‘One thing’ is, I think, a key phrase in the narrative that we just read. Jesus says, One thing is necessary. That phrase always grabs my attention when I find it in Scripture. You actually don't find it that often, depending on the translation of the Bible that you're reading, but one of those is here. I think we should sit up and take notice. One thing is necessary. Another of those times is in Psalm 27:4. David there prays, One thing have I asked of the Lord that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Another time you find that phrase is from the apostle Paul's pen, Philippians chapter 3. This one thing I do: forgetting what's behind and pressing forward to what's ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I don't think it's that David and Paul and Jesus are talking about three different things that are customizable to each individual. That's actually Curly's point in City Slickers, which I think is wrong. I think all of these overlap and we need to think about them in that light. Here, the whole phrase, Jesus says, One thing is necessary. Luke has used that word earlier in the book where he says (paraphrasing), “those who are healthy don't need a doctor, but those who are sick.” Implied: those who are sick need a doctor. And so he says not everybody needs a savior. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Those who know they're sinners also know that they need a savior. Right? And so here this word pops up again and Jesus says one thing is necessary. Just one thing.

I think understanding that ‘one thing’ is dependent on understanding the rest of the context here. Based on the three named characters in this story, I think we see three things that will kind of help us to identify and understand the one thing. Martha is named, Mary is named and Jesus named. I think probably Lazarus is also in the background of the story. I think probably the 12 are also in the background of this story. I think that's why Martha is cumbered or distracted with much serving. It's not just that she's feeding herself and her sister and Jesus. I think she's preparing a banquet for a lot of hungry fishermen. So I think there are other people, but the three main characters are the ones that Luke names. That just stands to reason, and from them I think we can be helped to understand what is the ‘one thing’ and what we need to be paying attention to in this story.

First point, and I'm going to build and try to pull this all together, but let's just work through the text first. The first thing I think that Luke is calling our attention to is a connection to Jesus. There is a connection to Jesus illustrated and exemplified by Mary. Mary is all about Jesus in this story, isn't she? So we see this connection to Jesus. Look again at verse 38:

Now folks that those are important phrases. Maybe somewhat used today in our vernacular, but probably not quite as much. When you hear “sat at the Lord's feet” are you thinking that's just describing her posture, or do you think that probably means something more? Have I given away the answer? If you hear somebody is sitting at so-and-so's feet, what is that? Isn't that code? Isn't that vernacular? Maybe we don't use it so much anymore, but that describes a mentor, doesn't it? Maybe you could say for example: Pastor Jeff sits at John MacArthur's feet through his writings, through his commentaries. Right? Does that make sense? Are you out there? Like John MacArthur, through some of what he's written - are you out there? Are your facial expressions frozen? Sitting at somebody's feet is code for kind of a rabbi/disciple relationship, isn't it? It is! Okay, even if we were not familiar with that today, that would have been the kind of language used in the New Testament day. So why is that significant? Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. That's huge isn't it? Why? Because Mary is a woman. You ask any woman in a Muslim nation today and she will tell you that is huge. And in that day, even in the Jewish culture, when you're talking about the Middle East and eastern cultures, women didn't get education. Some still don't. They can't. They don't have access to any kind of training or education. Are you out there? Right? And so this is code that Mary is a disciple. Now, she's not one of the twelve but she is a disciple, and Jesus is her rabbi. And Jesus is okay with that. And the irony is that the only one in the story that's not okay with that is another woman. That's ironic. It's meant to be. right? So Jesus did more for women in the history of the world than most people have any clue or give any credit for. He accepts Mary as a disciple. He agrees to be her rabbi. She is sitting at his feet. And, if you mark your Bible circle the ‘and.’ That's a word that we might easily miss but you ought not miss it. What does it mean to sit at Jesus' feet and to listen to his teaching? She sat at Jesus' feet and listened to his teaching.

Why is that huge? Because I think in our context there's a lot of kind of mystical understanding of what it means to sit at Jesus' feet. Like that's about feelings and senses and maybe some people would even say the Holy Spirit and it's very experiential and very personal. I've heard one guy talk about it, kind of this mystical kind of relationship with Jesus, that it's just being with him. I just like to be with him. I just like to get in a room by myself and sit and just be with him. Well maybe I need to be a little bit more mystical. But I think, not only here, but especially here and in the greater context of the Bible, we cannot talk about relationship with Jesus apart from listening to his teaching. The “and” is huge. Wouldn't that be true for any relationship? Maybe I need a lesson from some of you wives. But look, if all we did with our spouses was just get in a room by ourselves and be with them in silence...“Honey I just want to be with you. No no, don't talk! I just want to be with you.” Wouldn't that get really old really quick? Wouldn't it? I mean, we got to do something, we got to say something. But I don't want to just sit here. Like, is that really going to develop a depth of relationship? Just to be with you? I would suggest that that's what we're talking about, but some people don't think that. They've got an over-spiritualized view of what it means to be with Jesus, what it means to sit at his feet. And they just turn it into something other than listening to him, which in our context means opening our Bibles and getting very familiar with the Scriptures and meditating on the Scriptures. Listen to the word, literally that's the word [for teaching]: listen to his word. It's the same phrase that we find at the end of the Sermon on the Plain. Do you remember in Luke chapter six, which is similar to the Sermon on the Mount, but probably a different occasion, but you remember where Jesus says (paraphrasing), “Well you can be like the man who built his house on the rock or you can be like the man who built his house on the sand.” Right? Do you remember that? “And if you want to be like the person who builds his house on the rock, what do you have to do? Listen to my words and do them.” Right? Listen to the words. It's the same language found in the sermon with the parable of the soils and the seed. Remember that? You remember what all of that was about? Well the seed that fell on this ground, that's like the person who hears the word, who listens to the word. And then what do they do with it? Remember, there are four different ways they responded to the listening of the word. This is an important theme in Luke's gospel. Luke 6, Luke 8, now here in Luke 10: listen to his word. Being a disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus includes listening to his word.

Can I just say something to ladies in particular here? Ladies, thank God that Jesus is interested in your listening to his word, and that means you should be thankful for that and you should avail yourself of that. I've heard ladies before who make comments like this, and it breaks my heart, “ Oh the men started talking about theology over there in the kitchen and so we're coming out here.” Well why would you do that, ladies? You haven't been excluded from the glory of learning theology at the feet of Jesus! Jesus doesn't say, “Mary, this is for menfolk. Sorry. Go help your sister in the kitchen.” Jesus invites her. He welcomes her to sit at his feet to learn theology. I remember hearing John Piper at a t4g sermon session talking about how he just loves theologically minded women, and how important they are. If there's any vestige, ladies, if there's any vestige that deep theology is reserved for the men, then can I encourage you? Kill it. Attack it. Beat it up, leave it senseless, and engage in deep thought and deep learning of the deep teaching of Jesus.

As to what he said, you know what's interesting? I'm jumping ahead here - it may be that Mary was the first one to grasp Jesus’ teaching about the cross. Isn't it true that the twelve were continually missing that? Remember? It's all over the gospels. The twelve are like, oh, Peter, I mean, he argued to Jesus, “Oh no not you Jesus! You're too important! You can't die!” But what did Mary do? I know, I'm fast forwarding, but you remember what this very Mary did? Maybe the next time Jesus came into her house, she anointed his feet as for his burial. Maybe it was because she learned something sitting at his feet in Luke chapter 10. Let me say a second thing. I know the hot button issues today are gender issues, ladies roles, and men's roles. Ladies, you would do well to be much more interested in learning the Bible than in teaching the Bible to men. Sit at the feet of Jesus. Be content with the role he has for you. By the way, women can teach in any other context except that of having authority and teaching men. I know some people argue that. That's where I stand. I think that's a pretty literal, straightforward [teaching]: I do not permit women to teach or exercise authority over a man [1 Timothy 2:12]. And so, that's where I stand, and that's where our church stands. I'm not intending to be controversial in saying that, but what I do want to say is Jesus is saying you can sit at my feet and learn and you can teach anybody else. But men too, some people are too interested in teaching the Bible and not enough interested in learning it, men and women both. And what we can learn from Mary is, let's sit at the feet of Jesus and let's listen. Let's learn, men and women alike.

And then finally, here's an application on this that I want to say: it saddens me when people are more interested in serving Jesus than in learning at the feet of Jesus. I think there's a problem. “Yeah oh no, I know I'll work in the nursery, sign me up! I'll work in the nursery all the time.” But would you miss learning? I know there are other reasons for people doing that, but if learning the Bible is not a high enough priority that I'm going to do the best I can to get there in time, so I can sit..I don't want to interrupt- some people, you know, coming in late are afraid to be a distraction so they stay out in the lobby, or they get involved doing something else. Can I encourage you? there needs to be a high level of commitment to the attending of the teaching of God's word, be it a worship service, a Covenant Group, or men's ministries, ladies ministries. There needs to be a high level of commitment to attending to the learning of God's word. I think Mary sets the pace for it here in our text. So there we learn here about a connection to Jesus as we look at Mary.

But we also learn here about distraction from Jesus, and we learn about that through Martha. Look at verse 40, pick up there with me. Martha was distracted with much serving. Now let's just stop there. look, I know sometimes we pile on and we're just quick to criticize Martha. Let's acknowledge that Martha started really well in verse 38. She welcomed him into her house. that's a good thing, amen? In other words, Martha is practicing hospitality, and isn't hospitality commanded of all God's people? That's a good thing. So let's not just be so quick that this is the difference, “Oh we shouldn't serve we should learn.” No no. That's not the contrast being drawn here. But somehow, between verse 38 and verse 40, Martha goes from welcoming Jesus into her home to becoming distracted with much serving. How does that happen? Why did that happen? Well, I don't know for sure, and let's acknowledge that the Bible is silent on that and I don't want to add to the word of God. But if we think maybe in our own context about this matter, can't we agree that all of us have gone from the place where we're serving Jesus joyfully to the place where we're distracted in our service, and that distraction is going to turn into frustration? I'll show you that in a moment, how might we get there.

Our culture celebrates type A personalities. You know, the type A, you know what I mean? Is that still a thing? Do people use that phraseology? hard-driving, kind of task-oriented, instead of people-oriented. In fact, we'll just run over people in order to accomplish their task. In fact, I think our culture is so enamored with type A personalities that a lot of people who aren't type A want to be, and even tell people there are. In fact, I've had some of them do it to me. You're not type A! You don't have a clue what type a means. But we like type A. Maybe Martha's type A. Maybe that's how hospitality turns into distraction. Maybe Martha is guilty of the sin of comparison. She's comparing herself to other people, and that never works out well. Look at me and look at Martha. Pastor Mark used to call this gift projecting, that is, “everybody ought to have my gift and everybody ought to serve the way that I serve.”

Have you ever been guilty of that? Like, I'm doing this and Mary's doing that but she ought to be doing what I'm doing. We can become guilty if we're not careful of defining faithfulness only by who I am and what I do. In other words, everybody ought to be like me. Now, probably we would never articulate that because as soon as we did we would see how stupid it is. Right? I thank God everybody's not like me. Thank God everybody's not like you. We're not supposed to be. In this season, in our country, that may be true politically. “If you're going to be faithful to Jesus you have to think politics the way I think politics. You've got to vote the way that I vote. You've got to think the way that I think. You've got to act the way that I act.” Can I encourage you to kill that, get rid of that thinking? There are Godly people in this election who will not vote at all because it would violate their conscience to vote for any of the candidates. And you ought to be okay with that. There are people today who think if you don't vote for their particular candidate you can't be a real Christian. Folks, there's more than one - I'm not trying to get wishy-washy. Anybody that knows me I think would know this: I am not trying to turn everything into gray. There is a lot of black and white all right? But we need to be careful how we define faithfulness to God's word and faithfulness to Christianity.

Here's another way: COVID. Like there's only one way to define faithfulness in the way we respond to COVID. Can I encourage you? Just be real careful of that. Be very careful of that, okay? Maybe that's what Martha has fallen into. “Mary is not thinking like me and she's not acting like me and she is not being faithful.” And she's gone then from serving Jesus to being distracted with much serving. When we start thinking that way we think we're indispensable to the kingdom. “Thank God he's got somebody like me on the watch. I mean this whole thing's going to hell in a handbasket unless I'm around.” Hey you know what? God did real well before you and I'm betting that he could do without you. Amen? Right? Maybe the way Martha kind of transitions here in her thinking. We become so self-important.

But Martha did, she went from this distraction with much serving, and look at how that manifests itself as we pick up there in verse 40. Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to Jesus and she said, Lord, do you not care.. Now can we just stop there. WOW. Right? I mean like, that's not an amen, that's WOW. “Lord you don't care about me!” Really Martha? That's what you got? “God doesn't love me. Jesus doesn't love me because I'm left to serve...all by myself.” That was Martha's theme song. She's just devastated because God doesn't love her! because she's by herself, serving. Can I highlight for you: Martha has moved way beyond frustration with her sister. Her frustration is with God. Her frustration is with Jesus himself. Do you not care, she says, that my sister has left me to serve alone? And here's her frustration, “You ought to tell her to help me.” It's not just that Mary's not doing anything. Martha's real frustration: “God, you're not doing anything.” Have you ever got there? “God, you're not acting the way I want you to act. Don't you love me? Well, if you love me, you do this.” You and I are not smart enough to define what God's love is going to look like. Because here's what I want you to know: God does love you. It's your criteria by which you're judging how much he loves you.

That's what's wrong. You have somehow equated God's love for you with this: “well if God loved me I'd make more money. If God loved me my parenting would be going easier. If God loved me then this, this, this or this is what's going to happen.” And it doesn't happen. “Don't you care? God don't you care? Don't you love me?” That's what she's asking. “Don't you care?” Now look, look at what Jesus says. But the Lord answered her, “Martha Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things.” Now that ‘many things’ is meant to contrast with the one thing in the next verse, and I'll get there in a minute, but here's the point: you know what Martha has done? Martha has become anxious and troubled. ‘Many things’ tells us that her mind is going in a million directions. She's become anxious and troubled because her focus has become on how she's expressing her love for Jesus - she's doing much serving- instead of on the fact that Jesus has evidenced his love for her. When you start doubting God's love for you, you are on a path that could lead almost anywhere. “God doesn't love me. God's not good to me.” You cannot judge God's love based on what he has not done for you. You judge God's love for what he has already done for you. That's the cross.

And again, Mary is like the perfect example: sitting, listening, taking in, getting a perspective about the cross, about the savior who's going to die in her place and for her sake so that her sins can be forgiven, and her life can be radically changed. Mary has no doubt “Jesus, you do love me. You've demonstrated your love for me by going to the cross in my place.” Right? That's what I think one of the points of this passage is. Distraction. “Do you not care?” Think about all the Scriptures. Matthew 6 talks about anxiety. Don't worry about tomorrow. What should we do instead? Focus your attention on the God who watches every hair of your head and keeps them numbered. Focus your attention on the God who sees every sparrow that falls. Focus your attention on the God who clothed the lilies more brilliantly than he did King Solomon. Focus your attention on God's love for you rather than on your anxiety about tomorrow. What about Philippians 4? Uses the same language. Don't be anxious about anything but in everything with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God - and what will happen - the peace of God that surpasses understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Or think about first Peter 5 and verse 7, which in a couple of ways lines up here with Luke 10. it says, ...casting all your care upon him - why? because he cares for you. That answers Martha’s, “Don't you care?” “Yes, Martha I do. So cast all of your troubles and anxieties on me instead of carrying them around.”

By the way, there's also a link to earlier. Remember the parable of the seed and the soils that I mentioned earlier? Do you remember there that the thorns that grew up and choked out the seed, you remember what Jesus said those represented? The cares of this world. When you and I become anxious and troubled about many things it actually becomes an obstruction to our listening to the word of God. We've got to pull up those weeds. We've got to attack them. We've got to kill them, and we've got to reestablish our faith in Jesus and on Jesus. Let me move on. I want to get here to the final piece.

So we look at Mary and we see a lesson about connection to Jesus. We look at Martha and we see a lesson about distraction from Jesus. but we look to Jesus himself, and look at what he says in verse 42, one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her. Connection to Jesus, distraction from Jesus. This last point, I think, is our portion is Jesus. Our portion is Jesus. See that word portion? It's talking about, like, inheritance. There are some cross-references in Psalm 16, Psalm 73, Colossians 1. If you go to the blog post that we put up yesterday, you'll see those verses and you can do some homework and track those down later. But here, the point is that Jesus is our portion. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion. I'm thankful that Chris Tomlin's new arrangement of Amazing Grace has brought back to popularity an almost forgotten verse. You remember in Amazing Grace, “He will our shield and portion be as long as life endures.” And beyond. Not only as long as life endures. Why is it right that Mary chose Jesus as her good portion? Because that's forever! It will never be taken away from her! Isn't that what verse 42 says? In other words, do you know what heaven won't lack? It won't lack opportunities to be like Mary and to sit at the feet of Jesus and to listen to his word. Won't that be glorious? That's what we anticipate in heaven itself forever.

What's your portion? Can I call to your attention here that it has to be chosen? It's not that just this was a miraculous work of God. Now, God is always behind the scenes. He is sovereign. But Mary had to choose. Jesus commends her, Mary has chosen the good portion. Have you chosen Jesus as your portion? You can choose good things and you can choose bad things as your portion. Bad things would be like sin, sinful things. We can choose greed, or we could choose sex, or we could choose lot of things as our portion that are inherently sinful, that are wrong. But you know we can also choose good things as our portion. And when you make good things your portion in life they become idols. They actually become wrong. They become bad things. They aren't bad in and of themselves, but they become bad. We can choose serving. Some people, they want to be saved, they want to be a Christian because it gives them purpose. It gives them usefulness, it gives them purpose in life. Well purpose in life can become an idol. It can become your portion. Serving is not, or shouldn't be, your portion. That's I think where Martha got this kind of spun around. Heaven could be your portion, and heaven itself could become an idol. Forgiveness, peace, joy - these are all things that some people talk about, and if that becomes the focus instead of Jesus being a focus then those things, themselves, as our portion are not good things anymore. But folks, if you choose Jesus as your portion, you'll live for connection to him in the Bible, and you'll die to distractions from him, which is what Jesus is calling Martha to. Can I say that again?

That's the conclusion of the whole sermon. Can I give it to you one more time? You're too cold to write, your hands are frozen. But you can get this on video later. If you choose Jesus as your portion, you'll live for connection to him through the Bible, and you'll die to distractions from him. And you can do that! You can do that. How can I do that preacher? Well, can I just call your attention back to one thing? Look at the very first line of verse 38.

Now as they went on their way - on their way where? We know where they're on their way to. You remember chapter 9 and verse 51, if you just go back one chapter. Where is Jesus on his way to? He's on his way, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He's on his way to the cross. And that contextual clue, the cross in the background of this story, is how we can do what we're being called to do here. The cross, folks, yeah the cross is about a lot of things. It's about forgiveness of sins. It's about new birth. It's about growing in holiness. The cross does all those things. But you know, I think the greatest work of the cross in our lives is that it reconciles us to Jesus. It gives us an opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus. The kind of relationship, folks, where we live for connection to him and we die to distractions from him. We can live this way because Jesus is going to the cross to provide us with everything we need to do so. We turn to him and we trust in him and we can do what he calls us to do. We can choose Jesus as our portion and therefore live for connection to him and die to distractions from him. The rest of that conversation between Curly and Mitch and City Slickers, it continues like this. Mitch, Billy Crystal, says, “But what's the one thing?” Curly says, “The secret to life is one thing.” “Well what is the one thing?” and Curly's response is, “That's what you have to find out.” Well, Curly may have had some cowboy wisdom but he is dead wrong on that.

Now that's the world's popular answer: self-determination. Just figure out what you want to live for and go for it. But the reality is we have a Creator who's designed us for one thing. And our goal is not to discover it. He's already revealed it! So we don't have to discover it, but listen to me, we do have to decide. The one thing is Jesus. Will you, like Mary, decide that Jesus will be your portion. I pray that you will, or that you have. Can I invite you to pray with me one more time?

Who will be our praise but you, Jesus? Your beauty, your glory, your excellence. You are the one in whom all divine perfection is focused. Who will be our praise but you, Jesus? You are our mediator, our Christ of God whose glory it is to redeem poor sinners and make us saints to give to us, out of your fullness, grace for grace. Who will be our praise but you, Jesus? You who have made our peace in the blood of your cross, and who ever lives to intercede for us. Fair and lovely one, the first among ten thousand, you are our praise. You are our glory. You are our song. You are our rejoicing. We will praise you every day. Morning by morning, we'll praise your name, and night by night will testify to your faithfulness. Here while we're on the earth we will never stop speaking of your praise. And before long, we'll join the happy multitude above in that song to him that has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Jesus, you are the praise of all your saints. Thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for your church. Thank you for your leading and for your provision. And we pray all of this in Christ's name, amen.