I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. And I'm sorry, I did not check what page number that is in the red Bibles in the pew. I think it might be 995, but you'll have to double check me on that. You know, we have a number of our teenagers who are on retreat. keep them in mind. Our student leaders, adults are with them as well. Inner turmoil. I want to talk a little bit about that today. Inner turmoil. You know as you attempt to live your life and as you do any kind of ministry, it can be a good sign. You say, what? Inner turmoil, a good sign? Well, it can be a good sign that you are resisting the old human nature that sells you day by day, moment by moment, on taking care of number one, me, me first. That's the sinful nature's default. Who's number one around here? Me. And the inner turmoil can be that battle that you engage in because with your new heart you want to do resistance work against the old sinful nature. And that sets up, you got it, inner turmoil. That sets up that clash that Paul talks about in the book of Galatians as being the inner war that every Christian should find to be normal. So there is a certain aspect of inner turmoil, that inner grinding, that wrestling, that can be very godly. But there is, again, there is another kind of inner turmoil, not so good. It's a turmoil that comes when we have our priorities out of alignment with God's alignment, His purposes and His plans. And as a result, we weary ourselves doing things that are not necessary for reasons that are invalid. Invalid, of course, in terms of what God says is His concept of alignment for your life. Our passage today illustrates for us a follower of Jesus who struggled with the second kind of inner turmoil because her priorities had gotten out of alignment with the priorities of Jesus. This is a very close-in situation we're gonna see. This isn't the big crowd kind of thing. This is like very intimate. There's no hiding in this setting. So the inner turmoil easily finds itself getting exposed. You'll see that. And as a result of this woman's misaligned priorities, two negative consequences develop. See if you identify. She becomes irritable with another person who is trying to follow the Lord in a different way. And also she began to entertain doubts as to whether or not Jesus really cared about her. Oh my. Anyone identifying at all? Have you ever thought, does Jesus really care about me here? Well, if you don't identify with that, I'm not sure I'm identifying with you, because that happens to me. I'm not going to tell you how often, but I'm telling you it does. So our study of inner turmoil due to misaligned spiritual priorities begins in Luke chapter 10. A very short passage, very packed with challenges to yours truly. Okay. Well, let's look at the beginning of this setting for Martha's conflict with Jesus. Verse 38 of Luke chapter 10 reads, while they were traveling, he entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. While they were traveling indicates that we're talking about more than Jesus. We're talking probably about Jesus and the disciples. And he enters a village, and in this village there is a home, and probably the senior woman of the home is a one named Martha. And we're gonna see in future studies when we return to the Gospel of John that this is a family that Jesus knew personally, this is the family of Lazarus. And we will see how in John chapter 11, Jesus goes there and raises Lazarus from the dead. And there's some very interesting interactions that will take place at that time between Martha and Jesus and Mary and Jesus. And it may be that when we get there, you'll recall and it will appear that Martha has learned some things. or perhaps her personality has been matured just a little bit in the way she interacts with Jesus. I'll see if I can remind you about that when we get there. So in verse 39, it continues to move us from the setting, which is this little village, which is, you can see on the map in your outline, about two miles southeast of Jerusalem, So it's close to the city of Jerusalem. The great probability is that Jesus, this is one of those journeys to Jerusalem late in Jesus' ministry. Remember, we're talking about late November, probably early December. There are some of these trips that the Gospels don't record, and I think that's what's going on here. Jesus has gone to Jerusalem. We're not told why, what he did, but In close proximity to the city is this village where he goes over, probably for him a half hour walk at the most, and he goes to the home of this family that he knows very personally. And verse 39 talks about Martha having a sister. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what he said. Great. And then you read verse 40 and you go, oops. But let that hang there for a second. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. Now, it's interesting, the new international version, which we used to use, says that these preparations, and they didn't change it in 2011. I thought that was interesting. It says, she was distracted by preparations that she had to do. Uh-uh. Most of the translations, except for the NIV, simply say they were preparations she was doing. The had to do is contrary to the flow of what's going on here. It's an unfortunate rendering because these are things that Martha was clearly choosing to do. What Martha wanted to do for Jesus was not wrong here. Her problem began when she failed to assess what was really most important in the situation. And it's gonna be important for you to remember that's probably the key, the situation. Because there are commentators and expositors who make a big deal out of what we're going to talk about, but they forget that this is all about situation. The thing is, the situation is, here's Jesus. This is a very intimate and personal opportunity. He's not there at her house on a regular basis. This is like once every six months at the most, even though they're good friends. This is a rare opportunity. This is an opportunity for that personal kind of fellowship, that kind of close-in teaching like a tutor gives. Like, wow, take advantage of it, you know? Well, she neglected to discern the occasion and what it really called for and what her guest really wanted. Martha gets over-focused here with pleasing Jesus with hospitality. And this effort took her to a place where she's missing out on the most valuable thing that she could do for Jesus. What could she do for Jesus? What she could do for Jesus was learn so that she would be a better witness for him in the future because she would have learned from him and understood him better and understood her calling as one of his witnesses better. Well, what caused Martha to busy herself too much with food preparation? Maybe she wanted to secure Jesus' approval. Impress him with her abilities. Would this be wrong? Well, yes, it would be wrong if she actually thought that by doing this service, she was going to increase Jesus' acceptance of her. Because you see, Jesus' approval or acceptance isn't secured by our service. It's secured by our trust in him. Jesus approves and accepts all who come to Him with trust in what He's done, not what we do for Him. Nobody can perform well enough or long enough to ever deserve Jesus' acceptance. It's surrender to God's plan that gains His acceptance. It's humility, it's trusting In him, it's acknowledging our dependency on him. It's acknowledging that we are broken people and he is God and he's the one who puts his children back together again. We don't refashion ourselves in such a way that we glow so marvelously that God goes, oh, what a great person that is. No, we are his workmanship, Paul says in Ephesians 2, created in Christ Jesus, to then do good works. It's his working and then our working, not our working in order to get him working. And people who think that great acts of sacrifice or generosity are going to earn them approval with God are just simply badly mistaken. God does not respond to self-sufficient, self-righteous people. Actually, reliance on anything other than Christ's sacrifice for salvation is an offense to God. And why would you say that? It's an offense to God because what it does is actually reduce the value of Christ's work on the cross to pay for our sins. Because if I have to contribute something to this salvation deal, that means that what Christ did on the cross isn't sufficient. That is offensive to God. Because what his son did on the cross is extraordinarily perfect in the eyes of God. And that's what he wants people to humble themselves under and say, thank you, God, that you took care of my business, my problems, my offenses against you, the separation that existed between me and you, which was just because of my rebellion. And God says, I got it handled. but you gotta trust in the way I handled it. And you gotta release your sins to the cross and rejoice and rest. Folks, are you resting? Now, I'm not inclined to believe that Martha was trying to earn Jesus' favor. perhaps Martha was a great cook. And she was just simply trying to express to Jesus her gratitude and her enthusiasm for his being present, creating for him what Jim Clark used to call a culinary extravaganza. Would this be wrong? Certainly not, depending On what? Depending on the situation, you see. But under the circumstances, it was inappropriate. Either she couldn't appreciate the moment or she simply allowed her sense of duty to distract her from what was this extraordinary spiritual opportunity. And her choice was unfortunate. But what was most unfortunate was that Her choice also began to grind away inside and it began to produce a critical attitude because her agenda wasn't getting done. And it wasn't her fault. Somebody else was not helping me with my agenda. And we'll see that in just a moment. We hear Martha express her irritation in the second part of verse 40. Take a look at that. She came up and asked. Now, when you read this, ask yourself, what was the tone? You know, ladies write tones and looks. Guys, tones and looks, huh? She came up and asked, Lord, Don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand." Now, I don't know if that was the tone. I'm thinking, though, it might be close. Let's see. Martha's problem was her distraction with what she thought was a necessity. substantial meal, a culinary extravaganza in this occasion, in this situation. Now notice how her attitude became critical of Mary and of Jesus. Hear Martha protesting to Jesus that Mary was not sharing in the work that she felt needed to be done. After all, the work was for Jesus. Now look again at what she said in the second part of verse 40. Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand. Now, do you think she said, so tell her to give me a hand? Could have been, you know, the other passive aggressive little whiny kind of thing, where you kind of insinuate a little guilt. but you do it kind of softly. So Martha's complaining about her work and blaming her sister for making it so hard. Oh, this is beautiful irony. But Jesus never asked Martha for a substantial meal, did he? You see, get this folks, this is critical. How often do we think we gotta do this deal for Jesus? He never asked us to. But even worse than her criticism of Mary, is her criticism of Jesus. Look at verse 40 again. Lord, don't you care? What's being insinuated there? Lord, you're not, getting with my agenda by sending my little sister to help me. So she chides Jesus for letting Mary stay there and listen to him teach. Do you catch, this is just thick with irony. The master teacher is engaged in the one thing he, well, one of the main things he came to do, teach the word of God. And there's a student eagerly listening. And this very sincere woman comes in and says, Yo Christ, what do you think you're doing? I'm just reading it. Now, you see, in Martha's view, Mary is distracted from the things that duty calls her to do. In Jesus' view, Martha's distracted from the one thing that she really needs and is not really getting. Martha wanted to please Jesus. She wants to give him her time, her energy, satisfying his appetite. Nothing wrong with that, except for what? The situation. But Martha failed to discern or to even ask Jesus, Lord, what would you like? What would you like me to do here while you're visiting? What would really please you? She never asked. How many times are we out doing our deals, our things, and we're, you know, we're just grinding away, and it's like, oh, hey, Lord, am I tracking with you right now? It doesn't take more than, you know, a mini split second. Am I tracking with you right now? You'd be amazed how the Holy Spirit can go, or can go. Yeah, just keep on going. You're good. You're good. Doesn't take long, folks. Just checking in, checking in with your father, checking in with your father. Doesn't take long. Food wasn't really what Jesus cared about. He's more interested in spending time in spiritual fellowship with her. Eating is fine, but the elaborate meal deal, it just takes away the time that she could have with him. And remember what Jesus said to his disciples when he had visited Samaria three years earlier and the Samaritan woman deal and the disciples go off to Sychar to get lunch for Jesus and bring it back. And he's there interacting with the Samaritan woman. They say, Lord, you don't look very hungry. And he goes, guys, he says, I have food to eat you don't know about. The disciple said to one another, could someone have brought him something to eat? You see, they're so stuck on the physical. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. I'm thinking he's doing the Lord's work and he's not really sensing the need for a lot of food right here. So Martha not only misunderstood what was important to Jesus, but she also is falling into the trap of judgmentalism. Oh my. So she's criticized Mary for not regarding as important the thing that she's bustling around, traumatizing herself doing, grinding away with this turmoil, irritation, jealousy, whatever. So she attempts to make Mary feel guilty because she didn't appreciate the agenda. That's what a judgmental spirit does. It criticizes others for not valuing the same things that you regard as being important. Or for not doing things in the same way that you think things should be done. Now I know none of you have ever experienced that. Of course you have. We're all a bunch of sinners. judgmentalism cannot grasp how the Lord may cause people to have different approaches, different preferences, different passions. And again that goes to that whole thing of asking Christ, what's appropriate in the situation as I consider what this other person's doing that they're not doing in the same way as I expect them to do it and think they should do it. It's like, did it ever occur to you to say, hey Lord, is what they're doing what you want them to do? You know how you're gonna figure that out? You have to go ask those people. You're probably not going to get a sky message on that one. Judgmentalism. The same thing happens today in relationships and churches. Easy to slip into a spirit of criticism if other believers don't get enthusiastic, don't get involved, don't get excited about the things that you think should be exciting in the church. things you feel really strongly about, and this is why I have regularly taught you about the doctrine of spiritual gifts, because it's the biblical insight that God gives us for reducing turmoil within the church by informing us that God has stamped within every believer a spiritual gift which is an enabling, which is an enablement to them to do things in different dimensions of church life with enthusiasm and effectiveness, but not necessarily be interested in a lot of other dimensions of church life, like other people might be when they go about using their spiritual gifts. You see? And this is a God thing. He wants diversity within this congregation because there are a diverse number of things that need to get done. And not everybody's going to be a specialist in every dimension. And so not everybody's going to be enthusiastic about what you are. And I think also personality certainly comes into it. You know, hey, some people are cleanies, right? Some people are not. And if you're a neatnik, you probably pick out the messies pretty easily, right? All of us are vulnerable to a critical spirit if we make the mistake of assuming that others should be as enthusiastic and as devoted to the kinds of things that we are as we are. It's also possible that Mary, being the younger, didn't really possess the same kind of sense of duty that Mary, being the oldest, in that kind of culture would have felt the duty of hospitality and making sure that all guests are well cared for and comfortable and all of that. But the thing is clear that whether that was her issue, the duty thing or not, the thing that's clear is that in this situation, Mary just wasn't interested in what Martha was trying to accomplish. And she was right to not be interested in that, in the situation. Now, if someone were to say, but what if, as I said, what if Martha was doing what she enjoyed, what she was motivated to do? Well, I think Jesus would probably answer that question by saying, then why was she complaining? Girl, enjoy yourself. But once you begin to cop the complaining thing, eh, there's a problem. My wife Connie shared an interesting insight with me from her study of Martha. She pointed out that Martha was probably accustomed to Mary regularly helping her with the domestic responsibilities around the house in other situations. And now in this situation, Mary's not helping and I think maybe Martha was a little jarred by that. Wait a minute, I'm doing this all by myself. Yo, that's not what I'm used to. So she's kind of taken aback. But on this occasion, Mary says, she didn't have to say it, she showed it, I'm not doing that. Martha, I'm not with your deal. Jesus taught us that life has few real necessities. Now, we live in a very affluent culture, and that's very, very difficult to get a handle on. But there are really very few necessities. But when you grow up accustomed to comfort and luxury, or if you have to impress people to be secure, it becomes easy to fall into the trap of calling things necessities that are really not, or they're just what other people would say is luxury. It also becomes difficult to recognize when you're wasting a lot of God's time. Do you know that every microsecond of your life is God's time? Wow. But there are probably a lot more situations than we ever take into account where we're wasting God's time on things that really are not important. Oh, but we think they're important. But they're really of maybe third level or fourth level significance in the kingdom of God. A lot of that is because Christianity today is not really lived on the normal biblical level. It's lived on a very subnormal level of intensity. You go to third world countries where they got nothing. They know what intensity of Christianity is because that's what they have to live for. especially in the persecuted countries. They're very dialed in and clear on what are the necessities. We struggle with that. It's not wrong to have affluence. It's good when it's properly stewarded and utilized for the kingdom of God, but when we just, you know. We think that retirement is 18 holes of golf every day and just laying out on the beach and that's how we're gonna just finish off the last how many years of God's time that he's given us. Misunderstanding going on. Howard Marshall points out in his commentary that the word describing Martha in verse 40 as distracted really means having been pulled away. Very interesting. That means that Martha's sense of duty or her perception of what was her responsibility actually pulled her away from what? Pulled her away from what she could have been doing sitting next to her sister, learning from the master teacher. So she was pulled away. And if that's true, which I think it is, it's a warning to us that we need to be careful about things like traditions, social conventions, our perception of what other people's expectations of us are, and trying to live up to all of that. other people's expectations. Hey, what is God's expectation in all of this deal? And I think what happens is if we really get focused on what God's expectations are, all those other things, social convention, traditions, and expectations, we find ourselves more easily able to say, no. And then we find margin in our lives And the turmoil kind of slows down. It doesn't grind away at us as much. Notice in verse 40 how Martha's overzeal with her concerns, things that she views as so important is also produced in her, this questioning of Jesus' concern. Lord, don't you care? She's so focused on what she's doing and when it becomes so taxing, she begins to look at Jesus and say, I'm not feeling this love. I'm not feeling your help. I'm not feeling like you're really with me in my agenda. Wow. Have you ever asked in your heart, Lord, don't you care? Look at my situation here. I'm not feeling the love. I'm not getting the support. What are we going to do with that? I think we got to ask ourselves. Wait a minute. What is this situation after all? How did this thing get started? Why am I here? What am I doing? And God, did you ask me to do this? That kind of questioning of Christ should be a red flag waving. Something's not in sync here. in the situation. And this warning should in no way suggest that we abandon difficult responsibilities. Oh, I know people who go, you see, it's the life of prayer and contemplation that God calls us to. No, I'm not one of those who's going to get busy with that labor. But we need to be examining whether or not The worries or irritations or weariness is the result of taking responsibilities that God never intended for us to take up. Now notice Jesus' response to Martha's critical attitude. He had to reprove her. There's something wrong when you think you're so right that you feel that you can boss Jesus around. When you get to the place where you're Critical of him, you really have to stop and criticize your own priorities. Irritability should be a warning to take a step back and really examine, what are you doing and why? Now, I must say, it could be a case where you and I are selfishly lazy. And we have procrastinated and procrastinated on a genuine, legitimate responsibility, and now we're jammed up. Has sin gotten you into a consequence that's very difficult? Or are you trying to win someone's approval with perpetual performance? These things are realities. it would be good to go to God and confess these things as sins. And then practice aligning your efforts by scriptural guidance and prayer, and if you need help with discerning what is the will of God in the situation, ask someone that you think is scripturally wise, or at least more experienced than you are, for some feedback. Go get help. Don't just do this thing on your own. If you need help, ask. That's what the body of Christ is for, beloved. So Jesus corrects Martha by pointing out that in this situation, her priorities are off. She needed to back off and follow her sister's example. Look at verse 41. The Lord answered her, Martha, Martha. And this double address to Martha, it is a way of insinuating himself into her soul without pounding her, saying, Martha, Martha. focus, pay attention to me, I'm gonna say something. And then he does. You are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is only one thing. Really, it should be only one thing is necessary. Now, the passage doesn't teach that, as I said, this life of contemplation and passivity is what Jesus is talking about. It does not teach that what Mary is doing is better in all situations, but in a situation like this, it is. It depends on the context. And in the context of this event, Jesus told Martha that fellowship with him was of a higher value to him than her providing this stupendous meal that she's scurrying around about. And Jesus not downgrading the value of homemaking or taking care of physical needs. No, no, no, no, don't go there. Because we're talking about the what? Situation. And he certainly was not elevating learning over labor either. That's another misrepresentation of this text. Take note of what Jesus himself did in this story. He arrives at the home of his friends. And what could he have done? He could have said, yo, Martha, look, just get me a little bit of juice, and I'm going off into this room. I want to just take a nap, and I'm just going to meditate and pray. No. He says, look, where's the chair over there? And he sits down, and he proceeds to work, to do the father's work, to teach. And Mary discerned that. Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken away from her. In other words, Jesus is saying about Mary's choice that the teaching she received on that event, in that event at that time, was something that was going to be possessed by her soul, it was of eternal value, and therefore it was not gonna be taken away from her. Earthly pleasures and treasures can be lost And they'll all be left behind, friends. But Mary could never lose the strengthening of her soul that she received in those brief hours of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So the passage gives us three signs of having our life priorities out of order, of being distracted Martha. See, I like Martha. So I'm going to call her not just Martha, but Distracted Martha, because in this situation, she wasn't really who she normally was. She was Distracted Martha. So inner turmoil or frustration, well, it can be a sign that you're committed to too many things that are really not necessities, but you have made them necessities. In your service to Christ, it may also mean that you're not paying attention to what he wants. You're busy doing what you think he wants. You've not evaluated what he says he wants. And rather, you're focused on and busy with what you think he wants or what you think other people think he wants for you. Inner turmoil or frustration can be a signal that you need to stop and reevaluate what you're doing, and why are you doing it, and who's called you to do this, and is it really in alignment with what Jesus says? Second thing, irritability with people, not getting with your agenda. This was Martha's issue. She wanted to serve the Lord, but when her sister didn't help her pull off what she wanted to accomplish, she got irritable. I never get irritable. That's why I know I'm a sinner, because I just lied. Have you ever been irritable? Don't answer. Irritability is a sign that you're becoming over-preoccupied with you. Complaining about others and becoming critical about them and what they don't do to support your vision, your passion, your sense of obligation. What your community has come to you and told you they really need you to do. Oh yeah? There's no one else in the community that could do that. Oh, no. Why do they come to you? Christians do tend to have their priorities and obligations a little bit more in alignment. And they are reliable, usually. You want to use your abilities and your interests, but You're not thinking about whether they're really for God. They're really more for you. Irritability. And then becoming suspicious of God's concern for you when things don't go according to your plans. Here's the third sign of an attitude that Jesus will have to reprove. Too often we become disillusioned and negative when we serve Christ because we're really doing things thinking that it's going to get his praise, get his approval. And we're really not doing it to bless other people and to enjoy loving God. And there's a big difference. So here's the bottom line. Let us heed the warning signs of becoming distracted Marthas. All right? Let's pray. Father, we are always amazed at how your Word splits us open and dissects all the way down into the most obscure dimensions of our souls and our personalities, our relationships, family, community, job, and church, and we pray that you'll just grant that as we contemplate what we've seen in this event that Luke chose to record that it will help us to be more quick to assess what your interests are and how we're using your time so that we may rejoice instead of being irritated. In Jesus' name, amen.