Wednesday Evening Bible Study

March 21, 2001

Introduction

Illustration

Some time ago, a newspaper in Tacoma, Washington, carried the story of Tattoo, the basset hound. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut his leash in the car door and took off with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice.

A motorcycle officer named Terry Filbert noticed a passing vehicle with something that appeared to be dragging behind it. As he passed the vehicle, he saw the object was a basset hound on a leash.

“He was picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could,” said Filbert. He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued, but not before the dog reached a speed of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour, and rolled over several times.

(The dog was fine but asked not to go out for an evening walk for a long time.)

-- John Ortberg.  Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 4.

Does that sound like you sometimes?  Do you feel like you’re “picking them up and putting them down as fast as you can”?  I pray that tonight we all might slow down a little and catch our breath.

:38  Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

received – hupodechomai – to receive as a guest.  We believe that Martha is the older sister.  She is acting as the host for Jesus and His disciples.

We see Martha and Mary in two other places in the New Testament.  We believe this account in Luke 10 to be the first chronologically.

Later, Jesus will get word that Martha’s brother, Lazarus, is sick.  Jesus shows up after Lazarus is dead.

(John 11:20-27 KJV)  Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. {21} Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. {22} But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. {23} Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. {24} Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. {25} Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: {26} And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? {27} She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

It is after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead that we see the final encounter with this family, with one last meal prepared by Martha:

(John 12:1-8 KJV)  Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. {2} There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. {3} Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. {4} Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, {5} Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? {6} This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. {7} Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. {8} For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Here you see that Martha is still serving, but at least she’s no longer complaining.

:39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

sat – parakathizo – to make to sit down besides; to set beside, place near; sit down beside

at – para – from, of at, by, besides, near

heard – akouo – to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf; to hear; to attend to, consider what is or has been said; to understand, perceive the sense of what is said; to hear something; o get by hearing learn; to comprehend, to understand.  Imperfect tense – continuous action in the past.

 

 

:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

cumbered – perispao – to draw around, to draw away, distract; metaph. to be driven about mentally, to be distracted; to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing.  The verb is passive, the idea is that all the things that Martha has to do are pulling her around the room, she was drawn around the room with all the things she needed to do.  The verb is an imperfect tense – continuous action in the past.

about – peri – about, concerning, on account of, because of, around, near

She was “drawn around” “around” her “much serving”.

Martha is a person who is being driven to action by all the needs around her.

That’s not a bad thing sometimes.  Sometimes I wish more people were motivated by the needs around them.

But she is a person who is being distracted by all the needs to neglect the thing she needs the most.

much – polus – many, much, large

serving – diakonia – service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others

came to – ephistemi – to place at, place upon, place over; to stand by, be present; to stand over one, place one’s self above.  

Jesus is apparently reclining, and Martha comes up and stands over Him.  I love the picture!  She’s going to start ordering Jesus around!

care – melo – to care about

alone – monos – alone (without a companion), forsaken, destitute of help, alone

left – kataleipo – to leave behind; to depart from, leave; to forsake, leave to one’s self a person or thing by ceasing to care for it, to abandon, leave in the lurch

to serve – diakoneo – to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon

she help – sunantilambanomai – to lay hold along with, to strive to obtain with others, help in obtaining; to take hold with another

“take hold and do her part along with me”

Martha apparently is aware that Mary won’t listen to her if she asks her directly.  She goes straight to Jesus figuring that Mary will only listen to Him.

Lesson

Don’t resent those who don’t help

Be careful when you get to the place where you are beginning to resent those who aren’t helping you do what you think needs to be done.

You begin saying to yourself, “What could be more important than serving Jesus?”  Could there actually be anything more important than serving Jesus?

It could be that you are correct in your concern.  You might indeed be doing something that the other person needs to be doing.

But you also might be wrong too.  What if they’re already doing what God wants them to do?

Be careful about being a pain to others.

It’s okay to ask for help, but it’s not okay to be obnoxious.

Illustration

There was a Peanuts cartoon with Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, “I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!”

Charlie says, “But I thought you had inner peace.”

Lucy replies, “I do have inner peace. But I still have outer obnoxiousness”

Lesson

Maturity means learning to say “no”.

I think one of the marks of maturity is when we learn to know clearly where our priorities are, and we know how to politely say “no” to the things that want to take us away from what we need to be doing.

We need to be careful that the serving we do is being led by the Lord and not by people.  We need to be careful that the serving we do is supported and empowered by the Lord.

(1 Pet 4:11 NLT)  …Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.

Illustration

Thomas Kelly writes,

“We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all.  And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow....  We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power.  If only we could slip over into that Center!... We have seen and known some people who have found this deep Center of living, where the fretful calls of life are integrated, where No as well as Yes can be said with confidence.”

Illustration

Bill Hybels (“The Character Crisis,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 57.) writes,

I’ll never forget the letter I got from a fallen leader. He wrote: “Let me state my position on the matter of your needing to slow down.” (He was talking to me.) And he said, “I think I have a better-than-average perspective based on my past experience of ten years as a pastor, five years as a conference speaker. For most of those years I preached or taught over three hundred times a year. I know the incessant demand to deliver material that first would be true, and then be moving and witty and sometimes eloquent. I know that every waking moment for me was spent, one way or another, engaged in amassing material for sermons. Add to this counseling, personal witnessing, administrative responsibilities of running a church, and you have an overly full schedule.

“With all of this, I found myself missing (or conveniently overlooking or justifying) growing signs of problems in my home. Cries for help from my family were drowned out by the roar of the demands of fulfilling my holy calling. When the cries ceased, I assumed the problem had been solved, but it was only that a death had occurred in my relationship with my wife. She now preferred a fantasy relationship with an imaginary lover over the real one she had with me. When I found out there was another man in her life, I was crushed. When the divorce came, I was shattered.

“For seven long years I never preached or taught. The voice that had ministered to thousands was silenced. The ministry that had won hundreds to Christ, by his grace, was terminated. In those days, Bill, I know of no flaw in my devotion to Jesus. There was no extent to which my zeal for him was not willing to go. I was determined that the gifts God gave me would be used full bore. However, Bill, here’s my point: Satan shrewdly turned my strengths into my weaknesses.

“In my zeal to serve the Lord and effectively use the gifts that he gave me, everything else was viewed as competition and at cross-purposes with the goal I was consumed by. Please, I plead with you, don’t let this happen to you. Spend time away from the demands of leadership. When someone points the finger of stinging criticism at you for being away from leadership, think of me. Determine you will not let your ministry and your dreams come crashing down around you like mine did around me.”

Lesson

Mary AND Martha

Sometimes we get to thinking that we’re either a “Mary” or a “Martha”.  Ideally, we ought to be both.

Jesus prayed that there would be more workers:

(Luke 10:2 KJV)  Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Martha is certainly the epitome of the hard worker.

We also need to learn to sit at Jesus’ feet.

Charles Wesley said it in one of his hymns:

Faithful to my Lord’s commands,

I still would choose the better part;

Serve with careful Martha’s hands,

And loving Mary’s heart.

We need balance in our Christian life if we’re going to run the race well.

I often see people come into the church and get built up and fed as they sit and listen to the Word.

You can see if they’re getting fed properly because they will eventually want to get involved and start serving.

But a common mistake is to end up getting so involved that we no longer have time to be fed.  We no longer can sit still and just worship and adore the Lord.  The result is that people end up running out of gas, burning out.

:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

art careful – merimnao (“divided”, “distracted”) – to be anxious; to be troubled with cares; to care for, look out for (a thing); to seek to promote one’s interests; caring or providing for.  Present tense, continuous action.

troubled – turbazo – disturb, trouble; to be troubled in mind, disquieted; bothered.  Present tense, continuous action.

about – peri – about, concerning, on account of, because of, around, near

Same word used to decribe her activity

many things – polus – many, much, large

Jesus doesn’t rebuke her for being a person who takes on a lot of responsibility.

The issue isn’t that it’s bad to be serving.  The problem is serving when you need to be sitting.

:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

one thing – heis – one

needful – chreia – necessity, need; duty, business

good – agathos – of good constitution or nature; good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy; excellent, distinguished; upright, honourable

part – meris – a part as distinct from the whole; an assigned part, a portion, share

chosen – eklegomai – to pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one’s self

taken away – aphaireo – to take from, take away, remove, carry off; to cut off

Jesus isn’t about to order Mary to help Martha.  He won’t cut off His time with Mary.

Lesson

Spend time with Jesus.

This is not an issue of believing in Jesus and having salvation.  There is not a question about Martha being saved or not.

The issue is about spending time with Jesus.  If you follow Him, spend time with Him.

I know there are some theological problems with this story, but I like the idea:

Illustration

A Cowboy's Prayer

Jake the rancher went one day to fix a distant fence.

The wind was cold and gusty and the clouds rolled gray and dense

As he pounded the last staples in and gathered tools to go,

The temperature had fallen and the snow began to blow.

 

When he finally reached his pickup, he felt a heavy heart.

From the sound of that ignition, he knew it wouldn't start.

So Jake did what most of us would do if we'd have been there

He humbly bowed his balding head and sent aloft a prayer.

 

As he turned the key for the last time, he softly cursed his luck.

They found him three days later, frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life and done his share of roamin’

But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked—it look just like Wyomin’.

 

Oh, there were some differences of course, but just some minor things,

One place had simply disappeared—the town they called Rock Springs.

The BLM had been shut down; there were no grazin' fees

And the wind in Rawlins and Cheyenne was now a gentle breeze.

 

The Park and Forest Service folks—they didn’t fare so well,

They'd all been sent to fight some fire in a wilderness called Hell.

Though Heaven was a real nice place, Jake had a wondering mind

So he saddled up and lit a shuck, not know'n what he'd find.

 

Then one day up in Cody, on a cold fall afternoon,

He saw St. Peter coming, and he knew he'd be there soon.

Of all the saints in Heaven, his favorite was St. Peter,

Now, this line, it ain’t needed but it helps with rhyme and meter.

 

So they set and talked a minute or two, or maybe it was three

Nobody was keepin’ score—in Heaven time is free.

“I’ve always heard,” Jake said to Pete, “that God will answer prayers.

“But the one time that I asked for help, He just plain wasn’t there.

 

“Does God answer prayers of some, and ignore the prayers of others?

“That don’t seem exactly square—I know all men are brothers.

“Or does He randomly reply, without good rhyme or reason?

“Maybe it’s the time of day, the weather or the season.

 

“Now I ain’t trying to act smart, it’s just the way I feel,

And I was wonderin’, could you tell—what the heck’s the deal?”

Peter listened very patiently and when Jake was done,

There were smiles of recognition, and he said, “So, you’re the one!”

 

“That day your truck, it wouldn’t start, and you sent your prayer a flying,

“You gave us all a real bad time, with hundreds of us a trying.

“A thousand angels rushed to check the status of your file,

“But you know, Jake, we hadn’t heard from you in quite a while

 

“And though all prayers are answered, and God ain’t got no quota,

“He didn’t recognize your voice, and started a truck in North Dakota.”

Does God know what your voice sounds like?

We sometimes think that we get too busy to spend time with the Lord (just like Martha).

Martin Luther said, “The busier I am, the more time I need to spend in prayer.”

Illustration

Warren Wiersbe writes,

The most important part of the Christian life is the part that only God sees. Unless we meet Christ personally and privately each day, we will soon end up like Martha: busy but not blessed.