Spiritual Life of the Leader - Lesson 2

Dr. Stephen Martyn
Spiritual Life of a Leader
sf502-02
Sermon by Alexander McClaren
Lesson Transcript

Mysticism can be described as the direct communication of your spirit with the Divine Spirit as taught and illustrated in the New Testament as a fundamental part of Christian belief. Receptivity means that I am open to what the Lord is saying to me through the revelation of his word, the magnificence of his son and the voice of his Spirit which is consistent with the written word. The church was emphasizing what they were doing for God rather than on first listening to what God wants us to be and then acting. Union with our Lord must come before any type of donation or work (kenosis) for our Lord.

A. Sermon by Alexander Maclaren 1901 (cont)

1. Both Justification and Sanctification

So Maclaren is saying this being a Christian is a ‘both/and’ business. Just as we want both Justification, accepting the work of Christ in us, repenting of our sins and by faith inviting Christ to rule and reign in our lives. We also want the work of sanctification where the Holy Spirit is recasting our natures into his nature. We want this ‘both/and’ going on as well as Christian involvement in the world because Christ was involved with the needs of the world. But we also know that the Lord Jesus has a primary relationship with his Father in heaven, his and our God. But how is this balanced? Not just balanced but prioritized. What does it mean then with Martha having her own way? Martha flipped the balance and flipped the priority. In other words, she’s got her priorities wrong. Maclaren said that the Christian activities of this day, especially, need a deepening consecration of the mystical side of evangelical truth. He is talking about the Word of God in how you and I interact with the written Word and the Living Word, who is Jesus. The river that is to bring fertility to half a continent must rise high on the mountain of God and be fed from the upper spring. Then he gives a word that has helped guide and lead the church all along its two thousand years history.

2. Receptivity

Pay special attention to the word, ‘receptivity’. Receptivity is that sense of the Gospel being a gift; the Father’s will is made known to us, both through the actions of Christ our Lord and through the miracle of the written Word we have the Father’s will. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, the very presence of God to be in us. So these gifts to us are not there to be manipulated or controlled; instead, they have to be received. There is a whole dispositional way of looking here; I am open to what the Lord is saying to me through the revelation of his Word and the magnificence of his Son and through the voice of his Spirit. These are the gifts to us.

3. The Church was Out of Balance

So Maclaren was saying that the church was out of balance, in that the stress was thrown more on activity, what we do for God rather than listening first in understanding what God wants us to be. He isn’t saying for us not to be involved in mission or ministry. That isn’t part of it at all. He is saying that we need to get our balance right. By saying that Martha has it all her own way now; we shot the balance, it is gone. Now we will go to Luke 10:38 and just see what is being said.

B. Luke 10:38

1. Martha Owned her Home

‘Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest.’ In this first sentence we see that she owned her home. How many women in the 1st century owned a home? This is somewhat an uncommon event. We do have records of wealthy Roman women owning property, so it isn’t unheard of but it doesn’t seem to be common. This tells you that her parents were gone and perhaps her husband was gone. We have a single woman living in a man’s world in that day and age inviting a group of people, perhaps as many as thirteen people or more. Her sister was obviously a younger sister named Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

2. Sitting at the Lord’s Feet

They are probably in a traditional Jewish home of the time; the men would have gone into an upper room, a living area. Mary is breaking major social rules by being the only female going up with the men. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. She went to Jesus and asked in a rhetorical question that came out of anger, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ Isn’t it amazing that here sits the Lord of the Universe and this lady has enough gumption to give an imperative command to Jesus. I am careful in teaching about Martha because I’m sure she will want to sort me out when I go to heaven. But the Lord answers her now, a firm word, ‘Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing, Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her.’ Obviously, Martha had a big and loving heart. There is no condemnation for Martha, not at all. I think her love led her to heroic service. Even in today’s life having so many people in a home would be quite overwhelming. I have African students who would consider having so many people in the home, not a big problem. I also have central and Latin Americans who would just be used to this sort of thing. At that day and age, it would have been a lot of work as well. There was no electricity, no running water, and no refrigeration. So, there is indeed, a lot of effort involved in preparing a meal for so many people. I think that she was entering into sacrificial service for our Lord. We should never under estimate that it was for our Lord. She is serving Jesus and that will never be taken away from her.

3. Mary’s Place Culturally was with Her Sister

A typical kitchen in that day was outside. The oven was fired by a fire inside of it cooking the bread. They had to grind the meal up and you mix it into a flat patty and plaster it on the inside of the heated wall of the oven. They would have had seasonal vegetables; the meat would probably have been lamb. So, it is going to take a while to put all of this together in this type of a kitchen. Mary, the younger sister’s place, sociologically and religiously and culturally in such a stratified culture would place Mary beside her sister, not with the disciples listening to Jesus. This is like somebody who is famous that comes in and everybody abandoned you in the kitchen in order to go sit with the famous person. This is not the best situation at all and then for Mark, a single woman being up sitting at the feet of Jesus and all of the other men. In other words, she broke all of the social and religious rules of the day.

4. Martha was Distracted

Verse 40, ‘But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.’ This distraction is a big issue. So, Martha was distracted by her many tasks. None of these were negative tasks as they were in service of Jesus. Here, this lady had to live in two worlds, a woman living in a society in which is not held in the level of esteem though should have been. She is trying to serve Jesus and she is never to be condemned, yet Jesus uses language or rather Luke uses language that indicates that something is wrong. She’s got a meal to prepare with preparation and perhaps presentation issues as well. How will she lay all of the things out before them. Other issues that would divide her heart would be the responsibility of it all; she is carrying the load of it all. We will talk more about this word, responsibility, later on. What about appearances? How does this appear; this was important for her. Was she seen as a competent hostess and is there a sense of trying to impress? Just keep in mind the words ‘distracted and divided.’

5. Who am I serving, why am I serving

The body language here seems to be that she is trying to accomplish too much. The more important word is ‘divided loyalty.’ This represents huge issues in Christian service today. Who am I serving and why am I serving and what is my motivation? All of these ideas and points will begin to be considered now as we look further into this. There are some outcomes that always happen with a divided heart. Life inevitably gets overwhelming. I have experienced all of this in my own life with dealing with all of the demands particularly that a local church and specific ministry puts on you. Full time Christian work can be from early morning to late at night without ever hearing from God, but yet at the same time being very busy for God. Of course we hear this word as you are going to see of anger; an issue that she has.

6. When you have a divided heart, life inevitably gets overwhelming

After saying yes to meaning the needs of Jesus and his disciples, Martha finds herself overwhelmed, she finds herself anxious and angry. For myself, I started working with pastors doing seminars for pastors and teaching pastors many years ago. Even while I was a pastor, I helped lead other pastors as I have dealt with many church leaders.

7. It is Normative to find Church Leaders Overwhelmed with Life

From my own experience, it is fairly normative to find church leaders overwhelmed with life. This has all sorts of consequences. All too often those of us who minister find ourselves overwhelmed with what we said yes to. It is a good thing to say yes to serve Jesus wherever you are: at home, in your church, on the mission field, or as a pastor; there are demands in saying yes to Jesus. And yet, we end up being angry at people around us; this is a huge issue today. Then Martha does the unthinkable; she literally rebukes the Lord. Her question is a rhetorical question; it isn’t a true question. In other words, the question was frustration and saying, look! This isn’t right! Get her up and get her in the kitchen with me!

8. Message to Us Today

Verse 41: ‘But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.’ After she commands that Jesus should tell Mary to help her. I made an appointment at the seminary to sit with both an Old Testament professor and a famous linguist. I had two of my dear friends, one on the right and one of the left. I ask them for their help. In Jesus repeating her name, I ask the Old Testament professor and he gave me a hand motion. In other words, Martha, pay attention; then the linguist said that it was a sign of endearment. Anytime you repeat somebody’s name, it means you love them and you care for them. How many times have you not repeated the names in talking to your children and grand-children? You love the children and want to bless them. Jesus is saying to Martha to pay attention; Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. So now we are adding another issue. Not only do you have this issue of divided focus going on but now you have the issue of worry. What is this thing about worry? When you are talking the New Testament language of worry, you are coming into the area of fear. She is afraid that something is going to collapse on her. So, is she actually afraid that the meal is going to fail? It isn’t going to be successful and then what? Martha will be seen as a failure. She couldn’t pull it off, she took on too much. She didn’t have what it takes to impress, to be the hostess that she wanted to be. So, here is a voice of love and tenderness, a voice of firmness and here is a voice for us today. Jesus didn’t reproach the work she was doing, but the fact that Martha allowed this labor to make her so anxious and restless; she could no longer hear the voice of the Spirit within her heart. She had touch with her call to obedient openness. She lost sight of what true service was about and who true service was for. This is so common with us today to have the exact same kind of collapse.

9. Statistics about Longevity

I keep the kind of statistics that I hate, I absolutely hate. It is the kind of statistics regarding longevity of ministering people. It is concerns with how long a person lasts or do you last. I co-ordinate these statistics with other seminaries who keep such things; I co-ordinate them with the pension board of major denominations here in the states. So these statistics are from the United States and not from anywhere else. What we are finding, as high as sixty percent of people come under the was-out rate for those in active ministry and active service for Jesus. The first wave starts in about five years from now and then the title way will come in about fifteen or twenty years. I can’t tell you the number of wash-outs or failure within the first five years. Wash-outs include those who quit or those who go into other types of ministry. But the shocker of them is the moral collapse. I worked two years for a denominational organization helping oversea under a thousand pastors and in that time period, we averaged dismissing one pastor per week and most of it was gross moral sin. Another thing that we have found, the statistics run the same for both conservative evangelical people and as well as liberal people. For me, the shocker was to see the biblically orthodox evangelical people wash-out. There is a system’s issue going on in the body of Christ. I think the first mental hospital in India in the 1950s called House of Light. It was founded by the Methodist missionary E. Stanly Jones. It was primarily founded for the missionaries who were collapsing from the stress of being on the field. This whole business of Mary and Martha and losing sight of what our service is for and who we are accountable to and who we are listening to. She became outraged because of her divided loyalties and ended up a problem to herself and a distraction for everybody around her. I don’t want to end up a casualty in ministry. I don’t want the thorns to choke the life out of me. I don’t want the evil one to choke the life out of you. Those who are among the thorns hear the word but the cares of the world, all of the anxieties of the world come in and choke the Word and it ends up yielding nothing. Martha, Jesus says; I don’t want my name being pronounced in any other way except in love and response before Christ. Martha, it is all a matter of priorities in the work of the Lord.

10. There is Only Need of One Thing

Verse 42, ‘But one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.’ This is going to be a foundational work that is going to carry us through everything else we talk about. We must realize that union with Christ precedes everything. Another way we can say this, is that union with our Lord must come before any type of donation or work or kenosis, the famous Pauline Philippian phrase of self-emptying love for our Lord. Why do we love? Because he first loved us; that is the first priority as from John 4:19, our work is grounded in his love for us. Our first commitment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all of our mind and strength. This means spending quality relational time with Jesus on a daily basis. That is the foundation of who we are. That is where we received all that we are. If you are in a small group or with your wife or husband or your staff; the real question is where are you in this story? Who do you identify with in this story?