Make Jesus the Priority

It's truly a great privilege to be here today. this, but God has given you a gem of a pastor and continue to love him. I appreciate Milton. I love him.

I respect him. He's been such a help and a blessing to me in numerous ways. I meant to say this in the first service, but, you all have been a blessing to me since I've been here this weekend. To see the way you all came together, many, many of you served, just so selflessly, and helping with things for the wedding.

What a testimony that is to this congregation. And just your, your love for your pastor and just your willingness to serve and help in any way, and you have ministered to me in that way and I appreciate it so much. It's such a blessing to attach faces with names. for many, many years.

We've heard about many of you just in conversations and so forth, and it's been just a great blessing to personally meet so many of you. I'll invite you this morning to take your copy of the scriptures and turn to the book of Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. And we will Begin in verse 38, Luke chapter 10, verse 38, if you'll follow along as I read.

Now as they were traveling along, he entered a certain village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord's words seated at his feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations. And she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?

Then tell her to help me. And the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha. You are worried and bothered about so many things. But only a few things are necessary.

Really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part. Which shall not be taken away from her. Father, I pray this morning. As we open up the precious Holy, powerful word of God.

That you would speak to us. Lord, truly my words don't mean a whole lot. In fact, very little. But your word is supreme.

It is that which has the power to change us. And God, I pray that it would this morning. Lord, as just a, a humble inept preacher, I pray that you would help me today. Lord, I pray that this service and this time in your word would bring honor and glory to you.

I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to just preach a simple message to you this morning called Make Jesus the priority. Make Jesus the priority.

I'm going to give you a simple definition of the word priority, and it's this, it's a matter that ranks above all others in importance, a matter that ranks above all others in importance. this very day, you've probably already had some priorities in your life that ranked up above others in importance. Maybe that priority was eating. You've already eaten breakfast today.

I hope you don't have to raise your hand on this one, OK, but I hope sometime this morning, this week, recently, a shower, was a priority for you. maybe something with your job has been a priority for you. Brushing your teeth at some point is a priority. I know Milton and Donna have had huge priorities this last few several days in getting preparations done for the wedding, but it's something that ranks above all others as a matter of priority, and this is the question I have for you this morning.

Has Jesus been the priority of your week. Has he been the priority for you this week? Let's lay just a little bit of background and then we'll get into our text here this morning. The text does say as they were traveling along, Jesus, his disciples, his companions were traveling to Jerusalem.

As Jesus often did, particularly in the last six months of his ministry here on this earth, it says that they came to a certain village. Let's go to John's Gospel to find out what this village is. It was Bethany. It was where Martha and Mary, her sister and their brother Lazarus all lived together.

So the, the location of this text is a little town called Bethany, Bethany. It was located about 2 miles south of Jerusalem. And it says a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. this, this family, these brothers, this brother and these two sisters, they were very dear to Jesus.

he was dear to them and they were dear to him. And often would he visit them in their home in this little town called Bethany. And he was a little bit like family to them. So that gives us a setting and a little bit of background for our text.

The first thing I want us to notice this morning is the vivid contrast between Mary and Martha. Let's start with Mary. I've just simply call this Mary's sitting. She was seated.

At his feet. She was seated at Jesus' feet. She had taken the position of a typical student of that day. When a rabbi or a teacher would be teaching, the students would sit at his feet and teach.

The only unusual thing about this setting is that in Jesus' day, A typical rabbi would have no tolerance whatsoever for a woman sitting and learning, but for Jesus this was no problem. This was no issue. He was glad for Mary to take the position of a student and be eager to hear his teaching. The text says that she was listening to the Lord's word.

The idea of listening is suggests a continual hearing. Her focus and her attention was on Jesus Christ alone. And really, Mary demonstrates what should be the heart of every single believer in this room this morning. And is that is that she had an eagerness to hear God's word.

She had an eagerness to hear God's word. We direct our attention to 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, the apostle Paul writes, for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God. Can I, can I just mention the obvious here this morning, that what we're opening, what we're looking at is God's word. It's the powerful, almighty Word of God.

And may we never lose sight of that fact that as we open up our Bible, this is God's word to us. And as we sang this morning, may God speak to us through His word. One of my favorite texts in the New Testament is Luke 24. As Jesus had risen from the dead, he encounters two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and it says in the text that beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures, and they approached the village where they were going, and he acted as though he were going farther.

But they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. And when he had reclined the table with him, he took the bread and blessed it. And breaking it, he began giving it to them.

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight, and they said to one another, Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us? Every time I read that text, I think how cool that must have been. To be one of those two disciples, to sit in the presence of Jesus, and have him teach about himself, going back to the Old Testament and working his way through the Old Testament text, saying, this is who I am.

And the text tells us that their hearts burned within them. And, folks, that's not just something for those two disciples. That can be true of you and me every time we open up the word of God, that as we open it up and as God speaks to us as He teaches us, our heart just burns within us and there's something that resonates within us that says, I want that. I need that.

That's exactly what Mary was doing. She was seated at Jesus' feet. She was focused on him. She was taking it all in.

Let's notice Mary, excuse me, Martha's serving, Martha's serving. In verse 40, We find that Martha was distracted with all her preparations. We distracted literally means to be, to be drugged away, to be dragged away by something. Can relate with that this morning.

Something in your life that is vying for your attention, something that maybe is dragging you away. Even sometimes good things get in the way of the best. And it's with all her preparations. There was serving, there was cleaning to be done.

There was a meal to be prepared. There was housing accommodations to be worked out. These were the concerns of Martha. And by the way, aren't you glad for people who have those concerns?

even since I've been here, I've been grateful that somebody was preparing a meal at times, and we're glad for folks who take those considerations and make them important, but in this case it was a good thing that became a distraction for Martha. this is a little conjecture, but if you take Jesus, the 12 disciples, and if Martha and Mary and Lazarus were all present, could have been about 16 people at least that she was concerned and rendering hospitality toward them. it could be, and I think this would be the desire of most ladies here, that if Jesus was coming to your house.

You may have been a little bit like Martha.

She was probably concerned about putting on the best spread she possibly could have. Hey, let's make the best meal. Jesus is here. Let's put out the best.

And there's nothing wrong with that spirit. But on this particular day, it became a distraction for her, as opposed to Mary, who was taking the blessed privilege of just sitting at Jesus' feet, and being taught by him, learning from him. This was Martha's serving. And, I think it's an indication to us that as I mentioned a moment ago that sometimes even good things can get away in the way of the best, a job, working is necessary, is right, it's good, but sometimes it can get in the way of what should be the priority, even mundane things like cleaning or maintaining your house, child rearing, even serving here at the church.

You say serving at the church. Yes, serving at the church, doing a good thing, a right thing can get in the way of the best. of making Jesus the priority. just a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had the privilege of celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary, and even after 23 years, I love spending time with my wife.

I do. I really do. She's my best friend on this planet. We enjoy spending time together, doing things together, and it would be unusual for this scenario to take place.

Just say we are, scheduled to go out on a date night on a Friday night and Kim says, hey, where are we going? And I say, I'll tell you what, I, I don't think it's going to work out tonight. I'm, I'm going to do the dishes tonight. And she's like, What?

OK, all right, well, hey, how about, how about Saturday night? How would that work? And I said, Well, I, I don't, I don't think that's going to work either because I, I plan to dust the house and vacuum. And she said, Well, OK, hey, how about Sunday afternoon?

Let's do something Sunday afternoon. I said, Well, you see, that's not gonna work either because, I, I'm gonna do the laundry and I'm going to fold all the laundry, and she knows this isn't true, OK? But, all, all that's going to happen and, and at some point, rightfully so, Kim is going to look at me and say, hey, I really, really appreciate all the stuff you're doing for me. But, but could we not just spend some time together?

And I wonder sometimes, If that's not the heart of our God, Who says, I'm really glad you're serving me. I'm glad you're doing all this stuff. But how about some time with me? I just want to be with you.

Do you realize that's the heart of God? That's incredible, folks. That's amazing that the God of heaven wants to be with me, but it's true. I'm one of his children and he wants to spend time with us.

So we noticed the, the vivid contrast between Mary and Martha. Let's notice the wrong perspective, wrong perspective on Martha's part. Lest I be misunderstood and think I'm beating up on Martha this morning, I'm not. Because I very much see Martha in my own life each and every day.

But Martha had a selfish perspective, a selfish perspective. She got frustrated and there was a mounting frustration within her. Now this isn't in the text, OK? This is between the lines a little bit, but I imagine that Mary was getting the look, like, what the look is, right?, hey, help me.

Come on, come on, let's go. What are you doing? and maybe after that wasn't working, there was the head nod. I just, would you, would you get over here?

Come on, come on, maybe some gestures of, you this way, and, and, and it wasn't working, and there was frustration on Martha's part, and the text says that eventually she just came up to Jesus. It's the idea of suddenly she just interrupted his teaching. She couldn't take it anymore. And she says, Lord, do you not care?

Ever said that in your life? Ever been tempted to think that? Lord, you don't care about me. You don't care about my circumstance and my situation.

Just like the disciples did in Mark 4 when they were out in the boat in the Sea of Galilee and the storm came up. Jesus is asleep, and what do they say, Lord, do you not care that we're about to die? Isn't that ironic Later, Peter would write. Casting all your care upon him.

Because he cares for you. If you're ever tempted to think in your heart and your mind, Question, does Jesus care? Can I remind you this morning, he cares more than you could ever realize. He cares for you.

But in Martha's case, as we are tempted to do, she said, Lord, don't you care? And this is what she says, and this is what really puts out her selfishness. It manifests itself here, that my sister has left me to do all the serving what alone. Lord, I need some help.

Lord, I'm all alone. I'm the only one doing things here. There's stuff to be done, and nobody wants to help me. Ever feel that way?

our joy in serving can be taken away when we have that self focus. I'm the only one serving. It's a little bit like Elijah in First Kings 19, after that great experience on Mount Carmel. And he says, Lord, I'm the only one.

I'm the only one left that hasn't bowed the knee. There's no other prophets. And eventually he was made known that there was at least 7000 more, and he wasn't the only one, but that was Martha's perspective, her thought, and then she has the audacity to say to Jesus, Tell her to help me. I'll tell you how this would work out in our house.

We have 3 girls and a boy. Our son Jonathan, who's the youngest, it would work out something like this. Hey Dad. Jonathan's not helping.

Tell him to get busy. Tell him to help us. That's exactly what Martha was saying, Lord, make Martha help me. make Mary help me.

I need some help. And it was a selfish perspective, and then I want us to notice a temporal perspective, a temporal perspective. And notice the kind response of Jesus. Can you hear the tenderness of his voice?

Martha Martha. You're worried and bothered about so many things. The idea worried is concerned, stressed, it was an inward condition. And then that she was bothered.

She was troubled. She was agitated. That was the outward manifestation which was very obvious at this point. She had interrupted Jesus' teaching.

He says that you're bothered about many things. There was a lot that Martha was juggling. There was a lot, as the text says, of preparations. There was a lot on her mind.

There was a lot vying for her attention, but it was all temporal in nature. It would be a little bit like for you and for me. If Jesus came to our house, and he began teaching, and we said, I got to go cut the grass. I got to go pull some weeds.

I got to tend to the garden. I got to do that, this and that, and they're, and they're not bad things, they're good things. But what's the most important at that point? It's the blessed privilege of hearing Jesus teach and taking that in.

Well, Jesus has some divine instruction in verse 42. In his response to Martha, and he says, but only a few things are necessary. And really, only one. There's a singular focus that is needed.

And that singular focus is a wholehearted, complete, unadulterated devotion to Jesus Christ. It's just Being wholeheartedly his. I think of Romans chapter 12. Paul pens these words.

He says, I beseech you, I urge you, I beg you, brethren, therefore, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your what reasonable service. He says it's only logical, it's only reasonable that you give your life to God. Why? What's the basis?

It's the mercies of God. It's really all that's entailed in Romans 1 through 11. If you did a quick survey of Romans 1 through 11, you would find words such as justified. Being declared righteous.

Isn't that amazing, folks? If you're a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, that you have been declared to be righteous. A wicked, wretched sinner declared to be righteous because of Jesus Christ. That is incredible.

You would find words such as redeemed to be purchased back by the blood of Jesus Christ. You would find words such as reconciled, to be brought back into a right relationship with God. You would find the word adopted. Which for me is a very special term.

I was adopted when I was 5 weeks old and I was brought into the home of Bill and Margaret Curtis. And yet when I believed and trusted in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I was adopted into the family of God. And he is my father, and I am his child, and we would find words such as propitiation. The fact that Jesus Christ was the appeasement of God's wrath.

Something I've been pondering on here the last few days. How can you really understand the mercy of God? And I'm not certain you can understand the mercy of God until we really begin to understand the wrath of God upon sin, and the wrath of God that was unleashed on Jesus Christ on the cross. And I think once we begin to glimpse that just a little bit, and we get a little taste of what that is, then we can begin to just begin to understand what the mercy of God looks like.

And on the basis of that mercy, which has been just showered upon us, it's only logical. It's only reasonable. That we say, God, here's my life. A living sacrifice, a singular focus in our life.

I'm not for sure if you're familiar with the name Gladys Aylward. Gladys was a lady who did missionary work in the land of China for about 40 years. When she was 27 years old, this would have been about 1929, she was attending school through a mission agency and she failed one of her classes. Because she failed the class, the mission agency just booted her out and said, hey, you're done, you're gone, you're history.

we don't, we don't want anything to do with you. That time, even probably more so than today, if you didn't have a mission agency backing you, particularly as a woman, it was exceedingly difficult to know where to go, what to do, how to proceed with mission work, but she felt deeply impressed that God had called her to China. And as we as a family read her biography sometime back, I was struck by this point of the story, really at a crossroad in her life, at a place of desperation in her life, she went back to her room.

As the account was given.

That she took her Bible and she just placed it on a little nightstand. And then she took all of the money that she had in the world, which was 2.5 cents, and she placed it on her Bible and she prayed this prayer. She said, God Here's my Bible. Here's all the money in the world that I have.

And here is me. And God, would you somehow use me? And God chose to answer that prayer, and he opened up the way, and for 40 years, she made an eternal difference in doing missionary work in the land of China. The name Gladys Aylward may not mean a lot to you.

It may not be a recognizable name, but I hope that you share her heart. And that your heart is similar to her heart, where you would say, God, here I am. Here's a singular focus in my life. I'm completely, I'm wholeheartedly devoted to you.

I am yours and God, would you somehow, some way use me in your service. A singular focus. And then Jesus said, it was a necessary or needed focus. As we Make Jesus the priority.

As we make him the focus of our day and of our life. It is needed to impart demonstrate our love for Christ. As we spend time in His word, it's needed for wisdom. It's needed for direction.

It's needed for strength. It's needed to demonstrate our dependence upon Jesus Christ. And then Jesus said, what, it's a good focus. It's a good focus.

We're good. There is that which is truly beneficial, that which will make a difference. And then he says at the end, it's an abiding result. There's an abiding result that he said, the part that Mary has chosen, it will not be taken away from her.

Because she was making Jesus the priority. She was investing in essence, and that which is eternal. That which is enduring, that which is permanent, that which is steadfast, that which is truly matters, that which is satisfying. So Jesus said, hey, there's a singular focus that's needed, and it is a needed focus.

It's a good focus, and there is an abiding result when we make him the priority. See if I can sum this all up and wrap it all up here this morning. when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness. In Matthew 4:4, he was actually quoting from Deuteronomy 8 and chapter 3.

In Matthew 4:4 it says, and he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In essence what he was communicating is that more than the actual necessity of food is the necessity for the word of God. Spending time with God. And we find In the book of Mark chapter 1, verses 35 to 37.

It says in the early morning. Well, it was still dark. Jesus got up, he left the house, and he went away to a secluded place. And was praying there.

Simon and his companions searched for him, and they found him and said, Everyone is looking for you. Ever feel like that in life? Feel like you're being pulled and tugged and stretched on? That was everyday ministry for Jesus.

Many, many people wanted a part of Jesus. They wanted something from him, but this is what I'm struck by. Jesus did not in the early morning hours, get away with his father and pray and prepare for the day, in spite of his busyness, but because of his busyness. It wasn't that, oh, I've got all these things to do.

I'm just going to work it in somewhere. But for Jesus himself, he purposefully, intentionally got up early in the morning, got off to a secluded place. He knew what was coming for the day. And he prepared his heart.

He got away with his father, and just spent time alone with his father. Is that not instructive for you and for me? Most of us live very busy lives. We have pressures, we have stresses, we have things that pull on us and tug on us from all different directions.

Not necessarily bad things at all. Sometimes very necessary needful things. But if we're going to be like Jesus, how we need to, not in spite of our busyness, but because of our busyness, just get away, make him the priority, and spend time. With our God Getting to know him, worshiping him, honoring him.

Donald Gray Barnhouse said this, if Jesus, in his great power and oneness with God, could feel the urgent necessity of communion with the Father, how much more you and I need to go to the Father for the strength that fills our weakness and the knowledge that fills our ignorance. How we need that. What does making Jesus the priority look like for you? I can't answer that for every one of us here this morning.

I can give some general ideas. Maybe it is for you. Just carving out intentionally. Some private personal time with your God.

It's getting in the Word of God on a very regular basis, opening up his truth, letting this truth speak to you. Let it be embedded in your heart. Let it be strength for you. Let it be wisdom for you.

Let it be a guide for you. And That that is your practice on a regular basis. You're making Jesus the priority of your day. And that, along with that, you're making him the priority by submitting your will and your heart to his will and to his word.

Jesus, you're King. Your sovereign, your Lord. I am your servant. I submit to you.

Maybe it is that idea of just simply a life that is committed to Jesus Christ, that your life is about Him and Him alone. It's not just fitting Jesus in somewhere out of convenience, but you're committed to Him wholeheartedly, and your life is completely about serving Jesus Christ and living for Him in a way that honors and pleases Him. I'll give you a simple definition at the outset of the message this morning. Of a priority.

It's a matter that ranks above all others. In importance. My question to each one of us this morning is this. Does Jesus Rank above everything else in your life as a matter of importance.

He is worthy of that. He merits that. He deserves that. And I pray that that'll be true for every single believer in this room today.

Father, as we conclude this time in your word. Father, it is my deep Sincere prayer. That at this moment even That we would not be tempted to be distracted. But it would be so easy right now just to check out.

Think about lunch plans, think about plans for the rest of the day or this coming week. And God, I pray that we would push all of those things aside. And we would just do some deep introspection in our own hearts and our own lives and just simply ask, Is Jesus the priority of my life? If so, what does that look like?

And Lord, I pray that You would help us. Just in the quietness of this moment. Maybe just to by your grace and your enablement to cry out to you and say, oh God, My focus has been selfish. My focus has been on temporal things.

And God, my heart's desire. is to make you the priority. You're the reason I get up in the morning. You're the reason I go about my day.

You are my vision. You are what I live for. You are the one whom I serve. You are the priority of my life.

And God, I pray that that would be the earnest heart cry of every believer in this room today. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.