One Thing is Needful

From Luke 10 38. Now as they went on their way, he entered a village and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teachings.

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went 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're anxious and troubled about many things.

One thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her. Now we notice that when Jesus came into Martha's house, he did not say, okay, Martha, forget about dinner.

I don't want any, any fussing going on in this house at all. I want you to come in the living room and sit down and listen to my teaching. It wasn't like that.

Martha was just delighted and overjoyed to have Jesus coming into her house. And it was her greatest pleasure to be able to prepare a meal for him and perhaps for a few of his disciples. And Jesus was pleased to be her guest.

Nor is there anything wrong with our getting ready for people coming to visit us in our apartments or houses or whatever over the Christmas holiday, maybe some children coming home or old relatives that we haven't seen for a while or new neighbors, whatever. Nothing wrong with this at all. But our problem and Martha's problem is that we get so caught up in the mechanics of serving male or female that we lose sight of our guests.

And now it's no longer, isn't it wonderful that we have the Lord in our home, that he's with us right now at this time. But rather now it becomes, who put this tablecloth in the drawer all wrinkled up? Who's been messing with a cranberry? How come I have to do all the work around here? Now the thing that makes our Christmas different from the tingly and shallow and cheap honky-tonk of a Roman holiday is the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in our homes and in our lives. And these Christian scrooges, you know, who want to have no part of Christmas at all because after all they didn't celebrate Christmas for the first 400 years of the church's life.

What about the rest of the time? Or because it's so pagan, which it is, or so money oriented, which it is. The people who will have nothing to do with Christmas for those reasons are cheating themselves. Because I don't care, you know, what the mixed motives may be, it's certainly true, and we've seen this happen again and again, that there are indeed miracles taking place at Christmas time.

Don't you think that the Lord himself will come into our homes and be present at this time when we observe his birthday regardless of whatever day it was? Don't you think that he's going to visit us in the comfort of his Spirit? Surely I believe that at this time, if we're at all receptive to this, Jesus incarnates himself in our weary flesh and refreshes us and renews us and gives us a sign that he indeed is the second Adam who became part of our race of flesh and blood, is one of us, and is incarnating himself again and again in our flesh. Jesus is just a surely present in the Spirit with us at this time, as he was present in Martha's house. And how different our Christmas, New Year's and all the rest of it, will be from all the others we've ever observed, if we will truly enjoy his presence and experience Emmanuel God with us, and drink in his peace and taste his light.

And what a difference it will make, if we think of it, you know, among our relatives and friends. Think of all the relatives and friends that we have who haven't really seen God's glory. And it's so often true that at this time of year, they're more tender, you know, and more receptive than at any other time.

But it all hinges on our ability, our ability, or put it another way, our willingness to perceive the presence of Jesus in the midst of all this. Now, as they went on their way, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha received 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. See, and if we get distracted with our much serving to the extent that we no longer observe and experience and enjoy the presence of our guests, then we're off the track. And the way this thing happens, of course, is so simple.

What we do is we bite off more than we can chew. We take on far more than we can handle. We say, well, we want to make the most of the holidays, and we don't want to miss anybody.

We don't want to miss anything. But it doesn't have to be that way. You know, what's to prevent us from simplifying things, you know, cutting back in some areas, so that we're able, in fact, during this time, to hold high fellowship with our King.

And so that our prayer life goes on unhindered in any way, if anything, it gets better. And so that we, in fact, can sit down and drink in his light. Certainly it's true that not only at Christmastime, but all the year round, our lives are strung far too tight anyway.

Late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers, and we lose our vision of glory. And all we have to do is cut back. God give us the wisdom, you know, to just trim ourselves back to the place where we know how to be still and know that he is God, and be refreshed in his light.

And she went to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. Now, if we're so full of anger, resentment, at these people who don't fit into our program, that we can't enjoy the presence of our Master, then we're off the track. And the reason we get so angry and uptight with these people, actually, is because they've left us to serve alone while they go, very often, and drink in the presence of the Master.

And we're mad because they aren't fitting in to our grandiose plan. You know, I'm going to put on the best dinner that Jesus ever tasted, and my dinner for Jesus is going to be the talk of the town. Everybody's going to know it, and all you slobs have to do is fit in.

You know, I'm going to unify the church in Detroit. I'm going to build the Cathedral of Forever. I'm going to write the manifesto that brings the church to its feet.

All you have to do is cooperate with me a little bit. Whenever we begin to think along those lines, and who of us hasn't, doesn't, we've already lost our sight of Jesus entirely. You know, Jesus has been eclipsed by our immense ego, and this has always been followed by a period of self-pity.

You know, when everybody starts to let us down, we get angry at everybody. Why do I always have to do everything? Why can't I depend on anybody? How come everything rests on me? Nobody's reliable anymore, and the reason is because it's your own thing anyway. You know, it's yours.

You want everybody to fit in with you, so they let it go ahead and do it your way. Pain your grandiose plan. Let your big production collapse all by itself.

Come down to where Jesus is, get under the yoke with him, and learn from him who is meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your soul. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. Gene and I got married almost 24 years ago at this time of year, and we didn't have the finances to go to Bermuda, as probably nobody out there did either, and so we went to a little town called Sheet Harbor, about 50 miles from Halifax, Dartmouth area, where we lived, and it was, you know, midwinter, it was early January, and it was this little town.

Sheet Harbor was absolutely beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful, really. It had one hotel, and it wasn't like Holiday Inn, believe me, and it was my desire, you know, to present, you know, to have, really be comfortable. They gave us the best room in the place, no doubt.

The only trouble was it was air-conditioned, even in the wintertime. And I, it was the natural kind of air-conditioning, and in the summer, I'm sure those sea breezes are just beautiful, but in January, it was pretty cold. So then we went out and bought an electric heater, you know, to try to warm things up in the room, and every time we, and I'm all, you know, exercised about this.

Gene isn't complaining. This is the first time we've had a chance to just have some peace and quiet with each other from the time we met, you know, and she wasn't in any way showing any signs of weariness, you know, and suddenly it comes to me, you know, enjoy the gift which God has given you. Enjoy that.

What are you getting so upset about? And this is exactly how it is with Jesus. You know, Jesus isn't complaining. Who cares if dinner is late, or if the Christmas tree starts to fall apart, or if your phone goes dead or your car won't start? Jesus is here.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, not with complaining, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus. But the Lord said to her, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things. One thing is needful.

Mary has chosen the good portion which shall not be taken from her. So here's Mary, so thirsty for God, so desirous of just filling herself with everything God gives her, she goes to the living water that is coming to that house and drinks. And you say, well, that's not fair, Martha has to get the dinner ready, and Mary's going to sit in the living room and drink it in? What happens when there's a fire across the street from your house? You turn off the gas or the electricity from your stove, you stop everything, you, you know, leave everything there and you go out and watch.

Two police cars pull up to the house next door, everything in your house stops, and you go and gawk. The incarnate Son of God comes into your living room, and it's business as usual. Praise God that He had given somehow to Mary the wisdom to appreciate who this is who's in her living room, that she has enough sense to stop what she's doing and just drink in life.

That she has the wisdom to choose that good part which shall not be taken from her. Now surely, if Martha had given her maybe another ten minutes, Mary would have been so full of God's life, and so overflowing with gratitude and peace, so charged with thanksgiving, she would have got up from where she was at Jesus' feet, gone off into the kitchen, and Martha's dinner would have been on the table in no time. Because the people who know how to put first things first always get the job done better anyway.

Always. God give us the wisdom to put our hearts, you know, on that one thing that really matters. God enable us to choose like Mary that good thing which shall not be taken from us.

Only one thing counts. One thing is needful. And that one thing is to know Jesus, commune with Jesus, worship Jesus, serve Jesus, love Him, adore Him, praise Him, prostrate ourselves before Him, live in Him, enjoy Him.

That's the only needful thing. Everything else in your life can be taken away. You have Him, you have everything you need.

All we have to do is what Mary did, we have to choose that good part. Mary exercised her will and took hold of it. And we can do the same.

Literally in the middle of all the confusion of Christmas or any other time, you can actually make time stand still by choosing that one needful thing. With an act of your will, drawing near to Jesus. And as you do this, calling on His name, opening your heart, opening your spirit to Him.

As you do this, your anxiety and your resentment and your trouble buying and all the hassles and all the distractions just melt away. And Jesus draws you into another dimension, the realm of heaven. And this may only take a few minutes, it may take an hour, it may take a split second, but you've been to heaven and back.

And you return totally renewed. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.

And the one who makes that possible is Jesus Himself. He fulfills it, if we'll let Him do it. Now perhaps there's somebody who's come in here today, who came in distracted with much service.

You know, and you're resentful at these people who let you do all the work. And you're anxious and troubled about many things. And you came in with a heart that was complaining.

You know, Lord, doesn't it even bother you that my sister, my brother has left me to do all the work? If this is the case with anybody among us, if it's not the case with everybody among us, will you let the Lord Himself right now help you to settle your mind right down on the one thing needed? Will you choose that one good thing? Will you just turn away from your anxieties and leave your resentments be? Walk out of your hassles and all these problems just now. Because the one thing needful is Jesus Himself. And He invites you right now to come to Him.

Will you let Him do that? In a moment we'll go to prayer. And to picture it this way, you know, that you come and you allow Jesus right now, as you leave all the other junk behind you, allow Him to anoint your head with the oil of His Spirit until your cup runs over with thanksgiving. If you will do this, you will know that surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.

And you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, beginning right now. Let's just wait upon Him in prayer. We confess to you, Lord Jesus, that we, we, not our brother or our sister, but we ourselves are just distracted with our much serving.

And that we have carried around in our resentments, in our hearts even this day, resentments toward this person or that person who we feel has let us down. And that we are indeed anxious in trouble about so many things. We just ask for your help now, Lord, as we desire to draw near to you, to the one thing needful, to choose that good part which shall not be taken from us.

We ask, Lord God, that you'd help us in whatever way necessary for any one of us here to come out of our anxieties and resentments and troubles and kneel before your throne. To come down under your yoke, to join ourselves by faith to you, and to let go of everything else that we might be today, right now, Lord, refreshed by your Spirit. And being taught today by this sign of your grace, be able to go through this Christmas season in a new way.

Practicing your presence through every day and through every hour. And that we, so charged and filled with your peace, may be peacemakers. And that we may convey mercy and righteousness, joy and encouragement to those with whom we share this time.

We just give over right now, Lord God, all our burdens to you. And we take your Spirit in exchange. And we thank you for your shed blood which makes it possible.

Amen.