Untitled Sermon — E.A. Johnston

Mary at Jesus’ Feet

Martha in his face, let's look at Mary at his feet. That's in verse 39. Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. You see, Mary sits beside him. Mary wanted to be near Jesus. This is the same Mary that in a little while is going to anoint him with oil and wipe his feet with her hair in worship.

She wanted to be taught by her master. She sat at his feet. Our chief aim in life should be to sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus declared to the world what he had learned from the Father. We should do the same.

The Necessity of Daily Devotion

As Christians, that's our duty. Let me say this, if more Christians sat at his feet, less Christians would fall on their face. We should sit every day at his feet in the quiet time. It's something we should do every day.

Spiritual Highs Cannot Replace Daily Dependence

Let me give you an example. I came off a week of spiritual highs. Every day I felt like I was on top of Mount Sinai in the presence of God. I felt like I was in that cliff to the rock with God walking by me and allowing me to see his backside.

You know those experiences, those spiritual highs, but what comes after the spiritual high, right? You can't stay on top of the mountain forever, right? Well, at the end of the week, I was very fatigued.

16, 17 hour days, very fatigued. I normally get up at 445 in the morning to have my quiet time. That Friday morning, I was rushed. I rushed my quiet time. I rushed to my office at work, and I was in the flesh all day.

I fell. I fell in my walk. I fell in my walk. I'll say that. Well, as I was driving home, I was praying, and I said, Lord, why did that happen? Why did I fell so miserably today after being in your presence so strongly throughout the week?

How did that happen, Lord? And it was as if he spoke to me. You know how he speaks to you in a quiet place in your heart that no one else speaks to you, the quiet place there? He spoke to me, and he said so clearly.

He said, you cannot face today, let alone this hour, on yesterday's experience of me. You must seek and meet me every day. Then a text came to me in the Old Testament so vividly, I thought about the Israelites and the manna, and how God ordered them not to store up the manna, because what happened when they stored up the manna?

Got worms in it, didn't it? And that voice came to me again, and that voice told me, unless you seek me afresh every day, your Christian walk will have worms in it, worms in it. And that's a problem with a lot of preaching today, it's got worms in it.

Feeding on God’s Word Every Day

We must sit at his feet, stay in his Word each day. We cannot rely on past experiences of God. We must feed ourselves every day in God's Word. I'm reminded of a story a friend told me for a time. He was a park ranger in Yellowstone National Forest, and there was a mystery that occurred during that year.

They found many bears dead, and they knew not why these bears had died. There were no puncture wounds in them, no one had killed them. It was a mystery. So finally someone figured out that the bears had starved to death.

They had literally died of starvation. You know what happened? Those bears had become so reliant on the tourists feeding them, they forgot how to feed themselves. You get my implication? You must feed on his Word daily.

Mary’s Hunger for the Word Versus Martha’s Busyness

Well, notice also this about Mary and how opposite she is to her sister Martha. Mary listened to him, the text says, and heard his Word. The Word of God spoken by the God of the Word. How marvelous! Can you imagine the thrill that you would have had sitting there looking at him, listening to him, touching him?

Let's look at the two women in contrast. We see Martha busy, bossy, and hungry. She wants the meal to be served and served quickly. The meal is the main thing with her. Mary, on the other hand, is reserved, attentive, sensitive, hungry for the Word of God.

Jesus is the main thing with her. She listened to him. What a difference! Notice that Martha is worried about many things. Verse 41 says, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.

Martha’s Legitimate Responsibilities and Misplaced Focus

You know, it's easy to sympathize with Martha here. She had to cook a meal for 15 people. The text says that they went, that means Jesus and the 12, and Martha and Mary. Lazarus is not mentioned in the text, so we must assume he wasn't there that day.

So she had a large meal to prepare, so there is some sympathy there that she might be concerned about doing a good job preparing that meal. But I've studied this through different commentators, and really what really seems to be the case, she had plenty of time to prepare that meal because Jesus had a habit before he would enter a village, he would send messengers ahead of him announcing his arrival.

And it's very possible that Martha had invited Jesus to come to the little home of Bethany well in advance of that day. So she had plenty of time for she and Mary and possibly even Lazarus, if they could get him in the kitchen to do some work, to prepare this meal.

So she was over-occupied with the wrong things. So notice, we, she's burdened with care. Is that how it is with us sometimes? Do we get trouble that burdens us down, presses us down like a great weight that we can't see what is in front of us?

Do we get so troubled and worried that we forget that God's in our midst, that he's here, that he wants to speak to us, that he desires to meet with us? Do we get so busy in the morning going off to our office or to our study that we don't spend enough time with him and we break his heart because he's there waiting for us, to spend time with us, and we're too busy for him doing his business?

Choosing the Main Thing Over Many Distractions

Martha is focused on many things. The text says about many things. The sad thing is what poor Martha was troubled about was no big deal. It's small potatoes literally. She was so focused on these many unimportant things that she missed the main thing, Jesus.

She was so tied up in knots and activity that she neglected to be still and know that I am God. You say we do this in our prayer time or with our ministries. We stay too busy. Let me give an example. My dear brother Quentin is here in the back row giving me support today in prayer.

Making Time for Prayer in Ministry Preparation

Quentin and I have a mutual friend who's attending Mid-America Seminary and Quentin shared with me a few weeks ago, he talked to this dear brother. This dear brother is busy in class and out of class, holding down a job, trying to make ends meet, and my brother Quentin said, well how's work come along?

He said, oh fine, fine. He said, how's class come along? Oh fine, fine. And then my dear brother asked him, how's your devotional time? How's your time with the Lord? Silence. Speechless. He said, finally, not too good there.

You see what I mean? He's going to seminary to learn how to be a pastor and he doesn't even have time to pray. When he graduates, his schedule's not going to change. He'll be more busier then than he is now.

You all know that. If he doesn't make time now to be with the Lord, he's going to fall on his face. If he doesn't make that a priority, he's like Martha, focused on too many things. He's forgetting the main thing, Jesus.

We must take time to pray.