July 20 – Sermon
O God of all goodness, You welcome us, forgive us and heal us. You seek us out when we hide from You. You shower us with steadfast love and mercy. May our eyes see, our minds know and our hearts feel Your very presence. In Jesus’ name amen
Many people find it difficult to stay focused in the midst of distractions and therefore accomplish very little. Distractions can be dangerous, especially while driving. Or if a doctor becomes distracted while performing surgery, a costly error could take someone’s life.
Staying focused on what you’re doing is very important.
In our Gospel lesson for today Jesus tells us to keep focused On the one thing that is needful.
This Scripture about Martha and Mary is very familiar. I do think Martha has often been criticized unfairly. It’s true Martha allowed herself to become distracted by earthly things instead of keeping focused on the one thing needful. But most of us do the same thing.
So try to think like Martha. There’s a sudden knock on the door. It’s Jesus– an unexpected but always welcome surprise! Martha was very likely the elder sister and felt it was her duty to prepare a meal for Jesus and to make his visit as comfortable as possible. Hospitality has always been a hallmark of God’s chosen people—especially for someone as dear and important as Jesus!
So Martha showed her love and appreciation to Jesus by serving him. When Mary didn’t help her, Martha got upset…and again we react in very similar ways. So what is the one thing needed?
I make lists of things I need to get done. If you were to make a list, of your things needing to be done, what would be at the top of list? mow the lawn, get the oil changed, get groceries, go to fleet farm, feed the cattle, run the kids here or there…
But how about items like attend Bible class, spend time in prayer, daily devotions, check on a neighbor or friend. Our sinful nature makes it really easy to become distracted by earthly things. It is not our nature to love for God or His Word. So we don’t put God and/or faith first.
Like Martha many of us try to juggle a half dozen things in our life all at the same time–family, work, friends, hobbies. and, if there’s a few minutes left over, we’ll have devotions.
Every one of us must decide how to use the limited amount of time allotted to us. Those of us gathered in worship each week know we need to focus on the Lord God and his word. But it is not our nature to do so.
Our God continues to pursue us. Verse 20 in Rev. 3 Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
To whom was Jesus speaking?—believers or unbelievers? These words were spoken to the church at Laodicea–to people who knew Jesus as Savior and Lord.
These people like Martha and like most of us at certain times in our lives. When Jesus knocked on the door of Martha’s house, she warmly welcomed him into her home. But then Martha quickly became distracted, missing out on the one thing needful—listening to Jesus’ Word!
Guess what folks, Jesus knocks on the doors of our hearts each and every day. Do we let Him come in or do we pretend we’re not home? Are we more like Mary or are we more like Martha?
Here’s a hypothetical situation.
It’s a Monday morning and you’re getting ready for work or school and Jesus knocks on the door. He wants to spend a few minutes talking with you just to see how things are going. What do you say to him? “Oh yes, Lord, Let’s sit down and talk!”
Or do you say, “I’m sorry Lord, but I’m really in a hurry. Could we talk some other time? How about tomorrow?”
The same scenario takes place on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and again on Friday.
Before we know it it’s Saturday night. Jesus knocks again on the door of your heart because he’d still like to visit with you. He wants to help you with your hectic life.
Do you finally take time to talk with Jesus? Or do you say, “I was just leaving to go out with my friends. Wanna come along? Or on second thought, maybe not. I am not so sure You’d approve of my friends. But I promise I’ll be in church tomorrow morning!”
The alarm goes off Sunday morning and even though you really don’t feel like it you figure you had better get up and go to church. After all, not only did you promise but it has been quite a while.
So you come to church, sit down in a pew and Jesus sits down right next to you. He smiles and points to the bulletin saying, “This looks like it’s going to be a great service.”
You shrug your shoulders and say, “I sure hope it doesn’t go too long. I have a lot of things I want to do today.”
This example could be any one of us—or all of us. Do you focus on worshiping the Lord God or are you distracted by earthly things? It’s so easy to forget there’s only one thing that’s truly needed! and that is to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His Word!
Thanks be to God, the Lord’s love and concern for us runs just as deeply as it did for Martha. Jesus told Martha, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her”.
When Martha became distracted and lost her focus, Jesus was there to remind her of what’s truly important. When we become distracted with the things of this world, Jesus reminds us, too. Only now the Lord uses someone else to call out our name.
That might be our parents or even our children to remind us that our church attendance is slipping. Sometimes the Holy Spirit may use a pastor or a fellow Christian. But His goal is always the same… to invite us to hear His Word so that our faith can be nourished and strengthened.
We have opportunity to talk to Him about whatever is on our mind– so that our burdens will be lifted and we find rest for our souls.
The goal is to make us even more secure in the knowledge that our Savior loved us enough to die on the cross, but He also loves us enough to be concerned about the everyday things of life.
So no matter what else is going on, no matter what else needs to get done, there’s only one thing needed and that’s to be with Jesus by hearing and knowing His holy Word.
We all have circumstances in our lives completely beyond your control, forcing us to choose what’s most important and how we’ll devote our time and energy.
But my prayer today is that when you make these choices you will do so in the context of your spiritual life, your personal relationship with your Lord and Savior.
I pray that you will prioritize your heart and your life in such a way that Jesus will always be able to say: “You have chosen the one thing that is needed and it will not be taken away from you.”
Spirit of the living God, thank You for Your holy presence. It is so easy to fill our lives with matters of this world. Please fill our hearts and minds with renewed vision, so we can more clearly see the life to which You have called us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
