"Making Time For God"
Luke 10:38-42 July 18, 2010
I looked over and saw Wally just sitting there. He was sitting on a chair in front of Dixie Donuts
watching the world go by. As people walked by he greeted them and went on with simply enjoying
the day.
I thought to myself, “It must be nice to have so much free time on your hands that you don’t
have anything better to do than sit there and watch the day go by.”
Then it hit me that this was exactly what I was preaching about this week. Maybe Wally had it
right and I had it wrong. You see, in our text Martha looks at Mary and says the same thing I did.
She knows what has to be done, and she sees her sister sitting there enjoying the day, and she
makes a judgment. She says, “It must be nice not to have anything better to do.”
The truth is that this story is more appropriate today than it is has ever been. We are a people
addicted to hurry.
We want to do more and more things in less and less time. Some of us carry around planners
three or four inches think. We say things like. “OK kids, let’s see who can take a bath fastest!” We
buy time saving gadgets and don’t have the time to read the instructions to figure out how to use
them. We do the multi-tasking thing, especially in the car. We drive, eat, drink coffee, listen to the
radio, shave or apply make-up, talk on the cell phone – all at the same time!
At a stop light, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, we will find ourselves guessing –
based on the year, make, and model of each car – which one will pull away the fastest.
At a grocery store, if we have a choice between two checkout lines, we find ourselves counting
how many people are in each line, multiplying this number by the number of items per cart. After
you get in line, we keep track of the other person who would have been you in the other line. If you
get through and the person who would have been you is still waiting, you feel like you’ve won! But
if the person who would have been you is walking out of the store and you’re still in line, we feel
depressed.
A Harvard economist says that the average American will work the equivalent of one month longer
this year than twenty years ago. It’s called hyperliving.
We try to squeeze every minute out of the day and judge others by this impossible standard. The
truth is that God created us to have balance in our lives. That’s why we need to stop and eat, sleep
and rest. That’s why he created a Sabbath so that we could pause and reflect on God and the world
around us.
God never piles on more than we can handle. God never overbooks us. God never drives us to the
point of breakdown. God never burns us out. We do that to ourselves. In this week’s newspaper
column I reminded everyone that in order to have the power we need to live, we need to be
connected to the source, God.
That’s the point of our message today. You’ve read this story time and again. Mary and Martha
are both pleased to have Jesus visit. Martha plays the good host and spends every minute serving
Jesus. She cleans the house, prepares the meal. She sees that everything is in order for their special
guest.
In her busyness she happens to look in and see Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. She’s listening, talking,
relaxing. With so much to do, feeling pressed by the responsibility, she gets angry and a little
jealous and she says something.
Now to those of us who tend to be workaholics, this is not one of those “atta boy” passages. You
know the ones. The ones that make you sit up and feel the pat on the back. “That a boy. That a
girl.” Instead Jesus points out that Martha may be too busy for her own good.
Now I want to make sure you understand this. Jesus is not scolding Martha for her efforts. He is
simply saying that each has a job to do. Service and sitting are part of a healthy cycle. The old
preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that “there is a season for every matter under heaven. There is
a time to be born, a time to die and so forth…
Jesus reiterates this and tells Martha that when she begins to feel overwhelmed by her duties, she
needs to follow Mary’s example and stop and sit at his feet for a while.
The truth is that sometimes we get so overwhelmed with life that we begin to feel that God doesn’
t care about us. We are so busy running around pleasing others that we feel as if the world is taking
advantage of us. This often leads to anger and resentment. We start comparing ourselves to others
and we work ourselves into a tizzy. It is especially at these moments that we need to put down our
apron and sit at the feet of our Lord.
The truth is that we don’t know what was going on in Mary’s life before this scene. A lot of
people speculate and try to fill in the blanks from what little we do know. But that is not the point.
We do know this: When Jesus came into their home, Mary was compelled to sit with him. She may
have been just as busy as Martha and decided to put it off for a bit. But our passage tells us in no
uncertain terms that she was not wasting time.
The truth is that when we make time for Jesus it has at least a two-fold purpose. First it serves to
renew and restore our souls. Bill Hybils, pastor at Willow Creek Church in suburban Chicago,
wrote a little book titled, Too Busy Not To Pray. What he says in that book is that it is especially
crucial for those of us who have busy lives to make time for prayer. Too often we skip prayer so
that we can get on to the important stuff. Hybils says that if we really want to be effective in all we
do, we need to begin our day at the feet of our Lord.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book about the Psalms, notes that making prayer a daily priority is the
most important “habit” that we can incorporate into our lives. He points out some valid reasons for
practicing this discipline in the morning hours.
“Morning prayer determines the day. Squandered time of which we are ashamed, temptations to
which we succumb, weaknesses and lack of courage in work, disorganization and lack of discipline
in our thoughts and in our conversation with others, all have their origin most often in the neglect of
morning prayer. Order and distribution of our time become more firm when they originate in
prayer. Temptations that accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the
morning breakthrough to God. Decisions demanded by work become easier and simpler where they
are made not in the fear of others but only in the sight of God.”
Think about it. A concert violinist does not tune his violin AFTER the concert! Having time with
the Lord BEFORE the day begins is the best way to tune our hearts for the day ahead.” Every day
things will come our way that will distract us from Jesus. We must learn to deal decisively with all
the distractions if really want to serve God. The people that bother us, the things that make us
worry, our own pity-parties, our disappointments with God – these things have to go! The best
way to do that is to spend time at the feet of our Lord.
The second truth is this. Making time for Jesus declares his worthiness and is an act of worship.
We live in a world where worth is determined by productivity. We sometimes think that God would
rather have us working really hard instead of just sitting around in church.
The truth is the missional church movement, of which we are a part, suggests that young people
are more quickly drawn to a community of faith that is active and changing the world rather than a
community that sits and prays together. But… worship, authentic and meaningful is at the core of
the movement.
What does it mean? The church of Jesus Christ that is going to be effective and lasting is one that
is engaged in living out the call of Christ in both worship and deed. Worship is important. It gives
meaning to our action. In authentic worship, as we sit at the feet of Jesus, we come to know him
and his purposes and it feeds our desire to serve. It might just be the most productive time of our
day.
God tells us in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Our first priority is to know God.
The word used for “know” in the Bible means, “to know intimately,” as in a love relationship.
When we take the time to be with God, we declare to the world that he is the Lord of our lives. We
need to see worship as work. It is time spent with the master. It is time spent preparing our hearts
and minds for work. It is time spent shaping our will to the will God.
That is what Mary was doing. At that moment she was worshipping the Lord, getting ready for
the duties that were ahead of her.
So make time for God. Worship him every day. Start your day at his feet in prayer. Invite him to
walk with you. You will be surprised at how much more you will get done and how much better
you will feel. Make time for God today.
Luke 10:38-42 July 18, 2010
I looked over and saw Wally just sitting there. He was sitting on a chair in front of Dixie Donuts
watching the world go by. As people walked by he greeted them and went on with simply enjoying
the day.
I thought to myself, “It must be nice to have so much free time on your hands that you don’t
have anything better to do than sit there and watch the day go by.”
Then it hit me that this was exactly what I was preaching about this week. Maybe Wally had it
right and I had it wrong. You see, in our text Martha looks at Mary and says the same thing I did.
She knows what has to be done, and she sees her sister sitting there enjoying the day, and she
makes a judgment. She says, “It must be nice not to have anything better to do.”
The truth is that this story is more appropriate today than it is has ever been. We are a people
addicted to hurry.
We want to do more and more things in less and less time. Some of us carry around planners
three or four inches think. We say things like. “OK kids, let’s see who can take a bath fastest!” We
buy time saving gadgets and don’t have the time to read the instructions to figure out how to use
them. We do the multi-tasking thing, especially in the car. We drive, eat, drink coffee, listen to the
radio, shave or apply make-up, talk on the cell phone – all at the same time!
At a stop light, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, we will find ourselves guessing –
based on the year, make, and model of each car – which one will pull away the fastest.
At a grocery store, if we have a choice between two checkout lines, we find ourselves counting
how many people are in each line, multiplying this number by the number of items per cart. After
you get in line, we keep track of the other person who would have been you in the other line. If you
get through and the person who would have been you is still waiting, you feel like you’ve won! But
if the person who would have been you is walking out of the store and you’re still in line, we feel
depressed.
A Harvard economist says that the average American will work the equivalent of one month longer
this year than twenty years ago. It’s called hyperliving.
We try to squeeze every minute out of the day and judge others by this impossible standard. The
truth is that God created us to have balance in our lives. That’s why we need to stop and eat, sleep
and rest. That’s why he created a Sabbath so that we could pause and reflect on God and the world
around us.
God never piles on more than we can handle. God never overbooks us. God never drives us to the
point of breakdown. God never burns us out. We do that to ourselves. In this week’s newspaper
column I reminded everyone that in order to have the power we need to live, we need to be
connected to the source, God.
That’s the point of our message today. You’ve read this story time and again. Mary and Martha
are both pleased to have Jesus visit. Martha plays the good host and spends every minute serving
Jesus. She cleans the house, prepares the meal. She sees that everything is in order for their special
guest.
In her busyness she happens to look in and see Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. She’s listening, talking,
relaxing. With so much to do, feeling pressed by the responsibility, she gets angry and a little
jealous and she says something.
Now to those of us who tend to be workaholics, this is not one of those “atta boy” passages. You
know the ones. The ones that make you sit up and feel the pat on the back. “That a boy. That a
girl.” Instead Jesus points out that Martha may be too busy for her own good.
Now I want to make sure you understand this. Jesus is not scolding Martha for her efforts. He is
simply saying that each has a job to do. Service and sitting are part of a healthy cycle. The old
preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that “there is a season for every matter under heaven. There is
a time to be born, a time to die and so forth…
Jesus reiterates this and tells Martha that when she begins to feel overwhelmed by her duties, she
needs to follow Mary’s example and stop and sit at his feet for a while.
The truth is that sometimes we get so overwhelmed with life that we begin to feel that God doesn’
t care about us. We are so busy running around pleasing others that we feel as if the world is taking
advantage of us. This often leads to anger and resentment. We start comparing ourselves to others
and we work ourselves into a tizzy. It is especially at these moments that we need to put down our
apron and sit at the feet of our Lord.
The truth is that we don’t know what was going on in Mary’s life before this scene. A lot of
people speculate and try to fill in the blanks from what little we do know. But that is not the point.
We do know this: When Jesus came into their home, Mary was compelled to sit with him. She may
have been just as busy as Martha and decided to put it off for a bit. But our passage tells us in no
uncertain terms that she was not wasting time.
The truth is that when we make time for Jesus it has at least a two-fold purpose. First it serves to
renew and restore our souls. Bill Hybils, pastor at Willow Creek Church in suburban Chicago,
wrote a little book titled, Too Busy Not To Pray. What he says in that book is that it is especially
crucial for those of us who have busy lives to make time for prayer. Too often we skip prayer so
that we can get on to the important stuff. Hybils says that if we really want to be effective in all we
do, we need to begin our day at the feet of our Lord.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book about the Psalms, notes that making prayer a daily priority is the
most important “habit” that we can incorporate into our lives. He points out some valid reasons for
practicing this discipline in the morning hours.
“Morning prayer determines the day. Squandered time of which we are ashamed, temptations to
which we succumb, weaknesses and lack of courage in work, disorganization and lack of discipline
in our thoughts and in our conversation with others, all have their origin most often in the neglect of
morning prayer. Order and distribution of our time become more firm when they originate in
prayer. Temptations that accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the
morning breakthrough to God. Decisions demanded by work become easier and simpler where they
are made not in the fear of others but only in the sight of God.”
Think about it. A concert violinist does not tune his violin AFTER the concert! Having time with
the Lord BEFORE the day begins is the best way to tune our hearts for the day ahead.” Every day
things will come our way that will distract us from Jesus. We must learn to deal decisively with all
the distractions if really want to serve God. The people that bother us, the things that make us
worry, our own pity-parties, our disappointments with God – these things have to go! The best
way to do that is to spend time at the feet of our Lord.
The second truth is this. Making time for Jesus declares his worthiness and is an act of worship.
We live in a world where worth is determined by productivity. We sometimes think that God would
rather have us working really hard instead of just sitting around in church.
The truth is the missional church movement, of which we are a part, suggests that young people
are more quickly drawn to a community of faith that is active and changing the world rather than a
community that sits and prays together. But… worship, authentic and meaningful is at the core of
the movement.
What does it mean? The church of Jesus Christ that is going to be effective and lasting is one that
is engaged in living out the call of Christ in both worship and deed. Worship is important. It gives
meaning to our action. In authentic worship, as we sit at the feet of Jesus, we come to know him
and his purposes and it feeds our desire to serve. It might just be the most productive time of our
day.
God tells us in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Our first priority is to know God.
The word used for “know” in the Bible means, “to know intimately,” as in a love relationship.
When we take the time to be with God, we declare to the world that he is the Lord of our lives. We
need to see worship as work. It is time spent with the master. It is time spent preparing our hearts
and minds for work. It is time spent shaping our will to the will God.
That is what Mary was doing. At that moment she was worshipping the Lord, getting ready for
the duties that were ahead of her.
So make time for God. Worship him every day. Start your day at his feet in prayer. Invite him to
walk with you. You will be surprised at how much more you will get done and how much better
you will feel. Make time for God today.
Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
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