Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / Sit and Listen
Transcript
- 0:00We can turn back to our reading in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10.
- 0:06We're going to look at the end of this chapter where we read of Mary and Martha
- 0:10and how they had Jesus in their home and how they engaged with him, and especially as we see Mary engaging with him.
- 0:21In verse 39 it says, this is Martha, she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened.
- 0:30To his teaching.
- 0:32She sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
- 0:38Well, last Sunday we had what we called Back to Church Sunday.
- 0:43It was a new season beginning in terms of Sunday school resuming after the summer holidays,
- 0:49and many things just starting to start back after that break.
- 0:53And we were looking at the Gospel of Luke last Sunday morning here as well.
- 0:58We were in chapter 14.
- 1:01And Back to Church Sunday is very much about an invitation to come.
- 1:06To come and hear the Gospel.
- 1:08An invitation to come.
- 1:10As we saw it in chapter 14, it was talking about a banquet that was prepared.
- 1:16It was a parable that was being told.
- 1:18And how invitations went out to come for everything is now ready.
- 1:22And that's the way we see it with church when we come to church.
- 1:27When we come to hear the Gospel is to come and hear about a man who has done everything for us.
- 1:32Who has prepared everything for us.
- 1:34A banquet has been prepared for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1:39So we are to come.
- 1:41But what is it that we are coming to?
- 1:44And why do we come?
- 1:46Why do we keep on coming?
- 1:48It's not just about coming once.
- 1:50But it's about keeping on coming to Jesus.
- 1:53And living in light of him and his ways.
- 1:57That's what we want to think about this morning together.
- 1:59Not just about coming to church.
- 2:01But what we're coming to.
- 2:03And why we need to keep coming back to it as well.
- 2:07Some of you will be able to remember a TV program called Jackanori.
- 2:14It ran from 1965 right through to 1996.
- 2:19Over 30 years.
- 2:21And what it was, as I'm sure if you remember it,
- 2:23it was somebody coming to share a story from a book.
- 2:27To read a story from a book.
- 2:30And it was just there to encourage people to be interested again in coming to read for themselves.
- 2:36To set up an interest in hearing stories and reading books themselves.
- 2:41You had to sit and listen.
- 2:45What we sang in Psalm 34 is very like that as well.
- 2:49Where the psalmist says in verse 11.
- 2:51Come hear my children.
- 2:52Gather round and listen to my word.
- 2:55There's this invitation to come and listen.
- 2:58And the psalmist says,
- 2:59And I will help you understand how you may fear the Lord.
- 3:03How we are to live for the Lord.
- 3:06What both these things have in common.
- 3:09Whether it's thinking of Jackanori or thinking of the psalm.
- 3:13Psalm 34.
- 3:14It's about stopping what we're doing.
- 3:18And coming for a time to sit.
- 3:21And to listen.
- 3:23And that's what we have a great illustration of here with Martha and Mary.
- 3:27The passage before us.
- 3:28Just a few verses.
- 3:30Verse 38 to 42.
- 3:31But it's so important for us.
- 3:35And you almost see it as well in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
- 3:39That's based on people being gathered around.
- 3:42And a lawyer.
- 3:43A man stood up and put this question to him.
- 3:45And so they're sitting.
- 3:47Listening to what Jesus has to say.
- 3:49And what we see with Mary and Martha is that there is this importance of stopping what we're doing.
- 3:57And just coming to listen to what Jesus has to say.
- 4:02And so that's why it's important for us.
- 4:04Not just to come to church maybe once because we get an invitation.
- 4:08But to come because of what we see that we're coming to.
- 4:12We're coming to sit and to listen to what Jesus has to say to us.
- 4:18So Jesus here comes to the home of Mary and Martha.
- 4:24And they respond quite differently.
- 4:28Mary and Martha, they seem to have different priorities at this time.
- 4:33And the question would often be asked then,
- 4:36Are you a Mary?
- 4:38Or are you a Martha?
- 4:40Are you one who just wants to come and sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his teaching?
- 4:44Or are you one who's busying yourself in good things?
- 4:49And is there a right answer?
- 4:53Or should we be both?
- 4:56Because you see here, Martha wasn't all in the wrong.
- 5:00Although she was reminded what was important.
- 5:03And Mary was reminded too what is important.
- 5:08And we are reminded what is important.
- 5:11We are really to be both Mary and Martha.
- 5:16Busying ourselves in good things.
- 5:19But not forgetting what is the main thing.
- 5:23And what our main priority is.
- 5:25That one thing necessary as Jesus describes it here.
- 5:29The good portion which will not be taken away.
- 5:33So it's about coming to see the importance of listening to Jesus and making that time.
- 5:42And so I want us to see just four things, four lessons for us here.
- 5:46As we think of the priority that Mary has here in coming.
- 5:49To sit at the feet of Jesus and to listen to his teaching.
- 5:55That's what verse 39 says.
- 5:57And we can first of all think of focusing our priorities.
- 6:00Focusing our priorities.
- 6:01Focusing our priorities.
- 6:03We mentioned priorities last week as we were looking at it in Luke 14.
- 6:08When the invitation went out to come to the banquet, there were those who made their excuses.
- 6:14They got the priorities all mixed up.
- 6:18There was one who had bought a field and he wanted to go and see it.
- 6:22There was another who had bought five yoke of oxen and he wanted to go and test them.
- 6:26There was another who had got married and that was his priority at the moment.
- 6:31And you say to yourself, there's nothing wrong in and of themselves.
- 6:35These are the important aspects of our lives.
- 6:38When we think of our home, our family, our work, all of these things, they're important.
- 6:44But it's about prioritizing what's right.
- 6:48And we saw that the priority is not to get so distracted in these things that we forget about the importance of the gospel and about Jesus and about what he has done for us.
- 7:01And looking at this scene in Mary and Martha's home as well, you see that there's a lot going on.
- 7:09Martha is busying herself.
- 7:12Jesus is coming.
- 7:13They're obviously a close family, a family who are close to Jesus.
- 7:18You see, when their brother Lazarus passes away, it would be after this event.
- 7:23You see just how precious they were to Jesus.
- 7:26But Martha was concerned about preparing a meal and serving the guests.
- 7:32Mary was more concerned about being in the presence of the Lord Jesus sitting at his feet.
- 7:38But you notice here just how he deals with Martha as well as Mary.
- 7:44And it's interesting when you see that when he came into the village in verse 38, a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
- 7:54So Martha was the one who welcomed him in.
- 7:58Martha was the one who met him.
- 8:00So Martha had a good priority there as well.
- 8:03Come in, Jesus.
- 8:05Come into our home.
- 8:06And that's a great thing for us all to think about in our own priorities, our own homes, our own lives, to welcome Jesus in as part of our lives.
- 8:16But it's not just to lose sight then of just who Jesus is and what's important about Jesus.
- 8:23It's not just about saying, well, I come to church and it's good to be among God's people.
- 8:28It's good to be here to enjoy fellowship and to enjoy tea and coffee and all of these things.
- 8:33That's good in and of itself.
- 8:37But what we see is with Mary, she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.
- 8:46Coming to church is great.
- 8:50But the importance is to come and hear and listen to what Jesus has to say.
- 8:55And to see where our priorities lie, to see just what is important in our lives.
- 9:04Martha didn't make the most of having Jesus in the home.
- 9:09And for us, we could be the same.
- 9:11We don't make the most of being alongside God's people, about being under God's word.
- 9:17Or all of these things, when our priorities are maybe different, when we're distracted and getting caught up in everything else, we can miss out on so much.
- 9:30If everything in our lives takes precedence over being with the Lord, then we're missing out on the heart of the experience, of hearing what Jesus has to say.
- 9:42Even when we're busy in his work, and we can all be doing this and guilty of it as well.
- 9:50We can be busy in church life.
- 9:52We can be busy doing things in church life.
- 9:55We always have to be on our guard that we don't allow that busyness to come between us and coming to have that time at the feet of Jesus.
- 10:04Of making that our priority as well.
- 10:08So we have to get our priorities in order.
- 10:13It's not one or the other.
- 10:16Busyness or sitting.
- 10:17It's not one or the other.
- 10:18It's about both.
- 10:20And how we can do both.
- 10:22But making sure that in the busyness of life, we have the priority of having time with Jesus as well.
- 10:30Because if we want to grow in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus, if we want to see the joy that he is able to bring to our lives, the peace that he is able to give to us, when there's so much that's crazy going on around us, then we need to spend time in his presence.
- 10:47Spend time in his word.
- 10:49Spend time in his word.
- 11:19Spend time in his word.
- 11:49Spend time in his word.
- 11:51Then secondly, we see here, when we do that, we feed our souls.
- 11:59We feed our souls.
- 12:02Martha was worried about physical nourishment.
- 12:06About getting food here.
- 12:08About making sure that everybody was looked after in that way.
- 12:10But Mary was more concerned about getting her soul fed.
- 12:14and that's a key for us as well. It's good to entertain people, to have fellowship,
- 12:24to have food together. All of these things are good, but to feed our souls in the midst of it
- 12:29as well. So even as we have our tea and coffee after the service that we seek to not just
- 12:35have a biscuit and a cup of tea, but to have discussion, to have talk, to get alongside one
- 12:41another, to know one another, to love one another, to feed our souls in that way. We were talking about
- 12:47spiritual things. We were talking about the Word of God. We were talking about praying together. We
- 12:54were talking about encouraging one another because in his presence we find that that is what the Lord
- 13:01does for us as we sit and listen to what he has to say to us. It feeds our soul. It nourishes our soul.
- 13:111 Peter. Peter speaks there about being chapter 2. Like newborn babies, we crave pure spiritual milk
- 13:19so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. There's to be this desire for the Lord, this hunger
- 13:26for the Lord so that we are growing up in the Lord and in our understanding of him. We are to feed
- 13:34our souls. How discouraging it can be when we face challenges and we've not fed our soul. We forget
- 13:42the Lord's promises. We forget the Lord's goodness. The phrase burnout is so common today because we live
- 13:52in a world where life is so rushed and so busy, where the world just thrives us to that 24-7 kind of
- 14:01mindset. It's all about being busy, busy, busy. But God gave us a day when we look at God's Word, when we come
- 14:11to it from beginning to end, we see the pattern that God has set for us. And in the beginning when he created
- 14:17the heavens and the earth on the seventh day, he rested. And he gave that to us as a creation ordinance,
- 14:25as we call it, to keep the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, set apart for this very purpose of gathering
- 14:32round, coming to sit around the Word of God and to listen to what the Lord has to say, to feed our souls.
- 14:44So that instead of burning ourselves out, we are to be filling ourselves with the Word of God.
- 14:50Just like the two on the road to Emmaus, as they were walking along with Jesus there on the road
- 14:56to Emmaus, after his resurrection, Jesus appeared beside them and started to open up the Scriptures,
- 15:03it says, to them. And what did they say? Did not our hearts burn within us?
- 15:11They weren't burnt out. They were put into flame. They were set aflame because they were listening to
- 15:16what Jesus was having to say to them. They were being given understanding about everything that had taken place.
- 15:24Their eyes were opened to see him and to know him. And that's what we are to do as well, to seek to feed our souls,
- 15:33to nourish our souls, to make sure that we are coming under the Word of God together,
- 15:39whether it's on the Sunday or the midweek opportunities that we have, or whether it's by ourselves,
- 15:46in our own quiet time as well, to make sure that we have these priorities of feeding our soul.
- 15:55Mary sat to listen to what Jesus had to say. And that's so important for us, to keep us going in this world.
- 16:04It's not just about coming to church once or occasionally, but constantly coming to sit at the feet of Jesus,
- 16:12to feed and nourish our soul for that one thing that's necessary, that good portion as he describes it here,
- 16:21to feed and nourish our souls in that way.
- 16:26Mary listened to what Jesus was saying.
- 16:29Martha was busy.
- 16:31Let's make sure that we're not over busy, but that we can make time to sit and listen to Jesus.
- 16:39Third thing we see here is we can bring our cares to the Lord as well as we come to sit at the feet of Jesus.
- 16:48Martha was loved by Jesus just as much as Mary was.
- 16:52You see that through these few verses, Martha welcomed him into her house.
- 16:57Martha was distracted with much serving.
- 17:02She wanted Jesus to have the best.
- 17:05And then when she comes with a complaint in verse 40,
- 17:09Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?
- 17:13Tell her then to help me.
- 17:15Look at the way the Lord answers her, Martha, Martha.
- 17:20He uses her name twice.
- 17:22Martha, Martha.
- 17:24It's like there's a gentle and a loving rebuke there.
- 17:29Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
- 17:35He's got a concern for her.
- 17:37And he's saying, really, Martha, bring your cares to me.
- 17:42She's busy, anxious, troubled, distracted here.
- 17:47Who isn't?
- 17:48We all find ourselves in that way where there's so much going on in our minds,
- 17:53so many things that need our attention.
- 17:55We can so easily end up in this way that Martha is distracted in so many ways,
- 18:02anxious and troubled about many things.
- 18:07And when we have Jesus there to bring our cares to.
- 18:12Somebody once put it like this, just a short statement.
- 18:15Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.
- 18:20Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.
- 18:23Where we don't take that time to be with Jesus.
- 18:28Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
- 18:33But Jesus is reminding us here that he is there for us to bring all our cares to him.
- 18:40Because the more we come to him, the more we see the power that there is in prayer.
- 18:46The more that we see the privilege that we have in knowing the one who has made the heavens and the earth and everything in them.
- 18:53That we have this God for us.
- 18:56And the more we learn of him, the more we see, well, everything I am anxious about.
- 19:01Everything I am worried about.
- 19:03I can bring it to him in prayer.
- 19:06And he is able to give me that peace that passes understanding.
- 19:12We can bring our cares to him.
- 19:14And there's so many scriptures that remind us of that.
- 19:18In Peter it says,
- 19:19Cast your cares on him for he cares for you.
- 19:22In Philippians 4 verse 6 it says,
- 19:27Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving.
- 19:32Present your requests to God.
- 19:35And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- 19:43We have a peace to be found when we come and cast our cares.
- 19:48When we come to the feet of Jesus.
- 19:51There's the hymn,
- 19:52What a friend we have in Jesus.
- 19:54And it speaks into this kind of situation as well.
- 19:58About all the troubles that we have.
- 20:00What a friend we have in Jesus.
- 20:02All our sins and griefs to bear.
- 20:05What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
- 20:09Oh what peace we often forfeit.
- 20:11Oh what needless pain we bear.
- 20:14All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
- 20:18So we have that desire put in our heart here as we have it to sit at the feet of Jesus and bring our cares to him.
- 20:27The hymn goes on to say,
- 20:28Are we weak and heavy laden?
- 20:31Is that you today?
- 20:34Weak, heavy laden, burdened, distracted by so many things.
- 20:39Cumbered with a load of care.
- 20:42Precious saviour, still a refuge.
- 20:45Take it to the Lord in prayer.
- 20:47Do your friends despise, forsake you?
- 20:50Take it to the Lord in prayer.
- 20:52In his arms he'll take and shield you.
- 20:54You will find a solace there.
- 20:57There's this image there of just coming to Jesus with everything in our life.
- 21:03And that he is able to give us that care and that peace.
- 21:08We come again and again and again to him.
- 21:15The last thing we see here is we can find ourselves.
- 21:21We can find ourselves.
- 21:23Mary found contentment.
- 21:26She found meaning, she found purpose at the feet of Jesus.
- 21:31Just the way Jesus puts it in verse 42.
- 21:34But one thing is necessary.
- 21:37Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.
- 21:44There's contentment.
- 21:46There's real contentment in coming to the feet of Jesus.
- 21:51And to come to the feet of Jesus requires humility.
- 21:54humility.
- 21:55It requires humbling ourselves.
- 21:59When you look at the parable of the Good Samaritan,
- 22:03and you see it when the rich young ruler comes to Jesus as well,
- 22:08they have this question of what must I do to inherit eternal life?
- 22:13It's about the things that we are doing.
- 22:16Last week we were mentioning that religion is not what we do,
- 22:21but what is done.
- 22:22And what Jesus has done for us.
- 22:26And the more we are at the feet of Jesus,
- 22:28the more that we see it is done.
- 22:31He has done all things for us.
- 22:33Everything is now ready.
- 22:35So humility is important for us.
- 22:38And James Parker's got a book,
- 22:40Your Father Loves You.
- 22:42And in this book he speaks about the humility of Paul
- 22:46and how does an ever-increasing humility.
- 22:49He speaks about three texts about how Paul describes himself.
- 22:541 Corinthians 15, 9, he says,
- 22:56I am the very least of all the saints.
- 22:59Then in Ephesians 3, verse 8, he says,
- 23:01I am the foremost.
- 23:03I am the least of all the saints.
- 23:06I am the least of the apostles.
- 23:07It's the first one, sorry, in 1 Corinthians.
- 23:09I am the least of the saints in Ephesians.
- 23:12I am the foremost of sinners in 1 Timothy 1.
- 23:15And what's interesting is that each of these texts
- 23:18is like he's going lower as the years are passing.
- 23:23And that's the way James Parker describes it.
- 23:25He says,
- 23:26Humility and a passion for praise
- 23:28are a pair of characteristics
- 23:30which together indicate growth in grace.
- 23:34Humility and a passion for praise.
- 23:38And that over the years you see Paul, he says,
- 23:41growing downward.
- 23:44And as he's humbling himself,
- 23:46his praise is increasing.
- 23:51Just like John the Baptist who said,
- 23:53he must increase and I must decrease.
- 23:57That's what we find as we come to the feet of Jesus.
- 24:01We find ourselves.
- 24:02We find our purpose.
- 24:04We find our peace
- 24:05because we begin to see more of ourselves
- 24:08and our unworthiness
- 24:10and all that we cannot do.
- 24:13But we see all of what God has done for us in Christ.
- 24:18And we're able to give him more and more glory.
- 24:23Mary sat at the feet of Jesus here.
- 24:27It was a time of peace.
- 24:30But later on in her life,
- 24:32a time of trouble came
- 24:33when her brother passed away.
- 24:36But she was still able to come
- 24:39to the feet of Jesus
- 24:40and find in Jesus there
- 24:43the one who had power over all things,
- 24:47even death.
- 24:48And so we find
- 24:51this promise of eternal life
- 24:54is found
- 24:55in Jesus.
- 24:59And it is real.
- 25:02And that's what we come
- 25:03to hear about here.
- 25:05This is not
- 25:06Chakanori.
- 25:08It's not a fictional book.
- 25:11It's not just something
- 25:12that's made up.
- 25:13It's given to us
- 25:16from God
- 25:17so that we can hear
- 25:19and fear the Lord
- 25:20and come
- 25:21to live
- 25:22for him.
- 25:25Mary found
- 25:26that meaning,
- 25:27that thing necessary,
- 25:29that good portion
- 25:30that would never be taken away from her.
- 25:33Why?
- 25:34Because she came
- 25:35to the feet of Jesus.
- 25:36And that's why
- 25:38we are to come
- 25:39and to keep on coming.
- 25:42Not just to enjoy
- 25:43time together,
- 25:44which we do
- 25:45and we hope we do,
- 25:47but more importantly
- 25:48it's to come
- 25:49and listen
- 25:51to what Jesus
- 25:53has to say.
- 25:55Come here,
- 25:55my children,
- 25:56gather round
- 25:57and listen
- 25:57to my word
- 25:59and I will help you
- 26:00understand
- 26:00how you
- 26:01may fear the Lord.
- 26:04That's what we are to do.
- 26:05just like Mary here.
- 26:08She sat
- 26:09at the Lord's feet
- 26:11and listened
- 26:12to his teaching.
- 26:14May we listen
- 26:15to his teaching
- 26:17that we may find
- 26:18purpose,
- 26:20meaning,
- 26:21peace
- 26:21and joy
- 26:23in the one
- 26:24who has
- 26:25eternal life
- 26:26to give us.
- 26:28May he bless us
- 26:30through his word
- 26:31and may we keep
- 26:32coming back to it
- 26:34again and again,
- 26:36strengthened by it
- 26:38and for his glory.
- 26:40Let us pray.
- 26:43Lord,
- 26:44our gracious God,
- 26:45we thank you
- 26:45that you are
- 26:46one who is never silent
- 26:47but one who always speaks.
- 26:49One who has a word
- 26:51to say to
- 26:52your people
- 26:53every day of life,
- 26:55through every generation,
- 26:56through every experience.
- 26:57and so we pray,
- 26:59Lord,
- 26:59for that desire
- 27:00of Mary
- 27:01to be ours as well,
- 27:03just as it's important
- 27:04to be a Martha
- 27:05at times,
- 27:06to be busy
- 27:07in many good things.
- 27:09May we also find
- 27:10the importance
- 27:11of coming
- 27:12to sit
- 27:13at the feet
- 27:14of Jesus
- 27:14and to listen
- 27:15to what you have
- 27:17to see.
- 27:17So guide us
- 27:18and bless us,
- 27:19we pray,
- 27:19for giving us
- 27:20our sin
- 27:21in Jesus' name.
- 27:22Amen.
- 27:23We're going to conclude
- 27:28by singing
- 27:29to God's praise
- 27:30in Psalm 25,
- 27:32the Scottish Psalter version.
- 27:36Psalm 25,
- 27:38page 231.
- 27:43We'll sing
- 27:43from verse 1
- 27:44to verse 5.
- 27:47The tune is,
- 27:48Dennis,
- 27:49to thee I lift my soul,
- 27:50O Lord,
- 27:50I trust in thee,
- 27:51my God,
- 27:52let me not be
- 27:53ashamed,
- 27:54nor foes triumph
- 27:55for me.
- 27:56We'll sing
- 27:56from verse 1
- 27:57to 5
- 27:57to God's praise.
- 27:58Amen.
- 28:23Let me not be ashamed,
- 28:29nor foes triumph
- 28:30for me.
- 28:31For me,
- 28:32for me,
- 28:33for me,
- 28:35for me.
- 28:36When the blood
- 28:41wait on thee,
- 28:45ye do to shame
- 28:50won't put in love.
- 28:51Let's cry in love.
- 29:20O teacher, ye,
- 29:27unto the redeemed thy truth,
- 29:37there is my teacher ye.
- 29:44For thou art all that does,
- 29:53to me salvation send,
- 30:01and I upon thee all that live,
- 30:10expecting to attend.
- 30:19After the benediction, I'll go to the door to my right.
- 30:21We'll close with a benediction.
- 30:24Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God,
- 30:27Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon
- 30:30and abide with you all now and forevermore.
- 30:33Amen.
- 30:40Amen.
- 31:10Amen.
- 31:11Amen.