Choose The Good Portion

What church if you can please turn your Bibles to our main preaching text this morning in Luke chapter 10

Luke chapter 10 in verse 38 once you have that please do stand for the reading of God's Word Our main text this morning again is

Luke chapter 10 starting in verse 38. Hear ye the word of the Lord this morning 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 teaching but Martha was distracted of 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're 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.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated Spend a moment in prayer father.

We do come before you again Anxious to receive this word that it may speak to our hearts and our souls and minister

To us in such a way Lord that we would leave this place edified and encouraged that we would be

Built up in the inner man Lord so that we may be ready for the events of this week ahead

Father you are sovereign over the events that are about to transpire in this coming week We ask

Lord that through your word you would strengthen us edify us Give us the sustenance needed So that we may be empowered to live the life that you've called us to a life of kingdom service

And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen Well church here we come to this point in the gospel narrative where Jesus has taught us about the parable of the

Good Samaritan the good neighbor and now he's Transitioning to a place in which he's entering someone's home administering in this context and what we see as the gospel sets up the scenario in verse 30 again

It says now as they went on their way Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house

Now this is significant in some cultural ways that we may not pick up on right away

But understand this within the time period of the first century in which is even still true today in rabbinic

Judaism There is not a mixing very well of men and women In fact, if you go to a synagogue today

It is not uncommon to find there to be a distinction Between where the women sit and where the men sit the same is true of another monotheistic religion called

Islam in Islam when you go to a mosque They have a separate section for women in a separate section for men and there's very little

Intermingling. In fact, if you are an Iman if you are the akin to a pastor with an

Islam You're not even to shake hands with a woman that is not your wife The same is true if you're a rabbi if you are of the rabbinic tradition

You are not to even shake hands with a person of the absent sex. That is not your spouse or immediate family

There's these clear lines of delineation. Now some of these things are cultural some of them were out of religious conviction but we see early in the life and ministry of Jesus is that Jesus steps into history and he begins to undo the cultural norms of his day

So as he goes from village to village town to town he stops in this particular village He meets this woman named

Martha and he goes into her home Now we know from the story.

He doesn't necessarily go in alone, which would have been seen as even more scandalous But what is scandalous in itself is that Jesus is agreeing to meet with this woman and going to her home

This is there's a scandalous nature to the life and ministry of Jesus all the cultural norms that you would think you would abide by He flips them upside down.

Why because Jesus is in the business of Changing that only hearts but also minds and in cultural distinctions

We tend to get caught up in our cultural battles Don't we? Look at what's called calmly today in our culture here called the culture wars between left and right between all these factions and groups of what is right what is wrong and trying to determine these things and Jesus steps into that fray and he undoes many preconceived notions as he steps into this woman's house

And so here as we're setting up the stories, we're setting up the scenario. Jesus is welcomed by Martha and Mary now

What says in verse 39 is interesting It says and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the

Lord's feet and listened to his teaching so Jesus comes into this woman's home this woman is very

Welcoming to Jesus and it brings Jesus and it's very Service centered and she wants to serve

Jesus well and his sister and Martha's sister Mary sir not to be confused of Mary the mother of Christ But here you have

Martha and Mary both sisters welcoming Jesus, but Martha is about her business she's about managing her household and managing her guests well and Mary on the other hand she comes into this scenario and she immediately sits at the feet of the

Lord It begins to hear his teaching So if you're following along in today's notes if you got a bulletin this morning

There should have been notes put in there for you If you follow along in today's teaching Jesus was welcomed by Martha and Mary who sits at his feet

Now this is an interesting Little piece of data here that Mary sits at the feet of Jesus What Mary is demonstrating and what the gospel writer

Luke is trying to demonstrate here as well is That Mary has the posture of a disciple

Because we turn we use this term a lot in Christianity today, we use the term disciples and disciple makers

But what is a disciple? Simply put a disciple is someone who sits at the feet of a teacher

It's literally the posture of a disciple is to be lonely is to have your your your your body towards one's feet that's the posture of a disciple and And here

Mary is demonstrating this brilliantly Imperfectly that as Jesus is teaching she sits readily at the feet of the

Savior Showing that she herself desires to be a disciple one who learns from the master one who learns from the great teacher

But this is now about its controversy Verse 40 it says but Martha was distracted with much serving and she went to 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

Now I love this typical sibling rivalry Maybe you've had experience like this if you grew up in a household of siblings or if you have a household with kids

Where immediately if you're doing the brunt of the work you feel like hey, what's going on here?

This isn't fair Why am I doing all the work and my sister gets to sit down be the pretty little girl just getting to get all the benefits

Why isn't she helping? See, that's a conversation. We probably all have had in our families at one point or another

Why am I doing all the work and why is she doing so little or vice versa? Here again you have this this typical family arrangement this typical family

Discourse where Martha feels Like what is happening is unjust

Martha is trying to be a good host She's trying to be a good neighbor She likely is hearing has heard some of the teachings of Jesus, which is why she readily accepts him into her home

She she too wants to learn she too has a desire to to hear what the master has to say But her business is in being distracted with the serving duties

The same is true not only amongst siblings or in households, but it's also true in the

Church of God Oftentimes within a church context there are a few that serve the many

That's just true of every church There's always a handful maybe five to ten people who are just really really good at serving while the rest of us

Get to sit down and eat and enjoy the lunch that we're about to have and that we have every

Sunday There are those in the back Who are serving? Who are preparing and then there are those who go and help set the table so that we can all be served

There are so many people who do so much unseen and unpraised things amongst the people of God And one of the things that we had to be careful with church is that we don't forget those who are lost in the shuffle

You know, it means a lot it just to say a simple. Thank you to those who help prepare the meal for those who help serve and Prepare the tables for us a simple acknowledgement of the work and of the efforts of people can go a long way and Martha probably feels a little bit underappreciated in the story.

She probably feels you know what it's always like this I'm always the one who has to do more and I don't even get recognition for it

Well, there's a danger in that as well beloved Because when we get into that mindset of bitterness and start saying well, why am

I doing so much I don't get any praise I don't get any attention. I don't get any benefit out of this We have to ask ourselves.

What is the purpose of our service? Do we serve for the accolades?

Do we serve for the attention or do we serve out of a posture of discipleship?

Which is to be at the feet of the teacher To be at the feet of the master

See our posture will oftentimes Determine how our heart condition actually is in any given situation

What do I mean by that? Is that the posture you have of being either willingly serving or begrudgingly serving

Will inform not only yourself and those around you but also shows the

Lord that the heart behind the action Mary chooses to be at the feet of Christ Instead of helping serve in the household duties of a good host

Now we might want to think of this in terms of white and black. Well, who's right who's wrong in this scenario?

Martha clearly wants to be a good host Mary is not necessarily being a bad host.

So these are not mutually exclusive things Both Martha and Mary are doing things that are necessary Just as in God's Church all of us come together in unison to work together for the good the common good of the

People of God and for the advancement of Christ gospel But it also means that there are gonna be times in which we're not necessarily doing the same tasks

There are those who serve tables. There are those who teach there are those who give them their time and their efforts in other ways

But we all ought to have that common desire to serve the master

Whether it's whether it's by serving the table setting the tables or whether it's by sitting at the feet of the teacher

We all have a role to play in God's Church so again here in this scenario

Martha and Mary both are are Serving Christ in there in their own way

Martha by being a good host Mary by listening attentively to the good teacher But Jesus points something else out in this scenario

That is important and in Scripture itself points us out in verse 40 Which says this but Martha was distracted with much serving

She went up to him and said Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone notice again what how it opens up in verse 40

Martha was Distracted Distracted with much serving

Sometimes our posture or our purpose or our doing of things our purpose of serving is

As a means of distraction and it doesn't come from a heart or posture of a disciple

What I mean by that sometimes Especially as Americans. We like being busy for the sake of being busy.

I Had a co -worker when I worked in Canada of all places a place called Hope Mission and my co -worker

He drank like 10 coffees a day he was always just a hundred miles a second And anytime we we try to stop and have a conversation.

He's like I can't stop right now. I'm busy. I'm busy I'm busy. He's just always running around always always doing something and At certain point

I said I said brother. He's gonna take a minute and breathe It's okay

Emergencies will come and go things can wait take a breather Why because sometimes we become so obsessed with just being busy that we forget

To be productive in the work of the Lord Busyness does not always mean productiveness

These are not two things that are always equal and the same is true within God's economy of in God's Church Sometimes we are busy busy busy busy busy

But are we being effective? Are we serving? Well, are we remembering that the reason for our service is because there are other human beings made in God's image who we want to love

Minister to and help them see even more the brilliance of the gospel of Christ That should be our posture as disciples that the purpose for our service the purpose for our doing is so that Christ might be magnified and that People may know and love

God even greater Therefore fulfilling the original call of being a good neighbor in the story of the

Good Samaritan We're being a good neighbor isn't just about being busy or just about serving but it's the heart of the

Good Samaritan It's the heart of wanting to make sure that this person is okay that this person is being served

Well, I'm gonna take up my time money and effort to make sure that these people are being loved and cherished in Jesus name

Again, that's the difference between the posture of a disciple and the posture of a busy body

There's a word the scripture uses elsewhere in Scripture in 1st, Timothy Bible warns us against being busy bodies again busy bodies being

Someone who has the appearance of being busy and kind of always in people's businesses But never actually producing any kingdom fruit beware of the sin of busy body miss

Don't be a busy body Serve well serve from a sincere heart Don't become distracted with much serving for the for the sake of being distracted or serving

Serve well from a good conscience and a heart that's overflowing with the gospel

Again, this was Martha's Anxiousness that was at play here

And so you're following along in the teaching Martha's upset that Mary isn't helping her serve That's where the contention is with Martha and Mary in this scenario between the two sisters

Martha's upset that Mary isn't helping her serve and Jesus knows that she is anxious and Troubled why notice verse 41, but the

Lord answered her Martha Martha You are anxious and troubled about many things

Martha Martha Isn't this interesting how the Lord? just Calls her out almost like a father would call out to a daughter

You ever had that time when son or daughter just isn't getting it and you just have to sign go

Don't you get it? Don't you see isn't it clear isn't it plain?

And Jesus, I think having that similar heart and posture almost a father to a daughter saying

Martha Martha Not necessarily in a judgmental way what she's waving his finger at her, but rather in almost as a sigh of Desire for her to get it

Martha. Don't you get it? Don't you see what's actually happening here? I Rebuke but he rebukes her nonetheless

Jesus knows that she's anxious and that she's troubled Now why is she anxious why is she troubled?

Well, Martha probably has a servant's heart. She's eager and willing to serve but understandably when she sees that her sister

Is not helping but instead she's at the feet of Jesus listening and learning and she gets frustrated

Maybe she's asking herself similar questions such as this Why isn't she helping?

What makes her so special? Why is she so lazy?

Martha rebukes her sister with her question of Jesus surely believing that Jesus would probably side with her and call out

Mary for her rudeness and for her sloth but instead Jesus Softly rebukes her with again that Martha Martha By pointing out that she is anxious and troubled by many things know this church anxiousness in a troubled spirit are distractions and hindrances to God's will and purpose for us

Okay Anxiousness in a troubled spirit are things that will detract us from God's purpose and will why

My preview a couple previous churches my first church that I went to when I got saved. I remember that they have a

Sign on the outside and those always be this really cool little catch, you know one -liners

And one of the one -liners have always stuck with me was the pastor had put sin or sorry

Anxiousness is the sin of not trusting in God Think about that for a moment

Anxiousness is the sin of not trusting in God When we are anxious and the scripture says do not be anxious for anything

But when we're anxious we have this Anticipation this worry begins to swell up in us.

We begin to think and contemplate about today and tomorrow's worries and they begin to compound and what happens is that when we are so in In in belt by anxiousness we fail to be productive

We can't be productive Why because our mind is running a hundred miles a second so much like my co -worker that I mentioned earlier

He was always running around always running around with the appearance of busyness but sometimes things just weren't getting done and Because what is required at times is not just to be going from one place to another but sometimes just being still

Taking in the information Whereas the Bible says in Psalm 46 10 be still and know that I am

God Be still it's in the stillness that God often speaks to us through his word think of the

Prophet Elijah when he too was Being confronted with various troubles and he had every reason to be troubled in his spirit

Whirlwinds earthquakes and yet it was in the stillness in the quietness that he was able to hear

God's voice So too for us Jesus is able to calm the storms of life

Those storms will come Being a Christian doesn't mean that we are now adopting or coming into an easy life

The void of hardship the void of trials, but rather that way we are in the midst of those trials

We have within our possession the cure to anxiousness the cure to anxiety the cure to stress and that is our provision of salvation in Jesus Christ Jesus is that perfect Savior who can calm any storm?

who can speak to us in any circumstance and with that sometimes even just soft rebuke of Martha Martha He'll let us know

What his will is for us? and so again Beware beloved of harboring a critical spirit and do not allow rid of bitterness

To take hold in your life and your attitude towards other servants of God such as Martha and Mary are now entangled in Martha has no reason to be bitter towards her sister

Rather she should rejoice That she is creating an opportunity for her sister to sit at the feet of the master again

Developing a posture a heart of a disciple here In verse 42 of Luke 10 again, it says this

Jesus says the following But one thing is necessary Mary has chosen the good portion

Which will not be taken away from her Mary has chosen the good portion

You see the Lord reveals that there is one thing that is necessary for life what you write in this word if you're following in the notes

The Lord reveals there's one thing that is necessary for life, which is

Jesus himself You know what's necessary for life it's Jesus the

Bible says this concerning Christ that by him and for him were all things made in heaven and on earth whether visible or Invisible and all things are held and consists by him all things

The reason why your fingers don't fly off your hand this morning is because he's holding all things together

The reason why the the planets are aligned in such a fashion as they are is not just because of gravity

But because of he who created gravity the Lord Jesus Christ was able to sustain all things by the word of his power

This same Jesus it is said of him that he is your life

And when he is revealed, so will you be revealed with him in glory?

Jesus is our life. Why because he is the creator of all things. He made you he fashioned you

He knew you before you even came to be this Jesus has called you now

Effectually as we've learned this morning into this grace in which we now stand and he beckons you whatever your name may be

Martha Martha come to me cease your Anxiousness cease your distrust of me.

Come at my feet and learn That's what he beckons every single one of us to do this morning because Jesus is what is necessary for life

Thereby he's demonstrating his Sufficiency and let me make this even more clear for you.

If you're not understanding yet as I just mentioned This Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all things it says in the prophet

Jeremiah Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Is there anything too hard for him?

Well, we know the answer there's nothing too hard for him But sometimes the way we live we live as if there's things that are too hard for God to handle and how do we know that?

Just look at your anxiety Look at the things that stress you look at the things that you feel you have no control over God has control over all things all

Circumstances, there's nothing beyond his sovereignty and his sovereign control

Therefore trust in God when we feel like our world is falling apart

Trust in God when we feel like our finances are going down the tubes

Trust in God when we feel like everything around us in our relationships is crumbling trust in God trust in him

Oftentimes our anxieties demonstrate Where it is that we're failing to trust

God in So whenever you find yourself stressed Ask yourself. Have I submitted this to the cross?

Have I have I submitted to the Lordship of Jesus in this circumstance and situation?

And maybe again you'll hear the soft rebuke of Jesus Reminding you beckoning you of what is necessary Mary in this picture in this scenario chooses the good portion

Chooses to trust God and I want to share with you very quickly this morning the cure to our anxiety

It's found in Matthew chapter 6. I want you to turn to her for a moment. Keep your finger in Luke But turn to Matthew chapter 6 for a moment

Let's examine the verse 25 for a moment in Matthew chapter 6 verse 25

These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the Sermon of the Mount He says therefore

I tell you Do not be anxious about your life What you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body

What you will put on is Not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

I Want to things I absolutely detest And I know that many of you detest

Because my wife detested as well when times are tough or when you're anxious

And someone just says calm down calm down I've tried it so many times.

My wife never seems to calm down Just doesn't work that way does it if it was that simple?

Oh, why did I think of that calm down? Of course? Oh now I'm calm wonderful If it was that simple only wouldn't like be so good wouldn't like be so much easier.

But what if I told you that There is a hack to this That there is a

Simplicity to this when Jesus says do not be anxious. It's not because he's coming with his hands empty

Usually when we tell someone hey, don't be anxious. Hey, don't worry about it. We come with empty hands

But Jesus is not coming into this scenario of empty hands He's giving us instead the cure to our stress the cure to our worries the cure to our anxieties and where can it be found?

Look at verse 31 with me for a moment Therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or What shall we drink or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its own trouble

Why can't Jesus with authority declare? Do not be anxious.

Do not worry about tomorrow. Why? Because he's offering us

Something even better to live for today than just our worries and our stresses and our anxieties

He's saying trust in me Put the kingdom of God first in his righteousness and all these things will be added to you

Which is to say? one of the sins of anxiety is That we make that which we are anxious over bigger than our

God That's what we do. We make this problem bigger than God and Jesus says don't do that.

Don't do it Trusting me. I'm bigger. I'm better and I hold the answer that you're looking for Therefore it is when we put the kingdom of God first his righteousness first that we can have

Confidence that regardless of my problem regardless of my challenges. I know ultimately

God's got me. I Know that even if I fall there's someone to catch me and his name is

Jesus What a wonderful Savior he is. Amen What a good Savior Jesus is so he tells us don't be anxious about tomorrow is because he alone

Knows what tomorrow brings? when he says That tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day.

It's its own trouble. Jesus is demonstrating his superiority His sufficiency his grandeur over time and space

Because sometimes the things that were stressed over are things that God already has an answer for tomorrow

Therefore why stress over it? As a pastor, sometimes I receive phone calls from people who are anxious people who've got an emergency and at the moment in the heat of the moment every emergency feels bigger than it actually is and Sometimes people say well, can

I meet right away? I mean, I really need to meet I really need to talk about this is a well, let's meet tomorrow And then tomorrow comes and I give a call and say

Hey, did you still want to meet? Hey, how's this situation? Pastor everything's better now Everything is fixed

Usually that's is what we need is just some time God's got tomorrow.

God's already got it covered trust trust trust in Jesus trust in him and So what we see here again is that Jesus says to Mary that Mary had chosen the good portion what you write this in the notes

Jesus said that Mary had chosen the good portion What is?

that good portion Jesus spoke of this good portion elsewhere and we examined this several weeks if not months ago when

Jesus taught on this good measure pressed down shaken together and The good measure is

That of being an engaged Disciple what you write this in the notes? The good portion here

Is to be found to be an engaged disciple Again, the whole picture that is set up here.

Is that of a disciple in the main text of Mark or Luke chapter 10?

She Finds herself at the feet of The teacher that's the posture of a disciple and she's engaged

With what the teacher is teaching with what the Lord Jesus is bringing to her

Showing us all what it means and what it looks like to partake in the good portion

Being an engaged disciple of Jesus Christ. I want to spend the last couple of moments here

To go over the tale of three Christians And so I want you to follow them follow along in your notes as I describe three different Christians the first will be what

I will call a disengaged Christian in addition a disengaged

Christian It's where the faith isn't practice outside of the church

The disengaged Christian finds a place for faith at church They have the privacy of their own home

But have no place for faith in their roles with family members Friends or in their professional lives another term for this.

I would use as a closeted Christian someone who professes Christ on Sundays But there is little to no fruit or evidence of a

Christian testimony or word of God Witness Monday to Saturday. This is a disengaged

Christian now, let's Give these individuals the benefit of the doubt

Let's say that they actually aren't Christians not putting in doubt their salvation

But thinking for a moment, these are three types of Christians that we can generally see within Christendom today the disengaged

Christian is again one where the faith isn't practiced outside of the church and Typically what

I'll hear from these types of disengaged Christians. Is that well, I believe everything the Bible says

I Believe this is God's Word but My faith in Jesus is very personal

And what they usually mean when they say it's very personal is that they mean it's very private That it's just between me and Jesus, you know, it's not something

I don't want to persuade people to believe what I believe everyone has their own way of thinking

That's true. A lot of people have their own way of thinking and most of the thinking is wrong

Okay, let's just call it what it is not to make ourselves more superior or to pump ourselves up with knowledge

But look at the state of the world The Bible says this concerning ancient

Israel It's all probably more true today that everyone has gone astray and has done what is right in their own eyes

You see we live in a world where everyone thinks what they're doing is the right thing

And how's that working out for the world? more disorder more chaos more distractions

More sin more recklessness. All these things are abounding in the world because everyone is doing that which is right in their own eyes

Ignorance is now virtuous in the world that we live in And a disengaged

Christian also engages in that mindset By saying things to that degree that you know what?

Everyone's got their own way of thinking Ignorance is magnified in that type of worldview and I said it to my

Sunday school this morning. I'll say it to you all today Ignorance is not a virtue There is nothing virtuous about being ignorant of God's truth

God will call us all to account Every single person who has ever lived regardless of their knowledge of the gospel will be held to an account for their ignorance

For them for the Bible says this in Romans 1 man is truly without excuse why because his

Personhood is Exemplified in the things that he has created creation speaks of the grandeur of the

Creator The witness of our conscience in Romans 2 Also is evident of this.

Holy God in which he has written his laws on our hearts So intrinsically everyone knows murder is wrong.

Adultery is wrong. Stealing is wrong. We all know these things intrinsically Why because God has laid that law upon our hearts

So that men are about excuse the third witness in Romans 3 is the witness of Jesus Christ himself

Who is coming to the world who died a death that we deserved and was raised again on the third day? Demonstrating that God has given us a trifecta of witnesses creation conscience in Christ Therefore man is truly without excuse there is no reason biblical reason why a

Christian ought to remain disengaged a disengaged Christian is a

Christian and rebellion Next one a Contemplative Christian and This Christian is where there's a desire to apply

Christianity, but it never translate into meaningful action So in other words though they desire to bring their faith in Jesus to the community around them their desire never

Translate into any meaningful action and I think that's where probably most Christians in most

Christian churches find themselves in today Most Christians want to learn more want to apply the gospel want to do missions

But this desire never translate into meaningful action So again, though they've adopted

They have not adopted as unwritten rules about leaving their faith at home their approach to the

Christian life in this area leaves them with a Deep sense of longing for something more in their living as a fully devout follower of Jesus Something is missing in that walk

So again, you have a disengaged Christian someone who thinks that hey, we shouldn't really be engaged in the world We we faith is something that's private

Then you have the contemplative Christian who who thinks well, no that probably isn't the right way of going about it

I really do want to engage the world, but I don't know how I don't know how

What do we learn from the story of Martha and Mary Martha Believes that she's engaged

But she's engaged in the wrong ways Mary doesn't seem to be engaged in the ways that would be productive

But is actually engaged in the way that is truly meaningful Learning being at the feet of Jesus the purpose of being at the feet of Jesus is to lead us not just to be disengaged or to be contemplative, but rather sitting at the feet of Jesus results in being a missional

Christian, which is the third Christian a Missional Christian is

One who is actively practicing Christianity through obedience

Through obedience. Why do we sit and learn at the feet of the teacher so that we can learn to obey his commands?

That's why we sit at the feet of the teacher so in contrast to both the disengaged

Christian and the in the contemplative Christian Missional Christians have sought to orient their lives around a model of Christ engagement with loss

Rather than disengaging with those outside the Christian community missional Christians seem to find natural ways to bring their love for Jesus to those outside the family of God in natural and authentic ways

You see Jesus is the model for evangelism. He's the model for missions

He's able to cut through the noise of life and speak to the human heart and soul because Jesus knows well the human condition and he knows well the antidote to our problems so we too as Missional Christians who actively obey the call of Christ to go and make disciples

We must learn from Christ how to make effective disciples for the kingdom the foundation of missional

Christianity is Observable, of course in the life and teachings of Jesus Let's turn to this foundation then

Because no matter how we look to other Christians and how they live their lives. They're only

Partial help in these examples in our current day So that's to say if we look at if we just want to look at other

Christians. We're always gonna find something missing But if we look at Jesus We'll find the answers that we're looking for As a pastor,

I know that I have not been a perfect pastor There are times in which I fall short of ministering to you.

Well But if you look to Jesus You won't be disappointed if you look to me

You'll be disappointed Sorry to say But if you look to Christ, you'll never disappoint and all those who put faith in Jesus will never be put to shame

So we want to look to Jesus as our prime example the example of Christ Missional Christianity certainly is no invention of of the day

It's kind of a buzzword in our day. In fact this using this term missional or missionality

They're often heard in books that we read we find in literature But the foundation of missional

Christianity finds its basis in the very life of Jesus And this is where we have to come to this conclusion

We must follow Christ together together Because we all have a deficit

See Mary and Martha Both need each other You need one who serves and you need one who listens and sometimes you need to do a little bit of both

C .s. Lewis writes this. He says the New Testament does not envision a solitary religion

Some kind of regular assembly for worship and instruction is everywhere taken for granted in the epistles

The church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities, but it is the body of Christ Complementing and helping one another precisely by their differences you see the beauty of Christ's body the beauty of the local church is that we're all just a little bit different and We all serve just a little bit differently if Martha could have just seen that in Mary They wouldn't have had that argument.

They wouldn't have had that interchange But if we see this in each other That we're all just a little bit different and we all serve a little bit differently

But we're all serving towards the same Savior and the same work and the same mission

We here at Silicon Valley Reform Baptist Church can truly become a force that changes not just this community

But this region and maybe even the world Because our faith and our

Savior is the one who turned the world upside down May you come to know this

Jesus this Savior who lived a holy perfect blameless life never sinned

He died the death that you and I deserve being crucified next to two criminals You know the third day he rose again from that from that grave

Demonstrating that he had power and authority over life and death itself He beckons you today to trust in him repent of your unbelief repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Who's a good and trustworthy

Savior and he'll redeem you and he'll change you from the inside out and save you of eternal salvation

That can be neither taken nor denied to him belongs the glory both now and forever.

Let's pray Lord Jesus we come before you

Humbly asking that you would work in us that which is pleasing in your sight Help us

Lord to acknowledge where we fall short Help us to acknowledge in the ways that we're busy just for the sake of being busy

Help us Lord to identify the errors in our lives. We're not being fruitful for Christian mission and Help us

Lord not to be disengaged Nor just contemplative But to be missional by obeying the call of the

Great Commission That you have given us your people your church to go ye therefore to all nations

Baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost Teaching men to observe all that you have commanded and you've promised us this that you shall be with us

Even until the end of the age. Yes come Lord Jesus and your name we do pray.