04.24.2016 How to have a Simple and Pure Devotion to Christ

Lord, we do need You for every aspect of our lives – for finances, and health, and relationships, and spiritual things – in every circumstance – to see that You are the One who provides the grace and support and strength in order that we might be faithful to what You have called us to – we cannot do it apart from that. It is not in us, it is only in You – that we are able to serve, love, and walk with You. I pray that we would look to You – that You would give us what we need to be Your followers.
2 Cor. 11: 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Last week we looked at the negative side of this – how we are led astray and how the enemy leads us astray - the false gospels that were being proclaimed and the false things that are being proclaimed today. I thought it would be good to focus on the positive in how to maintain a sincere devotion to Christ. In order to do that, we need to look at the story of two women in the Bible – and that is found in Luke 10…
Luke 10: 38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with [a]all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
For some of you this may be a favorite story… or not.
There is a tendency to look at this story in two ways – and even though I have done this – it is not how it is supposed to be viewed or taught.
The first way is to teach it as an encouragement or exhortation to have a quiet time or read your Bible.
Or – we teach this as a contrast between the quiet life of devotion in contrast to the busy life of service – and according to the story, the contemplative life wins the day. There may be valuable application to this passage, but neither of these are the meaning of the passage.
There is something of critical importance – context!
This comes at a critical juncture in the gospel of Luke – and there are 3 aspects of the context to understand.
The first one – and you need a Bible to do this.
Turn to Luke
We are going to drop back to 9:51 – there is this amazing shift here
This is chapter 9 of 24 chapters – and Jesus begins His journey to the cross:
51 When the days were approaching for His [a]ascension, He [b]was determined to go to Jerusalem;
This gives us the meaning of the gospel and the purpose of His coming. From here on out – we will have this journey story – this journey narrative – and what Luke does – He parallels Jesus’ journey to the cross with what might be a metaphor of what it means to be a disciple – and what the journey of discipleship looks like. Through the journey to the cross He describes the characteristics and cost of being a disciple of Jesus.
Luke 10:38
38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.
Luke connects the description of the journey - 38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; - and then adds instruction on discipleship – what it means to be a disciple.
What we see in this passage is not so much the contemplative life vs. the busy life of service – but what it means to be a disciple and fully devoted follower of Christ.
So there are two aspects – the journey to the cross and the journey of discipleship – and the third aspect – the third context – is that of hospitality. There is an emphasis on hospitality – and the emphasis on being a devoted disciple of Jesus.
After Jesus starts His journey - - vs. 52
52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to [c]make arrangements for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because [d]He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, [[e]and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.
Right after he sets His face on the journey – there is a village that does not offer their hospitality.
Then in early Luke 10 – he sends out the seventy – when you go into a town – and there is a person of peace there – stay with them – accept their hospitality – they will be the ones to be my devoted followers.
So there is this theme of hospitality – of being a devoted follower.
Martha offers hospitality and service and extends it to Jesus. She is in no way condemned for offering hospitality – and by doing this – it is a sign that Martha is a true disciple of Jesus – She is acting the way a disciple ought to act. But there is a problem. She looks and acts like a devoted disciple – but there is something wrong with her discipleship. She wants to do the right thing – but in some way she is failing.
In verse 39- Jesus contrasts the two.
This phrase – she sat at the Lord’s feet to hear what He had to say. This was a common phrase and those in their world would understand what was being said – it was much more than an action – there are 3 definitions – to sit at the feet meant to study with or become a disciple of that person – a description of a model disciple – one who had begun the journey of discipleship.
Mary is committing herself to being a follower of Christ. This is about her discipleship – it is about much more than having a daily devotion – it is choosing to follow Jesus with our whole lives.
Martha was distracted…
Martha’s problem is not her service or hospitality – those are always positive qualities – the problem is she is distracted in her service – distracted from her devotion to Christ in her service and hospitality. She has allowed her service and hospitality to lead her astray from a simple and pure devotion to Christ.
Martha is fulfilling the role she is expected to fulfill. She knows her place in her culture and carries it out fully. It is what is expected in her culture – and she is focused on meeting outward expectations. So often we get overwhelmed with activity in service because we are working to meet outward expectations – of culture, others, family – whatever.
She is striving - and it is about reputation – and she does not even know it is happening. She is wrapped up in what is supposed to be done that she doesn’t even see it.
We get so wrapped up in doing the things that
‘’good Christians’ are supposed to do – we lose sight of Who we are doing it for and WHY
Jesus never condemns what Martha does – He condemns what she is feeling and going through as she does it.
Her words are amazing – when she comes to Jesus – and her theology was right when it came to Lazarus being raised at the last day – but the rest of her words – Lord, don’t you care that she has left me to do all the work? Then she barks out orders to her Lord and Master – Tell her to help me! Don’t you care?
Last week we talked about how what we think about God is the most important thing about us.
Don’t you care? When we say that to God, it is an indication that something is broken.
Let me say this as a caution – we all, at times – want to say to God – don’t You care?! And you know what? God can handle it – don’t fake it – God wants our raw honesty – and the key is to allow those times – when everything is caving around us – and it really really really seems clear that God doesn’t care – when you cannot say there is anything going on in my life where it appears that God cares – and in those times, the key is to seek a deeper level of God’s love for us. There is a level of love we don’t understand and we only understand them in our struggle and pain.
It is painful and hard work to discover that level of love – we just ignore it and go on.
The next thing we see – Me Me My – My sister has left ME to do all the work, tell her to help ME – like the grandchildren – he took MY toy – Me first always!@
Hospitality is about making your guest feel comfortable – and focused entirely on the guest – but Martha is focused on Martha. She accuses and judges her sister. She is consumed with what others are NOT doing! Think about that! How often do we get consumed thinking of what others are not doing? This is so convicting, I will move on to
41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Mary’s won’t be taken away – Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the seed – the weeds are the worries of this world choking out our devotion and faith – and that is what happened to Martha. Mary has chosen – she has made a decision – to be a disciple – a follower of Jesus. Whatever it costs. If we go back to your Bibles and look at 9:57
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the [f]air have [g]nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
What we see Jesus doing on this journey to the cross and the journey of discipleship – people have to make a choice and learn to stick with it – choosing to focus our lives on Jesus.
“A disciple is simply someone who has decided to be with someone to become what that person is” – Dallas Willard
And that is what Mary is doing – to be a disciple we must learn from Him how to live our lives as if He were us.
That does not mean that we do exactly what Jesus did – but living our lives and Jesus would – how would He love our families, or do your job or be a friend to your friends?
Martha’s activity prevented her from being fully devoted to Jesus.
I believe there are always ways – even in the busiest lives – to choose to be a disciple or follower of Jesus. When you are at the most busy point of your life, there are ways to choose as Mary has chosen. We need to believe that.
That does not mean choosing to do many activities.
There is an entire world of difference between doing Christian activities and being a follower of Christ. They can intermix – but they can have nothing to do with one another – if our hearts are askew like Martha’s
This passage does not promote irresponsibility with tasks. It is not an excuse to not meet needs because you have other priorities? What is the primary context of this passage? The Good Samaritan comes right before – He is on the road, beaten, and left to die. The religious people pass by and do not help. They had bigger priorities – and then the outcast comes by and serves. What is amazing – he goes out of his way making sure the guy is taken care of – but he still goes about his business – doing the things he needs to do. And we need to find a balance – God wants us to do both. Who was the disciple in the Good Samaritan story? The Good Samaritan – not the religious people, And He puts that next to this story – and there has to be a balance – and the disciple learns to do both.