Our Crazy Busy Lives & The One Thing Thats Necessary ~ Luke 10:38-42!

11 January 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson!

Intro: Hi! Im crazy busy. And youre crazy busy. How crazy is that? !

We are well into the second week of 2015, and we are all still crazy busy. For many of us, any hopes that we
would conquer 2015 by staying on top our schedules & master that illusive quest for balance has vanished as
quickly as our holiday season. How is this possible? !

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In 1967, testimony before a US Senate subcommittee indicated that b/c of all the time saving devices, the
average work week by 1985 would be just 22 hours! !

Comedian Brian Regan talked about finally getting an eye exam after putting it off for six years. He put his new
contact in and thought, Wow, I could have been seeing things. He asks the question, How can instantly
improved vision not be at the top of your todo list? Then he parodies the response, No, Ill see tomorrow. I
dont have time, I dont have time to see clearly. No, I dont. No I cant do that. Do you see whats on my desk?!

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Regan captures for us in a humorous way, something that is all too true of us living in 21st century Calgary:
We are all way too crazy busy, and because of that, we often dont have timeor make the timefor
whats most important in our lives. !

Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: We are so busy with a million pursuits that we dont even notice the most
important things are slipping away.!

For some of us, we know we are so busy with a million pursuits and we do notice the most important things
are slipping away. We know that, and we hate that, and yet how do we change that? Moreover, what if life
for the foreseeable future is always going to be crazy busy? !

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Key Question: How do we find time for what matters most? !
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Whether you are new to Christianity or have been following Jesus for many years, what is most important, the
one thing necessary is centering our lives upon the person of Jesus Christ, and listening to him, learning from
him, enjoying him. There is no greater thing. There are a million and one pursuits that we can give ourselves
to, but if this is not the defining pursuit in our life, the one things thats necessary, then we are entirely missing
the point. !

Our Crazy Busy Lives & The One Thing Thats Necessary ~ Luke 10:38-42!

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him
into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary,!

Need to know: this was a family that Jesus loved. This is the same Mary & Martha that we read about in the
Gospel of John whose brother Lazarus dies. And when we see Jesus come to the funeral we see two great
emotions from Jesus: (1) he wept; (2) he was deeply moved (lit. quaking with rage). !

39 And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lords feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But
Martha was distracted with much serving. !

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Mary used this opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus and just listen to him. !
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Illus: Two favorite RTS profs, Knox Chamblin & Ralph Davis, were so precious to me that I would love to
just sit at their feet and listen to them talk about the Scriptures. I would love to read every verse in the
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Bible & just listen to them talk about it. For Mary, Jesus was there, and the only thing on her mind was to
soak up every word that he had to say. !

Martha, on the other hand, was distracted. And for good reason. She just had a large group of people arrive
unannounced, and there was so much to do. Hospitality was a social grace that had to be attended to. And
as she was busy with preparations, she began to fume.!

Martha was so frustrated and so mad at her sister, Mary, that she couldnt even talk to her. So was even a
little perturbed at Jesus because by allowing her to sit at his feet listeninga privilege usually given to men
along by the Rabbi, he was enabling her to neglect the very important task of providing hospitality.!
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And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell
her then to help me. !

Do you not care? Often times, when our lives are not going according to our plans, this is the exact complaint
we have with God: Dont you care? Obviously, you should, but obviously you dont b/c if you did, you would
be doing something about it and helping me get things done. Youd fix this situation. !

41 But the Lord answered her Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42
but one thing is necessary. !

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Notice the gentleness of Jesus, Martha, Martha. !

Notice the diagnosis of Jesus, you are anxious and troubled about many things.!
Is it possible that all the million & one pursuits that we give ourselves to are actually enslaving us to
anxiety and a troubled mind? Is it possible that the reason we are all exhausted is because we are all
anxious and troubled about many things?!
Notice the reorientation of Jesus: one thing is necessary.!
Martha had a long list of necessary things to do, no doubt she had a million necessary pursuits that
pressed in upon her demanding her attention, but Jesus said that in reality there was only one. !
We need to hear Jesus saying to us what in essence he said to Martha: There is nothing more important
than centering your life upon me. There is nothing more essential than listening to me. There is nothing
more necessary than enjoying me. I am the sun around which your planet must orbit.!

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Fill in your name: ___, ___, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.!
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Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.!
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Portion = food. While Martha was crazy busy preparing a meal, her sister Mary was feasting on another.
While Mary was crazy busy preparing bread, Mary was nourished by the fact that men and women do not
live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. !
John Piper, A Hunger for God, If you dont feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God,
it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the
table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. !
It is possible to be feasting on the things of this world andwhile stuffedto be completely
malnourished.!

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It is possible to be so crazy busy with a million and one pursuits, and end up completely wasting our lives.!

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So why did Luke record this episode in his historical biography of Jesus? !
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There are a lot of things we can do with our livesa myriad of ways we can fill up our time, and theres even a
lot of things to do in the Christian life, but if we dont take the time to actually sit at the feet of Jesus, then its all
for nothing. Luke wants us to see that there are a million good things to do, but its actually possible to be
distracted by all them, and completely miss out on the best thing: centering our lives upon Jesus and actually
learning what it means to be human in relationship with our Creator. !

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Main Idea: The one thing thats necessary is to centre your crazy busy life upon Jesus.!
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Application:!
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1. Diagnose your crazy busy life. IOW, what is driving all your busyness. !
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(1) A sense of importance?!
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Tim Kreider, NY Times: The Busy Trap, writes, Busyness serves as a kind of existential
reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly silly or trivial or
meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.!

(2) !A strategy to avoid Jesus? !

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Illus: To Daniel: What is it about Jesus that you find so distasteful that you would rather fill up your
entire calendar doing everything and anything in order to avoid spending time getting to know him?!
If what Christianity tells us is true, that God drew near to us in the person of Jesus Christ so that we
can know him and learn to trust him, so that we can experience his deep, deep love for us, that He
was willing to go to the Cross to pay for our sins rather than banish us forever from his presence, then
why do we have so many strategies that we use to avoid spending time with him? !
Your heart was meant to be completely satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus. This is your
blazing centre. He is the sun around which your planet must orbit. !

Pull up the the weeds in your life.!

(1) Mark 4:18-19, And others [ie., seeds] are sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but
the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things [the pleasure of
life - Luke 8:14] enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. !
(2) Piper, John Piper, A Hunger for God, The pleasures of this lifethese are not evil in themselves.
These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and
gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing
and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes
for God. !
(3) How do we find time for what matters most? We must learn to say No to even good things so we can
say Yes to what is better. And to do so, we must.!

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3. Fight for whats really most important. !

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(1) CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your
wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning
consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of
view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.
Christians sometimes talk about having a Quiet Time or Doing Devotions.
Dont think of this as one more thing to add to your already-way-too-long ToDo list. This is not
one more thing to have to do for Jesus. Instead, think of it as a wonderful opportunity for
Jesus to do something for you. But, like Mary, you must take the time to spend with Jesus.
(2) Ryken, Remember what is necessary: not something we do for Jesus, but something he wants to do
for us as we listen to Jesus. Do you see the difference? Jesus is not asking something more from us;
he is asking for less, so that he can give us more of himself. !

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Conclusion: !
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Q: What do you need less of in your life, so that you can have more of Jesus?!
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This is what everyone of us needs. This is what our family needs. This is what our city needs. !
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This is what we need: people who are not defined by being crazy busy, but rather, people who in the
midst of crazy busyness are defined by Jesus, fed by Jesus, nourished by Jesus. !

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IOW, we must learn to have a Mary heart in a Martha world. !
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And that only happens as we drawn to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, fighting to sit at his feet, listening to
him, enjoying him, being with him. !

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Because he is worth it!!
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