Mary and Martha

WE DO NOT HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN INTIMACY AND MINISTRY

I want to say it is not mostly between seeking God and serving people. We can have plenty of time for both of those two. We do not really have to choose so much between them. Even though I have watched people over the years, they get really consumed with their ministry. I say, “If you do not get the first commandment in first place, you think you are saving the world by saying, ‘What about the poor, the children, the families, and what about all the areas of the lost?’” You will not even have this desire in you in ten years. In ten and fifteen years of bruising, it will just be a memory—this passion you have to serve other people. You have to have first things first, or our hearts break.

Our relationship with Jesus is one of active intimacy. It is a present tense reality. We have to cultivate a responsive heart. I have said that over and over throughout the years. We have to cultivate a heart that has the ability to respond to Jesus in the present tense. That heart and our ability to respond goes away if we do not take care of it.

We have many options. We even have option fatigue; we have so many options. We have so many options available to us in our careers, our ministries, hobbies, and entertainment. The options in themselves are not necessarily bad, but the options overcome people. We do this even in our pursuit for relevance in ministry. I have watched this over the years, it happens real regularly. They change directions every two or three years. First, this is their main direction, usually it does not even go two or three years; it just goes a year or two. Really, this is the number one cause of the kingdom.

People move from fad to fad, and they attend any conference that is energetic. A whole bunch of people get excited that this is their new mandate. That is not the worst thing in the world; there is a better way to do it. They do not have longevity; so after ten years, they have gone to five or six main causes, and now they are burned out. They have a season of rest, recuperation, sabbatical of sort, and what happens is that season normally turns out to be about ten, or twenty years, or longer. Their spirits are bruised. There is a reliable testimony in the Scripture, in the Word. We do not have to go with every fad that comes across in the Body of Christ—even every good cause. We have a reliable testimony of what God esteems.

The Word of the Lord is sure and reliable. The Word of God tells us clearly what is first. It is reliable; it is sure. We do not have to go through ministry anxiety attacks because a whole bunch of people on the other side of town are excited about a new way to do ministry. We do not have to go jump on a new train, and go change our life direction because we have insecurity and anxiety attacks about our ministry being relevant.

I can give you a reliable direction. Make the first commandment first; go after wholehearted devotion in the present tense. I tell you, the ministry focuses will come and go over the years. Make this the number one thing: The Word of God is sure in giving us this direction. The Word of God makes us wise. We do not have to guess in the dark about what God is excited about. It is considered weak and foolish by many people. Even in the Church today, it is considered weak and foolish.

A lot of the people who I have known over the years are not pressing into the Lord with the same fervor after fifteen years. They are not actively serving the Lord. One of the reasons for this is that they put service ahead of their devotion to God. They kept their service for three to five years, but in the process of serving hard, some as much as ten years, they got disappointed, they got bruised, and they got wounded. A decade goes by, you look back, and they are not serving anymore.

Looking at the pattern of people’s lives, and if they do not keep the first commandment of loving God with all of their heart in number one place in their lives, its rare that they will be doing the second commandment of loving people with the Lord’s heart in ministry or serving over decades. They will draw back with a jaded view of the kingdom of God, though they will still be born again and still in the kingdom. They will rarely ever be doing anything that is an act of service in ministry. Rather, they will be remembering the days saying, “Yeah. I have been there and done that; I am just not in that season now. I have heard so many stories like that, where they are in this kind of season of sabbatical, and it goes on for decade after decade. It is called burn out.”

What happens is that their ministry agenda becomes so dear to them where they would have died for it in that hour. Ministry becomes so dear to them that they put it ahead of their relationship with the Lord. For three, four or five years, it seemed to be working, but the disappointments settle in. The weeds begin to grow in the garden. They have frustrations of things not working well. The have wounding from relationships bumping into each other. It creates a jaded and a bruised heart ten, twenty, and thirty years later. They are not serving any more. Their argument for their service is now invalidated. Their argument back then was, “I have got to serve! What about serving?”

I want to hold the line where my heart in God and my private life in the Word must be first. It is my top priority to cultivate this. It did not take ten hours a day to do it; it takes some time though. I must attend to this first. If I attend to this first, I will stay in the race of serving for decades. I will not need a five-year, or ten-year sabbatical, which is a dressed up word for “burn out.” I will not need it because something alive will be happening on the inside. Most people do not have to choose between the time it takes to keep our relationship with God alive and fresh with serving people. What we need to choose between is our free time and the mismanagement of our time. It is really wasted time; it is not really the service time.

BECOMING A PERSON OF EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION

The question is: how do we become a person of extravagant devotion? We have to change the question. We have to ask the right question is a better way to say it. Here is the question that we want to ask the Lord: “Lord, what will give me the ability, the power to love You with extravagant devotion? What level will You enable me to give myself to You? How far will you let me go?”

Misty Edwards’ oft quoted song “How abandoned will you let me be?” That is the question of the hour. Many people ask the other question, which is the opposite extreme. People ask, “What is the minimal requirement, or the least I can do to stay in the kingdom? What is the least amount of spiritual vitality that I have to exert myself to cultivate? What is the least amount to keep a little bit of a lively ministry? I want to do less, but I do not want to mess up my ministry, and I do not want to lose my citizenship in the kingdom. Lord, tell me what I have to do, and I will do it. I do not want to know what I have the ability to do in the grace of God; rather, I only want to know what I have to do to stay on the team, and stay in the kingdom.” This is entirely the wrong way of thinking. We need to be asking the Lord not what is the bare minimum but, “Lord, what will you anoint me with? What will you give me the ability to do as a lifestyle?”

THE EXTRAVAGANT DEVOTION OF MARY OF BETHANY

The extravagant devotion of Mary of Bethany: this is one of the common testimonies of Scripture that formed IHOP–KC. It was the call to the lifestyle of Mary of Bethany; everybody is called to the Mary of Bethany call in life. Maybe not in the same application, but we all are called to this. Not that everybody is called to do IHOP–KC twenty-four hours a day; I mean to do this full-time. This spirit that is on Mary of Bethany is available to every single believer who wants it. Regardless what our other assignments in the marketplace, or in our families are, we can cultivate this spirit.

Let us read this passage about Martha welcoming Jesus into her home. She had a sister named Mary. Mary sat Jesus’ feet, and Mary heard his word. Luke 10:40: “But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

MARTHA WAS DISTRACTED OR BOTHERED

But Martha was distracted with much serving. She was distracted with much serving. She approached Jesus and it is as if Martha said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister, my little sister, has left me to do all this serving alone? Jesus, I want You to tell her and command her to help me.”

Jesus patiently answered and said, “Martha, Martha you are so worried; you are so bothered.” The New American Standard says, “bothered.” It is as if Jesus is saying, “Things bug you too easily. You get bugged, and you lose your way, because you get bothered.” Some of us get bothered easy, and we lose our connection with the Lord. Little things bug us too easily. The Lord was telling this to Martha; it was a word of knowledge. He was actually functioning with a word of knowledge. Jesus was functioning with supernatural discernment, telling her that the way that she could get her life connected like her sister was to get her connected with the Lord.

LUKE 10:42: “ONE THING IS NEEDED, AND MARY HAS CHOSEN THAT GOOD PART”

“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” He gives the great statement, this grand statement in Luke 10:42: “one thing is needed.” This is not an exaggerated statement. This is not an overstatement. This is a profoundly wise and accurate statement from the heart of God to the human race.

One thing is needed: one thing is needed as the main thing. Many things will come into place, if this one thing is in place. If this one thing is in place, all the other dominoes will go down so to speak. All the other issues of character, service, right relationships, finances, careers, marriage, children, and all the other issues will find their proper place if the one issue is in place. If the one issue is not in place, you will have a skewed view of all of the other issues. You will not be able to discern them properly. You will exaggerate them. Or you might either overestimate or underestimate their importance unless you have the lens of the lifestyle of Mary of Bethany. You will think that what you are doing is over important, or under important, the different assignments in the Word of God.

The “one thing,” if that one is in place, all the other ones will be in place. It goes on to say that Mary has chosen it, and Jesus called it “the good portion” in Luke 10:42. It is the good portion of life. Then Jesus goes on and prophesies about Mary. He basically says, “This thing will not be taken away from her. She is going to sustain this thing till the end.” Well, what a fantastic prophecy.

HOLY SPIRIT EMPHASIZED MARY SITTING AT THE FEET OF JESUS TO HEAR HIS WORD

The Holy Spirit in this story emphasizes Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus to hear His word. That is what it says. Luke 10:39: “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to hear His word. There it is.

 

It is Psalm 1 where we delight in the law, which is the Word of God. The law is the Word of God; it is the same thing. We meditate on the Word of God night and day. That is literal. It does not mean that we are in a prayer meeting night and day with an open Bible. Certainly, we do our fair share of that. We sit before the Lord with an open Bible.