And please turn in your copies of God's Word once again to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 10. And we'll be reading together verses 38 to 42. Of course, the broader context is that Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, verse 38. Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. That ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray once again and ask the Lord's blessing upon his word. O Lord, as we have had your word read and as we are about to hear your word expounded, we ask that you would give us hearts like Mary that might receive that one thing, that might sit at your feet and rest, for even as we have just sung together, not mine, O Lord, to Thee can rid me of this dark unrest and set my spirit free. Help us now, Lord, even as we are attentive in our minds to rest at the feet of our Lord as he speaks to us through the priesthood. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, there's nothing more frustrating than working alongside a slacker. A slacker is someone who isn't carrying their weight in whatever work or project that needs to be done. Children, maybe in your homes there's a slacker. Maybe there's a sibling that you have that whenever mom or dad calls, all hands on deck, there's one who's always there and there's one who maybe shows up for a minute and then slinks away into the background. Or maybe you have someone like that in your workplace. Someone who's always kind of busy moving around with a coffee cup and they're always filling their cup, they're always having water cooler conversations, or they're bouncing from cubicle to cubicle talking to everybody. But when you go to them and ask them how a certain project is, they're too busy, they're swamped, they've no time. And what's true in the home and the workplace can also be true in the church. And whether it's in the home, the workplace, or the church, It's easy for those who are serving disproportionately to become frustrated. It's frustrating to work with those who aren't carrying their weight. And it can feel very unjust and unfair to feel like you're being maybe taken advantage of. But the danger for those who are serving is that their frustration can cause them to lose sight of why they're serving in the first place. Frustration turns into self-pity. Self-pity turns into resentment. And thus their work becomes less about serving the Lord and more about their own performance and pride. They become distracted from the very reason why they began serving in the first place. And that was very much the case of our dear sister, Martha. By welcoming Jesus into her home, Martha was doing a good thing. She rolled out the red carpet as Jesus came with his disciples into her home. She wanted to make sure that of all the homes that he visited in that area, that hers would stick out as a place where he felt welcomed and cared for. But in her service, she became distracted from the very reason why Jesus was in her home in the first place. He was there to serve her and to save her. But she lost sight of that, and her focus became solely upon her own works and her own service, to the point where her anxieties and fears of pleasing others and doing enough overwhelmed her. to the point that she forgot the one thing, Jesus says the only thing that is truly necessary, faith that rests in Christ alone. Jesus patiently and with great compassion corrects Martha by pointing her to see that her standing before God is not based on her works. It can't be gained or improved upon by frantic service, but rather it comes through sitting at the feet of Jesus. Well, as we have the opportunity now to sit at the feet of Jesus and to listen to his word, let us do so, and let us by faith with Mary receive the good portion that can never be taken away. Well, this morning we'll consider two points. First, Martha's complaint, and then secondly, Jesus' correction. First, we'll consider Martha's complaint, The passage begins with Luke reminding us of the context. And whenever we read our Bibles, we must always be conscious of the context. I think a mistake that Christians too often make is to approach the Gospels as if they're kind of a random collection of tales and stories and adventures from the life of Jesus, and they can be read sort of willy-nilly. But in doing so, one fails to recognize that all of the accounts and passages are connected contextually and even literarily. Each episode builds from the last, and each episode feeds into and informs the next. And as we'll see, that's very much the case here. As Luke has stated, he's set about to create a very carefully ordered account of those things accomplished by our Lord. And the context of this passage is that Jesus is continuing on his mission, on his journey to Jerusalem. Luke reminds us of that in verse 38 as he says, now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. You remember, or at least I'll remind you, that back in chapter nine, how Jesus set his face like flint to go towards Jerusalem. Jesus is perhaps like the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings, is on a great journey, he's on a mission, and whatever happens along the way is all building to and feeding towards that great mission of going to Jerusalem. And of course, the dreadful but wonderful at the same time thing that he will accomplish there. And as he went on his way to Jerusalem, he sent out disciples. And these disciples were sent out ahead of him to declare his coming from town to town and also to heal. And Jesus told them that anyone who received them into their homes, the disciples were then to declare God's peace upon that home and announce that his kingdom had arrived. And that's the very thing we see happening here. That's the context of the Mary Martha setting and scene that is so often ripped from its context. The context here is that Jesus has just entered into this village. And this woman, Martha, has received him and his disciples into her home. which means that she is a woman of peace, a woman of the kingdom. She has this mark of faith that Jesus says will come and be seen by those who trust him and receive the message of the disciples. Who is this lady? Well, Martha and her sister Mary are both sisters. They live in this home together. Most likely, this is the same Martha and Mary who are mentioned as sisters of Lazarus in John chapter 12. So that's the setting. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home. which is another way of describing hospitality. And in the first century, hospitality was everything. Hospitality was so important. Your social status and your honor, not only in your own home, but even for your extended family, depended largely on how hospitable you were and how well you could show kindness to others who were in your home. And so as soon as Martha welcomes Jesus into her home, At that point, her mind goes racing down the mental checklist of all the things that she has to do to show hospitality for Jesus and his disciples. And imagine if you heard that Jesus was coming to your home today. Our ladies imagine if with very little notice your husband came home and said that the boss or the CEO is coming over for dinner. Well your heart would probably skip a beat and then you'd run through in your mind all the things that have to be done. Making sure that the house is clean, all of the toys and things that are Winter clothing that's discarded at the front door when kids run in and out of the cold. That all has to be cleaned up. All the toys put away. All surfaces dusted and made ready. And there's food preparation. There's cooking to be done. Buying groceries, chopping, cooking, baking. There's the living room and the dining room to be prepared. You lay out your best tablecloth. You bring out your best dishes and silverware, the things you normally don't maybe trust to your children to use. And that's what Martha is doing here. She's taking her duty of care and hospitality very, very seriously. She wants to honor Jesus with her hospitality. Well, as Martha is cooking up a storm in the kitchen, Luke introduces us to another woman. another lady of the house named Mary. We see that in verse 39. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. So all of the guests begin to filter into the house. Jesus comes in with his disciples and maybe any other stragglers that were following along with him, and they sit or lounge at the table there. And Jesus begins to teach everybody. And Mary wants to hear what Jesus has to teach. And so she sits herself down at our Lord's feet. This posture of sitting is significant. To sit at someone's feet at this time was to take a posture of humility. There's a deliberate contrast here with the lawyer's posture from the previous episode. Remember how Luke told us how the lawyer interrupts Jesus as he's teaching his disciples. He stands up and he interjects his testing question of Jesus. So he stands up and challenges Jesus. But here, Mary sits down and she listens. To sit at someone's feet was also the posture of a disciple. Paul in Acts chapter 22 describes how he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel. But what's unusual for this time is that rabbis never had women disciples, just didn't happen. But as we already know, this is not unusual for Jesus, for he welcomes to be his disciples, not only men of all different classes and occupations, but also women and even children, boys and girls, to come and to listen and to receive his word. So there Mary is, sitting at Jesus' feet, focused on his teaching, listening, watching his lips move, listening to every word, soaking it all in. She doesn't want to miss a beat. And in doing so, she's oblivious to everything else that's happening in the house. All she cares about is listening to the voice of her Lord. However, Jesus' voice is not the only sound that's echoing throughout the house. No, in the background of Jesus' teaching, you can hear much noise coming from the kitchen. It's the sound of pots clanging and silverware rattling and water boiling and things sizzling in the pan. Martha is in the kitchen and she's frantically busy. And you know what that's like. You know what it's like to have a dinner party, have people over and you're multitasking a hundred different things. There's doors knocking, coming at the door, doorbells ringing, you're inviting people in, you're taking coats, you're giving drinks, you're pointing to the bathroom, to the restroom. All the while you're trying to make sure the pot doesn't boil over or the cake burns or something like that. And as Luke tells us, Martha was distracted by much serving. There she is in the kitchen doing all the work, sweating and toiling. The kitchen is cluttered, her apron is filthy with all sorts of things. And she has to make sure everything is right. But as she's slaving away in the kitchen, she notices that there's something missing, or rather someone missing. Mary's missing. And it was Mary's job to whip the cream and grate the cheese and uncork the wine bottle, pour the drinks. Where is Mary? Martha looks and sees her sitting at the feet of Jesus, just listening in the place perhaps that was more reserved for men. And she gets frustrated. Again, you probably know what that's like. You know perhaps what it's like. I think maybe mothers especially have that feeling of doing a lot of the work in the home and perhaps feeling that they're underappreciated and that maybe there are more hands to help but aren't helping. And it can make one feel frustrated, even angry. And that's how Martha is feeling in this moment. What should Martha do? Well, what's interesting is that Martha sees this, what she thinks is the problem, and she addresses it, not by going to Mary. You know, you might imagine she might kind of make some looks to get Mary's attention and then beckon her to the kitchen, or even go out there and bring her by the ear and drag her back to the kitchen for a tough conversation. But actually, she doesn't go to Mary at all. Who does she go to? She goes to Jesus. And she complains to him about Mary's apparent distraction and neglect of her duties. Look at verse 40, what she says to Jesus. Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. The implied answer is that, well, yes, Jesus should care. Maybe he's just a little absent-minded in this moment. You know how pastors get kind of a thing. She's not saying that, oh, you're uncaring. It's like, no, I know you're caring, and this is how you should care in this moment. And Martha orders Jesus, to order Mary to help her. You know, it's like Martha's acting kind of like the mom of the house and Jesus is almost like an absent-minded son or something like that. She's so misguided that she's actually blaming Jesus for what she thinks is the problem in the house. Of course we know the problem wasn't with Jesus. The problem isn't even with Mary. The problem was with Martha's heart. Luke tells us that Martha was distracted with much serving. Martha was distracted by all that she was doing. To be distracted means what? It means to have one's attention misplaced. It should be on this thing, but instead, maybe it's on these 101 other things. It's to lose focus, and it's to lose perspective. Ironically, she was serving because Jesus was in her home, and yet her service was the very thing that made her miss the whole point of why Jesus was in her home. In fact, she's so distracted that now she's blaming Jesus. And you can see that. You can almost see the events unfold, how the more she works and the more she drives herself, how she feels resentful. And notice her self-pity. Don't you care that I'm left serving alone? There's not only self-pity, but there's also pride. She's boasting in her works, in her performance, while criticizing Mary. And of course, by commanding Jesus what to do, she's assuming that she has the better perspective than both Mary and Jesus, which is never good. Well, we can't miss how much Martha teaches us about ourselves. This distraction of Martha in her service is also a danger for those who are actively serving in the church. Now, to be clear, some of us need the the kick, so to speak, to get off the couch and do some work and serve more than we are. We need the reminder that we've been saved to good works. But that's a message, another message for another day. Here, the message of this text is to correct those who are giving of themselves and are seeking to be faithful in Christian service. Well, for those who are serving, it can be easy that as you serve, you begin to lose sight of why you're serving in the first place. When you look around and you see others who are not pulling their weight, or maybe they're not serving in the church the way you are, or maybe they're not involved in the kind of ministry that you are. Why don't they give to this thing as I give? Why don't they pray for this thing the way I pray for these things? And you feel that perhaps you are carrying the load in a way that others should be. And like Martha, feel self-pity, and you ask yourself, why am I, Lord? Lord, why am I left alone to do these things? Lord, make them pitch in and help. And slowly but surely, self-pity gives way to pride. And then you find yourself not only turned inward in a wrong kind of way, but you're turned outward in a wrong kind of way. You feel resentful towards those who don't serve as much as you or in the way that you do. Maybe you make voluntary sacrifices in an area of your life and you can't understand why other Christians or church members don't make the same sacrifices. And you look down at them in pride. Well, this passage is clear. If that dear brother, if that dear sister is where your heart is, then the problem is not with Jesus, the Lord of his church. It is not with those other members necessarily, but it is with you. You've become distracted by secondary things and you've missed the one thing that is necessary. And all of your service and sacrifice has become a show, a performance for others and not a true service to Christ. Martha thinks that through her service, she should receive the place of honor and not marry. You see, rather than serving with a heart of gratitude for what Christ has done for her, instead she's serving with the intent of justifying herself, making a name for herself. You might recall the lawyer in the previous section, how he was trying to justify himself by, not by trying to obey the law really well, but trying to redefine the law. Well, here Martha is trying to justify herself by serving all that she can. Her pride of place, she thinks she'll find in how much she can do and work and achieve through her works. And in doing so, she's lost sight of the Lord himself. So first, then, there's Martha's complaint, which reveals, really, her own distracted heart. Secondly, then, we see Jesus' correction. Scripture tells us that faithful are the wounds of a friend, and Martha needed these faithful wounds of the Lord. In Jesus' words to Martha, there is great medicine that her soul needs. Let's consider Jesus' response. The first thing to notice about Jesus' correction is his amazing compassion. Jesus does care. He cares very deeply. He begins, Martha, Martha. To use a double vocative this way, Martha, Martha, Simon, Simon, is to show empathy and compassion. And so however you hear what Jesus is about to say, you must hear it with that compassionate, caring, pastoral, shepherd-like tone for her soul. Well, the second thing Jesus does is he puts his finger right on the real problem that's there. The problem wasn't Mary listening to his teaching. The problem wasn't that Jesus was the absent-minded professor type of guy. No, the problem was that Martha's soul is anxious and it's troubled. Notice what he says. He says, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. So the problem wasn't The problem wasn't what Martha was doing, right? Someone has to make the dinner. We can't all just say, well, I'm gonna go listen to a sermon. I'm not making dinner today. No, the dinner has to be made and Martha was doing a good thing. It's good to show hospitality. It was then and it is now. And so it's not wrong that she wants to serve Jesus and others. Where she went wrong was that what was motivating and driving her service and to what end she was serving. Jesus says you're anxious and you're troubled. Hey, Martha, you're worried about every little detail. You're running around like a headless chicken. Interestingly, the word that Jesus uses for anxious is the same word he used back in the parable of the soils to describe how the seed that fell among the thorns was choked out by the anxieties of life. Well, that's the same word that Jesus uses here to describe Martha's soul. It is a soul that is anxious. Jesus is warning Martha of the dangers of busy and anxious service, and he tells her to slow down. You're worried about too many things. Finally, he points her to the reason why she is so anxious and troubled. It's because she has forgotten the one most important thing, Jesus says, you're anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Martha's head was spinning with all of the things she thought she had to do for Jesus and for the disciples. But in focusing on the many things and allowing herself to be troubled and bothered by all of that, she lost sight of the one thing. All of those other concerns were secondary compared to this one thing. What is that one thing that Martha missed? Well, Jesus points it out, doesn't he, in the example of Mary? Whereas Martha missed the one thing, Mary has chosen the one thing. Look at verse 42. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. Here, Jesus is pointing Martha and us to our deepest need. What is that need? Well, it is the thing that Mary chose. It is the good portion that cannot be taken away. The word portion can refer to a portion of something. You might think of a portion of food or a portion of land. It can also refer to a portion as in an inheritance. In the Old Testament, Israel's portion was the land. But more than that, Israel's portion and inheritance was said to be the Lord himself. In Psalm 16, which we read earlier, David says, the Lord is my portion, my chosen portion, and my cup. You hold my lot. David says that the Lord is his portion. And because the Lord is his portion, his inheritance, he is certain of eternal life. As he goes on to say, therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure, for you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your Holy One see corruption. The Apostle Peter in the Book of Acts, interpreting Psalm 16, applies it to Christ, and particularly to the resurrection of Christ, and the resurrection we have in Christ. And so ultimately, David's portion is resurrection life in Christ. It is eternal life. That is what the good portion is, life eternal with the Lord himself. And this is the good portion that Mary has chosen. Mary has chosen eternal life. But how did she choose it? She chose it by sitting and resting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him in faith. Have you noticed how many times throughout the Gospel of Luke Jesus, and God himself, calls us to be listeners and hearers of the word? Time and again he had to tell his own disciples to unclog your ears, listen to me, listen to what I am saying. At times he even had to rebuke them for failing to listen. The father himself spoke through the cloud on the mountain, saying, this is my beloved son. What are we to do with that revelation? God says, listen to him. He's my son, listen. Why is listening to Jesus so emphasized? It's because faith receives life. through hearing the word of Christ. As we listen to the voice of Christ as he speaks to us through the preached word and especially through the gospel, and we receive his words by faith, believing who he is and what he has said to us, it's through that that we receive eternal life. And this is how Mary chose the good portion. And this is how we, beloved, choose the good portion today. So you see then, the lawyer's question is finally answered here in this passage. The lawyer stood up and tested Jesus asking, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do to obtain the inheritance, the portion? The lawyer wanted to prove that through his works, he could obtain eternal life, that good portion. However, in that encounter, Jesus pointed him to see back to the law and to see his failings before the law. No one can obtain the portion of life through obedience to the law. because we have all failed to meet God's perfect standard of the law. We have not and cannot love God as the law requires, nor can we love our neighbors as we ought. The law then imprisons us under its righteous condemnation. Martha, much like the lawyer, is anxiously trying to gain the good portion through her labors. But Jesus stops her and says to her, you're worried about so much, but you just need to focus on this. Focus on this one thing. Stop worrying about working so as to earn the portion. Instead, like Mary, receive the portion by sitting and resting at my feet and listening. And beloved, we need to hear those same words today, don't we? Because even though we know that we, through the gospel, are made right with God, we know that we're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, how easy it is for us to slip into a works righteousness mentality, where we think that the Christian life means that we have to perform for God, or even for others. How easily we slip into the lawyer mindset, where we try to readjust the law to make it easier for us to keep. How easily we fall into the Martha mindset, where we just plow ourselves into the work of these things, thinking that through these things we can earn eternal life. As if life eternal before the Father depends on me and what I do. We do this, don't we? We create impossible standards for ourselves and others. And when anyone fails to meet those standards, we beat them with the law. We beat them with our own legalism and self-righteousness. We look down on others who live the Christian life in ways different to us, that are in things indifferent. Even things that are good and commanded by God can be turned into empty legalistic practices that beat people down. Things like involvement in other ministries, or the attendance of lesser meetings, like prayer meeting, can be used as the yardstick to measure one's righteousness before God, and that is pure evil. Paul says that is anathema, to mark your righteousness before the Father using anything other than the yardstick that is the righteousness of Christ and his blood. And when that happens, life and joy is sucked out of the church of Jesus Christ. And then you have a church that's present in body, but not in spirit. Not meeting in the joy of the Lord, but in the fear of man, because what would so-and-so think if I wasn't there? And beloved, that is not a faith. It's not a faith, and it doesn't please the Lord. Yes, we are all called to serve the Lord, but neither fear nor frenzy can be the grounds of our motivation of our service to him. As the law shows us, our works will never be enough to inherit eternal life. It will never shift or improve our standing before God, and perhaps so much less so earning the favor of fickle man. It will never be enough, and our service then will only be a joyless drudgery. But what words of comfort then to hear Jesus point out as our example, Mary, who simply rests and sits and receives Christ, and to be told that this is the one thing for eternal life. Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you don't get to heaven through your service to me or through your work. Stop your busyness, stop trying to earn the favor of others, and simply rest at my feet. Your greatest need, Martha, Jesus says, is not to serve, but to be served. And Jesus this morning says to each one of us as we are running around frantically and frenzied in the fear of man and confused and wondering if we've done enough to earn God's favor. And he says to us, listen to my son. And what does my son say? Jesus says, sit and receive by faith my blood, my righteousness, the works that I have done. Listen at my feet. And so the application here is not whether, you know, which ones of us are Mary-type Christians and which one of us are, you know, Martha Christians and that sort of thing. I don't know how the text has ever, why it's ever applied that way. That's not what the text is teaching. No, the point of the text is that we all need to be Marys. We all, when it comes to eternal life and receiving a good portion, must sit still and quiet and listen and rest at the feet of Jesus and rest in the right standing and the justification that he has provided by his blood and by his righteousness. And we all need to hear that, don't we? We need that regularly. We need the regular reminder of the gospel that though we are sinners with restless hearts, deserving of hell, who do not deserve rest, Christ came. He suffered for us. He endured the restlessness of the crucifixion and the passion. He endured the mocking, the scorning, the pain. And he did so working throughout his life, fulfilling perfectly the law of God. He earned eternal life. He earned that good portion for us. And the way that we receive it is not by trying to earn it. It's not even like a mortgage where, okay, you have the use of the house, you have the use of your salvation, but you need to keep making these regular work payments, otherwise you're gonna lose your house, you're gonna lose your salvation. No, that's not the gospel either. That's a false gospel. Jesus says, I've worked, now you rest. Rest in me and receive my righteousness. And we can rest in that, we can. One of the ways God reminds us of the rest we have in Christ is through his gift of the weekly Lord's Day. Now I know the Lord's Day isn't always a day for physical rest for all of us, for parents, for pastors especially. But it is always a day of spiritual rest, where we're reminded of the gospel, and we're reminded that in Christ and in God, we have a refuge, a place of safety, a pillow upon which we can lay our heads and rest. Question 103 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks this. It asks, what does God require in the Fourth Commandment? The second part of the answer says that all the days of my life, I rest from my evil works, allow the Lord to work in me by his Spirit, and thus begin in this life the everlasting Sabbath. You see, the Lord's Day now is part of that good portion that we receive. It's a picture of the eternal portion, that good life that we will enjoy forever in heaven, in God's presence. And this is what we need. This is the cure to our frantic, distracted, and troubled, and anxious hearts. Monday through Saturday we serve and we work and we toil, but on Sunday God gives us the gift to sit down and listen to his word, to receive from Christ the grace that he has for us through the means that he has promised to use, his word and sacraments. Sunday is the spiritual rest day and vacation for the Christian. It's busy with getting the kids ready for church and preparing meals and maybe hosting people, but spiritually, let us feast upon Christ. even as we'll be reminded as we feast upon Christ this evening in the Lord's Supper. And it's then, and it's only then, after we have first rested at His feet, and we have been first served by Him, then we are enabled to serve. Not in order to earn our place at His feet, not in order to earn our standing before the Father, but rather because we have received that place, that good portion, that inheritance by grace. And so, beloved, by faith, sit and listen to the voice of Jesus and choose with Mary the good portion, eternal life that will never, never be taken away. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we are reminded of the prayer of a saint of long ago who said, who prayed to you even then that Our hearts are restless until they find a rest in you. And Lord, even as believers, we know what it is at times to have those restless, anxious, troubled hearts. Lord, help us first to sit at your feet and then empowered by your spirit and revived by your gospel and knowing that our salvation and justification is in you. May we then rise to serve, only having first been served and loved by you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.