March 16, 2025 • 62 mins
If you’ve been feeling pulled in every direction, it might be time to pivot. God isn’t asking you to do everything — He’s asking you to stay close to Him.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
Luke 10, verses 38-42
Luke 6, verses 12-16
John 11, verses 21-23
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. I haven't been with you for the
last few weeks, and it is good to be back home.
When I last saw you, I was teaching and preaching
from kind of a stream of stories in the scripture
(00:38):
where God calls somebody in the scripture by their name,
and I chose for us some scriptures where He calls
them by their name twice. And I was doing that
because there are significant seasons that you and I will
walk through where God will want to get our attention
for something that He's bringing us into. And so today,
(01:00):
I think is going to be the funnest one of all. Now,
I know that we've disrupted the flow of the series
because I had to go and minister in all kinds
of wonderful places, and we did minister to over one
hundred thousand people in Jesus' name over the two weeks
of our tour. But you know, what there's nowhere that
(01:21):
I can preach that feels just as good to me
and as free to me as this pulpit right here
at Elevation Church. And although you may not remember the
flow that I was in, I have been preparing this
sermon the whole time I've been gone, So I'm just
excited to preach it today. Please stand at all of
(01:42):
our locations if you're seated, and we'll stand for the
reading of the Word of God, and we'll pick up
in Luke chapter ten. Thank you so much, team, I
appreciate it. Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two.
Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two. The
(02:04):
Bible says as Jesus and his disciples were on their way,
he came to a village where a woman named Martha
opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had
(02:24):
to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to
do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. Martha. Martha,
there you go. Martha, Martha, not just Martha, but Martha Martha.
The Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things.
(02:49):
Now some of you, that's your whole life in one
Bible verse right there, you are worried and upset about
many things. If you're not obeying any scripture, some of
you are living that one out right there. You are
worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed,
or indeed, only one. Mary has chosen what is better,
(03:12):
and it will not be taken away from her. Okay,
I'm gonna give this a title. It's gonna sound like
a negative title, but we're gonna work it to a
positive conclusion today. And the title for this message is
a recipe for resentment. I didn't think you'd like that title.
(03:33):
So a recipe for resentment is the title, and the
subtitle is this. And you can ask it as a
question to your neighbor before you take your seat, ask them,
whose list is this? Whose list is this? Ask your
other neighbor, whose list is this? And Father, in the
name of Jesus, I know your word is powerful, but
(03:54):
I pray now that it would penetrate our hearts. In
your name, I pray Jesus and expect and believe the
man you may be seated. Just for an opening illustration,
I want to tell you a story I've never told
in church, but I've told it to my family so
many times. I just remembered it because Austin asked me
(04:15):
to tell this story on tour. It happened when me
and his dad are executive pastor of Elevation Church, the
Great Chunks Corbett. We were traveling in Nashville, Tennessee with
another pastor. The other pastor is a very forceful personality,
very tall, bald, big goatee, and very passionate, and that
(04:42):
can be a good thing, but this was one of
the occasions where his passion was kind of bad. Soa
tell you a story. We walk in a restaurant. We
don't have the reservation, and there's no hostess at the
hostess stand. It's not terribly busy in the restaurant either,
so we expect. Everybody say expect. Now, I want you
to hold onto that word because I'm gonna work with
(05:02):
that word. Expect. We expect that someone will come seat us.
There are plenty of seats that are empty that can
accommodate a party of our size. Two minutes pass, nobody
says hello. Three minutes, four minutes, and I forgot to
tell you this, But my friend is also white, so
(05:23):
I could see his face turning red. With every minute.
His face got redder and redder. Five minutes in, I'm
watching his bald head and there are veins popping through
his goatee, on his chin, all the way from his forehead.
And I started backing a way because I didn't know
what was going to happen next. But I didn't expect.
(05:44):
Now I'm about to yell what he yelled. So you
don't like yelling, just cover your ears and I'll be
done with this in five seconds. But I'll never forget it.
He stands in the middle of the restaurant, in front
of the hostess stand where nobody had helped us. Five
minutes had passed and it feels like five hours, and
he yells at the top of his lungs, does anybody
care that we're here, which, of course helped nothing except
(06:13):
that probably in his mashed potatoes there was some extra
spit that he didn't know about by the time we
were seated and eating. But I never forgot him yelling
that and I was telling Austin that story because it's legendary. Now,
when we're waiting at a restaurant, we'll just joke to
each other in our family. Does anybody but I don't
(06:35):
yell at out loud. I wouldn't do that. But I
remember him after expecting to be seated, and apparently this
was even before COVID and the shortage of staffing that
swept all of the restaurants in the nation. I mean,
this was prime time. He expected a seat, but he
was met with the disappointment, and so he yells at
(06:59):
the top of his lungs. I won't again. I'm gonna
save my voice for something more meaningful in about ten minutes.
But he yells at the top of his lungs. Does
anybody care that we're here? Of course, we're all embarrassed,
you know. For the rest of the meal, I'm pulling
the hostess to the side. When she comes, I'm like,
I'm so sorry, hand her a twenty dollars bill, just
trying to pay down the damage to my reputation because
(07:21):
I don't want to be seen with this guy. And
it wasn't even my city. Does anybody care? And I
could watch it building in him. It's like there's a seat.
I'm hungry. I'm hungry, there's a seat, and it's just building.
And finally he blew up. Does anybody care that we're here?
(07:42):
So here's the formula, and you might want to write
this down. I shared that to share a recipe with you.
Your expectations plus others limitations minus grace is a recipe
for resentment. You're only talking to me today, but I
(08:05):
am preaching like I had a whole world tour under
my belt. Let me say it again. Your expectations like
I expected you to say amen when I said that
last thing, plus others limitations, which is you are not
awake yet, you only had half a cup of coffee.
Your expectations plus others limitations minus that part is important.
(08:31):
Grace is a recipe for resentment. Your expectations. What they
need to give you, how they need to appreciate you,
how they should assist you, what they should have taught you.
Your expectations minus others limitations. Maybe they didn't teach you
because nobody taught them. Maybe they didn't call and check
(08:54):
on you because they were battling with the flu too.
Your expectations limitations or plus other's limitations. Your expectations minus
others limitations equals Jesus because he's not limited and he
could do anything. In fact, let me point this out
to you. When Jesus and his disciples were going to Bethany,
(09:15):
that's the village they were traveling to. In Luke chapter ten,
nobody had to stand in the middle of the streets
of Bethany and scream does anybody care that we're here?
Peter didn't have to go out and yell. The Bible
says in Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight that when
they went through a village, it doesn't mention the village,
(09:36):
but it names the woman. Her name was Martha, and
she opened her home to him. Now bring out my screen,
would you, because I want to do a little teaching
today as I preach. Oh you like when I bring
out the screen. What's up with that? It's exciting? Okay, Well,
(09:58):
since you like the screen, let me show you something
on the screen today. Imagine this, Jesus and his disciples
are going out with the message of the Gospel, and
all of Luke chapter ten is Jesus setting expectations for
his disciples before they go out. To these villages, to
these towns. Right. He is preparing them for rejection that
(10:22):
he knows they will encounter, because he doesn't want them
to be unprepared for the fact that not everybody will
accept the message. And one of the ways that he
prepares them is he gives them each a partner. He
pairs them. He sends out seventy two people to go
ahead of him, and everywhere that Jesus went, there would
be a little advanced team that would go ahead of
(10:43):
him to let them know Jesus is coming. In fact,
touch your neighbor real quick and say Jesus is coming.
You didn't sound excited about that, Abby, get more excited.
If I told you Taylor Swift is coming, you would
jump up and stand on your chair. But tell somebody
Jesus is coming. And he sent them out, Yeah, like
(11:06):
that Jesus is coming. Does anybody care that Jesus is coming?
I know sometimes the worship leaders stand up here and
they're leading worship and they're like, come on, let's sing
it out. Come on, please sing it out. Anybody sing
it out? Does anybody care that the King is here?
It's like we care, we just don't know the song
(11:26):
gets new. Okay, we care. I'm promise we care. It's
just too high. You can't sing that high. And there's
a feeling that you can get that. Nobody cares. My
expectations minus others limitations, or plus I keep screwing it
up plus other's limitations minus grace is a recipe for resentment.
(11:49):
So Jesus, being all knowing and all wise and sovereign
and so good at his job of running the universe,
knows that as he sends his disciples out, he has
to send them in pairs two by two. And he says,
when you go into the village, don't be surprised that
some people welcome you and some people don't. If they
welcome you, stay there. Whatever they put before you, eat it.
This is all in Luke chapter ten. Whatever they give
(12:11):
you to eat, eat it. But if they don't welcome you,
wipe your feet and walk. I don't know who this
word is for, but I just felt God on that
one thing right there. Tell your neighbor wipe it off
and walk. So if they didn't want to date you,
that's all right. If they thought you weren't the one
(12:33):
for them, you weren't the one for them. Because if
you were the one for them, God would have illuminated
that fact. Then you would be with them right now, hellolujah,
tell your neighbor, wipe it off and walk. Got somewhere
to go. I've got something to carry. I'm called by
someone greater than you. I can't stay stuck just because
you decided to say no. I can't spend the rest
(12:56):
of my life trying to prove something to somebody who
can't promote me anyway. So if they didn't open the
door to you, walk on, walk on. That's the whole
word for somebody, gome be blessed, walk on, wipe your
feet and walk. So he's preparing them. Don't always expect
that everyone is going to accept you. In fact, if
(13:20):
everybody accepts you, that's probably the most dangerous thing of all. Okay,
So in preparing them for rejection, the Bible says in
Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight, and now I'm at
my main passage. If I remember how to use this
in Luke chapter ten, and if you'll think I'm gonna
(13:43):
come up here and preach a message about Martha and
make her the villain of the story, you are sadly mistaken.
About me, because well, first of all, I read here
it says in the heading at the home of Martha
and Mary. Okay, and that's how it's heading, because Mary
(14:04):
lived there. But the Bible says as Jesus and his
disciples were on their way, he came to a village
where a woman singular named Martha opened her home to him.
All to talk about all that, I want to talk about,
how she was busy because somebody has to pay the bills.
(14:25):
I want to talk about all that. I want to
contradict every criticism that I've ever heard preached about this
wonderful woman, Martha, who gave a hospitable welcome to the
Savior of the world and said you can stay with me.
I want to take a moment before we praised Mary
for her untethered devotion and her unmitigated reverence for the Lord,
to just respect Martha because she opened her home to
(14:49):
him to him. So, if you looked at a list
of the bills that were paid in that home, they
all had Martha on them. If you looked at all
the mortgage statements that were paid on time, you would
see Martha paid the mortgage. Who say it again, Martha Martha.
(15:13):
Martha might not always have the best ability to prioritize
the focus of presents, but she paid the bills. Okay,
we're going to make a list real quick. This kind
of teaching and preaching is important so we don't make
presumptions about who are the heroes and the villains and
the examples and the cautionary tales in scripture. I'm going
(15:33):
to make a list real quick of everything, not everything,
but just a few things that make Martha amazing number one.
And I believe this applies to some of you in
the room too, And in just a moment, I'm going
to bring this so close to home that you will
feel it for your own situation. But for a moment,
let's talk about Martha. Martha should be praised because she
(15:55):
was number one resourceful when they came through saying Jesus
is coming to Bethany. Now, Bethany is not Jerusalem. It's
two miles from Jerusalem. Bethany was not special in the
context of the scripture until Jesus did one of his
greatest miracles there and blessed the disciples before his ascension there.
(16:18):
So he's stopping through a place that would seem to
be insignificant. Martha, hearing of it, says, if he wants
to hold a Bible study, he can meet at my house.
Let's golf clap for Martha because she was resourceful. Just
go ahead, and let's thank God for her resourcefulness. That
she realized that her resource comes from the source, and
(16:40):
she offered that to God. She was the original e
group leader. I bet she had good snacks too. You know,
she had good snacks and she had to because put
the verse back up there. In Luke chapter ten, verse
thirty eight, please, it says, as Jesus and his disciples
are on their way, he came to a village, a
woman named Martha opened her home to him. But check
(17:04):
this out. When you bring Jesus in your house, the
Bible says, as Jesus and his note back to the verse,
as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, so
the announcement comes through Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.
Anybody got a room for Jesus? An IFO I got
Airbnb for Jesus, Martha's like, I'll help sure. I've heard
(17:26):
great things about this miracle worker. He could come stay
with me. And by the way, he's bringing a few
people with him. And then you read over in Luke
chapter six, verse twelve through seventeen. Put that on the
screen for me, please. On one of these days, Jesus
went to mountainside to pray, spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and
chose twelve of them, who we also designated apostles. Here's
(17:48):
the list. Simon whom he named Peter, his brother, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the zealot,
Judas son of James, and Judas is scaredriot who became
a traitor. Why did you read us all that? Because
I wanted you to see the full guest list that
Martha was responsible for when she said yes to Jesus.
(18:12):
Saying yes to Jesus is one thing. Saying yes to
everything that comes with Jesus is another. Because when Martha
said yes to host Jesus, she also had to host Judas.
One prophet said, every rose has its thorn, And I
(18:36):
want to praise Martha for a moment because she was
so resourceful that she heard the list of disciples and realized, Okay,
if I want to do this for Jesus, I'm going
to have to do it for all of them, which
is a big commitment. I mean talking about a recipe.
The bigger the group gets, the harder it is to
make a recipe that will stretch to feed the entire group.
(18:59):
The only I have to offer you as for ramen noodles.
But when I watch Holly Cook, I realized that as
the size of the guest listic spans, so does the
need for preparation. So when the Bible says all the
preparations that had to be made, you have to understand
Martha wasn't just feeding Jesus. She was feeding every hooligan
that he brought with him, every redneck fisherman that he
(19:22):
brought with them, every tax collector that he brought with him.
And I'm pointing this out to you for a reason.
She was resourceful. Another thing that we could say about
her is that she was responsible. All the responsible people
make some responsible noise, not too much, just a responsible
(19:43):
amount of noise, not too loud that you might scare
your neighbor or lose your voice, just a responsible amount
of noise. She was so responsible in the context of
this that she knew everything that had to be done
to host the one who came from heaven in her home.
So she's resourceful. Everybody say resourceful, Talk to me today.
(20:06):
She was resourceful. She was, and she was even respectful
because he got to give it to her. Right, She's
putting in all this work to feed all these people.
(20:26):
And remember when I read you at the beginning, her
sister is doing nothing to pitch in. So instead of
doing what she probably felt like doing, she walks up
to Jesus, and Jesus is teaching, okay with The Bible
says that Mary was sitting at Jesus's feet. They were
(20:46):
not having a casual chat that is a posture of discipleship.
She wasn't sitting at his feet so they could talk
about you know, so are you watching any shows lately?
He was teaching and she was listening. Give me verse
thirty nine, real quick. The Bible says she had a
sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening
(21:08):
to what he said. What was Mary doing listening? Verse
forty But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, See,
(21:28):
she's not disrespectful about it. She's calling him by his title,
not even by his name. She didn't even call him Jesus.
She said, Lord, not dude, not bro, not any of
this stuff that I hear y'all calling each other these days. Lord, Lord, Lord,
(21:51):
she's respectful. Don't you care that my sister has left
me to do the work by myself. Tell her to
help me. Now, let's make the list for Mary. Okay,
let's make a list for Mary. What can we say
about Mary? Okay? This is what I can say about Mary.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
She was.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Present, and that's about all she was. She wasn't cooking,
she wasn't cleaning, she wasn't lifting, she wasn't scrubbing, she
wasn't organizing. Come on, she wasn't enlisting others. She was there,
and that's all we can say about her. That's what
a scripture makes me mad, because she was just there,
(22:38):
and Jesus like, be like her. She's here, and Martha.
I imagine that Martha is thinking, Okay, she's here, But
so is Peter, so is James, so is John, so
is Bartholomew, so is Judas, and he looks kind of sketchy.
By the way, you might want to interview your diciple
(23:00):
candidates a little bit more next time before you come
to Bethany. I'm not even sure I'm putting up my
valuables in the house. That guy looks kind of kind
of That guy looks kind of Oh, I'm saying, and Jesus,
now watch this, Jesus says, she's here, she's present, she's present,
(23:20):
she's present, she's here. Yeah, but Jesus, are you hungry. Yeah,
we're hungry. We need to eat. But she's here. Yeah.
But Jesus, I don't need her here at your feet.
I need her in here helping me in this kitchen.
(23:40):
Unless you want to do one of those tricks like
you did that time with the fish in the loaves
and start multiplying some of these ritz crackers. Jesus. Now,
if you want to do that, go ahead and do it.
But if we are going to do this meal the
normal way, now, I don't feel like I'm getting this
across yet, So I want to get a little bit
deeper into this with you. There are ways in which
we can feel that the advice that we're given to
(24:04):
get closer to God is unrealistic. For real life, we
don't say that. We shout about things that people say
in church, where we say, you know, don't worry about tomorrow.
How far do you want me to take that? Because
if if you're, if you're, if you're gonna be depending
on me to pay for your retirement, then I need
(24:24):
you to worry about tomorrow a little bit, a little bit.
If you're gonna, if you're gonna put the burden on
me when there is no plan, I need you to
plan a little bit. And I see Martha in a
different light. I see her as resourceful, I see her
as responsible, I see her as respectful. And all I
can say for Mary is she may be some of
(24:46):
these things too, But all we really know about her
is she's here. And Jesus is like, that's good. That's
what I want. Now, let's play it out. Mary's sitting
at the feet of Jesus, singing, here I am to
her shit. Martha keeps walking through, and Mary keeps singing,
here I am too bad. Here I am to say
(25:09):
that you're my God. Here I am to worship. And
then Martha starts singing a song goes like this help
me with these dishous I worked hard on that line.
Y'all clap for that. My expectation, yeah, my expectation was
(25:30):
that you would laugh at that. And the Bible says something.
I don't know if you caught this scram It said
that Martha, while she was all of these things, resourceful, responsible, respectful,
she wasn't evil. The Bible says, but Martha was Verse ten,
what distracted. That's it? Not bad, distracted, not evil, distracted,
(25:58):
not demon possessed, distracted, not not what would you call
somebody who's scatterbrained all the time. Just distracted. She doesn't
have a lack of capacity, She's just distracted. And I
want to say that not all distraction is bad. Not
all distraction is bad. A few years ago we were
(26:21):
having inclement weather at the church, and this morning it
was raining hard coming to church, and for a moment
I got worried, Oh no, what if people don't come?
But I decided a few years ago never to worry
about the weather because it's above my pay grade. All
I can do is ask them, well, do you have
(26:42):
the umbrellas ready? And as I worried about the weather
for a moment, thinking would it limit people from coming,
I realized that the only thing I can focus on
in control today is this word that I'm preaching to you.
So if the enemy can get me worried about the
weather and take my eyes off the word, it will
weaken what I was sent here to do because of
my focus on something I can't control it. Now we're
(27:04):
getting there. The enemy is trying to weaken what you
were sent to do by getting you to focus on
something you can't control. Of all the things that Martha
could manage, the mortgage, of all the things that Martha
could manage, the menu. Of all the things that Martha
could manage, one of them was not Mary. There are
a few things you can't control in this world. One
(27:26):
is whether and the other is others. Martha was distracted.
She wasn't even distracted playing that game that my family
is all addicted to with the blocks on their phone.
She was distracted, baking, cleaning, preparing. She was distracted, but
(27:50):
she was multitasking, right. And this is the illustration I
want to give. Okay, I really think you're going to
remember this. This is the part of this I rememberhere.
I think when they say did you go to church Sunday? Yeah,
it's it good as all right what he preached you about.
Oh he did this one thing where this is what
you're gonna show him. And I pictured you preaching this
back to your spouse this week. Okay, So I'm gonna
(28:13):
give you something. I'm give something to use as ammunition
this week when the people in your life start acting
kind of Martha, all right, or or when you start
feeling it inside of yourself. Now, I asked Holly, I said,
where's something to church that you wouldn't mind being seen
on camera? Where in it? So here we go. Holly's
gonna be in my illustration. Come on, Holly, and Holly,
(28:37):
I know y'all love her, but she's got to play
the part of Martha for a moment, just for illustration purposes.
I don't have her play this part because I think
she resembles this character. In fact, I marvel at her
ability to balance things. But I was thinking about something
last night. You know, Abby had her birthday on Monday fourteen. Yeah,
(29:01):
happy birthday baby. But of course the party went on
all week, and we were planning a party on Saturday.
So stand up, okay, party on Saturday. Lots of guests,
very very cool, occasion. And then I watched Holly as
she was checking her calendar by a week or two,
and she remembered that Graham's wrestling banquet, state champion, two
(29:25):
times state champion, right here. His banquet is also on Saturday.
Party is at six, banquet is at six. Okay, stand
up Graham. So now I watched her just become completely
disappointed in herself because she realized, now I got a party,
(29:46):
a birthday, a banquet, and a highly emotionally needy husband
who needs extra emotional support before he preaches on Saturday.
And I'm telling you, I am such a baby before
I preach. I need her to do everything for me.
For the twelve hours before I preach, I can't think
about anything but the sermon. So I've got a birthday,
(30:07):
a banquet, and a baby. Now I want to illustrate this,
and I'm going to take my time with it. It's
alright if I take my time with it today, Okay,
I can't get that thing because I see some of you.
You're not bad, You're distracted, You're not wicked. You're distracted.
You keep going off on people. Does anybody care that way? Here?
(30:30):
Because you're distracted, You're mad because you're distracted. Your hunger
is distracting you from your true heart. The demands are
distracting you from the destiny. But here is the thing
about this distraction. We're doing this as a family today.
Apparently in the Greek the word for distraction is not
(30:50):
like the English word for distraction. In English, we say
distraction to mean something that comes up that we didn't
plan for. Right, Well, in the Greek it doesn't mean
something that you didn't plan for. Often in scripture, something
you didn't plan for is called a miracle. So a
lot of times you will see that someone who the
disciples saw as a distraction, like a blind man by
the roadside, was the reason that Jesus was on the journey,
(31:12):
because he said, bring him to me and let me
heal him. But Jesus, he's a distraction, No he's not.
He is the destination. Great. The word for distraction, and
the problem with distraction is not when you're doing more
than one thing at the same time. That is called adulthood.
That is called maturity. When you're juggling this and juggling that.
(31:32):
And I keep hearing people talk about you need to
be more present, you need to be present with your
family at the dinner table. Okay, let me tell what
that means to me. I eat with them. I do
not kill them. That's my definition of present. Yeah, but
do you put the phones up? Sometimes sometimes the phone
is the only thing that numbs the pain of their
arguing to get me through the dinner without indigestion. Y'all
(31:54):
are so fake in this church today, acting like y'all
all pray around the table and share strip her versus
over tacos, and then we have worship Wednesday for our family.
And here I am to all. So the process is this,
and I'm just gonna lead Holly around for a moment. Okay.
(32:16):
There are times in your life where, like Martha, you
will feel so busy and I don't know who is
in this season right now, where you will feel like, okay,
I'm doing good, I'm doing good, and then all of
a sudden, a different priority will come and you have
to change direction. Changing directions is not distraction. That's called pivoting.
(32:36):
Pivoting is an essential skill, so you don't get so
locked into what you thought was important that you miss
what was really important. So in order for her to
be the Holly that she needs to be the mom
that she needs to be, the pastor that she needs
to be, the leader that she needs to be, the
daughter that she needs to be, the friend that she
needs to be. That means that there are sometimes where
(32:56):
she is going to feel like she has multiple personalities
while she is trying to walk in multiple roles. That
is normal. That is not sinful. It is the skill
of pivoting. It is realizing that one moment you may
have to be yelling down the stairs did you brush
your teeth? The next moment you might have to pick
up the phone and use a little bit more of
that bedside manner with somebody who is struggling in the
(33:17):
hospital with cancer that goes to the church. This is
not sinful, This is skillful. It's her ability to discern
in this moment, Okay, I plan to do this today,
but that completely interrupted my day. I'm gonna have to
go a different direction this day. I'm gonna have to
get it done a different way today. I'm not gonna
be able to do it how I thought I was
gonna do it today. I'm gonna have to cook for
(33:39):
all of these disciples by myself today. And Peter won't
shut up. He keeps yelling. Martha wears the peanuts, Martha
wears the gummy worms. This guy is loud mouth. Does
anybody care that we're here? And so while she is
being led through her day, that is completely normal. The
Lord will lead you, and it'll lead you sometimes to
(33:59):
do something that you didn't plan to do. He'll lead
you to do something that wasn't on your list, and
you have to be a tentive in those moments. We
sang a song earlier, You gave Me one more Day.
That song was written while we were finishing writing another
song and one of the songwriters in the room started
to play something that I had not heard, and I said,
(34:19):
what is that? He said something that just came to me.
I said, no, we're going to write that right now.
We wrote the song off of something that he was
doing as a distraction while we were waiting to record.
If we did not pay attention to the moment that
we were in just to fulfill the agenda that we
had set, we would have missed the song that we
sang that is now blessing people and life is like that.
(34:41):
You got to be a tentive to God. See how
she's doing this she's fine. I am taking she doesn't
know where I'm taking her. And that's what it means
to walk in faith. It's like, I don't know what
I'm going to face today. I don't know who's gonna
need me today, Especially if you're responsible for others. Some
of you got your own company because you didn't want
anybody to tell you what to do. Now you got
(35:05):
Now you've got hundreds of terrorists employees, and their needs
become your agenda, and you have to move like this.
So before we just chopped Martha down, oh, she should
have sat at the feet of Jesus realized that there
were things that needed to happen, and everybody was calling
(35:26):
for her attention. Martha, Martha, Where do we keep the
Where do you keep the water for the washing of feet? Martha, Martha,
there's twelve of these guys. They've already used up all
of the water. Martha, Martha. What are we gonna do
with the bread? Is burned? The bread? I'm sorry, Martha, Martha, Martha,
this God Judas is looking at your jewelry. You want
me to put it in a different drawer, Martha, Martha.
So that's what's happening, right and it's just demand after
(35:47):
demand after demand. Because she is a good mom, and
she can be a good mom as long as she's
just mom. I have a birthday, she can plan that.
But what about when it's mom, Mom, Martha Martha, Because
(36:11):
now I got a birthday, and I got a banquet,
and I got a baby, and she can do this.
Let her go if Graham needs her. I've seen it
a million times. She's so good. Just gently, boy, don't
talk her too hard, just gently, just gently. She can
do that. Oh Mom, I need this. And I'm using
(36:33):
the illustration of mom, but you could feel this as
a young person. I'm using the illustration of a mom,
but you can definitely feel it as a dad. I'm
using the illustration as a mom, but you can definitely
feel it as you navigate all of the roles and
the frequencies that your life has to occupy in the
places you have to show up. I'm a student, I'm
an employee, I'm a boss, I'm an employee, I'm a pastor,
(36:55):
and I'm a dad. I get it. So she's mom.
This is fine, she's a mom. This is fine, Leo.
But the Greek word where it says martha was distracted
the Greek word for distracted, and I'm stolen because I'm
(37:18):
trying to remember how to say it. Ah, pariaspotos, pariaspotos.
Now that's the word. Here's what it means. It means
pulled apart. So watch this. Lego she can pivot or
(37:43):
lego abby she can pivot. Neither of those are bad.
That's life. You gotta dance with things. You know. You
gotta dance with life. You gotta make it look easy too.
You got a multitask and up and down nobody. That's
called dancing. This is reality. Stop praying that your life
(38:03):
would get simpler. You want your life to get simpler.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Die either die or dance is dance or die is
Pay this down, pay this off, hold this back is
dance or die.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Smile here, cry there, win here, lose there, take the
award there, take the hit.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
There's dance or die.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
You should have called the message dance or die. That
is reality. But when I have Martha Martha and a
birthday at six and a banquet at six, and both
are pulling me and I cannot give myself the grace
(38:53):
my expectations and other limitations minus grace, what is that
go that way. This go that way is a recipe
for resentment. This is for you. Have you been feeling
(39:16):
Have you been feeling like this? This is why Martha
feels like a martyr. It's like she's up on the cross. Man.
I guess I'll just be the only one to cook
around here. Jesus, since you came to die on the cross,
I guess I'll just die for you in this kitchen.
(39:36):
But Jesus didn't call Martha to be a martyr. He said, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha.
You can't be mom, mom, mom, Mom. You can't be
holly mom, Holly mom. You can't be all that at once.
Now comes the solution, he says, he it's not that
(40:00):
what you're doing is wrong. It's not that I don't
want to eat. It's not just be less busy. How
many dumb sermons have we heard about be less busy? Okay,
well tell that, Tell that to my professor, tell that
to my boss, and I realize that it is not
busyness that is the problem. The problem is division. So
(40:30):
you did the birthday, I did the banquet, and none
of them are going to end up in therapy over it. Oh,
I need to say that you'll sit down for a minute.
You'll sit down for a minute. I need to talk
about this. Who made this list of all the things
we think we have to do to be a good
parent today, I'm gonna come back here behind the safety
(40:50):
of my pulpit when I say this. Okay, this is
going to be controversial. I could literally say that the
Bible is not the word of God and get less
hate than what I'm about to get for what I'm
about to say right now. By the way, the Bible
is the word of God. Just in case I get
a clipped. Okay, now that being said, your kid does
not have to play on every team. I'm helping. Come
(41:13):
down off that cross, baby, I'm gonna help you from
feeling like this. Your kid does not have to be
in at chemistry in kindergarten. Yeah, but they need to
get it on their resume. What if they apply for
a college that doesn't accept that kind of class.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
They put them in a community.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
College, or make them an entrepreneur and tell them you
did it to teach them character, teach them to sell
jolly ranchers out their backpack. I don't care, but stop
putting all this pressure on stuff that robs your peace. Ah,
I'm gonna help you. Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. There's only
(41:50):
one Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. That's what it sounds like.
That's why Jesus called her Martha Martha, because that's how
she felt in that moment. There's only one of me,
and I'm being old and Martha, you can work in
the kitchen or you can sit at my feet. But
(42:11):
being mad because Mary's at my feet while you're working
in the kitchen, that is going to kill your joy.
Feeling like you're a bad dad because you're not the
dad like the other kids had, that is going to
kill your potential as a parent. How many times have
I felt bad about myself as a dad because I
never taught my kids how to fish. They don't need
(42:34):
to learn how to fish. They got fish sticks at
the grocery store. Cut out the whole middle man of
the ocean or the lake, straight to the freezer. I'm serious,
whose list is this? Martha is not really stressed about
the situation. I'm gonna show you this. She comes to
(42:56):
Jesus right and I want to walk you back slowly
through this passage. Oh, I love teaching you the word
of God. This is what I live for right here.
In verse thirty nine, it says that Mary sat at
the Lord's feet. Can I get my scripture back? Yeah? Yeah,
she sat at the Lord's feet, and my style wars said. Yeah,
(43:17):
she got at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
to what he said, But Martha was distracted by all
the preparations that had to be made according to who.
(43:39):
I don't think Jesus sent a writer in events with
the two that went. You know, Jesus only eats brown
eminem to make sure when he comes in his green room.
You know, Jesus not a rock star. He's the rock
of ages. He just told him eat whatever is sept
before you when I send you out. So Jesus is cool,
Jesus is just. You know, I was gonna say Jesus
is just, and I'm not gonna say I'll tell you later,
(44:00):
but Jesus just show up and eat whatever you put perform.
So so let me ask you a question. When she says, Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to
do the work by myself. Tell her to help me
with my work that I decided to do. Jesus Lord,
(44:20):
respectfully tell her to do what I decided needed to
be done to host you.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Let me try that again, Lord, here's my list. Here's
my list.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
I hear your teaching my sister Mary, and I know
you think she's attentive. She's really just kind of lazy
spacey Jesus, you know you get an attitude, right, Jesus, Lord, Lord,
Lord Lord, let me say right, tell her to help
me do this work on my list. I have a contrast, Nick,
(45:02):
She Mary is listening, ye, Martha is listing. One is
listening to what he says. One is listing what they
have to do what they think ought to be done. So, Lord,
(45:22):
I know you're teaching these amazing teachings about the Good
Samaritan and all this, but let me put one on
the list, because I know you're teaching my sister right now,
and she's listening to you, and that is wonderful. And
we're so glad to have you in our home, and
it's so amazing to have you in Bethany. We really
do care that you're here. We care that you're here.
But does anybody care that I'm stressed? I imagine as minutes
(45:46):
turned to hours, and Jesus kept teaching you know, the
parable of the prodigal son. Maybe Martha comes and says,
I appreciate your teaching, but would you mind teaching the
parable of the lazy sister who needs to get in
this kitchen and help me fulfill my agenda for you, Jesus.
(46:08):
One is listening to Jesus' agenda for her. The other
is giving Jesus her agenda for him. Which is your
prayer life? Is your prayer life giving Jesus an agenda?
Or is your prayer life listening to his? Which is
(46:36):
your discipleship journey? At this stage? Whose list is this? Well,
we got to fluff the pillows, Jesus is like, I
don't need fluffy pillows. Son, a man has nowhere to
lay us head. I'll sit right here on the floor.
I don't need the fluffy pillows. Jesus, we know you
got a special diet. I don't have a special diet.
Just make sure it follows the Jewish customary law. So
the Pharisees don't get mad and shut down the meeting. Oh,
(46:57):
whatever you put in front of me. So whose list
is this? For those of you that struggle with perfectionism?
Whose list is that? That makes you feel like you
could never measure up. Of course you could never measure up.
That's why he came down. He fulfilled the righteous requirements
(47:18):
of the law. He did the list. He was sinless,
he was spotless, He did not retaliate. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He was the spotless lamb of God. He was blameless.
He was the perfect one. So you don't have to
be so when condemnation starts in your brain telling you, well,
(47:39):
you're this, you're that, and you're not, and you can't
and you won't. Who's ask the question all week long?
Whose list is this? Ask your neighbor? Whose list is this?
Got me feeling all stressed out? Like I gotta do
a thousand things to be right with God? I only
got to do one thing to be right with God.
If I call on the name of Jesus, I will
(48:01):
be saved. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved. If I confess my sins, He is
faithful and just and will forgive me of my sins
and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. So for all the
Pharisees and Sadducees who are sad, you see because you
keep expecting others to follow your list, and you have
no grace for your expectations, and others' limitations make you
(48:24):
angry because they are not living up to your list.
To be a good Christian. Christian isn't named after you.
There is one name, we follow, one standard, we raise,
one banner that we bought on whose list is this?
I want you to look at your to do list
(48:45):
for this week before you start it and ask the question,
is this your list? Lord? Is there stuff on this
list that I'm doing just to look good and impress
others that you never called me to do?
Speaker 3 (49:00):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (49:00):
I'm preaching now, because sometimes we label it responsible, But
sometimes what we do in an effort to appear responsible
is really out of the comparisons that we've made with
people that we don't really know whose list is this.
I sat time to eat with somebody the other day
and they said you ought not eat that. I said,
what's wrong with it? And they told me some story
(49:22):
about what chemicals were on the food and the chemicals now,
and I'm like, well, hold on, I'm confused. You went
to the grocery store and bought it? No, you cooked it? No? Hmm,
sounds like if you didn't purchase it and you didn't
(49:45):
prepare it, then you don't get to make the list.
And I like chemicals. I think, let me go on record,
go ahead, just throw something at me, throw it, Throw
an organic avocado at me. As I say this, I
like the chemicals. I dig down the less us used
(50:13):
to just be don't snort cocaine. Now I can't snort cocaine.
I can't eat chemicals. And it was a vegetable I
was eating. It's a vegetable. Where did vegetables become villains?
Who's list is this? Well, you know you're really on
(50:38):
a homeschool in your kids, because if you homeschool your kids,
then they're gonna get you know, they're gonna get a
more better relationship. So homeschool your kids, Well, you have
to socialize your kids in a great environment as well.
And if you homeschool they are kids, you'll be socially
awkward and so no, no, but if you put them
in a social environment, they'll be tempted. But if you
don't put them in a social environment, they'll face great,
(51:00):
greater temptations in later days and they'll end up paying
on the back end. For the decisions you shielded them from.
Look at you, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, making your list
of what makes a good mom off of other people's opinions.
It's their opinion. You might need to homeschool one and
(51:21):
boarding school the other. Keep one close, ship one off.
Who knows. But you said only one thing you gotta do,
stay close to me. Only one thing is necessary because
(51:41):
I will never pull you apart. If you are being
pulled apart by the demands of your life, let me
tell you something about the list that you're living by.
It's not his. It's not his list. That might have
(52:01):
been your mom's list. She might have demanded more from
you than you were able to give, but that's not
his list. Others might have expected things out of you
that you weren't able to fulfill. God never will if
he if he wills you to do it, he will
walk with you through it. Whose list is this, Jesus,
(52:26):
I need help with this list. Now. I'm going to
show you how far Martha comes in the scripture, and
y'all can sit down, and I want you to come up,
because Martha in this passage, she's in a tough spot.
She's in a really tough spot, and in a way
we don't get much closure in the passage itself because
(52:49):
it kind of just ends with Jesus saying, Hey, I
know you're resourceful, I know you're responsible, I know you're respectful.
But Mary is present and isn't present. She's pulled. So
since she's pulled, she begins to resent. It's a recipe
(53:16):
for resentment. Trying to please everybody, trying to be everything,
trying to achieve everything, trying to achieve eight pack abs
while also going back to school. All of that amalgamation
of what you think it needs means to achieve that
comes from culture, that comes from comparison, that comes from condemnation.
It does not come from Christ. It is a recipe
(53:37):
for resentment and for you to just keep adding to
your life what you think you need to be for
God to love you more, what you think you need
to do for somebody else to love you more, what
you think you need to achieve in order to be
worthy of the life that God gave you by his grace.
Remember your expectation, even of yourself plus other's limitations, even
if it's your own minus grace is a four recentment
(54:04):
and now Martha's screaming in the kitchen. Does anybody care
that I'm tired? Does anybody care? Then I'm doing this
for them? Does anybody care? Jesus? Is what she said?
Don't you care? Don't you care that I'm doing all
the work by myself? And she said, I care, but
not about your work. I care about your worry. And
(54:30):
you want me to help you with your work. But
I want to help you with your worry. So I
want to take your list and I want to walk
with you through it, and I want to show you
in this season of your life. I'm not talking to
Martha Marth anymore. I'm talking to you you God wants
to show you in this season of your life where
you are being paralyzed because you are being pulled. That's
(54:51):
a picture of worry, isn't it? Being pulled on both
sides and going nowhere? Being pulled and spent and tired
by making no progress. Don't you care? Lord? He says,
I care. I care so much that I want you
to be present with me so that you do not
resent the demands of your life that you are trying
(55:14):
to fulfill without me. This is the same thing that
Martha asked Jesus when her brother Lazarus got sick. Does
anybody know this story? Wave at me? If you know
the story of a man called Lazarus, Did you know
that his big sister was Martha? Did you know that
(55:35):
his village was called Bethany? How must it have felt
for Martha not only to cook for Jesus and his disciples,
but to care for a sick brother. Usually men would
pay for the bills, but Lazarus couldn't. There's no mention
of a husband. Martha is doing it by herself. And
that's why it hit a nerve when she said, don't
(55:56):
you care that she's left me to do it by myself?
And it can feel like that, and it has felt
like that for some of us. Do you really expect
me to be here and there? I can only be
one place at one time. That's right, that's right. And
when Lazarus got sick, Martha sent word to Jesus saying,
the one that you love is sick. This is in
(56:17):
John chapter eleven. You can read it when you get home.
She said, the one that you love is sick. But
when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where
he was and Lazarus died, and on the fourth day
after the body was thought to have been void of
the spirit, which evacuated according to their custom. On the
third day, Jesus shows up. He shows up late, and
(56:42):
Martha meets him at the gate. And I want to
show you how far he's come, because I asked the Lord,
where do I land this message to help those who
feel like this today, who feel like this, no place
to sit, no one to help, nothing to think. And
I realized that although in the passage it only ends
with Martha being corrected in John chapter eleven, give me
(57:05):
the scripture on the screen, please, She calls him Lord.
Remember her brother has died, but he's still Lord. Remember
he disappointed her expectation, but he's still Lord. Remember he
didn't do what she asked him to do, but he's
still Lord. And I'm about to show you one of
(57:26):
the most major transformations in scripture. Here is this woman, Martha, Martha,
who was so distracted and divided that she was coming
apart at the scenes. Does anybody care that I'm slaving?
Does anybody care that I'm working? Does anybody care that
I'm serving? Lord? Martha said to Jesus, if you had
been here, my brother would not have died. But I
(57:49):
know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
You missed it. There's been a switch. Tell somebody, there's
been a switch. When we saw Martha in Luke chapter ten,
(58:10):
she was working off her list. But look what she
says in John chapter eleven, verse twenty two. But I
know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
So she has learned the life lesson. It is his list,
not my list, that matters in this season of my life.
(58:34):
And I want to speak to everybody who has been
living off of your list.
Speaker 5 (58:38):
You have been listing your liabilities, listing your limitations, listing
your reasons to feel bad, listing your reasons to feel shameful,
listing the adversaries that are against you, listing the disadvantage
of your season.
Speaker 1 (58:52):
Shift your attention to his list. And when she did that,
I'm ready to preach. When she did that, when she
said God will give you whatever you ask, get ready
to shout over verse twenty three, Jesus said to her,
your brother will rise again. So let me preach the
whole sermon my expectation plus others. Limitation is a recipe
(59:20):
for resentment. But watch this. My faith plus God's presence
is a recipe for resurrection. The moment you get focused,
whoop on his list? Catch what I'm saying. The moment
(59:42):
you begin to believe that he is who he says
he is. He can do what he says he can do.
Speaker 6 (59:48):
He is God all by himself, doesn't need any help,
doesn't need an assistant, doesn't need an agenda, doesn't need
a calendar, doesn't need a schedule, doesn't need a committee
to bless.
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
This is his list and a letter to the tomb.
Step by step, and Lazarus came forth, and everything that
would try to pull Martha away, No, no, no, you
(01:00:20):
can't get distracted. Now you've got to stay close to him.
One thing is necessary. One thing is necessary. Jesus said,
I'm gonna put your list down to one item. Do
what I say. If I don't tell you to do it,
I don't care what pressure culture puts on you to
do it. Do what I say. Be who I called
(01:00:40):
you to be. Let me do my job in your life,
and you will see when you get to the tomb,
and the word says, Lazarus come forth, if you will
stay close to me, I will show you something that
you did not even know to play inform. Yeah, you
(01:01:01):
stay right there because God brought you to this moment.
It's a Martha Martha moment. It's decided. But instead of
feeling bad about what you didn't get or being distracted
by a phone that rings in the middle of your clothes,
you are going to stay focused on what God has
(01:01:25):
put in front of you for this season. He did
this so you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation
Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you. H
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Enjoy the message. I haven't been with you for the
last few weeks, and it is good to be back home.
When I last saw you, I was teaching and preaching
from kind of a stream of stories in the scripture
(00:38):
where God calls somebody in the scripture by their name,
and I chose for us some scriptures where He calls
them by their name twice. And I was doing that
because there are significant seasons that you and I will
walk through where God will want to get our attention
for something that He's bringing us into. And so today,
(01:00):
I think is going to be the funnest one of all. Now,
I know that we've disrupted the flow of the series
because I had to go and minister in all kinds
of wonderful places, and we did minister to over one
hundred thousand people in Jesus' name over the two weeks
of our tour. But you know, what there's nowhere that
(01:21):
I can preach that feels just as good to me
and as free to me as this pulpit right here
at Elevation Church. And although you may not remember the
flow that I was in, I have been preparing this
sermon the whole time I've been gone, So I'm just
excited to preach it today. Please stand at all of
(01:42):
our locations if you're seated, and we'll stand for the
reading of the Word of God, and we'll pick up
in Luke chapter ten. Thank you so much, team, I
appreciate it. Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two.
Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight through forty two. The
(02:04):
Bible says as Jesus and his disciples were on their way,
he came to a village where a woman named Martha
opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had
(02:24):
to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to
do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. Martha. Martha,
there you go. Martha, Martha, not just Martha, but Martha Martha.
The Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things.
(02:49):
Now some of you, that's your whole life in one
Bible verse right there, you are worried and upset about
many things. If you're not obeying any scripture, some of
you are living that one out right there. You are
worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed,
or indeed, only one. Mary has chosen what is better,
(03:12):
and it will not be taken away from her. Okay,
I'm gonna give this a title. It's gonna sound like
a negative title, but we're gonna work it to a
positive conclusion today. And the title for this message is
a recipe for resentment. I didn't think you'd like that title.
(03:33):
So a recipe for resentment is the title, and the
subtitle is this. And you can ask it as a
question to your neighbor before you take your seat, ask them,
whose list is this? Whose list is this? Ask your
other neighbor, whose list is this? And Father, in the
name of Jesus, I know your word is powerful, but
(03:54):
I pray now that it would penetrate our hearts. In
your name, I pray Jesus and expect and believe the
man you may be seated. Just for an opening illustration,
I want to tell you a story I've never told
in church, but I've told it to my family so
many times. I just remembered it because Austin asked me
(04:15):
to tell this story on tour. It happened when me
and his dad are executive pastor of Elevation Church, the
Great Chunks Corbett. We were traveling in Nashville, Tennessee with
another pastor. The other pastor is a very forceful personality,
very tall, bald, big goatee, and very passionate, and that
(04:42):
can be a good thing, but this was one of
the occasions where his passion was kind of bad. Soa
tell you a story. We walk in a restaurant. We
don't have the reservation, and there's no hostess at the
hostess stand. It's not terribly busy in the restaurant either,
so we expect. Everybody say expect. Now, I want you
to hold onto that word because I'm gonna work with
(05:02):
that word. Expect. We expect that someone will come seat us.
There are plenty of seats that are empty that can
accommodate a party of our size. Two minutes pass, nobody
says hello. Three minutes, four minutes, and I forgot to
tell you this, But my friend is also white, so
(05:23):
I could see his face turning red. With every minute.
His face got redder and redder. Five minutes in, I'm
watching his bald head and there are veins popping through
his goatee, on his chin, all the way from his forehead.
And I started backing a way because I didn't know
what was going to happen next. But I didn't expect.
(05:44):
Now I'm about to yell what he yelled. So you
don't like yelling, just cover your ears and I'll be
done with this in five seconds. But I'll never forget it.
He stands in the middle of the restaurant, in front
of the hostess stand where nobody had helped us. Five
minutes had passed and it feels like five hours, and
he yells at the top of his lungs, does anybody
care that we're here, which, of course helped nothing except
(06:13):
that probably in his mashed potatoes there was some extra
spit that he didn't know about by the time we
were seated and eating. But I never forgot him yelling
that and I was telling Austin that story because it's legendary. Now,
when we're waiting at a restaurant, we'll just joke to
each other in our family. Does anybody but I don't
(06:35):
yell at out loud. I wouldn't do that. But I
remember him after expecting to be seated, and apparently this
was even before COVID and the shortage of staffing that
swept all of the restaurants in the nation. I mean,
this was prime time. He expected a seat, but he
was met with the disappointment, and so he yells at
(06:59):
the top of his lungs. I won't again. I'm gonna
save my voice for something more meaningful in about ten minutes.
But he yells at the top of his lungs. Does
anybody care that we're here? Of course, we're all embarrassed,
you know. For the rest of the meal, I'm pulling
the hostess to the side. When she comes, I'm like,
I'm so sorry, hand her a twenty dollars bill, just
trying to pay down the damage to my reputation because
(07:21):
I don't want to be seen with this guy. And
it wasn't even my city. Does anybody care? And I
could watch it building in him. It's like there's a seat.
I'm hungry. I'm hungry, there's a seat, and it's just building.
And finally he blew up. Does anybody care that we're here?
(07:42):
So here's the formula, and you might want to write
this down. I shared that to share a recipe with you.
Your expectations plus others limitations minus grace is a recipe
for resentment. You're only talking to me today, but I
(08:05):
am preaching like I had a whole world tour under
my belt. Let me say it again. Your expectations like
I expected you to say amen when I said that
last thing, plus others limitations, which is you are not
awake yet, you only had half a cup of coffee.
Your expectations plus others limitations minus that part is important.
(08:31):
Grace is a recipe for resentment. Your expectations. What they
need to give you, how they need to appreciate you,
how they should assist you, what they should have taught you.
Your expectations minus others limitations. Maybe they didn't teach you
because nobody taught them. Maybe they didn't call and check
(08:54):
on you because they were battling with the flu too.
Your expectations limitations or plus other's limitations. Your expectations minus
others limitations equals Jesus because he's not limited and he
could do anything. In fact, let me point this out
to you. When Jesus and his disciples were going to Bethany,
(09:15):
that's the village they were traveling to. In Luke chapter ten,
nobody had to stand in the middle of the streets
of Bethany and scream does anybody care that we're here?
Peter didn't have to go out and yell. The Bible
says in Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight that when
they went through a village, it doesn't mention the village,
(09:36):
but it names the woman. Her name was Martha, and
she opened her home to him. Now bring out my screen,
would you, because I want to do a little teaching
today as I preach. Oh you like when I bring
out the screen. What's up with that? It's exciting? Okay, Well,
(09:58):
since you like the screen, let me show you something
on the screen today. Imagine this, Jesus and his disciples
are going out with the message of the Gospel, and
all of Luke chapter ten is Jesus setting expectations for
his disciples before they go out. To these villages, to
these towns. Right. He is preparing them for rejection that
(10:22):
he knows they will encounter, because he doesn't want them
to be unprepared for the fact that not everybody will
accept the message. And one of the ways that he
prepares them is he gives them each a partner. He
pairs them. He sends out seventy two people to go
ahead of him, and everywhere that Jesus went, there would
be a little advanced team that would go ahead of
(10:43):
him to let them know Jesus is coming. In fact,
touch your neighbor real quick and say Jesus is coming.
You didn't sound excited about that, Abby, get more excited.
If I told you Taylor Swift is coming, you would
jump up and stand on your chair. But tell somebody
Jesus is coming. And he sent them out, Yeah, like
(11:06):
that Jesus is coming. Does anybody care that Jesus is coming?
I know sometimes the worship leaders stand up here and
they're leading worship and they're like, come on, let's sing
it out. Come on, please sing it out. Anybody sing
it out? Does anybody care that the King is here?
It's like we care, we just don't know the song
(11:26):
gets new. Okay, we care. I'm promise we care. It's
just too high. You can't sing that high. And there's
a feeling that you can get that. Nobody cares. My
expectations minus others limitations, or plus I keep screwing it
up plus other's limitations minus grace is a recipe for resentment.
(11:49):
So Jesus, being all knowing and all wise and sovereign
and so good at his job of running the universe,
knows that as he sends his disciples out, he has
to send them in pairs two by two. And he says,
when you go into the village, don't be surprised that
some people welcome you and some people don't. If they
welcome you, stay there. Whatever they put before you, eat it.
This is all in Luke chapter ten. Whatever they give
(12:11):
you to eat, eat it. But if they don't welcome you,
wipe your feet and walk. I don't know who this
word is for, but I just felt God on that
one thing right there. Tell your neighbor wipe it off
and walk. So if they didn't want to date you,
that's all right. If they thought you weren't the one
(12:33):
for them, you weren't the one for them. Because if
you were the one for them, God would have illuminated
that fact. Then you would be with them right now, hellolujah,
tell your neighbor, wipe it off and walk. Got somewhere
to go. I've got something to carry. I'm called by
someone greater than you. I can't stay stuck just because
you decided to say no. I can't spend the rest
(12:56):
of my life trying to prove something to somebody who
can't promote me anyway. So if they didn't open the
door to you, walk on, walk on. That's the whole
word for somebody, gome be blessed, walk on, wipe your
feet and walk. So he's preparing them. Don't always expect
that everyone is going to accept you. In fact, if
(13:20):
everybody accepts you, that's probably the most dangerous thing of all. Okay,
So in preparing them for rejection, the Bible says in
Luke chapter ten, verse thirty eight, and now I'm at
my main passage. If I remember how to use this
in Luke chapter ten, and if you'll think I'm gonna
(13:43):
come up here and preach a message about Martha and
make her the villain of the story, you are sadly mistaken.
About me, because well, first of all, I read here
it says in the heading at the home of Martha
and Mary. Okay, and that's how it's heading, because Mary
(14:04):
lived there. But the Bible says as Jesus and his
disciples were on their way, he came to a village
where a woman singular named Martha opened her home to him.
All to talk about all that, I want to talk about,
how she was busy because somebody has to pay the bills.
(14:25):
I want to talk about all that. I want to
contradict every criticism that I've ever heard preached about this
wonderful woman, Martha, who gave a hospitable welcome to the
Savior of the world and said you can stay with me.
I want to take a moment before we praised Mary
for her untethered devotion and her unmitigated reverence for the Lord,
to just respect Martha because she opened her home to
(14:49):
him to him. So, if you looked at a list
of the bills that were paid in that home, they
all had Martha on them. If you looked at all
the mortgage statements that were paid on time, you would
see Martha paid the mortgage. Who say it again, Martha Martha.
(15:13):
Martha might not always have the best ability to prioritize
the focus of presents, but she paid the bills. Okay,
we're going to make a list real quick. This kind
of teaching and preaching is important so we don't make
presumptions about who are the heroes and the villains and
the examples and the cautionary tales in scripture. I'm going
(15:33):
to make a list real quick of everything, not everything,
but just a few things that make Martha amazing number one.
And I believe this applies to some of you in
the room too, And in just a moment, I'm going
to bring this so close to home that you will
feel it for your own situation. But for a moment,
let's talk about Martha. Martha should be praised because she
(15:55):
was number one resourceful when they came through saying Jesus
is coming to Bethany. Now, Bethany is not Jerusalem. It's
two miles from Jerusalem. Bethany was not special in the
context of the scripture until Jesus did one of his
greatest miracles there and blessed the disciples before his ascension there.
(16:18):
So he's stopping through a place that would seem to
be insignificant. Martha, hearing of it, says, if he wants
to hold a Bible study, he can meet at my house.
Let's golf clap for Martha because she was resourceful. Just
go ahead, and let's thank God for her resourcefulness. That
she realized that her resource comes from the source, and
(16:40):
she offered that to God. She was the original e
group leader. I bet she had good snacks too. You know,
she had good snacks and she had to because put
the verse back up there. In Luke chapter ten, verse
thirty eight, please, it says, as Jesus and his disciples
are on their way, he came to a village, a
woman named Martha opened her home to him. But check
(17:04):
this out. When you bring Jesus in your house, the
Bible says, as Jesus and his note back to the verse,
as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, so
the announcement comes through Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.
Anybody got a room for Jesus? An IFO I got
Airbnb for Jesus, Martha's like, I'll help sure. I've heard
(17:26):
great things about this miracle worker. He could come stay
with me. And by the way, he's bringing a few
people with him. And then you read over in Luke
chapter six, verse twelve through seventeen. Put that on the
screen for me, please. On one of these days, Jesus
went to mountainside to pray, spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and
chose twelve of them, who we also designated apostles. Here's
(17:48):
the list. Simon whom he named Peter, his brother, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James son of Alpheus, Simon who was called the zealot,
Judas son of James, and Judas is scaredriot who became
a traitor. Why did you read us all that? Because
I wanted you to see the full guest list that
Martha was responsible for when she said yes to Jesus.
(18:12):
Saying yes to Jesus is one thing. Saying yes to
everything that comes with Jesus is another. Because when Martha
said yes to host Jesus, she also had to host Judas.
One prophet said, every rose has its thorn, And I
(18:36):
want to praise Martha for a moment because she was
so resourceful that she heard the list of disciples and realized, Okay,
if I want to do this for Jesus, I'm going
to have to do it for all of them, which
is a big commitment. I mean talking about a recipe.
The bigger the group gets, the harder it is to
make a recipe that will stretch to feed the entire group.
(18:59):
The only I have to offer you as for ramen noodles.
But when I watch Holly Cook, I realized that as
the size of the guest listic spans, so does the
need for preparation. So when the Bible says all the
preparations that had to be made, you have to understand
Martha wasn't just feeding Jesus. She was feeding every hooligan
that he brought with him, every redneck fisherman that he
(19:22):
brought with them, every tax collector that he brought with him.
And I'm pointing this out to you for a reason.
She was resourceful. Another thing that we could say about
her is that she was responsible. All the responsible people
make some responsible noise, not too much, just a responsible
(19:43):
amount of noise, not too loud that you might scare
your neighbor or lose your voice, just a responsible amount
of noise. She was so responsible in the context of
this that she knew everything that had to be done
to host the one who came from heaven in her home.
So she's resourceful. Everybody say resourceful, Talk to me today.
(20:06):
She was resourceful. She was, and she was even respectful
because he got to give it to her. Right, She's
putting in all this work to feed all these people.
(20:26):
And remember when I read you at the beginning, her
sister is doing nothing to pitch in. So instead of
doing what she probably felt like doing, she walks up
to Jesus, and Jesus is teaching, okay with The Bible
says that Mary was sitting at Jesus's feet. They were
(20:46):
not having a casual chat that is a posture of discipleship.
She wasn't sitting at his feet so they could talk
about you know, so are you watching any shows lately?
He was teaching and she was listening. Give me verse
thirty nine, real quick. The Bible says she had a
sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening
(21:08):
to what he said. What was Mary doing listening? Verse
forty But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, See,
(21:28):
she's not disrespectful about it. She's calling him by his title,
not even by his name. She didn't even call him Jesus.
She said, Lord, not dude, not bro, not any of
this stuff that I hear y'all calling each other these days. Lord, Lord, Lord,
(21:51):
she's respectful. Don't you care that my sister has left
me to do the work by myself. Tell her to
help me. Now, let's make the list for Mary. Okay,
let's make a list for Mary. What can we say
about Mary? Okay? This is what I can say about Mary.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
She was.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Present, and that's about all she was. She wasn't cooking,
she wasn't cleaning, she wasn't lifting, she wasn't scrubbing, she
wasn't organizing. Come on, she wasn't enlisting others. She was there,
and that's all we can say about her. That's what
a scripture makes me mad, because she was just there,
(22:38):
and Jesus like, be like her. She's here, and Martha.
I imagine that Martha is thinking, Okay, she's here, But
so is Peter, so is James, so is John, so
is Bartholomew, so is Judas, and he looks kind of sketchy.
By the way, you might want to interview your diciple
(23:00):
candidates a little bit more next time before you come
to Bethany. I'm not even sure I'm putting up my
valuables in the house. That guy looks kind of kind
of That guy looks kind of Oh, I'm saying, and Jesus,
now watch this, Jesus says, she's here, she's present, she's present,
(23:20):
she's present, she's here. Yeah, but Jesus, are you hungry. Yeah,
we're hungry. We need to eat. But she's here. Yeah.
But Jesus, I don't need her here at your feet.
I need her in here helping me in this kitchen.
(23:40):
Unless you want to do one of those tricks like
you did that time with the fish in the loaves
and start multiplying some of these ritz crackers. Jesus. Now,
if you want to do that, go ahead and do it.
But if we are going to do this meal the
normal way, now, I don't feel like I'm getting this
across yet, So I want to get a little bit
deeper into this with you. There are ways in which
we can feel that the advice that we're given to
(24:04):
get closer to God is unrealistic. For real life, we
don't say that. We shout about things that people say
in church, where we say, you know, don't worry about tomorrow.
How far do you want me to take that? Because
if if you're, if you're, if you're gonna be depending
on me to pay for your retirement, then I need
(24:24):
you to worry about tomorrow a little bit, a little bit.
If you're gonna, if you're gonna put the burden on
me when there is no plan, I need you to
plan a little bit. And I see Martha in a
different light. I see her as resourceful, I see her
as responsible, I see her as respectful. And all I
can say for Mary is she may be some of
(24:46):
these things too, But all we really know about her
is she's here. And Jesus is like, that's good. That's
what I want. Now, let's play it out. Mary's sitting
at the feet of Jesus, singing, here I am to
her shit. Martha keeps walking through, and Mary keeps singing,
here I am too bad. Here I am to say
(25:09):
that you're my God. Here I am to worship. And
then Martha starts singing a song goes like this help
me with these dishous I worked hard on that line.
Y'all clap for that. My expectation, yeah, my expectation was
(25:30):
that you would laugh at that. And the Bible says something.
I don't know if you caught this scram It said
that Martha, while she was all of these things, resourceful, responsible, respectful,
she wasn't evil. The Bible says, but Martha was Verse ten,
what distracted. That's it? Not bad, distracted, not evil, distracted,
(25:58):
not demon possessed, distracted, not not what would you call
somebody who's scatterbrained all the time. Just distracted. She doesn't
have a lack of capacity, She's just distracted. And I
want to say that not all distraction is bad. Not
all distraction is bad. A few years ago we were
(26:21):
having inclement weather at the church, and this morning it
was raining hard coming to church, and for a moment
I got worried, Oh no, what if people don't come?
But I decided a few years ago never to worry
about the weather because it's above my pay grade. All
I can do is ask them, well, do you have
(26:42):
the umbrellas ready? And as I worried about the weather
for a moment, thinking would it limit people from coming,
I realized that the only thing I can focus on
in control today is this word that I'm preaching to you.
So if the enemy can get me worried about the
weather and take my eyes off the word, it will
weaken what I was sent here to do because of
my focus on something I can't control it. Now we're
(27:04):
getting there. The enemy is trying to weaken what you
were sent to do by getting you to focus on
something you can't control. Of all the things that Martha
could manage, the mortgage, of all the things that Martha
could manage, the menu. Of all the things that Martha
could manage, one of them was not Mary. There are
a few things you can't control in this world. One
(27:26):
is whether and the other is others. Martha was distracted.
She wasn't even distracted playing that game that my family
is all addicted to with the blocks on their phone.
She was distracted, baking, cleaning, preparing. She was distracted, but
(27:50):
she was multitasking, right. And this is the illustration I
want to give. Okay, I really think you're going to
remember this. This is the part of this I rememberhere.
I think when they say did you go to church Sunday? Yeah,
it's it good as all right what he preached you about.
Oh he did this one thing where this is what
you're gonna show him. And I pictured you preaching this
back to your spouse this week. Okay, So I'm gonna
(28:13):
give you something. I'm give something to use as ammunition
this week when the people in your life start acting
kind of Martha, all right, or or when you start
feeling it inside of yourself. Now, I asked Holly, I said,
where's something to church that you wouldn't mind being seen
on camera? Where in it? So here we go. Holly's
gonna be in my illustration. Come on, Holly, and Holly,
(28:37):
I know y'all love her, but she's got to play
the part of Martha for a moment, just for illustration purposes.
I don't have her play this part because I think
she resembles this character. In fact, I marvel at her
ability to balance things. But I was thinking about something
last night. You know, Abby had her birthday on Monday fourteen. Yeah,
(29:01):
happy birthday baby. But of course the party went on
all week, and we were planning a party on Saturday.
So stand up, okay, party on Saturday. Lots of guests,
very very cool, occasion. And then I watched Holly as
she was checking her calendar by a week or two,
and she remembered that Graham's wrestling banquet, state champion, two
(29:25):
times state champion, right here. His banquet is also on Saturday.
Party is at six, banquet is at six. Okay, stand
up Graham. So now I watched her just become completely
disappointed in herself because she realized, now I got a party,
(29:46):
a birthday, a banquet, and a highly emotionally needy husband
who needs extra emotional support before he preaches on Saturday.
And I'm telling you, I am such a baby before
I preach. I need her to do everything for me.
For the twelve hours before I preach, I can't think
about anything but the sermon. So I've got a birthday,
(30:07):
a banquet, and a baby. Now I want to illustrate this,
and I'm going to take my time with it. It's
alright if I take my time with it today, Okay,
I can't get that thing because I see some of you.
You're not bad, You're distracted, You're not wicked. You're distracted.
You keep going off on people. Does anybody care that way? Here?
(30:30):
Because you're distracted, You're mad because you're distracted. Your hunger
is distracting you from your true heart. The demands are
distracting you from the destiny. But here is the thing
about this distraction. We're doing this as a family today.
Apparently in the Greek the word for distraction is not
(30:50):
like the English word for distraction. In English, we say
distraction to mean something that comes up that we didn't
plan for. Right, Well, in the Greek it doesn't mean
something that you didn't plan for. Often in scripture, something
you didn't plan for is called a miracle. So a
lot of times you will see that someone who the
disciples saw as a distraction, like a blind man by
the roadside, was the reason that Jesus was on the journey,
(31:12):
because he said, bring him to me and let me
heal him. But Jesus, he's a distraction, No he's not.
He is the destination. Great. The word for distraction, and
the problem with distraction is not when you're doing more
than one thing at the same time. That is called adulthood.
That is called maturity. When you're juggling this and juggling that.
(31:32):
And I keep hearing people talk about you need to
be more present, you need to be present with your
family at the dinner table. Okay, let me tell what
that means to me. I eat with them. I do
not kill them. That's my definition of present. Yeah, but
do you put the phones up? Sometimes sometimes the phone
is the only thing that numbs the pain of their
arguing to get me through the dinner without indigestion. Y'all
(31:54):
are so fake in this church today, acting like y'all
all pray around the table and share strip her versus
over tacos, and then we have worship Wednesday for our family.
And here I am to all. So the process is this,
and I'm just gonna lead Holly around for a moment. Okay.
(32:16):
There are times in your life where, like Martha, you
will feel so busy and I don't know who is
in this season right now, where you will feel like, okay,
I'm doing good, I'm doing good, and then all of
a sudden, a different priority will come and you have
to change direction. Changing directions is not distraction. That's called pivoting.
(32:36):
Pivoting is an essential skill, so you don't get so
locked into what you thought was important that you miss
what was really important. So in order for her to
be the Holly that she needs to be the mom
that she needs to be, the pastor that she needs
to be, the leader that she needs to be, the
daughter that she needs to be, the friend that she
needs to be. That means that there are sometimes where
(32:56):
she is going to feel like she has multiple personalities
while she is trying to walk in multiple roles. That
is normal. That is not sinful. It is the skill
of pivoting. It is realizing that one moment you may
have to be yelling down the stairs did you brush
your teeth? The next moment you might have to pick
up the phone and use a little bit more of
that bedside manner with somebody who is struggling in the
(33:17):
hospital with cancer that goes to the church. This is
not sinful, This is skillful. It's her ability to discern
in this moment, Okay, I plan to do this today,
but that completely interrupted my day. I'm gonna have to
go a different direction this day. I'm gonna have to
get it done a different way today. I'm not gonna
be able to do it how I thought I was
gonna do it today. I'm gonna have to cook for
(33:39):
all of these disciples by myself today. And Peter won't
shut up. He keeps yelling. Martha wears the peanuts, Martha
wears the gummy worms. This guy is loud mouth. Does
anybody care that we're here? And so while she is
being led through her day, that is completely normal. The
Lord will lead you, and it'll lead you sometimes to
(33:59):
do something that you didn't plan to do. He'll lead
you to do something that wasn't on your list, and
you have to be a tentive in those moments. We
sang a song earlier, You gave Me one more Day.
That song was written while we were finishing writing another
song and one of the songwriters in the room started
to play something that I had not heard, and I said,
(34:19):
what is that? He said something that just came to me.
I said, no, we're going to write that right now.
We wrote the song off of something that he was
doing as a distraction while we were waiting to record.
If we did not pay attention to the moment that
we were in just to fulfill the agenda that we
had set, we would have missed the song that we
sang that is now blessing people and life is like that.
(34:41):
You got to be a tentive to God. See how
she's doing this she's fine. I am taking she doesn't
know where I'm taking her. And that's what it means
to walk in faith. It's like, I don't know what
I'm going to face today. I don't know who's gonna
need me today, Especially if you're responsible for others. Some
of you got your own company because you didn't want
anybody to tell you what to do. Now you got
(35:05):
Now you've got hundreds of terrorists employees, and their needs
become your agenda, and you have to move like this.
So before we just chopped Martha down, oh, she should
have sat at the feet of Jesus realized that there
were things that needed to happen, and everybody was calling
(35:26):
for her attention. Martha, Martha, Where do we keep the
Where do you keep the water for the washing of feet? Martha, Martha,
there's twelve of these guys. They've already used up all
of the water. Martha, Martha. What are we gonna do
with the bread? Is burned? The bread? I'm sorry, Martha, Martha, Martha,
this God Judas is looking at your jewelry. You want
me to put it in a different drawer, Martha, Martha.
So that's what's happening, right and it's just demand after
(35:47):
demand after demand. Because she is a good mom, and
she can be a good mom as long as she's
just mom. I have a birthday, she can plan that.
But what about when it's mom, Mom, Martha Martha, Because
(36:11):
now I got a birthday, and I got a banquet,
and I got a baby, and she can do this.
Let her go if Graham needs her. I've seen it
a million times. She's so good. Just gently, boy, don't
talk her too hard, just gently, just gently. She can
do that. Oh Mom, I need this. And I'm using
(36:33):
the illustration of mom, but you could feel this as
a young person. I'm using the illustration of a mom,
but you can definitely feel it as a dad. I'm
using the illustration as a mom, but you can definitely
feel it as you navigate all of the roles and
the frequencies that your life has to occupy in the
places you have to show up. I'm a student, I'm
an employee, I'm a boss, I'm an employee, I'm a pastor,
(36:55):
and I'm a dad. I get it. So she's mom.
This is fine, she's a mom. This is fine, Leo.
But the Greek word where it says martha was distracted
the Greek word for distracted, and I'm stolen because I'm
(37:18):
trying to remember how to say it. Ah, pariaspotos, pariaspotos.
Now that's the word. Here's what it means. It means
pulled apart. So watch this. Lego she can pivot or
(37:43):
lego abby she can pivot. Neither of those are bad.
That's life. You gotta dance with things. You know. You
gotta dance with life. You gotta make it look easy too.
You got a multitask and up and down nobody. That's
called dancing. This is reality. Stop praying that your life
(38:03):
would get simpler. You want your life to get simpler.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Die either die or dance is dance or die is
Pay this down, pay this off, hold this back is
dance or die.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Smile here, cry there, win here, lose there, take the
award there, take the hit.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
There's dance or die.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
You should have called the message dance or die. That
is reality. But when I have Martha Martha and a
birthday at six and a banquet at six, and both
are pulling me and I cannot give myself the grace
(38:53):
my expectations and other limitations minus grace, what is that
go that way. This go that way is a recipe
for resentment. This is for you. Have you been feeling
(39:16):
Have you been feeling like this? This is why Martha
feels like a martyr. It's like she's up on the cross. Man.
I guess I'll just be the only one to cook
around here. Jesus, since you came to die on the cross,
I guess I'll just die for you in this kitchen.
(39:36):
But Jesus didn't call Martha to be a martyr. He said, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha.
You can't be mom, mom, mom, Mom. You can't be
holly mom, Holly mom. You can't be all that at once.
Now comes the solution, he says, he it's not that
(40:00):
what you're doing is wrong. It's not that I don't
want to eat. It's not just be less busy. How
many dumb sermons have we heard about be less busy? Okay,
well tell that, Tell that to my professor, tell that
to my boss, and I realize that it is not
busyness that is the problem. The problem is division. So
(40:30):
you did the birthday, I did the banquet, and none
of them are going to end up in therapy over it. Oh,
I need to say that you'll sit down for a minute.
You'll sit down for a minute. I need to talk
about this. Who made this list of all the things
we think we have to do to be a good
parent today, I'm gonna come back here behind the safety
(40:50):
of my pulpit when I say this. Okay, this is
going to be controversial. I could literally say that the
Bible is not the word of God and get less
hate than what I'm about to get for what I'm
about to say right now. By the way, the Bible
is the word of God. Just in case I get
a clipped. Okay, now that being said, your kid does
not have to play on every team. I'm helping. Come
(41:13):
down off that cross, baby, I'm gonna help you from
feeling like this. Your kid does not have to be
in at chemistry in kindergarten. Yeah, but they need to
get it on their resume. What if they apply for
a college that doesn't accept that kind of class.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
They put them in a community.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
College, or make them an entrepreneur and tell them you
did it to teach them character, teach them to sell
jolly ranchers out their backpack. I don't care, but stop
putting all this pressure on stuff that robs your peace. Ah,
I'm gonna help you. Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. There's only
(41:50):
one Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha. That's what it sounds like.
That's why Jesus called her Martha Martha, because that's how
she felt in that moment. There's only one of me,
and I'm being old and Martha, you can work in
the kitchen or you can sit at my feet. But
(42:11):
being mad because Mary's at my feet while you're working
in the kitchen, that is going to kill your joy.
Feeling like you're a bad dad because you're not the
dad like the other kids had, that is going to
kill your potential as a parent. How many times have
I felt bad about myself as a dad because I
never taught my kids how to fish. They don't need
(42:34):
to learn how to fish. They got fish sticks at
the grocery store. Cut out the whole middle man of
the ocean or the lake, straight to the freezer. I'm serious,
whose list is this? Martha is not really stressed about
the situation. I'm gonna show you this. She comes to
(42:56):
Jesus right and I want to walk you back slowly
through this passage. Oh, I love teaching you the word
of God. This is what I live for right here.
In verse thirty nine, it says that Mary sat at
the Lord's feet. Can I get my scripture back? Yeah? Yeah,
she sat at the Lord's feet, and my style wars said. Yeah,
(43:17):
she got at the Lord's feet listening to what he said,
to what he said, But Martha was distracted by all
the preparations that had to be made according to who.
(43:39):
I don't think Jesus sent a writer in events with
the two that went. You know, Jesus only eats brown
eminem to make sure when he comes in his green room.
You know, Jesus not a rock star. He's the rock
of ages. He just told him eat whatever is sept
before you when I send you out. So Jesus is cool,
Jesus is just. You know, I was gonna say Jesus
is just, and I'm not gonna say I'll tell you later,
(44:00):
but Jesus just show up and eat whatever you put perform.
So so let me ask you a question. When she says, Lord,
don't you care that my sister has left me to
do the work by myself. Tell her to help me
with my work that I decided to do. Jesus Lord,
(44:20):
respectfully tell her to do what I decided needed to
be done to host you.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Let me try that again, Lord, here's my list. Here's
my list.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
I hear your teaching my sister Mary, and I know
you think she's attentive. She's really just kind of lazy
spacey Jesus, you know you get an attitude, right, Jesus, Lord, Lord,
Lord Lord, let me say right, tell her to help
me do this work on my list. I have a contrast, Nick,
(45:02):
She Mary is listening, ye, Martha is listing. One is
listening to what he says. One is listing what they
have to do what they think ought to be done. So, Lord,
(45:22):
I know you're teaching these amazing teachings about the Good
Samaritan and all this, but let me put one on
the list, because I know you're teaching my sister right now,
and she's listening to you, and that is wonderful. And
we're so glad to have you in our home, and
it's so amazing to have you in Bethany. We really
do care that you're here. We care that you're here.
But does anybody care that I'm stressed? I imagine as minutes
(45:46):
turned to hours, and Jesus kept teaching you know, the
parable of the prodigal son. Maybe Martha comes and says,
I appreciate your teaching, but would you mind teaching the
parable of the lazy sister who needs to get in
this kitchen and help me fulfill my agenda for you, Jesus.
(46:08):
One is listening to Jesus' agenda for her. The other
is giving Jesus her agenda for him. Which is your
prayer life? Is your prayer life giving Jesus an agenda?
Or is your prayer life listening to his? Which is
(46:36):
your discipleship journey? At this stage? Whose list is this? Well,
we got to fluff the pillows, Jesus is like, I
don't need fluffy pillows. Son, a man has nowhere to
lay us head. I'll sit right here on the floor.
I don't need the fluffy pillows. Jesus, we know you
got a special diet. I don't have a special diet.
Just make sure it follows the Jewish customary law. So
the Pharisees don't get mad and shut down the meeting. Oh,
(46:57):
whatever you put in front of me. So whose list
is this? For those of you that struggle with perfectionism?
Whose list is that? That makes you feel like you
could never measure up. Of course you could never measure up.
That's why he came down. He fulfilled the righteous requirements
(47:18):
of the law. He did the list. He was sinless,
he was spotless, He did not retaliate. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He was the spotless lamb of God. He was blameless.
He was the perfect one. So you don't have to
be so when condemnation starts in your brain telling you, well,
(47:39):
you're this, you're that, and you're not, and you can't
and you won't. Who's ask the question all week long?
Whose list is this? Ask your neighbor? Whose list is this?
Got me feeling all stressed out? Like I gotta do
a thousand things to be right with God? I only
got to do one thing to be right with God.
If I call on the name of Jesus, I will
(48:01):
be saved. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved. If I confess my sins, He is
faithful and just and will forgive me of my sins
and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. So for all the
Pharisees and Sadducees who are sad, you see because you
keep expecting others to follow your list, and you have
no grace for your expectations, and others' limitations make you
(48:24):
angry because they are not living up to your list.
To be a good Christian. Christian isn't named after you.
There is one name, we follow, one standard, we raise,
one banner that we bought on whose list is this?
I want you to look at your to do list
(48:45):
for this week before you start it and ask the question,
is this your list? Lord? Is there stuff on this
list that I'm doing just to look good and impress
others that you never called me to do?
Speaker 3 (49:00):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (49:00):
I'm preaching now, because sometimes we label it responsible, But
sometimes what we do in an effort to appear responsible
is really out of the comparisons that we've made with
people that we don't really know whose list is this.
I sat time to eat with somebody the other day
and they said you ought not eat that. I said,
what's wrong with it? And they told me some story
(49:22):
about what chemicals were on the food and the chemicals now,
and I'm like, well, hold on, I'm confused. You went
to the grocery store and bought it? No, you cooked it? No? Hmm,
sounds like if you didn't purchase it and you didn't
(49:45):
prepare it, then you don't get to make the list.
And I like chemicals. I think, let me go on record,
go ahead, just throw something at me, throw it, Throw
an organic avocado at me. As I say this, I
like the chemicals. I dig down the less us used
(50:13):
to just be don't snort cocaine. Now I can't snort cocaine.
I can't eat chemicals. And it was a vegetable I
was eating. It's a vegetable. Where did vegetables become villains?
Who's list is this? Well, you know you're really on
(50:38):
a homeschool in your kids, because if you homeschool your kids,
then they're gonna get you know, they're gonna get a
more better relationship. So homeschool your kids, Well, you have
to socialize your kids in a great environment as well.
And if you homeschool they are kids, you'll be socially
awkward and so no, no, but if you put them
in a social environment, they'll be tempted. But if you
don't put them in a social environment, they'll face great,
(51:00):
greater temptations in later days and they'll end up paying
on the back end. For the decisions you shielded them from.
Look at you, Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha, making your list
of what makes a good mom off of other people's opinions.
It's their opinion. You might need to homeschool one and
(51:21):
boarding school the other. Keep one close, ship one off.
Who knows. But you said only one thing you gotta do,
stay close to me. Only one thing is necessary because
(51:41):
I will never pull you apart. If you are being
pulled apart by the demands of your life, let me
tell you something about the list that you're living by.
It's not his. It's not his list. That might have
(52:01):
been your mom's list. She might have demanded more from
you than you were able to give, but that's not
his list. Others might have expected things out of you
that you weren't able to fulfill. God never will if
he if he wills you to do it, he will
walk with you through it. Whose list is this, Jesus,
(52:26):
I need help with this list. Now. I'm going to
show you how far Martha comes in the scripture, and
y'all can sit down, and I want you to come up,
because Martha in this passage, she's in a tough spot.
She's in a really tough spot, and in a way
we don't get much closure in the passage itself because
(52:49):
it kind of just ends with Jesus saying, Hey, I
know you're resourceful, I know you're responsible, I know you're respectful.
But Mary is present and isn't present. She's pulled. So
since she's pulled, she begins to resent. It's a recipe
(53:16):
for resentment. Trying to please everybody, trying to be everything,
trying to achieve everything, trying to achieve eight pack abs
while also going back to school. All of that amalgamation
of what you think it needs means to achieve that
comes from culture, that comes from comparison, that comes from condemnation.
It does not come from Christ. It is a recipe
(53:37):
for resentment and for you to just keep adding to
your life what you think you need to be for
God to love you more, what you think you need
to do for somebody else to love you more, what
you think you need to achieve in order to be
worthy of the life that God gave you by his grace.
Remember your expectation, even of yourself plus other's limitations, even
if it's your own minus grace is a four recentment
(54:04):
and now Martha's screaming in the kitchen. Does anybody care
that I'm tired? Does anybody care? Then I'm doing this
for them? Does anybody care? Jesus? Is what she said?
Don't you care? Don't you care that I'm doing all
the work by myself? And she said, I care, but
not about your work. I care about your worry. And
(54:30):
you want me to help you with your work. But
I want to help you with your worry. So I
want to take your list and I want to walk
with you through it, and I want to show you
in this season of your life. I'm not talking to
Martha Marth anymore. I'm talking to you you God wants
to show you in this season of your life where
you are being paralyzed because you are being pulled. That's
(54:51):
a picture of worry, isn't it? Being pulled on both
sides and going nowhere? Being pulled and spent and tired
by making no progress. Don't you care? Lord? He says,
I care. I care so much that I want you
to be present with me so that you do not
resent the demands of your life that you are trying
(55:14):
to fulfill without me. This is the same thing that
Martha asked Jesus when her brother Lazarus got sick. Does
anybody know this story? Wave at me? If you know
the story of a man called Lazarus, Did you know
that his big sister was Martha? Did you know that
(55:35):
his village was called Bethany? How must it have felt
for Martha not only to cook for Jesus and his disciples,
but to care for a sick brother. Usually men would
pay for the bills, but Lazarus couldn't. There's no mention
of a husband. Martha is doing it by herself. And
that's why it hit a nerve when she said, don't
(55:56):
you care that she's left me to do it by myself?
And it can feel like that, and it has felt
like that for some of us. Do you really expect
me to be here and there? I can only be
one place at one time. That's right, that's right. And
when Lazarus got sick, Martha sent word to Jesus saying,
the one that you love is sick. This is in
(56:17):
John chapter eleven. You can read it when you get home.
She said, the one that you love is sick. But
when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where
he was and Lazarus died, and on the fourth day
after the body was thought to have been void of
the spirit, which evacuated according to their custom. On the
third day, Jesus shows up. He shows up late, and
(56:42):
Martha meets him at the gate. And I want to
show you how far he's come, because I asked the Lord,
where do I land this message to help those who
feel like this today, who feel like this, no place
to sit, no one to help, nothing to think. And
I realized that although in the passage it only ends
with Martha being corrected in John chapter eleven, give me
(57:05):
the scripture on the screen, please, She calls him Lord.
Remember her brother has died, but he's still Lord. Remember
he disappointed her expectation, but he's still Lord. Remember he
didn't do what she asked him to do, but he's
still Lord. And I'm about to show you one of
(57:26):
the most major transformations in scripture. Here is this woman, Martha, Martha,
who was so distracted and divided that she was coming
apart at the scenes. Does anybody care that I'm slaving?
Does anybody care that I'm working? Does anybody care that
I'm serving? Lord? Martha said to Jesus, if you had
been here, my brother would not have died. But I
(57:49):
know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
You missed it. There's been a switch. Tell somebody, there's
been a switch. When we saw Martha in Luke chapter ten,
(58:10):
she was working off her list. But look what she
says in John chapter eleven, verse twenty two. But I
know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.
So she has learned the life lesson. It is his list,
not my list, that matters in this season of my life.
(58:34):
And I want to speak to everybody who has been
living off of your list.
Speaker 5 (58:38):
You have been listing your liabilities, listing your limitations, listing
your reasons to feel bad, listing your reasons to feel shameful,
listing the adversaries that are against you, listing the disadvantage
of your season.
Speaker 1 (58:52):
Shift your attention to his list. And when she did that,
I'm ready to preach. When she did that, when she
said God will give you whatever you ask, get ready
to shout over verse twenty three, Jesus said to her,
your brother will rise again. So let me preach the
whole sermon my expectation plus others. Limitation is a recipe
(59:20):
for resentment. But watch this. My faith plus God's presence
is a recipe for resurrection. The moment you get focused,
whoop on his list? Catch what I'm saying. The moment
(59:42):
you begin to believe that he is who he says
he is. He can do what he says he can do.
Speaker 6 (59:48):
He is God all by himself, doesn't need any help,
doesn't need an assistant, doesn't need an agenda, doesn't need
a calendar, doesn't need a schedule, doesn't need a committee
to bless.
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
This is his list and a letter to the tomb.
Step by step, and Lazarus came forth, and everything that
would try to pull Martha away, No, no, no, you
(01:00:20):
can't get distracted. Now you've got to stay close to him.
One thing is necessary. One thing is necessary. Jesus said,
I'm gonna put your list down to one item. Do
what I say. If I don't tell you to do it,
I don't care what pressure culture puts on you to
do it. Do what I say. Be who I called
(01:00:40):
you to be. Let me do my job in your life,
and you will see when you get to the tomb,
and the word says, Lazarus come forth, if you will
stay close to me, I will show you something that
you did not even know to play inform. Yeah, you
(01:01:01):
stay right there because God brought you to this moment.
It's a Martha Martha moment. It's decided. But instead of
feeling bad about what you didn't get or being distracted
by a phone that rings in the middle of your clothes,
you are going to stay focused on what God has
(01:01:25):
put in front of you for this season. He did
this so you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation
Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you. H
Host
Steven Furtick
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