Turn to Luke chapter 10 with me this morning. I was thinking of having all the veterans stand up, but I decided not to. But we have quite a few here, more than probably most of you realize. But turn with me to Luke chapter 10 this morning. Not only veterans, those who are in the service right now. Luke chapter 10, we're at the end of the chapter, toward the end, and Luke has recorded another portion from the life of our Lord as well as some of our Lord's words, verses 38 through 42. Now it happened as they went that they entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered, and said to her, Martha, Martha, there's an R and a TH in there, so I'm going to struggle with that, so just bear with it. Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken from her. Well, this is a delightful passage and I'm glad that my sins aren't written on the pages of scripture or my weaknesses. However, I will rehabilitate Martha a little bit right now rather than later in the message. When you read John chapter 11, and this is a separate situation from the one there in John chapter 11, We have two of the greatest confessions of faith prior to the resurrection come out of the lips of Martha. And if you read John chapter 11, you'll see them. So I'll rehabilitate Martha a little bit for you right up at the beginning of the message, whereas today we'll see some of her weaknesses from this passage. Now, some introduction and background as we go. It happened as they went, they entered a certain village. Christ and his twelve disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. And we know that the certain village they entered is Bethany. We know that from other texts, which was about three miles outside of Jerusalem. And a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Now Martha may have been the eldest of the two sisters of Mary and Martha and also they had a brother whose name was Lazarus. There's an R in there too, Lazarus. And so we have this household that apparently was made up of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And from this text we might conclude that Martha was the owner of the house. It says she welcomed him into her house. That may be the case. She may have been the eldest and she may have been the owner and the manager of this household. It may have been Martha herself. And so she extends a hospitality to the Lord in her home, in her house. And this would have included the 12 apostles as well. She extended it to the Lord Jesus, but this would have included the 12 apostles. And then with Mary and Lazarus and Jesus, we got 15 to 16 people in her home and she's welcoming them. And it's probably late afternoon or early evening. And so we got 15 or 16. And so Martha gets on the phone and calls Domino's. Well, not quite. Okay. She doesn't get on the phone and call Domino's. She's got a lot of work to do. Okay. And they've been traveling and of course they are hungry and they need to be fed. No, so she doesn't call Domino's. And so she gets to work and she begins to work very hard. And she wants to do two things. She wants to meet the needs of her guests and she wants to honor and respect them. She wants to do biblical hospitality and those are the two things you want to do. You want to meet their needs and you want to honor and respect them. And that's what she wants to do. And that's a very good thing. Did she know they were coming? Or did they just drop by? Well, we're not certain about that. It can go either way. We know on some occasions Jesus sends someone ahead of him. And you can see those occasions in the Bible where Jesus sends someone ahead to let them know that he's coming. with his disciples. We don't know what happened in this case, whether he did that or not. Now Mary and Martha, Martha and Mary, we're accustomed to saying Mary and Martha, aren't we? Well, Martha and Mary, they know him already, okay? Jesus is not a stranger and Jesus' disciples are not a stranger to this family, to this household. They know him and she knows the disciples and it's likely this is not the first occasion. that they have been in her home, and this is not the last occasion either. Now, as Martha welcomes everyone in and begins preparations, Jesus is seated in the largest room of the house with the other twelve apostles. Mary, her sister, and she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. So now we have the Lord, the 12, Mary, maybe Lazarus, we don't know. They're in the largest room of the house and they're all seated and Mary is right there seated at Jesus' feet. hearing his word. Now, we may not recognize it at first because our culture is quite different from the Jewish culture in many ways, but this scene is one of discipleship. The language that Luke is using here and the picture that he paints of Mary sitting at Jesus' feet and hearing His Word. That is discipleship. That's the disciple respectfully under the authority of the Master. And that's the scene here, not only with the Twelve, but with Mary. Mary is in the position of a disciple to the Master, Jesus. Paul refers to himself in Acts as brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. Paul refers to himself that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. In other words, the great Pharisee was a direct teacher of the apostle Paul and Paul views him at the feet So, what's going on here is that type of a scene. Mary is the disciple. Now, what may have appeared strange or inappropriate to them was that this disciple was a woman. Now that would have appeared unusual. And yet Jesus spoke to her, and as we will see, he defended the disciple-master relationship for women. Okay, and we're going to see that. Now, you may remember on another occasion, that the twelve, the disciples' reaction when they discovered Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman, John tells us they marveled that he spoke to a woman. And the marveling there was not that she was a Samaritan woman. That isn't the emphasis of the marveling. The marveling was that the rabbi, the master, the teacher, spoke to a woman. And yes, men have been chauvinists. And if you argue with a feminist, the first thing you ought to do is you ought to admit that sin has totally marred what men and women ought to be. It has. The feminist solution is not right. But let us, as Christians, acknowledge the truth right away. And it's the same thing, of course, with the Muslims and with the Crusades that were supposedly conducted in the name of Christ and in the name of Christianity. Let us acknowledge to the Muslims that we would evangelize that, no, you're not seeing the display of real Christianity, you know, in the sign of the cross cut off the heads of your enemies, all right? That is not Christianity, neither is the fact that these men marveled that the master spoke to a woman. Neither is that Christianity either, the attitude, the sin that leads to those sad, sad expressions of our own making of distinctions that God has not made. Isn't that what sin does? We make distinctions He has not made and we try to eliminate the distinctions He has made. Okay? That's exactly what our sinful hearts do. And that's what the wisdom of man does. Make distinctions he has not made and eliminate distinctions he has. So this scene is a scene of discipleship and Mary is at his feet hearing his word and the Lord's going to defend that, okay? Now all seems very well, okay? What a nice scene. Jesus is teaching, the others are intently listening, a meal is being prepared, the guests are resting. from their journey, and surely the guests are being occupied, so they're not focused on their empty stomachs while the meal is being prepared. And everything seems so nice, but the tension in the kitchen is building. It's building in the kitchen, and there's only one person in there, but the tension is building. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And so she is mentally and emotionally being pulled in different directions. She's distracted. That's what the Greek word means, distraction. You know, you're being focused here and then you're being pulled over here. You know, you're trying to do this and the kids are tugging on you to do this. Well, she's there all by herself and there's no kids in the kitchen, all right? So she's getting distracted all on the inside about what's going on. And she's very busy to get a meal for 15 people prepared and ready to serve, but she keeps losing focus. as she sees her sister sitting at Jesus' feet. You know, maybe it was open. I don't know the architecture of those kinds of houses. Nowadays, you know, everything's open. So if you're standing in the kitchen, you can see the living room. So maybe she's seeing the living room, right? And she's out of the sight of her eyes. She keeps seeing Mary sitting down over there. And so she's losing her focus. Maybe something boils over on the stove because she's so distracted looking at Mary. I don't know, but she's distracted. She's having a tough time. And she's trying to stay focused on the meal and the many preparations. And they seem to be too many. Or it will be 10 p.m. before this meal is served. Either there's too much to do or it's going to be midnight before these folks are going to eat. There's this tension. She's distracted. She can't stay focused on the meal and realizing her sister is able to help, but she's not. She's just there listening to Jesus. Now, in this distraction, she even begins to resent Jesus. She begins to resent Jesus, who has not supported her And we know that from what's going to come out of her heart. She's convinced that she views the situation correctly. So she interrupts her work, steps into the large room, interrupts the conversation and addresses Jesus, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? She's confident that she sees it right. And when it comes to frustration and anger and resentment, we can be so sure she's right, okay? We can be so sure we're right. Anger, frustration, resentment. You don't get angry until you're sure you're right. Have you ever been angry when you've known you're wrong or felt you're wrong? Maybe, but not about another person, okay? You've never been angry at another person when you've known you're wrong, okay? You know, you might, you know, kick the computer or something else, you know, but you're not angry at another person. You can only be angry at other people. or condemn other people when you've already gone through the whole process of being sure you're right. So she in the kitchen, she went through that whole process in her mind already. She's right, Mary's wrong, and Jesus may not even care. She's gone all that way in her mind. And she's quite sure she's right and she steps in there and says, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? She condemns both Jesus and Mary. She knows what both Jesus and Mary should do. Jesus isn't doing what he should do. And Mary isn't doing what she should do. Jesus should have by now said, Mary, you know, you need to go, Mary, you need to get into the kitchen here and help your sister while we have this theologue over here, okay, while we gather as theologue men, okay. I like theologues, okay, but at times I think, especially younger men, they're, they don't, they're kind of, they got a problem here, okay. And I suspect if I talked to a lot of you ladies, you would feel that way. You know, we're going to go theolog, okay? And we have theologs in this church, and we like them, all right? But no, Jesus didn't do what Martha thought he should, and neither did Mary do that. Well, she condemns them both, and she says, therefore, tell her to help me. Now, the thing about this story is, is we want to agree with Martha, don't we? You know, especially in our culture. Man, some of those guys ought to get in there and help her too. Those selfish male slobs. We want to agree with Martha. Man, they're all in the living room and she's in there sweating in the kitchen and there's no air conditioner in that kitchen. You know, we might want to agree with her. I mean, after all, Mary lives in this house, okay? Mary's not one of the guests. Mary's not one of the guests. So, I mean, when you really think about this, you know, if you don't have the rest of the story, you know what, you know, those management courses you go to, maybe you don't, but you go to those management courses and they set the situations up, you know, boss mistreats worker, worker shoots his mouth off, Deadline is is missed, you know and they set it up for you in the management course And they don't give you the answer and you get in your little group and they say now what now what would you do? You know, what's right? What's wrong? How do you handle it? I wonder if we didn't have Jesus's response you see and this was presented to us as a test case What should Jesus do? Okay, or what should Mary do? I wonder if we would answer this way I don't think we would I don't think we would. But there's quite a lesson going on here, and that's what we need to see. Well, she says, tell her to help me. Well, the Lord doesn't do that, does he? Verse 41, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her." Martha considered serving this meal sooner or making it larger than was necessary. She considered that more important than Mary having an opportunity to hear the Lord's words. And Jesus did not agree with Martha's priorities. She considered either getting this done sooner or having much more in this event than needed to be. as more important than Mary hearing the words of the Master. That was her priorities. And she was wrong. And Jesus does not go along with that assessment of this situation. It's okay, Martha, if we eat at 10 p.m. Nobody died from hunger and there's no diabetics here, so it's okay if we eat at 10 p.m. Or it's okay if we don't have all those side dishes. I don't know. But Mary has a perception of what must be done in order to carry out biblical hospitality, which is a good thing, but her perception's wrong. And it's become more important than Mary. Did I say Mary has a perception? Martha has a perception. And it's become more important than Mary sitting at Jesus' feet and hearing his word. And Jesus doesn't go along with it. Now, Jesus' response must have surprised her and not been easy to hear. She says, tell her to help me. And he says, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. Was she seeking her own glory in the matter? I don't think so. I don't think she was seeking her own glory in the matter. However, if we were honest in our culture, this is often a major source of the anxiety for us. But we are so man-centered. We are so man-centered, okay? I don't think she was seeking her own glory, but in our culture, that is often the case. No, in her case, I think she had convinced herself that many more things, Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. She had convinced herself that many things were necessary for this act of hospitality that really were not required. And that's where I think she went wrong. And that's why Jesus says, you know, you're worried and you're bothered about many things. And I don't think it was her own glory. But there were too many things there that she was trying to do and accomplish which weren't necessary. But one thing is needed And Mary has chosen that good part. Now, there's a textual question here, right? If you're reading the New American Standard, it says, few things are needful, really only one. Well, we end up in the same place, okay? One thing is needed. Few things are needful, really only one. One thing is needed, we end up in the same place, so it's an easy one to deal with. The one needed thing was to submissively hear Jesus's word. This is the good part which Mary had chosen. Now Jesus is not faulting Martha for working to prepare a meal and meet the needs of her guests. After all, they did need to eat, okay? So somebody needed to be in that kitchen. He's not faulting her for doing that and saying, Martha, you know, you should dump that meal and get in here with the rest of us. No. He's not faulting her for doing that, nor is he implying, you know, that you know, that she should be at his feet right then, but she is wrong for her anxiety over all the preparations. Had they been simplified or delayed some, she would not require the additional help of Mary. Okay? One thing is needed. And Mary's chosen the good part. You see, sacrificing the one thing needed for the many things unneeded is not right. Martha has told Jesus to sacrifice the one thing needed. Tell her to come in here and help me. Nope. He's not going to do it. Not going to sacrifice the one thing needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her. No, he's not going to tell her, go in and help. Oh man, you feel, you're kind of hurt from Martha, don't you? If you have any feeling in you. That was hard. I mean, I'm sure Jesus, well, he said it with some emphasis, Martha, Martha. I'm sure he said it with compassion, okay? He said it with compassion, I'm sure, because he really loved this family. So Jesus says, no, I will not tell Mary to help you, and it is not because I don't care for you. Now, Jesus could have gotten offended. Right? You husbands, we get offended all the time when our wives doubt that we care for them, right? Am I the only one that's sensitive that way? Maybe I am. I didn't see any of you smile. I must be a wimp. I need to buck up. What's that? Oh, you're afraid to? Okay, well, Jesus, you know, she says, you know, do you not care? And Jesus doesn't even go there, okay? He responds, oh, you know, oh boy, I better give her her way. Okay? So, all right, now I don't want to stir anything up, okay? All right? So, I can say that kind of stuff because I'm just like the rest of you. Now, why do you think Luke selected this passage? What do you think? Do you think there's anything bigger here than just what we've been talking about? Yeah, I'll mention three things, three applications as we think about the Lord and what's going on here. And the first is this. This passage teaches us about Jesus Christ. And what do I mean? will consider what Jesus said about himself. As we've seen in previous passages, Jesus often doesn't just directly say these things about himself, but the direct implication is undeniable. Jesus doesn't say, Hearing my word is really the one thing needed for your life. With the emphasis on my word. But this of course is the point. Then we ought to ask who does he think he is? He said it. One Thing is needful. And what was that one thing? To listen to him, to hear his word. Now, who does he think he is to say such a thing and to just nonchalant put himself in that position? You see what he did? One thing is needful. Oh, what's that? To listen to me. Who does he think he is? You see, that's why this passage is here. He's the Lord. A person may do everything else in their lives But if they neglect hearing His Word, they have left undone the one needful thing. You see? That's what he's saying. A person may do everything else in their lives, and if they neglect hearing His Word, they've left undone The one needful thing. That's what he's saying about himself in the way he is behaving in this situation. Now what a claim indeed regarding himself, isn't it? Sure it is. He behaves like he's the Lord. That's the point. He behaves like he is the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh. And God spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved son. What? Hear him. When God spoke from heaven, see that? That all fits. One thing is needful to hear Him. Jesus of Nazareth behaves like He is what? The Son of God. And of course He is. He's not just a prophet. He's not an angel. He's not just a rabbi. Okay. Now, of course, he made many similar claims about his word. We've seen them in Luke already, Luke chapter 6, right? Everyone who comes to me and, what, hears my words and acts upon them, I will show you who he is like, right? And the one who, what, does not hear my words, I'll show you what he is like. Luke chapter eight, he said, my mother and my brothers are what? Those who hear the word of God and do it. And he's referring to his own speech. Luke chapter nine, we thought for whoever is ashamed of me and what? My words. Of him, the son of man will be ashamed. when he comes in his glory. Luke 21, we're going to hear him say, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. So Mary has chosen to sit at Jesus' feet and do the one needed thing. And that is to hear his words. And that good part will not be taken from her. This passage, you see, is about Jesus Christ, who He is and who He knows He is. For Jesus to say, sure Mary, get up and go in there, that would be a denial. and what was coming out of his mouth. You understand that? You see that? For Jesus to say, oh, that's fine. Mary, you don't need to hear my words. You see, that would be a cheapening of everything he is and him as the master. It would cheapen it all for him to have agreed with Martha because of who he is, you see. One thing is needed. So, the passage teaches us about Jesus the Christ, the one who speaks the words of God to mankind. The second thing the passage tells us about, of course, are the priorities that you and I should have. You must make time for discipleship at the feet of Jesus. You must pursue the one thing needed. You can't read this passage if you're half awake without thinking you must pursue the one thing needed. And in countless situations, it's the word of the master that you need. We don't think that way, do we? But in countless situations, and young people, teenagers, boys and girls, it's the word of the Master that you need. You see? You're not wise. I'm not wise. I'm not smart. We need the words of the Master, the one thing needed, you see. And in countless situations, decisions we need to make, situations to deal with, enduring temptations, to be prepared for service that He's called you to. Priorities. Fathers and husbands, lead your households to do the one thing needful. Lead your households, mothers, lead your family, fathers, lead your households to do the one thing needful. You know, maybe you could develop a kind of a code phrase that everybody understands. I thought of it myself in this passage, you know, in your family. Maybe you could develop a code phrase, you know, let's not allow this day to pass without having done the one thing needed. You know, maybe you can lead and encourage your household that way. Let's not allow this day to end. without having done the one thing needed. You see, the passage tells us about our priorities, doesn't it? And Jesus defends that priority in this very practical situation of Mary at His feet. And this applies not only to us individually, and I'll go even broader, the one thing needed. Let us not drift from this as a church. And let us somehow be a force of calling other churches back to this, for so many have drifted so far from His words. They appear to be in the dangerous category of whoever is ashamed of me. And how can you tell if they're ashamed of Him? How can you tell the church which is ashamed of Jesus Christ compared to the church that isn't? Ashamed of my words! How can you tell the church that is ashamed of Jesus Christ? It is a church that is ashamed of his words. It's a church that will not, without compromise or diluting, set his word before people. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, and when you become ashamed of his words, you are setting aside the one needful thing. Don't do it. Don't do it individually, and don't do it as a church. And so the passage teaches us about our priorities. Now third, the passage tells us of a great promise in our Savior's attitude toward his disciples. Listen to his words, they're very precious and if you'll think about them just for a moment. Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. Now isn't that precious? Think about that, that's really precious. The master, the master defends his disciples choosing the good part. The master defends his disciples choosing the good part. Jesus says she has chosen it, she shall have it. It will not be taken away from her. And I'm sure this is his attitude toward all his disciples. Does it encourage you to go and sit at his feet? It should. Those are kind words. She's chosen the good part. And it will not be taken away from her. He is the Lord. The one thing needful here in his word. It even works for conversion, right? The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear his word and those who hear, what? Shall live. That's evangelism, okay? As well as the maturing of the saints. The Lord Jesus is not a dead doctrine, folks. He's a living Lord and Savior and Master. Let's sit at his feet. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for coming and walking among us. We thank you for becoming one of us and subjecting yourself to the frailty of human nature and needing to eat food and be weary in your body and all of these things. We worship You as not only man, but as the eternal equal with God in all Your character, O Son of God. We worship You as our Savior and Redeemer. Thank You for speaking to us. Lord, thank You for not leaving us in darkness. Thank You for speaking to us. Encourage us, Lord, to do the one needful thing. Help us be faithful as individuals, as households, as a church. Protect us from the evil one, the devil who would snatch the seed of the Word of God from our hearts. Lord, thank you for an opportunity to worship you. Keep us in the days which follow. We pray in Jesus' great name.