One Thing Is Needful

From the Gospel of Luke chapter number 10, beginning at verse number 38, as you're turning there, I want to give honor to our pastor and sister Tammy and their family, pastor and sister Shock. It is a rare occasion that the three of us would be here on the same Sunday. And I find it unfitting that I'm standing here with them sitting there, but nevertheless I will endeavor to fulfill the assignment given to me today. I do believe the Lord would like to speak to us. Luke chapter 10, verse number 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. She had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was comfort about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, thus thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone. Bid her therefore that

she help me. Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her. I want to speak to you today on this subject, one thing is needful. One thing is needful. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your many blessings. On this last Sunday of 2023 we can look back with so much gratitude and we can look forward with such expectation. But I pray in this in between of where we've come from and where we're going, that you would take inventory of our lives and set the priority of our heart. Let the word of God speak to individuals and families. Let it speak to our church body today. We ask this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. The Lord bless you, you can be seated. It is a familiar scene for this hospitable culture and not unlike much of

what we who are here today have experienced in these last few days. When a gathering is called, fair notice gives the host the benefit of proper preparation. But even in its absence, Martha's door was always open, especially to this guest. This unexpected but welcomed visit has left her hurrying around the house, tending to things that pertain to a proper welcome. It should be known today that there are things that make a proper welcome. There is work necessary for a welcome to be sufficiently prepared and complete, and this lady will overlook none of it. Jesus enters and is happily received into her home and Martha still busy is hurrying about completing the tasks of hosting these people. Jesus finds his seat, sits down, and not much behind him. Martha's sister Mary eagerly finds her place on the floor next to him. She is eager to hear every word. She defies the cultural norm for a lady to sit at the feet of a man.

The contrast of action in these characters is notable. Sisters at that, and I submit today, it cannot be overlooked. It demands our consideration in this moment, and it's not simply this single moment of Scripture we must look at but the chapters to come. But know this, that while Mary sits, Martha serves. With each passing moment, Martha is increasingly agitated and frustrated by what she perceives as Mary's action or could we say inaction. She perceives her to be lazy, even indifferent. Can she not see what must be done? And finally, the resentment is too great. She cannot be silent any longer, frazzled by the duties of hosting and frustrated by the inaction of her sister. She comes frantically to the Lord and has the audacity to question the character of God. Do you even care? Can't you see she's not helping? Would you please talk to her and make her help me? And certainly to her surprise and probably ours, her request is not

granted. Instead, the Lord offers a gentle rebuke, Martha, you're anxious and disturbed about many things. The word troubled literally means to be disquieted in mind. Literally, Martha, your mind is too busy to hear. One thing is needful and Mary has chosen it. We might assume today that this story invites us to be either Mary or Martha. And we ask ourselves the question. Well, preacher, are you telling me I should sit or I should serve? Do I work or do I worship? And so I must take time today to tell you the Lord's declaration is not to deny the value of what Martha has done or is doing. Make no mistake about it. The house must be made ready and the guests must be cared for. Yet we cannot argue with the words of Jesus. It is in this moment a resetting of divine priority. And it is without consideration of your opinion or mine that the Scripture speaks today. It was the Spirit

of God that moved on Moses in Deuteronomy 6. And Jesus quotes it in Mark 12 that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The order was set by God. The worship of my heart must precede the work of my hand. Yes, He will use your hand, but I preach to you today He must first have your heart. It is all too possible in the 21st century when church has become a production for us to master the mechanics of religious service, but our heart not belong to the master. I don't want to be misunderstood today. We have scriptural mandate in noble tradition that we cannot forsake. There is work to do and it must be done, but there is a danger that we may deceive ourselves in pretending to serve a God on this day or a day that we do not

actually worship with our lives every day. It was Jesus in his wilderness temptation and Matthew 4 and 10 who looked at Satan and he said, It is written thou shall worship the Lord thy God in him only shall thou serve. Service or work always follows worship. To work for God but not worship Him creates the illusion of a relationship that is not real. It is to know about Him, but you don't really know Him. It is to regurgitate what somebody has said but not know it for yourself. It is an air of eternal consequence because when work takes precedence over worship, work becomes an idol. But when worship takes precedence over work, there is a redemptive value in our service and the fruit it yields in the kingdom. I don't stand here today advocating for any form of any inactive or lazy Christianity. Jesus himself prayed for laborers, workers, but I preach today in concern of a dire temptation among us. If Martha

could be busy and distracted when a day when there was no radio, no TV, and no smartphone, how much more pressing is this battle on this day? If Martha wrestled with it with no NBA, and no NFL, and no NHL, no hunting camp, and no fishing boat, no timeshare to retreat to, if the battle existed then how much more does it exist today? I lift my voice on this Sunday to caution us and to challenge us of a pressing reality warring against the church. It is possible to busy ourselves with the work of in and around the church, yet our heart wander and our worship become misplaced. Like Martha, we can be in the right place, but the wrong posture. Like Martha, we can be here, but we cannot hear. Martha, she's anxious and consumed by the tasks at hand, their noble duties. Yes, I know they must be done, but one thing is needful, and I'm not going to take it away

from Mary. And it's so ironic to me that because her attention is not fixed on God, it is so easily fixed on others. The one who's not consumed with the presence of Jesus in the room finds it easy to be consumed and finding fault with those who are there. But to her shock, the Lord says, one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen it. This is not permission today to be passive towards the necessary duties of the house of God and the service we must render in His kingdom. But I preach that it is an unmistakable call for every single one of us to the prioritization of spiritual things in our lives. Paul said it like this, if we have been risen with Christ, then we must set our eyes on things above. And so it's with the narrative we find in Luke 10 and the contrast of characters that we move forward into the stories of Scripture. It is many turning of

pages in your Bible, but in the chronological order of Scripture it is only a short time later. That John would write and he would take us back again to this place called Bethany. John 11 records the troubling narrative. Tragedy has struck the family of Martha and Mary. Their brother Lazarus is deathly ill and while the Scripture would affirm to us that Jesus does love Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, the crisis does not move him with any sense of urgency. Contrary to their expectation, he does not rush to Lazarus and aid him, but instead he waits an additional two days and by their measure two days too long. And so I say that when we cannot make sense of God's ways, we have no choice but to trust his wisdom. The sickness ultimately takes Lazarus, he succumbs to the illness and now the house again is filled with people who have gathered to remember and celebrate his life. They are offering condolences to the family

and amidst this grief of his passing and the joy of his memories. Word arrives that Jesus is finally coming and thank God I had hoped that he might come prior to something like this, but he is finally coming and John 11 and 20 would tell us Martha. As soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. The events of John 11 cannot be reviewed without recalling what we have considered in Luke 10. Again, it is the contrast of these sisters and the Scripture God is giving for our learning. Martha, the one that is so inclined to busy herself with the task, the one whose mind is so easily distracted and this moment hears that Jesus is coming. And perhaps ordinarily she may be inclined to miss this moment, but not now. She has anxiously been awaiting the coming of the Lord and hopeful expectation of a miracle for her brother. And at the

sound of his coming, she drops what she's doing and she makes her way into the street in search of the one she believes can help her. See, crisis has provoked this response. Her sense of awareness is heightened by the unfortunate finding of troublesome circumstance. Now, problem has become her companion. It compels her toward the Lord. Verse 21 says, Martha said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother wouldn't have died. But I know even now that whatsoever you will ask of God, God will give it to you if you had been here. It seems now she has learned the value of his presence, the presence that she was seemingly oblivious to just a short time ago in the walls of her own home now. Crisis has awakened her to not only the need but the power of the presence of God. And in these simple words, if you had been here though it sounds like a powerful proclamation of faith, I

would challenge us today that it is almost a passive accusation. It is to put the blame of this burden, the loss of her brother on the shoulders of the Lord. Because Lord, had you just come when I asked you to come, we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. But when you can't trust his ways, you have no choice but to trust his wisdom. The Lord's delay exposes the frailty of her faith. She seeks him in crisis but retreats to the common pattern of her life in comfort. She believes in his power but has not yet come to the place where she will build her life and the decision she makes on trusting his wisdom. Jesus looks back at her, huh, your brother, he's going to rise again. Martha said, oh yes, I know, he's going to rise again in that resurrection at the last day. What she could not anticipate was that when Jesus said he's going to rise again,

he was not talking about some prophetic event in the last days. When news had first come to him in John 11, unbeknownst to them, he looked at those nearby and said this sickness is not unto death. He had already declared what the end of the story was going to look like but he withheld this piece of information from the ears of Mary and Martha. Martha believed that a resurrection would come in that day but Jesus wasn't talking about that day. He was talking about this day but her inability to trust him, to perceive him, to know him made her oblivious to what was happening in her midst. Though her faith is present in some form, she has incorrectly isolated the work of God in this moment to some future day, to some future event when the fact is when Jesus said, your brother will rise again. He didn't mean in the last days, he meant I'm on my way to Bethany right now

to do a miracle in your life. Yes, I know by your metric he was late for the healing but he was on time for resurrection. I want to give credit where credit's due today. In spite of her grief, Martha mustered up enough faith to declare, even now I can't make sense of it. I don't understand why you didn't come when I asked you to come. I don't understand why my brother's dead in a tomb when you could have came and healed him when he was alive but this is what I do know. Even now it will happen if you want it to happen. So what do you do when you find yourself in similar predicament when you can't reconcile the gap between your pain and his promise when you look at the circumstance in your life and you have found yourself asking but still waiting. I preach to you today what you need isn't even now in your mouth. I asked God for

this in 2022 and I was sure 2023 would be the year that God came and answered and met my need but here I stand hours from the threshold of another year and I still find myself in what do you do in such unfortunate circumstance. You do exactly what Martha did. You look at the Lord and you profess even now in the absence of my understanding and my inability to perceive I don't know how you work or why you do what you do. Your ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts yet. This is what I do know even now. But then when you reach this climax of faith the narrative takes a sharp right turn. The Lord's conversation with Martha comes to an abrupt end and she returns home in search of Mary. She comes with a message that Mary the Lord is calling for you and Mary, as Mary's always do, she arises quickly without delay because

true worshipers never wait when he calls. And I'm not just talking about the beckoning of a song with the sound of an instrument. Worship is not relegated to a few moments on Sunday morning. I'm talking about the offering of our lives. She rises at the call of the Master and she makes her way into the street in search of her Lord who has called her in this moment. The Scripture would tell us that Jesus had not moved from where Martha met him. Mary finds him standing there and when she comes before the presence of the Lord her proclamation is no different. If you had been here my brother wouldn't have died. Striking, similar, same, in fact her words differ nothing from Martha's. It is the same statement but it's a very different spirit. How do you know? Because it's evidenced by her posture. She falls to his feet and I want you to see the contrast of the sisters once again in the

Scripture. The same statement one from a worker whose heart is so easily swayed by worry and anxiety. The other from a worshiper who seemingly lives untouched by what happens around her because her heart is fixed on God. She doesn't move with the stock market or the win or the loss of her favorite team. The weather has no bearing on her. It doesn't really matter. Her heart is fixed on God. It's the posture and the attitude which is portrayed. It precedes the demonstration of God's power. You see worry engaged Jesus on the street but worship only took him to the place that the miracle would happen. Mary's posture changed everything. Her attitude yielded a different response from the Lord. You see it is the mechanics of religion that we so easily learn but mechanics do not guarantee the glory of God. There is no power in this building this morning because we call ourselves a church or there is a cross or because you

put on a suit and tie today. It is the sincerity of heart. It is our submission to God and our obedience to the truth. And so it is that Mary with a similar statement but a very different attitude and spirit summons a response that Martha does not. In fact the Scripture would say the Lord groaned. When he felt the heart of Mary and the sincerity and the hunger from her words something groaned within him. The grief and the worship in the midst of grief compelled a response from the Lord that Martha did not bring. The words were so similar but the heart was so different. See Jesus was moved by what moved Mary. It was her worship in spite of her grief that evoked action from the Lord. Martha battled unbelief and like it did to her it will do to you. It will cause you to question. Lord do you even care? Where were you when that happened? Why didn't you come

when I called? Obviously you're not able. You must not love me. Can you not hear me? You question the wisdom of God and ultimately that unbelief becomes a thief of your worship. You said yes but did not you commend Mary for her declaration of faith and Lord even now? Yes but I must tell you today it's one thing to say even now but it's another thing to worship in the not yet. It's one thing to muster up the strength to look at the Lord and say Lord I know that even now you could with a lingering uncertainty and unbelief in his power, his willingness. While you say he can you're not sure if he will it's an entirely different thing to come with the heart of surrender and abandon with your heart fixed on God. Purpose to worship in the not yet. I know you can heal him but you haven't done it yet and I could complain and I could grumble and

I could cry and I might but I'm still going to worship. Let me tell you something today the scripture says this when Jesus comes it's Bible quizzes favorite verse John 11 35 Jesus wept let's consider the paradox of this because he told us 31 verses earlier that the sickness was not unto death but when he shows up and he's confronted with the fact of his dead friend buried in a tomb he takes time to weep why would you cry if you already know you're going to raise him? Because he was showing us I will not deny myself the reality of human experience. Let me tell you something I've learned after a few years the same people who will stifle their emotion will stifle their worship the same man who's unwilling to cry is usually unwilling to worship the same one who's usually unwilling to show affection is the same one who's unwilling to worship and Jesus stands outside that tomb knowing full well

he's about to put life back in a lifeless body but before the miracle happens he takes time to cry I mean preach to somebody in this house today it's okay to cry just don't let your tears keep you in your seat you've got to muster up the strength to worship in the not yet you've been asking, you've been waiting you've been wondering, you've been searching well let me tell you what you need to add to the waiting you need to add a little bit of worship and so it's notable that when Jesus gets ready to do the miracle he doesn't ask, Martha he asks Mary Mary where have you laid him? see the worker comes to him in crisis but when it's time to perform a miracle he engages with the worshipper He beckons the inward introspection today how do we live? do I respond to the call to spiritual prioritization in moments of crisis in discomfort or is this really how I

live every day of my life I know the house needs ten I know the guests need cared for but one thing is needful and that seems to be her custom Martha's mind is anxious with many thoughts it's that war with worry and worry has stolen her worship it has been said I've heard it before that worry is like a rocking chair it gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere worry is a recognition of your need but it's not necessarily a recognition of your God worry may on occasion cause you to seek God about your problem but worry won't always get God to work in your problem and in the very next chapter we return to a familiar scene our music can come despite the clear affirmation the Lord gives Mary and despite Martha's momentary demonstration of faith in the face of crisis after the prayer was answered Lazarus walks out of the tomb it seems I remind you this is

one chapter later to the familiarity of work over worship John 12 and 1 six days before the Passover in Jesus comes to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead whom he raised from the dead there they made him a supper and Martha served Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him and Mary took a pound of ointment of spike very costly anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment as she always does Mary comes to worship she finds her way again at the feet of Jesus breaks open this box and pours this pricey perfume upon his feet it was the cost equivalent to an entire year's wages the phrase very costly comes from two Greek words which mean great and to give honor or worth the sweet fragrance fills the room and while she is deep in an act of worship her voice

across the way gives rise to criticism because you see those who are doing the work without the heart always calculate in moments like this they render their verdict on what should have been done well I think you should have sold that you could have made this much money and served this many people you could have helped them to which the Lord says the poor you'll have with you always the contrast of sisters continues even now they could not understand Mary's sacrifice she's too radical it's unnecessary to them it's not called for but to him it was the needful thing she had a heart of worship that others could not perceive one thing is needful stand together with me they can make sense of it it seems too much too passionate too radical I don't know if that's really necessary Mary but we read that Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him simple words so easily passed over because

it was only a few verses ago that he who now sits among them lay dead in a tomb sitting among them in this moment is an ever present memorial of God's work in their family and will some have so easily moved past the moment the miracle happened and retreated to the familiarity of work and only searching in times of crisis not Mary because this isn't just what she does on Sunday this isn't just how she lives in moments of crisis no this is her life one thing is needful I know they perceive her worship as extravagant but I tell you today the perceived extravagance of her worship may only be understood by the depth and the reality of her experience what would you do if you were holding your brother's hand when he slipped into eternity what would you do if you stood and called to memory the tears that you wiped from your cheek as they rolled the stone over the tomb

I'll tell you what she did she stood there with arms raised she said I don't understand it with God I can't make sense of it I know if you were to came when we called he'd be alive right now I called you cause I trusted in your power but now in my pain in my grief I'm gonna worship you cause I still trust in your wisdom and she can call to memory the moment of worship in the face of grief and she can call to memory how she silenced the voice of accusation and unbelief with the sound of praise that rose from the depths of her heart and he whom she cried over now sits with her in ever present memorial that if you can trust his wisdom the same way you trust his power and I thank God for the even now in the face of crisis but if you could take a step beyond that and if you can find the

strength and the faith to worship in the not yet I tell you it does something it'll make a merry out of you people can't make sense of you they can't figure out why you live the way you do why aren't you moved by the things that move me how do you stand tall in the face of tests and trials how are you unmoved by the things that so violently move me I'll tell you why cause my heart is fixed on God and the same brother that she had shed tears as they put in that grave she had watched them stumble out, wrapped up and she had watched them pull the bandages from his face and she saw him smile again in the glistening of his eyes you see, merry's act of worship it comes from her heart of gratitude she's only doing what she's always done worship it's the defining trait of her life because one thing is needful and I have no

further thing to say and the Holy Ghost has a challenge for us as we get ready to cross into another year one thing is needful and it's not your career it's not your retirement package it's not the new house you were hoping for or an upgrade on a car it's not the great vacation you thought 2024 was going to know one thing is needful and it can't just be on this day or a day it has to be every day and it cannot be just in times of crisis and trouble this has to be how we live our lives one thing is needful one thing is needful one thing it's not a neglect of the work that must be done this house must be cared for the guests must be tended to but it's ironic to me that at the conclusion of the miracle nobody comes to talk to Martha about what just happened you know who they find Mary Mary, I need

to talk to you about what we just experienced it's 12 o'clock I'm done Mrs. Hoopman Gardner will you come here they probably would hate that I'm doing this this is the kind of balance I'm talking about I don't know if it was boxing day or the day after 26 to 27th I drove by this church and your truck was parked out there your son's truck why because there's a care for the house you know how many times I've walked in here when there's nothing on the schedule and sister Hoopman Gardner's got a vacuum going and cleaning carpet and cleaning restaurants because the work has to be done he ain't ever going to tell you to do it but you walk back in that prayer room and look at the sign and sheet and you just find out how many times the name Dennis Hoopman Gardner has written on that piece of paper oh yeah they're going to put the wood up they're

going to clean but one thing is needful you know why all that gets done because they prioritize the one thing and I know there's dozens more just like this couple scattered among these pews today and I tell you what the Holy Ghost needs of us in 2024 it's the establishment of the divine priority an inventory of our lives and our homes it's a call to a spiritual repripe organization how much of your calendar does God get does he just get Wednesday at 6.30 does he just get Sunday mornings for two or three hours they said I'm telling you what the Holy Ghost has been dealing with me about because about six weeks ago this is what God started talking to me about you can ask my wife there's not many days from Thanksgiving on that God hasn't woken me up at 4.30 or 5 in the morning he wanted to know why because when that pot of coffee got turned on

and I sat in my chair this is what God started talking to Dan McLeod about and one thing is needful one thing I pray to God today that he would multiply the heart of these elders a thousand times over through this church I hope I don't embarrass you by saying this but sitting at their table a couple months ago we were having dinner and I was just commending Brother Hoopman Gohanard how much he gives and serves and works this is what he said to me you know brother a lot of times when people go forward to pray he said I sit in my chair and I watch them and he said I so bad want to go lay hands on them and pray with them he said but I just wrestle I said elder we need you to why do I tell you I'll tell you that because this is a battle that all of us will fight we never outgrow it we

never graduate from it there's always gifts that God is developing callings God is imparting but I tell you today one thing is needful we're going to work we're going to reach people like pastor said we're going to take care of this house we're going to care for this building we're going to care for our guests we're going to serve the people of this city but one thing is needful and if we do all that and neglect of hearing what he says we're not going to have anything to give him so I wonder today if you could just find your way out of your seat and just for a moment if you could find a place at this altar and say God I want you to do inventory on my life I want you to do inventory on my heart today I don't want to be too disturbed to hear I don't want to be troubled by everything that's happening one thing is needful

one thing I want an ear for what God is saying I want a heart to move when he moves I want a mind that can perceive how he's working one thing one thing oh God we're going to work we're going to serve but we're not going to do it in neglect of our worship and our worship is not just going to be on Sunday it's not just going to be Wednesday night this is not a song set this is not what we do in response to a practice or a production it's how we live every day of our lives it's not what we do in times of crisis it's what I do in the good and the bad it's what I do in the mountain and in the valley because I have set my heart on things above I fix my eyes on the things of the spirit I know some may not make sense of it but you don't know where I've

been you've not seen what I've experienced and just know this the gift of my life it comes from a deep place of gratitude because in my darkest hour God did what only God could do one thing is needful