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Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his preaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to him and said, "'Lord, do you not care that my sister "'has left me to serve alone? "'Tell her then to help me.' "'But the Lord answered her, "'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled "'about many things, but one thing is necessary. "'Mary has chosen the good portion, "'which will not be taken away from her.'" Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to your word, open our hearts and minds. Change us, make us more like Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Now last week, last Sunday, was exactly 11 years since the very first sermon I preached here at this church as your pastor. Nobody noticed. Including me. The only way I remembered it was Facebook sent me a message with a memory on it. You guys get those probably. But today I'm gonna preach the sermon I did, I preached not that day, but the first time I came to be a candidate, and that is the one based on this passage. And the context is Jesus is heading to the cross. And he's told his disciples that they're going to go to Jerusalem. And as they traveled, they were dependent on other people to provide for their meals and their lodging. And a woman named Martha had opened her home to them. And it was similar, I guess, to our Thanksgiving holiday, which we will celebrate in three weeks time. It's no small undertaking. In this case, there were 13 men at least. And then we're gonna stay for one, two, and maybe two meals. And they were going to have a night of lodging as well. But there were a lot of things different from our largest meals. First of all, the food had to be killed. I don't think most of us, or even all of us, that's the case. Then after you killed it, you had to clean it. This is no small undertaking. And then it had to be cooked. Water had to be brought in from a well or a river if there was one nearby. It was an enormous task to put it all together. And I remember when I was growing up, either at our house or one of my aunts and uncles house, we would have Thanksgiving. There was regularly 20, 25 people there. And of course, as a kid, you're growing up, you're outside playing games, you're watching the lions lose, and we were from Detroit. And you didn't think about it until they said dinner's ready. But in the meantime, all the people that were preparing, and at that point, it was mostly the women, they were working feverishly to put everything together. Now more recently, our family almost every year goes to Chicago, to my sister's house, and our kids, at least four of them, descend on her house along with their kids as well. And they stay two or three nights, and then all of their kids with their kids come, and then a couple of, so it could be 20, 25 people at my sister's house. This year she's not having it. She said, I'm old and I'm taking a break. But it was an enormous task for Martha to put all this together. And Martha loves the Lord, and she wants to do what's best for him and his disciples, but she starts to get frustrated. And you can imagine the conversation that's going on in her head. After all, that's where we have these conversations. First, isn't it? We have the conversations in our head, and we play all the parts. We might have the conversations for a couple of minutes or a couple of hours or in some cases, a couple of days before we finally get up the nerve to say something, and once we blurted out, we wish we'd have kept her mouth shut. I want you to imagine with me what Martha might be thinking. I'm never going to get this done. There's just so much to do. And Mary isn't helping. I want you to look at her listening to Jesus. I like listening to Jesus. But do you think Mary would think of that? No. Mary only cares about herself. She's so self-absorbed. Why doesn't Jesus tell Mary to come and take a turn? Surely he notices how busy I am and that Mary is sitting there and doing nothing. He doesn't even care that I'm doing all of this for him. Finally, she blurts it out. Don't you care about me? Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me here to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. You remember the gospel story about Jesus is in the bottom of the boat and he's asleep and the storm comes up and the disciples are panicked and they say to Jesus, don't you care that we're perishing? That's basically how Martha felt. Don't you care all of this stuff that I'm doing, I'm being overwhelmed and I have a sister and she's not helping and don't you care? See, Martha represents the religion of good works. Mary is experiencing the intimacy that we were created for and the cross rescues us from Martha's religion and gives us the intimacy with Jesus. Martha's displaying the religion we're born with and coincidentally, the religion that you and I are born with. That is the religion of moralism or self-justification. You might say, what? Isn't she serving? Isn't she doing good things? Yes, but it's obvious that she's doing them at least in part to justify herself and to try to gain the approval of God. A moralist is someone who serves God or loves God as a means instead of as an end. I've used this illustration before but I'm going to tell you again because you probably forgot but even if you didn't, it won't hurt to hear it again. Tracy and I love art. We have paintings in our home. We have a couple from Van Gogh and a couple from Rembrandt. They're not the originals. But let's say you buy a work of art for different reasons. One, you might buy it because it matches your decor. Your house has green and blue in it so you buy a house or a painting that has green and blue in it. Or maybe you get a painting, you go to a gallery, an opening or something and you hear this artist is an up and comer and so you think I want to get in at the beginning, I want to buy this painting while he's still relatively unknown so that it will increase in value and I can sell it and I can make a lot of money. You see, you're buying that painting for the decor. You're buying it for another reason. You're buying the painting of the up and comer for another reason. But you might just buy a painting because you think it's beautiful. You buy it because when you see it, your heart sings. We have a painting like that, it's called The Girl with the Pearl Earring. I don't know if you've ever seen it before. I could just stare at it, it's incredible. You see, if you bought the painting for the first reason, when you change your decor, you might not want it anymore. You put it in the closet. Or if you're up and comer, up and went, then you might even have disdain for it. I never liked it anyway, you might say. But if you bought it because you think it's beautiful, then you will always love it. And that's the difference between a moralist and a Christian. A moralist lives for the reward alone because God is the means to an end. They have another God and quite often, the moralist God is himself or herself. I'm living, I'm doing these things to get praise, either from God or from other people. I'm doing these things because I want the adulation or the accolades. Now nobody can be perfect, so the moralist chooses which sins are excusable. And I have to say that all of us do this. Because all of us, even if we're Christian, have a little moralist inside of ourselves still. Now several years ago when I was the interim pastor at the Downtown Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, after a Deacon training session, we went to a Downtown restaurant. They had an outside cafe and it was me and several of the Deacons. And we were engaged in conversation and there was a couple sort of sitting behind me. So there was three or four guys and then a couple sitting behind. And they got into a conversation that was quite animated. They'd been meeting together, we could tell all of this from their talking, they'd been meeting together for several months. He would fly into town and they would spend time together. As they talked it was obvious that they were involved physically. It was an outside cafe, it was crowded on a warm summer night and they were getting very loud. And a couple of us looked over our shoulder and when I looked over my shoulder, the woman looked right at me and said, what do you think we should do? I was not ready for that. So we talked, we talked about right and wrong. And I have to say just for a little bit, I was trying to show the Deacons how it's done. Because the Deacons like most of you have a problem doing evangelism. I said, are there any rules you live by? She said yes. I said such as? She said, I would never take the Lord's name in vain. I said why? She said, I think that's just really bad, it's one of the 10 commandments. I said, oh, so you believe in the 10 commandments? She said yes. I said, so you believe in God? She said yes, definitely. I said in taking his name in vain isn't bad, or is bad. And she said, yeah, really bad. I said, yes it is, but there's another commandment that I can tell from your conversation that you don't really seem to have any problem breaking. She said, well, that one's not important. I said, so some of the 10 commandments are more important than others? She said yes. I said, well, how do you know which ones? She said, I decide for myself. I said, oh, I see, so God sort of submits his commands to you for your approval. She said no, well, yes, well, boy, that doesn't sound very good, does it? I said, if you decide which commandments are really commands and that is how you live, that sort of makes you your own God, doesn't it? She said, yes, I guess it does. It doesn't feel very safe, does it? She said, no, it feels pretty scary. I would like to tell you that that man and woman decided not to see each other anymore and she became a Christian, but I never talked to either of them again after that night. But the religion you are born with is one which you keep the rules, then God owes you. Even if you decide for yourself what the rules are and all of us do this from time to time, even Christians. You might say, well, I'm a Christian and I know that I can't earn my way to heaven and I know you know that, but some behaviors might indicate that you are still a moralist. One of them is resentment. If your life is marked by resentment, you're probably a moralist. I should have gotten that job. I should have gotten into that school. I should have gotten that promotion. My son should have gotten that award. And that's exactly what's happening with Martha. She is resentful and she gets angry. Martha is angry with God, don't you care? And believe me, all of us have things in our lives which do not go well. Some of us worse than others. Some of us have tragedies. Some of us have a heartache. Some of us have spouses that walk away from us. Some of us have children who don't do well. And it's easy to get angry when things don't go well. And it's easy for us to say, don't you care? Remember the disciples were in the bottom of the boat and they said in the storm, Jesus, don't you care that we're perishing? We give ourselves permission to be angry, especially with God and resentful. We have a difficult situation. And so we make our own rules because God didn't keep up his end of the bargain. I've talked to so many people who wanted out of their marriages who have a sole reason for wanting out something along the lines of, I just don't believe God wants me to be unhappy for the rest of my life. Now, what's the problem with that reasoning? Your own happiness becomes your highest good. Secondly, I borrowed this, it assumes that you have even the faintest idea of what will make you happy in the ultimate sense. And we don't. We're like children. When my kids were little, they were sure that if they ate all of the candy, it would make them happy. All of it. If they went trick or treating or they went to a party and they came home with a bag full of candy, they wanted to eat it all. And of course, if they did, they got a stomach ache. They didn't know what would make them happy. And we're like that. So the first way that you know you might be a moralist is resentment. The second way is you play the victim. If you consistently feel like the victim, like you're getting the raw end of the deal, like nobody appreciates all that you've done for them, then you are a moralist. Don't you care that I'm doing all the work? Tell Mary to help me. Okay, why did Martha do it this way? Why did she ask Jesus to tell Mary to help her? Because she gets to compare all of her hard work with Mary's lack. And she gets Jesus to feel sorry for her. At least that's the goal. Now what else could Martha have done? Think about this. What if Martha would have walked up behind Mary, leaned over and whispered into her ear, Mary, I'm getting tired. I've been doing a lot of the work. I would like to sit down and listen to Jesus for a while. Would you mind taking over for me? Why wouldn't she want to do it that way? Because if she did it that way, she might have gone unnoticed. Because Mary might have said, sure, I'd be happy to help. She would get up and help, Martha could sit down, but then she wouldn't get credit for all of her hard work. She doesn't want Mary's help. She wants to do it and have everyone know she's doing it, to get credit for doing it, to be compared favorably with Mary, and to get sympathy, especially for Jesus, from Jesus for having been so mistreated. See, if you are resentful, or you play the victim, you're probably a moralist. Another way that you might be a moralist is if you're a bully, always pushing people around. I want to elaborate there, because I want to talk about the fourth reason, and the last one I'm going to mention, I'm sure there are more, but another one is that you are always telling people your spiritual resume. I've done this, I'm doing this. I'm spending all my time working for the Lord. I'm going to church, I'm, and you're using the word I a lot. You're depending on your resume. But the problem with that is that we're more sinful than we ever dared think, and yet more love than we ever dared hope all at the same time. And our conversation indicates that we're moralists. We say things like, it'll turn out all right. If God took this away from you, it's because he has something better from you, just wait and see. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter, and we love to quote it. But only the good parts. By faith Abraham, by faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Moses, by faith even Rahab the harlot. Verse 32, chapter 11 in Hebrews says, "'What more shall I say? "'For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak "'and Samson and Jetha and David and Samuel "'and all the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms "'and forced justice, obtained promises, "'stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, "'escaped the edge of the sword, "'were made strong out of weakness "'because became mighty in war, "'put foreign armies to flight, "'women received back their dead by the resurrection.'" We love to quote all of this, but we don't want to quote the end. Verse 35, some were tortured, "'Refusing to accept release "'so they may rise again to a better life. "'Others suffered mocking and flogging "'and even chains and imprisonment. "'They were stoned, they were sawn into. "'They were killed with the sword. "'They went about in skins of sheeps and goats, "'destitute, afflicted, mistreated, "'of whom the world was not worthy, "'wandering about in deserts and mountains "'and dens and caves of the earth.'" See, this happens to some people who are Christian and have faith, but we don't like to think about that part. And if it happens to us and we think we're getting a bad deal or we're playing the victim or we're resentful, then we might be a moralist. See, if you've come to Christ as some other means to an end, you are likely to be very disappointed, disillusioned, or even despairing. You see, if you grew up, let's say in the state of Alabama, in the United States, going to church went with a decor. Going to church is what everybody did. As a matter of fact, I read one time a few years ago that there were more people on the rolls of the Southern Baptist Church in the state of Alabama than lived in the state of Alabama. So there were more people supposedly going to church than were actually alive in Alabama. But let's suppose you grew up in Alabama and then you move to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where only 5% of the people go to an evangelical church, if that, or Seattle, Washington, or Portland, Oregon, where church attendance is very, very low. It doesn't go with a decor anymore. So you put it in the closet. Or let's say you were a young person, you're going to church because you know that's where you can meet somebody like-minded that you can marry. And that might happen and that's a good thing, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if that's the reason you're going to church, and that's the reason you're following Christ, then you might meet somebody who's not a Christian, and you really like them, and they really like you, and you decide, you know, I'm going to be with them instead. And so, you sell your faith. But if you became a Christian because Jesus makes your heart sing, because you love Him, because He gave everything for you, then even if you're one of these people in Hebrews 11, 35 through 38, you will still believe. If you see Jesus is beautiful and you have come to Him because He makes your heart sing, then even when you're sawn in two, He will still be beautiful to you. No eye is seen, no ear is heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him. The intimacy with Christ is what we're created for. John 15, Jesus says, I no longer call you a servant because the servant doesn't know what his master's business is. Instead, I call you friends. For everything I have learned from my Father, I've made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit, fruit that will last, and the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. When God created Eve, He made her out of the same stuff as Adam and then brought her back to Him so that they could be reunited as one flesh, becoming as intimately connected as possible for two human beings. But that pales in comparison to the eternal intimacy that the Son has enjoyed with the Father. The Nicene Creed explains that the Son is the same essence as the Father. Jesus himself in John chapter 10 says, I and the Father are one. In John 14, he says to Philip, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. But then amazingly, he says that the intimacy that he has with the Father is ours as well. I've called you friends. For everything I've learned from the Father, I've made known to you. Finally, who had the right to Martha's complaints? Who was being mistreated? Who had done right all of his life? Who could rightly say, don't you care about all that I'm doing for you? When Jesus had a chance to play the victim, He didn't. Do you refuse to speak to me, Pilate said? Don't you realize I have the power either to free you or crucify you? Jesus answered, you have no power over me that has not been given to you from above. Hebrews chapter two says, both the one who makes men holy and the ones who are made holy are of the same family. Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Since the children share in flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not the angels He helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason, He had to be made like His brothers in every way in order that He might become a merciful, faithful high priest in service to God, that He might make atonement for their sins because He Himself suffered when He was tempted. He is able to help those who are being tempted. In Ephesians two, because of His great love with which He loved us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ. Even when we are dead in our transgressions, it's by grace that we've been saved. I was watching a nature show last night called Big Cats. It's about this group of people who film lions, leopards, and cheetahs in Africa. And one of the things that happened while they were filming is there was this big fire. And they were afraid it was gonna burn their camp down. So what they did is they built a firewall around, they burned the ground all around the camp. So that when the fire got there, it would have nothing to burn. It would already be burned. And that reminded me of an illustration I heard way back when I was in university about a father and son that were farmers, and they were out in the field, and they saw a fire coming up, and it was approaching them, and the wind was in their face, and the fire was coming pretty quickly. And the father's, or the son's looking up at his father, what are we gonna do? The father took out his lighter, and he lit the ground in front of them. The son looked at him like he was crazy. Pretty soon that ground started burning, and the wind was pushing the fire away from them. And then they stepped onto the already burned ground and just followed it so the fire could not get them. What's the point? Jesus on the cross is the already burned ground. Jesus took the wrath. If you believe in him, if you walk in him, then you are walking on already burned ground, and the wrath will never touch you. Do you believe that? That's the gospel. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. We pray you would apply to our hearts in Jesus' name, amen.