldn't have been speaking to them, but
he's talking about how far they had fallen. You have a name to
live, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the
things which remain that are ready to die for I've not found
thy works perfect before God. And listen to the simplicity
of what he tells them. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and heard and hold fast and repent. Remember how you received the
gospel. You had nothing to recommend
you to God. and you received nothing but
the sheer free bounty of His grace, His Son. You knew you
were nothing but a sinner and salvation was the gift of His
grace. There wasn't any question about
that in your mind, that the first time you heard, maybe you can't
remember the first time you heard, but remember hearing like this. You know what it is? It's hearing
as a sinner. That's the bottom line, hearing as a sinner. You
can't benefit from the gospel. You can't really hear the gospel
if you're above that. But oh, if you're a sinner, you
hear. I have no doubt that Mary was
hearing as a sinner. Remember how thou has perceived
and heard. And hold that fast. Don't leave
that. Stay right there. Don't grow
beyond that. Remember how you received, how
you've heard. Hold on to that and repent. Change your mind
with regard to everything else. I want to be A poor, and I don't
want this to be cliche. I want this to come from the
depths of my heart. I want to be like Jack the Huckster.
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my
all in all. When you first received, when
you first heard, that's the way you did it. Stay there and repent
of anything else. Now, as we prepare to take the
Lord's table, there are two things I hope are
paramount in our mind as we take the bread, which represents his
broken body, the wine, which represents his shed blood, There are two things that we
can rejoice in. Just the very fact that his body
was broken and his blood was shed tells us we're great sinners.
Great sinners. And he is a great savior. May the Lord enable us to have
that in our mind as we take the bread and the wine.