00:00: I want to thank you first before we begin for your prayers and also for your financial support.
00:11: Let me mention that a few weeks back I met with Pastor Dylan and my goal was to encourage him.
00:17: At the end, you know how a godly man and joyful he is.
00:17: I ended up being encouraged.
00:24: I hope, I think this is what will happen this morning.
00:30: So thank you again for having us.
00:32: I'm going to ask you to please stand up and we're going to read God's word.
00:36: We're going to open our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 38.
00:44: And we stand up for the reading of God's word.
00:48: On the English Standard Version, black cover, we have it on page 869.
00:55: Luke, chapter 10, verse 38 to 42.
01:03: This is the word of the Lord.
01:04: Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.
01:11: And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
01:14: And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
01:20: But Martha was distracted with much serving.
01:24: And she went up to her and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister had led me to serve alone?
01:32: Tell her then to help me.
01:35: But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
01:42: But one thing is necessary.
01:45: Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
01:50: Let's pray.
01:50: Father God, we ask now for your blessing.
01:54: We ask that you speak to our hearts and to our minds.
01:58: Father, we want to be open to your word, not ready to find an excuse, not to obey, but ready to follow it.
02:09: So please talk to us, each one of us this morning, from your word.
02:15: In Jesus' name we pray.
02:17: Amen.
02:17: Thank you.
02:17: Please be seated.
02:20: My goal, I have three goals this morning.
02:29: And my first goal is to honor the women today.
02:32: Honor the women, not just mothers, but women.
02:35: It is Mother's Day.
02:36: The second goal is to give you a biblical principle for all of us.
02:42: And goal number three is to encourage all of you this morning.
02:46: Let me tell you, one day I was having dinner with some friends back in Illinois.
02:54: And their parents were there, and this husband and wife were all sitting down.
03:02: And one dad asked another couple, he said, Tell me, which daughter do you prefer?
03:10: Which daughter do you like the most?
03:14: And unfortunately, this person answered the question.
03:19: I think that's the wrong question.
03:21: That's not the right question that he should be asking.
03:24: I think we all love the children, our children, the same way.
03:29: Maybe some are better at school.
03:33: Maybe one of them or two of them are better behaved.
03:38: But we all love them the same.
03:41: In our passage this morning, we should not ask the same wrong question to our passage.
03:46: We're going to talk about Martha and Mary.
03:48: And we cannot ask, okay, so which one is good and which one is bad?
03:52: Is Martha bad and Mary is good?
03:55: Who's righteous and who's evil?
03:58: And that's not the right question for our passage this morning.
04:01: And with that, we're going to start our text.
04:04: And we're going to look at verse 38.
04:07: Verse 38 says that now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.
04:12: So Jesus and the disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.
04:16: And they stop and they enter a small village.
04:19: He doesn't give us the name.
04:21: Some of the commentary says it's Bethany.
04:23: The important thing is that he stops.
04:25: He stops on his way.
04:27: He has a goal.
04:28: He has a purpose.
04:28: He has a mission.
04:29: But he stops.
04:31: Verse 38 says, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
04:37: Like I said, I want to honor the woman today.
04:40: And let me say that God created men in the beginning, right?
04:46: But yet ever since then, every man has been born through a woman.
04:50: When God created a woman, he created a fitting partner, a faithful partner, a beautiful complement, and a precious and essential gift.
05:01: Well, Martha welcomed Jesus in her house.
05:04: And this shows a lot of hospitality.
05:07: She opened her house.
05:08: She did not say, okay, we're going to talk about God.
05:11: Not today.
05:12: Thank you.
05:12: And close the door.
05:13: She opened her house.
05:16: And that should be a call for us to open our house for Jesus.
05:21: Maybe not to have a Bible study, but to have conversations about God, to read the Bible, to pray.
05:26: Not only coming on Sunday, to hear about God and do God stuff.
05:34: And I want to praise all of you who opened their homes to have Bible studies in groups.
05:41: And I was looking at one of the announcements for families.
05:45: And I see that you can volunteer for hosting a family and hosting to be overnight, getting someone.
05:52: And for that, it's an encouragement.
05:56: And I want to commend you for that.
05:59: Verse 39, then, it says that, And she, Martha, had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
06:11: So Mary is Martha's sister, and she's sitting at the Lord's feet.
06:17: And to sit at someone's feet means she's studying, she's listening to this person, she's becoming her disciple, she's interested in hearing whatever he has to say.
06:28: Mary is taking the position of a student with a rabbi, and she wants to listen to Jesus.
06:37: And we see Mary in different occasions in the Bible, and she's always at Jesus' feet.
06:43: And that's very powerful.
06:45: We see when the story of Lazarus, their brother, died.
06:51: She fell.
06:53: She goes to Jesus' feet and asks.
06:57: That was Mary.
06:58: Mary in John 12, anointed Jesus' feet.
07:04: And now in our passage, she is listening at her feet, at his feet.
07:11: Listening to his teaching.
07:12: Not only listening to noise.
07:16: Not only listening, but actually, not only hearing some sounds, but actually being ready to listen and follow, listen and obey.
07:25: Listening to understand.
07:28: I think I see a lot of faces here this morning, and this is good.
07:33: Sometimes in my church, in the church that I serve in, Unido's church, I'm reading the text, and I look it up, and some of the people are having a siesta.
07:45: They're resting.
07:46: They're resting in the Lord.
07:47: But Mary, Mary is paying attention.
07:53: Mary wants to listen to Jesus.
07:56: Mary loved Jesus, and he wanted to absorb everything that he wanted to say.
08:01: Verse 40 says, But Martha was distracted with much serving.
08:07: We are told a couple of things about Martha.
08:11: Martha was distracted with much serving.
08:14: There was a lot of serving.
08:15: She was serving Jesus.
08:18: She was not doing anything bad, anything wrong.
08:21: She was serving Jesus.
08:23: I don't know if your household happens, but in my household it happens.
08:27: If we have a guest, the day before we have a guest, there is a war in the house.
08:33: We need to get it clean.
08:34: We need to do a lot of things in the house for our guests.
08:38: This is Martha.
08:39: This is serving Jesus.
08:42: And probably the 12 disciples are there with him.
08:45: Not only she needs to take care for Jesus, but also his friends.
08:51: He brought his friends.
08:51: Even the one the mom told him not to hang out with, he's there too.
08:57: Maybe Mary wants to eat too, so she has to serve too.
09:03: And she says that it's much serving.
09:05: She's serving a lot.
09:07: She's preparing the dishes and all that stuff that needs to be prepared.
09:13: I'm sure that here there needs to be a lot of preparation in order for a service to go on.
09:18: There needs to be the communion and the chairs and the bulletins and the song and who's going to sing.
09:24: There's preparation.
09:26: There needs to be Martha.
09:27: There needs to be someone that takes care of the job.
09:30: We cannot all come and just listen to God's word.
09:35: We understand that.
09:36: That's important.
09:37: Let me tell you, if you visit my mother who lives in Illinois.
09:41: And this is why I tell you, I think Martha was Hispanic.
09:48: Because if you visit my mom in Illinois, you're going to eat.
09:53: You're going to eat and you must be prepared.
09:56: You must come with an empty stomach.
09:57: Because if you say you're not hungry, she will get offended.
10:02: And Martha is preparing the food.
10:06: Maybe she's in the kitchen, warming up the tortillas and the steak, the salsa, lemonade, all the good stuff.
10:14: She's getting all that ready.
10:16: We cannot say, evil Martha, you're doing bad.
10:19: You should be condemned.
10:20: That's a sin.
10:22: No, it's something good about Martha.
10:24: She's serving the Lord like we are all here today.
10:28: She's not doing something bad.
10:30: Martha is also, is actually a good example of hospitality.
10:36: Helping, serving, working, busy doing things.
10:39: Busy doing the Lord's work.
10:43: And serving.
10:44: And these were distracted.
10:46: Distracted, it means like she's being pulled around, pulled this way.
10:51: In that direction, she has a lot of things going on right now in her life.
10:57: And she's doing this all on her own.
11:00: Look at verse 40.
11:01: It says, and she went up to him, to Jesus, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has led me to serve alone?
11:12: Lord, you don't care.
11:14: This is not fair.
11:15: Don't you care about me, Lord?
11:18: This is not fair.
11:19: Master, there is a problem.
11:21: And the problem that I have is because of my sister.
11:27: She let me do this all alone.
11:29: And she started blaming her.
11:31: And she's serving the Lord, but she wants everybody to serve the Lord.
11:35: Or she's preparing the food, but she wants also Mary to be there.
11:41: And I think this happens to all of us when we serve the Lord in any capacity.
11:47: Sometimes we see older people that are not doing it, and we feel like, well, they should be doing it too.
11:55: And the Lord needs to speak to our hearts and say, Martha, Martha, don't be distracted by many things.
12:02: I want to mention that the women, they do plenty of things.
12:08: I was looking for images this morning.
12:11: We're going to have a dinner later on tonight.
12:15: And I was looking at this mother that has a baby.
12:17: She's carrying a baby, and she's in the phone, and she's also cooking.
12:23: That's women.
12:24: That's our women.
12:26: We men, we forget everything.
12:28: We need to have it in writing.
12:30: And what happened to our brother happens to all of us.
12:33: Like, what's the name of the church?
12:35: And all that stuff.
12:37: But the women, they can do it.
12:40: She's asking, why nobody is serving Jesus?
12:44: How come nobody is helping?
12:46: And she's getting upset of working hard for the Lord.
12:50: And that's a call to do an assessment in our hearts.
12:54: How much are we doing, and what's the attitude in doing that?
13:00: Well, in verse 40, we see Martha telling something to Jesus.
13:10: He says, tell her.
13:12: Tell her then to help me.
13:15: She says, bring her here.
13:17: Go and tell her.
13:19: Oddly enough, funny enough, Martha calls him master.
13:24: But she's actually acting like a master.
13:29: Like, she's the master.
13:30: Jesus, go and do this for me.
13:33: She's giving Jesus orders.
13:35: And we have to be careful about this.
13:38: When tragedy happens, when things don't go our way, and we say, Jesus, you didn't do this.
13:43: You were supposed to do this.
13:44: You were supposed to bless me this time.
13:46: And Martha has this attitude.
13:52: Do we want to serve the Lord, but we want to tell the pastor how to do it, what to preach, how to preach?
13:59: We want to be part of a community, a ministry, but we have the best ideas.
14:04: Are we ready to listen and follow?
14:05: Well, Mary is listening to Jesus.
14:13: And Martha is giving orders to Jesus.
14:15: Look at verse 40 with me.
14:19: It says, but the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha.
14:23: Martha, Martha.
14:25: And he's saying her name twice.
14:30: I don't know if your kids answer quickly, like they come the first way you call them.
14:36: Maybe.
14:36: I don't want to say mine don't because they're here.
14:41: But he also want to cut her attention because she's distracted.
14:46: She's helping a line.
14:47: Martha, Martha.
14:48: Kind of like, stop Martha.
14:50: And what are we expecting he's going to say?
14:53: Is he going to rebuke her?
14:55: Is he going to, like, correct her?
14:57: Is he going to pray for her for not doing everything she needs to do?
15:01: We know from John 11 that Jesus loves Martha.
15:09: He loves Martha.
15:10: And he loves Mary, too.
15:12: He loves her, too.
15:13: And Lazarus, too.
15:15: But he wants Martha to listen and calls her name.
15:19: And the sweetest sound that you can hear, do you know what it is?
15:24: It's your name.
15:26: And she calls her twice, Martha, Martha.
15:27: Verse 41, it says, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
15:34: And these are all good things, Martha.
15:36: You're doing a lot of good things.
15:39: And these are all good things.
15:41: But you are anxious.
15:43: You're worried.
15:44: You have anxiety over this.
15:47: You are too concerned about this.
15:49: You care too much about all of these things that you got to do for Jesus.
15:56: You're thinking you want to have this special, perfect night to give it to Jesus.
16:01: But we're going to see that the good things that she's doing are keeping her from listening to Jesus.
16:12: The good things that she's preparing, the good food, and everything she's doing, she's doing, those things are keeping her from listening to Jesus.
16:23: She's disturbed, uneasy, alarmed, almost upset.
16:26: Sometimes in the church there is a, not conflict, but a situation we need to watch out when someone serves in any capacity.
16:40: Sometimes they serve every Sunday and they don't get a time to listen to God's word.
16:46: For us pastors, we need to listen to other people preach to us and listen to other sermons because we need to listen.
16:58: Verse 42, it says, But one thing is necessary, Mary.
17:02: One thing is necessary.
17:06: Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.
17:12: So Jesus is kindly correcting Martha.
17:16: He's calming her down and says, Martha, Mary's not doing something that we need to tell her not to do.
17:28: She has chosen.
17:30: He has made a good decision.
17:32: Because if you see the word chosen there, it's there at 42.
17:35: He had a choice.
17:36: Mary had a choice.
17:37: Do I want to eat well?
17:39: Or do I want to listen to what Jesus had to say?
17:44: What am I going to do?
17:45: He had to decide.
17:46: Just as a commercial, I used to have a college professor.
17:55: And we would always complain to him.
17:59: Right?
17:59: And we'd say, we don't have time.
18:01: This is too much work.
18:03: And he would say, well, you eat?
18:06: I'd say, yeah.
18:08: Do you sleep?
18:10: Yeah.
18:10: Then you have time.
18:12: In other words, don't sleep.
18:14: Do what you have to do.
18:18: Mary prefers to be in an empty stomach maybe and being close to Jesus.
18:24: One thing is necessary.
18:26: One thing is needed.
18:28: Let me ask all of you, what good things are you doing?
18:31: Maybe you could say, I'm praying.
18:34: I pray all mornings.
18:36: I pray.
18:37: I read my Bible every time.
18:38: I listen to my parents.
18:40: I come to church.
18:41: I go to missionary trips.
18:42: And I go to these other trips.
18:44: And I do this, this, and that.
18:45: And that's important.
18:47: But are those things getting us too distracted, too anxious for serving the Lord and not able to stop and listen?
18:55: Verse 42 still says that Mary has chosen the good portion.
19:02: In other words, Martha, you have chosen not the best portion.
19:07: Mary has made better decisions.
19:12: Mary is listening.
19:14: Serving is good.
19:16: We need to serve.
19:18: But we need to listen to Jesus.
19:21: So being with Jesus, and this is the biblical principle.
19:23: Knowing Jesus, loving Jesus is better than serving Jesus.
19:30: Knowing him, loving him, being ready to listen is better than doing something for him.
19:38: We cannot win heaven.
19:40: We cannot win his love.
19:43: He's there for us.
19:44: We just need to listen.
19:46: There is choosing.
19:47: And what are we going to choose?
19:50: There are a lot of things in life that pull us in different directions.
19:57: But are we going to choose to listen, listening to church?
20:01: I don't know if this has happened to you, that if you ever have gone to a kid's birthday party.
20:07: And you are, as an adult, you come and you're invited.
20:10: And you're having fun with your friends.
20:12: You're talking.
20:12: You're sharing the gospel, maybe.
20:15: I don't know what you're sharing.
20:16: I hope you're sharing good things.
20:18: But you're sharing things between adults.
20:20: And then all of a sudden, you remember there's a kid.
20:23: There is a kid who had a birthday.
20:25: Who is he?
20:25: Where is he?
20:26: We don't know.
20:27: We forgot.
20:29: That's kind of what's happening here with Martha and Mary.
20:32: Martha is getting ready.
20:33: She's preparing everything.
20:35: Oh, wait.
20:35: Where is the Son of God?
20:37: Where is she?
20:38: Oh, yeah.
20:38: Come, Jesus.
20:39: Do this for us.
20:42: We need to have hospitality in our hearts.
20:46: Open our hearts to Jesus.
20:48: Open our time and our minds and all of our lives.
20:51: Jesus has a priority.
20:54: Jesus over all other things.
20:59: Verse 42 ends up like this.
21:04: I have five more pages.
21:06: We're almost done.
21:08: We're almost there.
21:09: But at the end, he says, Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.
21:18: Which will not be taken away from her.
21:22: Jesus did not tell Mary, Mary, you need to stand up for now.
21:27: Go in the kitchen and help Martha.
21:30: Martha did not stop listening.
21:32: She stayed there.
21:33: Jesus said, Martha, Mary needs to stay here.
21:37: I'm not going to tell her to do anything else.
21:41: Well, allow me to give you some encouragement.
21:43: One thing he says is, it's not going to be taken away.
21:50: We're not going to take away this thing that Martha has.
21:54: The listening to God's word is not going to be taken away, Martha.
21:57: Well, in our lives, you and I, we can lose many things.
22:02: They can take away many things.
22:05: We can lose our health.
22:07: That can be taken away.
22:08: We can lose our children.
22:11: We can lose our building.
22:15: We can lose opportunities.
22:18: We can lose many things.
22:19: But the hearing, the word of God, and the transformation that makes, nothing can take away from us.
22:29: It's not going to be taken away.
22:30: So are we going to listen to Jesus?
22:34: Are we going to be ready to listen to what he has to say?
22:40: When he says in Mark, repent and believe, are we going to listen to that?
22:46: Are we going to repent?
22:48: Or are we too busy doing other things?
22:51: We need to repent because he's saying that.
22:54: He says that.
22:55: In John, he tells us, let not your hearts be troubled.
23:00: Are we going to listen to that?
23:02: Believe in God?
23:04: If we ask everybody and ask them, do you believe in God?
23:08: The answer would probably be yes.
23:11: Well, the text says, believe also in me.
23:17: Jesus is saying, if you believe in God, do you believe there's a God?
23:19: Believe in the Son of God.
23:21: Because he says, in my Father's house, there are many rooms.
23:27: If it were not so, will I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
23:32: He's preparing a place for us.
23:34: Maybe he's like Martha.
23:36: Travel preparing for us.
23:39: I hope, I know he's not.
23:41: But it says the Bible is preparing a place for us.
23:44: Matthew 6 says, do not be anxious about life.
23:48: Are we going to listen to that?
23:49: And I finish with this text.
23:53: Luke 11, 27.
23:55: As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, said to Jesus.
24:04: A woman comes to Jesus and raises her voice and says this.
24:09: Blessed, blessed is the womb that bore you.
24:13: And the breast at which you're a nurse.
24:19: Blessed is the woman who bore you.
24:24: Your mother.
24:26: Blessed.
24:27: But he says this.
24:30: He says, blessed rather.
24:34: Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
24:39: You and I, we need, we want to be blessed.
24:43: And this is what the Bible reminds us.
24:46: Hear the word of God and keep it.
24:49: This is the word of the Lord.
24:50: Let me pray with you.
24:53: Father, we thank you for this text.
24:56: Father, you speak directly to our hearts.
24:58: Father, we, sometimes we're too busy doing things for you.
25:06: Forgive us, Father.
25:08: Give us a calm heart, a listening attitude, Father.
25:12: Father, honor the women who work so hard, who do many things.
25:21: Honor the women and men who listen to your word and are ready.
25:26: Father, thank you that your word in our lives cannot be taken away.
25:34: And because of that, we rejoice.
25:37: Amen.